Army offers $20,000 bonus to new recruits...

Let's break that down....shall we?

365 days X 2 years = 730 days

$20,000 / 730 = $27.40 a day

So, if you are on the fence about joining up, just think what $27.40 a day will buy you!! Tax free!!
(all you have to do is chance death)



Sweet deal!!

Coach, you used the wrong ball!!

Haha, awesome!

It's monday....something to do...

Design your own paper airplane, and see how far it can go:

http://www.solidworkspilot.com/

So far I've got 47.7m

Another interesting challenge, I got it to go 20.0m after one full loop :)

$1.9 million dime's odd, secret journey

John Feigenbaum flew out of San Jose this week in first class with flip-flops on his feet, a T-shirt on his back and a dime worth $1.9 million in his pocket.

It was the most expensive dime ever to pass through San Jose. That's because it is the most expensive dime in the history of dimes.

"All the way across the country, I didn't sleep,'' Feigenbaum said. "I didn't eat, and I didn't sleep. You wouldn't, either.''

Feigenbaum is a rare-coin dealer, and the dime he was carrying across the country, from San Jose to New York, is an 1894-S dime, one of only nine known to exist and one of only 24 known to be coined that year in San Francisco.

It was his job to pick up the dime from the seller's vault in Oakland and deliver it to the buyer's vault in midtown Manhattan.

The person who bought the dime does not want the world to know who he is. The person who sold the dime is Oakland businessman Daniel Rosenthal, who was unavailable for comment, perhaps because a person newly in possession of $1.9 million has better things to do than answer a lot of questions.

But the dime's cross-country trip was the stuff of intrigue, of that there is no mistake. The logistics of moving a $1.9 million dime across the country turn out to be at least as staggering as the notion of paying $1.9 million for a dime.

It was on Monday afternoon that Feigenbaum, a 38-year-old coin dealer from Virginia Beach, Va., donned his best grubby clothes to meet the seller's representative at an Oakland bank vault. Feigenbaum was slumming it so as not to attract attention, he said.

"There's no reason to dress up in a suit and make a big production,'' he said. "You don't want to stand out.''

Feigenbaum put the dime, encased in a 3-inch-square block of plastic, in his pocket and, accompanied by a security guard, drove in an ordinary sedan directly to San Jose airport to catch the red-eye to Newark.

The overnight flight, he said, was the only way to make sure the dime would be in New York by the time the buyer's bank opened in the morning. People who pay $1.9 million for dimes do not like to be kept waiting for them.

Feigenbaum had purchased a coach ticket, to avoid suspicion, but found himself upgraded to first class. That was a worry, because people in flip-flops, T-shirts and grubby jeans do not regularly ride in first class. But it would have been more suspicious to decline a free upgrade. So Feigenbaum forced himself to sit in first class, where he found himself to be the only passenger in flip-flops.

He was too nervous to sleep, he said. He did not watch the in-flight movie, which was "Firehouse Dog.'' He turned down a Reuben sandwich and sensibly declined all offers of alcoholic beverages.

Shortly after boarding the plane, he transferred the dime from his pants pocket to his briefcase.

"I was worried that the dime might fall out of my pocket while I was sitting down,'' Feigenbaum said.

All across the country, Feigenbaum kept checking to make sure the dime was safe by reaching into his briefcase to feel for it. Feigenbaum did not actually take the dime out of his briefcase, as staring at dimes can arouse suspicion.

He does recall fishing around -- somewhere over the Rockies, over the Midwest and over the Alleghenies -- for the dime. For the rest of the flight, he kept his flip-flopped foot planted on the briefcase and his eyes wide open.

At Newark airport, he was met by another security guard in another ordinary sedan. The two men drove to Manhattan, arriving an hour before the opening of the buyer's bank vault.

The buyer was waiting at the curb for Feigenbaum, however. With an hour to kill, the two men went into a nearby Starbucks. Neither man dared take out the dime and look at it. They sipped their beverages and stared at their watches.

At 9 a.m., the vault opened. The two men and the guard went inside and, for the first time, the buyer got to hold his dime.

The buyer spent about half an hour looking at it, Feigenbaum said, which worked out to 15 minutes for heads and 15 minutes for tails. He told Feigenbaum he had bought it strictly as an investment and did not intend to spend it, as there is no longer anything to buy in New York for 10 cents.

Perhaps, though, the dime is again fated to be locked away in a bank vault as a penalty for being ugly. The coin is known as a Barber-style dime, bearing a ghastly likeness of Madam Liberty on the front and a boring wreath of corn and wheat and the words "one dime" on the back.

The $1.9 million dime was produced at the stately Old Mint on Fifth Street, next to the doughnut place. It's a long-shuttered stone building whose front steps are primarily used these days by homeless people on their lunch break. (The building is set to become a museum soon, although that plan has been kicking around, unfulfilled, for decades. The alley north of the mint is being turned into a plaza with fast-food joints, to open by Labor Day.)

Except for the date, the top-notch condition and the fact that it's one of just 24 known to be coined that year in San Francisco, it's much like other Barber-style dimes of the era that typically sell on eBay for a couple of bucks. The coin's rarity has something to do with the fact that 1894-S dimes were produced not for general circulation but as a special gift by the mint director for some visiting big shots. The director was also said to have given one of the dimes to his young daughter, who spent it on ice cream.

Feigenbaum said he and the seller's agent stood to split a 6 percent commission on the deal. He also said that he has since changed out of his flip-flops and that he does not really know what the dime looks like -- how many ears of corn or stalks of wheat are depicted on it, for example, or why Liberty's nose is so big.

"It's the Holy Grail of coins,'' he said. "But Liberty, how can I say it, she's not the prettiest. Actually, it's considered an ugly coin. Sometimes, ugliness can be attractive.''

E-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein@sfchronicle.com.

Link to article:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/27/MNG9GR85OG1.DTL

Another wacky Japanese game..

Human tetris....lol

Summer is awesome? WRONG!

Check out this upbeat e-mail I got today...

Dear Mad Chef,

There are songs written about how wonderful it is - the good old summertime - porch swings, campouts and backyard parties.

But for many adults, summer can be a very stressful time. The heat and humidity, school breaks, summer activities - all on top of a regular job - can create one of the most taxing times of year. Not to mention a lack of sleep due to longer evenings and later bedtimes.

Stress is very real and can cause or worsen depression, insomnia, ulcers,and other conditions. Log on to the Stress Condition Center to learn the signs and causes of hidden stress in your life. It's easy to get perspective on your stress level with a quick, confidential assessment. You can then explore the most effective stress-relieving treatments from a variety of healing traditions.

Simply click the link below to access this confidential resource!

I used to love summer unequivocally, but now I know the true dangers of such naivety. No longer will I turn a blind eye to the true silent killer....SUMMER!

Kid plays better than most US players...

A lot of completely unnecessary moves (considering the opponents), but eh, still damn good if you ask me

Daft punk song, lyrics displayed using hands

Might want to skip the 'buildup' in the beginning of the song, but amazing work!

Space shuttle vs bird....

Who will win? Tune in to find out.

This one's expected to last one round...


http://view.break.com/335395 - Watch more free videos

If you smash a can of WD40 you are...

If you smash a can of WD40 you are...
a) An idiot
b) On fire
c) In pain
d) all of the above

Let's find out!

Steam pipe eruption in NY....

Utterly insane.....like a volcano or something!

Also, I love it when you get some 'real' shots of it, instead of news reports of the aftermath.

In honor of the simpsons movie...

Well done theme song on two guitars at once

Would anyone fall for the old trojan horse trick anymore?

These guys find out....

lol

Real life transformer...

Ok, that's pretty cool.....yet somehow disconcerting



Now that you've seen the vid...KILL IT, KILL IT NOW

A word about kitchen faucets...

Ok, I have this major beef with 'Price Pfister" (sold through Home Depot)...in fact, it might be with other brands as well, I just don't know.

Basically when we gutted and redid our kitchen, we needed a new faucet to go with our new cast iron sink. Naturally I browse the usual stores, and I come across a nice looking one...similar to this guy:



Looks pretty normal right? Wellll welll welll, TRICKED YA!! Turns out they decided to invent their own thread size...you know, just to piss people off. Say you actually find the thread size in some specialty plumbing shop, well, tough luck because they also used a tight thread pattern.....yeah, so basically what that means is even if you get the size right nothing is going to screw in.

So what?

Well, I have a Python system (if the internet existed in the 70's, this is what pages would look like) to clean my poor fish tank...and well, I can no longer hook it up to my sink....awesome. Now I have to hunt for a crappy 'universal' system....AWESOME.

Meanwhile...

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net


So yeah, make sure the thread size and pattern are both normal.

This guy LOVES Macs =/

hahahah

Hilarious iPhone umm...."review"...

iPhone alternative

lol, that reminds me...I haven't visited maddox's site in a while..

another goodie:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

New Porsche GT2...

530hp @ 5300 rpm, 3175lbs (yup nearly 340lbs lighter than the turbo). Interesting to note that the top speed is 200 and friggen 4 miles per hour. That's Carrera GT territory, and apparently this is the first regular production 911 to be 200+

http://www.caranddriver.com/carnews/13436/2008-porsche-911-gt2.html?al=104

Pretty nice car....but if you ask me, I'd rather have this GT2 any day of the week!

Reporter walks straight into a pole

lol

Check out this painter...

Insane. Make sure to watch the whole vid

The ultimate car simulator!

For the new BMW M3..

I WANT TO TRY THIS

New Wii game - Wii Fit

Yet another device with many many possibilities

I dunno about the whole barefoot thing though...but the marble madness'ish game is friggen awesome.

In any case....very impressive!

It's lonely being the Wind....

Very well done imho...

Scale of an atom - empty space

Pretty neat...one pixel in that picture is an electron, and if you scroll all the way to the right there is one proton.

What's all the empty space? Nothing. Seriously, it's nothing. So...how come the mouse you are holding is so solid? Ahhhh....try not to think about it =)

http://www.phrenopolis.com/perspective/atom/#electron

Grover YTMND's

In case you didn't notice, theres a bit of a grover trend in ytmnd...and yes, there are some good ones, lol

http://notyouagain.ytmnd.com/ ****

http://tragedyonscene.ytmnd.com/ ****

http://ohnoits.ytmnd.com/ (possibly nws) ***

http://liketheswifthandofvengeance.ytmnd.com/ ****
(batman reference)

Others:
http://groverwantshead.ytmnd.com/ ****

Enough grover for now...

Will it blend iPhone =)

My guess is....yes....lol

Ever wonder what your cat is up to?

Just strap on a camera....friggen awesome

http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/index.htm

Chinese Nuclear sub found in Google Earth

Cool....or scary....but still cool

http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2007/07/new_chinese_ballistic_missile.php

Homicides in the LA area (map)

Know anyone who lives in the LA area?

Better check this map out =/

Youtube Video of the Day - Soundwave: The Touch

I like the use of "the touch" from boogie nights (sung by Mark Wahlberg) , lol

Youtube Video of the Day - NEMISISSSSSS!!!!!

The guy has a little trouble catching his 'nemesis', haha

Weird CSP Error

If you get this error
"an unexpected error (0x80090020) occurred while getting the CSP list"
chances are you have a bogus reg entry (probably blank).

Go here:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\Defaults\Provider

Check each key, shouldn't be empty. If there is no empty ones, check to make sure the DLL's referenced still exist.

Welcome...

Ok, so this blog is gonna be full of stuff I think is funny, cool, etc.

Also, I'll post up stuff here which was either missing from the net (aka couldn't find it in google), or was impossibly hard for me to find. Maybe I'll make somebody search a tiny bit easier.