Toying with Science

My mother was talking to me on the phone when my daughters were having a long visit with her. She wanted to let me know about an incident that concerned her. My daughter was playing with a magnifying glass in the back room and set a piece of paper on fire.

I was concerned. I assured my mom that we didn't have any big magnifying glasses around our house. There was a small part of me that was pleased that my girl was experimenting with the forces of nature rather than watching TV.

I was always experimenting when I was a kid. I was never lucky enough to have actual science kits. I had gun powder for a few days until my parents found out that I had gun powder.

ScienceKits.com didn't waste time deciding on a site name. They are a site that has science kits that young people can use to have fun learning about science.

I like the idea of the water testing kits. We have two water sources at our house, a rain fed reservoir under the house, and a treated municipal water supply. My landlord offered his opinion that the reservoir was safe to drink and I have been curious to see if there was a measurable difference in quality.

My son is not that interested in Natural Sciences. He would probably enjoy this Learn to Solder Kit with Soldering Iron and Wire Cutters. He built a lighthouse at his school and he was fascinated with the basic concept of the electrical circuit.

Ambition

I think that AMBITION is a characteristic that defines Shakira.

Something that I got an inkling of recently is the fact that her ambition may not be coupled with PRIDE in the same way that it is with many other successful people. In the Roman Catholic tradition, PRIDE is a sin. There are parades celebrating it these days, but I honestly don't think it can be considered an entirely positive emotion.

Shakira is said to have terminated a number of staff members who were responsible for her appearance because she felt that she was becoming too concerned or obsessed with the way she looked.

Ambition seems to be a close relative of pride, but they are different beasts entirely.

Viva Las Vegas !!!

A few years ago, I was about to get married and we had decided against having a traditional church wedding. We thought long and hard about going to Las Vegas. In the end, time constraints made that impossible. I was just as happy to get married on a nearly deserted beach, but I am still eager to get the chance to go to Vegas someday soon. A site that I am just checking out called www.Las-Vegas-NV-online.com is loaded with information about this popular vacation destination.

The Las Vegas hotel reviews are indepth and useful. Something that caught my eye was a reader review that said that a certain hotel restaurant was popular with locals. I live in a place with a big tourist industry and I can say the best advice is to eat where the locals eat. This should hold true just about everywhere. Generally, good cheap food is not that hard to come by in Vegas because many buffets are essentially loss leaders to get you to come to the casinos.

I think my Vegas plan is going to involve a fairly lengthy stay. I even want to get out into the surrounding area for a day trip or maybe some desert camping. I think I might see if there are any slightly more sane spin-offs of Burning Man in the fall in Nevada.

Whenever, Wherever, etc.

I was going to mention that Shakira's hit song is yet another example of a popular song that uses the chord pattern of the classical piece Pachelbel's Canon in D. I ran over the chords in my head though and I think Shakira' song has fewer chords. This comedian ends his routine with a medley of songs that do use the familiar chord progression. It's ironic that this guy hates Pachelbel's Canon in D so much and yet after watching I decided to sit down and try playing it. I like it. It is nice.

1800nodrugs.com

What with the trouble lots of celebrities are having with addiction these days,
drug rehab is a pretty poular phrase on the internet. I am happy to do my part to help boost the profile of a site that doesn't just talk about it. 1800nodrugs.com talks to people who want help either for themselves or for someone they care about who is suffering a drug addiction.

I had an experience when I was a college RA that I don't ever want to relive. I was contacted by another RA and I drove to the hospital with her. A student was on suicide watch after she had been acting irratically. I won't add any more details out of respect for the person in question. She only sought help when the school gave her the two choices of detox or expulsion and returning to her parent's care and supervision. The sad truth is that she was luckier than some people who are smart and functional enough to hide their addictions for years.

Car Designing for NOOBS

Just a reminder, the SEAT car designed (style-wise) by Shakira is to be given away at the Barcelona Motor Show in June.

Remember the episode of the Simpsons when Homer was hired by his smart, long lost brother to design a car? Shakira is smarter than Homer. Here is my car design. I wasn't trying to do a good job.

The Lowest Bidder Wins ???

It is taking me some time to figure this new website out. On bid4prizes, the lowest UNIQUE bidder wins the prize in question.

These are not Booby prizes we are talking about either. Right now there is a Scion up for grabs. That's right, the COOL KID'S version of the Toyota, for as little as you can imagine paying.

If you go to the official rules, there is a list of ALL the prizes. It is a pretty impressive list. They would almost be better off listing what they aren't giving away.

I still don't quite get it. I guess it's really not an auction site in the traditional sense, it is more of a sweepstakes with a twist that involves a bit of skill.

Where is Shakira?

Unlike certain pop singers who are in the gossip news even more when they have no product in the stores and no touring plans, Sakira seems to keep a pretty low profile when she is not busy.

There hasn't been much talk about what is going on with the small Caribbean island that she purchased. It is possible that the development is in some protracted planning stage. If you have an island that does not have an international airport, I don't think you get many paparazzi.

Free Bluetooth Headset Offer

Customers can get a Free Bluetooth Headset with their new TMobile Phones. This offer is from Wirefly, the number one online source for phones.

I have been curious about the Bluetooth Headset ever since I first heard about them. So I just did a quick search for opinions on why anyone would NEED to have a Bluetooth headset.

First story, multi-tasking safely. A lady sees another mom holding her phone to her ear while ushering four young children across a busy parking lot.

Second story, looking cool in a techy way. Yes, even if you haven't figured out what everybody else is using them for, you gotta have one to look hip.

Third story, there is no third story, they are just really useful. You can use Bluetooth Headsets to communicate with a wide array of enabled devices.

Anyway, with this offer, the Bluetooth headset is the icing on the cake. You can also get some of the very best phones available from Wirefly. The RAZR is one of the most popular phones in the world with good reason. It is stylish and loaded with the best functionality.

Wirefly is the number one online dealer for most major service providers. With their site, you just punch in your ZIP code and you are taken to a page of the packages that are available in your area.

Music Notes

The post below this one features music that I composed and recorded on the spot.

My Guitar was tuned as D A D F# A D.

There are four seperate tracks recorded using Audacity. It is a bit boring and repetitive, but I like the lush jangly MIDDLE EASTERN feel. It's too bad that my microphone is a bit noisy. I had it dangling inside the soundhole of the guitar.

Come on VH1

This video is part of a grassroots campaign to encourage VH1 to pick up the reality show RockStartup that payperpost has been putting together for some time. PayPerPost helps people like me monetize their blogs. Making video content is hard work and when it is done well, it deserves widespread recognition.

I have a cool story related to watching VH1. My wife and I and our teenage son were sitting in a departure lounge of an airport and VH1 was on the bigscreen. That Coldplay video that has the dancing octagenarian lady from Florida was playing. I had never seen this before and I couldn't figure out that it was archival footage and that the band wasn't really on stage with the old lady. RockStartup makes me feel the same way sometimes. My teenage son absolutely refused to even look up at the screen, but my wife and I couldn't look away.

Soon

I am going to start putting original music on this blog soon. I have a bunch of things that I used to have hosted on Bolt.com but it has gotten really dysfunctional. I play guitar and sing and I play a little harmonica. When I was fisrt learning my neighbor told me that my singing voice reminded him of Kermit. Yeeaeaeeaahhhhh!!!!!

Finding the Best Credit Card

If you have ever sat down to do an Online Credit Card search, you know that there are entirely too many sites out there competing for your attention. Are you going to end up with the best deal on a credit card or are you going end up getting a card from the site with the best SEO?

CreditCardSearchEngine.com is so full of deals that they had to set up a search function on their site. There are traditional categories along the side as well. They feature a full range of cards from low interest cards to offers for those of us with bad credit.

If you qualify for a typical credit card account, you are pretty much stuck choosing between a fairly narrow range of interest rates. The lenders are mostly competing with each other using rewards plans and other incentives. This means that your job is to find the card that has a reward that is best suited to you. If you don't go anywhere, you don't need frequent flyer miles. If you don't even have a car, you don't need a card that saves you money on gasoline. The Discover Card has an interesting plan, you get 5% cash back on a range of retail items, and the items list changes every three months. If you are a shopper, this might be the card for you.

Gauging the Impact of a Hit

I blog about Shakira almost every day. It is hard for me to get perspective with respect to her popularity. I have had two indicators recently. A PHP coder who works two desks down from me was watching old pre-English Shakira YouTube videos all Friday afternoon. He was looking at code and just listening to the music. This isn't a very good indicator of popularity, he has random and erratic tastes.

What made me think that she is becoming ubiquitous was when I was in my local grocery store and the young women working there were singing along to 'Liar'. They have taste the I trust, ever since they told us about which ready-made pizza crusts were the best.

Big Fish Eat The Little FIsh

Any casual observer who checks out this blog will notice that there are posts that I get paid to write. The company that facilitates this is PayPerPost. Today they are asking bloggers to help drive traffic to their site by making a post that discusses an upcoming announcement about an acquisition. The funny thing is, the are not telling us what company they are buying. I am curious as to just how wild and crazy the speculation will get.

The world of business is kind of like the ocean. Big fish eat the little fish. It stands to reason that whatever business PayPerPost is investing in is a smaller company. I am pretty certain that they are not acquiring Viacom. If they are, I would ask that Ted Murphy let people start putting SouthPark videos up on YouTube with impunity again.


PayPerPost is based in Florida. If business acquisition is kind of like dating and romance, I would say that proximity is probably a big part of attraction. Since I know absolutely nothing about business, I am just going to randomly guess that they are buying a dairy, because someone told them a story about free milk and a cow, but they were not listening very carefully. It looks like a very good dairy, I hope they are happy with it.

Edit: Now they want me to talk about online ads??? Maybe they bought adsense from Google. My fish measuring stick is getting SO out of whack.

Carmen Ripoll Torrado

This post is titled in honor of Shakira's mother. I am going to tell you an insignificant fact and then I am going to try and draw some conclusions from it.

I did a Google Image search for the term Carmen Ripoll Torrado. There were seven pages of pictures and none of them were of Shakira's mum. Most of them were Shakira herself. Most of the otheres were banners and buttons that had been optimized for those three words for some inexplicable reason.

Shakira's mother must be a fairly private person. Shakira herself does very little in her life to attract attention, except when she is on stage or making a scheduled appearance.

The Wedding Planner

The first time that a young man realizes that young a woman has been planning their wedding since her tiny hands have had the dexterity to leaf through magazines is a scary experience. The scariest part of this scenario is that men are usually engaged when they find out about this fact of life.

This wedding planning is fantasy. If you could magically make every wedding into the fairy tale princess affair that swirled around in a tweenager's brain, something very bad would happen to the space time continuum.

Even the simplest ceremonies have to observe a certain amount of Wedding Etiquette. I have had one church wedding and one beach wedding so I can tell you my preference. I will do my very best not to infuse my decisions with my marriage experience. We are talking about Weddings NOT Marriage.

BEACH WEDDINGS FTW!!!

HitWeddings.com has some great tips on avoiding catastrophe with outdoor wedding plans. Our plan B, for if the weather had been awful, was to cram into our rented beach cottage. Thank goodness the weather was nice.

When you have an outdoor wedding in a beautiful outdoor setting you don't need decorations.

Some wedding photographers just plain know what they are doing. Other photographers might be artsy fartsy tyoes that need to be kept on task by someone who is given the task of ensuring that all the necessary shots are taken. HitWeddings.com has a lengthy list. I was very happy with our photographer. Part of our quickly drawn up plans included the decision to have only immediate family. That was a hard decision to make in some ways. It's funny that when you are having a big wedding and inviting almost everybody the final decisions are just as hard. Not as fraught, but pretty tricky just the same. And of course, you will forget someone. And they will be deeply offended.

No Wedding for Shakira ?

Shakira has no wedding plans. SHe has commented on this in the past:

"I have a ring... Four years engaged and no wedding plans. The reality is that it would be very difficult for me to plan a wedding at this point... Maybe some day."

Source

I searched for 'news' about Shakira's Wedding Plans. Shakira music gets played at newsworthy wedding receptions. That is not news.

Shakira has a mix of heritages, and the three main ones all are noted for fancy weddings. I don't think she could get away with eloping.

iBackUp: They've Got Your Back

These guys have an award winning system for integrated backup of your data. This Online Backup is priced to be affordable to individuals and organizations, but it is the same systems and level of service that big corporations rely on. I looked at the pricing list, they have it segmented into several different prices based on the amount of usable storage space that you require. You can also expect savings of up to 16% if you pay an annual rather than monthly rate. you can also phone them to discuss a customized account. If you need backup and you don't have it, you are one crazy person. Get yourself some backup.

online backup

Shakira Loves Idioms

I have a taken a course that qualifies me to teach student English as a second language. Shakira had to learn English as a second language. If only she had waited I could have been her teacher.

Many people who learn English as adults are very entertained by our figures of speech.

Here is a sample test that people new to the language might be faced with.

BookmarkAll.com: New RSS Feature

I have a confession to make. I start WAY to many blog posts with the sentence "I have a confession to make."

Oh, and also I didn't know what RSS stood for until two minutes ago. Really Simple Syndication, that's what it stands for. I found that out while I was reading about how BookmarkAll.com works.

They have a feature that you can use to bookmark RSS feeds so you can check them out anywhere. You have the option of making your feedslist private or public. If you look at the footer of most of your favorite websites, chances are you will see either an RSS logo or an XML logo. That means that they have enabled the site and content is taken from the site and added to these feeds.

BookmarkAll is actually the first online bookmark manager that is providing this RSS bookmark service.

When you are on the site, you can check out new sites from all the other user’s public topics I could see myself following my interests from user to user and not googling stuff like I usually do. Here is something that I really like about the site...you can set it up so you have a bunch of different sections based on category and people don't have to search by user and look at all the crap you don't necessarily want to show them. You might notice a lack of bookmarking on this site right now. Expect that to change. I used to be big on Technorati, but for some reason they say this site does not exist. You are reading it right now. It exists, right?

Official Shakira Website Makeover

This may be old news. I hadn't looked at the Official Shakira Website for a month or two. Anyway, Shakira.com looks like it is a place holder for a new upcoming site. There is still content including streaming music and more videos than it had before. You need to have a good connection to view the videos that are hosted by MusicBox.

Get the Lowdown on Mortgages

You know how eBooks like to have all these point form pages and lists? Ten things to do to get rid of tapeworms, 12 things you may not know about the stock market, stuff like that?

Well if you are overwhelmed by the prospect of buying a home this mortgage news blog can help with 43 Must-Know Tips (and Resources) for Every First-time Home Buyer

43? Um, that doesn't put me at ease. I guess that may be the point. It's better to have someone tell you that there is a boatload of things to worry about than to have someone pare their list down to ten or twelve for the sake of style. the blog has lots of links to guides, calculators and other stuff like that.

This blog also has hard news from the world of home financing. If your lender is in trouble, you might be the last to know, or you might read it here first.

World Music Sampler #11

This girl has some talent. She is also very charming. The tabla have a lot of cultural significance to Hindus.

You can try a virtual tabla set online. Please use headphones.

Management Leadership Training

There were some words that I immediately focused on when I landed on the Knickerbocker & Stevens, Inc..The gist of those words was that they are professionals who work at the intersection of human nature and business logic. It makes sense to me that the Achilles' heel in a large organization can be when human behavior is out of whack with the business plan. More importantly, this out of whackness is something that Management Leadership Training can fix.

When I read more about the subject their approach seemed to make a lot of sense. As a third party with business management and psychological knowledge they can come up with solutions to problems that can be personnel related change or organizational change. I have been involved in large organizations and I know that it is human nature to want for employees to want management to change the organization and management would rather have the employees adapt to the way they have organized things. A third party can see what changes are best for the bottom line and the longterm functioning of the organization.

Ocarina

I was listening to some Latin pop music and I think I heard an ocarina. it is very likely that it was just a synth track, but you never know. These simple instruments are common in many parts of the World. I think I have the tune form the Zelda game seared into my brain thanks to my kids.



I personally find this performance annoying, but it is pretty fancy.

Webcity Web Hosting Australia Goes Carbon Neutral

This is a cool announcement. Webcity Web Hosting Australia is getting the word out about its plans to go Carbon Neutral.

You say you have no idea what that means? Here it is in the simplest terms possible, almost all modern industries cause some carbon to be released into the environment. When an industry directly funds an activity that reduces atmospheric carbon it can qualify as Carbon Neutral. Webcity Web Hosting Australia is funding the planting of trees. Trees absorb carbon through the process of photosynthesis. If you want photosynthesis explained, you came to the wrong blog.

Shakira is Everywhere

Somebody was visiting my place last week and when her phone rang I immediately recognized her ring tone. It was Illegal by Shakira.

Companies are already offering up the latest single by Beyonce and Shakira as a ringtone.

I have a $30 phone that play La Bamba. Ring tones aren't that important to me because nobody ever calls me.

Lowdown on a Pay Day Loan Blog

I am starting to see a pattern in the blogosphere. The same strategies of improving traffic and ranking are being carried out by every type of blog. I go to do a review of PayDayLoanLowdown.com and the first thing I see is a blog carnival. This is actually a good indication that the blogger has some socila skills and acceptance from other bloggers who blog about financial stuff.

The particular focus of the blog is evident from its URL. PayDayLoanLowdown.com is about stuff like getting a no fax payday loan. I went deep to see what this blog was about and found that it is well written and informative. Priya Jestin wrote this post about borrowing in the holiday season late last year.. While it is promoting an option that should be a last resort, it doesn't gloss over all the details that you have to be cautious about. I have personally never used Pay Day Loan lending services, but I am interested to know what they are all about in case I am ever in a situation where they make sense to me.

SEAT Car Giveaway

The contest that was tied in to Shakira's European concert tour must be over by now. I will go see what's up with it...

THe contest website is down. SEAT's site says that 116,000 Euros has been raised for Shakira's charity. I know I didn't win the car, I wasn't in a participating country. That's ok, my Skoda is still good for another few years.

The Seduction Game

A book that helps women develop confidence and formulate a clear picture of the man that they want to attract sounds like something that would be useful to a lot of women. The Seduction Game is intended for woman who have a long term goal of a loving long term relationship.

I have given myself away as being a man a few times on this blog already. I am 100% in favor of a book that helps women attract the right kind of man. I am a bit biased because I AM the right kind of man.

I have taken university level courses in animal behaviour. It always surprises me how much overlap there is between what I learned about animals and what it reputed to work on men. Are we really that simple? When it comes to attraction...yes we are. What women need to perfect is recognizing which men to attract.

Women who buy this book filled with tips how to seduce men get a text and an audio version.

Testing FlipTrack

I did this very quickly. I will replace it with something better when I have more time and access to my better images. It is a good platform for making slideshows. This is not the standard default way to embed these videos either, I used small low res photos to make the test, so I made the video small as well.

Brain Tumor Treatment Advances

I want to quickly make a post about brain tumors and the advances that have taken place as far as treatment. Modern brain tumor treatment is more precise and focused than ever.

A new type of equipment, the Gamma Knife allows neurosurgeons to carry out brain surgery without cutting into a patient. The device emits a powerful beam of energy that effectively destroys brain tumors without the need for any invasive surgery.

Thankfully, brain tumors are relatively uncommon. I can only recall knowing one or two people who had family members with brain tumors. Unfortunately one person was an 9 year old daughter of one of my coworkers. I believe she had the best available care and had a good outcome.

I will Find Out How Much Money Shakira Made On Tour

Finding out how much Shakira's tour grossed may be a difficult task. As I mentiond earlier it took place in 16 different countries. Several of the European countries have adopted the Euro. This might simplify the calculation a bit, but there were Middle Eastern and other Asian dates as well.

I can only imagine that in many cases the hospitality industry in the cities she passed through made more from the concerts than she did.

Musical Slideshows Made Easy

I have done what Fliptrack Music Slideshows does on my own before. It is time consuming and I didn't use popular music, I used my own noisy, jangly guitar tracks.

Basically the FlipTrack site lets you use your own images and a selected clip of music to compose a slide show. You get an end product that you can embed and share on social sites. I am going to go see just how easy it is. Expect to see a show here tonight.

Shakira Finally Finishes Her Tour

340,000 people have had the chance to see Shakira perform live since she started in January. She was in 16 different countries and performed 28 concerts. Add to this more than one junket to the USA for awards shows and you have one tired lady.

Maybe she will spend some time on the island that she bought together with a few minority investors last year. The main sponsor of her tour, SEAT Motors is quite pleased with the partnership.

Source...

Cutting EdgeTechnology from 6th Grade, 1981

Now that all the kids that I went through 6th grade with have disposable income, there is a ready market for really cool Flippies Custom Flip Books.



I think these would make great free gifts at trade shows. I was at a trade show a few years ago and I was given three different gifts that I can remember. I got one of those little tool sets that are made out of soft metal. I donated it to the bin at airport security because I forgot that it was in my carry-on. I got one of those little mini-DVDs. It made a scary noise when I put it in a player. I got a half-size coffee cup from the Mexican Coffee Trading Board, or whatever it is called. the woman who gave it to me was cute. I think I left the cup with my previous employer. Oh and I was served ice cream by either Ben or Jerry. It would make a much better anecdote if I knew which one it was.

Anyway, I think these flip books are a great idea for promoting stuff. The trick is to have something simple enough to be affordable for mass marketing and yet nifty enough that people won't trash them. Go click on the picture to watch videos of several different flip books in action.

Shakira's Life Story...Again

Shakira is so focused and so busy that she doesn't really have much of a personal life to comment on. She is like the exact opposite of Britney Spears, who is all personal life and very little career at this point in time. While searching in vain for some interesting tidbit, I found that yet another newspaper columnist had distilled Shakira's entire life story into a tidy page of print.

A Site All About Getting Out of Debt

When the broader topic for a site is Debt Relief, it is pretty interesting to see just how many strategies there can be for one single goal. DebtConsolidationLowdown.com is a site with regularly updated articles that offer practical advice.

The top article is about renting versus owning your residence the title, '12 Reasons why Homeownership is for suckers' is a good indication of where the author stands on the issue. I live in a place that is undergoing a major building bubble, and I am quite content to rent. I guess I am in agreement with the site on this.

If you are a compulsive consumer of retail items, this site has an article with strategies that can help you protect yourself from, well, yourself. Some tips are as simple as 'Don't go to The Mall just because there is a sale.'

DebtConsolidationLowdown.com even gets into the minutae of saving money. I like seeing tips that I am already following. No newspaper subscription...CHECK...Limit phone usage...CHECK...Don't let your kids watch TV...CHECK.

So this site is definitely worth checking out.

Shakira In Dubai

For some reason this video phone has much better sound quality than most of the other ones. Unfortunately, it is only about twenty seconds long. I don't know whether it was just a sweet spot in arena or just a really good phone.

From most accounts, the Middle Eastern dates in Shakira's tour went well.

shakiradubai

Designing a Personal Style With Help From Belisi

Fashion guy Peter Belisi has a healthy respect for the traditions of Old World fashion but he also had a flair for adapting those styles to today's hip urban trends. One thing that I have noticed about the stuff that Belisi sends out into the World is that he always chooses great materials and patterns for his products, whether its the leather used for a handbag or the silk used for a tie, his accessories are just good quality.

In a shocking coincidence, the top post in Belisi's blog is about the shaved head look, and I just shaved my head. And no, I don't think that it hides the fact that I am balding. Here is something I didn't know until I read his blog, bald guys are using products. All I use is sunscreen.

My Spanish Lessons

I really regret that I am forgetting most of my Spanish vocabulary. I took a short course almost three years ago. Most of the students were retired couples that were planning on taking long vacations in Spanish speaking countries.

I only remember the funny parts. Our Argentina born teacher warned the class that it would not be considered commenting on the weather to say the following:

Yo Soy Muy Caliente

After I stuck that term in my google toolbar to check the spelling...I did an image search...I am scarred for life...but in a good way. Time to change the filter back.

Ethical Banking

I spent a couple of years working for a Fair Trade Coffee roastery and it is there that I picked up a lot of ideas about business ethics. There is a key group of consumers, especially in Western Europe and North America, who try to make responsible choices that help rather than hurt society and the environment.

Most of those choices have to do with consumer goods, but increasingly the ethical priority is being extended to investments and even financial services. The company that I was working for was a worker co-op. I am still indirectly involved as an investor.

Co-operativeBank.co.uk offers people the chance to have an ethical bank account. I would say that the question of ethics is most important for a savings account because when you have a large balance in an account a bank is making investments with that money. Some banks could be involved in awful things like blood diamonds.

Shakira Has Ten Grammy's

These are not her awards. In fact it is not even her studio. I am just using the MAGIC of MS Paint to illustrate how cluttered things can be when you don't have an awards case. I was reading a story recently about the artist who makes the handblown statuettes for a Canadian music awards show. She puts the flawed ones out in her garden like gnomes. Grammys must make great paperweights.

Crystal Chandeliers

I moved from Canada to Europe in recent years and one of the things that really struck me was how opulent fittings and furniture are in people's homes. As an outsider the chances to step into someones home have been relatively infrequent, but when we have the chance to step into that world, it is always amazing. The chandeliers are especially beautiful.

The D'Legne Chandelier pictured here can be ordered direct from the manufacturer, they are not a retail item. As a man of above average height, I have some painful memories of poorly located cheap lighting fixtures. If you dream of having something timelessly beautiful like this for your home, make sure you have sufficiently high ceilings first. I love the high ceilings here.

The Difficulty in Writing About Love

Many of Shakira's songs and many of the pop songs in general are written about love. Love is a very personal thing. As undeniably pleasant as sex may be, I think that much of the time it is an expression of love. Jewelry is also an expression of love. Expressing love in the form of words, whether they are written, spoken or sung, is a very hard thing to do. It is such a difficult task that I am always respectful and generous even to people who fail to accomplish their objectives musically.

Gangta Rap, Death Metal, Punk, these genres of music are filled with wek minded people who lack the confidence to write a heartfelt love song.

Hot Random Facts

The human mind is constantly trying to create order out of the various sensory stimuli that are constantly arriving. I think trivia is a relaxing form of entertainment because the Random Facts like the ones you can get at HotFact.com are little encapsulated bits of information. You can just say Hmmm, or Oh yeah, or Wow and then move on to the next one without trying to fit them into a bigger reality.

Unfortunately, my brain doesn't work the same as most brains. I can see a randomized list of facts and my brain tries to find a logical connection between them.

I like the facts, and I like the fact that there is a rating system for them.

The total weight of plasticine used to make the movie Chicken Run was impressive. I appreciate the artists. I can't imagine sitting there watching a 2,380 kg lump of clay for 90 minutes, that would be almost as bad as watching Gigli.

Fan Generated Videos

I did not know that Shakira was at the forefront of the phenomenon of getting fans to make videos for record company sponsored contests. I guess the Bajillion Hips Don't Lie videos should have clued me in.

Anyway, Shakira and the viral aspects of Hips gets a lot of attention in this great article about the trend.

I have a strict rule of thumb that a trend is no longer cool when the Bare Naked Ladies take part in it. Here is a thing they had their fans do. I will warn you that there is brief nudity that is pretty much made PG by using sheets of paper with stuff written on it. The reasonable cute young fan is doing her best to spoil the charming irony of the bad's name.



shakirabare naked ladies

Eric Schiffer: Action Hero

Celebrity is not the same commodity that it used to be. People like lonelygirl15 can become famous for pretending to be a regular person on YouTube. People like Paris Hilton can be famous for being rich and sleazy and being recorded on video having sex.

A talented, handsome, hard working actor like Eric Schiffer has a tough job if he wants to stand out despite the fickleness of fame.

The movie project that he is set to start work on might be just the thing to cast some of that lime colored light on this dude. “Death Wish Returns”. Filming of “Death Wish Returns” will begin in December 2007 in Scotland and the release date is expected for sometime in 2008.

Somethin Funny

Directions for funnyness: Start both videos. Pause to let them fully load. Turn the sound down on the left video. Play them both simultaneously. Repeat as necessary.

Online Investment Strategies

Short term, moderately risky investments in things like global futures are not part of my investment strategy. Actually, my investment strategy is non-existent.

Day trading is for people with more nerve than me. I had thought that it was for people with more money, but Global Futures Exchange & Trading Co., Inc. can apparently help you start out with only $250.

They also ask that I put this disclaimer in my post:

"There is risk of loss trading Futures, options and forex"

Do your homework about forex before you invest. The term is short for Foreign Exchange. I deal with currencies from several different countries just in my everyday life. I used to work for a coffee roastery and I made $70,000 purchases in USD that were to be resold after roasting in CAD. Shifts in the exchange rate could dramatically affect out profit margin.

Actress Shakira

I often forget that Shakira was a somewhat successful child actress. Her IMDb page is not very impressive, but it certainly better than some of the nobodies who enter their own credits.

The trivia section has a few fresh nuggets. I don't remember seeing Shakira's IQ listed anywhere else. It is 140.

She has a cousin who is a beauty queen. Here is a big picture of Valerie Dominguez Tarud

Look at Thewhole9.com

I have talked about the advantages of Niche dating sites before. Now I have found one that prefers to be called a hip, upscale boutique dating site.

Thewhole9.com is geared towards urbane artist types who live in places that have scenes. These cities of import include NY, LA and SF. I like the compartmentalizing of the site; users are encouraged to create something of themselves in People, Profile and Places.

I thing the Places part of the site is ingenious, you can tell a lot about a potential friend or partner from where they choose to hang out. And if you are a transplant from one scene to another, you can browse the site and figure out where YOUR PEOPLE like to spend time.

The Profiles section allows a member to display work or solicit jobs, that kind of thing.

What A Coincidence...

I mentioned Alanis Morissette the other day and now she goes viral on YouTube with a funny cover of My Humps.

I think a sense of humor might be something else that she has in common with Shakira. Shakira has not been very inclined to work humor into her product. I think the trouble that pretty girls have with humor is that people will laugh insincerely at their efforts thus preventing them from figuring out what is actually funny.

Lingerie that I Like

I have seen a surprising number of Lingerie websites given the fact that I am a man who doesn't tend to shop for such things. AngelBodyWear.com has a collection that is way more tasteful than some sites that I have visited, but still very sexy.

I am not psychic about fashion by any means, but predict that wearing bustiers as tops will be a recurring trend. This site has some items that would work well in this way.

I can make one more prediction. This site has sexy halloween costumes and two of them are for PIRATES. This halloween will be remembered as the one with too many pirates. That would be OK if they were all sexy pirates.

Shakira Wanted to be a Scientist

It's true. Shakira did have a childhood ambition to be a scientist. She also wanted to be a writer and a dancer.

One out of three ain't bad.

The woman who played Blossom on television in the early 90's has a PhD in Neuro Science.

A Social Site For Scientific Minds

I have a degree in a science that I do not apply. The body of knowledge that I accumulated during my years at university is used for the purposes of sounding smart. A social networking site that is geared towards people with an interest in science sounds like a perfect place for me. Usually I just go to regular forums and try to confuse people with complex ideas. This is an unhealthy anti-social behavior and I am trying to stop.

One of my fields of expertise is animal behavior. Actually I am not an expert, I only took one course. I think I could go on a forum and role play that I am an expert. Sci-edge.me.com just launched, so I could achieve tenure pretty easily...awesome.

Alanis Morissette ???

I was reading through the uncited Wikipedia hodgepodge of Shakira stuff and I saw that Shakira's fledgeling pop music career being compared to Alanis Morissette. I grew up in Canada and I am quite familiar with Alanis Morissette.

I think the basis for comparison is that they both did two albums in their late childhood that were not very successful and then broke through with very personal singer songwriter type stuff.

There really isn't much else to compare. Oh yeah, they both play guitar and harmonica. Alanis' harmonica technique is basically breathing in and out with the thing in her mouth.

Optimizing For Search Engines

Bear with me while I talk about search engine optimization. If you arrived at this site because you are looking for Shakira shaking her posterior, I have that somewhere, check the archives. The fact that I rank high on search engines for Shakira shaking her posterior would be quite an accomplishment...that is IF anybody still said posterior anymore, or more importantly typed it into a search query.

ETrafficJams.com is a company that can help your site rank high for searches that actually matter. After an initial setup fee, clients only pay them based on results , specifically you pay according to how many top 10 organic rankings they get for you in Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Shakira YouTube Videos Become Endangered Species

This blog post is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Viacom International, Inc.

Not really, I have generally chosen to use videos which are fair use, fan edited works. I really should go back through my archives and see if I have a few posts that feature removed videos.

I am actually begrudgingly in favor of musicians and their publishing companies protecting their product. In an unrelated story, Borat is now out on DVD-R, High Five!!!