Online BS Detector
Ever wonder if some of those things that pop up in your email are real? Are people really raising kittens inside glass bottles? Did a turkey really bite President Bush in the privates? Is Starbucks really a money laundering operation for the mafia?
Fortunately for everyone, you don't have to guess. Simply go to Snopes.com and look it up. If they don't have it listed, give them a few days, it'll show up.
Most of that stuff is complete BS ... but more surprisingly, some of it is actually real. Urban legends have to start somewhere. But do yourself and everyone else a favor. Make sure to let that friend who keeps forwarding all that stuff know they should be checking Snopes before clicking the send button.
Top Blogging Host Sites
If you're looking for a place to start a blog, and don't want to invest in your own provider or bother installing software, here's a list of the major free providers out there. I created this mainly because I searched for such a list and didn't find one.
- Blogger - the original, now powered by Google goodness
- Xanga - my personal favorite, but mainly because of my friends there
- MySpace - everyone loves to hate it yet everyone is there
- LiveJournal - lots of serious journalers here!
- Vox - new kid on the block, it's feature rich and well designed
- WordPress - they make my favorite software and now do hosting too
- Yahoo 360 - well established user base, nice templates
- Windows Live Spaces - Mac and Linux users welcome too
Am I missing someone? That is, one that's free and doesn't suck? If so please let me know, I'll add it to the list!
Lizards?
Anyone out there who's interested in reptiles as pets, specifically lizards, may enjoy our spinoff website MojoLizard.com. It's only one of many new sites under the umbrella of the newly christened "GroovyMojo Media."
Why lizards? Because lizards are cool. I've been fascinated with them since childhood, and so this is my excuse for keeping up the interest. "I have to do this, you see ... I own a website dedicated to them." The end justifies the means.
Check it out if you're so inclined... And thanks for reading!
Online English-Latin Translator
If Monty Python had access to the University of British Columbia's online English-Latin Dictionary, they would have known the name "Biggus Dickus" isn't correct (it's Maximus Erectum).
This Java based translator was written by Djun M. Kim, of the University's Mathematics Department, and features a slick, fast, and uncomplicated interface.
Anyone who has a love for language will have fun looking up Latin terms, and then discovering the basis for many contemporary words.
Optimus oraculum, baby.
Science and Buddhism
Direct quote from the Dalai Lama (via GMSV) from the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, last Saturday:
"Although Buddhist contemplative tradition and modern science have evolved from different historical, intellectual and cultural roots, I believe that at heart they share significant commonalities, especially in their basic philosophical outlook and methodology.
"On the philosophical level, both Buddhism and modern science share a deep suspicion of any notion of absolutes, whether conceptualized as a transcendent being, as an eternal, unchanging principle such as soul, or as a fundamental substratum of reality.
"Both Buddhism and science prefer to account for the evolution and emergence of the cosmos and life in terms of the complex interrelations of the natural laws of cause and effect.
"From the methodological perspective, both traditions emphasize the role of empiricism. For example, in the Buddhist investigative tradition, between the three recognized sources of knowledge - experience, reason and testimony - it is the evidence of the experience that takes precedence, with reason coming second and testimony last.
"This means that, in the Buddhist investigation of reality, at least in principle, empirical evidence should triumph over scriptural authority, no matter how deeply venerated a scripture may be.
"Even in the case of knowledge derived through reason or inference, its validity must derive ultimately from some observed facts of experience."
Very interesting. Especially considering the recent endorsement of science given by the Pope himself. So what's going on in the world when major religions start nodding approval at science?
How To Get Free Books (and Good Karma)
Bookcrossing.com is a place to find books that have been read and then released into the wild. You go to the website, look up your local area, and find books that have been released by Bookcrossing members. Then it's like a treasure hunt ... will the book still be there when you arrive? Did someone beat you to it? If not, and you've found the book, you read it, then go back online and write what you thought of it. Then it's your turn to go put it somewhere, and let everyone on Bookcrossing know where you've put it.
You can sign up for alerts whenever a book has been released in your area. Then the race is on!
If you want lots of extra good karma, take some books of your own, enter them into the Bookcrossing system, and release them as well. Afterwards you can see where your book has been, and who read it, and what they thought of it.
The Internet Archive
While Google may be indexing the world's information, The Internet Archive (Archive.org) is archiving it. They're archiving entire websites from different dates; they're archiving films, audio, live music performances, books ... you name it they've got it.
My friend Dan emailed me last night, telling me he was downloading The Cabinet of Dr. Caligary, a classic silent film. So I went to check the site out and realized I'd been there before. They have incredible stuff in their library, like rare old Superman cartoons where he battles the Japanese during World War II, and even 1920's infomercials about why you should buy this newfangled thing called an "electric refrigerator." What I especially found interesting is what Archive.org calls their "Wayback Machine" (ala Mr. Peabody's time travel device) where you can go look at old versions of current websites, or even websites that don't exist anymore (anyone remember www.writtenbyme.com? It's there.)
This is a website where you could spend literally days exploring it, learning and enjoying, and still have only scratched the surface.
It's official. The Internet Archive is hereby declared Groovy.
Thanks Dan
Tool to Avoid Talking Computers
The original Star Trek somehow convinced us that we need computers that will talk to us. I mean, it seemed pretty cool. The concept of saying, "Hey, computer, do this. Do that." Yeah, the idea is good.
No one ever anticipated how annoying it would be.
Too late. Talking gizmos are everywhere, and if you dial a large company more often than not you'll end up speaking to a stupid freaking computer. It's such a problem that people have exerted significant effort to get around it. Thus the website "Dial A Human" was born: DialAHuman.com
Dial A Human is an online list of major companies, their phone numbers, and hints on the quickest way to end up speaking to a real live person. It's an indispensable reference for anyone who has to call a bank, an airline, etc.
The people who run it saw a need, built the site, and keep it updated for the good of all mankind.
Thank you, Dial A Human. Thank you.
Why Things Are the Way They Are
In the past, most couples married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide their body odor.
Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually loose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
Houses once had thatched roofs, which was thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets ... dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, etc., lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt! Hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a "thresh hold."
They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."
Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes ... for 400 years. Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers -- a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth."
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust".
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wakeup. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."
England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and reuse the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the "graveyard shift" they would know that someone was "saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer."
- From our big dusty box of classic funny emails
Happy Birthday to You in 2030
Did you know that the song "Happy Birthday to You" is copyrighted and won't go into public domain until the year 2030?
Written by two sisters while they both were teaching kindergarten, the song now brings in over $2 million dollars in royalties every year and is currently owned by AOL Time-Warner.
There's a fascinating article on it over on Snopes.com: Happy Birthday, We'll Sue.
Books by Jerry J. Davis
The Mojos
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