Sunday, January 31, 2010

Do You Eat It?

Do You Eat It? is a decision flow-chart posted by Andy Wright on the SF Weekly Food blog.

Finally, a guide to answer one of life's most difficult questions: when can you eat something you dropped on the ground?  We all know the five second rule is SO third grade.

Based on my propensity to drop things, I figure this guide will eventually help me save hundreds of dollars... or cause me hundreds of stomach flues. Let's hope for the former.



(From ) swissmiss

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Open A Banana Like A Monkey




Open A Banana Like A Monkey is a video that has gone viral- teaching everyday folks a whole "new" way of opening a banana. Instead of struggling with the stick end- try this method of opening the banana from the bottom. A simple pinch, squeeze, split, pull. I've not witnessed an actual monkey peeling a banana... but this method certainly is easier!

(From YouTube)

Friday, January 29, 2010

Breakdancing Fingers

Breakdancing Fingers is a self-explanatory Youtube video posted by IQCrash. You will waste 1 minute of your life watching this. Watch those moves!

(From Kian)

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Posterous

Posterous is a new blogging platform that Newsweek said is "...already making Tumblr seem archaic..." Indeed, it looks hot. I've imported TOTI over there if you want to check out what it would look like on there instead of blogger:

http://todayontheinterwebs.posterous.com/

From their FAQ:

"Posterous lets you post things online fast using email. You email us at post@posterous.com and we reply instantly with your new posterous blog.
...


Posterous is NOT a micro blog. There's nothing micro about it! There are no limits to what you can post."


The design is slick, the ease of posting masterful. It auto resizes picture, figurest out links and video-sizing. I would consider switching over except they don't yet have the ability to natively schedule posts in advance. Currently if I post there, it auto reposts here, but not vice versa. Unfortunately, I need posts scheduled in advance because I now live in CST and I'm not normally awake at 12:01 PST.

(From a link off a link off a link at Kottke)

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

30 Rock Lambasts Crimson False Modesty

Famously, Harvard's noblesse oblige dictates that alumni cannot name-drop their own institution's name, and must thusly pepper speech with annoying euphemisms like, "I went to school in Boston." Tufer is a TGS staff writer who is stereotypically falsely modest and wants to desperately let everyone know that he attended Harvard. This 30 rock episode had not one but TWO occasions in which they lambast Crimson false modesty and sense of superiority.

Take 1
Take 2

If I were a betting woman, I'd guess a Tufts writer is on staff at 30 Rock.

(From CE)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures

The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures is an article on the dating site OKCupid that takes their user data and analyzes which kind of pictures get the most responses.

Interesting photos get the most conversations, intimate flirty-face shots and showing off your bodies get the most responses. A lot of results fly in the face of what we want to believe about internet dating photos.

Maybe people hate these because they're so common... and they are common because they work? This article is pure fascinating social science.

(From Peggy's Buzzfeed)

Monday, January 25, 2010

Celebrities: A Look Into the Past

Crack Two is a blog which presents various weird, funny, or historical nuggets from around the web, but the blog caught my eye when I found the collection of rare celebrity photos. Below are a couple of my favorites.

Alfred Hitchcock and children


Salvador Dali

(From Crack Two)

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Auto-appendectomy in the Antarctic: case report

Auto-appendectomy in the Antarctic: case report is an article on The BMJ (British Medical Journal) by Drs. Vladislav Rogozov and Neil Bermel. It describes the saga of Leonid Ivanovich Rogozov, who in 1961 while on expedition in Antarctica, performed a self-appendectomy. Exerpt:
"One of the expedition’s members was the 27 year old Leningrad surgeon Leonid Ivanovich Rogozov. He had interrupted a promising scholarly career and left on the expedition shortly before he was due to defend his dissertation on new methods of operating on cancer of the oesophagus. In the Antarctic he was first and foremost the team’s doctor, although he also served as the meteorologist and the driver of their terrain vehicle.

After several weeks Rogozov fell ill. He noticed symptoms of weakness, malaise, nausea, and, later, pain in the upper part of his abdomen, which shifted to the right lower quadrant. His body temperature rose to 37.5°C.1 2 Rogozov wrote in his diary:

'It seems that I have appendicitis. I am keeping quiet about it, even smiling. Why frighten my friends? Who could be of help?'
...

He chose a semi-reclining position, with his right hip slightly elevated and the lower half of the body elevated at an angle of 30°. Then he disinfected and dressed the operating area. He anticipated needing to use his sense of touch to guide him and thus decided to work without gloves.
This article begs the question, is the writer Rogozov related to the story's surgeon Rogozov? I could google it, but I'm kind of feeling lazy.

(From Kottke )

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Astronomy Picture Of The Day


Outer space is a fascinating place. From what we can see with the naked eye from our planet's surface to the images captured by NASA on other planet surfaces... it's a vast and relatively unexplored territory.

The image above is the surface of Mars. From the website:

Explanation: They might look like trees on Mars, but they're not. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The above image was taken in 2008 April near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice. When occurring near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving dark surface streaks -- streaks that might appear at first to be trees standing in front of the lighter regions, but cast no shadows. Objects about 25 centimeters across are resolved on this image spanning about one kilometer. Close ups of some parts of this image show billowing plumes indicating that the sand slides were occurring even when the image was being taken.

Be sure to check out NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Archives to see the daily picture from previous days and years. It goes back to 1995 and it's amazing to consider the difference in what we could see then and what we can see now. Compare the picture of the surface of Mars shown above to a 1995 picture.




(From NASA)

Friday, January 22, 2010

The Denzel Washington Venn Diagram

The Denzel Washington Venn Diagram is perhaps the most useless Venn Diagram ever made in the history of mankind. It's by Maxim magazine.

Also, a little bit awesome. It sums up various styles sported by the actor in various movies.

(From Lauren)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

The First Fail




The First Fail is comic on Collegehumor.com about what really went down between Adam and Eve. The Bible lied to you.

I hope this is acceptable stuff. It's my first time posting.

(From College Humor)

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Video explains the world's most important 6-sec drum loop

Video explains the world's most important 6-sec drum loop is a self explanatory video about the Amen Break.

Pretty convincing 18-minute lesson on the wonky copyright legislation, and how it unfairly crushes creativity.
It's very Lawrence Lessig. Enjoy!

(From Wilmar's friend)

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Letter of the day: Haiti suffers, and Robertson sees the hand of Satan

Photo: Pat Robertson, Sikh Times
"Letter of the day: Haiti suffers, and Robertson sees the hand of Satan" is a letter published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

You may have heard some of the less-than-kind words Pat Robertson recently said regarding the devastation in Haiti, but you may not have heard the reply. From the Devil himself:
Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.
But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.
Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"?
If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll.
You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.
Best, Satan
LILY COYLE, MINNEAPOLIS
(From NPR/Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Monday, January 18, 2010

Conversations About the Internet #5: Anonymous Facebook Employee

Conversations About the Internet #5: Anonymous Facebook Employee is an article by Phil Wong written for The Rumpus. It may or may not be fiction. The articled talks about the inner workings of Facebook, the company,

Some choice bits:
Rumpus: So in what other ways do you track behavior, that isn’t necessarily obvious to users?

Employee: We track everything. Every photo you view, every person you’re tagged with, every wall-post you make, and so forth.
...

Rumpus: You’ve previously mentioned a master password, which you no longer use.

Employee: I’m not sure when exactly it was deprecated, but we did have a master password at one point where you could type in any user’s user ID, and then the password. I’m not going to give you the exact password, but with upper and lower case, symbols, numbers, all of the above, it spelled out ‘Chuck Norris,’ more or less. It was pretty fantastic.

Rumpus: This was accessible by any Facebook employee?

Employee: Technically, yes. But it was pretty much limited to the original engineers, who were basically the only people who knew about it. It wasn’t as if random people in Human Resources were using this password to log into profiles. It was made and designed for engineering reasons. But it was there, and any employee could find it if they knew where to look.

I should also say that it was only available internally. If I were to log in from a high school or library, I couldn’t use it. You had to be in the Facebook office, using the Facebook ISP.

Rumpus: Do you think Facebook employees ever abused the privilege of having universal access?

Employee: I know it has happened in the past, because at least two people have been fired for it that I know of.



Oh Facebook. There is no quicker way to ignite the blogosphere than to juxtapose the words "facebook" and "privacy." Or maybe to write inacture details about computer science. Click through on "from" link to see what I mean about the raging discussion on metafilter.
(From Metafilter)

Sunday, January 17, 2010

What sound can do.

What sound can do. is a Youtube commercial for a sound effects and lighting firm in Milan. I'm not fond of posting commercials, I just like the idea of a smart typist baby.

(From Buzzfeed)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

First Porn, Now Video Games!

Here on TOTI, we just recently explored the world of porn with the help statistics and now, following in similar footsteps, we have video games!

Videogame Statistics
Original Source: Online Education

(Found by Darc_Oso at Neatorama)

Friday, January 15, 2010

Hipster Runoff

Hipster Runoff is "intended to be a 'culturally relevant' blog."

It's laid out like a zany online zine. Everything is way too big. What caught my attention was the linked article about the guy who "tattooed" "child molester" glasses on his face.

To anwers the questions on the bottom of the article, yes he is trying too hard. And yes this makes me kind of sick.
EDIT: The article in question was based off of a youtube video by Neverhide films which does viral marketing for RayBan. F. Y. I. it's probably a faaaaaaake. Again: trying too hard, corporate hipster douche.

(From Firmhument)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The Periodic Table of Awesoments


While I don't necessarily agree with every element (Bob Saget, for example), it is good to know that there is a table of Awesoments.

My question is... what happens when you mix the Awesoments?

Some things obviously go together well:

BaMkGr

Some compounds seem absolutely terrifying:

ShBb


(From 9GAG)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Crying Sorority Girl




Granted, this viral video made the rounds starting back in 2008. But it's just too hilarious to not resurrect!

Seems the wanna-be Alpha Chi wanted to create a special winter wonderland surprise for her potential sisterhood by spraying the hallways with the fire extinguisher. Rather than waking up to a foamy wonderland, the sisters were awakened by the blaring fire alarm. In the middle of the night. During finals week.

What else can a true friend do but record your meltdown and share it with the entire world?

(From YouTube)

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Letters of Note: Correspondences Deserving a Wider Audience

From the website: "Letters of Note is an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos. Scans/photos where possible. Fakes will be sneered at. Updated every weekday."
The image above is part of a letter written by John K., the creator of the show Ren & Stimpy. He wrote this awesome letter in response to a question from a very avid fan.

(From sheepthief on reddit.com)

Monday, January 11, 2010

Welcome our Guest Bloggers!

Dear TOTI Reader,
Extend a big welcome to our guest bloggers! I have been running a truly daily blog for a while now and it's finally become too much for one lone author.

I wanted to keep it going, so I asked a cadre of loyal readers to (each) attempt 2 TOTI entries in the coming weeks. It will big a big mystery who will come through or when.

Shhhh: Darc_Oso is up first. Give them a big hand.

Cheers,
WEB du Blag

PS: If you think you'd like to guest blog, shoot me an email.

Student Brings Typewriter To Lecture

Student Brings Typewriter To Lecture is a Break.com video showing a student who brougth a typewriter to a lecture hall instead of a laptop. WAH-WAH.

The best part about it is the "ding!" sound.
The second best part is the commentary about this video.

From Buzzfeed:
[Editor's Note: Man, lecture halls must have been so loud back in the old days.]
Buzzfeed Commenter: "Uh, nobody typed during a lecture back in the old days. We scribbled notes with a pen. In a paper notebook."
Rebutted by second commenter, "O RLY?!"

And finally, commenter from Gizmodo, "What class is this, Douchebaggery 101?" Touché.
(From Buzzfeed)

Sunday, January 10, 2010

A HEART A DAY






A HEART A DAYis a love/hate themed blog by Thomas Fuchs. He posts an image of a heart each day, except weekends.

Simple, awesome.
(From Metafilter)

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Porn by the Numbers (SFW!)

The Internet is for porn?

Porn by the Numbers (SFW!) is an infographic on buzzfeed (from asylum.com) about porn.

Who knew, Utah?
(From Buzzfeed)

Friday, January 8, 2010

Welcome to Cancerland: A Mammogram Leads to a Cult of Pink Kitsch

In honor of today's Facebook flurry of bra-color status updates and the ongoing controversy, here is an article from the perspective of a patient:

Welcome to Cancerland: A Mammogram Leads to a Cult of Pink Kitsch is an article by Barbara Ehrenreich about the commercialization of breast cancer.

"What sustained me through the "treatments" is a purifying rage, a resolve, framed in the sleepless nights of chemotherapy, to see the last polluter, along with, say, the last smug health insurance operative, strangled with the last pink ribbon. Cancer or no cancer, I will not live that long of course. But I know this much right now for sure: I will not go into that last good night with a teddy bear tucked under my arm."


Love,
The Rememberance Bear

(From TJ's friend Laura, picture from abc news)

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Slowpoke Comics

Slowpoke Comics is a comic strip by Jen Sorensen. I don't normally read comics with this much text, but this one in particular explains a lot about the recent Nobel Peace prize.

(From JenK)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Clothes Make the Man


Clothes Make the Man is an article on Philadelphia Weekly by Jonathan Valania about the president of Urban Outfitters Richard Hayne, a hippie-turned-republican.

"When PW asks Hayne about his financial support of Santorum, he initially denies it. And when presented with a computer printout of Santorum's campaign donors from the Center for Responsive Politics website--which cites a $4,650 contribution from Urban Outfitters--he responds: "I'll have to look into this. I don't think this is right." In fact, he and his wife have contributed $13,150 to Santorum and Santorum's Political Action Committee over the years."


Interesting.
(From Metafilter)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

30 Best Blogs of 2009

30 Best Blogs of 2009 is a list article on Fimoculous.

One of my favorite sites is Look At This Fucking Hipster, glad to see it made the cut. I also agree with the assessment that "no site in the past year has better personified the internet in all its complex contradictions than 4chan. "

(From kottke)

Monday, January 4, 2010

Faux Friendship


Faux Friendship
is an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education by William Deresiewicz about the rise of false friendship in the age of Facebook.

Very long, and interesting.
A study found that one American in four reported having no close confidants, up from one in 10 in 1985. The figures date from 2004, and there's little doubt that Facebook and texting and all the rest of it have already exacerbated the situation. The more people we know, the lonelier we get.


I can't decide if I'm one of those 1/4 people or not. The other day I commented at a party that I did not regularly have one-hour conversations (say, weekly or monthly) with friends, and I wondered if this was normal or not.
(From I forget, sorry)

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA - ASL Song

Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA - ASL Song is a YouTube video showcasing Stephen Torrance signing along to Miley's song. This video completely changed how I feel about this song. I want to learn the whole thing. I meant to post this up MONTHS ago. MONTHS.

I <3 you, Stephen Torrance. New gay icon.
(From Adam B.)

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Da Font

Da Font is a website for downloading free fonts. I'm not saying they're GOOD, but they sure are free. I have found quite a few fonts for friends on here; the site is perfect for parodying things.

And for everyone who doesn't subscribe to nifty design magazines.

(From JenK, the Interwebs)

Friday, January 1, 2010

Resolution Generator

Happy New Year! 2010, fresh start.

I said I'd start again Dec. 15th but the blog had its own idea.

Resolution Generator is a website for the person, like me, who never has any resolutions. It comes up with resolutions for you.

Except this year I've resolved to become a list person for at least 6 months.
(From buzzfeed)