The Smarmy Carny

Head to Arby's on Thursday, March 9, 2006 between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. for Free Chicken Tender Day! From the looks of it, they are promising "a free Chicken Tender," so I believe you only get a single nugget-sized piece, though I could be wrong.

Head over to the Arby's Chicken Naturals page for more details. While you're there, click on "TV" and check out the fun Hulk Hogan commercial they've got.

The ESLEDBB in action!

Have you ever wished your pants could do the talking? Well, now's your chance.

Brain Buster Enterprises has created The Electronic Scrolling LED Belt Buckle. (I'm going to call it ESLEDBB for short. Won't you?) Is it electronic? Yes! Does it scroll? Yes! Does it use an LED? Yes! Is it a belt? Umm, no. Is it a buckle? Yes!

The belt allows you to store six separate messages of up to 256 characters each. I'm curious about how you change the messages. Is there some sort of keypad on the back or under a panel, or do you connect it to your computer? For $30 plus S&H, you can get your very own ESLEDBB. Batteries and directions are included, but the actual belt is not.

Head on over to the ESLEDBB webpage (and I mean webpage literally!) and check out the details.

On the website, you can also see a brief quicktime movie of the ESLEDBB in action. Spoiler Alert! The video will bring you no surprises.

And when it comes to putting messages on your pants, the possibilities are endless.

A couple weeks ago, I came up with a joke of my own that is dog-related. Therefore, here are a string of dog-related jokes. (Mine is the first one.)

Q: What type of furniture do dogs prefer to relax in?
A: A Barkalounger.

Q: What's worse than a shaggy dog howling outside your window all night long?
A: Two shaggy dogs howling outside your window all night long.

Q: Where do dogs park their cars?
A: In the barking lot.

Q: Where do you find a dog with no legs?
A: Right where you left him.

Guy: My dog has no nose.
Girl: That's terrible! How does he smell?
Guy: Awful.

Got any more dog jokes? Feel free to comment and add your own!

Jason McElwain, a Greece student, is also the student assistant for his high school basketball team. He is also diagnosed as "highly functioning autistic."

After Jason's team gained a substantial lead, Jason entered the game and promptly airballed a three-pointer. He then missed a layup. After that, however, Jason hit six three-pointers, tying a team record in just ten minutes of play.

You can also view another video report at break.com

Tonight, I discovered a neat project that goes on each year in the Buffalo area called Faces of Buffalo.

First, you print out a 2006 Self Portrait Response Form. Then, create a self-portrait of your face using crayons, markers, paint — any media other than photographs. The 1,000 or so self-portraits are then combined into a mosaic of a buffalo. Be sure to check out their website to see and order past year's mosaics. Sales benefit charity.

Creativity is encouraged, but skill is not. The nature of this project is not to obtain the highest quality self-portraits, but instead to create a high level of participation in this community project. In fact, the website states that "Brian Nesline was inspired to create a bridge between artists, non-artists and art itself."

I think I'll try and participate this year. Perhaps I could roll this into my practice to create some abstract art this year.

This week's site is What Should I Read Next?

Though the interface is clunky and the results are questionable, the idea is fun. You add a list of your favorite books and the site suggests some additional reading material for you. If nothing else, brainstorming a list of your favorite books is worth the trouble.

One awful thing about the site as it is currently set up is that when you search, you get just one result. Thus, if you search for a book with the word Love in the title by an author whose name you have forgotten, typing "Love" in the title field returns only one entry: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. This is almost certainly not the selection you were searching for. Even more distressingly, if you leave the title field blank and enter "Kurt Vonnegut" in the author field, you still get only one result: Slaughterhouse 5. It would be much more useful to display a list of Vonnegut classics to select all at once.

One nice feature is the ability to pick and choose which of your favorite books you use to generate your list each time. You can pick only the sci-fi comedy books to see what type of results you get, or you can choose to select all of your favorites for a grab bag of suggestions. I find that the results seem to be much more useful when selecting a large number of favorites. Selecting one book rarely brings up additional books by the same author, for some strange reason. It seems perfectly natural to me that if I select a Douglas Adams book that I might want to read more of his work.

Perhaps I'll write to the site with some of these somewhat-constructive criticisms. What Should I Read Next? has the potential to be something big — no, something huge. Despite my issues here, I visit there regularly, and I suggest you do the same . . . particularly if you're looking to build a reading list for yourself.

As for my issues with the site, I encourage you to read the post comments. Andrew Chapman, who is affiliated with What Should I Read Next, has posted a response to some of my complaints. It's certainly worth reading.

Fluffy the Destroyer

Here's a quick post for Foto Friday. This is Fluffy. He is the Destroyer of Worlds. This has long since been one of my favorite pictures that travels the web.

Not only does he appeal to me and the "Animals will one day rule the universe, as soon as they develop opposable thumbs" groups out there, but it also appeals to the animal lovers, as they deem this ruthless dictator to be "cute."

That's exactly what Fluffy wants you to believe . . . until he orders your head chopped off in the presence of your loved ones.

Of course, while we're on this subject (again), allow me to direct you to read the lyrics of Ookla the Mok's "Animal Uprising."

Oh, and while we're on this other topic, allow me to direct you to read the lyrics of Dan Bern's "Opposable Thumb."