A beat-box version of Peter and the Wolf. Very cool, and very skillful. Rigth from the Youtube page:

Beatboxing flute player Greg Pattillo throwing down a dope version of the Peter and the Wolf.

Procrastinate Much? Well David Seah has just the fix for you. It’s the Procrastinator’s Clock!

Now, the problem is that you know that I know you know you’ve already set your clock ahead, so you cleverly take this into account and end up being even later. It’s a vicious circle. What we need is a way to channel fear and anxiety positively, while keeping you from getting too comfortable with your clock.

Enter the Procrastinator’s Clock. It’s guaranteed to be up to 15 minutes fast. However, it also speeds up and slows down in an unpredictable manner so you can’t be sure how fast it really is. Furthermore, the clock is guaranteed to not be slow, assuming your computer clock is sync’d with NTP; many computers running Windows and Mac OS X with persistent Internet connections already are.

This clock keeps you on your toes because you’ll never truly know if the clock is 15 minutes ahead or not. Of course, you could cheat and peak at your regular computer clock – but that doesn’t help you wanting to fix your procrastination much does it? I know I’ll be giving this clock a try.

I featured this on my company blog but I had to throw it up here too.

For most, there is no crueler day of the calendar year than that of Valentine’s Day. While a tiny fraction of the population can look forward to a holiday of wine and roses, poetry and song, the vast majority of us can anticipate a day of nausea and grimacing, trauma and grief. A day in which minutes seem like hours, and hours like days, as we reflect sorrowfully on yesteryear’s romantic indignities, today’s loneliness, and the unknowable but certain heartbreak that will be visited upon us repeatedly in the years to come.

“Dysfunctional” sayings include:
RUMORS TRUE | PRENUP OKAY? | HE CAN LISTEN | GAME ON TV
CALL A 900# | P.S. I LUV ME | DO MY DISHES | UWATCH CMT
PAROLE IS UP! | BE MY YOKO | U+ME=GRIEF | I WANT HALF
RETURN 2 PIT | NOT MY MOMMY | BE MY PRISON | C THAT DOOR?

Gotta love Demotivators.

All but one of the photos featured on Neatorama’s “13 Photographs That Changed the World” are from the past century. All of them are extremely powerful; some are extremely graphic (”Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief” and “Hindenburg”) or very amusing (”Loch Ness Monster” a.k.a. “The Surgeon’s Photo” and “Einstein with his Tongue Out”).

I’m sure you’ll find each has it’s amazing aspects, but here are two of my favorites:

The Photograph That Made the Surreal Real
“Dalí Atomicus”
Philippe Halsman, 1948

Philippe Halsman is quite possibly the only photographer to have made a career out of taking portraits of people jumping. But he claimed the act of leaping revealed his subjects’ true selves, and looking at his most famous jump, “Dalí Atomicus,” it’s pretty hard to disagree.

The photograph is Halsman’s homage both to the new atomic age (prompted by physicist’ then-recent announcement that all matter hangs in a constant state of suspension) and to Dalí’s surrealist masterpiece “Leda Atomica” (seen on the right, behind the cats, and unfinished at the time). It took six hours, 28 jumps, and a roomful of assistants throwing angry cats and buckets of water into the air to get the perfect exposure.

But before settling on the “Atomicus” we know today, Halsman rejected a number of other concepts for the shot. One was the idea of throwing milk instead of water, but that was abandoned for fear that viewers, fresh from the privations of World War II, would condemn it as a waste of milk. Another involved exploding a cat in order to capture it “in suspension,” though that arguably would have been a waste of cats.

Halsman’s methods were as unique as they were effective. His celebrity “jump” portraits appeared on at least seven Life magazine covers and helped usher in a new – and radically more adventurous – era of portrait photography.

The Photograph That Isn’t as Romantic as You Might Think
“V-J Day, Times Square, 1945″, a.k.a. “The Kiss”
Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1945

On August 14, 1945, the news of Japan’s surrender was announced in the United States, signaling the end of World War II. Riotous celebrations erupted in the streets, but perhaps none were more relieved than those in uniform. Although many of them had recently returned from victory in
Europe, they faced the prospect of having to ship out yet again, this time to the bloody Pacific.

Among the overjoyed masses gathered in Times Square that day was one of the most talented photojournalists of the 20th century, a German immigrant named Alfred Eisenstaedt. While snapping pictures of the celebration, he spotted a sailor “running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight.” He later explained that, “whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn’t make any difference.”

Of course, a photo of the sailor planting a wet one on a senior citizen wouldn’t have made the cover of Life, but when he locked lips with an attractive nurse, the image was circulated in newspapers across the country. Needless to say, “V-J Day” didn’t capture a highly anticipated embrace by long-lost lovers, but it also wasn’t staged, as many critics have claimed. In any case, the image remains an enduring symbol of America’s exuberance at the end of a long struggle.

Here are the top ten foods for a good night’s sleep according to Yahoo:

What is the secret to getting a solid 7 to 8 hours of sleep? Head for the kitchen and enjoy one or two of these 10 foods. They relax tense muscles, quiet buzzing minds, and/or get calming, sleep-inducing hormones – serotonin and melatonin – flowing. Yawning yet?

Bananas. They’re practically a sleeping pill in a peel. In addition to a bit of soothing melatonin and serotonin, bananas contain magnesium, a muscle relaxant.

Chamomile tea. The reason chamomile is such a staple of bedtime tea blends is its mild sedating effect – it’s the perfect natural antidote for restless minds/bodies.

Warm milk. It’s not a myth. Milk has some tryptophan – an amino acid that has a sedative – like effect – and calcium, which helps the brain use tryptophan. Plus there’s the psychological throw-back to infancy, when a warm bottle meant “relax, everything’s fine.”

Honey. Drizzle a little in your warm milk or herb tea. Lots of sugar is stimulating, but a little glucose tells your brain to turn off orexin, a recently discovered neurotransmitter that’s linked to alertness.

Potatoes. A small baked spud won’t overwhelm your GI tract, and it clears away acids that can interfere with yawn-inducing tryptophan. To up the soothing effects, mash it with warm milk.

Oatmeal. Oats are a rich source of sleep – inviting melatonin, and a small bowl of warm cereal with a splash of maple syrup is cozy – plus if you’ve got the munchies, it’s filling too.

Almonds. A handful of these heart-healthy nuts can be snooze-inducing, as they contain both tryptophan and a nice dose of muscle-relaxing magnesium.

Flaxseeds. When life goes awry and feeling down is keeping you up, try sprinkling 2 tablespoons of these healthy little seeds on your bedtime oatmeal. They’re rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a natural mood lifter.

Whole-wheat bread. A slice of toast with your tea and honey will release insulin, which helps tryptophan get to your brain, where it’s converted to serotonin and quietly murmurs “time to sleep.”

Turkey. It’s the most famous source of tryptophan, credited with all those Thanksgiving naps. But that’s actually modern folklore. Tryptophan works when your stomach’s basically empty, not overstuffed, and when there are some carbs around, not tons of protein. But put a lean slice or two on some whole-wheat bread mid-evening, and you’ve got one of the best sleep inducers in your kitchen.

Ahhh… I’m a notorious midnight eater. I’ll pick out the most random stuff (like noodles and cottage cheese with a side of salsa and chips). It’s a hit or miss whether or not I get a good night’s sleep that night either. Hopefully, this special little diet supplement will help. So, for you midnight munchers out there: what do you eat before you go to sleep?

For those of us who are more interested in the time in between the game, here is a collection of all the Super Bowl commercials.

Laugh away!

My favorite so far:

If you weren’t already aware, I’m a pretty big Monty Python fan. Well… more than big… maybe “huge” describes it. I own every season of Flying Circus on DVD and nearly every movie they’ve made. Our family has seen Spamalot and loved it… we even bought “the coconuts“.

So, when I found this South Park tribute to Flying Circus on YouTube, I just couldn’t help but love it. I hope every fellow Monty Python fan loves this reenactment of the Parrot sketch as much as I did. Watch Kenny pining for the fjords:

Of course no one can beat the original. Watch it after the jump. Keep reading this »