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  • Project D.U.

    Seen via Compendium, SBC’s new RSS reader: Project D.U.. I guess D.U. stands for Digital Universe.

    proj·ect · d. u.
    (noun) 1. a reader populated with headlines pulled from across the web.
    2. relater of news and rumors
    3. hiding place for next month’s topic of conversation.
    4. the center of your Digital Universe. Synonyms: middleman, informant, eavesdropper.

    First off, the site. It feels like it is trying way too hard to be ‘Hip’. Almost all the buttons you can click are animated in some way. Luckily none of them burst into flames. Next, the Project D.U. Reader. I personally found it to be pretty lame in a bunch of ways.

    • The interface leaves much to be desired. It just feels clunky.
    • When you look at the lists of posts for a blog it only shows you excerpts, even if the blog provides full posts. Clicking on their ‘read more’ link opens up the actual post .

    • No way to export your subscriptions.
    • No support for enclosures.
    • Kinda slow and clunky.
    • When it couldn’t resolve a hostname right away it told me that the feed was bad.

    • Project D.U. is a stupid name.

    And as I was about to close my browser window on the site, I noticed this on their about page:

    One of the best features of this site, not unlike the advent of color television, is the Project D.U. Reader. It’s filled with headlines from some of the best blogs you’ve never heard of. In fact, we’ve spent hundreds, maybe thousands of hours scouring the web, trying to find the most intriguing sites the world has to offer. To be fair, we pay the favored blogs a bit each month for the right to use their stuff. But we don’t edit what they say, that would be a very un-fun read.

    Wait, they are paying the blogs they list money?? How can I get in on that racket.

  • Looking for a Date? Try a Wingwoman

    There’s an article in the New York Times today about Wingwomen.com. It’s a service where you rent a woman to help you meet other women.

    Are You With Him? Why Yes, Want to Date Him?

    10Wing.1842
    … When he expressed no interest in the next woman she pointed to, a brunette in a preppy sweater, Ms. Frenkel shrugged. “He’s the man, whatever he wants,” she said. “It is not about me.” Then Mr. Blumberg gestured toward the bar area. “What about that Kylie Minogue look-alike over there?” A moment later the couple headed over.

    Ms. Frenkel was not on a date with Mr. Blumberg, in pursuit of a kinky threesome; she was on the clock. A 29-year-old graduate student, she is one of a dozen women who work for a New York-based Web site called Wingwomen.com, earning up to $30 an hour to accompany single men to bars and help them chat up other women. The Web site’s founder, Shane Forbes, a computer programmer, started it in December after realizing he had more success with women when he went to clubs with female friends. “Every time I was with them, I would meet women,” he said.

    The wingwoman is the latest twist on the wingman, that devoted male sidekick who helps a buddy pick up women at bars and clubs. Originally a “Top Gun” kind of term that referred to a pilot flying protectively behind his squadron leader, its more recent meaning entered popular culture around 1996 through the movie “Swingers,” about two men road-tripping to Las Vegas, serving as each other’s wingmen in attempted conquests. [more] [nytimes.com]

  • reason #5

    Reason #5 Katamary Damacy rocks: You can roll up cows. They Moo. Reason #4 is the music for the game.

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    If you haven’t seen this game, check out this clip of the gameplay.

  • It’s All About the Cheese

    Even drug abusers know that cheese rocks:

    Drug abusers target cheese

    ST. JOHN’S  —  Police in St. John’s say drug abusers trying to pay for their habits has led to a thriving black market for cheese.

    The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary says stealing and reselling food from supermarkets and other stores to support addictions is becoming quite common.

    Earlier this week, they say a man threatened to stab people with a hypodermic needle in the parking lot of a supermarket.

    Staff Sgt. June Layden says he was holding a number of blocks of cheese when police arrested him “Right now we believe it was between 12 and 16 blocks, quite a quantity of cheese,” she says.

    Patrick Corrigan, 26, is charged with theft and assault in connection with the incident.

    Layden says cheese theft is a growing problem in this province — and that the people stealing it need quick money to buy drugs like OxyContin.

    “From speaking with a number of people yesterday including some employees at some of our larger supermarkets … they are finding people are coming in and stealing it by blocks,” she says. [read more] [via lonita.links.log]

  • Everyone Loves the Chocolate

    From the warped minds at weebls-stuff.com: Choccy
    chocolate.jpg
    Warning, may cause nightmares or chocolate cravings.

  • Two Types of Sperm

    Just the text of this clip alone is bound to give me some good search traffic.

    Japanese men’s sperm comes in 2 types
    Japanese men’s sperm concentration changes seasonally and is categorized in two types according to the season when it becomes more concentrated, research jointly conducted by two universities revealed. [via Medical News Today]

  • Ever Wonder What the Worst Jobs Are?

    My friend Selma pointed me at this article from Popular Science that covers the worst jobs in science.

    The Worst Jobs in Science

    From fart sniffer to postdoc, the most torturous ways to make a living in science.

    October 2003

    Ah, science! Ennobling. Fascinating. Deeply challenging. Also, dangerous, gross and mind-bogglingly boring. We at Popular Science are sometimes brought up short by the realization that there are aspects of science—entire jobs, even—that, when you strip away the imposing titles and advanced degrees, sound at best distasteful and at worst unbearable. Having chosen last month our second annual Brilliant 10 — a group of dynamic researchers making remarkable discoveries—we turned to this pressing question: For the rest out there, just how bad can a science job get?

    The answer: Really, really bad.

    We solicited nominations from more than a thousand working scientists and culled the list for the most noxious. Then we voted. Which is to say, there is absolutely nothing scientific about the ranking of the worst jobs in science that appears on these pages; it is simply the collective opinion of a group of alternately awestruck and disturbed editors who rarely suffer anything worse on the job than keyboard- induced repetitive-motion syndrome. [Popular Science]

    Um. Ew. I don’t think I could ever see some kid saying they’d want to do any of these when they grow up.

  • I really really want these slippers

    TYV12021Cthulhu Plush Slippers. I wonder what sounds one gets from stepping on Cthulhu’s face repeatedly. I wonder if anyone else carries these too, must look. [via Neil Gaiman]

  • Maybe If I Share It…

    trevor-animatedMaybe if I share this with the world it will get out of my head. Those wonderful wacky people at weebls have a little cartoon that I’m finding more addicting than Badgers. I mean, Everyone Love Magical Trevor. He makes cows disappear than reappear! I blame ladysissyphususerinfo for my knowledge of this.

     

  • Come Forth, Seratonin! Appear Dopamine!

    valerianRelaxation Combat Team Valerian, at your service! That seems to be the battle cry of these superheros in a new creation by CLAMP called Sweet Valerian. I personally think this is just further evidence of drug use on the part of people producing anime. This show is like the Powerpuff Girls on Acid and E at the same time. In the second episode they fight a cell phone monster and defeat it by drowning it in water. My brain hurts.