Coffee Klatch

Okay, this is simply amazing! I think these guys majored in Ping Pong in college!

Download Day for Firefox 3 is Tuesday, June 17! Put it on your calendar and be ready to download the new version of Firefox and help them break the world record!

Here’s a cool online clock. It’s called the Human Clock and it features pictures of people with numbers. You can set your own time zone and then any time you view the page, you see the time in the form of a picture that someone uploaded. Yes, you can upload your own pictures, too, and add them to the mix. So if you’ve got a favorite landmark, building, pet, person, or whatever, just take a picture of it with a time showing somewhere and submit it.

Current music: Days of Future Passed, by The Moody Blues

Ever wonder when different foods are in “peak season” around the country? Look no further. Epicurious has put together a dynamic map of the United States that shows what foods are grown in each state and are fresh (hitting their peak each month). Just pick a month and click on a state to see what foods are grown there and are being harvested that month. As you mouse over the various “ingredients,” you have popups that allow you to get descriptions and recipes that use the item as an ingredient. Pretty handy if you’re interested in cooking with local ingredients that are at their freshest.

Visit the Seasonal Ingredient Map to get started (and thanks to Topher for finding this).

Today I found out about Last.fm. I’m not sure how I went this long without hearing about it. It’s another music program, but one that’s integrated social networking tools. It can work with most music players–you just have to download the plugin and it self-detects the players you have installed.

You can use Last.fm to track the music you play, connect with other people who have similar music interests, and get recommendations for other music you might like. As with most social software sites, you can also tag songs, artists, etc., and share playlists with your friends. RSS feeds and embedding tools are built in as well and the artist info pages are wiki-based, so you can add your own information to information about the artist and their music.

My Last.fm profile is at http://www.last.fm/user/spfitzinger/. This will show the music and artists I’ve been listening to as well other information about my recent music and friend connections. If you use Last.fm or decide to give it a try, you can visit my profile and add me as a friend.

Morris was in his usual place in the morning sitting at the table, reading the paper after breakfast. He came across an article about a beautiful actress who was about to marry a football player. The player was known primarily for his lack of IQ, common sense, and that he leaned toward the unattractive side of the fence.

He turned to his wife Sherry, with a look of question on his face. “You know, I’ll never understand why the biggest, ugliest jerks always get the most attractive wives.”

His wife replied, “Why thank you, dear!”

Thank You for Calling the Counseling Hotline!

Please listen carefully to the following simple instructions:

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If you have a Nervous Disorder, just fidget with the Pound Button until a representative comes on the line.

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If you are Obsessive-Compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

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If you are Codependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.

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If you have Multiple Personalities, press 3, 4, 5, and 6.

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If you are Delusional, press 7, and your call will be transferred to the Little People in Zone 8.

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If you are Schizophrenic, listen carefully, and the voices will tell you which number to press.

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If you are Paranoid, we know who you are. Stay on the line so we can finish tracing your call.

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If you have Amnesia, press 8…. Thank you. Please state your name, address, phone number, date of birth, social security number, and your mother’s maiden name.

I often hear people say that something was decimated. It seems to be used when a building or a town or a large group of people (army, community, etc.) is severely damaged, totally ruined, or having lots of people killed. Just this morning I heard it again on the news, talking about a factory that was totally destroyed by fire, and saying that the building had been “decimated.”

Originally, the word was decimare (deci- is the prefix for ten), which referred to the Roman custom of punishing mutinous legions by standing them all up and killing every tenth soldier.

While I still think of the original definition by default, the American Heritage Dictionary says that 66% of their panel accepted the definition of the killing of a large proportion of a group. But that’s specifically referring to killing. When the definition is expanded to include destruction that isn’t killing, only 26% of their panel said that was appropriate.

Current music: Neroli, by Brian Eno