Month: December 2009
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Finnish Independence Day
The Finns had a rough go of it winning their independence from the USSR. It was just 70 years ago so the wounds are still fresh. The commemoration is more of a memorial in honor of those that served in the bitter civil war than the Norman Rockwell-like celebration that I am so used to…
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Friendster Ruins Uncovered
The Onion takes a crack at what future “internet archaeologists” from the “Friendster Excavation Project” discover when they run across the ruins of the ancient online civilization, Friendster.” One day users were posting a seemingly endless stream of bulletins about “awesome parties” and “cool shows” and then, nothing. Total silence. . . Their lives come to a…
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Does AppleCare Cover for That?
Blam! That was how Israeli security forces took care of Lily Sussman’s Macbook at the border. “I’m sorry. We had to blow up your laptop.” After two hours of questioning her they took her laptop out back gave it three bullets . They missed her hard drive so the data is apparently safe and reading…
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Santa Lucia
It’s cold and dark in Helsinki. Minus 10 Celsius with a bitter wind blowing off the Baltic. Snowing too. Coming down sideways, blinding at times and so cold the snow doesn’t really collect on the ground but just blows around like sawdust that squeaks when you walk on it. The sun doesn’t make an appearance until 9 am…
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Fun with Google Text-to-Speech
UPDATE: Bummer, looks like it no longer works. Fooling around with Google Translate and their 100 character Text-to-Speech engine I strung together a few lines from Eric Schmidt’s editorial in The Wall Street Journal. Image by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ via Flickr Click on the following links in order. One Two Three Four Five
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Merry Christmas from Improv Everywhere
The folks at Improv Everywhere give the Salvation Army bell guy a helping hand.
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Berlusconi Pizza with Reindeer
Finnish humor at its best. The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was famously quoted as saying he had to “endure” Finnish food during a visit several years ago. So it certainly amused me when I found out that the a Finnish pizza chain has named one of their pizzas in his honor. Thumbing their noses squarely at…