pigeonbeaks.com

Because one things for sure - it’s probably a fair bit slower than your ISP claims it is. Check out the InternetFrog who will test your speed for you. Thanks Mr. Frog

A very interesting list at Jottings.com that presents several questions. Who was it that actually registered these domains back then (especially the first ever one) and what exactly did they plan to do with them? On several occasions entire batches of domains were registered on the same day - by the same person/organisation?

Good pub quiz question - what was the first ever registered dot com name?

From the Guardian’s “News in Brief” section:

“The Oxford University Press yesterday launched a poll to find “the word which represents the events or the moods of the 21st century”. The poll is for the OUP’s book The Language Report, which draws on the Oxford English Corpus - a database of current language from sources as varied as chat-room conversations and broadsheet newspapers, used by linguists and dictionary-makers as a new tool in charting language change. The Language Report’s own nominations for the best word or phrase include gingerism - prejudice against redheads - and prevenge - getting one’s retaliation in first”

A friend recently gave me a copy of Sublime magazine (which I really enjoyed, I’m already thinking about subscribing). It was the “Water Issue” and had some interesting articles on this most precious of resources (see “Magazine Preview > Issue 4 > Water Wars” on their website, no dedicated url unfortunately…). It also had some less serious articles, including a mention of the Innerspace Dolphin - a watercraft shaped like a Dolphin. Here’s a video clip from NBC’s Today Show:

No mention of them going into production yet which is a huge shame - as if you wouldn’t want to commute to work on those bad boys…

It’s often the unexpected things you learn which are the most satisfying. You might start learning golf and hear from your instructor about a great new Chinese restaurant near to where you live. Or you might be on your way to an art gallery to catch the latest portrait exhibition and pick up a flyer for a comedy act you never heard about. And so it was, whilst speed-reading Seth Godin’s The Bootstrapper’s Bible, that I learned about Pet Rocks:

From wikipedia: “Pet Rocks were a 1970s fad conceived in Los Gatos, California by an advertising executive, Gary Dahl. The first Pet Rocks were ordinary gray pebbles bought at a builder’s supply store and marketed as if they were live pets. The fad lasted only about six months, ending with the Christmas season in December 1975; but in its short run, the Pet Rock made Dahl a millionaire”

“In 1975, Dahl established “Rock Bottom Productions”, a company that sold the rocks for US$3.95 each. The pebbles, imported from Rosarito Beach in Baja California, Mexico, were swaddled in excelsior and nestled in a small cardboard box, similar to a pet carrier. A “Pet Rock Training Manual”, with instructions on how to properly raise and care for one’s newfound pet (notably lacking instructions for feeding), was included.

The instruction manual contained several commands that could be taught to the new pet. While “sit” and “stay” were fairly easy to accomplish, “roll over” usually required extra effort on the part of the trainer. “Come” was found to be impossible to teach reliably.”

Awesome!

It was probably about a year ago that I first heard about StumbleUpon. It got noted in the “must check it out some time” mental category, one which is hugely over-flowing. And then, like all brilliant applications it just kept getting mentioned; by friends, in news articles, bloggers, everywhere. So I finally bit the bullet and installed it; absolutely superb. How did I ever manage without it? My own internet slave, instantly ready and eager to serve me internet-zen whenever it’s wanted (which is very, very often). How else would I have found this list of the world’s most beautiful libraries?

So thanks to BoredStop.com, StumbleUpon and Flickr user “Curious Expeditions” whose photo it was. I must get round to visiting the Strahov Monestary library some day…

Not only a very cool little video (35 years of skyscraper construction lapsed into 10 seconds) but also a great little soundtrack…

I often discover artists whose work I like via blogs like BoingBoing, books like Cult Fiction, or in newspapers/magazines. One artist whom I found via Cult Fiction (which explores the relationship between comic and cartoon imagery and contemporary art) is Chad McCail, who draws one-scene pictures accompanied by slogan-like captions. I love his work and wish that I was talented enough to replicate it. Here is one such scene, from a collection entitled “Food Shelter Clothing Fuel”. It is named “People Stop Using Things” - what a great title for a picture!

I just found a great blog post by Chris Brogan (I’ll have to check out his site again, I hadn’t heard of it previous to finding it via Digg) entitled “100 blog topics I hope you write”.
It’s a great idea for a post; I like it because it’s a great way to interact with other bloggers/members of the internet community (and his blog’s tagline is “A Conversation with a Community about Digital Relationships”) so it’s a fantastic example of him doing just that.
I also like it because “Number 22 - If I were an Advertiser today” is exactly what I thought about a few nights ago. So Chris, if you’re reading, here goes:

If I were an Advertiser today, I would look to take advantage of the recent explosion (last five years) in satellite-imaging technology and the respective mapping services offered by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft etc.
Why? Because you’ve got tens of millions of pairs of eyes actively seeking out interesting landmarks/geological features/buildings etc from a new perspective - the bird’s eye view.
When these users find something interesting they share the location with other users, and we see the viral effect, usually associated with emails/photos/videos etc. and sometimes these “discoveries” end up in newspapers too (even more eyeballs).

I would take advantage by exploring methods to effectively exploit this new strategy by launching campaigns that could be seen from the sky and captured by satellite imaging:

- Huge logos on flat roofs/in fields/old quarries
- “Joke” campaigns like the recent doughnut-brandishing Homer (to promote the Simpsons film)
- Working with political parties to create politically-based campaigns

It’s not an entirely original idea, just one which I think has plenty of scope for development.

Thanks Chris for a great blog post, it’s got people responding and interacting with you, and each other.

You’ve probably seen the Lego Stephen Hawking, and if you’re an Apple fan probably like the Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak lego playset. There’s a couple of guys (The Little Artists) who make similar artistic pieces, including:

Tracey Emin’s bed

and Damien Hirst’s shark:

Prints of their work are available from their website for hardcore lego fans…