web-goddess

Month: February 2008

  • Oscar Contest is CLOSED!

    The web-goddess Oscar Contest 2008 is now CLOSED for new entries! The awards show is about to begin. I’ll be updating scores as often as I can over the next few hours. You’ll be able to see how you’re doing on the results page. And remember to count the dead people for me! Thanks…

    Update: And it’s all over! Congratulations to Gerald Granozio, who takes out the top prize this year. There was actually a five-way tie for first between Gerald, Brinton Callaghan, Jeremy Muir, Kevan Tucker, and Terry Rutherford, all of whom got 11 out of 12 correct. It came down to the dead-people tie-breaker then, which this year ended up being 43. Gerald guessed 42, just beating out Kevan who guessed 45. I think this was our closest contest ever! Thanks to everybody who entered.

    Even later: Wow! It turns out that Gerald is a bit of a ringer. 🙂

  • Starship Kimchi

    “Starship Kimchi: A Bold Taste Goes Where It Has Never Gone Before.” The first Korean astronaut is getting ready to go up to the ISS, and he’ll be taking specially designed space kimchi with him.

    “Ordinary kimchi is teeming with microbes, like lactic acid bacteria, which help fermentation. On Earth they are harmless, but scientists feared they could turn dangerous in space if cosmic rays and other radiation cause them to mutate.”

    I, for one, welcome our new mutant space kimchi overlords.

    (Link courtesy of the Snook, who got it from Toast.)

  • Non-Anonymous Blogging

    “Blog under your real name, and ignore the harrassment.” That’s a nice little article on the importance of using your real name on the Web. I had a few people tell me that my whole drama with anonymous trolls last week wouldn’t have happened if I were quieter about who I am and what I do. “Why can’t you just have a journal in a locked drawer?” I can understand their bewilderment, especially those who aren’t that Internet-savvy. It comes down to this: I like to talk and I like to write. For whatever reason, I feel compelled to put my life out there for friends, family, and whoever to learn about. I’ve been doing this for eight years now, and the benefits far, far outweigh the occasionally annoyances. I’ve made friends – real “in person” friends – from around the world. I’ve gotten some amazing opportunities. I’ve met some of my heroes. I’ve got a community here that I can count on. That’s why I do this. I made a decision early on – way before I started blogging, in fact – that I was going to be transparent about who I am online. And if people don’t like it, they can get stuffed. 🙂

  • Sock Monkeys at School

    Wow! I just found out that a class of sixth graders will be using my sock monkey tutorial this week as part of a unit on, you guessed it, sock monkeys! Neat. Hello, middle-schoolers!

  • Best of Bootie 2007

    Oh man. Why did it take me so long to listen to the Best of Bootie 2007? IT RULES. I’ve used it for my last two runs and it’s been awesome. I nearly fell over when the Star Wars sound effects kicked in. I also really like the “Tender Umbrella” mashup. Highly recommended.

  • Knitting a Country

    Even if you’re not a knitter, I really recommend this week’s Sticks and String podcast. David’s essay about last week’s apology by the Australian government was one of the best bits of writing I’ve heard about it, and it’s a good explanation of what it was all about (for those from other countries).

  • DB Book SCORE!

    I’m almost embarrassed to post this, but I just picked up a copy of Debbie Bliss’s The Baby Knits Book at Borders in the city for $3.95. Some, uh, knitting stores sell it for a lot more. Like, $80 more. Ahem. Anyway, all the copies they had on the shelf are now gone (sorry!), but you might get lucky at one of their other locations…

    Update! I’ve just been told that they have more stock at the Bondi and Macquarie locations.

  • Snow Chunk Nomenclature

    Great AskMefi Today: What do you call those big clumps of snow that accumulate in your car’s wheel wells? In my Indiana family, they were always “car boogers.”

  • Duckworth-Lewis

    The Duckworth-Lewis Method explained. Neat! The DL Method is a system for deciding which side in a cricket match wins when the game has to be cut short (for weather or darkness). I always wondered how it worked.

  • lowercase L

    lowercase L. It’s a blog that collects photos of people’s hand-written signs where they’ve capitalized all the letters except for “L”. It doesn’t sound like much of a phenomenon to me, but I’m sure I’ll start seeing them everywhere now… (Link courtesy of Daring Fireball.)