Okay, this is classic… a parody on Tickle-Me-Elmo. It’s hilarious if you’re familiar with the Emo movement. Enjoy!

(requires Adobe Flash plugin… click HERE to watch it on YouTube)

The Sydney Morning Herald has a great piece on a computer malfunction that showed up during the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing. The dreaded “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD), familiar to Windows XP users, was projected on the stadium ceiling when one of the display computers crashed. Here’s one of the images:

It seems that Lenovo (the PC supplier for the games) chose Windows XP instead fo Vista. From the article:

Lenovo chairman, Yang Yuanqing, was quoted as saying that because of the complexity of the IT functions at the Games, it was decided to not use the the more recent operating system. “If it’s not stable, it could have some problems,” he said.

Ironically, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates was in the crowd (he can run but he can’t hide).

Gizmodo has some more images and links to the incident.

We recently went and looked at the new Chevy Tahoes… of course with OnStar. Rob was nice enough to point out this video parody called BlondeStar

(requires Adobe Flash plugin… click HERE to watch it on YouTube)

For every major event in the news, there’s someone who believes it’s a conspiracy… so why would the attack on the Death Star be any different? The guys over at Debunking911 have a great satiracal piece about this monumental Star Wars event; it was an inside job.  It’s funniest if you (a) actually remember Star Wars, (b) are kind of a nerd, and (c) are familiar with “real” conspiracy theories (like the ones surrounding 9/11… video: 1, 2, 3, 4).

And so the Death Star conspiracy goes:

We’ve all heard the “official conspiracy theory” of the Death Star attack. We all know about Luke Skywalker and his ragtag bunch of rebels, how they mounted a foolhardy attack on the most powerful, well-defended battle station ever built. And we’ve all seen the video over, and over, and over, of the one-in-a-million shot that resulted in a massive chain reaction that not just damaged, but completely obliterated that massive technological wonder.

Like many, I was fed this story when I was growing up. But as I watched the video, I began to realize that all was not as it seemed. And the more I questioned the official story, the deeper into the rabbit hole I went.

Read the full story HERE.

My friend Rob (whom I share an office at work with) made the mistake of sending me the following picture, which I couldn’t resist turning into a motivational poster. I’m just having trouble coming up with the perfect tag line… Comments welcome.

… and my favorite:

… guess who lost?

(requires Adobe Flash plugin… click HERE to watch it on YouTube)

It’s been said that managing engineers is like trying to herd cats: we’re independent, suspicious, and we only do things because we want to. I was reminded this week about a great ad that aired during the SuperBowl a few years back… all about cat herding. Enjoy!

(requires Adobe Flash plugin… click HERE to watch it on YouTube)

It’s like a scene out of the movie Madagascar… from the Associated Press:

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Amsterdam police say 15 camels, two zebras and an undetermined number of llamas and potbellied swine briefly escaped from a traveling Dutch circus after a giraffe kicked a hole in their cage.

Police spokesman Arnout Aben says the animals wandered in a group through a nearby neighborhood for several hours after their 5:30 a.m. breakout.

The animals were back at the circus later Monday after being rounded up by police and circus workers with the assistance of dogs. Aben says neighbors fed some of the animals — which he said was a bad idea — but they were tame and nobody was hurt.

I have to agree with Bruce Schneier, “Are llamas really that hard to count?”.

Well, the French saved our butts during the Revolutionary War… I’ll give them credit for that (read more on Wikipedia). However, I still like to poke fun at them. Happy 4th!!!

This is for all you Office Space fans (me included)…

… and here’s the classic scene that inspired this poster:

(requires Adobe Flash plugin… click HERE to watch it on YouTube)