Category: Worth a Quick Look

Baby Name Time – Part Deux

Yes indeed, we’re making a list and checking it twice.  I wrote previously about a neat interface on the Internet for finding name frequency data at a site called the NameVoyager, and I still value the site’s data.  But another site has taken things a step further, and not only provided frequency data but also recommendations.  You can pick a few seed names and see what else comes up.  It is called Nymbler (thanks for the tip Darcy!)

Want to see our short list?  Yeah, me too.  We’ve narrowed each sex down to 20 or so names that we don’t dislike.  Is our future child’s name on the list?  Hard to say.  There are a few I really like but Alisa’s nose wrinkles every time I mention them.  So those don’t look so viable, if you catch my drift.

Ah, this is the fun part!  It is merely deciding the very first and strongest impression your child will make on people, even in their physical absence.  No problem.

Song Chart Memes – Great Pop Culture Puzzles

I’ve just been introduced to an on-going meme on Flickr where people are creating graphical representations of song lyrics.  It sounds simple, but there seems to be a real art to getting it done correctly.  Here’s a link to the entire Flickr photostream if you’re bored.  Here are two favorites – can you guess the song names?

One Mind, One Body?

Try this, see how in sync your mind and body are.

  1. Sit on a chair and lift your right foot off the ground.  Start rotating it in clockwise circles
  2. While doing this, draw the number ‘6’ in the air with your right hand.

How’s the foot rotation doing – any turbulence?

A little research of the web tells me this isn’t a new trick – but it is new to me.  With a little concentration I seem to get better at it.  Maybe when I’m in a more relaxed state of mind I’ll have more success.

The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard

20 minutes.  That’s all I ask for.  A brief introduction, a story if you will, about the stuff we have in our lives.  Consumption is a national pastime in our culture and I believe we need to take responsiblity for that.  Oh, I also believe we need to change that.  Don’t run away, there’s cartoons!

I particularly like her Radio Shack analogy.  Yes, the radio costs me $4.99 – but was it really that cheap to make?  If it wasn’t that cheap, who actually paid the rest of the cost?

The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard

Know Anyone With A Nalgene Water Bottle?

Looks like those plastic water bottles might not be so good for your health. Plastic baby bottles too …

Mountain Equipment Co-op is pulling them off their shelves as we speak – proactively. Nothing proven yet but the concen is there.

Here’s a Wikipedia article that provides a little more info on the Nalgene connection – some of their bottles contain less of the suspect chemicals than others.

As for using the bottles out of their intended temperature operating ranges … I don’t know of anyone using the obttles for freezing water, do you?  Is that out of their intended operating range I wonder.

Arrrr, Eh – RCMP Don’t Want To Go After The Common Canadian “Pirate”

The RCMP apparently have figured out that there are better ways to spend their time than by chasing down individuals for alleged copyright infringement.  Assuming for a second that making copies of music works is illegal (which it isn’t necessarily in Canada), then this decision makes sense.  A lot of time and money can be poured into trying to sue someone for copyright infringement – resources better spent finding bigger fish to fry.

This post is also interesting in that it lets you see the Google Translate in action. It presents you with an interesting ability to hover over the translated text and see the original text.  We all know translations are never perfect, and with this service you can even make suggestions for a better translation right there on the translated page.  Very nice translation feature, Google.