Almost Worth Knowing: What dirt and germs are your keyboard hiding?

Is your keyboard dirty?
Do slimy, invisible germs on your keyboard concern you?
Have you ever wanted to clean it, but just wished there was an easier way?

Well, now there is!

Seal's new Shield Silver Surf Antimicrobial Wireless Multimedia Keyboard and Laser Mouse Combo are Dishwasher Safe and Help to Wick the Germs Away!

Get one today!

I wonder - Do your hands get cleaner as you use it?
"Kids! It's time for dinner - Go check all your email - even the SPAM!"

Almost Worth Knowing: A Proposal for a Better Abbreviations

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, as I'm sure some of you know, and I received a number of texts wishing me a happy one. However, in the furtherance of our society's infinite laziness, most texts simply read "Happy V Day!" Well, I suggest we shorten that message even further. Especially in honor of those individuals who went out and spent last night drunk with a random someone special - Happy VD!

Almost Worth Knowing: P&G's new ad campaign...

Well, it's that time again, everybody. The Olympics are back on, and I guess I owe my faithful readers some interesting coverage.

To begin, I was watching the Opening Ceremonies tonight, and I suddenly heard "... also brought to you by P&G - Proud Sponsors of Moms." I immediately Googled it to see if I heard correctly. I did.

... not my mom...

P&G, more commonly referred to as Proctor and Gamble, is responsible for such companies as Braun, Bounty, Crest, and Gillette, among others. Curiously, P&G also once produced such classic works of American Soap Opera as As the World Turns, Guiding Light, and The Young and the Restless, though The Young and the Restless is the only soap still produced by the company.

Instead, P&G now sponsors your mom...

... which means that P&G "will help Team USA moms get to Vancouver as part of the 'P&G Thanks, Mom' program. P&G has committed to help defray the cost of travel and accommodations so that the mom behind each and every Team USA athlete can share their child's Olympic Winter Games experience." You can read more about it here.

Ultimately, it's all kinda interesting... but I bet P&G is supporting a lot more moms by continuing to produce The Young and the Restless.

On another note, I'd like to pay my respects to the Georgian Luge Athlete, Nodar Muaritashvili, who died today. It's a sad story. For those of you who are in the know, I almost tried luge myself just the other day. Seriously, this kinda casts a dark shadow over my Olympic aspirations.

Almost Worth Knowing: The Future of Animal- Referencing, Rhymed, Farewell Phrases

Too long have reptiles dominated the Rhymed Farewell Catchphrase Scene. Since I was a kid (and I'm sure since long before that) it was common knowledge that, when a person says "See you later, alligator," you reply "In a while, crocodile." Well, I say no more.

I've come up with a list of phrases referencing other phyla in the animal kingdom.

Good-bye, Magpie
Peace out, Rainbow Trout
Keep it real, Slimy Eel
Farewell, Madame Gazelle (the use of madame is ensure proper rhythm... obvi...)
Time to embark, Monsieur Aardvark (this is a great response to the previous phrase, and vice versa)
See you soon, ya Big Baboon
and my personal favorite - Take care, Panda Bear! (Koala Bear should be used when addressing Australians)

A quick search of the phrase "Take care, Panda Bear" returned a page that further had the following lines:
See you soon, Racoon!
Ta ta for now, Moo Cow!
Stay sweet, Parakeet!
If you wish, Jelly Fish!
and
Out the door, Dinosaur!

I really like the last one. Moreover, while "If you wish" is not a good-bye phrase, I imagine it still works as a response to somebody who is saying good-bye to you.

Well, that's all I've got for now. There are still a few farewell phrases without an animal counterpart, such as "gotta go" and "gotta run." Maybe you can come up with some more? Take it as a challenge. Good luck, 'cause I've been thinking about this for days... and "Gotta Go, Hippo" just sounds kinda funny.

On a different, but similar note - don't you think "Good-bye, Samurai" has a nice ring to it?

Almost Worth Knowing: A term best left in the last millennium

This April, many of us will, yet again, fill out a census form. In the United States, a census is conducted every ten years and, as a part of that, residents of the United States (citizen and non-citizen alike) are expected to include information such as race. While this same question (and term) has been included previously, it comes somewhat as a surprise that this year, Americans again have the option to be identified as "Negro."

The term Negro comes from the Latin base niger meaning black. It is also the word for black in Spanish, Portuguese, and ancient Italian. Prior to the civil rights movement, Negro was actually the polite term to use in reference to Black people, superseding the term "colored." However, the term fell out of favor, largely due to the fact that it was associated with the long history of slavery, segregation, and discrimination that treated African Americans as second class citizens, or worse. Today, it still exists in historical references as well as in the names of older organizations such as the United Negro College Fund.

Another place it can be found is Question 9 in the upcoming Census 2010 (one option for racial designation is "Black, African Am., or Negro"). The US Census Bureau has been criticized in several media publications for reviving the controversial term, with members of the public calling the word improper and unnecessary.

In the US Census Bureau's defense, however, the term "African American" was added to the form in 2000, catering to that political notion. Similarly, the term "Black" was added in 1970. Before that, the only racial signifier found on the form was "Negro." Logically, one might assume the antiquated term would be eliminated now that it has fallen to disuse and has been replaced by more politically correct terms. The US Census Bureau justifies their decision to retain the term, however, stating it is a term of inclusion and "Many older African-Americans identified themselves that way, and many still do. Those who identify themselves as Negroes need to be included." Personally, while I do not feel strongly that the term should be removed, I find the purported reasoning to be silly and think the term could easily be retired without affecting the accuracy of Census results. I doubt that there is a significant number of individuals remaining who consider themselves Negroes, but would not also be able to identify as Black or African American.

Then again, perhaps I'm wrong. All I know is that I've been waiting years for a box marked Oriental. This April, I guess I'll just have to check "Other."

Almost Worth Knowing: Conan O'Brien Leaves NBC

Though I'm sure this is not news to anybody, Conan O'Brien has left NBC, the company where he was employed, writing for SNL in 1988, to his brief stint as the Tonight Show host this past year. Time Magazine says that O'Brien went out with class, and I have to agree. The last episode ended with O'Brien shredding his axe, while Will Farrel sang and played cowbell, putting on a truly epic and ultimately fitting rendition of Freebird, the classic song by Lyrnyrd Skynyrd. Ben Harper, Beck, and Max Weinberg (of course) also joined him on stage. If you didn't get to see the last episode, you can see it here: The Tonight Show: Episode 146.

Also, as part of my duty in relating useless information, check out this interesting Taiwanese Animation summarizing the Late-Night War. It's sub-titled, but I wonder if it might not be more fun to watch without the sub-titles.

Finally, I'd just like to say that I hope Conan comes back soon. I have many fond memories of late nights in college, when I would stay up with my roommate long enough to watch Late Night with Conan O'Brien as it aired for the second time. I honestly mean it when I say that TV as we know it wouldn't be the same without him.

Answers: On a side note, I issued a challenge two entries (and an eternity) ago. Congratulations to Katie for getting 1 point. The answers are as follows:

"Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (spoken by Sherlock Holmes)

"The truth will set (make?) you free." - The Bible (John 8:32)

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde

"Truth is more stranger than fiction." Mark Twain (often misquoted as Truth is stranger than fiction)

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth." - Lenin

Almost Worth Knowing: Just For Your Enjoyment

Pretty cool Gap commercial... My favorite part is the spinning guy at 0:13!

Almost Worth Knowing: Interrobang and Other Things

Two entries ago (but some days ago), I wrote an entry in which I ask for the name of these symbols:

This mark, as Tony so correctly pointed out, is the Interrobang, a literal combination of the exclamation and question mark punctuations that basically means WTF. As pointed out by Wikipedia, "A sentence ending with an interrobang (1) asks a question in an excited manner, (2) expresses excitement or disbelief in the form of a question, or (3) asks a rhetorical question." I owe my discovery of this punctuation to Jess, who sent me this great article: The Culture of the Interrobang, which inter alia credits Martin K. Specter with the invention of the Interrobang in 1962. The term combines the Latin for question (interro-) with a proofreading term for exclamation (bang). Thanks, Jess. Thanks, Specter. Interrobang‽

On the second note, the "؟" symbol is known as both an Irony Mark and a Percontation Point. Originally, this symbol came to be in the 1580's to denote rhetorical questions in writing. Later on, it came to be used again "by the French poet Alcanter de Brahm (alias Marcel Bernhardt) at the end of the 19th century. It was in turn taken by Hervé Bazin in his book Plumons l’Oiseau (1966), in which the author proposes several other innovative punctuation marks..." Check those out on Irony Mark's Wiki. Pretty interesting...

I hope you guys found that all to be informative. Before I take my leave, check out this video. Maybe it'll leave you feeling a little interrobanged‽

Almost Worth Knowing: Should be Offended, but Can't Stop Laughing...

First off, I'd like to congratulate Doug for earning about 10 points on my challenge from two days ago. I won't bother trying to add to his answers. Congrats!

For some reason, I was inspired today to look up Vegeta's Over 9000!!! Video on YouTube. For those of you who do not know, Over 9000 is an old internet meme based on a short clip of the show Dragonball Z. I've posted my favorite remix below, but the original meme can be found here.

The actual point of today's entry, however, is not an old and obscure meme that any of my readers, who would care, have already seen. Instead, in the course of my studies, I discovered another video based around the same theme. The background is that, at some point, Oprah delivered a speech imploring her viewers to join her in stopping a pedophile ring. The ring, as it turns out, has over 9000 members. Oprah, in her speech, decided to refer to the members of the ring as "9000 penises." A video of the speech can be found here, but it became a meme when it was contrasted against the Vegeta Over 9000 video in a number of ways. The following is my favorite.

Here, the creator made a techno remix of the Oprah speech, turned it into a full song, and then created a DDR/ Stepmania level to match the music. Wow...

Almost Worth Knowing: Headphones So Expensive My Ears Aren't Worthy

First off, I won't say that these are the most expensive headphones on the market. However, I will say that Amazon.com sent me an email advertising a sale on headphones, 15-30% off. The headphones looked pretty nice, but the email didn't give me an idea of the price... I followed the link...

$123.20 (regularly $149.99)?!?


$125.94 (regularly $179.99)?!?

WTholyF!!! Really?! For that price, there better be a little Frank Sinatra clone inside singing in my ear... or at least the clone of a lesser known Backstreet Boy...

Now, I know that there are very fancy noise canceling headphones out there that cover the whole side of your head, have multiples speakers, and a bass system better than that which is now in my car.... but I highly doubt you can do that with an ear bud. So what are you in fact paying for? I don't know. The second pair don't even look good - more like little snow cones in your ear.

To top it off, the Average Customer Rating for the first pair is only a 2.5, while the Amazon rating for the latter is a decently better 3.9. Honestly, for the price these babies cost... both better have a perfect 5.

At least you can get Free Super Saver Shipping.