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Election Results for St. Cloud, MN

2010-11-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

Local, County and District
Local and School Board Results
Local and State Judicial

State
District 15A State Representative
District 15B State Representative
District 15 State Senate
Local and State Judicial
Attorney General
State Auditor
Secretary of State
Governor

Federal
US Representative

YAY!

2008-02-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

I just got my new motherboard after Newegg sent me a bad one. I'm having fun with my:
Windows Vista Ultimate
4GB RAM
160GB + 80GB Hard Drives
Pentium D 3.0GHz Processor
nVidia 7200GT SLI Graphics Cards

So really there is no reason to be posting right now, as I could be using my sweet computer!

I now present, Jeff Dunham and the Dead Terrorist

2008-02-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

Are you kidding? I'd kill you for a Klondike bar.

Street lights!

2008-02-04T22:24:00.000-08:00

Before I start, I want to say that I would like to start posting every day. I may try for a few days. I might have the strength to think up some stuff once in a while. And I just might type it into this little white box, so the rest of you can read it in a nice blue/teal/aqua (whatever you want to call it) box. Maybe...

Anyway, the reason I am posting today is to be crabby. Every single day, on my way to work, I come to this intersection. For some reason the streetlight is always red. There is probably a reason though. It seems, that this particular light favors the one direction of traffic that has no cars to be seen for miles. All of the other three directions of traffic are stuck because this light has to be dumb and give a solid green light and a green arrow to NOBODY! It seems like a simple technology could be put into place so that streetlights would know which lanes have cars, and which don't. I could do it with a webcam and my laptop, I'm sure the government could figure out a way to make "smart" lights.

GGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Make the lights stop being stupid!!!

Ah crap, I left the sweet picture I made to describe this on another computer.

Hedge trimming 101

2007-12-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

(2007, Ontario, Canada) Recently a patient was rushed into the hospital, needing a surgeon to reattach the tips of his fingers to his left hand. While taking the patient history, it was found that this bright chap got the idea of holding his lawn mower sideways and applying it to his hedge. He was holding the mower deck, trimming the hedge, and things went well until the weight of the mower got to be a bit much. He readjusted his grip on the mower deck, and that was when the blade bit him.

When the reconstructive plastic surgeon was almost finished with the complex job of sewing the patient back together, another patient came in with the same injury! On investigation, it was found that he, too, had been using his mower to trim his hedge. Apparently, he lived near the first patient. He saw his neighbor trimming his hedge with the mower, and thought it was a bright idea.

Often fact is so much weirder than fiction.

Source: Darwin Awards

VIDEO DAY!

2007-11-25T15:47:00.000-08:00

IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!

What can Brown do for you?

This is mainly audio. This cop takes confiscated marijuana and makes brownies. He then calls 911 because he thinks that he is dead.

Silence is Golden

2007-11-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

My name's Brandon. I'm not a cop.

2007-11-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

The first thing you should know is that Diesel doesn't play by the rules. I, however, do. Although the reason that Diesel doesn't play by the rules is that he doesn't know most of them. I know many rules and thats why I follow them.

The second thing you should know is that a rule is defined as:
1. A principle or regulation governing conduct, action, procedure, arrangement, etc
2. Control, government, or dominion
3. A prescribed mathematical method for performing a calculation or solving a problem

I would assume that Diesel would mean "A principle or regulation..." because not playing by the control of government doesn't make sense. He could, of course mean that he doesn't follow mathematical rules. He could think that 2+2=3. However, for the sake of this post we will assume that he is talking about principles or regulations, as those are the type of rules that I follow. Now, I'm not saying that I don't think that 2+2=4. I just want you to know that I do follow regulations.

I also mentioned I wasn't a cop. I said this to make sure you didn't think I was a cop after reading Diesels post. He explains that he is a cop and you may have thought that I was a cop after reading his post. I am surely not a cop. Unless, of course, you count the fact that I am in the Mattress Police force. This does not make me a cop as a cop is defined as a person who seeks to regulate a specified behavior, activity, practice, etc. Being in the mattress police does not mean that I regulate a specified behavior, activity or practice. But as I mentioned above I DO follow regulations. The mattress police do nothing more than sit at their computers and type stupid blog posts. A mattress police can be a cop, however this does not mean that by being a mattress police that you are automatically a cop.

The other thing I mentioned is that my name is Brandon. This would be because my parents liked some TV personallity named Brandon and thought that it was a good name. Therefore my name is Brandon.

The reason I told you that Diesel doesn't play by the rules is because this post wouldn't have much meaning without me semi-plagiarizing his work. This, by the way, is not breaking the rules considering that Diesels rules for plagerizing are, "you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). " I belive I gave credit where it is due, and that I did not suggest that Diesel endorses my work. Therefore, I am still "playing by the rules."

Anyway, I don't make the rules.

Too many emails?

2007-10-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a little picture showing my Yahoo mail account. Too many emails?

This is also an example of how crappy the spam filter Yahoo has is.

A Blast from the Past

2007-10-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

Since Mr. Fabulous did this, so will I. He wrote a post about things he enjoied to play with as a kid. Here is my list:

Creepy Crawlers. The only toy you could bake rubber molds of bugs.

Hot Wheels. Beat that!

Tonka Trucks. The 4-8 year old boy's gift from God.

Plastic Moonbouncer. My brother and I used this so much...

...until we popped it.

AND FINALLY

My First Encyclopedia (Video Game)
Even though I had learned everything I could in that game, I still played this for hours.

Things my Dad Cares About

2007-09-11T16:37:00.001-07:00

I have a dad. Yes I know. So do you, and the person reading over your shoulder, and the person you will email after reading this, and the person that will read over their shoulder after you send that email. If they don't, then they used to. However, my dad is special. He has these little things that are almost OCD. Here is a short list of things he obseses over:

Get out of the house by 8:00 (School days)

This one used to be a problem, but now I drive

Don't go outside wearing your socks and no shoes

I dunno. He hates dirty socks maybe

Make sure the Internet works

I'm always messing with the house's network (see last post)

Don't go to church with wet hair

Don't ask me. I dunno the reasoning for this either

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm writing a blog post"

All he does in his free time is write blog posts

I don't know why he cares so much about these things. He just does. In fact, the only reason I wrote this, even though I had already posted one today, is because he used one of them today. The one that is only ever directed at me. He said, "...as long as my Internet works."

Also, I never thought of what that person said to me. This is going to bug me all night.

Why is the internet always a globe or a cloud? This question bugs me a lot.

Network Troubles

2007-09-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

Well it turns out that Mrs. Diesel didn't think I was that funny. Oh well go vote anyway.

The other day I got 2 Linksys routers in the mail. I only needed one, but if you have 2 why not use them?

Oh by the way if you don't understand computer networking, then reading this would be like wasting precious minutes of your life.

Anyway, I decided to hook up these two routers to my house network, which now looks like this:

If anyone else has ever set up a network like this, you would know how hard it is to get 3 routers to get along and let the devices connected to the last one still get internet. Plus the server on the second one is a public server, so I have to mantain security at the same time as allowing the 2 routers access to the internet.

Humph....

-----------------------------------------------------

Someone told me something really confusing today, and I was going to share it here. But now I forgot what it was. Oh well.

Fergie - The Oxy "Moron"

2007-09-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Apparently Fergie, the very popular music artist, is selling her green Hummer 2. That's not all. She is also giving 100% of it away to Global Green USA.

One of Global Green USA's challenges is climate change and another is clean water. Now as far as climate change goes, I'm going to assume that they are trying to rid the world of global warming and that they are not trying to speed up the process.

OK lets recap. Fergie is selling her H2 (which gets 12-16 MPG) and giving it away to Global Green USA (who is trying to "change climate"). Anyone see something wrong with this equation?

On another note, I submitted my comment for Diesel's picture comment contest. Go over there and submit a comment, and then on Tuesday, go and vote for mine when his wife picks one of mine. :-)

Fast Computer

2007-07-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

I was recently looking for new hard drives on eBay. I wasn't really considering hard drives, but I thought I might want to try out the new SATA.

Anyway, I came across this hard drive. I was reading the specifications on it when I came across the warrenty label.

Now look at the caution. It states "Product warranty is void if... the drive experiences shock in excess of 350 Gs." Now tell me, how many times have you made your computer go 350 Gs? Seagate must have had a problem with NASA returning hard drives after making them go too fast. Thats the only logical explaination for setting a G-Force limit on your hard drive, right?

Whatever.

You may have noticed the ClickComments thing at the bottom of my page. That is for people who don't have the time to comment. They just click why they liked/disliked the post. So you lazy people, you can now comment with only one click!

Do not read while sleeping

2007-07-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

As I promised, here is a list of stupid labels:

Sears hairdryer
Do not use while sleeping

Dial soap
Directions: Use like regular soap

Fritos bag
You could be a winner. No purchase nessasary. Details inside.

Tesco's Tiramisu dessert
Printed on the bottom: Do not turn upside down

Mark and Spencers bread pudding
Product will be hot after heating

Nytol sleep aid
Product may cause drowsiness

Korean kitchen knife
Keep out of children

Japanese food processor
Not to be used for the other use

Sweedish chainsaw
Do not stop chain with hands or genitals

Superman costume
Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly

AND NOW THE WINNER OF THE VIRTUAL SNICKERS BAR...

NOBODY!

Nobody seemed to have an answer. My dad told me what it was, but he cheated to get the answer. Rick thought I was talking about the title of the blog and not the title of the last post. So oh well. I guess I will virtually eat the virtual Snickers bar myself.

Where do you want to go today?

2007-06-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well its been a while since I lasted posted. Well whatever.

First up, I am giving away virtual candy to whoever can tell me where the title of this post came from. First to guess gets a virtual king sized Snickers bar.

Anyway now to the point. I checking up on some of my GeoCaches when I came across a map of everywhere this one user had been "caching." There was this link to a website that allows you to make maps of every state you have ever visited. It shows a map of the United States and highlights, in red, all of the states you have visited. Here is my map:

This guy had just used the "visited states" map as a "states I've cached in" map.

On this website you can also create maps of countries you have visited. Sadly, mine just looks like this:

Canadian providences also:

And finally European countries. I can not post a map of this because it does not allow you to chose nothing.

The link to this website is www.world66.com/myworld66

In my next post I will give a list of funny/stupid labels, and announce the winner of the virtual Snickers bar.

Wii

2007-04-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

I found this new program on the internet. It allows you to connect your Wii controller to the computer. It also allows you to download all of the Miis on it.

Using the website http://www.miieditor.com/ I was able to save a picture of me that I made on my Wii. I also made Jesus and got a picture for him.

I think I'm a pretty good artist.

With a program called GlovePIE I was able to use my Wiimote as a joystick on my computer.

There are a lot of programs out there for your computer and your Wiimote. Here is a simple guide to getting started.

Update

2007-04-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

UPDATE ON SATURDAYS POST!

I recieved a comment from the CEO of Overstock.com. He assured me that they were not responsible for this and that e-mail address can be easily "spoofed" or faked. I am posting this update as so that no one takes Saturday's post seriously.

Thank you for reading.

Overstock a phising site?

2007-04-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

I recently got a very scary email. It said that I had purchased ladies Gucci glasses off of eBay and asked for me to pay. Well I had heard of phishing e-mails before, so I went on ebay.com (without clicking any links in the email) and checked my account. And what do you know, I DIDN'T BUY ANY GLASSES!

So I reported the email to eBay. They sent back the confirmation letter saying that they didn't send me the email.

I decided to do a little further research. The email said it was from emmajayne1981. The item number was valid on eBay (as Gucci glasses too) but I wasn't the winning bidder. I looked a little deeper into the email. I found the real email address as 834588375021345.009.2055.46986.1@obay.com .

oBay.com. That's actually kinda clever.

Normally you can't get an email unless you have an affiliation with that company or you purchased or registered for an email through that site. So I typed obay.com into Internet Explorer and found something wierd. Overstock.com's website. Overstock is a competitor of eBay.

Now I couldn't prove that Overstock owned this website just yet. This could have been fake, just like that email. I headed over to Network Solution's website. If you type in a websites address it will tell you everything about it, including who owns it. Turns out that Overstock really does own it.

This seemed kinda wierd so I searched oBay on Yahoo!. I found a news article saying that Overstock orignally was going to be called Obay putting a big emphisis on the O. They bought the site domain but couldn't call themselves Obay. This is a copywright infrigement on eBay's name. So they kept the domain but changed the name of their site.

Now my question is, since this email came from an Obay domain, does that mean that Overstock is phishing eBay customers?

I'll leave it to you to think about.

Things to Ponder II

2007-04-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, I gave a list of things to ponder. Here is a sequal to the first one:

What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?

If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?

When sign makers go on strike, what is written on their picket signs?

How can there be self-help groups?

Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there?

Why do we play in recitals and recite in plays?

If you get cheated by the Better Business Bureau, who do you complain to?

In a country of free speech, why are there phone bills?

What happened to the first 6 "ups"?

How do you throw away a garbage can?

Why is it that you must wait until night to call it a day?

When your pet bird sees you reading the newspaper, does he wonder why you're just sitting there, staring at carpeting?

Can a man in a wheel chair really follow in someone's footsteps?

Do dyslexics have more fnu?

If a child curses in sign language does their mother wash their hands with soap?

Is there another word for synonym?

If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?

Why is abbreviation such a long word?

If a mime is arrested, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?

Why do we drive on a parkway and park in a driveway?

When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?

Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Why are there handicapped parking spaces outside of an iceskating rink?

Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?

Why do banks leave both doors open, and chain their pens to the desks?

What happens when you are scared half to death twice?

If Barbie is so popular then why do you have to buy her friends?

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Since bread is square, why is sandwich meat round?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why are you IN a movie, but you are ON TV?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Just remember...if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.

Isn't it scary that doctors call what they do "practice"?

What should you do if you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?

If people from Poland are called "Poles," why aren't people from Holland called "Holes"?

If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

Why do people honk for peace?

Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.

Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.

How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hand...

What is the speed of dark?

How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?

When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?

Reader submitted ones:
If you put spot remover on your dog, will it disappear?

Why do we say a drain must be opened up because it is stopped up?

Got anything else to add? Put them in the comments.

I love my job

2007-04-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

Found these funny cartoons over at Savage Chickens. Totally funny. This guy writes a new comic on a sticky note every day.

Wii Release

2007-03-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

If you remember or you go back through the posts then you will see that I was one of those crazy people who waited outside for a Nintendo Wii. Wanna know what happened, then read on. If not, don't read on.

On Saturday at about 8:30am I woke up. I had been talking non-stop about the Nintendo Wii for days before and was excited to get one. I had decided that if I got there by noon that I would still have time to get in line.

I took a shower and got ready for the day. My dad had said that he had heard of people staying overnight in some cities, so he suggested that I go and check out my compitition. I packed a bag full of supplies for the day. Grabbed all the warmest gear I could find. Found a sleeping bag (not to sleep in of course).

We headed over to Wal-Mart (yes I know, noone likes Wal-Mart. I just heard that they have the most in stock) at about 9:00. When I got there, 3 people were already in line. I decided to stay and wait out the day. I soon found out the 2nd person in line was someone I knew.

Pretty much the whole day went like this:
We sat.
Then we sat.
Then we sat somemore.
(Can't lose your spot in line now)
But we still found stuff to do once in a while.

At about 10:00 (1 hour after I got there) some people started showing up. By noon the whole line was full (boy was I glad that I didn't wait until 12:00). My dad came by once in a while to see if I wanted food or more clothes. A bunch of people in line had Nintendo DS systems, so we all played a few rounds of Starfox via NiFi (Nintendo wireless).

I called home and asked if my brother wanted to come over for a while. He could skateboard in the parking lot. We traded spots a few times so I could stand up once-in-a-while. My friends Josh and Chuckie came over at about 6:00pm. They saved my spot as I went inside to use the restrooms and play the Guitar Hero 2 demo. Chuckie had to leave about an hour later, but Josh stayed until the end. My family left and it got dark. Josh and I hung out until 11:00pm, one hour before I could buy the Wii. At 11:00 my dad came back and waited the remaining hour. About this time, people started selling there spot in line for more than $50 USD.

At midnight the store manager came out and told us to line up. Only those who were in line for a Wii were to get in the new line. He walked down the row and handed us each a ticket with a number on it. Mine said "4" because I was 4th in line. He walked us through the store in a single file line. We walked up to the layaway department where all the Wii products were. Everyone checked out, one at a time, number 1 going first and number 20 last. After I bought my Wii system and 1 extra controller, I headed off to GameStop.

I had reserved "Legend of Zelda" a few months before. I walked up to a guy at the door and showed him my reciept. He opened the door (I got to skip the line) and I walked in. The guy at the counter handed me the game, and I finally got to go home.

Josh and I stayed up for a few more hours playing Wii Sports and then went to bed.

I have to say, I love the Wii. Buy one today if you can. (This is not an ad) :)

Things to Ponder

2007-03-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some things that may never have answers:
If a chicken had lips, could it whistle?

Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?

If you can't drink and drive, why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor, and why do bars have parking lots?

Why do the drive-up ATMs have braile on them?

If Walmart is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?

If nothing ever sticks to Teflon, how do they make Teflon stick to the pan?

Why do thaw and unthaw mean the same thing?

Why do you say that you're going to "take" a dump, when you leave something behind.

Why does your nose run and your feet smell?

Are there interstates in Hawaii or Alaska?

If you're in a car that can go the speed of light, what would happen if you turned on the headlights?

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Why do we call it a hamburger when it is made from beef?

If 'pro' is the opposite to 'con', is Congress the opposite to progress?

How is it possible to have a civil war?

Why is a boxing ring square?

Whose idea was it to put an 's' in the word 'lisp'?

Can you cry under water?

If you have to put "your two cents in" but it's only "a penny for your thoughts," Where does the extra penny go?

Why do people say they "slept like a baby," when a baby wakes up about every 2 hours?

If you have more thing to ponder please add them as comments.

Things I Hate About the Internet

2007-03-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

First up, the webpage everyone has seen at least once. This happens when you click on a link that goes nowhere.

Secondly, the stupid little "x" where a picture should be. You can see this in the post below because the people who I linked that picture to, got jealous and took it off their website so I couldn't have it on mine.

O.K. This is a little personal pet peeve of mine. Microsoft thinks it needs to own everything electronic. So, they put up their own search engine that really sucks.

I think we can all agree that long loading websites should die.

Even worse, long downloads.

(Yes I edited this picture)

O.K. Who really cares if they are going on to a more secure website. Last time I checked, security = good.

I'm glad that it tells me that I'm leaving a secure website. The annoying part is that no matter how many times you check that box, this stupid security alert always comes back.

Whats the point! You have to sign up for 18 offers after you hit 18 targets to get your $50 gift card.

Finally, Geocities is great for people who want to make a family webpage, but don't know how. The bad part about Geocities is that people try to put informative pages up, but end up putting completly false information. If your going to use Geocities, stick with a family page.

So now you know about almost everything I dislike when it comes to the internet. Congratulations.

Competitive Advertising

2007-03-13T13:45:00.001-07:00

UPDATE: I left this one up for the following post. I also reposted the same picture so that all of you could see this post.

Which way?

2007-02-11T20:57:00.000-08:00

I thought these two could go together.

Free Cat

2007-02-05T22:25:00.000-08:00

Who wants a free cat?

Making New Stuff

2007-02-05T21:42:00.000-08:00

Recently I've been making new stuff. I like to share what I make so here are the links.

Computer Controlled Radio Transmitter
Easy to Make AM Radio Transmitter

Bad Dog

2007-01-24T20:45:00.000-08:00

Bad Dog!

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. Happy New Year. Just thought I'd show how other websites celebrated the New Year.

Google:

I like Google's 2007 in the fireworks.

Yahoo:

At first I didn't understand how Yahoo was trying to show the spirit of New Years. They used this little picture:

But then that picture changed into this:

And then I understood.

Nintendo:

Nintendo did this:

(I don't care what you say. I think it has the spirit of New Year)

YouTube:

So is YouTube celebrating or is Chevrolet?

JibJab:
JibJab made a new movie:

FirstGov:
The United States offical website, FirstGov.gov did nothing to celebrate the New Year. They did not even say Happy New Year.
However the IRS did give us this little bit of New Year info:

FormatCDrive:
Here's what I did. I changed the look of my blog, and oh ya, I posted the first new post since November 26.
So, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Superman

2006-11-26T23:19:00.000-08:00

In central Minnesota, there is this guy who always stands outside in a Superman costume. He always has an American flag and all he does is just stand there. Every once in a while he will try to make money by selling pictures with him. He used to stand outside a local Dairy Queen until he got a restraining order. I have also been told that he has been kicked out of at least seven malls in Minnesota.

Recently some people made a movie. They dressed up as Darth Vader and stood next to him. See what happens when Darth Vader steals the flag:

(oh ya, he doesn't always wear the big puffy suit that he wore in the top pictre)

It's been a while since I've seen him last, but dispite the restraining order, I can assure you that he will be back at Dairy Queen next summer.

Wii

2006-11-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

The Nintendo Wii was released on Sunday. On Saturday, I decided to go and wait in line for it. I got in line at about 9:00 a.m. and waited 15 hours and 1 min (it released at 12:01) for it.

For those of you who don't know what a Nintendo Wii is, it is a new video game console in which the controllers have motion sensors and Bluetooth (so they're wireless).

I have to say, I'm impressed. Nintendo did well. Some features I like:

-Bluetooth controller relives the gamer from the cord
-Motion sensing makes the player feel like he/she is in the game
-Infrared allows a user to point at specific parts of the screen
-Nunchuck attachment (comes with one in package) makes the game even more realistic
-Wii Connect24 keeps the Wii always connected to the internet via WiFi. This allows you to receive "Wii-Mails" and play online games
-Backwards compatibility with the Gamecube games and accessories allowing me to play all my games on one system
-The Wii looks good
-And not last nor least, Wii Sports comes with
-And much, much more

Nintendo really did good. I am proud to say that I was the fourth person to get a Nintendo Wii in my town and that it ROCKS!

Weird Titles on Digg

2006-11-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

digg is pretty cool. However it can get some pretty weird stories. Here are some titles of stories I found:

Faith Hill is a Sore Loser
Bananas, an Athiest's "Nightmare"
Whale-dolfin hybrid has baby wholphin
The Spammers Strike Back
Vaccum Tubes Alive and Well
Grand Theft Mario
The Democrats best Slogan: "Bush lost the war"
Cassette Tape Wallet
Popsicle Licking Twins
Dumb Parents are Robbing Kids of Fun
Microsoft's Gates Looks to Energy
Every Tool Known to Man
Windows 3.11 is Still Alive and Ready to Beat Vista at Anything!
Microsoft not Allowing Red Octane to Produce Wireless Guitar
Fainting Goats
The largest model railroad in the world!
Walmart Apologizes for Selling Nazi Tshirts
The war is over and Linux won
What is a good temper tantrum if no one is around to see it?
Get Lost!
How Alphabet Evolved
Robot mistakes human flesh for bacon.
Is this the stupidest man alive?
Arrested for a Rubber Band Ball
The Coming Internet Traffic Jam
Gates “dares anybody” to exploit Vista
Man gives away free iPods because it makes him feel good
Your face is your password
This billboard will cause some traffic!!!!
Apple and The Beatles kiss and make up
Photograph of a lightbulb burning out
8 Reasons Why Idiot Masses Love Lists
I hate Macs
Bill Gates Won't Buy an iPhone.
God as Computer Programmer
Programmers don't like to code
Software is Hard
Japan's Super Sink Can Do It All… Well, Almost

Still more yet to come...

Digg

2006-11-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

Wow! I never knew digg was so powerful. I had heard about digg shutting down sites due to bandwith, but I never realized how many people it took to do that. Last night my blog got on the homepage of digg. By this time today it has over 950 diggs and 30,000 unique visitors. Now I know why webpages with little bandwith get shut down within minutes of debutting on the homepage of digg.

So if you liked the post about geek/nerd tests then

Internet Explorer 7

2006-11-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Today I was reading digg. There was a post that obviously promoted IE7. It gave Add-Ons for it. 2 posts down was a post that obviously demoted IE7. It gave the bug list for it. I then realized that these were posted by the same person. They were even on the same site. Weird.

Click to enlarge

Commodore File Copying

2006-11-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

Still have an old Commodore 64/128? Check this out.

Your Nerdiness/Geekiness

2006-11-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, my dad sent me a link to a website with a bunch of tests to see how nerdy you are. I took some tests and here's what I got:

I love money more than 39% of people

I even took this test twice on two different computers to make sure it was right. Wow!

What are your scores?

http://www.geektests.com

Nothing to talk about

2006-10-31T18:28:00.000-08:00

I was talking with Mike today. We were talking about blogs. We had a little conversation that went something like this.

Mike: Hey Brandon, I went on your blog today and read your instructable on your Gameboy.
Brandon: Really?
Mike: Ya, I posted a bunch of comments on your blog again.
Brandon: Why do you keep doing that?
Mike: I dunno.
Brandon: Well sometimes they are kindda funny. You should write your own blog.
Mike: Ya, but I never have anything to write about.
Brandon: Neither do I, but I still manage to write one.
Mike: You should post this conversation on your blog.
Brandon: Yeah, maybe I will

The truth is, I really don't have anything to talk about. I pretty much sit down at my computer, reading digg or intructables until an idea for my blog comes around. Then I post it. Today I came home from work, put on a costume for Trick or Treaters, went on intructables.com and remembered the conversation we had. How do you come up with your ideas?

Oh, by the way...

Boo!
Happy Halloween

Solar Gameboy for You

2006-10-30T22:50:00.000-08:00

Today I desided to let the public make solar Gameboys. I made my first Instructable about how to make solar gameboys.

Read more

Pros and Cons of Operating Systems

2006-10-28T10:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I purchased an eMac. A few days ago I bought a Dell laptop. Because I now have a copy of all three major operating systems, I decided to do a story to celebrate. Since I do have all 3 OS's my story will compare the three.

First up, Microsoft Windows.
Pros
- Easy to change settings
- Easy navigation
- Most programs made for it

Cons
- Comes with so much stuff that you can't use it all
- Windows Messenger starts up automatically (like I want it)
- Costs a lot of money

Next up, Apple Macintosh
Pros
- Easy to find common programs (bottom of screen)
- Comes with Safari (as opposed to Internet Explorer)
- Fast

Cons
- One mouse button and no mouse wheel
- Not as many options in the "System Preferences"
- Bottom bar* sometimes gets in the way

Last, but not least, Linux Ubuntu
Pros
- An extremely easy to use desktop and system bar
- Comes with Firefox or Konqueror (not IE)
- Most likely the most secure

Cons
-Hard to install new software
- Not much commerical support
- Requires you to have a knowledge of how it works

For those of you who have got yourselves in the middle of an OS war, you can look here for suggestions. I am impartial to any system now because I have them all. So before you say that Macs suck, that Windows should die, or the Linux penguin (FYI his name is Tux) is annoying, get a copy of that operating system and find out for yourself.

*Someone commented and corrected me, The bottom bar is called a dock.

Spammers

2006-10-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

I hate spam. No, not S.P.A.M. (the junk in the can) I hate spam. You know the junk that people send to you in order to get you to try something or visit their site. It seems like now half of my comments show up as spam.

This is what I do:
Step 1 - Recieve dumb comment
Step 2 - Read about how dumb their cause is
Step 3 - Click the little trash can
Step 4 - Click "Delete Comment" (No, I don't ever delete forever)
Step 5 - Check to make sure it is gone

This was both a tutorial on how to delete comments and a rant against spammers.

So if your a spammer, don't comment. (Not like you would have read this anyway)

Web Server

2006-10-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

Yay! I have finally got my web server public. Charter was restricting me from hosting a website from my house, but I found a way around it {to all who understand: Charter was blocking port 80, I set my server to listen on port 81}. You can find my new site at http://brandonlee.no-ip.org . I have a test page up right now, but with in the next few days I should have a solid web page with whatever I want on there.

Oh well, I should go to bed now. See you all later.

Gone

2006-10-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

For the next 5 days I may not be able to post. I am going on a trip to Kentucky (I live in Central Minnesota) in a car. I may be able to find a computer there, but then again, maybe not.

Any way here's a funny pic to get you all through the week:

My friends and I have made another blog with eachother. Click here to check it out.

My First Flash Movie

2006-10-06T23:08:00.000-07:00

I have made my first movie using Macromedia Flash 8 Professional. Click the button to see what it does.

Cool huh?

Search Engine Hits

2006-10-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while it's fun to see where all your visitors come from. It's also fun to see what they searched on you in order to find you. This is what I have come up with.

I have had a few posts on Digg. No post has ever made it to the front page, but I still get the majority of my visitors from Digg.
Possible Nintendo Wii Release Date - 14 Diggs
Fastest/Slowest Search Engines - 4 Diggs
When to Reserve the Wii and PS3 - 1 Digg (My Digg)
This is weird. Before I got on Digg I always had less than 100 hits. Since Digg, I have had about 300 more Diggs (total of 400). Now last time I did math 14+4+1≠300.

Another fun thing to do is see how people search for you. All of the people who have found me used either Google or Digg searches. Here is what some people searched.
Wii
formatcdrive - it's in Turkish.
Spying Lens - OK then
PS3

It's also weird to see how many users use the random blog button. In blogger you can click a button that lets you jump to a random blog. Before Digg, however, I would not get any hits off of the random blog. Now I get a lot (30% of my hits give or take).

I like it when people visit my blog. I also like it when people comment on my blog. It lets me know that there really are people out there reading this. Thank you to all who really do read this.

Wii Reservations

2006-10-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

I was at my local Game Stop today reserving Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. According to my receipt I am one of 1160 people to reserve it for the Wii at my store. But that's not the news. While I was reserving it I asked the clerk (Tyler) when the Wii and PS3 would be able to reserve. The conversation went something like this:

Me-"So do you know when we can reserve the Wii and Playstation?"
Tyler-"We won't be taking any reservations for the Playstation 3. I am sure that we will allow reservations on the Nintendo Wii, because Nintendo knows how to make them fast. Call in within the next two weeks and we should have more information."
Me-"O.K. Thanks."

So call your local Game Stops during the next two weeks and hopefully they will have a reservation date.

Update:

My Computers

2006-10-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

My parents are always complaining that I have too many computers and that "we don't need any more computers in the house." Well I thought that was ridiculous. I decided that I would show everyone else my computers and just see if they felt the same way about my computers as my parents.

------------- Let's start with my room -------------

This is my HP Pavilion. I was given it when I helped someone fix their new computer. I use this computer for everything. It has Ubuntu 6.10 Beta (Linux) on it. It rocks.
This is my Compaq Deskpro. I am fixing it up so I can give it to my brother. It has Ubuntu 5.10 (Linux) on it. (Note the Ubuntu disks on top)

This is my Acer TravelMate. It's my awesome laptop. It has Windows 98SE on it.

The tower hiding in the back is my IBM server. I like to use this for easy file transfer on my network and for learning how to use a server. It now has Ubuntu 5.10 Server (Linux) on it and has 2 processors in it to make it go faster.

This is my Commodore 64 (old school). I don't use this much any more. To make this do any thing you have to program it yourself. I like to keep this just to say I have one (sometimes I go back and make a BASIC program).

This is my Compaq Presario. It was given to me by my neighbor. It is not working at the moment. It has Windows 2000 on it.

------------- Now for the kitchen -------------

This is my parents Dell Dimension. It lives in our kitchen (our high traffic room). You can tell by the amount of stuff both on it and around it, that we use this computer a lot (there is more stuff to the left of the picture). This computer has Windows XP on it

------------- Last the Basement -------------

This my bother, my sister, and my eMachines. It is the fastest computer in the house, so it gets used for gaming the most. I also use it to program my little robot (sitting on the ground to the left of it). It has Windows XP on it.

Now with all of these computers we obviously need a way to network all of them. So here's what we have for networking.

This is the D-Link Wireless-G Router that controls the network for the whole house.

This is the Linksys hub that controls the network to my room.

This is the Chase IOLAN+ Communication Server that shares devices on my network.

This is the KVM switch that allows me to use only 1 keyboard, 1 mouse and 1 monitor on 4 computers.

As you can see, I have six computers and my family has two more. I personally think that they are just jealous because of my awesome computer setup. What do you think?

Update: I now have two more computers. A Dell Latitude with Win2000 Pro and an eMac running OSX

Search Engine Speeds

2006-09-27T20:54:00.001-07:00

Recently I have been doing this test to see how fast the servers for the biggest search engines are. I have done only one test so far. I found the address that each company uses as their search site. I then pinged all four of them at the same time (25 pings each). I recorded the information and have put them into graphs. I will continue this research as time goes on but I wanted to share what I have found so far.

I did my first test on September 19th, 2006 at about 12:00 A.M. CST (Midnight). The results:

The second test I did on September 27th at about 10:30 p.m. CST. The results:

(watch out the graphs colors are not the same)

What both graphs show is that AltaVista got the slowest pings. The first time I did this Google showed up as the fastest, but the second time MSN did. Yahoo always stayed second to fastest.

This is in no way the end of my tests. I have many more tests to do in order to find the fastest search engine. Next, I will check search time. After all tests are complete, I will post the information.

My Spying Boss

2006-09-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

For a while now I have felt that my boss has spying on me. How do I know? Well lets see.

Wherever I go I'm followed by a potted plant in loafers.
The bracelet he gave me for Christmas blinks if I leave my work station.
Next to my parking spot: "Reserved for the guy following B. M. Lee"
My new secretary looks a lot like that chick from "Alias"
Instead of photos of wife and kids on his desk, he has a photo of me sleeping.
When I'm alone in the men's room, a voice tells me to quit blocking the lens.
There seem to be a blinking red light inside the smoke detector.
The fax machine coughed.

This was taking by force (not really) from Ivans Blog.

(I would like everyone to know that I am not really being followed by my boss. I don't even work in an office.)

Dog or Baby?

2006-09-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

Which ones the dog?

Prepare for the unexpected

2006-09-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Obviously this car didn't prepare enough.

Windows Bug (error) List

2006-08-16T23:09:00.000-07:00

OOPS!

Nintendo Wii Release Date

2006-08-09T17:25:00.001-07:00

This is the:

Quest for the Nintendo Wii Release Date

(This article is inacurate. Read the bottom of the post for more information)

A little while ago I was thinking, "Hmm, I wonder when the Nintendo Wii will come out." So I did a little research and found Nintendo's press releases. One of them caught my attention (this one). It said, "Perhaps the secret to the launch information for Wii is somehow encoded in the text of this news item. You might want to pore over it for a few hours before staying up all night to debate phraseology and comma placement with your friends online. Or maybe it's all just a scam to get you to read the other games we have launching this fall. One of the two."

I started thinking, "what if the release date was the 'launch information' they were speaking of?" I read this article a hundred times before I looked at the upcoming game's release dates. I soon realized that they were all Mondays in Oct, Nov and Dec.

I knew that the Wii was supposed to come out before Dec, so that was out of the question. I had however heard that it was supposed to come out in Nov. or Oct. The next thing I had to figure out was what did Monday have to do with it? I got out a calender and crossed off the Mondays that the game's release dates were.

October

November

Release dates-
Oct. 9: Clubhouse Games™
Oct. 16: Nintendogs™ (Dalmatian)
Oct. 23: Magical Starsign™
Oct. 30: Pokémon® Ranger
Oct. 30: Children of Mana®
Nov. 6: Elite Beat Agents™
Nov. 13: Yoshi's Island™ 2
Dec. 4: Custom Robo™ Arena
Dec. 4: Kirby™ Squeak Squad

So then I did more thinking and realized that the busiest shopping day of the whole year is the day after Thanksgiving. Nintendo would obviously want their system to be out by then. So November 27 was out of consideration.

October

November

I suddenly became stuck. I had come so far, but still had two dates. I didn't know what to do next. I did a lot of research and found that Midway had made a game for the Wii. Their MLB Slugfest 20-07 was supposed to come out on, can you guess, October 2nd.

The search was over and now I know how long I have left to save for the Nintendo Wii.

October

November

I'm so excited.

Note: The press release link doesn't always work. If you are having trouble viewing it try clicking here.

Note (September 14, 2006): I learned today that this post is inacurate. The real release date will be November 19. So please do not show up at GameStop with $250 on October 2. It was fun, however, to try and find this date.

Solar Gameboy

2006-06-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

I know when the normal person hears the word "hack" they immediately think "illegal." All the word means is "to change." What I did IS a hack, but it is NOT illegal. I took a Gameboy Advanced and gave it a solar panel to charge its NiCd batteries. I know this is off topic from by usual posts but I'm proud of what I've done and would like to share it with the world.

Read about it.

Buy What??

2006-06-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

What does this mean??

Computers

2006-06-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

How computers work.

Adding it up

2006-05-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

Good idea!

Bush on Terrorism

2006-05-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

'Bout time he read that

Snow at 33 degrees

2006-03-09T20:18:00.000-08:00

Let's take Google's meteorologists back to science class where we learned that water froze at 32 degrees not 33.

Duplicates

2006-03-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

- Click to enlarge -

Duplicates.

Deja Vu

2006-03-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

-Click to enlarge-

Whoa! Deja Vu!

Banner Ads

2006-03-05T07:50:00.002-08:00

-Click to enlarge-

Why, yes I do.

A penny saved

2006-03-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

And when you use your promotional code, you could save another penny.

The Bible

2006-03-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

In the beginning was blah, blah, blah... The End.

Better with the butterfly

2006-02-28T07:47:00.000-08:00

-Click to enlarge-

Microsoft may have not picked the best space for their ad in this online newspaper article.

Any Key

2006-02-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

A key every computer should have.

No Internet - Download Now

2006-02-26T12:00:00.001-08:00

There may be more of a problem then they think.

100 Year Old Computer

2006-02-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

Now here's just a little of what I will be posting on this blog.

Raise your hand if you had a computer in 1905.

Welcome

2006-02-25T19:52:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new blog, Format C:\. This blog was designed to show the funnier side of the internet. I will be posting pictures of websites with sayings that don't actually say what they mean to internet videos that you can't help but laugh at. Thanks for visiting.