30,000 sexdecillion

One of the minor Internet sensations last year was the nifty, browser-based AI simulator Universal Paperclips.

I ignored it until I got the superflu and had only the brain capacity to keep clicking a button on a dumb-but-clever web-based AI simulator.

It turned into a race to see how many paperclips my AI could manufacture before I died of influenza. Turns out, I was able to convert the entire mass of the (simulated) universe into paperclips... a grand total of a very sexy number of paperclips.

Friday Blogthing: Merry Christmas from the Cup Size Choir

It's about that time of year for the more cutting edge of creative agencies to begin releasing their Holiday viral advertising tactics.

While the effort by European lingerie maker La Senza lacks the cute innocence and tongue-in-cheek humor of local shop VML's Handbell Hero from a few years ago, but it does have several elements that make for a good viral tactic: It's interactive and empowers the audience to be content creators, it provides easy sharability, and most importantly it has seven scantily clad hotties. Here's the link to my little musical masterpiece.

tagged: marketing, viral, lingerie, La Senza, Cup Size Choir, Friday Blogthing, holiday

Friday Blogthing: I write like...

It's been a while since I've been interested enough in any of these online gizmos to give one a try. But lots of people have been doing the I Write Like one.

Here are my results:

I write like
Chuck Palahniuk

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Okay. Not bad. Not quite mainstream, which is good. Fight Club was kind of cool. So, yeah, hard to argue with the results.

But I do get the feeling, after looking at a lot of peoples' I Write Like results, that there are really only about half a dozen possible results that anyone can get on this.

Still, I'm just glad it didn't tell me that I write like a fourth grader, or that I write like an idiot, or that I write like Stephenie Meyer.

tagged: I Write Like, Friday Blogthing, Chuck Palahniuk, Stephenie Meyer, pop culture, meme

Friday Blogthing: Tiger Hunting

In case you haven't yet had your fill of schadenfreude at Tiger Woods' expense, Kansas Sity Sinic has pointed us toward the Tiger Hunting flash game.

Obviously I'm not going to be very good, not being a European super model and all. But still, give it a try and see if you can beat (heh) my high score of 51 (which, coincidentally, is the number of strokes it takes me to finish the first 6 at Dub's Dread). One good sign is that these kinds of memes are usually a trailing indicator of pop culture. In other words, unless Woods does something to make things even worse than they are now, we should be moving on to a new target du jour any time now.

tagged: Tiger Woods, flash game, hunting tiger, sports, pop culture, Dubs Dread, golf

Friday Blogthing: I am the 80s

I really and not as materialistic as this quiz makes me out to be. All I really ask for is a nice computer, a cold beer and a programmable scrolling LED name tag*.

You Are the 1980s

You are a larger than life, ambitious person. You believe that you should live big or go home. You appreciate the bold days of the 1980s, when no one ever toned it down. You believe in working hard and playing hard. You can't help but love money and nice things. You are a bit ruthless and power hungry. The one who dies with the most toys wins, right?

What Decade Are You?

*... and this remote control. That's all I need. Oh, and this paddle game...

tagged: Friday Blogthing, quiz, decade, 80s, meme

Friday Blogthing: eco chamber

Because I'm such an active and concerned environmentalist, I periodically take some time to assess my ecological footprint. And while I'm the first to admit that my lifestyle has a lot of room for improvement, I have to say my footprint has been reduced significantly since I stopped flushing the toilet and showering regularly.

It's clear that unless we find four or five more Earths out there somewhere, we're all going to have to start making some sacrifices.

tagged: Friday, Blogthing, quiz, ecology, Earth, footprint, environmentalist

Friday Blogthing: Edumacated

This quiz seems somehow apropos, what with all the blather and bluster about the supposed millions of parents supposedly keeping their supposed kids out of school earlier this week.

When a simian like me is scoring above 90 percent of the population, my friends we have trouble, right here in River City.

I suspect the latest brouhaha was severely overblown, and that the number of children absent from school was probably about the same as any other day when the president wasn't giving a speech. But let's face it, when nearly half of the participants can't even score 50% on this test, well we've got bigger problems than people not listening to presidential speeches.

tagged: science, quiz, Pew Research Center, education, Friday, Blogthing

Friday Blogthing: The write stuff

I was hoping my result on this quiz would be "Rita Arens," but I guess Tom Wolfe is a good enough second choice.

The Which Crazy Writer Are You? quiz
Tom Wolfe

Ah, the life of a wall flower. You get to hang out with the most interesting people - radio DJs, hot rodders, hippies, Hell's Angels, Wall Street tycoons, frat boys - and are completely happy putting them into the spotlight.

You're completely happy hanging back with your martini and your little notebook, jotting down all your little observations, in sight but out of mind. Sure, everyone at the party knows who you are - but do they know the real you? And, more importantly, if you want to fade into the background, what's with the bright white suit?

Find out which crazy writer you are.

tagged: Friday, quiz, personality, writer, Tom Wolfe, author

Friday Blogthing: Knowing me, knowing you

Average Jane shared a link in the old RSS feed to Personas, a sort of techno-arty online experiment that attempts to distill your personality into a rainbow bar code based on (as far as I can tell) what others say (er, write) about you online.

Here's my result (you'll have to click to enlargify):I don't know what this actually means and as far as I can tell it's completely devoid of any kind of utility. But there is a pretty neat, colorful and kinetic show as it calculates your result. Click here to try it for yourself.

tagged: Friday, Blogthing, personality, online, Personas

Friday Blogthing: Happy habitat

Some people think I have some grudge against wildlife just because I enjoy a nice tasty roasted baby seal every once in a while (with some fava beans and a fine chianti, thspppppst!)

But I think this quiz shows that I can be very supportive of all creatures great and small (intestine).

Created by The Oatmeal

tagged: Friday, blogthing, quiz, tapeworm, humor, stomach

Friday Blogthing: In memorium

We children of the 80s continue to age as the the pop-culture icons of our generation reap the ultimate reward in store for all of us.

You've probably already heard of the death of director John Hughes. Hughes' contribution to movie making arts may not be very notable, but his contribution to pop culture is titanic. Some of my favorite characters and best one-liners were from Hughes movies (Uncle Buck: "Take this quarter, go downtown, and have a rat gnaw that thing off your face! Good day to you, madam.")

Anyway, I suspect we'll all be reliving our adolescence through Hughes work to some extent today. And to help get you started, here's a quick quiz.

Which John Hughes Character Are You?

Your Result

You are Clark Griswold (from National Lampoon's Vacation)! You're full of optimism and boundless energy, and no one loves a good family trip more. No one else can swear a blue streak like you either, Sparky!

tagged: John Hughes, pop culture, Uncle Buck, Clark Griswold, Friday Blogthing, quiz, Vacation

Friday Blogthing: Mad world

This nasty little viral marketing campaign has been super successful for AMC and the producers of Mad Men.

It's not that original, but anytime you appeal to a person's vanity and ask them to "Madmen Yourself" (or Elf yourself, or South Park yourself), chances are you'll get a good response.

It doesn't hurt that Mad Men it probably one of the five best shows currently airing on any network. New season begins at 9 p.m. Central on Sunday, Aug. 16.

That's me on the left, giving fashion advice to Don Draper.

Click here to MadMen yourself.

tagged: Friday Blogthing, Mad Men, Don Draper, pop culture, meme, viral marketing

Friday Blogthing: All revved up with no place to go

Okay, I admit it. I had to do this quiz a couple of times before my result came up with a Ferrari rather than a lame-ass Mercedes.

I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it.

"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

tagged: Friday, Blogthing, Ferrari Modena, quiz, personality, car, Mercedes

Friday Blogthing: Harry Potter and the Half Lame Quiz

I'm probably the only person in the literate world that hasn't read a single word from a single Harry Potter book.

That doesn't make me special or anything. Maybe I just don't know what I'm missing. But after seeing some of the movies (I can't remember which ones, they're all the same to me), I just can't see myself investing the time needed to slog through the printed version.

But, in lieu of going to see the latest HP movie (I think it's called "Harry Potter and the Clever Marketing Campaign") I'm doing this lame-ass quiz.

Which Harry Potter Character Are You?

Harry You're a leader and a good friend. You have a tumultuous past, but that doesn't get in the way of your impressive future.

Fun quizzes, surveys & blog quizzes by

tagged: Friday, blogthing, Harry Potter, character, quiz, blog, meme

Friday Blogthing: The Humans Are Dead

One of the things that takes the sting out of the cultural toilet flush we find ourselves in is the knowledge that before we have a chance to self destruct in an orgy of welfare, entitlements and celebrity worship, we will be destroyed by our own robotic creations.

Of course, they'll keep some of us around to perform basic cleaning and maintenance. I for one welcome our new robotic overlords. Consider this my job application.

Get Your Cyborg Name

tagged: Friday Blogthing, robot, cyborg name generator, video, youtube, Flight of the Conchords, The Humans Are Dead

Friday Blogthing: Him a naughty dred mon

Yes I, your irie new name is Mighty Shabba


Da Reggae Name Generator

tagged: Friday, blogthing, Reggae, quiz, name, generator, Shabba, blog

Friday Blogthing: Star Trekin'

I was dangerously close to being an expendable redshirt. Yikes!

You are
Will Riker

At times you are self-centered
but you have many friends.
You love many women, but the right
woman could get you to settle down.



Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

Will Riker 80%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 50%
Jean-Luc Picard 45%
James T. Kirk (Captain) 35%
Chekov 35%
Worf 35%
Beverly Crusher 30%
Geordi LaForge 30%
Mr. Scott 25%
Data 24%
Leonard McCoy (Bones) 20%
Uhura 20%
Mr. Sulu 20%
Spock 10%
Deanna Troi 10%

tagged: Friday, blogthing, Star Trek, Riker, quiz, blog, meme

Friday Blogthing: Magic is in the eye of the beholder

There's a hidden message in the image below that describes 90 percent of the time I spend online.

If you decipher the hidden message, let me know in the comments. But try not to give away the surprise for everyone else.

(It might be easier if you click the image to embiggen it.)
tagged: Friday, Blogthing, hidden, message, decipher, puzzle

Friday Blogthing: Album Cover Meme

I haven't done one of these in a long time, but the results I got from doing the Album Cover meme fit together so nicely that I just had to share.

In case you're unfamiliar, here's how it works (hat tip to Average Jane):

1. Go to “Wikipedia.” Hit “random” and the first article you get is the name of your band.
2. Then go to “Random Quotations” and the last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Then, go to Flickr and click on “Explore the Last Seven Days” and the third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use Photoshop or some other image editor to add text and make it look cool.

This is the wikipedia article hit
Here's the quote I got.
And this is the Flickr art I ended up with.

Add them all together and you get the latest Top 40 Skinhead Neo-Nazi Hate Metal album.



tagged: meme, Friday Blogthing, album cover, Fatherland For All, Francis Beaumont

Friday Blogthing: Twilight zone

I think I need to find a 13-year-old girl to tell be who Edward Cullen is and interpret the rest of this for me.

"Inner pain and self-loathing"??? Sheesh!

Your Result

Edward Cullen You are Edward Cullen. Charming and polite yet stubborn and overprotective, your desperately adorable crooked smile bears the weight of your inner pain and self-loathing. Your salvation lies in love -- though you won't admit it, you feel you can save your soul in the arms of your true love, Bella.

Twilight Quiz by QuizRocket.com

tagged: Friday, blogthing, Twilight, quiz, character, Edward Cullen, vampire, blog, quiz