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Mixtaper is “the site where you can create and share mp3 mixtapes with your friends.” Check out the mix “The World’s Strangest Covers” for some pretty unusual stuff available for listening or downloading as MP3s (some links broken, unfortunately).
If you like what you hear, you should definitely check out Music For Maniacs, which is cited as the inspiration and source for a lot of these tracks.
I hope everyone has been watching the new episodes of Family Guy, because they are as hilarious as ever. I came across a fun site based on a recent episode:
In the Petarded episode of Family Guy, Peter does well at Trivial Pursuit and claims he’s a genius. Brian challenges him to take an IQ test. The result indicates Peter is mentally challenged. The test administrator shows the chart [above] to explain where Peter’s test result places him.
The site allows you to make your own chart by filling in new text blocks. Juvenile, but funny… 😉
Regular viewers of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart probably noticed the new set that debuted last week. Personally, I agree with this post at Slate and don’t really like the redesign. The background is very distracting, and getting rid of the couch in favor of two office chairs next to a table is a bad move in my opinion; it’s now way too formal, eliminating some of the spontaneity that is a hallmark of the show.
Bring Back the Couch is a funny blog/protest showcasing funnier moments on Jon Stewart’s old couch.
Genista has posted a flickr photo set of Google Earth Stereograms, in which two screenshots from Google Earth are taken from two slightly different camera angles and placed side by side to create the 3-D stereogram effect.
The ProgramGeek Arcade has collected “Hundreds of Flash Arcade Games: Strategy, Sim, Action, Shooter and more.” There’s plenty to keep you entertained here… 🙂
The Data Compression News Blog reports:
On July 14th, the name “MP3” celebrates its tenth anniversary. On this day back in 1995, the researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS decided to use “.mp3” as the file name extension for their new audio coding technology. Soon MP3 became the generally accepted acronym for the ISO standard IS 11172-3 “MPEG Audio Layer 3”.
Happy Birthday! I remember the first MP3 I came across: the theme song to King Of The Hill. I remember being amazed at the sound quality considering how small the file size was. Truly revolutionary…
The Associated Press reports that “The NHL and the players’ association reached an agreement in principle Wednesday on a six-year labor deal, ending a lockout that wiped out last season.” Although the official NHL announcement says that “details of the new Agreement will not be made available publicly pending the formal ratification process by the NHLPA Members and the NHL Board of Governors,” the general consensus is that the proposed salary cap and other measures are slanted towards the owners.
All that aside, the bigger question is whether anyone will even notice that the NHL is back. Hockey had already become “least popular of the four major leagues in the United States” before the lockout, and pissing off its core fan base with this whole fiasco was not a smart move. The NHL supposedly has a plan to win the fans back, including some proposed rule changes to speed the flow of the game and increase scoring, including: smaller goalie pads and equipment; a “designated zone where goalies will be allowed to play the puck;” “the elimination of the red line when it comes to enforcing two-line passes;” and the possibility of shootouts to decide a tie game.
Personally, I think these rules are a stupid way to try and introduce “excitement” into the game; it reminds me of a couple of seasons ago when an edict was made to enforce defensive interference more stringently, resulting in a scoring glut for the first couple of months that it lasted. Instead of instituting changes that will likely alienate more fans than it will create, the owners and players need to somehow address the feelings of anger and betrayal that I (and many other fans) feel over the stubbornness and selfishness that both sides displayed during the season-long lockout dispute. I honestly don’t know the best way to accomplish that, but I’m not sure whether I’ll ever enjoy the game as much again…
The current projected launch time for the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-114) is 3:51 P.M. EDT. I wish the crew well and hope that this is truly a return to regular Shuttle flights.
Update: The launch of the Discovery has been scrubbed due to a “faulty fuel sensor.” Mission controllers say that this development will postpone the launch for at least a day, but a NASA official added that “It will take some time really to understand what to do to remedy the situation.” If the mission is delayed past the end of the month, the next launch window will not be until September.
Google Sightseeing is a blog that “takes you to the best tourist spots in the world via Google Maps’ satellite imagery.”
Recently, the blog integrated its posts with Google Earth, adding separate links for each post and a Network Link that will place a “Google Sightseeing” folder under your “My Places” folder. Very cool…
