For his science project, a student made a hamster-wheel cell phone charger: [link]

He got a C.

He should market it for people travelling in the unelectrified boonies with their hamsters.

He got a C.

That's just wrong.

I hope he markets it and makes millions of dollars.

He got a C.

The C stands for "cute!"

Really, though, folks have been talking about harnessing the energy that goes into various annoyances for ages, and he actually went and did something about it. I think he deserves better.

Nintendo has created a puppy simulator: [link]

(actually, I'll bet the grade was due to not following the parameters of the assignment. When I was in high school, science projects had to be experimental in nature, not a build-it type project. My dad, who often gets called on to be a judge for science fairs, gets very opinionated on the subject.)

actually, I'll bet the grade was due to not following the parameters of the assignment.

Also, the kid with the magnetic monopole really wrecked the grading curve.

science projects had to be experimental in nature, not a build-it type project

Pfft. "Can a hamster charge my cell phone?" is a perfectly valid experiment.

This should whet Dana's appetite:

In what may seem like the unlikeliest transition from TV to feature films, Paramount is planning to produce a movie version of Battle of the Network Stars, which ran on ABC from 1978 to 1984. The show, in which TV stars competed in "athletic" events (tug-of-war was one of them; Bob Newhart participated in a memorable event spinning plates atop poles), will be exec produced by Barry Frank who created the original show. It is being written by Etan Cohen, a former writer on King of the Hill and Beavis and Butt-head. The TV show was hosted by the late TV sports personality Howard Cosell (Daily Variety commented today that he "presided over the proceedings as soberly as if he were hosting the Olympics"); it was revived on the Bravo channel last week with Mike Adamle, the former football star and sportscaster, doing the play-by-play

Unrelatedly, between this rule and the fact that my sister's travel immunisations were free, I'm a little jealous of the UK right now:

Britain's Channel 4 has insisted that it has broken no regulations by airing numerous commercial breaks during its telecasts of the hit ABC drama Lost. Rules by British regulator OFCOM require that there should be at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted content before a broadcaster may cut in with ads. But a spokeswoman for the channel pointed out Wednesday that another rule requires that the natural flow of a scene not be interrupted. "We would have received far more complaints if we had cut it half way through a scene full of action," she said.

Happy Anniversary Jessica and Fone Bone!

I feel like 80% of everything is always done by 20% of people.

Pareto in a nutshell. I think I had that in three different courses in B-school. 20 % of the population has 80% of the money. 20% of product line makes 80% of profits. 20% of production is responsible for 80% of defects.

We used the Magic Eraser to clean up our old apartment when we moved. It is magic!

I spent this morning at the OMV (it's the same as the DMV, but we gotta be different)so I didn't get to work until 1. What I have done today at work:

• opened everything in my inbox and transferred it to my boss's inbox except for teh sheaf of water bills that I throw away every month
• ansered one phone call. No message.
• Downloaded GoogleTalk and discovered it can't connect to anything