from Boston.com’s “Big Picture” series of the Olympics’ opening ceremony in Beijing. Click here to see the picture full-size.
Mark Spitz, former American Olympic swimmer, gives the U.S. a bad name - “I never got invited. You don’t go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am.”
If you were to name the 17 most recognizable sound bytes, how many would be the same as the ones mental_floss listed?
1. NBC’s musical notes G, E, C played on chimes. NBC was the first to trademark a sound for its radio broadcasting services in 1950.
2. MGM’s lion’s roar
3. The song “Sweet Georgia Brown” for The Harlem Globetrotters
4. Tetris’ “electronic Russian folkstyle tune,” owned by Elorg Company
5. Intel’s 5 note ding
6. “D’Oh” spoken by Homer is owned by Fox
7. The 9 bars of musical chord in the key of B Flat that typically opens a Twentieth Century Fox movie
8. Looney Toons Theme Song, owned by Time Warner
9. The spoken letters “AT&T” with a music in the background
10. “Cha-Ching,” owned by Checker’s Restaurants
11. “Yahoo!” sung in a yodeling style
12. Nokia’s default ringtone
13. Mister Softee’s Jingle
14. “Hello and Welcome to Moviefone,” owned by America Online
15. The sound of the crowd & bell from the New York Stock Exchange’s trading floor
16. TiVo’s popping sounds (in 2 and 6 tones)
17. Pillsbury Doughboy’s giggle
To be honest, I only knew about 70% of them. Could be because I don’t have a TiVo…
[video]
from Boston.com’s “Big Picture” series of the Olympics’ opening ceremony in Beijing. Click here to see the picture full-size.
Breaking: Atheist finds no religious figures in his toast! - When this type of humor ceases to exist, so will I.
from today’s (above average) PostSecret collection. I also especially like the one about Mike wanting to be called simply Mike.
About a month ago, Twitter emailed me to let me know I was being followed by EQAlert, a k a the Earthquake Alert Guy. I followed him back, knowing that with the next major earthquake, he would be in the mix and I’d get to see if he lived up to his claim: he has apparently “had accurate EQ Alerts out before all major earthquakes for practically ten years now!!!”
There is no way to accurately predict earthquakes, according to my Dynamic Earth professor. There are indicators, but no foolproof way to know where and when one will hit. The times people are right, he says, are the times they are lucky. Hmm.
Yesterday, at 5:39pm, an update from EQAlert showed up in my twitterstream:
They are getting a lot of foreshocks around the Pacific Tectonic Plate. Honshu is due for Beulah resultant 7.6 and watch West Coast. EQ Guy
And watch the West Coast I did. At 11:42am, a strong, 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit the L.A. area and was felt in Las Vegas. Luckily, there are no deaths so far—just minor damage to some buildings and some power outages.
So, EQ Alert Guy did a pretty good job of giving a heads up. He said that we should watch the West Coast. But, he didn’t know when or specifically where an earthquake would happen. I’d say his update was “accurate,” but not remarkably helpful. I could say “watch the west coast of South America this week!” and probably be right on the money.
I am going to stick with my professor’s opinion until I see people predicting locations and timing of earthquakes consistently and nearly exactly. EQ Alert Guy: if you’re here, just know that I am pretty impressed. Like 5.4 out of 10 impressed.*
*Note: earthquake magnitude measurements are not “out of 10” — in fact, the ratings can be very misleading. An earthquake with a “5” rating causes 10 times more shaking and releases 32 times the energy of an earthquake rated “4.”
Image: Inland News Today
UPDATE 8:54p July 30: EQAlert posted this twitter message about noon today:
There was a letter to California Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council or CEPEC, that I started but never sent dated July 23. 2008
I wonder how seriously they would have taken this supposed letter.
“Before the comment wall and discussion board were taken offline, more than a few users appeared to take up that call. And the backlash also caught the attention of the Obama campaign. As Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, put it: “I agree with the first comment thread on their discussion board: ‘The site is lame.’” — from a New York Times blog post about BarackBook, a RNC-funded Facebook parody site that caused immediate controversy when it went live today. I was surprised at Mr. Vietor’s funny and frank commentary about it.
Be sure to click here to see the full size version. Not only is it an awe-inspiring view of Obamamania, but it’s also a very real example of the spread of digital cameras. (Flickr user ScriptingNews | via Twitter)
“My review is too long to be posted here. Go to: Yelp and search: “Apple Store Oakbrook.” Darn the 2000 character limit!” — from a “review” of my local Apple store on Citysearch.