Oodles of noodles stretch Chinese record - As CNN.com reports, someone is out there trying to stretch the boundaries of noodle tech. This simply underscores the need for a local noodle bar in the SouthCoast MA area. Asian locals and other enterprising noodle entrepreneurs, are you listening!!!??? You have a future loyal customer waitng.

Naked Burglar Leaves Driver's License - I'd say the moral of the story is not to take your pants off during a robbery, but that seems too obvious.

Microsoft: Pirate Software Company - Too delicious. Microsoft has been found guilty of software piracy in French court. This happened back in September, and the world was preoccupied at the time, so the news went unnoticed. But becaue Microsoft is so aggressivly anti-open source software, this little news tidbit has come back to bit them in the posterior. Read the story at vnunet.com - Microsoft convicted of software piracy

Web marketing gets even more aggressive - Salon.com reports on the pop-up ad campaign from hell - websurfers hijacked from a family entertainment site into a site that installed "malware" (malicious software) on their machines.

The Web Age's First New Music Genre appears to have arrived. The style is refered to in this NYT article as "Mash-ups", combining songs to create a new work without including any original recording. For example, the lyrics from one song might be layered on top of the instrumental from a song of a completely different style. The resulting work can sound like a mishmash, or can sound like a completely new work of its own.

I'm intrigued. The Base58 website is dedicated to tracking these new bootleg recordings, some of which are legal and some of which are not. I haven't heard any exampes yet, but I imagine a trip to KaZaa or AudioGalaxy might provide one with a good cross-section.
[UPDATE: Okay, I've listened to a few I was able to find on the above website. So far I'm not that impressed with what I've heard. For songs where I am familiar with the originals, I like the originals better. That's not to say I don't like any remixes (I like Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" but I really like the Crystal Method remix better) and I think there is potential here. But I haven't seen it reached yet.]

Odd Todd - Odd Todd, aside from being Odd, is laid off. This has prompted thim to produce humorous Flash cartoons.

If you liked that one, check out the rest of the Odd Todd website. Yes it's juvenile, but the guy makes a funny flash cartoon. Oh - and he's got an MP3 of the original 60's animated series Spider-Man theme song on the site. Bonus!

The K Chronicles - Check out Keith Knight's humorous take on Star Wars Episode II. (What's with the light saber?)

More Spider-Man - According to an email list that Sony Pictures runs for Spider-Man fans, they have set the date for the Spider-Man sequel, directed by Sam Raimi and Starring Tobey Maguire. Mark May 7, 2004 on your calendar.

Top Secret Recipes - I stumbled into "Top Secret Recipes" back when I was looking for a recipe to emulate the ever-popular "Orange Julius." I found a book by auther and food enthusiast Todd Wilbur which contained a copycat recipe. It wasn't bad, and with some modifications I was making decent Orange Julius clones at home.

Since then, I've bought 2 of his books. I've visited his website (Top Secret Recipes on the Web) a number of times. The guy has a great number of clone recipes you can download for free there, and you can sign up for new recipes that appear on the site but are not archived.

One of my all-time favorite clone recipes is a Cinnabon copycat that was extremely true to the original (although I like to think that my modifications have improved it beyond the original). Making copycat recipes is fun and it feels sneaky.

[HUMOR] - New Math -

The math teacher saw that little Johnny wasn't paying attention in class. She called on him and said, "Johnny! What are 4, 2, 28 and 44?" Little Johnny quickly replied, "NBC, CBS, HBO, and the Cartoon Network!"

[FOOD] - Space Food Sticks Preservation Society - It turns out I'm not crazy, nor am I alone in my nostalgic love of Space Food Sticks. These chewy delights are a foodstuff that haunt my childhood memories. Given to me by my paternal grandmother, they were chocolatey treats which evoked images of astronauts, NASA and exploration of the unknown. Heck - you had me at "chocolatey." Now there's a whole Space Food Sticks Preservation Society?

Where do I sign up?

TANG never really did it for me, but food in the shape of a stick? That really says "the future!"

[PRIVACY] - Sonicblue's ReplayTV to become a spy? - Sonicblue is claiming that the court has ordered it to report to entertainment companies what shows that its ReplayTV subscibers are recording without commercials. Here we go. Can the entertaiment companies find some way to put the electronic cat back into the bag? What new and wonderful laws will come out of this?
Yahoo! News - Sonicblue forced to spy on subscribers?

[NOSTALGIA] - Yesterdayland - Your Childhood Is Here - The YesterdayLand website is a repository of all those little things that filled your childhood from Saturday morning cartoons to music, lunchboxes and arcade games.

Here's a slice of my childhood. Space: 1999 Lunchbox -- Star Trek Communicator walkie-talkies -- Battle of the Planets -- Sinistar and, oh my god! It wasn't just a nightmare! The half-season long New Schmoo.

[SW] - Who criticised my interface? - When users/clients suggest specific interface changes or specific elements they want in a user interface, developers should slam on the breaks before they trip up and say "OK." I've been saying this for a long time, and here's a decent article that explains why: The Sanctity of Elements, or Why You Shouldn't be Double-clicking in a textarea

Even if you're not a developer, this article may give you an idea why developers are (or should be) reluctant to say "yes" to interface changes that users suggest.

[ENTERTAINMENT] - Spider-Man breaks Box Office Records -In its first weekend, the new Sam Raimi-directed "Spider-Man" has pulled in a record breaking $114 million dollars - the first movie to ever make more than $100 million in one weekend. "Harry Potter" had the previous record with paltry $90.3 million.It also broke a number of other records, details at: Reuters | Batman who?
So, how was the movie? Maggie and I saw it on Sunday and we both thoroughly enjoyed the film. Maguire does a great job capturing the spirit of Peter Parker. While the film has its stunning SPFX, it chooses to be much more of a story about people than other super hero films. And what better character than Spider-Man for such a film? The super hero for whom nothing ever goes right, for whom nothing is simple.

I recommend the film as an action movie with heart, and I'm excited to read these box office results. They increase the likelyhood we will see a sequel. I hope they stick with Raimi as director. His fingerprints were all over the film.