as a dog returns to its vomit...

Well, it was bound to happen. In the throes of boredom, I gave Omegle another shot. The results are exactly what you'd expect from chatting with randomized, anonymous strangers at 1:15 am.


Apparently our friend here doesn't understand that one in the morning is, in fact, one in the morning. Apparently he also thinks being in the Pacific time zone makes him superior to me... even though I'm also in the Pacific time zone. And really, time zone differences are a good reason to stop talking to anybody, am I right?



This conversation is the closest this nerd will ever get to finding out the chick he's dancing with is actually a man.



Sometimes internet nerds get indignant when you point the obvious out to them.

And there you have it. Another wasted night on a useless website. On the plus side, though, I didn't encounter nearly as many penises as that one time I made the mistake of visiting Chatroulette. But of course now that I've said that, I'll probably be greeted by an ASCII schlong next time I log on.

(See my first journey into the abyss that is Omegle here)

sweet effing eff!

Sweet merciful crap, this is amazing.




Part of me is really excited for this, but the more rational part of me knows it's only a matter of time before Milo becomes self aware, and we all know what happens after that. Also, the prospect of children growing up with A.I. friends is more than a little off-putting.

Those concerns aside, though, this is probably the most bad ass thing I've seen since the new Rambo movie came out last year... and that was the most bad ass thing since James K. Polk.

What do you think? Is Milo as bad ass as James K. Polk?

they should have called it 4chat

I was introduced today to an interesting concept called Omegle.com, which pairs you up with a total stranger in a private chat room, in which both of you are anonymous. It's like the 4chan of chat, only far less disturbing, and with at least 90% less tentacle porn.

I don't think I'll be frequenting this site, as it seems to me to be likely inhabited primarily by kids and predators, but I did have some amusing encounters in the few minutes I spent tooling around there.

Here's the entirety of my first anonymous chat with a stranger:

Obviously, this stranger is not down with today's modern vernacular.

My second attempt reminded me of this for some reason:

And that was the end of that.

And coming up next, we have... oh geez...


Eventually, I did have some semblance of a conversation, although only in the most liberal use of the word:

Hell yeah! I like that enthusiasm! Sadly, though, it did not last:

LOL, that's beautiful. I can just picture this Stranger hanging his head in dejection as he delivers that pitiful "ooh.." and signs off. A classic hangup if I ever saw one. What really gets me is that he left immediately upon discovering I'm not a Lady Gaga fan, and to him, that was a perfectly reasonable response. Just like how the Men Without Hats felt it perfectly reasonable to refuse friendship with anybody who doesn't dance.

All in all, I recommend Omegle for a quick jaunt when you're bored, but nothing more. Being anonymous and random, it's ideal breeding grounds for trolls, and you'll probably spend half your time being bothered by them, as well as being asked "a/s/l?", which is internet shorthand for "I am not someone you want to waste your time talking to."

Do give it a shot if you feel so inclined, though, and let me know about any humorous incidents that occur as a result.

is that rounded up or down?

Maybe there's actually π of them.

animator vs. animation

This is how we did it in 1953*:



And this is how we did it in 2006*:
A vs. A


*Of course, by saying we, I naturally mean they, obviously, as they were a part of, and I was not, something that they did, and I did not do, for I was not a part of the team (which, if I were, would be we) which carried out these respective projects, which were done by them and not me, making it they, and not we.

i want to be, under the sea

1) Scientists are giving Rubik's cubes to octopuses to see if they have a favorite tentacle (article).

2) I freaking love science!

3) Somewhere along the line, the English language officially abandoned 'octopi' in favor of 'octopuses', and nobody bothered to inform me of this change.

4) I hate how fickle the English language is.

5) But, scientists are giving Rubik's cubes to octopuses to see if they have a favorite tentacle!

6) That's so rad!


Above: an octopus working on a Rubik's cube puzzle.
This photo is completely unaltered, including the text.
The octopus was actually saying that when the picture was taken.

geekfitti

Every so often, the stars align and create something that delights the geek, artist, and stick-it-to-the-man-iness in me. The geekfiti movement is one of those very somethings. It also satisfies my considerateness of other people's property, because geekfitti artists tend to do their work in non-permanent mediums. So they're bad ass, but not jerks.

Check out all the goods in WebUrbanist's geekfitti gallery.