Blendtec is a little company that makes kitchen appliances, most notably some uncommonly powerful blenders. Faced with the question of how to market their blenders, Blendtec decided to do something… different. You’d best take a moment to steady yourself before pressing the “play” button, especially if you own an iPod. (more…)
To quote the t-shirt that director Michael Bay wore during production: GIANT FUCKING ROBOTS ARE COMING.
The Transformers were among my favorite toys as a kid. I was actually surprised to learn that they still make new Transformers toys. I guess there may be a market for this movie beyond those strange adult men who collect retro toys in unopened original boxes.
Even though I haven’t touched a Transformer in about twenty years, I was still pretty excited (in an utterly nerdy way) when I heard about this movie. I imagine anyone who ever pitted plastic Autobots and Decepticons against each other on a living room carpet will probably feel the same. 
They even got the original Optimus Prime from the U.S. cartoon to voice Prime in the movie! Woo hoo!
I am such a dork. 
Sick of the useless gibberish you get from Babelfish and Google Translator? I’ve found an online translation tool that (usually) manages to actually make sense: Im Translator. Compare the translations of this Spanish-language Wikipedia article to see the difference:
I am so glad that Amazon enabled commenting on product reviews. Now I can enjoy vitriolic Internet flame wars without even having to visit Slashdot or a discussion forum!
Case in point: Read the back-and-forth between E. Keech and Jim Harrigan in the comments on this review of An Inconvenient Truth (the book, not movie). It’s like watching some kind of bizarre postmodern comedy skit, wherein two allegedly educated professional men discuss the issues of the day by sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming at one another full-volume. They’re only reading enough of each other’s comments to figure out which canned talking points to copy-and-paste next.
Independently-owned bookstores often struggle to remain competitive against giants like Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.com. If you’d like to support locally-owned book sellers, BookSense.com is a good place to start. It’s the Internet arm of a national marketing campaign that the site describes thusly:
What is Book Sense?
Book Sense is a national marketing campaign on behalf of the independent bookstores of America. It is both a local and national effort to shine a light on the knowledge and diversity of independent bookstores, via the Book Sense Bestseller List — now running in more than a dozen newspapers as well as monthly in U.S. News and World Report and on CSPAN — and Book Sense Picks — a monthly selection of eclectic new books chosen by independent booksellers.
Book Sense also offers a gift card welcome at hundreds of participating independent bookstores nationwide! And then there is, of course, BookSense.com.
What is BookSense.com?
BookSense.com is a family of independent-bookseller websites. (And it’s the e-commerce arm of the American Booksellers Association’s Book Sense program.)
When you visit a BookSense.com virtual bookstore, you will experience the knowledge and passion of independent booksellers who share their love of books with their customers and their communities. You’ll have access to information and news about local authors, store events, and myriad staff recommendations — and you will also be presented with content that reflects the collective wisdom of booksellers from all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
To get started, enter your ZIP code in the form labeled “Find a Store with Book Sense.” I found six bookstores in nearby Wichita, only two of which I’d heard of before.
(Props: pythonfood.com)
