The censorship bills SOPA and PIPA are no longer being censored.  The mainstream media news has been all but silent on the topic because their parent companies are backing these bills.  But thanks to people rising-up in protest, SOPA and PIPA have gotten a black-eye and are loosing momentum.  Recent press releases from the White House indicate that President Obama will not support SOPA/PIPA in its current form.  Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, and other Internet biggies have joined the chorus of dissent against SOPA/PIPA.  Wikipedia has taken it a step further by blacking-out their site on Wednesday, January 18, 2012.  If you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page on 1/18/2012, here’s the message:

If you are still trying to understand the online can-of-worms that SOPA/PIPA will open, here’s how it will work.

Suppose someone very drunk driving a Ford Mustang crashing into your house wrecking havoc on your home.  You could take the drunk to court to recover your losses.  But under current law you could not sue Ford for making the Mustang.  SOPA/PIPA is the online equivalent to changing the law so that anyone can punish Ford for something a drunk did while driving a Mustang.  Of course this is not fair and is the very definition of the frivolous use of the courts.
But if SOPA/PIPA passes, big media will be empowered to take down Internet companies (big and small) by accusation without due process.

Still trying to understand SOPA/PIPA?  Stephen Colbert explains it in only the way he can.

Here are more links on SOPA/PIPA and how your voice can be heard:

Once Again Big Government Tries to Destroy the Internet – STOP SOPA and PIPA!

Geeks 1, Congress 0

Help Stop SOPA/PIPA

There are already laws in place protecting copyrights.  WE DON”T NEED MORE LAWS, especially if those laws facilitate online censorship, as SOPA/PIPA do.

STOP SOPA and PIPA!

Now this is cool technology – it uses liquid nitrogen to make ice cream.  Using a machine called Kelvin, Smitten’s ice cream in San Francisco makes each scoop to order. It uses sophisticated software and super-cool liquid nitrogen to transform pure and fresh ingredients into an awesome tasting ice cream. And since it’s made fresh on-the-spot, no stabilizers, emulsifiers or gums are needed.

Smitten owner Robyn Sue Goldman describes the patented Kelvin machine and how it makes this unique ice cream in the following video.

Visitors say this ice cream is the smoothest tasting ice cream they have ever had. It’s the deliciousness of homemade ice cream made in a minute.
“It’s flat out luxurious,” someone said licking on an ice cream made with brown sugar, cinnamon, and short bread cookies sitting on top of a handmade cone.

YUM!

To learn more click:   http://smittenicecream.com/

The Kelvin machine at Smitten ice cream was featured ZDNet that includes a detailed video on how the process works (for the techie):
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/liquid-nitrogen-changes-future-of-ice-cream/66214

How do you reduce the awkward factor when calling your geek friend for tech support when you haven’t called since the last time your need help?  Here’s how – buy him/her a Holiday gift.  Geeks love gifts; you need tech support, so everyone wins!

But what do you get a geek for Christmas without making them feel like you got something from the island of misfit toys?  Here are some geek gift suggestions that will improve your karma and increase your chances of getting tech support from your nerd buddy the next time you have a PC crash.

First, here are few things NOT to get your techie:

• The Green Lantern Movie DVD – already has it.
• Anything to do with Twilight – not considered scifi.
• A blind date – unless you want to loose a friend
• CDs (geeks download)

Here are some off-the-wall ideas for your off-the-wall geek that will earn you some guilt-free tech support.

Lightsaber

Since the first lightsaber appeared in Star Wars every geek has longed for one (or two).  And while “real” lightsaber technology may not be here today, these are pretty close.  These sabers are packed with special effects giving them movie accurate lights and sounds. The blades light from the bottom up (with sound, of course) and fade from the top down (again, with sound).  Each wave will trigger its own sound effect and each crash of saber on saber (or any other object) will also deliver an explosion of sound.

At $99.99 this is the tech-support-for-life gift.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/clearance/on-sale/b72c/

Here’s cool video demonstrating effects that are generated by the lighsaber and not dubbed.

Air Swimmers Remote Controlled Flying Shark

The Air Swimmers RC flying sea creatures stalk through the air with incredibly smooth and life-like motion.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/3-7-years/e7f7/

Check this video for the “wow” effect of of a shark floating in air.

Geek T-shirts

Here’s a collection of the best t-shirts worn by Sheldon and Leonard on The Big Bang Theory, plus Hobard’s belt buckles, and other cool stuff seen on the show (Periodic Table shower curtain, anyone?),

http://www.sheldonshirts.com/

Here are a few websites with geek gift ideas for holidays, birthdays, Dragon*Con, and other important days on the nerd calendar.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/

http://www.x-tremegeek.com/

http://www.kleargear.com/

Goodnight iPad is an adult bedtime book that reminds us to unplug, get some sleep, and our gadgets will be fully charged and ready in the morning.  Based on the children’s classic “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown, this parody brings a smile without clever Tweets or Facebook status updates.

It reminds us to step away from the Smartphone and go to bed.  Facebook will still be there the next day and your Tweeter follower will survive the night without your 140 characters of wisdom.

“Goodnight iPad” is a great gift selection for your geek friend if you are trying to earn points.  Everyone has at least one geek in their life.  You know – the one you call when your PC does something weird.  A Holiday gift is a great way to offset the guilt for calling your nerd buddy for tech support the next time you have a PC crash.  Especially since you haven’t spoke to him or her since the last time your PC needed some tech TLC.  So plan ahead and get “Goodnight iPad” for your geek.

Or, and if you really want to get grease the geek wheel, get them an actual iPad2.  You will have tech support for life!

Click here to order “Goodnight iPad”:

And of course, it’s available for download in ebook format and on YouTube.  Ironic!

The exploding pumpkin is just one of the cool chemistry experiments from Mr. Bergmann & Ms. Ryan.  They remind us the importance of good teachers.  Go Teachers!

Mr. Bergmann & Ms. Ryan perform the exploding pumpkin trick and many other awesome chemistry science demos at Kinard Middle School in Fort Collins, CO.

This type of creative teaching rings a bell to the importance good teachers.  They are the key to improving education.

So COOL!

Teacher are not the problem, they are the solution!  Let’s not cut funding for education and put our teachers trail.

It’s a simple math equation:

More Pay for Teachers  +PLUS+  Less Students per Class  =EQUALS=  Better Education for All

Big corporations spend millions on expensive accountants to avoid paying taxes.  But it is taxes that fund our education system.  Yet they sure don’t mind paying huge CEO salaries and consider that a good investment.

So are huge CEO salaries a better investment than teachers?

For more cool science visit:
http://bergmannscience.wikispaces.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/cbergmann12

The defining iPhone 4S feature is Siri, an app that allows you to talk to your phone and do stuff.  But Siri can be sassy and has a personality and is siri-iously funny.   Here are some of Siri’s responses to offbeat questions showing showing a wicked sense of humor.

Websites are already coming online that features Siri’s colorful personality.  Here are just a few:
http://www.sirifunny.com/
http://shitthatsirisays.tumblr.com/
(Some adult content on this site, if you can’t infer that from the name!)

Sure Siri can help you be more productive.  For example, you can tell Siri to send a text and boom – text sent, no typing!  Here’s the official video from Apple about Siri and all it can do.

Siri may not be as powerful as the computer on Star Trek: TNG, as witty a Maxheadroom, or homicidial as HAL from 2001: A Space Oddsey.  But here’s the thing, Siri is real!  And these other Artifical Intelligent (AI) machines are, well, from science FICTION!

And who doesn’t like a computer with personality, unless it’s a robot sent from the future to kill you before you birth the next leader of humanity.  RUN, Sarah Conner, RUN!

Do you have a Siri funny?

This hilarious fruity video from the BBC came out in Dec. 2010.  It’s funny how it’s still funny since BlackBerry still has problems.

Perhaps BlackBerry has run out of juice!

It’s hard to put into words what Steve Jobs meant to technology and the world in general.  It seems only fitting that of all the words spoke about Steve Jobs that he is best described in his own words.  His Stanford commencement speech in 2005 is probably the most powerful tribute about this man and his incredible influence.

Here is the YouTube link to the video and some exerts from his speech.  Take 15 minutes and watch video.  It is pure inspiration!

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

[Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

Steve Jobs
1956 -2011

A new study suggests that wasting time online can make you more productive and a better worker.  Finally – a useful study!

According to a recent report presented at the Academy of Management, “browsing the Internet serves an important restorative function.”  Sure there are other studies that cling to the tired, old cliché that you need to do work to be productive.  But tell your snooping boss that’s old school and the best way to make your spreadsheets shine is to spend more time polishing your YouTube skills.

Here are some ways to waste time online for fun and profit that can make you a better (not to mention, happier) employee.

Damn you auto-correct
http://www.biologyoftechnology.com/2011/01/fun-with-auto-correct-texting/
A website of texting faux pas created by smartphone auto-correct that is anything but…correct.

Daily Seinfeld

http://dailyseinfeld.tumblr.com/

Great lines from a Jerry, George, Elanie, and Kramer.

I Can Has Cheezburger?
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
Cat and other animal videos with funny cations.

Stoned Cats
http://stonedcats.tumblr.com/
Pictures of cats who indulged in too much catnip.  The creators of this site update it sporadically, I’m guessing because of their own indulgences with “catnip.”

Everything is Terrible
http://www.biologyoftechnology.com/2009/12/everything-is-terrible/
A great collection of quirky and funny offbeat videos clips.  There motto – “If Everything is Terrible, then nothing is.”

The Big THREE – Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Need no explanation, other than the words of the immoral Betty White on Saturday Night Live describing Facebook:

“I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time.”  Betty White

Dumb Tweets $ Brands
http://dumbtweetsatbrands.tumblr.com/
Customers tweeting about products when complaining to the the customer service line is just not enough.

Ray Williams Johnson YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/RayWilliamJohnson
Ray is one of the funniest guys on YouTube (and most viewed).  His Equals-Three YouTube show reviews three viral videos with a comic twist.  Wear your headphones because Ray doesn’t pull punches and says it like it is.

Anything about Justin Bieber – enough said!

Daily Show / Colbert Report
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
http://www.colbertnation.com/
If like The Daily Show and Colbert Report but you have to get to bed early because your boss is a stickler about being at work on time, these sites are for you.  All the best from the kings of late night comedy.

Biology of Technology

http://www.biologyoftechnology.com/

A great tech website/blog that looks at the brighter side of technology.  Personally, I don’t consider this website a waste of time!
Hey, what good is the Internet if you can’t do a little shameless self promotion?

Once you done with Farmville on Facebook and watching cats on YouTube, for those who want to see more data on this study, here’s a link:
http://www.aomonline.org/aom.asp?ID=251&page_ID=224&pr_id=448