Midomi
Midomi is a social network with a difference, in fact it moves to the beat of a different drum! A good friend of mine from Japan told me about this site and has summed it up as follows:
“Basically if you’re trying to find a song, but you can’t remember the artist or song title, go to Midomi, and “sing” the song you want. Sing or hum a few bars into your computer’s mic and Midomi will tell you what it is. The less obscure the song, the more you know, and the better you sing the better your chances of having Midomi find it for you.
“There’s a social networking component that saves recordings of previous registered users, and you can access this to “enjoy” other people’s versions of songs sung into Midomi. That alone is great entertainment. It’s a free site too and I guess handy for music fans looking to stock up their i-pods.”
I must warn you, this site can be addictive on two fronts. On one hand I enjoyed beating it with songs it did not know (admittedly I had to fall back to the Johnny Cash song book and Folsom Prison Blues) and on the other hand, producing your own version of songs to add to the archive.
You can find the site at midomi.com.
Lolcats Bible translation
You will recall I have mentioned lolcats on this program before – lolcats is a site and movement that attracts pictures of cats with captions, and all captions are written in a dumbed down, hip-hop-style language that adds to the cuteness of the cat snaps.
It is a very popular site with a cult following among web savvy cat lovers but now the movement has changed gear and roared into potentially controversial territoriy by releasing the lolcat Bible translation. At the time of writing this, the project was achingly close to finishing.
Time for another warning: one read of this and it will be hard to go back to conventional Bible translations ever again! In fact, the only thing that comes close to this would be the SMS version of the Bible, but even that comes across as staid compared to the lolcat Bible.
Here are some examples:
Genesis 1
1 Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded teh skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated dem.
2 Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz.
3 At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stuffs, An splitted teh lite from dark but taht wuz ok cuz kittehs can see in teh dark An not tripz over nethin.5 An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. It were FURST!!!1
And later …
20 An Ceiling Cat sayed, waterz bring me phishes, An burds, so kittehs can eat dem. But Ceiling Cat no eated dem.21 An Ceiling Cat maed big fishies An see monstrs, which wuz like big cows, except they no mood, An other stuffs dat mooves, An Ceiling Cat sawed iz good.22 An Ceiling Cat sed O hai, make bebehs. An dont worry i wont watch u secksy, i not that kynd uf kitteh.23 An so teh…fith day.
And the end of the first chapter …
29 An Ceiling Cat sayed, Beholdt, the Urfs, I has it, An I has not eated it.30 For evry createded stufs tehre are the fuudz, to the burdies, teh creepiez, An teh mooes, so tehre. It happen. Iz good.
31 An Ceiling Cat sayed, Beholdt, teh good enouf for releaze as version 0.8a..
John 3:16
16 So liek teh Ceiling Kitteh lieks teh ppl lots and he sez ‘Oh hai I givez u me only kitteh and ifs u purrz wit him u wont evr diez no moar, k?’17 Cuz teh Ceiling Kitteh not snd hiz son 2 take all yur cookies, but so u cud maek moar cookies 4EVAR!18 U beleevz him u getz cheezburgrs, but els you get invisibul error.”
Revelation 1
1 John haz sum revelashunz. Tehy frum teh Happycat, but wuz furst frum Ceiling Cat, an tehy to show what iz comin. Teh Ceiling Cat sended hiz angel to John to give revelashunz.2 John sez iz all totally troof, zactly what teh Ceiling Cat and Happycat sayed. He no lie. Srsly.
3 Everwun what reedz these wurdz will has cheezburgrz and everwun what heerz theez wurdz will has cheezburgrz. Also, pay attenshuns, cuz iz comin.
4 John seyz, hay teh sehvuhn churchez over therr in Asia: Oh hai, from teh Ceiling Cat whoz alwayz around, an alwayz haz beens around, an alwayz will bes around, and hai from the sehvuhn kittehs sittin next to his mighteh sofuh.
5 Oh, also, hai frum Happycat who totally luvz us an died for us an stuff,6 Ur awsum.
So, you can seek more lolcat enlightenment at http://www.lolcatbible.com/.
Angry Penguin
In keeping with my pledge to review at least one Adelaide-based blog per show, I would like to recommend Angry Penguin, the personal blog of Advertiser journalist, Samela Harris. Disclaimer: Samela is also one of my Facebook friends.
Angry Penguin is thoroughly enjoyable reading for two reasons. Firstly, Samela writes a lot about South Australia and South Australian issues. Secondly, I tend to share her opinions on things. Here are some examples of both.
Booborowie. Who has heard of it or been there? It is off the road between Burra and Spalding in South Australia’s mid-North. I have heard of it but cannot recall if I have ever visited or even driven through. Samela writes about a trip she took back there last year (2008) and the photos are beautiful. It is hard to forget how vast and desolate South Australia can look.
Visuacy. Samela vents against teachers creating the word “visuacy” to cover the teaching of visual arts in the curriculum. One teacher quoted claims Visual Arts should be on equal footing with Maths, Science, and English, and goes so far as to say it is more important than History. I share Samela’s despair. I love the end of this entry in which Samela reports that these “visuacy” advocates claim students should be able to study a lingerie ad with the same seriousness as a Picasso because they are both “art”. As the post says, this is the same as saying the sound of a foghorn is the same as a Beethoven symphony because they are both made of sound! Oh, please!
Rosetta Bay. Yesterday (January 10, 2009), Samela updated her post on the horrific pontoons being constructed in Encounter Bay. Here is a passage: “Meanwhile, no one can walk down the pontoons and enjoy a view. They are a bit scary. They are not stable. The metal tie-up lugs are a real tripping threat if one raises one’s eyes from the metal floor. But, of course, the pontoons are not meant for the non-boating people, for the walkers who used to like to stand on the wooden jetty and watch the sea grasses, the fish, sometimes a squid and ever the optimistic pelicans, not to mention the mirrored stars at night. Who the hell came up with the idea that unstable floating pontoons were better than the jetties enjoyed and safely used by generation upon generation?”
You can follow the angry penguin at http://angrypenguin.blogspot.com/.
The ‘misunderestimated’ president?
With George Bush’s successor about to be sworn in as President on January 20, 2009, I thought it would be fitting to look back at this man and remember the many Bushisms he has bestowed upon us. The BBC has compiled this tribute page – here are some favourites:
- “There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.”
- “For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times.” (Just don’t mention Pearl Harbour)
- “Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?”
- “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.”
- “It’s clearly a budget. It’s got a lot of numbers in it.”
- “And truth of the matter is, a lot of reports in Washington are never read by anybody. To show you how important this one is, I read it, and [Tony Blair] read it.”
- “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.”
Relive more moments at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/americas/7809160.stm