Decided I would Google myself and dig around and find references to my online persona, Smikwily. I was a little surprised to find a reference to me on the almighty PlanetQuake. Someone had asked why drive up ATMs had braille on them. This is the answer I gave them:
I actually heard the reason for this on a local radio station here in Columbus Ohio. A large majority of blind people travel by Taxi. If they need cash, the taxi takes them through the ATM. They are in the back seat, but still in a vehicle. That’s why the drive up ATMs have braille. So blind people who are traveling with other people or by Taxi can feel the keys.
There is a bit more to my response, including a G.I. Joe reference that I received bonus points for, but that sums it up. A nifty little piece of trivia for some of you folks out there.
This is something I wondered about after hearing about 2 people playing Halo via a Cat5 cable strung between 2 vehicles: A mobile LAN. Well, a few people had a trip planned, so they decided to put together a LAN between 2 vehicles. Arming them both with the necessary equipment, wiring their laptops up to HUBs, and even throwing in Internet access via a cell phone, they were able to create a moving network, with a ‘range’ of around 800 feet from each other. Very, very cool…
Interesting little idea mentioned over at IMDb.com. Seems that Sony Pictures Entertainment of Japan is going to try a movie going experiment next month: you vote for the movie and we play it. Moviegoers will hit the Sony website and select a movie, venue, and schedule. Once 100 to 150 have decided on a movie, they set a time and location for the movie to be shown.
Sounds like a great idea to me. I’d definitely go catch some classics if they were offered in the theater again. Might give the movie biz a little kick in the pants, too 
Since we are getting close to the 1 year anniversary of Sept. 11, it’s interesting to see how we reacted to the attack. I received a link to a page called Newseum in a newsletter and it’s a bit sobering. The site offers pictures of 70 front pages of newspapers from around the world. It’s one of the few sites that has brought back the feelings I had that day. Take a look and take a few minutes to reflect…
Picked up Super Mario Sunshine and the jury is out right now. I only played a few minutes of it, and it does seem like another Miyamoto Masterpiece, but I can’t make the call yet. It seems to be an extension of Mario64, which in itself is great, but I’m still adjusting to the controls and using the FLUDD water sprayer. I’ll let you know if (make that when) things pick up.
Are you ready to see how deep the rabbit hole goes? Then get thee to the official Matrix website. A few new pics have been added, and a first trailer for the Animatrix is up. Very, very cool stuff. After hearing that production has wrapped on the title, it’s all a matter of waiting for the ‘Special Effects’ to get added. Mark those calendars!
Ok, this falls under the ‘creepy, but cool’ category. A new report on MSNBC says that a new company by the name of LifeGem will take cremated remains and turn them into a diamond. Yep, take ol’ Aunt Ruthie, send her ashes to LifeGem, and for a few grand, you can have her made into a sparkler for your ring finger.
Messing around with a new pop-up stopper. I was using Pow from AnalogX, who BTW has some of the best utilities on the net, but was looking for something that would allow me to configure it a bit more. Yesterday I stumbled across Window Shades, which might fit the bill. It allows you to block pop-ups across an entire domain, or block only certain pop-ups. This is more of what I was looking for.
This site is going a bit slowly at times, and I’ve decided it’s because I’m being a bit picky about what I post about. I usually find all sorts of cool links and software, but never post about any of them. I send links to all my buddies, but don’t do anything about that here.
That’s going to change.
This site is going to be a bit ‘info’ for you, and a bit ‘archive’ for me. If I find a cool tool or link that I end up using, I’ll try to let you know about it. That way you can try it and I’ll also have a reference to it, just in case I lose track of it
CNN.com reports that Japanese scientists are planning on cloning a wooly mammoth to display at an Ice Age exhibit in Siberia. Seems that Crichton wasn’t that far off…
One of those games that I’ve been watching for a while is PlanetSide, from Sony. Think of it as a Everquest, but in the future and with weapons Well, those weapons have been revealed on the PlanetSide website. Head on over and check out what you’ll be firing in the near future.
It seems that Alba, the rabbit famous do to it’s ability to glow in the dark/under black light, has died. The animal was part of an experiment involving splicing the genes from a jellyfish with the rabbit to make it glow. Now, Alba is no more, but in dying, Alba may cause as much contriversy in deatha as in life. Head over to Wired
to read why some of the ‘facts’ aren’t lining up quite right.
If they ask (and you know they will), then send them here.
This is probably one of Compaq’s more popular FAQ pages
Looking for that piece of music you heard in a commercial jingle, but can’t quite figure out what it is? Then head to Songtitle.info. They have listings for quite a few commercial jingles, as well as the discs you can find them on. Get that song out of your head and into your CD player!
Update: Received this in a recent email. May be another good site to check out: AdTunes.com
GameSpy.com has an interesting interview posted with Charles Martinet, better known as ‘It’s a me, Mario!’. Yep, Charles it the guy behind the voice of most of the Nintendo universe. Think of him as Nintendo’s Mel Blanc.
Cool, homemade computer animation. Check out Rustboy for a sneak peak at the short film in the works.
A few of you know that I play Unreal Fortress and have been trying to tell people how great of a game it is. Well, it seems that ModSquad agrees. They just gave it a 10 out of 10. While I don’t think it’s 100% perfect, it is an absolute blast. If you have Unreal Tournament, check it out.
Interesting little work games over at Crickler.com. They take words from current events news and put them in puzzle format. Each word is separate, but when you finish a word correctly, the letters that are in that word are filled in for anyother word they appear in. You can get hung up, but click the owl at the top and he’ll give you a hint. Go try them out!
If you have a Chipotle in the neighborhood, but haven’t tried it out, do so on my recommendation. Think of it as a mexican Subway: you pick what you want, but it’s in a burrito instead of a bun. Fabulous flavor, not too pricey, and you get more than your money’s worth.
If he builds a tree house that looks just like a Mechwarrior Mech, then yes, your dad is cool. I don’t care if it’s a bit geeky, this thing is sweet.
