Very Geeky WWWednesday

Greetings from Vermont, where it seems we're finally getting some wintery weather... Not nearly enough to make the ski resorts happy, mind you. But at least it's starting to feel like it's Christmastime. This week's WWWednesday has a decidedly 'nerdy' bent to it. Hope you like!

1) Perhaps you should buy your kids some PowerRangers gear this year... Just for safety's sake. Meet Stevie Long who, according to this article, "scared the bad guys away" who were attempting to rob his house. You go, Stevie!

2) The IRS is getting wise to the untapped wealth to be found in MMORPG gaming. Ebay's filled with players who, having gained massive experience in the game, are selling 'electronic assets' to other folks. But not so fast, soon the IRS might be taking a chunk of your profits on your "+2 Broadsword of Teh Hawtness and Girls". Another reason to vote Libertarian, I guess?

3) On a related note, this video is absolutely hysterical. Not suitable for kids (this means our kids, Eva)!


4) I'll admit to having become a marginal Harry Potter fan. The movies are cotton-candy, I'll grant you, but entertaining. Nonetheless, I can't believe that people my age are planning a Harry Potter convention. Ok, I can believe that. There's money to be made. What really floors me is that they're coming up with a non-flying-broom version of Quidditch for the conference. Peep this article.

5) Moving to a much more interesting game: Buzkashi. Yes, that ancient, Afghani sport in which two teams essentially play polo with a headless goat carcass. What might surprise you is that one of the sport's leading stars is, in fact, a white guy from Scotland.

[T]he sport runs in his blood. Mr Clayton is a military man whose ancestors fought in Afghanistan in the 1840s and were known to be partial to a game of buzkashi after a fortifying gin and tonic.

I bet.

6) Internet memes are funny things... They just come out of nowhere. Take for example this one: Tuscan Whole Milk. After being listed on Amazon, everyone and their cousin 'reviewed' the creamy goodness. Says one reviewer:

Only three times in my life have I had better milk than this, and twice I'm fairly certain it was laced with flavor enhancing enzymes. The third was a milk so pure, it was actually hand delivered by the dairy farmer, who pumped it from the milk well right there in the middle of his ranch and drove it out to you in his old model T Ford pickup. Regardless, that was some expensive service, but the milk was like unto gold in a bronze world.

So, if you're looking for a last minute gift idea, perhaps you can still get your hands on some mega-milk. If you're lucky, that is. I'm 'Adding to Cart' as we speak!

7) Major geek addiction alert!! Check out the Ms. Dewey search engine. The buzz on the net seems to be that this is Microsoft's first stab at an interactive search engine. While the 'tude and innuendo are little over the top (search: gangsta bling), the creators went to great lengths to hide Easter Eggs in the system. Just try some of these [individually]: Lord of the Rings; Nintendo is best; Ms. Dewey; Janina Gavankar (the 'actress' who plays Ms. Dewey); Windows Millenium Edition; "What is the acceleration of gravity?"; "Wake up Neo"; iPod; Academy Awards...

I could spend (ahem, waste) a lot of time trying to find 'em all. Leave a comment if you find any amusing ones!

8) You might wind up here if you wanted to know about:

• Should I believe the children? No. They lie.
• I have been googled for dead duck deer, as well as dead deer duck. If I get "duck duck dead" or something similar, the odd trifecta will be complete!
• There is an important, though subtle, difference between Miracle Whip and Miracle Whips.

Sorry that the pics are a little large... Blogger's photo posting is acting wonky.