Turn Off

Black Out @ Google for Earth Hour (Source)

Don't forget to turn your lights off today (March 29, 2008) for an hour from 8pm to 9pm your local time for Earth Hour. Reduce your carbon footprint. I might take a nap during that hour. I am absolutely pooped.

Yay, the city of Seattle is on board.

Google should leave their homepage black all the time.

Check it:
Earth Hour

Spramp Hodgepodge 8

(Source)

• Martha Stewart to stop publishing Blueprint magazine, Reuters via Yahoo! (December 10, 2007)
• Universal Music Group in Web deal with Imeem, Reuters via Yahoo! (December 10, 2007)
• A rare December named storm for the Atlantic: Olga, Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog (December 10, 2007)
• Talking Jesus Action Figure Sells Out At Walmart [Trends], Consumerist (December 10, 2007)
• Design: A Strong Showing in Miami, Business Week (December 10, 2007)
• Host Your Domain with Free Apps [Feature], Lifehacker (December 10, 2007)
• YouTube Shares the Wealth With Everyone. Apply Now, TechCrunch (December 10, 2007)
• Googling The GooglePlex: With More Solar Googlables To Come, Treehugger (December 10, 2007)
• Who should Apple buy?, Art Technica (December 7, 2007)
  

What I'm Coveting: Google Holiday Memory

Google 2GB Flash Memory Drive w/Cute Case (Source)

Google sent one of these to geeksugar as a holiday gift... no fair. I want one too! Apparently, they are not for sale to the general public. "Google - send me one too! I'm a devoted customer and fan! C'mon! Pretty please. Actually, what I really want is the cute baby blue case. My address is in your files ..."

Check it:
Google sends out holiday gifts, we get nothing, CruchGear (December 8, 2007)
Google Gives the Gift of Sleek Storage This Christmas, geeksugar (December 7, 2007)

Spramp Hodgepodge 2

Self-Archipelago
Originally uploaded by jc / b

Are Sundays usually this slow? I was aiming for 10 items, but fell short. Enjoy the hodgepodge - lots of interesting things today.

• Yours for the Peeping, New York Times (November 4, 2007)
• New eBay Site Helps Finance Poor, BBC News (October 24, 2007)
• Quack Attack: U of Oregon Fights "Unduly Burdensome" RIAA Subpoenas, Ars Technica (November 2, 2007)
• Prof Replaces Term papers with Wikipedia Contributions, Suffering Ensues, Ars Technica (October 30, 2007)
• The Interior Of Muji Soho, Revealed!, Racked (October 30, 2007)
• What Sex Scandals Say About Politics, Seattle Times (November 4, 2007)
• What will Google announce tomorrow?, Crunch Gear (November 4, 2007)

Spramp Hodgepodge 1

Originally uploaded by Burn-A-Bee

In no particular order, 10 news- and blog-worthy things that caught my attention today. It's a little bit geeky, somewhat artsy, and big gay and fun. Enjoy the hodgepodge...

• What's So Special About Left-Handers?, Seattle Times (November 3, 2007)
• Las Vegas Goes All Out to Attract Gay Travelers, Wall Street Journal (November 2, 2007)
• Imperium: Google's March Towards Becoming America's Biggest Company, TechCrunch (November 1, 2007)
• Consolidate Your Phones with GrandCentral [Screenshot Tour], Lifehacker (November 1, 2007)
• Ireland to Introduce Civil Partnership Legislation, Towleroad (November 1, 2007)
• 25 Best Web Sites, Kiplinger (November 2007)
• Pilots Fell Asleep on Overnight Flight, Rick Seaney (November 2, 2007)
• Invention of the Year: iPhone, Ars Technica (November 1, 2007)
• Sotheby's Surprising Sizzle, Business Week (November 12, 2007)
• An Explosion of Color, in Black and White, New York Magazine (November 1, 2007)
  

Image is courtesy of Burn-a-Bee - check out his photo set "Macros of a Dying Plant," from which I chose the image.

It's Official: I'm Addicted to Moola.com

Moola.com Screenshot (Source)
I've been remiss once again with blogging, but I've been hard at work - my "other" work - I promise. In my breaks, however, I've been Beta-hopping. What, you might ask, is Beta-hopping? I've been testing out quite a few Web sites/services that are in Beta-testing mode - sites that aren't officially "live," but rather sites that are testing things out with people who've been "invited." Keep those invites coming! Recently I got a fantastic invite for Moola.com - an online site that offers visitors up to $10 million by competing with each other on 3 games on the site. Moola gives you a penny, and it is up to you to try to double it by winning matches against others. Each win, in theory, can double your bank: so 1 cent to 2 cent; 2 to 4; 4 to 8; up to $10 million. The games are easy to figure out: Hi/Lo card game; Rock, Paper, Scissors; and Guess the Weight of Gold Nuggets. But as easy as they are, they can be rather frustrating! I spent well over 3 hours last night, only to get 2 cents by the end of the night - can we say obsessive? You can earn more money, using Moola as your search page - it uses Google to handle the searches. The site also has cashback you can earn by shopping on partner sites. The site earns revenue by selling ads that each gamer has to watch before he/she can play. It's not as bad as you think, actually. I only wish the ads were shorter. My other suggestion is: more games! Playing the three games over and over gets tiring. But having said that, the site still manages to grab that competitive spirit of folks like myself, keeping us on the site for hours and hours. Good for Moola - bad for trying to those of us trying to be productive citizens.

If you want a Moola invite from me, CLICK HERE or on the SCREENSHOT below.

Moola.com Screenshot (Source)

BTW: I'm out of Grand Central Invites. Thanks for those who wrote to ask for one! Cheers!

Interesting: gPhone On Its Way?

First a cell phone platform, then perhaps the whole mobile telephony world ... and I can't wait!

"Google's gPhone Draws a Crowd," Business Week (September 13, 2007)

Interesting: I Want a Grand Central Number!

Addendum (08.15.2007): Thanks to the fantastic Sean I just got an invite to Grand Central ... woot woot! Much Spramp love to Sean! ;) Can't wait to try it. So you no longer need to send me an invite, but I can still be your BFF, if you want. xoxo jan


Grand Central Home Page Screen Shot (Source)
I've been a devoted Skype user for years now - the unlimited nationwide calling plan that it offers sold me, and so too did the Skype-In number. Though now I'm totally convinced that the start-up that Google just acquired called Grand Central is on to something bigger and dare I say better than Skype's service. Grand Central's premise is simple: one phone number for all your phone numbers - a universal phone number managed on the Web:

GrandCentral offers many features that complement the phone services you already use. If you have multiple phone numbers (e.g., home, work, cell), you get one phone number that you can set to ring all, some, or none of your phones, based on who's calling. This way, your phone number is tied to you, and not your location or job. The service also gives you one central voice mailbox. You can listen to your voicemails online or from any phone, forward them to anybody, add the caller to your address book, block a caller as spam, and a lot more. You can even listen in on voicemail messages from your phone while they are being recorded, or switch a call from your cell phone to your desk phone and back again. All in all, you'll have a lot more control over your phones. (Source)

To test the beta service out, you'll have to get an invite from a current user, or you can reserve your number on the Grand Central home page (www.grandcentral.com) and wait patiently. I've put in several reservation requests using multiple e-mail addresses of mine (shhh, don't tell!), but still haven't gotten any response. If anyone wants to make this spramp's day, I'd love, love, love an invite (jan@sprampblog.com)! I will be your BFF! That said, Grand Central is on its way of revolutionizing telephony! Way to go!


Grand Central Presentation at DEMO 2006 (Source: GrandCentralCom via YouTube)

Spramp Shares 4

Spramp Shares is back. Lots of interesting news out there that you might have missed. I can't tell you enough what a fantastic tool Google Reader is! Check it out if you haven't. The one news-worthy item that I want to flag is the stamp-of-approval that GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) recently gave to the forthcoming movie Chuck and Larry, starring Adam Sandler. I've seen the commercials for this movie already and have totally been rather offended by the shallow way it portrays the struggle for marriage/domestic partnership rights by gays and lesbians. Granted, I haven't seen the film yet, though it doesn't take a rocket-scientist to figure out that the mainstreaming of such an important gay issue using a comedy of all things has the potential to diminish the weight of this important struggle. I really have to question GLAAD's endorsement of this film - in fact, the endorsement really worries me a lot! The fantastic blog Towelroad has a more in-depth post on this event. Be sure to check out the reader comments! Anyway, without further delay. Here's my weekly roundup up of random articles.

Spramp Shares 3

Another week, a whole lot of disparate things on my Spramp Shares list. I must give props to Google Reader. I've not tried other RSS/feed readers, but I'm not sure if I want to. Google Reader is every newsphile's wet dream (I am confident that this metaphor does apply to both sexes.) So if you haven't tried Google Reader, consider me your "pusher" in the matter. Get on it! Google is going to rule the world, if they haven't already done so! Lots of weird stuff, interesting, appalling, and boring stuff happening in the world. I find it telling that the iPhone is being released at the height of gay pride celebrations in the U.S. Very curious and brilliant timing! Anyway, before I start rambling again, enjoy this week's Spramp Shares.

Spramp Shares 2

Early Thursday Edition
I still can't get over that Danny from the So You Think You Can Dance. I'm here minding my own business and he comes along dancing like no one's beeswax. Wow! If he doesn't win the whole damn competition, I may have to protest - (not that I really watch the show or anything). At any rate, I'll save the eye-candy for a later post. So it's Thursday, and I'm on the verge of sleep, which I desperately lack. Before I catch some zzzz's I'll leave you with the slew of articles I've tagged to share using Google Reader. Lots happening in our crazy world, on the news and in the blogosphere. The much hyped iPhone comes out soonish, so there's a lot of crazy press about that. I'm a tad envious that even in my frenetic state, I'm still way less busy to even need one of those. I do appreciate its ultra-modern and sleek design (and I still want one regardless). There are also a way heck of a lot of really cool music blog articls with great links to music. I love me my Motel de Moka, and have discovered that it's such a great blog for super cool background music, not to mention it's way intellectual. And I love that! There are a few surprises in there too.
I am puckered out.
Nighty.

jcb
I should be asleep in Seattle

Serenity Now

Calm Edition

Mariveles Mountains, Orion, Philippines (2007)

I've reached that point in the evening where my writing seems totally and utterly disconnected with my being....shhh...don't tell my advisor. At any rate, I have just enough ooomph to get this post out. Had I discovered Pantha du Prince before today, any of their songs, I imagine, would've made my SpramPod for today. Unfortch, I was late in the game, so let's just pretend this single is part of the last post. I must thank the fantastic music blog The Rawkings Refuses to Stop! for introducing me to this group (and providing the link below). He (David, the blogger) describes the group as making "minimalist house." Minimal, I agree. But house? I guess I can hear some of that. I have to place Pantha du Prince in the minimal down-tempo progressive trance category, much like another group I totally dig To Rococo Rot. Labels asides, I've absolutely fallin' in love with Pantha du Prince, and look forward to a healthy obsession listening to their music.

(Source: Pantha du Prince Web site)

Saturn Strobe, Pantha du Prince, This Bliss (2007) (Courtesy of The Rawkings Refuses to Stop!)

(Again, this is on Autoplay. You can turn it off by hitting the green button. I will shut it off eventually. Cheers!)
I love anything minimal. Organic and seductive, this song makes me whimper with glee!
Visit Pantha's Myspace
Visit Pantha on Last.fm

Tonight I bought myself another ridiculous domain name. They're so cheap these days! Now with Google Apps, actually doing something with your domain names is totally possible. Back in the day most Web neophytes just held onto what they bought hoping someone would buy it from them for zillions of dollars. Ah but now, even I can become an Internet tycoon, literally one penny at a time. No worries. No worries. I do this merely to distract myself from my work (shhh...don't tell.). Enjoy that Pantha! It's so good!

xxoojcbooxx
i xoxoxo Seattle!

Gay Bombs Are for Voyeurs

For Real? Edition


In my haste of reading shizz from my Google Reader, I had totally missed the headlines about “the Gay Bomb.” So finally, mostly out of boredom, I went back and read what I’d skipped over, and realized how immensely funny our government is sometimes. I had heard about this report years ago, and probably had the same reaction—silly, silly government! The short of it is that The Sunshine Project (I kid you not!), a watchgroup, uncovered the details of the Air Force’s Wright Laboratory request of $7.5 million dollars to develop none other than a gay bomb—chemically-based arsenal (hormones perhaps) that would send enemy combatants into a “gay” humping frenzy with each other (here’s where I’m confused: just with each other, or the rest of the general public—would that be collateral gay damage?). And why this would work? Decline of military morale, I think is the big reason (well and the other obvious reason). This, of course, presumes all military gays just want to get it on with each other—a real big disservice to actual patriotic gays in our armed services, I think. And why a gay bomb, really? Haven’t we proven that ecstasy is just as effective and perhaps more fun? (Not that I would know, I just say what I’ve read.) I jest, I jest. There’s got to be some irony in this story somewhere. I mean c’mon! Some high-ranking military official had probably watched one too many Dirk Yates videos and got inspired (be forewarned, following that link would definitely bring you to NSFW conditions!)? The sight of the effects of the gay bomb actually working (and broadcast on every news network in the world) would be enough to render gay porn sites obsolete! It might make watching CNN worth while again. And it would be a field day for voyeurs, that’s for sure!

I thought Gawker.com did a fantastic job making light of this truly absurd moment in U.S. history. See: “Code Pink: After the Gay Bomb.” (The puns never end! And I love it!)

Some fantastic excerpts:

“THE probability of a fruiclear weapon one day going off in an American city cannot be calculated, but it is larger than it was five years ago.”

“Only the federal government could help the country deal rationally with the problem of gaydiation, which is unique to fruiclear terrorism and uniquely frightening to most people.”

Oh how I love me some Gawker readers' snarky comments (be sure to read ‘em all!):

Sev says:

I assume the bomb will be delivered in a color-coordinated gift bag with matching bow.

Coloniel Mustard says:

It's about time. Where was this technology when I was in high school and all the guys I had crushes on were into girls?

For more inanity, read:

• Sunshine Project Uncovers US Military 'Gay Bomb,' from the Washington Post
• Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb,’ from a CBS Affilitate
  

All this talk of gay bombs has made me...well...kinda...never mind. I've got lots to do today, and we're again blessed with a sunny day here in Seattle so I need to get out and enjoy the warmth. My trip to Dublin is in two weeks and there's much to to before I leave. Enjoy the day!

BTW: Have you Sputtr(ed) yet? It's the best thing since slice cheese!

jcb
jan@spramp.org, WA

Hello, My Name Is SprampBlog.com

Addendum: Lots of changes going on here. Spramp.org has become SprampBlog.com (I'm saving the .org for something fancy fancy.) Enjoy....jcb (06.16.07)

P.M./A.M. Edition

Fireworks in Memphis (2006)

Yup. SprampBlog.com is here. I had completely forgotten about my purchase of the domain name until I stumbled upon Google Apps today (another brilliant invention from Google - Is Google going to rule the Universe? I think so, and I have no problems with that.). Long story-short, it's here, it works, it's fantastic! 'nuff said.

I'll leave with you a fantastic remix of "Jam on It," by Newcleus that was featured on Palms Out Sounds Remix Sunday 66. (I heart that blog like crazy! A big thanks!) This single is absolutely fierce and should be on anyone's playlist! Enjoy, kids!

"Jam On It," Newcleus (Claude VonStroke & Galen Disco Kryptonite Remix) (Courtesy of Palms Out Sounds)

(I've put it on autoplay for the day...hehe...a wake-up call, if you will. It's sooooo good. I'll disable it soonish. No worries!)


[For the original version]

Oh, BTW, check out the new "Free Download" from iTunes. It's called "D.A.N.C.E." by Justice. And it's pretty good.

xoxojcb
Spramping in Seattle, WA

Ok Ok I Need to Do Something

Antsy-In-My-Pantsy Edition

High-Maintenance Bitch, Wallingford

I'm in a weird state of thinking that I need to do something, feeling listless, and wanting only to get back underneath my covers to sleep (the last thing I absolutely cannot do since I just awoke from another record-breaking slumber). Maybe I'm still in a crappy head-space? Oy! I've had enough time to drink my mornin' cup-o-Joe and peruse Google Reader for something to keep me mildly entertained. One of my fave music blogs, Shameless Complacency, has just posted a new single off of my girl M.I.A.'s new album (Kala Kala set to drop on August 20th). You know, I love me some fresh M.I.A. any day. Her last album Arular (2005), I practically wore out! It's still one of the most brilliant collection of music that I've listened to, ever! The new single is called "Boys" (who we all kinda love here at Spramp). I ain't gonna lie: it's gonna take some time for me to digest. I don't love it immediately, but I don't hate it either. I mean, I didn't have the same reaction that I had when I first listened to "Bird Flu," when I thought, "God, what is this blar-ness?!?!" It was only later when I heard the Diplo remix of "Bird Flu" did I actually start to appreciate the song. So I'll give it some time. Her voice is phenomenal tho. Check it:

Boys - M.I.A. (courtesy of Shameless Complacency)

Anywho. I may just camp out at the University today. Or I may decide the allure bed is just too much and sneak back underneath my covers. I don't know. I guess that's what listless means, eh?

Peace out!

jcb
Listless in Seattle, WA

Spramp Shares

Early Thursday Edition
I'm absolutely in love with Google Reader! Subscribe to RSS feeds and use Google Reader as the organizer of it all. It has a really cool sharing function that I thought I'd test out on Spramp. I come across a shizz-load of neat and interesting things all the time and instead of e-mailing all my friends the individual links, Google Reader does the sharing for you! (Check out the full list on the left-hand sidebar.) Enjoy ...


I took Wednesday off. My head was totally in la-la-land all day. But I think I'm better.

jcb
Seattle, WA

Fun With Google Maps

Evening Edition
I’m spending Friday blogging and drinking beer (geek supreme that I am). Not so fantastic, I admit, though it’s a completely awesome form of time-suckage (something I’ve earned my Eagle badge in through and through). To be quite honest, I’m in a massive state of denial, née apathy. The list of things to do before my trip to the tropics is quite long, and I’m overwhelmed (or perhaps underwhelmed). My 22” inch suitcase looks very small, pathetic even. How much can I stuff into it for a month? Yes, you heard right. Three things that might help the cause: 1. The temperature in the Philippines currently borders the 90 degree mark, which doesn’t account for the humidity. I’m not daunted by this one bit, given the insane number of days I spent in the muggy Midwest and South last summer. I’ve packed a slew of white v-neck tees that I plan to wear daily in the islands—minimal, but fantastic and light-weight. 2. The heat will help me sweat off the Seattle fat I’ve packed on (yes kids, I’m officially fat—I don’t want to hear it. I’m fat.). Not that this helps my luggage problem (no pun), but it’s nice to know I could potentially come back twinkier than I am now (a mild case of traveler's diarrhea might do me some good too). And 3. The Philippine peso to U.S. dollar exchange rate is quite farcical, and by that I mean, good for me, bad for Filipinos (1 USD=47.4 PHP). I’ll pick up another suitcase in Manila if I go shopping crazy, so no worries.

My trip to the islands will have a layover in Tokyo. Unfortch, I won’t have much time to leave the airport, though it’ll be nice to bust out my rudimentary Japanese maybe even grab a bowl of zaru soba or katsudon. And with the terminals now being WiFi-equipped, I'll be able to get my Internet fix after my transpacific crossing (can you imagine, 9 hours without e-mail? I really hope the person next to me is super cute!).



My laundry is done. Someone come over and fold ‘em for me!

jcb
47°36N, 122°19W, WA