Will It Blend? That is the question....

Apparently I'm not the only person who loves to watch the Blendtec"Will it Blend?" videos on YouTube. The company reports that the video series has had over 100 million views so far, making it one of the more successful viral marketing campaigns. 

Now you can see the top 20 "Will It Blend?" episodes in all their high quality color glory, thanks to a new app of that name. Treat yourself and friends to the thrill of Tom Dickson (right) feeding an iPhone 3G into a Blendtec blender in higher quality than you've ever seen it before.

Other favorites -- iPod, glow sticks, and Chuck Norris, to name a few -- are included as well. What's great is that you don't need a 3G or Wi-Fi connection to download these wonderful videos, as they're built into the app. A

Liars Den & Madison Ave. Bars Open

He likes to socialize over brats and brew. You prefer catching up over bubbly and canapes. Thanks to a new double nightlife venture on McKinney Avenue, you can always get what you want. Housed in the same building, the sister bars offer something for Joe Six-packs and Gossip Girls. Liars Den serves American fare, loads of beer, and big screens with nonstop sports coverage.

 Upstairs, the swanky yet affordable Madison Avenue lounge dishes bottle service (only a one-bottle minimum) and a live DJ Wednesday through Saturday nights. Both bars have outdoor patios with sweeping views. No matter what your perspective.

 Liars Den and Madison Avenue, 2710 McKinney Avenue, Uptown (214-303-1415).

Teens copying enemies' license plates to get revenge via speed cameras

Teens are known for having a lot of time, some seriously outrageous ideas for filling that time, and a slightly obsessive need for revenge. Add a few residential speed cameras into that mix, and what you have is a creative perversion of the entire speed camera system. Teens in Maryland have evidently been printing out the license plates numbers of rival teens, putting them on their own cars, and then purposely blasting by speed cameras posted in residential neighborhoods. The rival teen -- or his parents -- then gets a $40 citation in the mail.

The police say they haven't heard anything about it, and the local government doesn't sound like it has come up with any way to prevent or limit the habit. Which means that teens will be teens, and parents will be left to complain about it and fight the citations in court. Said one parent, "I hope the public at large will complain loudly enough that local Montgomery County government officials will change their policy of using these cameras for monetary gain. The practice of sending speeding tickets to faceless recipients without any type of verification is unwarranted and an exploitation of our rights." Oh, these kids today...full article here. 

Darius Goes West..

Darius Weems wanted MTV to customize his wheelchair on the show “Pimp My Ride.” The fifteen-year-old also wanted to raise awareness for Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD). Introducing Darius and his wheelchair to the millions watching “Pimp My Ride,” would raise awareness of DMD—the number one genetic killer of young people in the world. DMD took the lives of Darius’ uncle and brother, and will one day claim Darius’ life.  Darius wanted to attract more than the declining generation donating to Jerry Lewis’ telethon for Muscular Dystrophy. He wanted a new strategy to spread awareness among a younger generation—among which there might be an individual who will one day find a cure.  Before he died, Darius’ 19-year-old brother, Mario, asked his friend, Logan Smalley, to watch out for Darius. Go check his website out.

SMU Undergrad Drug/Rape/Poker Den Death

The women came to his poker room near the Southern Methodist University campus – sometimes with their boyfriends, sometimes by themselves.

Many of them found the atmosphere at his illicit poker games enticing, said James McDaniel, a self-described professional poker player known for hosting Texas Hold 'Em games four nights a week. Authorities say Mr. McDaniel preyed on at least four of these women, maybe many more, offering them free drugs and alcohol. But , prosecutors say he tricked the women with ground-up depressants instead of lines of cocaine, or slipped the date-rape drug GHB into their drinks.

When they woke up, they believed they had been raped.

Federal prosecutors have asked the women, most of them former SMU students, to testify anonymously at Mr. McDaniel's trial. They say he caused the 2007 death of Meaghan Bosch, the 21-year-old SMU student from McKinney whose fatal overdose prompted serious introspection at the university about students' abuse of drugs.

Ms. Bosch had cocaine, methamphetamine and the addictive pain pill and respiratory depressant oxycodone in her system when she died – the same drugs Mr. McDaniel is accused of supplying to her. Authorities say he also was a drug pipeline for other SMU students. 

The rest of the Dallas Morning News article here. 

• Poker Nights
  
• Some Admissions
  
• Third SMU Drug Death
  
• Date Rape Suspect
  

Here is another article in the DMN regarding another overdose a few weeks ago at SMU published on Dec. 7, 2008.

Recent Living Creations

Project One: Wheatgrass in lit frosted glass planter

Project Two: Wheatgrass in square vase

Project Four: Wheatgrass Terrarium

Project Five: White orchid submerged in white rocks

Project Six: Bonsai tree in LED lit glass planter

Project Five: close-up

Future Project: Thai Betta fish home

Kanye West to Quit Rap for Job at Louis Vuitton

Grammy Award-winning rapper, record producer and shameless self-promoter Kanye West plans to ditch his music career in favor of fashion.

 West, 31, tells the London Daily Mirror he'll move to the British capital next year to begin at the bottom rung with an internship at Louis Vuiton's UK HQ in Bond Street - or so he hopes.

 "I'm going to go and take an internship and just do something that's like completely normal," he tells the paper, "and just rap at the weekends or something."

 If the Vuitton gig doesn't materialize, West will apply at other major European fashion houses in hopes of learning the rag trade. Any fashionistas out there want a major pain in the ass to fetch coffee and such?

Behind ESPN/ABC Sports Boss, Jerry Jones is Most Powerful Man in Sports.

A $1 billion stadium opening in 2009, a concessions partnership with the New York Yankees, borrowing $350 million at the peak of the credit crisis, struggling to find a naming-rights company in a sour economy, arguing for the NFL Network to gain cable distribution. Oh, did we mention that Jerry Jones also has a football team under his wing that plays in Dallas and gets a bit of attention?

With or without Pacman, it has been an eventful and amazing year for Jones, one that has seen his influence not just in football, but in all of sports, rise dramatically. See the whole list here.

Man Charged In Bizarre Castration Plot

A Delaware man has been arrested after being accused of arranging a bizarre plot that involved castrating his ex-son-in-law. Wilbur Eichman has been charged with one count of criminal solicitation after he paid a man cash to beat up his ex-son-in-law.Police say Eichman paid 34-year-old Charles Pernot $1,200 to beat up the victim and even offered up a bonus if Pernot cut off the victim's genitals.

"He offered or suggested he use a high power rifle and he said that if you castrate him, there will be a bonus in that for you, an additional $3,000," Corporal Trinidad Navarro said.

Investigators said Eichman even wanted his ex-son-in-law's genitals brought to him. Story via Evan. More Here. 

New driver's license rule will trip up more grannies than terrorists

Want to keep your driver’s license?

First, find your birth certificate.

In yet another example of bungling in Austin, Gov. Rick Perry’s appointees have passed a rule that will punish little old ladies on the pretext of nabbing terrorists.

As of Oct. 1, everybody with an expired driver’s license — even if it’s only a day out of date — must come up with a notarized birth certificate, passport or residency card to regain driving privileges, no matter how long they’ve lived in Texas.

And even if your license hasn’t expired, you might not escape the long arm of the Texas Public Safety Commission.

Lifelong Texans, particularly older Texans, are suddenly being asked to prove their citizenship if that information wasn’t included when the Department of Public Safety computerized its records.

And if you’re a foreigner here legally on a visa — students, refugees, those seeking political asylum — you might as well get comfy at the DPS office. More here. 

Transplant Awareness Non-Profit Begins: Pledge Life

Director, producer, and avid biker, Javier Espinosa, has finally set up his non-profit website. Javier, who had a liver transplant just over a year ago, has gone from the brink to win the U.S. Transplant Olympics 20k cycling event. Stream Switch Studios is producing a transplant awareness documentary chronicling Javier's journey through this ordeal and onto the World Transplant Olympics in Australia. Visit Pledglife.org to learn more about Javier's cause and to purchase some dog tags of your own.

Naked 'Nirvana baby' still chasing dollars

All apologies, but here we are now, 17 years after Nirvana's breakthrough album irreversibly changed music, and the naked baby pictured on its cover is still chasing dollars.

Elden returned to California's Rose Bowl Aquatics Center to recreate the moment.

3 of 4

Spencer Elden, the underwater infant pursuing a dollar bill on the cover of 1991's "Nevermind," is doing swimmingly these days, having graduated a year early from a Los Angeles-area high school.

Being the "Nirvana baby" -- as Elden calls himself -- has been profitable.

Now 17, Elden says he was paid $1,000 to re-enact the famous pool pose for photographers. Compare that to the original shoot, which paid $200. More of the article here. Heads up a Ia Brandon.

One Fish, Two Fish...Red Fish

Last week, my fish transhipper, Linda Olsen from Denver, notified me that me previous red fish was DOA. This is the guy the Thai betta breeder found to replace him.

Ron Kirk meets with Obama transition Team

Well it looks like Ron might be called up to the big leagues.....

Ron Kirk said Wednesday that he has met with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, but didn't reveal details. The former Dallas mayor was Mr. Obama's top Texas ally. He also did surrogate work for Mr. Obama in key swing states, including North Carolina. Mr. Kirk has been widely considered a candidate for a job in Mr. Obama's administration. "I'm happy where I am, but if the president needs me, it's something I have to seriously consider," Mr. Kirk said.

Article from Evan, more article here.

J in My Pants

Cacti Garden: large scale

120K Shotgun Gets Shoplifted in HP Village

The police blotter in tomorrow’s Park Cities People will include a noteworthy Skulduggery Of The Week item entitled “Happy Hunting.”

A shotgun with a retail value of $120,000 was stolen from the Beretta store sometime between 10 and 11:45 a.m. on Nov. 26, Highland Park police said. The store contained no surveillance cameras, according to a police incident report. “We’re not completely blank on this one, but to be completely honest with you, we don’t have a lot to go on,” said Lt. Paul Sandman, an investigator with the Highland Park Department of Public Safety’s criminal investigations division. “We are working with Beretta right now to strengthen physical security aspects of the store so something like this can’t happen in the future.” 

This picture is not actually the robber, just a depiction of the scene (how I imagined it) made possible by Google images. Interested in the full story, click here.

Complaint of Copyright Infringement Against Colpdplay

If you were near a radio or in a bar this past summer, you might have found it impossible to avoid the string-saturated "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay. Guitarist Joe Satriani heard the song, too, and it made him think about a song he wrote and performed in 2004: an instrumental called "If I Could Fly." When Satriani tried to contact Coldplay and didn't hear back after several months, he filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against the band last week. To add fuel to Satriani's fire, Coldplay's CD Viva La Vida is a No. 1-selling album in 36 countries and a Grammy Award nominee, while Satriani's song never made it big. This certainly isn't the first time two songs have sounded the same. The Chiffons waged a lengthy legal battle against The Beatles' George Harrison over the similarities between "My Sweet Lord" and The Chiffons' "He's So Fine." Harrison eventually admitted to "subconsciously copying" the song and paid the band royalties. Timothy English, author of Sounds Like Teen Spirit, says the two songs are similar, but work in different genres — Satriani's a rock instrumental and Coldplay's a more mainstream pop song. He says this occurrence isn't all that rare. "It happens quite often for ... a lot of different reasons," English says. "One, there is just a large quantity of recorded music. And rock music as a genre is now well over 50 years old. The amount of originality you can have is starting to get limited." But these occurrences aren't without benefits. Over this past weekend, the YouTube video that compares the two songs jumped to 1 million visitors. 

KopBusters- Barry Cooper goes undercover to expose Odessa Police

Via the Agitator via nevergetbusted.com

Regardless of how you view the drug war, we should all applaud efforts to rid the criminal justice system of corrupt law enforcement. That's what makes this story so significant. Until now the libertarian/anti drug war movement has been reactionary; waiting for news to happen and responding. Now those who value freedom have the tools to set up traps for the police. This should make great reality television.

From nevergetbusted.com:

It's called an informant plant. The Odessa narcotics unit illegally compelled an informant to plant drugs on Yolanda Madden. The informant testified in federal court he planted the drugs on her and he passed a polygraph confirming the same. Yolanda also passed a polygraph along with a hair follicle and urine test. Our broken criminal justice system ignored the evidence and railroaded her through court sentencing her to 8 years in prison.

Her father hired KopBusters, a new reality show produced by NeverGetBusted, whereby Barry and Candi along with their detectives set up stings across America to catch crooked Kops.

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.

The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster's attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster's secret mobile office nearby.

The attorney was handcuffed and later released when eleven KopBuster detectives arrived with the media in tow to question the illegal raid. The police refused to give KopBusters the search warrant affidavit which is suspected to contain the lies regarding the probable cause.

The team of eleven freedom fighters wore red "Free Yolanda" shirts as they clashed with the police demanding answers for the illegal raid and the drug plant. The police would not comment but later stated they were trying to charge KopBusters with a crime.

Fountain Displays Text and Images

We have seen the future of water fountains, and they'll be able to display text, images, and more. This amazing water fountain uses special nozzles that are controlled by a remote computer which enable them to display a variety of text and images. While it can't display animations (yet), it's a great way to pass time at the mall, or save money for that matter. Video Here

Bar/Mixology Trends per NY Times

The NY Times last Wednesday had a great review of the current mixology/bartending trends. Check out the Internet Cocktail Database for the most comprehensive the most complete resource for all manner of mixed drinks, past and present. Dallas may not be San Fran or NYC, but we have a strong cocktail culture developing all over town–The Porch, Victor Tango’s, Bolsa.

"Today drinkers don’t need to search far to find bartenders who not only squeeze their own citrus, but make their own bitters, have an encyclopedic knowledge of drinks and stock spirits imported, on the sly, in a suitcase.But as the number of ambitious bars has proliferated, so have their ways of doing things. Interviews with dozens of bartenders around the country suggest that the cocktail movement is becoming so diverse and sophisticated that it encompasses several distinct approaches and philosophies."

• PRE-REPEAL REVIVALISTS
• FARM-TO-GLASS MOVEMENT
• LIQUID LOCAVORES
  
• HOME BREWERS
  
• MINIMALISTS
  
• MOLECULAR MIXOLOGISTS
  
• FAUX TROPICALISTS
  

U.S. News Lists DISD and HP Schools in the top 100...

The results are in and Highland Park High School placed a sorry #83. Of note, DISD's Science and Engineering came in at #18 and TAG at #28. The full list is here. 

Biorb Life Aquarium

Reef One, the UK-based manufacturer of the biOrb and biUbe aquariums, has launched its new biOrb Life aquarium range at Interzoo 2008 in Germany. Paul Stevenson, owner of Reef One, told Practical Fishkeeping: “It comes in three sizes. We have a 30 litre, a 45 litre and a 60 litre. It uses the identical filtration system everybody is used to in the biOrb. It has an LED lighting system, so we have sunrise, sunlight, sunset, moonlight system of lighting.” The biOrb Life aquariums are made from 6mm acrylic and have a clear, flat front and rear panel glued to a coloured gloss acrylic wrap. The tanks sit upon an 8mm clear acrylic base.  Like the biOrb, access to the inside of the new aquariums is via a circular port in the top, into which the recessed lighting unit sits. The 30 litre model is square in shape, while the larger 45 and 60 litre models are portrait shaped. Retail prices are £200 to about £275 depending on the size that you go for. There are three colors; we have red, black and white, and those colors are available in all three sizes.

Video of the Biorb

 

One of the best desserts of all time....

It is the gooey cinnamon roll from Cici's Pizza.

I guess I am a fool: Apple Argues Only a Fool Would Believe their Ads

Apple isn't lying in television ads that tout the iPhone 3G as twice as fast as its predecessor, but customers would have to be fools to take those claims at face value, the company argues. That's essentially Apple's legal response to a lawsuit filed by San Diego resident William Gillis back in September alleging that Apple and AT&T knowingly oversold the new iPhone alongside misleading ads that promised it would perform twice as fast as the original model. Apple's 9-page reply begins early off by maintaining that any statements it made "were truthful and accurate and were not misleading or deceptive." But it was a bullet point response a few pages later the caught the eye of Wired, as it suggests that only a fool would believe what the company says in its ads. "Plaintiff's claims, and those of the purported class, are barred by the fact that the alleged deceptive statements were such that no reasonable person in Plaintiff's position could have reasonably relied on or misunderstood Apple's statements as claims of fact," Apple's attorneys wrote. More here. 

Apple finally taking orders for new in-ear headphones

Apple this week began accepting orders for a pair of new headphone options designed for iPods, nearly three months after the accessories were first announced at a September media event. More here. 

Modano & Primos Operator Join Forces To Open Italian Restaurant in the Quadrangle

A new Uptown sports-themed restaurant hopes to find success with a little Stars power. Hully & Mo Restaurant & Tap Room will be opening in mid-December. Former Primo’s operator Eddie Cervantes developed the idea with Dallas Stars center Mike Modano, Stars co-general manager Brett Hull, and Tim Headington, Dallas billionaire and owner of Hotel Joule. The 7,000-square-foot space is under renovation in the Quadrangle at 2800 Routh St., the former home of upscale Riccardi’s Italian restaurant, which closed in July. “This development, it’s gone up and down,” Cervantes said, standing in front of a large bar, under exposed ceiling in what will become the main dining area. “I think something more of a neighborhood place would work fabulous here.” More here. 

RibCap Beanie replaces Helmets for Skiing

For people who *should* be wearing helmets but, for one reason or another, don't, the Ribcap is a nice alternative to just a typical hat. In conjunction with d3o labs, the ribcap has the new material d3o, which hardens on impact. When the surface is hit, the molecules lock together to absorb the impact, creating a hard surface that lasts 10 milliseconds. Once the impact is over, the material returns to its original soft state. Although not as protective as a hard helmet, it offers considerable protection for a seemingly soft piece of cloth. The sound you hear is mothers everywhere sighing of relief. www.d3o.com

Jason Terry Donates Mink Coat during Clothing Drive

Mavericks guard Jason Terry practices what he preaches. At a coat giveaway at Dallas' downtown homeless shelter, he donated two of his own coats to the less fortunate, including a favorite mink jacket. "I was going through my close this morning and was about to put it on myself and I said, 'Nah, someone else could use it,'" Terry told FOX 4. The lucky recipient was Terry Simmons, who has been volunteering without pay at the shelter for the last several weeks. "My mouth fell, my forehead started sweating," Simmons laughed. "For the last three weeks I haven't made money so I guess God just seen fit to give me a coat." Terry has headed up the month-long coat drive at Mavericks games and Dave and Busters locations. Simmons said he always thought the NBA star was a good guy. "Now I see he has a big heart. He's down to earth. I have a lot of respect for the man."

Digital Photo Frames

ViewSonic DPG807BK

ViewSonic's half-heartedly announced a pair of 8-inch digital photo frames for your all of your half-hearted holiday shopping needs. The DPG801BK and the DPG807BK are basically the same product, with 800 x 600 resolution displays, a 500:1 contrast ratio, and 512MB of internal memory. If that's not enough memory for your um... memories, you can of course load in a memory card or USB drive (there's no wireless integration in either frame). The DPG807BK also has a remote control, which is going to be handy when you want to quickly cycle past photos of your "lovely family" from across the room. They're both available and the DPG801BK will go for $119 while the DPG807BK is $159 -- a small price to pay for the gift that says "I got this for you last night and you're lucky I even thought of it at all."

iGala Wireless Digital Picture Frame from Aequitas

We know, you started yawning at the sight of the headline, your ears will pop with relief by the middle of this paragraph, and you'll finish up somewhere around the Read link. We get it. But there's something kinda special about the brand new iGala Wireless Digital Picture Frame from Aequitas, we'll call it "common sense." The photo frame sports an 8-inch, 800 x 600 touchscreen, 1GB of internal storage, WiFi and the traditional complement of card readers. What's new here is that iGala really puts that WiFi connection to use, featuring Gmail integration (for sending photos), an alarm clock and integration with Microsoft's FrameIt service for news, traffic and weather info. The frame also hooks up to Flickr directly, which is such a no-brainer these days that we're surprised we see still so many "connected" frames lacking the feature. A full touchscreen makes all of this stuff actually possible to use, and the $239 pricetag doesn't mean you have to get soaked for the convenience. iGala is available now from Aequitas' entirely sketchy online store -- we guess you can't win 'em all.

Giant International IT7150

Not that we'd expect any reputable digital photo frame manufacturer to consort with a real, live hand model, but we've gotta hand it to Giant International for discovering this particularly unnatural, eerily glowing appendage to point vaguely at its new Intouch IT7150. Lucky for us, the device in question is not at all cheap and uninviting, featuring a 7-inch 800 x 480 LCD touchscreen, 802.11b/g WiFi, USB to PC connection cable and the standard complement of memory card slots. What makes this particularly fun is vTuner support, which allows for play back of 11,000 radio and TV stations (primarily public access and other undesirables on the TV side), in addition to the increasingly standard FrameChannel service for photo sharing and RSS subscriptions. There's also a built-in rechargeable battery for about 1.5 hours of portable use. At $349, you're certainly paying a pretty penny for all these good times, but if vTuner isn't your bag, you can drop that support and pick up the frame for $299.

Sanyo Albo

Up until now, we'd have to say that Sony's WiFi-enabled VAIO CP1 is the most attractive digital photo frame we've ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. And quite honestly, it's still probably the sexiest in terms of, well, sheer sexy. But Sanyo's latest rival is cute in its own way, as the HNV-M70 ALBO packs a retro motif that anyone fond of The Jetsons will adore. Specs wise, we're looking at an overly glossy 7-inch LCD (800 x 480 resolution), 256MB of internal memory, 802.11b/g WiFi, WinCE 5.0 behind the scenes, an IR sensor, RSS / e-mail reader, automatic screen rotation, a multicard reader and a multimedia player for good measure. Users can also load up pictures stored on Picasa or add in captions and e-mail to grandparents for maximum enjoyment. Sanyo's set to start selling these in Japan (in black or green) next month for ¥40,000 ($423), but you can take an early look thanks to a bevy of hands-on shots linked below.