How was that supposed to work?

What I always wondered was, you take a Conquering Nation, pretty much any from history, and what they're doing is conquering the world, yeah? But the world is quite large. And Germany is quite small. So how can there be enough people in Germany to conquer the world? Because the troops are streaming out of the home land, right? And, unlike Risk, I'm pretty sure you're not going to start generating troops from the conquered nations. Historically, conscription may have been a thing, and it becomes in the best interest of those conscripted (re: enslaved) to crew the ship, thus preserving their own lives, but that in more modern times, putting guns in the hands of your freshly subjugated enemies and hoping they'll get your back in the next battle might be one of the very last things you (would want to) do. So what's the theory? Kill every man who could fight you, hope that the next generation thinks of your new empire as their home, as opposed to their father-killin' enemy?

Super Sonic Samba!

If we could just get THIS into THIS.... C'mon, SEGA!

Know your audience

I was looking at the editing style of entertainment news on a couple of sites this morning, some research for an upcoming client / employer (I hope). Now, they say you can tell who is supposed to be watching a show by what's being advertised (hence 'soap operas,' for instance). Over at E! online, all the ads seem to be for STD medication. Hm.

The election is a metaphor for the war.

...but a 1:1 scale map of Alaska is like a microcosm of the state on steroids. -

I think the internet is succumbing to a variety of the grey goo scenario. There's a lot of it, it's growing, but the older bits are atrophying, and there's no method of getting rid of the old stuff except waiting for everything that links to it to atrophy as well.

Searching for information on a technical problem? Enjoy sifting through protips from 2005. Luckily, the topic you're interested in is a recent technology? Too bad it's named for a generic noun. ("Apple Color?" Great. Thanks.) Nowadays, folks blogging embedded video have their posts turned to useless mush in a matter of days, and people who [still / ever] pointed you to an article they enjoyed with a link to the main site, because that's where they saw the article in question? Y'know, along with the all of the other news items of the day? Those people are idiots. It's true!

The grey goo is self-replicating, but I think the internets are developing a handle on that too, not least of which is the delightful practice of re-blogging - posting the exact same thing you read somewhere else with no additional commentary or insight. I suppose if you're gonna do it, an aggregator like Google Reader is the way to go, but a few folks manage to make a living on it, just a' clutterin' up the internets for the rest of us.

Son, you don't owe that panda a thing.

• The only way my neighbor can sleep is to turn the TV up to max volume and let it run overnight. Usually this means Carson Daly. Last night it meant Friends. Now, I'm not much of a Friends aficionado, but on hearing that theme song at incredible volume it occurs to me, they had none of the problems described in that song. A song couldn't fit the subject matter less.
• Cursory googling suggests that nobody has yet appropriated the phrase "American Pious" into some kind of intensely disappointing direct to DVD movie.
• Here are two people displaying interesting musical skill, the first is inspired by Blue Man Group and displays some ingenuity, as opposed to poor costume skills and an imperfect cover version of a BMG song. The second, a feat it had not occurred to me might be possible.
• Also, I'm not sure why, but Muppet Roommate did quite well this week, racking up thousands of new viewers. Last I checked, it's up to something like 18k between Funny Or Die and UCBComedy. This may make it the largest confirmed audience for anything I've ever worked on, seeing how just about every feature or short I've worked on for someone else has yet to see the light of day, and I'm not convinced anyone actually watches Smash Lab. Maybe some of the Solon Community TV could give it a run for its money! But it won't hold the honor for long. The train is coming....
• And just because I've taken to greeting people the way Mr. Bell would have wanted (Ahoy!) doesn't mean..um...well, avast!