YouTubish

Some YouTube nuggets for your approval.

ELEVEN YOUTUBE VIDEOS

1. Dancing Pixel People.
   
2. Don't talk on your phone during a concert.
   
3. OK Go on treadmills.
   
4. Look where you're going.
   
5. Road rage meets its match.
   
6. A squirrely obstacle course.
   
7. 911 - Elephant edition.
   
8. 911 - Math edition.
   
9. 911 - Brownie edition.
   
10. Four hands on the guitar.
    
11. A prison Thriller - spoooooky.

Random Wikipedia Knowledge

Here's the game. Go to Wikipedia, and click the link that says "Random article". Learn from your findings. Repeat. You'll find out some fascinating stuff, as you'll learn in:

ELEVEN RANDOM WIKIPEDIA FACTOIDS

(presented in the random order they came up)

1. Iocaste - Iocaste (Jupiter XXIV) is a retrograde irregular satellite that orbits Jupiter. It's about 5 kilometers in diameter, and takes over 609 days to orbit the planet.
2. Madelyne Pryor - Madelyne Pryor was a clone of one of the X-Men, Jean Grey, that was created by Mister Sinister. She first appeared in 1983, and has not been seen since 2000.
3. Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers - The Company was founded in 1629 and became a livery company in 1809 (meaning it regulated its profession in London). It surrendered its power to examine opticians before they could practice in 1979 to the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians.
4. Forgách utca - Forgách utca is a station on the M3 line of the Budapest Metro in Hungary.
5. Domestication of the horse - Horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art from about 30,000 BC, but no one knows when they were actually domesticated. The prevailing theory is that it was around the Ukraine in approximately 4000 BC.
6. Spectamen - A genus of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Trochidae, also known as the top snails (meaning their shells kind of look like toy tops).
7. Aquaporin - Aquaporin are integral membrane proteins from a larger family of major intrinsic proteins that form pores in the membrane of biological cells. Get that? Basically, they help water move in and out of cells. Aquaporin. Now you get it?
8. Ryo Ishikawa - A Japanese professional golfer that became the youngest golfer ever to win a major tournament on the Japan Golf Tour in 2007 at the age of 15 years 8 months.
9. Commonwealth Hall - Commonwealth Hall was an Egyptian soap opera that isn't on the air anymore due to low ratings. Wikipedia doesn't tell me when it was on, however.
10. 1960 in Pakistan - Apparently, only four things happened in Pakistan in 1960. In January, they formed an Electoral Collegeto elect the members of the provincial and national assemblies. On February 14, Ayub Khan was elected president with 95.6% of the vote (he was the only candidate). On February 17, Khan was sworn in. On September 19, Pakistan and India signed the Indus Waters Treaty. An eventful year for Pakistan.
11. Austrovenus stutchburyi - Austrovenus stutchburyi, also known as the New Zealand cockie, or the New Zealand little neck clam, is a bivalve mollusc (meaning its shell has two parts) and is unique to New Zealand.

I guess molluscs win this round, with two out of eleven entries. Hope you feel enlightened now.

Podcasts

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. It's good, getting mini radio shows delivered to my computer every once in a while. So, that inspired this list...

ELEVEN PODCASTS I LISTEN TO

1. The Acapodcast - The Acapodcast explores the world of a capella music (music sung with no instrumental accompaniment), both professional and amateur. The host, Chad Bergeron, is a big fan of the collegiate a capella scene, and plays a lot from various university groups. It's very interesting, and I enjoy it. Website.
2. Ask A Ninja - If you've got a burning question you need answered, why not ask a ninja? The ninja will answer all your questions...then kill you. Which may be why I've never asked him a question. This is a very funny podcast, and I highly recommend it. It's a video podcast. Website.
3. The Bible Podcast - Michael Lee reads a chapter from the Bible each episode, from the New English translation. Right now, he's working through Acts, but I think he's done about nineteen books from the Old and New Testaments so far. It's nice to hear them read, but if you want to get anything out of them, I wouldn't recommend doing anything else at the time. Website.
4. The Concert - The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston hosts a concert series every year, and this podcast gives you a look at some of their best performances. It being a museum, the music is mostly limited to chamber music and solo performances, but it's a great way to hear some live classical music twice a month. Website.
5. Coverville - This podcast gives you some of the best cover songs out there. A cover song is a song that was originally performed by someone other than the performer now doing it. Host Brian Ibbott has been doing this for well over 400 episodes now, and it's going strong. He does other podcasts, including Lyrics Undercover, which examines the history and meanings of songs. Coverville is one of my favorites. Website.
6. KEXP Song of the Day - KEXP is a radio station out of Seattle, and every weekday, they provide a song by an independent artist for your consideration. Sometimes, the songs are terrible. Sometimes, they're great. It's really a matter of opinion, but the beauty of the podcast is that it's always different, and I'm sure you'll find something to appreciate. Website.
7. Naxos Classical Music Spotlight - This is basically a commercial for Naxos CDs, but the selection is really great. The show is about twenty minutes each time, and it features highlights from the CD they're trying to sell you. The host gives great background information, and it's good to hear music that's out there that you may want to investigate further. Website.
8. Pardon the Interruption - This ESPN show features Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser (with various guests) shouting at each other about the sports issues of today. They are extremely well informed, and they don't take themselves seriously at all. If I had ESPN, I would watch the show, but I instead have to settle for the podcast. Website.
9. Piano Puzzler - "Performance Today" is a two hour radio show produced by American Public Media. One of its features is a sort of game show called Piano Puzzler, where composer Bruce Adolphe takes a popular tune and plays it in the style of a classical composer. A contestant calls in and tries to guess the tune and the composer. It's very interesting, and I hardly ever get it right. It reminds me of Victor Borge's Happy Birthday variations. The Piano Puzzler is available on its own podcast. Website.
10. Scene Unseen Movie Reviews - This is a movie podcast, with the gimmick that one person (Chris) sees the movie, and the other person (Jimmy) doesn't. Chris will recommend movies based on the quality of the film, Jimmy will recommend movies based on hype and advertising. The reviews are very well reasoned and informative, though the two are pretty foul mouthed. Website.
11. They Might Be Giants - They Might Be Giants have a couple of podcasts, and I'm kind of cheating by including both, but you'll see why. First, there's a TMBG Podcast that's been going on for a while that plays TMBG recordings you may not get anywhere else. Also, they have a Friday Night Family podcast that is essentially a plug for their childen's albums, "Here Come The ABCs" and "Here Come The 123s". That's only been going on for a couple of months, and I don't know if it will continue once they run out of material from those two albums. It's a video podcast, which would probably be difficult to do too many episodes. At any rate, check them both out. Website.

I subscribe to all of these through iTunes, though you can get many of them, including archives, directly from the website.