One of my good friends from high school sent me a link via Myspace. Not knowing what to expect, I took a quick look and found the video below. This was just way too good not to share.



Thanks for the link, Chris!

I found a neat website that shows some of the more unusual hotels of the world. I've only stayed at one of these (the Boulders in Arizona), but I'd love to stay in even a fraction of these before I die. Check out the site to see some of the cool places you can stay around the globe.

There is actually one place close to Austin that my wife and I stayed in before we got married: The Sunrise Exotic Animal Ranch, which I think should be included on the list. They have a few rooms available at their Bed & Breakfast, but the Treehouse is definitely the crown jewel.

My wife and I got there after dark, so we had no idea that we were right amidst the animal habitats - at least until we were sitting on the porch after settling in and started hearing all of the strange noises around us! To top it off, the next morning when we woke up and went onto the porch, we were eye-level with a giraffe that was only about 20 yards away! If you're ever in the area, the ranch is just outside of Austin, near Dripping Springs.

Today, the Supreme Court marked what some call a landmark case for the second amendment. While I really don't have an opinion either way on this particular issue (I'm not against guns, but my personal convictions would not allow me to have one, at least not while I have young children in the house), I do have an opinion about a shirt that I saw about a year back, and this news story made me think of that shirt.

My opinion on the shirt? It's damn funny!

See a pic of the shirt below (the picture links to the site where you can buy one, too):

I was browsing the web this evening and came across an awesome image of a galaxy called the Sombrero Galaxy on the Hubble website. While the picture itself is pretty neat, the detail you can see in the background of the highest quality image.

If you download the full-size image (approx 7 MB) and look in the darker areas around the edges, you can see small galaxies in the background of the image. It's crazy to see how many other galaxies are in the background of this one shot. Check out the high-resolution version to see what I mean.

Head over to this Flickr photo set to see some cool pictures of tree houses around the world. I'm planning on building one for my son when he gets older, but probably nothing as fancy as some of the ones shown in this photo set.

I saw this news story this morning, just had to share because it is too funny:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/24/inmate.dropsin.ap/index.html

I ran across a science article yesterday that I found interesting. It's about the hadron collider that was built at the CERN laboratories, near the Swiss/French border. Apparently, there's some scientific debate about the consequences of smashing atoms in this large particle accelerator.

On one side, there are some that claim that these experiments will "unlock the secrets of the universe," while others fear Earth's total destruction. Read the article for more interesting details, but I'm always a little skeptical of the typical 'gloom & doom' scenarios. Still, it is interesting (and a little scary) that both sides of this debate have been manned by established scientists, so it is a little fascinating to see the range of opinions that this new particle accelerator is creating.

I'm less worried about the most pessemistic theries coming to pass since there is already another particle accelerator that has been operational in New York since 2000, but it still does conjure up fascinating images of our potential fate. The collider is due to start up this summer, so get ready! :)

"When would that apply," you might ask? When it happens to someone else, of course. If you need to feel better about yourself, head over to The Fail Blog for some great humor.

Caution - some entries may not be 'safe for work.' (but hey, they are still funny)

I found a funny picture that I had to share. Click the link below to see Ninjas on Ice!

I found a great set of Flickr pictures that show classic video game scenes re-created with Legos. Taking a look at these reminded me of how much fun I used to have with Legos (and how much fun I still have with video games). I think the only thing geekier than that would be re-creating Dungeons & Dragons scenes with LEgos. Hmmm...where did I store my Legos at? :)

See all of the pictures here.

My father's day was great today! I had a wonderful breakfast at someone else's house (thanks grandparents!), got a few things done around the house (but not too much), and played a few games of Mario Kart for Wii, my excellent Father's day gift. I hope the other dads out there had as good of a day or better!

An article today on GeekDad at Wired got me thinking:

Why is it that I can remember the damn Konami code from when I was, like, 10 years old, but I can't remember to give the damn cat his medicine every morning???? Surely it should be routine now, certainly more routine than punching in that code at the beginning of Contra on my old NES. Damn I hate getting old.

I recently stumbled across a great online store for science geeks! Edmund Scientific is an online catalog of all kinds of science experiment equipment, models, robotics kits...almost any kind of geeky scientific toy/project you can think of, really.

I can already tell that my son is very much into music, hopefully because we bought him lots of toys and activities related to music. I'm hoping that once he gets older, I'll be able to foster his interest in science by getting him some of these things and doing activities together with him on the weekends.

I'll hold off on introducing him to Dungeons and Dragons until he's into high school. I don't want to jump the gun on too many geeky activities all at once, which could possibly force him into the 'no girls will talk to me becasue I'm weird' category. Parenting makes you walk such a fine line, I guess... :)

I was looking for fun outdoor activities around the Austin area and came across a miniature train I didn't know existed. It is located in Round Rock (just north of Austin), and it looks like fun. It's called the Cedar Rock Railroad, and it's just 2.50 per person for the ride (infants under 1 are free!).

It's open year round on weekends, and I think I may try to take my son to ride it sometime in the near future. I'm not sure how it compares to the Zilker train, but I'll post more if we get a chance to go soon. I do like the Zilker train, but since I live in north Austin, this one may be easier to get to.