Browser Security Test

Start the New Year off the right way. Check how secure your browser is, including Firefox. Takes about three minutes and well worth your time.

Is this you Today?

Having a tough time getting out of bed today? Tip: click the @ for more good stuff.

Bowl Game Winners - with a Twist

About amonth ago, I posted my favorite college football fight songs. I wonder if I can predict the winner of the bowl games just by picking out the best fight song between the two teams. All songs will open up WMP-audio.

• Outback Bowl, Georgia vs Wisconsin, Wisconsin by 6
• Cotton Bowl, Tennessee vs Texas A&M, Tennessee by 10
• Gator Bowl, Florida State vs West Virginia, FSU by 9
• Capital One Bowl, LSU vs Iowa, Hawkeyes by 3
• Rose Bowl, Michigan vs Texas, Wolverines by 5
• Fiesta Bowl, Pittsburgh vs Utah, Pitt by 2
• Sugar Bowl, Virginia Tech vs Auburn, Auburn by 8
• Orange Bowl, USC vs Oklahoma, USC by 10

Make sure you check out fightmusic.com for all the college fight songs. Great resource for all college music.

New Year Info you did not Know

• In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible cresent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).
  
• The Romans continued to observe the new year in late March, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.
  In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the new year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.
• The early Babylonian's most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.
• Although the Rose Bowl football game was first played as a part of the Tournament of Roses in 1902, it was replaced by Roman chariot races the following year. In 1916, the football game returned as the sports centerpiece of the festival.

Legally Drunk - Don't Let it Happen

This topic was originally posted on December 9th. I just wanted everyone to be aware of your partying tonight and don't drive if you have been drinking.
The chart doesn't take into account your individual body composition, your use of medication, your mood changes, or your personal metabolism rate. Therefore, your blood alcohol level may in fact be slightly higher or slightly lower than the chart indicates for the number of drinks you consume.

Szczęśliwy Nowy Rok

For some reason, I have had about 600 hits from a Polish website in the last hour or so. So I am wishing them a Happy New Year in Polish.
jestem Polskiego decenta ale nie mówi albo piszą język (językowy) bardzo dobrze. żyję (mieszkać) w Detroit, Michigan przestrzeni i życzą was spokojny (pokojowy) i bezpieczny (kasa ogniotrwała) Nowy Rok (roczny)

Dziękują znowu za odwiedzanie mojego *weblog*. Proszę czują wolny (bezpłatny) spędzać niewiele minuty przy *Kukla's* i cieszą się waszą wizytą. Wy możecie sięgać (docierać do) mój główny punkt (główny) *website* przez naciśnięcie tego (to). Znowu, dziękuje *T.B*. Dla zaopatrywania łączności. (updated 1-3-05)

Light & Sound Show

I normally do not demand you visit a website, but this is one I insist you take a peek at. It is a Japanese site and you will be treated to a user controlled light and sound show. Just use your mouse and start clicking in the center of the page. Let me know how you liked it.

Email Icon Generator

Add a cool looking email icon to your website. If you use gmail, yahoo, msn, aol, comcast and a few others, you can get it here.

Slide on the Ice

The motto of "Kukla's" is "sometimes you need to drop your pants and slide on the ice". I actually found a place to do that. The picture below is from The Russian Ice Festival and is an ice sculpture of the Great Wall. It also doubles as an ice slide to entertain festival attendees. More pictures can be found here.

Stacked

Bryan Berg broke the Guinness World Record for card structures in 1992 at the age of seventeen with a tower fourteen feet, six inches tall. His latest record-holding structure is more than twenty-five feet tall.
Do yourself a favor and check out his amazing gallery and story.

Bypass Registration on the Web

Did you ever get annoyed when you go to a website and you are forced to register in order to get access to the site. Well, bugmenot.com makes it easier for many people. Instead of putting in fake registration info in like most of us do, just go to their site and basically use a name and password that has been created to bypass the registration process.
They even have a firefox extension that make it even easier for you to perform this action. Now, when I refer someone to a registration site, I won't feel so bad.

Tsunami Death Toll

It has been very difficult for me to realize and visualize that 117,000 people have perished in this tragedy.
I just thought this might help people understand how many people have died. Michigan Stadium hold 111,000 people and just imagine that stadium empty. It is beyond belief.
updated Friday, Dec. 31st - Do moich przyjaciół w Polsce, ma szczęśliwy nowy rok. Sprawiać przyjemność (proszę) trzaskają tutaj dla mojego powitania wy, Trzaskają ten (to).
It seems the people from Poland are hitting this entry. The death toll has now reached 140,000 lives. (updated 1-1-05).
Sprawiać przyjemność (proszę) idą do szczytu strony dla informacja (informacyjny; informacja) jak *Tebe* znajdował *Kukla's*. (updated 1-3-05)
Video links have been posted on my homepage. (updated 1-5-05)

Packer fans get to Work

from jsonline.com (registration req.), Daryl Hearne's ears perked up while he was watching the television news Tuesday night. The Green Bay Packers needed a citizen shovel brigade to clear snow from the stands for next week's playoff game.
To clear the stadium, shovelers are dispatched along every row in the stadium bowl and instructed to push the snow toward the aisles. The aisles are covered with a slippery strip of metal, and the shoveled snow avalanches down it and onto the playing field.
I don't think any professional fan base in America would do this. Paecker fans love their team and the Packers are a big part of the Green Bay community.

Just show me the Movie

A great article in the NYT about having to sit thru the numerous commercials and ads before a first run movie starts. That is the main reason why I no longer attend a movie theater. I wait for the DVD release and enjoy it in the comfort of my own home.
from the NYT(free subscription req.), This audience was forced to put up with 6 minutes of ear-bursting commercials, followed by 11 minutes of thunderous coming attractions (which is another way of saying commercials). If people arrived early, as most did to find decent seats, they became prisoners as well to 27 advertisements that flitted silently across the screen in a continuous loop.

Go for The Juggler

Great game, but start out with only three balls. If you get hooked on juggling, visit JIS to treat your habit.

Shrimp Hater

Taking the protest a little too far in my opinion. What is the motive of this website? Probably to make some money from the sale of t-shirts and magnets.

John Stone

Have you seen John lately? If not, you need to check him out.

Potato Crucifix

The person who took this picture of a crucifix in a potato, claimed to be peeling potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner in 2003 and saw this image after the second stroke.
I wonder how much the casino owner who bought the Virgin Mary Sandwich would have paid for this?

Can you smell the Coffee

I always thought the coffee pod machine was a great idea but was turned off by having to buy a brand of coffee that I didn't like, plus I grind my own beans right before brewing.
My wish has come true, you can now make your own coffee pods; I just may buy one of the makers now.

Party Hardy

With the help of some search engines, I hunted down some unique looking New Year's Eve celebration pictures.

• Hey, is that Rosie
• Cut him off
• Plastic cups a no no
• Man takes over the bar
• Trying to dance like Elaine
• Lonely girls
• Picture says it all
• Open and close quickly
• Lonely guys
• She wants no part of him
• The last one
  

Jimmy Olsen Covers

If you are a fan of Superman's friend, Jimmy Olsen, this is for you. 163 comic book covers featuring Jimmy.

Inventions from the Incarcerated

Incredible inventions (like a contraband radio, tattoo gun, paper mache dice and many others) made by prisoners to fill needs that the restrictive environment of the prison tries to suppress.
Background information of the project can be found here.

Mini-Horse for the Blind

There are many compelling reasons to use miniature horses as guide animals. Horses are natural guide animals and have been guiding humans for centuries. In nature, horses have been shown to possess a natural guide instinct. When another horse goes blind in a herd, a sighted horse accepts responsibility for the welfare of the blind horse and guides it with the herd.

All about Champagne

Many of us will soon be putting the "bubbly" to our lips, so why not have a bit of history first.

Anita's Origami

I don't know who Anita is, but she sure is talented. Fantastic diagrams of origami art.

Eat it Raw

Raw food is food that is alive; uncooked food with all it's nutrients and enzymes intact. The JUVO raw food diet stresses the importance of maintaining all nutrients and enzymes within foods including and especially vegetables, mushrooms, and sea vegetables.

Future Requests

Here is your chance to request and define things you would like to see in 2005. Simple but effective website, take a look and check out what others are asking for.

Virtual Gallery of Art

The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the 12th-18th centuries.
The collection has some of the characteristics of a virtual museum. The experience of the visitors is enhanced by guided tours helping to understand the artistic and historical relationship between different works and artists, by period music of choice playing in the background.

Web Based Secure Backup

Secure, web based backup sounds like a great idea. The performance of the software is the key. Should be interesting to see how this is accepted.

Amazing pictures of Tsunami

from DigitalGlobe - This is a natural color, high-resolution QuickBird satellite image featuring the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Imagery was collected at 10:20 a.m. local time, slightly less than four hours after the 6:28 a.m. (local Sri Lanka time) earthquake and shortly after the moment of tsunami impact.
More at this link.

Brain is starting to Click

I have only been blogging for two months and did not know anything about the tips and tricks available to bloggers. Well I found Bloglines and my life is so much easier. Plus, using Firefox has made updating Kukla's much easier.
I joined bloglines, added my feeds and get a little notice in my Firefox status bar that one of my feeds has been updated. What will they think of next.
Why didn't you long time bloggers tell me about this feature, am I missing anything else?
By the way, if you want to add Kuklas's to your bloglines, an icon is on the bottom of my sidebar.

Slot Car Racing

When I was a kid, slot car racing was big time. I actually appeared on local TV to race my car against 7 competitors and won a case of candybars for appearing.
This game is great fun. Not in English, but easy to play. You can also design your own track by grabbing pieces and moving them into place. To play, adjust the game ranking, I would suggest starting at 3, then click on the checker flag to begin racing. I think the race is five laps and you control your speed by putting your mouse over the control pad and pressing it for more speed. Good luck.

Packers lower flag for Reggie

from the Duluth News Tribune, Objections of some veterans won't stop the Green Bay Packers from flying the U.S. flag at half-staff at Lambeau Field to honor the late defensive end Reggie White, team president Bob Harlan says.
I feel they should have lowered the Green Bay flag, not the American flag. Reggie White was a great player and person, but the lowering of the American flag is a decision left up to the US President or state Governor.

Early Pictures Intended for Color

Where do I start. The pictures were taken in the early stages of photography with the intention of being viewed in color. The pictures have been digitally enhanced to show the color but the forward thinking of the photographer allowed it to happen.

Ohio State Highway Patrol

Watch cars crashing into pulled over vehicles, courtesy of the OSHP. Here is an example (will open WMP video).
As a side note, New Year's Eve is fast approaching and remember DO NOT drive if you have had too much to drink.

Recipe Names

Why do recipes always have a name like "Festive" Rice Pilaf, "Dreamy" Chocolate Pear Cheesecake, "Glorious" Glazed Salmon and "All-American" Apple Pie.
Just tell me if it is good or bad, forget the tempting names.

2005 Web Design Trends

FortyMedia.com decided to predict what will be "hot" in the web design field for 2005. I strongly disagree with the color brown being "the" color of choice.

Spamgraffiti

Spamgraffiti is a series of online installations created from email spam.
Each environment is created by spooling through a separate email account and visually tagging the twenty-five most recent spam messages on a webpage.

Freegans aka Dumpster Diving

from the Detroit Free Press, Peaches, plums, oranges, cantaloupe, butternut squash, red peppers, jicama, a mess of cucumbers.
All fragrant, ripe, ready to eat.
And all plucked out of dumpsters by a squad of young friends who feed on the edible treasures they find in the garbage of North Jersey's restaurants and markets.

We've been Scammed

Remember the guy who set up a webcam to view his Christmas light display and you could actually control the lights on the house. Well, it was all a scam...bah humbug to you Alek Komarnitsky.

Hands to Southeast Asia

from a Flikr group, check it out and participate if you feel so inclined.
Here we will gather images of our hands and send the power of our urge to help the people of S. E. Asia whose lives, families, homes and environment were damaged by the terrible earthquake and tsunamis yesterday.

Also, a good blog to start reading about personal experiences during this natural disaster.

Nice Retirement Gift

Larry Svoboda said he thinks he's in possession of an 1804 silver dollar. If he's right, it could be worth millions, and he has already been offered that much. Svoboda got the coin as a retirement gift from a man he often traded coins with. "This guy sat down with me, shook my hand and said, 'Happy retirement', and he handed me two coins," Svoboda said. "I got home and got to looking and said, 'Whoa, this is real rare.'"
Only 15 1804 silver dollars were ever made. The first sold for $4.5 million.
More information about the coin is here.

Street Walker

This guy walked every street in Manhattan. It took him 2 1/2 years to do it, and was greeted in the picture below by friends and family as he finished his last street.

Brits discover Elvis - Again

King of Rock Elvis Presley could land the 1,000th Number One spot in the UK singles chart.
Record company SonyBMG is re-releasing all of Elvis's 18 number ones to mark the 70th anniversary of his birth.
And it means Jailhouse Rock could score the coveted 1,000th number one place in a few weeks time - 47 years after its first release.

Happy Camper

I just added mouse gestures to my extension for Firefox and boy am I a happy man. This little extension allows me to use the mouse to scroll thru screens, add new tabs and windows and many other things you normally whould have to click an icon to perform an action. I am enjoying FF more and more every day.

Explore the USA

Mappr is an interactive environment for exploring place, based on the photos people take. By adding geographical information to the wealth of photographs found online, it allows new ways of looking at spaces and images.

Theme Park Maps

Wow!!! Tons of Theme Park Maps. Comparing some of the old maps to the current maps really shows the growth of some of the parks.

Wrapping up 2004 - The Google Way

Month to month 2004 highlights, presented by google.

The New Suburb

from the National Geographic, planners are building suburbs using the old Main Street Model; a web of pedestrian friendly streets cradling a mass transit served town center.
Make sure you view the " New Urbanist Neighborhood". The only thing missing is Wally and Beaver walking down the street.

Would you drink It?

Civet coffee, which some aficionados consider among the world's best, sells for as much as $300 a pound.
I am not sure if I would drink this because....read on.....

Digital Buddha

Instead of selecting points on the real-complex plane, initial points are selected at random from the image region. The point is iterated through the function, z = zˆ2 + c, where z has components in both the real and imaginary planes.
Ok, now I am really lost, but the pictures are cool. Check out the other works too.

Hi-Tech Help

If you are having problems with any of your new "toys" or even your "old" ones, help is available online. I have personally used all of these sites at one time or another.

• Annoyances.org, for Microsoft Windows
• Troubleshooting Windows XP, specifically for Windows XP
• Tom's Hardware Guide, how-to guides on PCs and peripherals
• PC Mechanic, how to get computers and their devices working
• Digital Camera Help, how to take the best possible pictures.
  

The floor really does Shake

Royal Device has developed and built the biggest subwoofer in the world for an Audio/Video room. You have to see it to believe it.

Best use of a Weapon

A group of artists in Cambodia creates sculptures using destroyed ammunition, tripods, large caliber weapons and mine/ordnance casings .

Generate a text Poster

TypoGenerator is a random generator for 'typoPosters'. A typoPoster is a poster, created from images and letters/text that doesn´t have any sense.

Drive Thru Super Center

Among the more than 17 classifications of products and services that AutoCart said it will offer at the proposed supercenters are grocery, pharmacy, banking, movie and game rental, bakery, office supplies, florists, photography development, dry cleaning, liquor, and lottery sales.
Store features will include interactive drop-down touchscreens at all order/pickup stations, allowing customers to place orders and communicate with retailer representatives on-site; the ability to order off-site by phone, fax, PC, laptop, or PDA; and the delivery of orders in a shuttle/lift, which will open up next to the car so that shoppers can take out their bags and drive away in a matter of minutes.
Sounds interesting, but i still want to see and touch many of the products they will be offering.

Top Freeware Utilities

So you have your new computer hooked up and happened to stumble upon Kukla's. Well, here is a nice tip for you, 46 of the best freeware utilities around. I use about 10 of them and I highly recommend Firefox, Spybot Search and Destroy and TinyResMeter.

What is It

Ok, time to get the mind in gear again. Anyone have any idea what this is? Have a few more gmail accounts to give away to the first three people to respond correctly.

update, 8:31am, 12/27/04: No one was able to correctly answer. To find out what it is, go here. Better luck next time.