Welcome to tastypopsicle.com

I've decided to open up the weblog archive. At one point is was closed off except to registered members due to an incident, However, that company has since closed its doors so they can just eat it. Use the search to find something that youmight be looking for. Maybe you'll find it.

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A couple of weeks ago, my CTA Google Map was mentioned on a new Chicago tech website WindyBits. WindyBits is published by popular Chicago blogger Tom Sherman who is probably better known for his personal website Underscore Bleach. Tom first mentioned my map about a year ago. He included it in his January 28 post entitled A tech savvy Chicagoan’s guide to the CTA. Two days later, Dawson from Palla Palla mentioned it in his post entitled Google Maps + Chicago. Not only does Dawson post on Palla Palla but he also works at Coudal which means that some of the fine folks there may have checked it out as well. And now I get word that my website is ranked as Chicago's 76th most popular blog written by one person (as ranked by Alexa and Google) When you consider that I hardly contribute to my won website and that the traffic is likely due to my CTA Google Map then I'd say that's pretty good.

Take a look at this: Do you see that? That blue Addison Station "M"? It looks like Google has just recently added the CTA "L" stops to their maps. It's not just Chicago, though. It looks like they've done it in New York, San Francisco as well... and every other city with municipal rail transportation. You'll also notice that they added red crosses to indicate hospitals. Which is interesting because as far as I'm aware you can't use a red cross without permission from the Red Cross. (Note: When I worked for the Adventist Health System we actually received a Cease and Desist from the Red Cross after labeling the hospitals on a map with a red cross. We changed them to purple afterwards but I fail to see why Google should receive special privileges.) At this point I wouldn't consider these "markers" in the Google Maps sense as they don't do anything. They look to just be a part of the map tiles. But who knows what the Google has planned for them. For now, my CTA Google Map is still more useful.

I didn't watch the Grammy Awards on Sunday because Hollywood patting itself on its back is not something I take pleasure in. However, Christina Aguilera, as part of a tribute to the late James Brown, had an outstanding performance. It was something not to be missed amongst all of the bullshit. Christina Aguilera - A Man's World (2007 Grammy Awards) eNjoy!

Felipe Morales from Domus Academy, Milan - Italy created a coat rack from two Atari controllers as a project in October 2005. Hott!

Seeqpod scours the Internets looking for music to add to its collection. You create your own playlists which you can then share and save with other people. This AJAX driven application is similar to Pandora in very few ways. With Seeqpod you can fastforward/rewind and skip and repeat songs to your heart's content. Without a rating system it doesn't "learn" what you like and don't like and so it can't make recommendations. While I enjoy those things about Pandora I also wish I could just find my own songs and listen to them whenever I want to. For example. I was able to quickly create a playlist of all of the Paul Van Dyke songs that Seeqpod has found (it's not much - only 6). From there its' easy to add and remove songs from any other artist so it really does become a personal jukebox. I'm very interested to know where Seeqpod can grow from here.

That's what I look like on a good day. The avatar creator is a Flash file that at one point must have been a part of some web page. That page seems to be lost and what remains in this cool little app. Unfortunately, the email link doesn't work so if you make an image you like you'll have to take a screen grab of it and then crop it using some image editing software or a free web site like Snipshot. Additionally, I had to add my labret ring and tongue ring in Photoshop as those accessories are not available in the Flash file. But if you can push some pixels around then you might be able to customize your avatar just a bit more.

Workers distracted by email and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers, new research has claimed. The study for computing firm Hewlett Packard warned of a rise in "infomania", with people becoming addicted to email and text messages. Researchers found 62% of people checked work messages at home or on holiday. The firm said new technology can help productivity, but users must learn to switch computers and phones off. Losing sleep The study, carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry, found excessive use of technology reduced workers' intelligence. Those distracted by incoming email and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQ - more than twice that found in studies of the impact of smoking marijuana, said researchers. More than half of the 1,100 respondents said they always responded to an email "immediately" or as soon as possible, with 21% admitting they would interrupt a meeting to do so. The University of London psychologist who carried out the study, Dr Glenn Wilson, told the Daily Mail that unchecked infomania could reduce workers' mental sharpness. Those who are constantly breaking away from tasks to react to email or text messages suffer similar effects on the mind as losing a night's sleep, he said.

[via BBC News] I found this line particularly interesting: The study, carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry, found excessive use of technology reduced workers' intelligence. THAT'S my excuse! Curse you Internets!

For a popular Chicago blog Chicagoist has the WORST servers. It's nearly impossible to post a comment on their site without the server taking a big fat dump after 5 minutes. Dude, fix the Bad Gateway and other Apache/Redhat problems. Anyway, I'm posting this comment here in regards to a post there -- Are you serious, Scott? I'm not complaining about the charity or the idea of the charity. If the organizers could convince Jewel or Dominick's to donate old carts then that would be great. If they organizers required that you purchase a cart then I'd be all for that. But that isn't what the organizers are doing. It's a $5 entrance fee - and for what? There's a reason why grocery stores are adding locks to the wheels of their carts - so that they don't get taken off of the property. Also, consider that stealing shopping carts in Illinois is considered Retail Theft (Google "720 ILCS 5/16A-3" - I'd provide links but it's impossible to sign in to Chicagoist using my Typepad Key) You have to ask yourself why you would want to be a part of a "charity" that encouraged you to break the law? Lets replace "shopping cart" with "iPod Nano". Go ask Apple if you can "borrow" an iPod and then hack it up and give it back to them as a piece of art and tell me how that goes. This isn't "pessimism" it's called having a little fuckin' common sense. Rachelle B., what's your take on it?