Zoli's Blog

Little Green Men from Mars – No, from Taiwan

Posted on January 13, 2006 ·

I just have one question: if we eat them, do we start to glow green?

Scientists in Taiwan say they have bred three pigs that “glow in the dark”.

They claim that while other researchers have bred partly fluorescent pigs, theirs are the only pigs in the world which are green through and through.

The pigs are transgenic, created by adding genetic material from jellyfish into a normal pig embryo.

Continue reading here. (that is if you still want to…)

Tags: Humor, Science, Stem Cell, Stem Cell Research, Cloning

Filed Under: Humor, Misc ·

Connecticut Apologizes for unleashing King George on us

Posted on January 12, 2006 ·

Ct_bush

I doubt it’s real, but like it anyway

hat tip: Mark Pincus

Tags: Bush, King George, King George Bush, Politics, Humor, Political Humor

Filed Under: Humor, Politics ·

1KTags = 1MBucks?

Posted on January 12, 2006 ·

(Updated)
It has to be new, has to be weird, it will take off. I guess that’s the mantra of so many entrepreneurs, and it often works.

It certainly did for Alex Tew, creator of the Million Dollar Homepage – he just wanted to fund his college expenses, but I think he is funded for life. The last 1k pixels were listed on eBay, peaking at $140K, but after fake bids..etc it sold for a “mere” $38K. Rumor says his creativity yielded Alex a job offer, too, not that he needs one.

1000Tags is already being compared to the Million Dollar Homepage on TechCrunch. It may not be that original, but certainly is “cool”. At $25–$100 for shared tags and a lot more for exclusive ones, it could very well reach $1M.

I sense a new “land-grab” rush develop here: it’s easy to boost your traffic by buying a generic tag that describes your blog/site/product and be the only one listed in that category ( at least for a while). Just check out Software. We’ve seen something similar when Technorati introduced tagging entire blogs, not just posts.

One would think the initial rush will be for exclusive tags (?), of which only 50 will be sold. I’m not sure how that works though. For example “wiki” takes me to Socialtext directly. Based on the larger font (font size depends one either the number of subscribers or the price the exclusive owner paid) and the fact that it’s a direct link, while others go to a listing format, even if there’s only 1 entry, I would assume it’s an exclusive tag – very smart of Ross to have secured it:-) However, the system still allows me to buy it as a shared tag… go figure (?) (see update 2. below)

Let’s check back in a week.

Update (1/12): Not surprisingly, the first ones to spread the news are bloggers:

Update 2. (1/12): Wow, these guys are fast, less than an hour later they fixed the bug (see wiki example above). That means the tags that bring up a site directly bypassing the list are exclusive ones.

Update 3. (1/13): Steve Rubel is bullish about Tagvertising.

Update 4. (1/14): Milliondollarblogspots, a blog-specific copycat of the Million Dollar Homepage launched. Yawn. Real bloggers know better then this. (hat tip: Paul Kedrosky).

Tags: 1000tags, milliiondollarhomepage, tagging, tags, marketing, advertising, tagvertising, creativity, web 2.0, wiki, SocialText

Filed Under: Blogging, Business, Marketing / PR, Software ·

Technorati “Improvement” is Actually a Step Back

Posted on January 9, 2006 ·

“Posted by Niall Kennedy on January 04, 2006.

We introduced two new features in our search results yesterday to better help you interpret a blog’s link popularity at a glance.

The Technorati talk bubble appears faded out for blogs with no inbound links. If a Top 100 blog appears in our search results you will notice a special button next to the blog name.

We hope you enjoy these first new features of 2006!”

I fail to see the improvement in these cute but fairly meaningless icons. With the Top 100 being only … well.. just 100 (is that a surprise to anyone?), and Tecnorati tracking some 26 million blogs, it’s probably fair to say that the blogs that really matter are “lost” between these two extremes.

Until recently Technorati had a far more meaningful indicator, the actual link-count listed in the search results. If they insist on switching from meaningful numbers to cute graphics, could they at least be more granular, and have a color-coded scheme for major brackets, like 50, 100, 500 ..ect links?

Tags: Technorati, Rank, Relevance, Link Count, Technorati Top 100

Filed Under: Blogging, Software ·

Vitamin-C Enriched Underwear

Posted on January 9, 2006 ·

It’s flu season, time to get your vitamin-enriched undies on

Update (3/21): And if you’re cold, try the Electrically Heated Undershirts

Filed Under: Misc ·

Microsoft to Acquire the World

Posted on January 6, 2006 ·

This is a correction to my earlier post: Google to Acquire the World. With Bill Clinton at the helm, obviously the acquirer will be Microsoft. (via Chris Selland)

Update (4/19): If Bill Clinton can become President at Microsoft, why not Scoble for President (of the USA). Which is a bigger promotion?

Tags: Google, Microsoft, Clinton, Bill Clinton, Humor

Filed Under: Humor ·

Blodgett 2.0 ?

Posted on January 4, 2006 ·

“Analyzing Safa’s $600 Google Target: “Ah, memories… So Safa Rashtchy of Piper Jaffray upped his Google price target from $445 to $600. Is he INSANE? No.” —Henry Blodgett

Safa Rashtchy is Henry Blodgett 2.0. You heard it here first. –says Charlie in Bubble 2.0

OK, how about Blodgett 1.0, The Original? In his aptly named blog, The Internet Outsider (it really should be The Internet Insider Forced Outside…) he first explains why he doesn’t own Google, and goes into detail on why he has to be very careful offering his opinion about stocks, since his regulatory settlement does not allow him to give investment advice. But then he goes on supporting Safa’s $600 call in a post that is as much about the subject matter as it is about himself and his famous $400 Amazon call.

Is there a split personality here? Well, it must be hard to walk the fine line between providing analysis and just posting his opinion … either way, it’s an interesting blog that I just subscribed to.

Update (1/04): Business Week Online: Google at $600? Welcome Back, Henry–Er, I Mean Safa

Tags: Google, Valuation, Stock Market, Analyst, Wall Street, Blodgett

Filed Under: Blogging, Business ·

Obsessed Tourist Marries Dolphin

Posted on January 3, 2006 ·

By Underwatertimes.com News Service (via Nova)

The power of love Photo: Joe Kot

Eilat, Israel (December 29, 2005 ) Till death do us part? An unusual wedding ceremony was held in the southern resort town of Eilat on Wednesday, as Sharon Tendler, a 41-years-old Jewish millionaire from London married her beloved Cindy, a 35-years-old dolphin, Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.

The groom, a resident of the Eilat dolphin reef, met Tendler 15 years ago, when she first visited the resort. The British rock concert producer took a liking to the dolphin and has made a habit of traveling to Eilat two or three times a year and spending time with her underwater sweetheart.

“The peace and tranquility underwater, and his love, would calm me down,” the excited bride said after the wedding.

After a years-long romance, Tendler decided to embark on the highly unusual path of tying the knot with her beloved dolphin. Last week, she approached Cindy’s trainer Maya Zilber with the extraordinary request.

Zilber accepted the challenge and “talked the idea over with the fellow,” who apparently consented.

‘I’m not a pervert’

And so on Wednesday afternoon, the thrilled bride, wearing a white dress, walked down the dock before hundreds of astounded visitors and kneeled down before her groom, who was waiting in the water.

Cindy, escorted by his fellow best-men dolphins, swam over to Tendler and she hugged him, whispered sweet nothings in his ear, and kissed him in front of the cheering crowd.

After the ceremony was sealed with some mackerels, Tendler was tossed into the water by her friends so that she could swim with her new husband.

“I’m the happiest girl on earth,” the bride said as she chocked back tears of emotion. “I made a dream come true, and I am not a pervert,” she stressed.

Tendler said she and her newly wed husband will probably spend their wedding night bowling.

“But what kind of children would they have?” one of the children in the crowd asked his father.

Video: British Heiress Marries Dolphin

(after numerous attempts the NBC site told me the video would only work on IE. What a joke, in 2006)

Filed Under: Humor, Misc ·

California, Wine Country, 2006 Jan 1st.

Posted on January 1, 2006 ·

STORMS AND FLOODS USHER IN THE NEW YEAR / NAPA AT GROUND ZERO
Kayaks prove a handy means of transportation for Sandy and Steve Booth, who paddle down Coombs Street in Napa to check on their woodworking business. Chronicle photo by Michael Macor

Tags: Wine Country, California, Napa, Flood, Napa Flood

Filed Under: Bay Area ·