As you might have heard, I have a real life project that's going to take up all my free time between now and the end of the year.  So we're going away for awhile.  I very much want the show to resume, so watch this space for details.  Thanks for all your support.

Thaed

http://www.mentalinterface.net

Here are the topics for this week.  Thanks to Kelly, Nathan, David and Ray.  The Geeknights Promo plays at the end of the show.

–What is the hardest physical labor job you’ve ever done?  Did you enjoy it?  How did you get the job?  Why did you leave?  (5:50)

–What is the nature of motivation?  Is it genetic?  Does the environment cause it?  Why do we like to do the things we like to do? Why do we like to do some things and then move away from them and on to other things?  (15:47)

–Schadefreude means taking delight in the misery of others.  Have you had this experience lately?  Tell us about it.  (23:21)

–Planes, trains and automobiles (and also bicycles, snow mobiles, etc.)  Given all the time in the world, what’s you’re favorite mode of transportation and why?  (30:08)

–Speaking of transportation, China launched it’s Sky train this week connecting Bejing to Tibet.  At some points, it is 16,000 feet above sea-level and rests on permafrost.  What great engineering projects would you like to see the U.S. government undertake?  (37:43)

–Did you see fireworks on the 4th of July?  Did you light your own fireworks?  Do you like fireworks?  What’s you’re favorite?  (44:12)

–According to O’Reilly radar People like Mark Pilgrim and Cory Doctorow are switching from OSX to Ubuntu.  Is Ubuntu the operating system to rule them all?  Will security threats to Windows drive everyone to Ubuntu?  (Co-incidentally, I’m setting up an Ubuntu box this week). (47:37)

–YouTube = star maker?  I heard on Cranky Geeks that NBC gave a consulting deal to a girl they found on YouTube that recorded herself doing the Numa Numa dance.  Is this the new reality tv?  If you want to be a star, should you just put yourself on YouTube?  Should we all shoot ourselves now?  (54:10)

–Home improvements revisited:  If you could do one thing to your house or property (or apartment) and you had a $150,000 budget, what would you do?  Why?  Would you do it yourself or hire people to do it?  (58:32)

–Poolside reading (or just summer reading in general).  What’s on your list?  How are you making time to keep up on your reading?  What have you read so far?  (1:04:20)

Thanks to Kelly, Nathan and David for being on the show!  Here are the topics we covered this week:

–Is podcasting a medium that’s here to stay? Have any shows you listen to podfaded? What do you think the future holds for it?  (7:03)

–I read an article online about a guy who went undercover as a car salesman. I’ll talk about what he found out, but what’s your personal strategy that you use in dealing with salesmen when you buy a car.  (13:59)

–Both HD DVD and Blu-Ray players are out now and the word on the street is mixed. Are you planning on buying one of these? Who do you think will win the format war?  (19:47)

–How many domain names do you have registered? When did you start doing it? Has it worked out for you?  (23:34)

–If you could meet any three celebrities alive today, who would they be? What would you say to them? How would you like to meet? Over dinner? At an event? In your living room?  (30:19)

–Who are your top 3 least favorite celebrities and why?  (34:00)

– You’ve heard old wives tales as to treatments such as chicken soup for what ailes you. What’s your favorite wives tale or old country remedy that you still use to treat what’s bothering you.  (42:06)

–What was your favorite collection? Stamps? Comic books? Beer cans? Why did you do it? Do you still do it? What made you stop?  (46:38)

Sites where you can find more information about Kelly, Nathan and Thaed:
http://hibelu.typepad.com/yoga_coffee_outlook/
http://saturn49.blogspot.com/
http://www.mentalinterface.net

This is a best of show with bits taken from the first 9 or so episodes.  When we first started, we were using different audio equipment, so the sound quality varies from segment to segment.  If you are new to the show, this is the episode for you to listen to in order to hear what the show is about.  Thanks to all who participated over the last 13 weeks.

Here are the topics for this week's FNPL.

First we discuss some updates from prior shows regarding Fo.rtuito.us, Mechanical Turk and Scooba.

(10:30)  Is the art of the party dead?  When was the last time you went to a good party?  What made it a good party?  Where was it?  How often are there even parties to go to anymore? 

(18:00)  Do frozen pizzas still suck?  What is your favorite pizza?  How do you rank pizza from Pizza Hut, Dominos, Geppetos, & frozen pizza. 

(25:57)  What was your most memorable road trip?  Was it positive or negative?  When did it take place?  What kind of vehicle was it?  Where did you go? 

(33:04)  What's the worst place you've ever lived?  Why was it so bad?  Who did you live with?  How did you end up there?

(40:20)  There was a NY Times article that equates not breast feeding a baby to smoking or riding a mechanical bull.  Do you agree? 

(44:35)  What are your favorite podcasts, part II?  We are going to play some podcast promos as well. 

(55:00)  Are you excited about music anymore?  We have so many ways to find out about bands now:  My Space, American Idol, Rolling Stone, podcasts, FM radio.  How do you hear about new bands these days?  Do you still go to concerts just to see a specific band? 

(59:55)  When you fly, do you ask for aisle, window or middle?  Do you mind Southwest's seating policy?  Have you every flown first class?  Have you ever ridden in a Grayhound bus?  What did you think? 

For more information:
http://hibelu.typepad.com/yoga_coffee_outlook/
http://thaed.wordpress.com/

This is a promo for Friday Night Party Line.

It got wild and wooly tonight and Ray's daughter even made her presence known.  Thanks to Kelly, Nathan and Ray for being guests!  Here are the topics we covered:

What are your favorite internet memes and where can we find them?  I'm going to play parts of two of my favorites.  These can be new or old, it doesn't matter.

Have you seen Amazon.com's Automated Turk project?  Essentially you can labor intensive work at low cost throughout the world.  I am working on setting up a project under this program.  Have you ever done any work like this or assigned work out through the internet?

Fortuitious follow up.

Should movies made from books, stories or even comic books stay true to the original source material or should it be free to go way out on it's own?

Did you ever have a difficult boss?  Why was this person difficult?  Share some examples with us.  What did you do to cope with this person?

Who were your role models growing up?  How about now?

How much time do you spend on line every week?  Do you visit the same sites all the time or are you always looking for new ones.

There was a big blow to the Space Elevator recently when it was discovered that carbon nanotubes might not be able to handle the job.  What do you think about the Space Elevator concept?  Will it ever get off the ground?

Sites where you can find more information about Kelly, Nathan and Thaed:
http://hibelu.typepad.com/yoga_coffee_outlook/
http://saturn49.blogspot.com/
http://thaed.wordpress.com/

Here are the topics for Friday Night Party Line, June 2, 2006.  Some of these are from last week because we didn’t get to them.  Thanks to Allie, David, Nathan, Indy and Josh for doing the show and setting the current FNPL record for the most guests in one evening.  It was a lot of fun!

Imagine yourself being 10 years old again.  Would your 10 year old self find you to be cool today?

I wonder if what one really enjoys in life can be distilled to one day. Can you describe your ultimate day? Can you think of how you would take the things you enjoy in life and put them all into one day, assuming you could do anything you want?

People are putting up videos of their children being born on YouTube.  I'm all for childbirth and all that, but do we really need to see the live event??   Would you do that?  Have people send such video links to you?  Have you seen these things?

There is a new friend making service called fo.rtuito.us.  It's not a dating site.  It gives you a new friend every 4 days without regard to gender, age, etc.  You communicate with this person back and forth and decide if you want to keep them as a friend.  Would you try such a site?

There is another website that just came out called stalkerati.com.  From the digg.com website:  “You type in the name of a friend and it will run searches on MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and more. Create profiles on your friends and save them to your "buddy list", then you can just click their name and see all their profiles later on! The buddy list also shows you who's online by checking their IM statuses.â€?

Have you ever written a complaint to a company about something?  Do you do it often?  Have you ever gone further and filed a complaint with the company’s regulator?  How did it work out for you?

At the University of Florida, the police there have become a fan of the fiction of a certain graduate student.  After reading his horror fiction on Live Journal, they've asked him to submit fingerprints and DNA.  What are your thoughts on this?

http://thaed.wordpress.com/

Kelly, Marc and Scott (from the Geeknights podcast) appeared on the show.  A big thank you to everyone; we had a lot of fun tonight.  This is what we discussed:

Have you played with the new free Skype out yet?  We called various other podcasts to test it out.

What are, in your opinion, the three worst magazines out there today and why?

Are you polychonic or monochonic?

Digitizing your life: what do you think of the MyLifeBits project, Gordon Bell and the SenseCam?

Has someone ever asked to go somewhere with them to help them (when you really haven't wanted to)? What did you do and why didn't you want to go?

It's almost summertime and the living is about to be easy. Or is it? What do you do in the summer that you don't do in the winter? Do you spend less time online? Are you a warm weather person or a cold weather person? Does your city have any seasonal activities that makes it special?

Have you ever built your own computer? Have you ever overclocked anything? Would you ever want to?

Links to sites mentioned:

http://hibelu.typepad.com/yoga_coffee_outlook/
http://www.tcrebel.com/
http://www.frontrowcrew.com/
http://thaed.wordpress.com/

Friday Night Party Line is on hiatus this week.  We'll be back next week with interesting topics and excellent guests.

A special thank you to our guests:  Molly, Kelly & David.

Here are this week's topics:

1.  The summer blockbuster movie schedule is fast upon us.  There's lots of mutant and superhero action coming and plenty of comedy and adventure too.  What movies are you looking forward to this summer? 

2.  Do you do any sort of exercise or physical activity that requires training or special skills?  How did you come to take it up?  What makes you keep doing it?

3.  I had the occasion to see Itzhak Perlman play this week.  In my mind, he defines the term virtuoso.  He takes his natural gifts and fulfills their potential.  What examples of virtuosity have you seen in your experiences?  Is it ultimately better to be a master of something or to be merely good at many things?

4.  Do you ever think humans will be able to stop the aging process?  Would you take advantage of it if we had the technology?  Would you have surgery to make yourself look younger?  How far would you go?

5.  Few people would run their lives based on astrology, yet just as we have fun opening fortune cookies, most of us know our our astrological signs.  Some of us may even know a bit more.  Do you ever say "that explains a lot" when you find out someone's sign?  Do you read your horoscope at least every once in a while?  Why does astrology still have enough pull today to appear in the newspaper?

6.  On NewScientist.com, there's an article about a new robot suit "that could help older people or those with disabilities to walk or lift heavy objects."  This suit is sleeker and less cumbersome than some of the bulky things that have been available in the past.  Is the age of the iron man here?  Have you seen the YouTube video of the guy with these spring stilts on his feet jumping around Las Vegas?  It's just another example. 

7. Men and cartoons.

8.  There's an article from the AP this week that says women can look at a guy's face and tell which guy is interested in becoming a father.  Then they can also which ones they are interested in for "short term romantic partners."  Is this real?

9.  Generally speaking, women live longer than men.  I have an article that claims to know why.  Why do you think that is?

10.  I put up a link in my del.icio.us to peekvid.com.  It's television shows that you can watch online.  They have 24, Boston Legal, The Daily Show even Thundercats!  I'm not sure that that site is particularly legal, but there are lots of sites that are.  I have a computer hooked up to a television upstairs.  Is the average person going to start watching TV from his or her computers with content delivered from the internet? 

For more information:  http://thaed.wordpress.com/

Here are this week's topics:

From normal pets to extreme pets; from 1 or 2 pets to hundreds, what is it about people keeping animals?  Does it go back to ancient man as herder?  Is it companionship?  Is it a human need to care for something?  Why are we so focused on our pets and willing to spend so much money on their health and well being?

Do know or work with or are friends with a person obsessed with shoes?  Normally this would be a shoe girl, but it’s possible (in theory anyway) to have a male in this category.  What is the driving nature of this passion?  Is it harmful?  Should it be encouraged? 

There is a well publicized story out now of a guy who is trying, through a series of trades, to trade up from a red paper clip to owning a house.  Where is he now?  Will he have tax consequences?  Can anyone do stuff like this or is it just a gimmick?

Has English become the Lingua Franca to people of all nations?  What about Mandarin?  What about Spanish?  Is there a case for bringing back Esperanto (with William Shatner as it’s spokesman?)

What is your commute like every day?  How do you pass the time?  Do you subscribe to the philosophy of live where you work and travel to where you play?  There was an article recently about a guy who commutes 186 miles each way to work 5 days a week.  Would you do this if the money was right?

Panasonic has a 103 inch plasma TV out now.  How big is too big?  How large a living room would you have to have to comfortably watch something like that?  What is your ideal TV size.

In the spirit of further multi-monitor use, have you seen the new Matrox Triplehead2Go card?  This card allows you to use three monitors with one computer even if the display only supports a single screen output.  Would you use this?  Is it going to be common place for people to have three screens on their desk?  Why not six?

Blackberries, Treos and Sidekicks, oh my!  Business people love their convergent devices.  What’s the all round best multi-use phone?  What do you use?  What do you wish you could have in such a device?

For additonal info, see  http://thaed.wordpress.com/ and http://saturn49.blogspot.com/

Which of the following celebrities has the coolest house and why (you have to do a little HOME work on this one—google the houses):

-John Travolta

-Oprah Winfrey

-Ted Nugent

-Bill Gates

What (or where) is your sanctum sanctorum? Where do you go to do your best thinking or working? Where is your fortress of solitude?

What city has the best food in the world and why?

You have a $50,000 budget to buy a car. What do you get? Why? What options and gadgets do you put in it?

There are now 10 online video post to the internet companies led by Youtube. Have you used any? For what? Are they real businesses?

Is myspace inherently evil? Do you use it? What are the alternatives?

Have you seen some of these videos from emo people online? Can someone explain the whole emo thing to me?

Harvard has a new SETI telescope that looks for laser beams. What do you think of the state of the SETI movement right now? What is the prognosis for future efforts?

Did you see the tank missile defense system video? They were billing it as a force field, but it’s really just a gun that shoots missiles before they hit the tank, right?

Surfing theme: What's your favorite junk food while surfing? Test your junk food knowledge. Do you think you could pick out the following potato chips in a blind taste test? Pringles, Lays (classic), Ruffles, Grandma Shearers and Snyders of Berlin?

Surfing Fashion: What do you wear while surfing, gaming, blogging, etc?

What are your favorite shopping sites online?

Can you name one good thing Martha Stewart has brought into the world?

Korea has promised a robot in every home by 2015 or 2020. Can they do it? What are the challenges?

There is a new cell phone use and brain tumor study. Do you still stick your phone against your head?

How Bill Gates works. If you knew how a billionaire worked, would you change your ways to emulate him?

Why is Bose audio equipment so popular? (From Home Theater Blog).

What are your favorite Internet radio stations. Do you have any internet radio guilty pleasures?

Re: favorite retro tv shows. With the advent of online distribution, what would you like them to bring back?

In this episode, we talk about the new TiVo Series III, home remodelling, beer, hybrid cars versus electric and hydrogen, internet social gatherings and the delay of Microsoft's Vista OS.