ORIGINALLY AIRED: 2/9/2005
The Forehead Guy, Web-Browsing Spy, MS Paint Portraits
Episode #5024
| Reality Distortion Field History, Part 2: More videos of Steve Jobs’ introduction of the Macintosh in 1984 are uncovered.
Desktop Solar System: Troy Brophy created a scale model of the solar system and crammed it inside a web page. Name Your Monkey: Now’s your chance to place your name in scientific journals – if you win the auction of naming rights for a new species of monkey. |
| The biggest complaint most people have with their iPods is that the chrome-finish back inevitably scratches up. But rather than just live with them, why not bring some uniformity to your scratched-up back? Using a common household scouring pad, Kevin R. gave his iPod lengthwise strokes that gave it a brushed steel look instead of the usual chaotic swirls. Follow this link to the tip.
Also, if you feel like spending a little money on your swirl-eradication program, there are iPod polishing creams available. Check out this review at ipodlounge.com. |
| Last week, we dared viewers to visualize what’s behind the mysterious orange door on the studio set – but only using MS Paint to create their portraits. You can check out the best entries in the “What’s Behind the Orange Door?” User Created challenge over here.
Our next challenge for you is to create a 30 second horror film. It must be entirely original – you cannot “borrow” music, images, or characters that you haven’t created yourself. Send your entries before next Wednesday’s show to usercreated@gmail.com. Be sure to use the subject line “30 second horror film” in your email. We also prefer the QuickTime or Media Player formats. |
| The Internet has created many unlikely financial opportunities for enterprising individuals, but Andrew Fischer’s get-rich scheme was weirder than most: he sold his forehead on eBay. More precisely, he rented out his forehead to SnoreStop as an advertising venue.
Whether you’re appalled by what this says about our society or you’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first, Andrew’s tale is becoming more and more common in this age of blessed grilled-cheese sandwiches. In fact, that particular eBay auction inspired him to put his forehead up for grabs. “Everybody looks at you when you’re talking, so I figured that it could be ad space,” he said. The SnoreStop company paid Andrew $37,375 for the privilege of placing their logo on his forehead. “Who likes snoring? I don’t” Andrew says he’s put most of it in the bank, though he did make one small splurge. “I actually went out and bought a video card,” he said. He’s also planning on putting himself through college with the aim of becoming a 3D animator for the special effects industry. Of course, he might have to sell more advertising. Visit Andrew’s official website at www.humanadspace.com. |
| In tech topics…
It’s Opposite Day: A new homograph attack actually does not affect Internet Explorer. Now With No Adware: The makers of the P2P software eXeem have released an ad-free version called eXeem Lite. Join the Federation: SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan and Doom mastermind John Carmack have joined forces to create the Personal Spaceflight Federation. |
| Brendan continued his battle of wills with the G4 parking lot valet (who looks surprisingly like TSS staffer Casey Schreiner). This time, he left a trio of items (that looked surprisingly like review products from the office) in his car to see which one the valet would steal. And – what do you know! – the little conniver stole them all. Here’s what he took: |
| Kevin P. spent a miserable 50 minutes playing Death By Degrees, a third-person action game brimming with bad controls and long load times.
“The only redeeming aspect of the game comes in the form of this little gem: Nina's chicken walk, which is performed by slamming the run button repeatedly,” said Kevin P. “Yeah, that's the only part of the game that brought me any joy. Stay far away from Death by Degrees.” |
| Experience the joy of baby names using the Name Voyager at babynamewizard.com. |
| Jonathan from Beverly Hills, Calif. wanted to know what has been Andrew’s favorite reaction to his forehead ad.
“I’m walking into a gas station, and I totally forgot it was there,” he said. “So I’m buying some gas at the counter…” and the attendant basically just stared at his forehead. A.J. from St. Louis, Missouri asked Andrew what kind of positive or negative reactions he’s gotten. Andrew said that his friends want to hang out with him more because he’s suddenly cool. Most of the bad reactions have been from old people, “Back in my day we wouldn’t do that!” Jeffrin of San Jose, Calif. asked how Andrew’s ad was affecting his love life. “Believe it or not, I’ve gotten marriage proposals,” he said. “This thing is a chick magnet!” |
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User Created Favorites: Behind the Orange Door
Here are some of the best entries from our MS Paint challenge. |
