[From Google Reader] Buzzing, copter-inspired Blowfly alarm clock goes on sale

Buzzing, copter-inspired Blowfly alarm clock goes on sale Filed under: HouseholdWe see far too many fabulous ideas that simply never make it to market for one reason or another, but after a lengthy stint in proverbial purgatory, the Blowfly alarm clock has hit production. The design looks a bit more mainstreamed that previous conceptions, but the functionality remains in tact and looks to be the perfect annoyance to force you to rise in the early AM. Sporting a shiny black base, blue backlit LCD, large-format numbers, and the obligatory mini-copter launcher, this alarm clocks purportedly blasts the chopper into the air whenever you're supposed to awake, and unless you get up, catch the flying object, and place it back into the clock, that awful screeching nose simply will not cease. So if you're the world's worse snooze abuser, and you don'... Source:

Mill Ends Park - The smallest park in the world was built to be a colony for leprechauns

Mill Ends Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Mill Ends Park

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Mill Ends Park, the smallest park in the world

Mill Ends Park in Portland, Oregon is a small park that was created on St. Patrick's Day, 1948, to be a colony for leprechauns and a location for snail races. It is the smallest park in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records, which first granted it this recognition in 1971. The "park" is a circle two feet (610 mm) across (with a total area of 452 in ² (0.2916 m²) in a traffic median which in 1948 was intended to be the site for a light pole. When this failed to appear and weeds sprouted in the opening, Dick Fagan, a columnist for the Oregon Journal, planted flowers in the hole and named it after his column in the paper, "Mill Ends". (Fagan's office in the Journal building overlooked the median in the middle of the busy thoroughfare that ran in front of the building and was then known as SW Front Avenue.)

Fagan told the story of the park's origin as follows: He looked out the window and spotted a leprechaun digging in the hole. He ran down and grabbed the leprechaun, which meant that he had earned a wish. Fagan said he wished for a park of his own; but since he had not specified the size of the park in his wish, the leprechaun gave him the hole. Over the next two decades, Fagan often featured the park and its head leprechaun, named Patrick O'Toole, in his whimsical column.

Fagan died of cancer in 1969, but the park lived on, cared for by others. It was named an official city park in 1976. Mill Ends Park is located at SW Naito Parkway and SW Taylor in downtown Portland. As of February 2006, the park was temporarily relocated to Two World Trade Center Plaza in downtown Portland (about 80 feet from its old location) due to a major construction project on SW Naito Parkway. Portland Parks officials said it would be returned to a site about seven and half feet east of its original location following completion of the project, expected in July 2006.

The small circle has featured many unusual items through the decades, including a swimming pool for butterflies (complete with diving board), a horseshoe, a fragment of the Journal building and a miniature Ferris wheel (which was delivered by a regular-sized crane).

The park was moved to the Two World Trade Center in early 2006 until construction on the Big Pipe project is complete.^[1]

Go here for more info: Mill Ends Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Somebody wondered if Girl Scout cookies were tax deductable... Yes and No read on...

Frequently Asked Questions: Girl Scout Cookies®

Q: Is the purchase of Girl Scout Cookies tax-deductible?

A: No and Yes.

• No, if the customer keeps the cookies. Individuals who buy Girl Scout Cookies and take the cookies home, or consume them, have purchased a product at a fair market value. For this reason, no part of the price of a box of Girl Scout Cookies used in this way is tax-deductible.



• Yes, if the customer leaves the cookies with Girl Scouts. Many Girl Scouts ask customers to pay for one or more boxes of cookies for use in their community service project, for example, collecting for a food pantry. The customers not receiving any Girl Scout Cookies do not benefit directly from paying for them. Those individuals may treat the purchase price of the donated cookies as a charitable contribution.

TouchScreen, iPhone!, and xmas gifts...

It's been a while since the last posting. Christams week my touch screen on the iPAQ wnet out again and today it came back... I thought I would just order a new screen at some point but now I am worried that it is something else.

Now that the screen is working by touch again the GPS I just got should be more enjoyable. Speaking of thouch screens, did you see the Apple iPhone? Wow. Nice. If I had the money for the cell plan and the phone I think I would hop on that puppy. I think that Windows mobile will get a nice slick look in the next year or so but for now the iPhone and its all touch (well almost all) screen is by it self. The only small down side is that you can not add applications to it. It has tones of stuff you can do though... Very slick, very nice.

Here is some shots of some gifts I got from my parents. As you can see they cover all of my favorite things in one form or another...

Gifts from 2006 xmas