So there's a new search engine which claims to have 120 billion pages indexed, compared to Google's 40 billion. It's called Cuil and from my quick try of it, basically, it sucks.

When you're going to try and take on Google, don't just say you have more pages. If your search results are crap, your search engine is crap. I did a search for myself. It told me there were 4500 results. But it only gave me 4 pages of results. Half of them went to a site that did nothing more than link to my site. A quarter of them went to a phony site which redirected you to phony search engine listings. One linked to my site. None of them linked here. None of them found me on Facebook, LinkedIn, or any of the other many sites I'm registered on.

Google has "about" 8,370 results for my name. The first pages of search results go to different sites, all relevant sites, all sites that make infinitely more sense than anywhere Cuil sent me. Sorry Cuil, you've got a long way to go.

Frodo Failed

Yesterday, I saw a Frodo Failed, Bush Has the Ring bumper sticker and while initially amusing, it wasn't the most clever bumper sticker I've seen of late.  Taking that spot is...

So apparently you can just e-mail posts into Blogger and they'll publish them.  Very nice.  The reason I liked Posterous is because it was just so easy to post.  Let's see how Blogger handles an image.

Apparently you can't send HTML through e-mail publishing. Poor execution.

Beer Making this Weekend...

Today over $800 of beer making equipment is being delivered.  We will assemble it tonight, make sure we have all the necessary components, and get ready for brew day, July 5th.

Submitted an offer on a house yesterday. Bank owned, so now we just have to wait to hear back from the bank.

Since I'm always up before 6 on weekdays, I usually don't have the chance to see midnight showings of movies. But Scott, Brian, and others were going to the midnight showing of Cloverfield so I tagged along. Oddly enough, I was able to stay awake through the movie - I most definitely didn't make it through the last midnight showing I saw (though the "nap" from 8-11pm and the Monster at 11:20 certainly helped).

I'm still not too sure what I thought about Cloverfield. It was fresh and new at least - not retreading the same footsteps of other films and not taking the easy way out at any point. My first impression was that I really enjoyed the film. The film used a lot of unknown actors and they did a great job. It's a really herky-jerky type film, but it's linear and you really get to know the characters and almost feel the fright they are experiencing. With the point of view the whole film takes on, you feel immersed in the film and through immersion, you begin to put skepticism aside and actually believe in the reality the film creates.

In the end, experiencing what the characters experience, knowing what they know, feeling what they feel, you're left with the same questions the characters have, left with wanting to know more, but still satisfied with the explanations you've received throughout. There could have been a whole backstory that they filled in on the monster, but you just don't need it. There's no need to know where it came from - just that it's terrifying. There's no need to know why it's here - just see the havoc it's wreaking. All you need to know you learn from those 4 main characters as they make their way through collapsed buildings, subway tunnels, and the eery streets of Manhattan.

I said that my first impression was that I really enjoyed it. And I did. There's still bits and pieces that I'd like to go back and see again. I think I might need to sleep on it though to fully grasp what I saw at a late midnight showing...

Nota bene: If you have a tendency to get motion sick, take something before the movie! Scott's wife, Jessica, said a couple days ago that she was going to take Dramamine, but when we arrived, she said she forgot to bring it. Big mistake. I think she made it 15-20 minutes before having to leave to throw up. And judging by the steady stream of others leaving the theater and Jessica's reports of where they headed when leaving, there were quite a few other people who couldn't deal with the unsteady camera - it's all filmed with a handheld camera and it moves A LOT.

There's a great show on the Discovery Channel (or HD Theater, whatever you call it) called 1,000 places to see before you die. I am pretty sure it's based off of the book of the same name. And while most of those places to see are amazing, that's a lot of different places to go.

Luckily, the Smithsonian has condensed the list quite a bit to a "Life List" of 28 places to see. A very good read with many places that I would love to go - including Machu Picchu - can't really describe why this is highest on my list at the current time, but I saw it on 1,000 places to see before you die and it looked absolutely amazing and breathtaking.

URL: Smithsonian Magazine | Travel | The Life List

I'm not a Ron Paul supporter, nor do I agree with a lot of the posts at Little Green Footballs, but they do have some interesting articles posted from time to time. However, this one is insane (and the comments that follow it are ridiculous as well).

Link

Ron Paul blames the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on the “interventionist” policy of the United States, and says Al Qaeda is justified in being “annoyed” at us. (Click the picture for the video.)

Nowhere in the video does he say Al Qaeda is justified. And he didn't blame the assassination on the interventionist policy. He just stated that giving $10 billion over 7 years to a government supported by only 8% of the people will not work. And those that feel like they do not have a say are "annoyed." Either way, he is completely taken out of context and then the comments go on to bash the guy and take what was written in the "commentary" as the truth without even watching the video...