East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Enigmatic relic was an eclipse calculator
High tech, man.
(tags: technology history)

Go to popculturemadness.com, search the year you turned 18, and snip out the top 50 songs.

Bold = I like the song
Stricken out = I do not like the song
Italicized = don’t care one way or the other
Under lined = no idea what the song is

1. Living On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
   
2. Mony Mony - Billy Idol (1st released in 1981)
   
3. (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life - Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
   
4. Lean On Me - Club Nouveau
   
5. Songbird - Kenny G
6. Always - Atlantic Starr
   
7. Oh Yeah - Yello
   
8. La Bamba - Los Lobos
   
9. Faith - George Michael
   
10. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon
    
11. With Or Without You - U2
    
12. Don’t Give Up - Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush
    
13. Bad - Michael Jackson
    
14. It’s Tricky - Run DMC
15. You Got It All - the Jets
16. U Got The Look - Prince
    
17. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - U2
    
18. Girls, Girls, Girls - Motley Crew
    
19. Didn’t We Almost Have It All - Whitney Houston
    
20. Casanova - Levert
21. La Isla Bonita - Madonna
    
22. Funky Town - Pseudo Echo
23. Wanted Dead Or Alive - Bon Jovi
    
24. Can’t We Try - Dan Hill and Vonda Sheppard
    
25. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) - Beastie Boys
    
26. The Final Countdown - Europe
    
27. Open Your Heart - Madonna
    
28. Looking For A New Love - Jody Watley
    
29. In Too Deep - Genesis
    
30. Let’s Wait Awhile - Janet Jackson
    
31. Where The Streets Have No Name - U2
    
32. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - Genesis
    
33. Shake You Down - Gregory Abbott
    
34. Somewhere Out There - Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram
    
35. Talk Dirty To Me - Poison
    
36. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
    
37. Big Time - Peter Gabriel
    
38. The Finer Things - Steve Winwood
39. Land of Confusion - Genesis
    
40. Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship
    
41. Luka - Suzanne Vega
    
42. Girls - Beastie Boys
    
43. The Lady In Red - Chris Deburgh
    
44. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston
    
45. True Faith - New Order
46. Dude (Looks Like A Lady) - Aerosmith
    
47. Touch Me (I Want Your Body) - Samantha Fox
    
48. Moonlighting Theme - Al Jarreau
    
49. Heart and Soul - T’ Pau
    
50. Heartbreak Beat - Psychedelic Furs

Because my birthday is at the end of December, the next year is probably just as interesting (to me). Let’s have a look:

1. What A Wonderful World* - Louis Armstrong
2. It Takes Two - Rob Base & E-Z Rock
3. Da Butt - EU
4. Hot Hot Hot - Buster Poindexter
5. I’ll Always Love You - Taylor Dayne
6. Man In The Mirror - Michael Jackson
7. Sweet Child Of Mine - Guns N Roses
8. Red Red Wine - UB40
9. Just Got Paid - Johnny Kemp
10. Don’t Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
11. Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard
12. Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison
13. Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N Roses
14. Paradise - Sade
15. The Flame - Cheap Trick
16. 1 2 3 - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
17. Kokomo - Beach Boys
18. Need You Tonight - INXS
19. Pump Up The Volume - M/A/R/R/S
20. Roll With It - Steve Winwood
21. Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird (Medley) - Will To Power
22. Power Of Love - Laura Branigan
23. Push It - Salt N Pepa
24. One More Try - George Michael
25. Can’t Stay Away From You - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
26. Wild, Wild West - Kool Moe Dee
27. One Moment In Time - Whitney Houston
28. Hot Hot Hot!!! - The Cure
29. The Promise - When In Rome
30. The Way You Make Me Feel - Micheal Jackson
31. Chains Of Love - Erasure
32. What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy) - Information Society
33. Honestly - Stryper
34. Don’t Be Cruel - Bobby Brown
35. Bad Medicine - Bon Jovi
36. Strangelove - Depeche Mode
37. Nothin’ But A Good Time - Poison
38. Angel - Aerosmith
39. Candle In The Wind - Elton John
40. Forever Young - Alphaville
41. Pink Cadillac - Natalie Cole
42. Always On My Mind - Pet Shop Boys
43. Tall Cool One - Robert Plant
44. Forever Young - Rod Stewart
45. Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil
46. Tomorrow People - Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers
47. I Know You’re Out There Somewhere - Moody Blues
48. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
49. Wild Wild West - The Escape Club
50. In God’s Country - U2

Keep in mind that a lot of the ones marked as “no idea what the song is” can be blamed on the fact that these charts are US oriented, as far as I can tell, and I grew up in the Netherlands!

Can you guess what the years are without checking various years on the website?

256GB paper storage claims simply don’t add up
…
(tags: hardware storage technology)

Data Can Now Be Stored on Paper
What happens if the colours fade? But really, if it works, great!
(tags: hardware storage technology)

Last week I ordered (and quickly received) an Airport Express. A nifty piece of hardware that can be used in a few different ways. The way I use it is to sit in the wireless network at home and have a set of speakers hooked up to it. Then iTunes can be configured to send its music output to this gadget.

There is a fraction of a second delay while it connects after you start the music, but that is negligible, certainly. A handy side-effect of this setup is that the regular audio that OS X generates go to the built-in speakers again now (or headphones if I were to plug those in), instead of the remote speakers. And the best part of it all, which is why I bought it in the first place, is that I can sit wherever the hell I like, and not be limited to how long the audio cable is and (in practice) sit too close to the speakers.

The amusing part now is that it’s easier to forget that we’re listening to some randomly played track from our own collection, or a podnetcast, it just feels like radio, but without obnoxious DJ’s and commercials. Yay!

At N’s and A’s school they have an award called OSCAR, handed out when someone has been well-behaved, so to speak. Of course they couldn’t leave well enough alone and made it an acronym, with this meaning:

Outstanding
Students
Caring
And
Responsible

Today N pointed out to us that there’s a word hidden in there:

Outstanding
Students
Caring
And
Responsible

Hmm…

Now playing: Arlo Guthrie - Alice’s Restaurant

After decades of opposition, Vatican view on condoms begins to shift
A small step forward, but at least it’s a step.
(tags: health religion)

Urban Legends Reference Pages: 2006 Federal Excise Tax Credit
A true urban legend, for a change, and a useful one at that. (tags: internet tax)

Six imams ejected from US flight
How would these same alarmist passengers react if they were kicked off the plane for saying some Christian prayer?
(tags: america security)

Robert Altman, American maverick, dies aged 81
Thank you for creating M*A*S*H.
(tags: obituary)

Is this an f-word too far?
Sounds interesting, but probably not interesting enough to actually watch it.
(tags: english language america)

CappuccinoPC
A wide variety of small form factor PCs, built for anything from multimedia device to router, or whatever else you can think of.
(tags: hardware)

NorhTec
Various mini-PCs, for occasions where a regular sized case is overkill.
(tags: hardware)

US pagans fight grave symbol ban
To quote: Some 36 other religious symbols, including the Jewish star of David and the Buddhist wheel, are allowed.
(tags: america religion)

US police replace codes with plain English. 10-4?
Roger that.
(tags: humour america)