Brad on Twitter- bradthomas: getting ready for ben's soccer practice.October 3, 2008 bradthomas
- bradthomas: looks like otah and gross will be out this week against the chiefsOctober 3, 2008 bradthomas
- bradthomas: unexpected thunderstorm, thank goodness its nearly wednesdaySeptember 30, 2008 bradthomas
- bradthomas: back pain and the dentist are not a good combinationSeptember 24, 2008 bradthomas
- bradthomas: Panthers signed LB Donte Curry today. Curry was cut about a week ago, but will replace Dan Connor, who is on the IR with an ACL injury.September 23, 2008 bradthomas
Aug
19
YFLY.com: A real competitor to Myspace.com?
Filed Under cool stuff, tech | Leave a Comment
Yfly.com, a potential competitor to the internet giant MySpace.com, launched this week. From the Minneapolis StarTribune:
The difference: celebrity and technology. Yfly is touting itself as the official online home of athletes, musicians and Hollywood celebrities. The site has made deals with such stars as singers Nick Lachey and Justin Timberlake, NFL quarterback Matt Leinart and MTV personality Kristin Cavallari.
Yfly will offer fans the opportunity to interact with stars on “certified celebrity” home pages and plans to develop online marketing campaigns around the celebrities. The site is targeting users between ages 13 and 26.
Yfly also is using a new operating platform, Ruby on Rails, that its creators say is superior to MySpace’s technology.
“It allows the users to run more applications and make the site more interactive,” said Dutch Thalhuber, operations director for Space150, the Minneapolis digital-marketing firm that created Yfly and is handling marketing and advertising for the site. “This is the biggest Ruby project on the Web right now.” Upstart site takes on Web giant MySpace
YFly operates using Ruby on Rails, a relatively new open-source framework that’s built for programmers to write code favoring convention over configuration.
Other notable web applications running Ruby are Basecamp (project management), Campfire (group chats), 43Things (goal achievement), Odeo (audio management) and Shopify (e-commerce). Yfly’s creators think that with this superior technology and a focus on authenticated celebrity presences, it can realistically contend with MySpace.com for internet supremecy.
YFly boasts that they are the only site with authentic celebrity profiles and content, boasting the likes of Nick Lachey, Chris Brown, Matt Leinart, The Subways, JJ Redick, Justin Timberlake, Kristin Cavallari and Pharrell Williams. Profiles are viewable to non-members, but to use the features, one has to be a registered member. Yfly is currently open to registration of young adults 13-19 years of age only.
Those worried about security, (especially of impressionable and sometimes un-thinking young adults) will be glad to know that Yfly has already thought about how to best protect you and your information. Internet Security expert Parry Aftab is working with Yfly to make sure everyone stays safe and has fun.
YFly.com is dedicated to making their site fun, innovative and safe for its users. It has the most innovative programs to teach teens safe, secure and responsible technology use. These include “ThinkB4UClick”, “Best Foot Forward” and “Don’t Be Stupid”, as well as public service messaging and announcements designed to teach them to look out for themselves and each other online. But no matter how careful a site is, whenever lots of teens hang out online, it’s inevitable that some things will go wrong. Some teens forget their manners and smart behavior when they’re online. They may do this thinking they can’t be discovered or held accountable. They may think they are invulnerable or not realize the risk involved. Sometimes they don’t think at all.
That’s why YFly.com has a powerful reporting system designed to refer reports from the teens to those in charge, including me. Ultimately it is up to users (even teen users) to act responsibly and not put themselves at risk in cyberspace (and up to parents to protect our children). We will help parents and teens learn how to do that. Expect many more guides coming soon. We’re typing and coding as fast as we can.
technorati tags:myspace.com, yfly.com, celebrities, social-networking, ruby
Aug
18
TalkingApes.com - » Snakes On A Plane: Our Review
This story is about more than Snakes On a Plane. It’s a well-acted tale of camaraderie in the face of tragedy, emotional struggles, and the bonds they form. Samuel L Jackson turns in his best performance ever. He’s deep. He’s insightful. He’s the hero that rises in the face of adversity in Phoenix-like fashion to quell the beast, and his own personal demons.
Okay. I lied. This movie is about Snakes. and they’re on a plane.
The acting is some of the worst to ever splay across the big screen. The plot is paper thin, and poorly concieved. As far as the CGI goes, let’s just say that this isn’t Lord Of The Rings.
Does that mean you shouldn’t see it?
No way. This has to be seen. It’s one of the best bad movies I’ve ever seen.
You can read the FULL REVIEW HERE.
Aug
17
Expert: ‘Hybrid’ Creature Is Just a Dog
TURNER, Maine — An expert who examined the remains of a mystery creature believes it was a wild dog. But that hasn’t stopped runaway speculation about the beast and whether it was responsible for mauling dogs and frightening residents.Loren Coleman, a Portland author and cryptozoologist, said he didn’t know for sure what the animal was based on his examination of its remains Wednesday.
“I think this dead animal is a chow or chow-mix, a relatively small dog, that was feral, which is unusual for that area,” he told the Sun Journal newspaper.
technorati tags: mysterious-creature, Maine, beast
Aug
17
Who wants to be a superhero? Episode 4 review
Filed Under TV | Leave a Comment
The episode starts with the superheros walking around the streets trying to help people. Picking up garbage, helping people cross the street, stopping people from Jaywalking (more on jaywalking later)… etc.
At one point Major Victory helps some ladies across the street then moonwalks back.
Stan calls the heroes on their communicators, (which are blackberries with the branding scratched off) and summons them back to the lair.
Once there, the increasingly annoying Dark Enforcer tells Stan that he’s talked to the heroes’ family and friends, and that “they’ve been lying through their teeth”.
Regina, Creature’s friend busts her, saying she’s not environmentally friendly, citing a time where she tossed something out of a hotel window into a fountain. Stan calls her hypocritical
Feedback’s wife comes on TV, said she’s fed up — he has another side of himself, but that when he’s at home, he’s messy, inconsiderate and a slob. Stan says kids look up to heroes, and that the message that sends to them is wrong.
Fat Momma’s momma comes on, talks about how FM has not always been proud of her weight, and tried to lose it. Stan is confused, which message is the right one? “That doughnut is hard to swallow,” said Lee.
Austin’s ex-co stripper talks about Major Victory’s old job, said that his name used to be “thong man”. Major Victory said it’s because he wore flip-flops (Called thongs by some people).
Lemuria’s friend Brandy says that she’s infamous for strutting her stuff and dancing on table tops.
Stan retreats to gather his thoughts.
Creature, Major Victory and Fat Momma were singled out by Stan Lee, while Lumeria and Feedback were sent to get the trash can.
Major Victory was singled out due to his taking off his cape for the old ladies to walk across. Stan says that’s an indication of his stripper past.
Fat Momma was singled out because Stan is concerned that she went on a diet once, and that she isn’t comfortable with herself.
Creature was singled out due to her littering, and the fact that earlier in the day she broke the law — she jaywalked.
dum dum dum!
The one that must leave the lair is… Creature!
“live hard, and love harder,” Creature says as she leaves the lair.
The final four are Major Victory, Lemuria, Feedback and Fat Momma.
and so begins perhaps the most absurd part of the entire show — spending time with the inmates. I don’t know if these are actual inmates or not, however, they look like actors IMO.
Stan gives them a covert operation. They are playing “the secret test game” — they have to: hug an inmate 3 times, brush the hair of an inmate 3 times, sit on an inmate’s lap 3 times and rub the inmates shoulders 3 times.
The Heroes have to sign a waiver that they could die because of this.
Lemuria goes first and draws a scary looking woman who is shackled. Her goal is to sit on the inmate’s lap for 10 minutes. Lemuria tries to sit on the woman’s lap, and the lady flips out. Mission not completed. Lemuria apologizes for disrespecting her, and acknowledges that she will probably be eliminated.
Fat Momma is next, and draws the same lady. Fat Momma’s task is to brush the hair out of the inmate’s face 3 times. She manages to complete the task, to the dismay of the inmate who repeadily states, “don’t touch me, man”.
Major Victory draws a humongous bald man that gives him the stank-eye.
The guard tells Major Victory that he shouldn’t touch the man, despite the fact that MV has to rub his shoulders 3 times. He tells the man that he’s got magic hands. The man tells him to not insult his intelligence. MV takes off his cape ( a major no-no ). Despite the man not wanting to be touched,
Feedback asks the guard to take the guys handcuffs off… and he did. They talk about why the man is in prison. The man says he killed 4 people, feedback says his dad killed himself. Feedback then asks the man for a hug. 1 hug down. 2 hugs down. Feedback promises to write the guy, and gets another hug.
Definitely actors.
They head back to the lair for another elimination.
Stan notes that Major Victory took off his cape and gloves, says that a superhero never takes off his costume, and narrows the choices for elimination down to MV and Lemuria.
Reluctantly, Stan eliminates Lemuria.
Stan heaps praise on the final 3 heroes. Major Victory assures Stan that he will keep his clothes on at all times (except while going to the bathroom).
A teary Fat Momma thanks Stan for appreciating her.
Feedback says when Stan says he’s proud of him, it’s like his father is proud of him, and that since his father wasn’t there, Stan Lee helped raise him through Spider-man.
EXCELSIOR!
technorati tags: who-wants-to-be-a-superhero, scifi.com, super-hero, tv, reality-show
Aug
13
Who wants to be a Superhero? Episode 3 review
Filed Under TV | Leave a Comment
Honestly, is anyone watching this show?
It gets worse each week. In episode 3, the heroes had to go to a place around the corner and get lunch.
Exciting.
While there, they were tempted by the waiter/waitress to divulge their secret identities. Feedback and Fat Momma were the only ones not to give in. It was then that we learned that Monkey Woman was an actress, and the idea was floated that she was just looking to be famous, and this was her ticket to do so. Stan kicked her off in the first elimination.
Nobody really cared.
Stan then asked the remaining heroes to nominate someone for elimination. Everyone melodramatically nominated themselves, except for Tyveculous and Fat Momma. Tyveculous nominated Lemuria because she didn’t display hero-like qualities, (she was argumentative and selfish, she even admitted it herself later). Fat Momma nominated Feedback because he is always too hard on himself and constantly beats himself up after challenges for not doing enough to be hero-like.
In the end, Stan eliminated Tyveculous because “he didn’t display self-sacrifice”, and Fat Momma nominated Feedback to “help” him. Anyone watching this show should be dissapointed, as Tyveculous is a real-life fire fighter and displays many super hero qualities (at least on the show). Plus, his costume he made himself was tight. It was better than the one the producers created for him. They were probably embarrassed that their suit wasn’t as good as some dude that made his himself in his garage.
Fat Momma says her spirit is broken; everyone is bummed that Tyveculous was eliminated because he embodied what they thought a hero should be.
*note - I’m sure I forgot some parts, including walking accross a beam that wasn’t a beam between two buildings to “save” someone… at least I think it was this week. Honestly, I’ve stopped caring. It’s so bad and blatantly staged, it’s not even interesting anymore.
I’m going to try to keep posting reviews… I just don’t know if I can bring myself to waste time watching it.
technorati tags: who-wants-to-be-a-superhero, scifi.com, super-hero, tv, reality-show
Aug
8
Expanse CMS System
Filed Under Web development, cool stuff, tech, web design | Leave a Comment
Expanse +++ dream. create. do.
Expanse is the new CMS System created by Nate Cavanaugh & Jason Morrison aimed at giving designers more control over their blogs and portfolios.
Expanse lets you upload your artwork and photos, create thumbnails, add press events and your latest news, as well as allowing people to interact with you and keep up to date on your work.
It enables you to create and manage a website without being bogged down in the details.
Some of the notable features:
- easy 3 step install
- automatically crop and resize your thumbnails
- drag and drop reordering of your items
- sell your items through paypal
- easy integration with your current site
- add multiple items to your portfolio in an instant
- add additional images to each item you post
- have multiple users help manage your content
- easily add unlimited multiple categories
- easy content formatting
- post into the future
- add custom fields to your entries
- manage your site’s themes with a click
- super simple (yet powerful) template system
- rss feeds, commenting, smilies and more…
all for $29. Seems like a steal. Check out the Demo here.
technorati tags: expanse, cms, content-management, designers,
Aug
8
Antivirus Software - Eliminate Spyware and Adware with NOD32 Antivirus from ESET
Filed Under cool stuff, tech | Leave a Comment
Antivirus Software - Eliminate Spyware and Adware with NOD32 Antivirus from ESET
NOD32 has the best detection in the industry, and protects against 95% more new and evolving threats than McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro (AV-Comparatives.org).
This will be the next one tested for me, I’ve heard good things about it.
Aug
7
AOL launches free anti-virus software
Filed Under cool stuff, tech | 2 Comments
AOL launches free anti-virus software - Yahoo! News
(Reuters) - Time Warner Inc.’s (NYSE:TWX - news) AOL online division on Monday said it launched a free anti-virus program for online users, providing real-time scanning and hourly updates.
As I’m in the market for a new anti-virus software, I’m going to give this a shot. Why not? It’s only AOL.
Ironically, the large pillow ad on this article page was for Norton’s internet security.
As I’m setting up the new AOL program, this is what they are promising me:
- Free AOL E-mail - The legendary AOL e-mail address is now available to everyone, completely FREE.
- AOL Safety & Security Center – The most comprehensive set of free, automatically updating safety and security tools — protecting your whole PC, not just your e-mail
- AOL Video - gives you access to millions of high-quality videos—including music videos, news clips and movie trailers.
The disclaimer…
This service plan provides unlimited usage of AOL over a high-speed broadband or dial-up internet connection purchased separately from another company. This plan does not include internet access or live customer service. AOL premium services, which may be subscribed to separately, are subject to charges.
technorati tags: AOL, free, anti-virus
Aug
7
Time Warner threatens court action over NFL channel
Filed Under Sports, TV, commentary | Leave a Comment
Time Warner threatens court action over NFL channel - Yahoo News
WASHINGTON Reuters - Time Warner Cable has threatened to go to court to overturn a decision forcing the No. 2 U.S. cable company to reinstate the NFL Network on some of its systems, according to a filing obtained on Monday.
Give me a break.
“Given the extraordinary nature of the injunction and the immediate harm it will cause if not lifted immediately, Time Warner will have no choice but to obtain judicial relief to protect its interest and those of its customers…” the company said in its appeal to the FCC.
Time Warner Cable had argued that the FCC acted without a chance to respond, exceeded its authority by requiring the channel be restored and that the order “inflicts severe, immediate and irreparable harm” on the company and customers.
Yes! Please protect us from watching the NFL Network!! Thank you, Time Warner!!
“The Commission’s obligation is first and foremost to the consumer — not to the private interests of Time Warner or NFL Network — and because of this we again find continued carriage to be in the public interest,” said FCC spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher.
At least the FCC has this one right. What a line of BS from TW.
A spokesman for the channel disputed that rate and said the fight was about whether it would be relegated to a sports package or available more broadly.
“No other provider in the country carries us on a sports tier and we refuse to have Time Warner do so,” said NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky. “We have not had any subsequent conversations but would hope that we can soon.
As I noted in this post, Time Warner wants to profit by making the NFL Network only available on a special package, and only available as an addon to the digital tier, which itself runs about $70.00. The NFL Network wants it available on the basic level of cable, which in our area runs about $50.00, and is not digital.
technorati tags: time-warner, fcc, court, nfl-network, cable
Aug
6
Video: Madden 07, Gameplay video WASH vs. DAL
Filed Under Internet Videos, Sports, cool stuff | Leave a Comment
More gameplay video of Madden NFL 07. This time, I believe this shows what it’ll look like on the XBOX 360. First quarter of the Redskins vs. Cowboys.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/w/?v=LhS17JcEzh0]
technorati tags: XBox 360, nfl, ea-sports, madden-07, video-games, video