Jason Griffey

Million Dollar Ideas

Occasionally, Betsy and I will be talking, and one or the other of us will come up with what we call “Million Dollar Ideas”: Some product or service that isn’t out, but should be, and would be remarkably profitable. These are always things that we are completely incapable of implementing, so of course nothing comes of these. I’d love to be able to patent some of them (and may do that some day) but for now, we just note them.

Here’s one from today: an additive for the water of swimming pools that would increase the UV resistance of the water, to aid in the protection from the sun. Even better if it would continue to protect even after you get out. Sunscreen that was added to the water, in other words. A MILLION DOLLARS, I tell you.

Digital Culture

Session 416

Check out the viral marketing for the new movie Serenity, based on the TV show Firefly by Joss Whedon:

Session 416 Exerpt 1
Session 416 Exerpt 2

Very nice stuff…rumor has it that it’s Whedon himself as the doctor in these clips.

Digital Culture

Touched by his noodly appendage

Post author By griffey
Post date August 24, 2005
No Comments on Touched by his noodly appendage

One of my very favorite ‘net memes in a very long time, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is, according to wikipedia:

Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is a parody religion created to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to allow intelligent design to be taught in science classes alongside evolution.

There’s been BoingBoing posts, a cute name for the faux-religion (Pastafarianism), and downloadable graphics suitable for card stickers/chrome fish-like ornaments.

A number of the digerati have put forward a 1 million dollar challenge to the creationists (up from the original $250,000):

We are willing to pay any individual *$250,000 if they can produce empirical evidence which proves that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

This is why I love the Interweb.

Personal

Still in Indianapolis….

Things going well for me, although Betsy seems to be having quite the time of her weekend. 🙁 I’m sure she’ll catch everyone up on her blog later, so i won’t ruin the story.

Pics and such from the weekend upcoming.

Personal

GenCon

Post author By griffey
Post date August 17, 2005
No Comments on GenCon

I’m heading out today for GenCon, the largest gaming convention in the world. Expect posts to be a little slow until next week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Digital Culture

Wi-Fi Spray followup

Evidently the scammers are even more desperate than I previously thought. Discovered via a post over of MeFi, the whole idea for the wi-fi spray was stolen whole-cloth from a joke site designed by someone else. Check it out:

J-Walk blog

The seller essentially stole the content of a joke site that I created (and posted on 13 November, 2002). He’s auctioning this fake product.

Digital Culture

Ibiblio on Slashdot

Ibib gets some good press for their bittorrents…and gets slashdotted in the process!

Digital Culture

There’s a sucker born every minute

Post author By griffey
Post date August 10, 2005
No Comments on There’s a sucker born every minute

And ebay is the place to shill to them. Most amusing auction I’ve seen in some time:

Wi-Fi Speed Spray DramaticalIy Increase Data Throughput

This revolutionary product enhances the transfer of computer data through the air. You’ll be amazed!

Do you live in a polluted environment such as Los Angeles? If so, you’ve probably experienced the heartbreak of data transfer slow-down. WiFi Speed Sprayâ„¢ can overcome the effects of pollution, increase fidelity, and provide you with the fastest wireless data transfer possible. Compatible with ALL 802.XXx standards!

It’s a scientific fact. Radio waves become sluggish under a variety of common environmental conditions. Besides air pollution, radio waves slow down in noisy environments, at night, and in “high emission” areas such as computer rooms, offices that use fluorescent lighting, and even in the kitchen (those pesky microwave ovens are to blame!).

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Where’s the Mythbusters when you need them?

Personal

“Grammar”

As Betsy knows, I’m not a grammar nerd. I don’t pay enough attention to my grammar…so why is it that improperly used quotation marks drive me up the freakin’ wall? Quotation marks and apostrophes drive me nuts, especially on signs. So now that I have a camera phone, I’ll occasionally snap one of these and share it with the world. Here’s the first, taken in a random small town in Tennessee at a gas station.

$\"wet\" \"floor\"$

I’m not sure if the floor is not really wet, or if it’s not really a floor, or both.

Digital Culture Personal

Flickr’d

As of a few days ago, I took down our Gallery, and am in the process of adding all our photos to Flickr. It’s gonna be slow going (I’ve used 18% of my upload for the month, and I’m probably at 5% of our total photos) but Flickr really is an amazing product.

In any case…if anyone wants to play with our photos, they’ll be at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/griffey/

and via tags/sets/etc we’ll be adding some value to them. Here’s an idea for Flickr, though: it would be amazing to be able to download/burn a CD of the interface/slideshow/photo sets and such for permanent archival.