The URI! Zone

Sleuth Day

2010-09-07T10:00:00Z

Use your honed skills of deduction, induction, and convection to answer four questions about this picture from my bathroom.

Why are there two toothbrushes in the cup?
Why are there small gouges in the wall on the right?
What kind of toothpaste do I use?
Why do I use this kind of toothpaste?

Post your best Sherlockian ideas, serious and otherwise, in the comments section. Answers will be revealed on Friday.

Scientists solve the mystery of the floating octopus
Dover student sues over heart-stopping shock
Mushroom hunter "massacre" claims 18 lives in Italy

Today's Birthdays

Labor Day

2010-09-06T10:00:00Z

If you rearrange the letters in "Labor Day", you get "Labradoy", which is the offspring of a labrador and a cowboy.

US Court backs Ladies' Nights
Drunk baboons plague Cape Town's exclusive suburbs
Busted pot growers mistake wardens for suppliers

End-of-the-Week Day

2010-09-03T10:00:00Z

I'm trying to push out some updates for DDMSence this weekend, so I didn't have time to write a scathing diatribe about pickles or turkey bacon to close out the week. I'm a little disappointed that H'Earlicane isn't going to get a little closer to us, since a weekend full of heavy rains would be great for getting work done while Rebecca travels out to Front Royal to help her cousin with a new baby.

As a snapshot of my life, I've sprayed my lawn for mosquitoes, almost beaten all of the Starcraft II campaign on "Brutal" difficulty, am about one-third of the way through the fourth season of Dexter, and may end up at the beach next weekend.

Have a good Labor Day Weekend!

Woman wins libel case by suing wrong website
Suspicious Fire Ignites Houston Voting Fraud Scandal
Snoop Dogg joins the war on cybercrime

Review Day

2010-09-02T10:00:00Z

There are no spoilers in these reviews.

Couples Retreat:
This movie was probably just an excuse for Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn to run around together some more -- it's hit-or-miss with not quite enough ensuing hilarity. The movie also can't decide whether it's a comedy or a drama, and doesn't do a good job of switching between the two tracks. Overall, it's uneven but passable enough entertainment for a hurricane evening. The main downside to this movie was learning that Blockbuster has reimplemented real late fees for their movies ($1 a day after the five-day rental period) in addition to the fake "you bought it" late fee they already had.

Final Grade: C-

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest:
The finale of the Girl trilogy would have benefited greatly from additional editing, as the author seemed to be developing a Victor Hugo complex where he'd shoot off on a tangent about sewers for ten pages before returning to the story at hand. The feel of the book is also different -- there isn't really a central mystery that requires the reader to tie pieces together anymore. In spite of these issues, this book does provide a great sense of closure to the story, and the last couple hundred pages ARE polished and tightly paced.

Final Grade: B-

Namesake:
This movie stars Kal Penn as a young guy who smokes weed, but Neil Patrick Harris is nowhere in sight. It's based on a book that Rebecca liked a lot that tells the story of an Indian family in the US over two generations. It wasn't a bad movie, but I don't think it was as deep an experience as it thought it was.

Final Grade: C+

Older people enjoy reading negative stories about young
Why Do Heavy Drinkers Outlive Nondrinkers?
Butts arrested in Boob case

Weird Search Day

2010-09-01T10:00:00Z

or "how I stumbled upon the URI! Zone"

what did the costco thief in herndon steal?
Is this a riddle? He probably stole your sense of entitlement and high HOA fees (in bulk).

"african boobies" -saggy -droopy -ugly

Everyone knows that boobies are indigenous to the Pacific Ocean, so any you find in Africa must be on holiday.

greek mythologist salary
This sounds like one of those "careers that don't actually exist" which I probably would have wanted to be involved in for three weeks as a kid. Triton not get your hopes up -- A'Zeus suspect, you Midas well be a Pan handler because the wages of a Greek mythologist are Apollo'ing unless you Titan up your belt and forgo some luxuries. Most mythologists rack up a sizeable Daedalus they go on a quiz show and make Achilles.

balderdash game zopilot

Jack Wilmer's contribution to the March 16, 2007 game of Balderdash, a zopilot is a "three-legged mammal that can both swim and fly". HOW DID THIS WIN?

thanks jason for anything you are a lying one you remember when I said that if to tapeworms work to you for my in the mornings and you said that you w
In spite of the distinct lack of sentence structure in this stream of consciousness fragment, I am strangely interested to know how it ends.

urizone effect on my pregnancy
The URI! Zone has been scientifically proven to reduce the gestation period of babies by up to 4.7 days. Side effects include the mistaken belief that 2 + 2 = COW, and an uncontrollable urge to watch Boublil and Schonberg musicals more often than required.

is chompy slang for penis?

If it is, then you've left your penis in the dryer again.

Pole suffers longest hangover
Golfer's swing snags rock, sparks fire in S. Calif
Brits bombarded by bossy ballards

Museday Tuesday

2010-08-31T10:00:00Z

As part of this feature, which I started in 2007, I compose a very brief work (under 30 seconds) inspired by a randomly generated title from an online word generator. The composition can be for any instrumentation, and could even be a purely synthesized realization that might not be possible to perform in the real world.

I work on the excerpt continuously for an hour and then post whatever I've managed to complete, even if it's a poorly constructed slum of a song supported by a foundation of droning double stops and abused tubas.

Lissome: (adj.) Agile, nimble, or active

My Composition (0:30 MP3)

This excerpt is written for selected percussion instruments wrapped around a creamy brass quintet center, and articulated with a banjo patch.

Man torches home after mum bins robots
The twilight years of Cap'n Crunch
Mesa family grows food in swimming pool

Today's Birthdays

Tom McCullough