Species Confused Duck

IMG_4030

Originally uploaded by FlipSide3.

My daughter received a package on our doorstep. Inside was a duck. The duck in question flaps his wings singing the chicken dance song... quacking instead of clucking.

It is amazingly funny to watch my little girl flapping her arms along with the plush critter. Still I have to pause for a little head scratching... I mean it is the CHICKEN dance... and it's a DUCK. Guess there isn't an equivalent duck dance song.

Species confused fowl aside, Easter weekend was a lot of fun albeit exhausting. Eggs were colored, hidden, and gathered. The new baby's room was cleaned, a new (used) changing table and crib were bought, and double stroller was also purchased. All in all a tiring holiday.

Obama Speech On Race: Full Text

Good read. I really like this guy.

From digg:
History in the making. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the likely next President is about to deliver a speech that could be historic as a symbol of an America that is starting to move beyond racial divisions. Here's the full text.

read more | digg story

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

My cousin stopped by my folks house yesterday just after our big weekly Sunday lunch. He mentioned that he'd gone to the midnight launch party for Super Smash Bros. Brawl (for the Nintendo Wii). Later that afternoon I decided to call up the local GameStop on the off chance they had a copy. They did and I was there within 5 minutes with credit card in hand.

A friend came by in the evening and helped me give it a work out. My thumb is rather sore this morning. Great game.

On The Constitutional Reasons Behind Copyright And Patents

So it seems Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were both skeptical about patents and copyrights. Well I guess our lawmakers don't care much about what those guys had to say. I haven't read all the way through this article series, but of the small taste I've had so far it looks quite interesting.

From digg:
Mike Masnick of Techdirt.com writes another insightful article on intellectual property. This one looks at the roots of copyrights and patents in the US Constitution. Short and highly readable.

read more | digg story

100+ Essential Resources for Web Developers

This list of resources is actually pretty good. The html to rss converter is pretty neat. I'm not sure if I'll use it directly for work projects, but it is a quick way to set up a RSS template with actual data in it.

From digg:
We’ve put together a list of over 100 resources to help make your life as a developer easier; where to find snippets of code, sites that automate processes, cheat sheets, lessons, useful tools and a couple of silly videos to give your brain a break if you make it through to the end.

read more | digg story

Guild Wars franchise hits 5 million unit sold mark

Go Guild Wars!

I've been playing Guild Wars for a couple years now. While some aspects of the game have begun to wane, others are still going strong. The Guild Wars podcast (GuildCast) that I've listened to forever is coming to an end. Some of the repercussions of its ending soured things for me a bit (lost the GuildCast guild), but I'm still having fun... just more and more on my own.

Will I bother getting Guild Wars 2 when it comes out... oh who am I kidding, I'll probably get it. I'm guessing I'll get it right away too, so I don't miss out on some stuff. I'm still bummed about waiting so long to get the first game... granted there was a wedding, honeymoon, and moving into a new house going on at the time, but still.

Thank you Guild Wars and NCSoft for all the fun!

From digg (and joystiq):
NCsoft announced today that its distinctly non pay-for-play MMORPG, Guild Wars, has sold five million units globally in a little under three years. The Guild Wars milestone takes into account the original game plus its three expansions: Factions, Nightfall and Eye of the North.

read more | digg story

The Naked Violin

NPR has a segment in that end of the hour space that always pops up just before I get to work in the morning.  It is filled with a strange blend of random stuff, as far as I can tell.  Today it was about Britain's top concert violinist releasing her latest album free on the interwebbitubes.

The fun part is she's including lots of instructional tidbits along with the tracks.  Her main purpose is to grow an interest in classical music in a demographic not know for classical tastes.  Sounds great to me, especially if I get some free music too.

Here's the story: NPR Music: Tasmin Little Takes the Classics to the Masses and the violinist's website: Tasmin Little's Site.