well then, immediately after that time … there comes a time when he must create a MORE silly ringtone. and that time – is now.

i’m an avid fan of the E! program “The Soup.” while i actually watch very few of the programs that are remarked about on the show, i typically enjoy snarky comments wherever i can find them.

to that end, i’ve nearly laughed myself silly at a clip they feature frequently of “the YouTube Dog.” i thought, what better sound to alert you of a new caller to your mobile phone? i present to you, the greatest 24 seconds of audio i’ve heard in a long time: the YouTube Dog Ringtone.

use this link to download the YouTube Dog Ringtone mp3

“one of the problems in the world is there are no more neighborhoods in the city and neighbors and things like that, but the feeling of the WELL is that you’ve got a lot of neighbors, and you don’t go to borrow a cup of sugar, but you get some information. and information is probably the sugar of the late 20th century.”

if Information is the Sugar of the late 20th Century, i think Information might be the Crack of the early 21st Century. originally we sought it to achieve something; to scratch an itch, to get high, or to get work done.

now we can’t quit it, even when it’s no longer productive, or even when it’s destructive.

the most important one is that you become your brand. every person who has a blog, a homepage, or uses a social networking site, should be thinking about that right now. you may not be famous, or infamous, yet. but someday you might be.

take for my first example, DVD Jon. you know, the kid who cracked the blah blah blah on dvds. he didn’t control his brand. whether he chose it or the media chose it, he will forever be “DVD Jon.” (e.g. the recent engadget article that gave me this idea).

it reminds me of the movie “Hackers.” Johnny Lee Miller’s character (been enjoying Eli Stone, btw^[1]) starts to try to explain his situation, his background, and his experience. he stops, and in a defeated tone, simply utters “i was ZeroCool.” and his peers in the room instantly got it.

Jon Lech Johansen has moved on to writing software that does other things to mp3s, iphones, etc. but you know someday, while trying to tell people about the software he’s written and the coding techniques and whatever else, will probably have to break down and say … “i was DVD Jon.”

[1] sorry ABC, when you have auto-playing embedded video+audio ads that i can’t pause or shush, i don’t link to you directly.

…over a cookie

to see this view, approach on KS 61 from Hutchinson.

before you shout “sacrilege!” note whose beer was in that keg:

life is a circle.

this was in Montana, btw.

i didn’t think much of challenging this convention, until i picked up a pair of skate shoes to kick around in (proverbially speaking… i haven’t actually kicked around on a skateboard since the late 80’s).

the laces are nylon and round, and i found myself retying them often. after one walk to the train (0.8miles) during which i re-tied each of them 3 times, i decided to seek a better way.

the blogs all went nuts a while back about a site dedicated to tying shoelaces, so i found this and checked it out.

the one that works for me is the “Ian Secure Knot” now my skate kicks go all day without untying.

Insert here the jokes about how “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and also “the internet: is there anything it can’t do?” all i know is, now my shoes don’t untie themselves.