01.31.07

The Mooninites Have Invaded!

Posted in Geeky Stuff, TV at 9:22 pm by Jellyn

I turned on the TV a bit before 4. (Okay, okay, so I intended to see what Oprah was talking about today.) I found the local stations all abuzz about "suspicious devices" found throughout Boston. By that time, they'd shut down traffic, and taken care of some of them. One report was one looked like a pipe bomb. Another looked like a circuit board with a cartoon character.

It sounded rather like a prank to me, and I speculated college students. More specifically, MIT ones, given the gadgetry.

When it was revealed that the "devices" in question were light-up Mooninites, well, it was just too good. No college students to get in trouble here. No, Turner Broadcasting and their marketers are responsible. It'll be interesting to see if Boston is as harsh on the perpetrators as they were promising to be during their 4:20ish news conference. They were saying something like 5 years of prison time for each device.

You can look at this two ways. You can praise Boston for taking no chances and protecting the public. They were the only city to notice these devices and take action out of a number of major US cities!

Or you can wonder why no one who got a look at these things recognized them. Boston is a college town. College kids are Aqua Teen Hunger Force's major demographic. Maybe the Department of Homeland Security and other officials need to watch more television.

I have to side with the second view. Because reportedly these "devices" have been in several cities for weeks now. So I can't praise Boston's swift action, since it was anything but swift.

Since no one even noticed these things for weeks, then it doesn't seem like it was much of a marketing campaign. Did someone at Turner or their ad agency call in to report the first "suspicious device"? It seems like the only way the publicity worked.

Look for some of these to show up on Ebay in the next few days. But be wary of knockoffs!

01.25.07

I'm an M&M!

Posted in Food at 8:57 pm by Jellyn

And you can be too!

01.18.07

Photo-rama

Posted in Conventions, Food, Geeky Stuff, Holidays, Pictures at 9:30 am by Jellyn

Lots of new photos in my photo album. Highlights include shots from Albacon with Peter David, more kitties, Christmas, the ice storm, and pengi-sans!

If you forgot the password, just ask. :)

01.17.07

Psychic Predictions for 2007

Posted in Misc, TV at 9:40 am by Jellyn

I'm watching Montel, who today is talking about all of Sylvia Browne's predictions for 2006 that came true. So I thought I could do at least as well as her. So here's my predictions for 2007. Check back in a year to see how awesome I am.

* Someone named William will do something horrible and get media attention. I'm also seeing an S or an M around him.

* We're going to see more bad hurricanes.

* There's going to be two big earthquakes.

* Apple will release a hot new product around Christmas.

* There will be controversy surrounding the release of Harry Potter book #7. Not to mention problems with the American edition.

* There will be a breakthrough in stem cell research.

* A food additive will be banned in the US.

* There will be a big drug recall.

* A new bestseller may threaten to eclipse Harry Potter.

* Torchwood will show up on the Sci-Fi Channel, but they'll edit it.

* 7th Heaven STILL won't be cancelled, but Veronica Mars will. (Sorry, Jun!)

* The UK show Fortune Million Dollar Giveaway will have a US version. Probably on NBC, but possibly ABC.

* The news media is going to salivate over a court case that'll drag on forever. It'll involve a pretty white girl who's been victimized or killed.

* Violence in schools will hit public attention again.

* A celebrity is going to come out of the closet. No one will care.

* Here's a two-fer. A breakthrough in the study of autism and in the treatment of MS.

* A new superhero movie will be announced. A gay superhero.

* Big news out of China.

* A Ghostbusters remake will be announced.

* Disney will release.. well, gee, what's even left? Well, eventually a Cars 2, but in 2007.. a new Pete's Dragon.

BONUS 2008 PREDICTION

* Barack Obama will be the next elected US President.

Leave a comment with your own prediction!

01.06.07

All About the Domino's Anything Goes Deal

Posted in Food, Money at 11:35 pm by Jellyn

I am not employed by Domino's and have no inside information. This is what I've learned from reading and participating. Repeat, this is unofficial information. What you do with it is your own business and I'm not advocating any particular course of action. If you want to play, you should read all the official legal information yourself and make sure you understand it.

Domino's Pizza is running a promotion involving Ebay, though not actually affiliated with Ebay. It's the Anything Goes Deal.

You sign up to participate. Then you check back every day for the puzzle. Solve the puzzle and it gives you a search term to use on Ebay to find the prizes. Each prize is available for $9.99. You have to be registered with Ebay and Paypal.

I signed up before, but this is the first time the prize and time sort of coincided to make me interested in really trying.

From 7:15pm to 10:15pm Eastern, they would be posting the puzzle within that time frame. You'd definitely better be doing something else while you're refreshing, because they posted it after 10pm.

The question was something along the lines of "How many slices of pizza does each man, woman, and child in America eat on average in a year." Which I found a little ambiguous. Was it asking the total slices consumed by all Americans in a year? Well, I figured the 'each' probably meant no. So I dug around for the answer.

The answer is 46. Well, isn't that lovely? So I had to search for 46 or forty-six or forty six, and also hope they knew how to spell it.

I managed to hit upon a listing by typing '46 -sword'. Lots of 46" swords on Ebay. I found the listing, but by the time I clicked on it, it had closed. The search term was '46 slices'.

So then I didn't know if all 10 digital cameras that were being given away (sold) were in that one listing, or if it was only one of them. So I had to keep trying until the official closing time of 11pm or when the puzzle page told me they were all sold. I figured it was probably the same search term, but I wasn't entirely certain.

I managed to find another listing at 11pm. I even got to click Buy It Now. But I was suspicious, because it didn't look like the first one I'd seen. Was it bogus? I hemmed too long and a few seconds later when I clicked through to Paypal, it'd already been sold. In retrospect, I don't think it was bogus.

I've won a Domino's prize before with one of their Flash games. Free pizza and soda (just one time, not for a year). So I may try again. Or I may not.

I could help you out more with tips and things, but really, if I'm going to try again, I shouldn't give away all the secrets!

One thing I do want to frown at Domino's for is that when you click on their puzzle page, they make you sign into Ebay, but then you're redirected to an unsecure site with that information. Are they insecurely transmitting your Ebay password? Are they storing it themselves? Makes one wonder.

Here's a screen cap of a Domino's Ebay listing. That's the first one I found.

If you have questions, leave a comment. I might answer. :)

01.02.07

.

Posted in Food at 1:03 am by Jellyn

Today I ate a dragon's butt.

01.01.07

Books, Books, Books

Posted in Books, Holidays at 3:16 am by Jellyn

Happy New Year!

Fyeeeeee!

K talked me into adding the children's books I'd read in an effort to get some new reviews in at Epinions. So suddenly my December read list is much longer!

I read 86 books in 2006. That's 6 more than the year before. This year, 100 books! Yupyup. That will be my one and only New Year's Resolution. And I've already read 2, so that's only 98 to go! That's one every hour so far!! At that rate, I could read 8760 books in a year. Though I'd likely die of sleep deprivation before I got that far.