it’s time to get back into supplying some link action for my readers:

-> the mercury news is just a couple years behind in their lifestyle column bringing up blue bottle and philz coffee. maybe it’s time to find a new place now that mainstream folks will be clogging up the stores. [mercury news]

-> the top contributors to obama’s campaign include google, microsoft and harvard university. mitt romney’s top contributors are all banks (jp morgan, goldman sachs, morgan stanley). i can’t speak for the validity of the source, but it doesn’t surprise me. [open secrets]

-> the article says that early pot use could cause iq decline in adulthood, but liz seems to clearly buck this trend. maybe she can start her own business coaching teens, like isaac, on how to manage it. [sf gate]

19-year-old stacey irvine from the uk has eaten nothing but chicken nuggets since age 2. she is now in a hospital.

[via dailymail.co.uk and others]

shouldn’t you be working? get your doylez.com fix and massage out your pan-handle.

-> some japanese suffer from ‘paris syndrome’ when they get to france, because of how rude most frenchies are and how they only wear talcum powder instead of deodorant. kidding stephane. my skin has been thickened over the years of working with frenchies, especially my nose skin. their body odor on a warm day just sort of deflects off [bbc.co.uk]

-> here’s a good rant about reducing the role and power of government by privatizing everything and how it would benefit the US. just kidding. it’s terrible  [ny times]

-> feeling down? don’t read these comics or you’ll jump over the edge [nickstjohn.net]

-> there’s a whole subculture of people looking for faults in movies. this is both interesting and creepy that people work hard to document and share this [imdb]

-> there is a mathematical equation that describes how surnames are moving slowly towards extinction. did you know that vietnam has only about 100 surnames, with 60% having the top three surnames? no wonder they are so ugly [wikipedia]

-> end of the world FAQ [sfgate]

-> what a 16-man nba one-on-one tournament would look like [deadspin.com]

-> i wonder if tech companies also have a similar bonus for indian men [bbc.co.uk]

-> any help on bargaining with your woman is good help [gq.com]

it’s been busier than usual lately so i’ve been collecting a ton of links and just waiting for time to post them. a slow friday at work is that day and so here they are.

-> sfgate readers voted philz coffee as their favorite coffee in san francisco. peet’s would go downhill quick if starbucks ended up buying them out [sf gate]

-> the THE comprehensive guide and review of every item on the in-n-out secret menu. this would take me a year to do myself [serious eats]

-> some cool pictures of a tube tv, which i think every one of us had while growing up, and our kids will have no idea what we are talking about [the atlantic]

-> the japanese mafia will rub you out if you try and loot after their big earthquake – compare that with new orleans [slate]

-> did you know there is a medical term for when you feel like you’ve still got a log in there but it won’t come out? [wikipedia]

the family welcomed mom back from japan after her business trip this week. most everything went well while she was out and these stories are to celebrate her return.

-> a flash animation showing the scale of the universe, from a planck to the entire universe. it really puts things in perspective [htwins.net]

-> a swedish city has cut its fossil fuel use by nearly 100% after figuring out how to recycle all their trash. if only the US could figure this kind of stuff out on their own. again, more props for scandinavian countries for their clean cities, friendly people, free college for their kids and hot, green-eyed blond chicks [ny times]

-> flickr slideshow depicting recent road construction in north korea. anytime you feel the need to complain about your job, just look at these pictures and you’ll quickly recant [flickr]

-> someone having too much free time by showing disney stars under the influence of various drugs [livejournal]

-> john mccain and other celebs crash ordinary people’s house parties [imgur]

-> the US has double the teen pregnancy and STD rate of the netherlands, despite the dutch having much more liberal viewpoints on their adolescent sexual tendencies [advocates for youth]

-> everyone in the house was rooting against bristol palin in tv’s dancing with the stars. that feeling was confirmed after glancing at the tv and seeing her performance. this man took it one step further [TMZ]

-> imagine making a healthier and tastier mcrib sandwich at home [saveur]

so, if you are reading this, then you are one of the handful of legitimate visitors to doylez.com. i get quite a bit of traffic but most of it is by referral because of a few funny pictures on the site, or because i have some interesting word patterns that people are searching for on google (“bruce bochy big head”, “megan fox peter north”, and “kate beckinsale feet”).

the reward for my loyal viewers is a collection of links to other sites that i have carefully selected and held to the highest standard in an attempt to humor you, even just for a moment:

-> this guy has some excellent 3d artwork. it would be great to put a drawing like this on someone’s desk in a dimly-lit room and catch their reaction [my modern met]

-> damn you autocorrect! [damnyouautocorrect.com]

-> a site full of 5-second movies for the ADHD-inclined. if done right, could also be a good porn site for guys that blow too early [5 second movies]

-> with nicknames as the ‘fuck truck’ and ‘cuddle shuttle’, how can anyone have negative thoughts of the wellesley college student bus service [wikipedia]

-> i’m getting closer to acquiring my canon eos 7d. i wanted to get it before christmas but i made the mature decision to pay my rent and feed my family first [dpreview]

and…

-> can someone come pick me up to visit Your Coffee Cups in Warm Springs so I don’t go alone? the 1992 ford escort station wagon, similar to the one below, only adds to the perv profile [the argus] and [your coffee cups]

i guess the french do it differently there? i can see how the insides of a warmed pumpkin to be a little erotic.

-> some of these new inventions really make it too easy for kids these days. they lack the creativity that we had growing up with our very primitive rubber band guns [gadgets and gear]

-> the slider bar concept in palo alto is pretty good, but their execution is lacking a little bit. i have yet to try their breakfast sliders [slider bar palo alto]

-> i keep this site bookmarked so i can be ready when i win the california lottery, stock option lottery, rich aunt dowry lottery, etc. [vanguard properties]

-> fancy magnification device shows the intricate details of common household things, such as sperm [dailymail.co.uk]

the wife has been out on a business trip all week so it’s been a little light on the posting since the two boys are a handful at times. here’s what little i could come up with over the past week:

-> while i may have the technicals of photography down, i lack the creativity that others have, like this guy. pictures like this of your kids will come in handy to blackmail them later on as teens when they are pissing you off [my modern met]

-> when you are buying some fancy cheese and get ribbed by your friends, then make them a grilled cheese sandwich with something other than their usual grocery store cheddar (or velveeta) to shut them up [grilled cheese social]

-> when your woman is doubting your sales job about the scientific benefits of fellatio, then show them this authoritative (looking) article [cnn.com]

-> how will my sister liz get her weed if all of mexico is dead from their drug war? local organic stuff from scotts valley is prob 2x as much [onion]

-> any man has to respect a girl who can rise to the challenge of eating 4 brownies, 4 pieces of cheesecake, 4 scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and 4 cherries in 45 minutes [cardboardshell]

i have been stuck on the depeche mode’s live album, sounds of the universe, for the last few days. it’s a far cry from the older depeche stuff that lynda raised me on with more guitar and rock aspects, but it’s still sounding fantastic. i have it available for download if anyone wants it. let me know.

while listening, click on this stuff below:

-> good list of alternative selections of software that you use every day, including freeware and commercial. maybe there’s a better program than what you are using right now [alternativeto.net]

-> adding a small bar and tap like this one would be pretty high up the list of desired home improvements when we get back into homeownership [picasa]

-> detailed writeup reviewing my next camera, the eos 7d. i can’t even imagine the positive karma surrounding such a wonderful pice of equipment [dpreview]

-> balakov makes awesome pictures with star wars lego’s [balakov’s flickr]

-> this man and my mom must know each other in some way [the onion]

-> i’m working on a project at work to put our services ‘in the cloud’ so you can work from the office or from home without any functional change in the way you work. there are other benefits too [the oatmeal]

-> my childhood buddy and neighbor phil winston is the new principal at palo alto high school. this is the same guy who had the coolest british knights shoes, biker shorts and fanny packs has done well [mercury news]

-> this would be a fun picture project to take except i don’t look anything like my dad [lmld]

-> free lessons in css, python, mysql from google engineers [google code]

-> for a few minutes i thought this was real, but then she commented on farmville (?). when i look at my own reports on our work connection, it’s clearly porn that everyone is looking at.

original here [the chive]

her response [the chive]

-> comprehensive study that shows depression hits losers the hardest [the onion]

-> list of movies ranked by how many times they use the word ‘fuck’. i admire the amount of work put into this sort of research [wikipedia]

-> the king of all photobombers lives in the UK [the berry]

[urban dictionary tells you what a photobomb is, if you just woke from a 5 year nap]

and…

-> i love to sleep although i found that i can manage with less these days. before it was minimum 10 hours but i can skate by on 5-6 as i do on most weeknights [ny times]

-> wikileaks has published a bunch of leaked us military documents pertaining to the war in iraq, none of it flattering [guardian.co.uk]

-> 13-year-old girl destroys the boys in her little league with her mid-60’s fastball and knuckleball. she struck out 127 batters in 6- innings this year, and leading her teams to a 95-8-2 record in the past 4 years [espn]

-> some quantitative analysis of the data collected by dating site over the years reveals that most people tend to fudge on their stats [ok cupid]

and…

-> facebook profile of the week – hilfonso “hildy” starling [facebook]

this week is busy with two graduations and a couple birthdays, all with the nba finals happening at the same time. whoever invented the DVR should be given some sort of nobel prize for science. squeezed into this schedule, i found the time to collect some links for your reading pleasure:

-> 15 facts about wealth and equality in the US. seems like finland or sweden would be good for mom and dad because of their great social systems. it would also be good for the boys so they could hook up with some hot green-eyed blondie [sfgate]

-> like the iphone form factor but want to run android so you can have flash? this team is dedicated to it [taranfx.com]

-> i got inspired by these pictures [below] and am going to try this out after the hubbub. so many projects and things i’d like to try out, but getting called out by the son to play some baseball or make paper airplanes makes me forget them. this means that i’ll probably end up trying these things when the boys are 15 and don’t want to hang out with dad anymore [noupe.com]

its been a while since the last post on the website, thanks in part to baseball season and falling behind at work a little bit. this holiday weekend should be nice and relaxing. check out the following links to kill some time under the great weather we’ll be having:

-> amazing how complex the world is – close up pictures of a bee, including their eyeball with “over a thousand lenses” and their stinger [discover magazine]

-> you would think that the tropicana twister fruit punch you give your kid is better than 2 7-ounce cans of whipped cream – think again octomom [blogspot.com]

-> if you are negotiating a crucial business deal with some other men, just bust out the meat business card and seal the deal [meatcards.com]

-> are the hills steep in san francisco, or are the houses just tilted a little? [amusing planet]

-> npr review of the new book detailing the rivalry between magic johnson and larry bird, starting in college and continuing into the nba. the lakers and celtics combined for 8 titles in a 10-year period [npr.org]

-> the new nissan leaf looks pretty girly, but it’s a completely electric car with a 100-mile range [nissan]

-> i almost didn’t want to post this because of its graphic nature, but you may have read it already.

-> if you suffer from epilepsy and seizures, do not visit this website in a dark room while playing heavy-bass electronic music [bestiario.org]

bring dem!

-> i have been reading about liquid flouride thorium reactors with great interest. it’s super nerdy but there is enough throium in the earth’s crust to power the US for 1,000 years within a nuclear reactor with just ‘grams’ of radioactive waste as a byproduct. additionally, the waste cannot be reprocessed into a nuclear weapon. why are we not doing this already? [wired.com]

-> george hutchins is a real candidate for some district in north carolina that includes our office in morrisville. the guys in my office are pretty cool. this guy used ms frontpage 2.0 to build his website [georgehutchins.com]

-> sf gate has a regular feature on some local real estate for sale. how sweet would this place be? [sfgate.com]

-> when you lick an envelope, you are usually greeted with some weird chemical taste. jd foods has solved that problem by inventing an envelope that tastes like bacon [jd foods]

-> it took us this long to invent the supine reading glasses? i hate finding a comfy position on the bed to read my dystopian novels. each position ends up in some part of the body falling asleep or having to read the book sideways! [hammacher schlemmer]

for about 60 minutes, isaac and i thought of team names for marcos’ upcoming t-ball team. he’s currently on the tigers, like the major league team from detroit. it would be nice if we can pick our own names for the team based on the composition of the kids – fremont fartbags, fremont failures or fremont phreakshow might be more appropriate? got any suggestions? send them to me.

-> a “growler” is a new way to tote your beer around. it’s a 64-oz jug that you can get filled up at your local bar and then bring home what you don’t finish [ny times]

-> the annual national cub and cougar convention just met the other week in millbrae. i know a couple ladies who might like to get into this next year [sj mercury]

-> who needs photoshop when you have ms paint for your web artwork? [squicky.com]

-> this guy’s wife cries at the end of movies, almost any movie – he’s captured this and posted them to youtube. he must like sleeping on the couch [cryingwife.com]

so, i needed something here quickly and the vendor offered to ship via ups next day. it was delayed in southern california due to “inclement weather” whereas i got something from fedex today taking the same route. wtf? i’ve tried to give ups a chance to get more of our business but they suck at stuff like this. anyway, now that’s off my chest, enjoy these stories while you stay dry under a roof somewhere:

-> i knew san francisco was a little crooked with lombard street, hilly landscape and weird people, but this photographic evidence proves it [theoriens.com]

-> the guy in the picture above could be charging his cell phone or ipod while he walks if he uses one of these new devices [cnet news]

-> very interesting way to compare the world’s religions [religionfacts.org]

-> maybe dubai’s punishment for making women wear a burqa and walk behind the men is that now they are facing one of the biggest financial meltdowns in history [denver post photoblog]

-> considering people’s attention spans these days, it’s miraculous that they spend the time to write such lengthy notes and leave them on people’s windshields [theangered.com]

-> the zeppelin ‘eureka’ is based in the bay area and you can rent it out for small groups and take a zep tour. here are some great hi-res pics (example below) from a recent trip [comcast.com]