EmmonsNet

Want to show off some mad bash skills while impressing hot babes and being the envy of your friends?

Then have a look at the bash goodness I laid on my linux neophyte friend. About about an hour ago he wanted to convert a whole directory of home videos (stored .wmv format) into .flv and thumbnails for upload to his site.

He had the option of using WinFF. But after playing with it for a while he realized it could not make thumbnails for him. So he called me to help.

First I showed him how to generate a thumbnail for each video file, then create flash versions of each of the videos using for loops and ffmpeg.

In school I had a love / hate relationship with chemistry. The mad scientist in me loved the idea of mixing up all manner of explosive and corrosive substances. That same mad scientist hated all the little things that got in his way .. such as common sense, safety protocol and protective gear.

Fortunately for me and to the relief of my lab partners, fate always intervened by placing an over cautious and hyper vigilant instructor nearby when this wannabe chem geek was about to try for another fiendish creation.

Looking back now I have to admit that I was probably not the best person to have in close proximity of things like sodium, open flames and sinks of water. I have to thank all those instructors that I hated. Today I wish I could show them that I still have all of the digits I was born with and shake their hands.

Note: I am not the idiot from the video. I would have used more sodium, been indoors and without proper ventilation.

When I think of Zombies, I often think about that old Dorito's marketing slogan - 'Crunch all you want. We'll make more!'. Which is exactly why the skull biting and cranium sucking undead have always been at the top of the list when Hollywood, pulp horror writers and fans are looking for a never ending supply of bad guys to run undaunted into a hail of bullets or walls of flailing baseball bats, swords, axes and chainsaws.

The latest offering of restless undead set to splatter all over movie screens October 9th is Zombieland. From the trailer (see below), it looks like it's going to be a very entertaining grim comedy starring Woody Harrelson. The mix of laughs and gore was a real success with zombie movie geeks with Shawn Of The Dead. One of my favorite good time films.

So why are the ravenous re-animated dead so much fun?

It never seems to matter how many of the tenacious highly motivated rotting things you kill, there numbers never get depleted. There always seems to be a supply of humans that do stupid things to secure their spot among the undead horde as a freshly risen zombies.

The perception of Electronic Arts (EA) in the gaming and technology industry is ... well, lets just say checkered. I have heard a lot of labels applied to this company for it's ability to bring to market really incredible games but with the reputation of contemporary sweat shop conditions for it's developers. Now we can stick at another label onto the EA logo - Pimps.

At Comic Con this year, EA ran a 'Sin To Win' contest that promoted con goers to commit 'an act of lust' while have your picture taken with as many EA 'booth babes' as possible. The more 'acts of lust' with different booth babes increased their chances of winning the contest.

No kidding. Seriously, I am not making this up.

For the conventioneer that is the most prolific with their lecherousness, they are awarded, and I quote, 'A dinner and a SINful night with TWO hot girls, a limo service, paparazzi and a chest full of booty'.

No shock that a whole lot of excrement hit the fan here. EA spin doctors immediately went into action to reduce its exposure to potential litigation and released the following statement: