I have uploaded a handful of photos to The MKX® Photo Central. I hope you like them, but if you don’t, I don’t really care. Click here for the full album.
Photo of the day #32: ISS
This is a photo from yesterday’s partial eclipse taken by Thierry Legault. In it, you can see the sun partially obscured by the moon and by none other than the International Space Station itself! Amazing timing. Click to zoom.
Eight years of The MKX®
That’s right! Today is the 8th anniversary of The MKX®, the premiere destination for all things inconsequential. Man, time really flies. People that weren’t yet born when we published our first post are now of reading age.
It took Google less than eight years to become a multi-million dollar business, and it is now apparent that we are growing at a slower pace. Our financial experts predict we will hit the figure in no less than eight and a half years. So be it.
Thank you for your continued support. And Happy New Year!
Camouflaged Aaron
Here’s a fun little puzzle for my readers to solve on the New Year’s break. Hidden in the photograph shown below is a person. See if you can find him, and post how long it took you in the comments!
Thought of you
Beautiful hand drawn animation by Ryan Woodward, although I didn’t like the choice of music so much.
Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.
Dictionary of Americanisms
I was recently reading a copy of the “Diccionario de americanismos“. This is a real big old fashioned macho dictionary made out of paper. It recalls memories of how people looked word definitions up before we were spoiled by Google, Infoseek, and Sharp Pocket Dictionaries. But this dictionary is special – and useful for those of you who are learning Spanish using Rosetta Stone, yet don’t understand a single word that us hip latinos use amongst ourselves.
It is published by the Royal Spanish Academy and contains all the slang from Latin American countries. That’s why it’s so big and heavy. It survived multiple attempts from myself (Mexico) and friends from Chile and Venezuela to find a missing slang definition.
I even found the definition for one of my childhood nicknames!
Highly recommended toilet literature.
Merry Christmas
While Christmas posts are unusual on his blog, I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to share this wonderful musical video of a girl jingling her bells. Click here to watch. And do try this at home, by all means.
Completing my album
I received a mysterious envelope with a return address in Germany. I wasn’t expecting it so quickly: My own myPanini World Cup sticker for my album. It’s finally (almost) complete:
Compared to the 2006 version, I look a lot happier and hairier. Most readers will quickly point out that I’m wearing an outdated 1994 Umbro jersey instead of the current one. You are right – but I guarantee that this photo was taken in 2010 next to none other than former national team legend Luis Roberto Alves “Zague”! (see original).
There’s already quite a long waiting list, but I do have a few extras. So if you want your limited edition Marcos Kirsch sticker, just ask nicely in a comment.
And if you know what happened to the mystery sticker shipment from Panama (you know who you are), please let me know.
Lunar Eclipse
Excellent time lapse video of the lunar eclipse two nights ago. I did not see it with my own eyes, it was very cloudy in Austin.
Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.
Today’s quote: Joe Kosinski
Director of Tron: Legacy speaking about “The Grid”, the virtual world in the movie, on his interview by Discover:
I really liked the idea that this was a closed-off system like the Galapagos Islands, where the simulation has been constantly evolving and growing on some server locked away in some hidden place. That way it felt more like a Western: The world is large and expansive, but at the same time, there’s a code or a set of rules you have to follow. If you want to send a message to someone, you can’t just beam it across cyberspace. You have to get on your light cycle and deliver it in person.
I saw the movie on Saturday and it’s quite the visual spectacle. Try to see it in IMAX and in 3D. And don’t worry if you haven’t seen or don’t remember the original.