I know there are a few tools like this out there for both mac and pc that let you do this, but here at work I use a program called Samurize to display system data, email status, and other information. The program itself is all about the information you want to display and not how it looks, but it can be configured to look any way you want. The screenshot on the right is what mine looks like right now. There’s a lot of information on this thing, but for now I wanted to point out the little image on the bottom. In the image is a live view of the heart of Pisa, Italy – looking down from the clock tower upon the Arno river which winds through the city. Since I took that screenshot though, that same square is now showing a view of the street outside a window of the Fashion Institute in Milan. The views are actually provided via a plugin for Samurize called FetchImage that randomly grabs an image every so many minutes from a list of URLS in an XML document.

I actually installed the plugin a few weeks ago, but after seeing all the talk out there on BoingBoing and various other weblogs about about finding unsecured axis webcams via google by simply searching for inurl:”ViewerFrame?Mode=”, inurl:”view/index.shtml” or inurl:”MultiCameraFrame?Mode=”, I thought people would want a good way to display their new found webcams about:

• Building Houses
• Making Glass
• Model Trains
• Computer Labs
• Laundromats
• Suberb Streets
• and Card Tables

To make a long story (you really ought to read) short – the whole thing seems to be hoax marketing for the Mini Cooper. Although there is no direct evidence of this, the voice behind both Subservient Chicken and the Mini Cooper is a marketing company called Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. CPB has a history of alternative marketing and is responsible for the campaigns for truth, Molson, and Ikea – as well as Burger King and Mini Cooper. So, you be the judge. But be sure to check out the videos on “the professor’s” webpage and be amazed at the depth of the deception produced for this campaign.

That’s it? Yep.

Am I going to participate? Probably not. But it’s nice to know there’s a holiday for pantlessness.

The quizno’s we love the subs commercials were a great example of this. Now, Burger King is getting into the action. Check out Subservient Chicken.com! I don’t know how watching a chicken do what I tell it to will make me eat at BK, but at least it’s not your typical advertising!

The first time was a few weeks ago when I was looking for generic pictures of swimming pools to use for an aquatics website I was working on. When I saw a picture of a larger-than-life incredible hulk in pool on google image search, I had to check it out. We got lots of laughs here at the office over all the hulk pictures but had to get back to work and didn’t explore the rest of the site.

Then today, I was working on a site about conserving bats and in my frustration searched for “bat hunting” and: www.komar.org/faq/hunting_bats/ came up as number 6 in Google.

That’s not all. Be sure to read on for more than you ever wanted to know about BBQ Modding, Growing Grass, Hunting Squirrels, and his 1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Convertible.