NorthGeek

Is making money important anymore?

Nike's New Jordan Line of Championship (Loser) Shoes

I came across this article (thanks to Ariel Helwani of JarryPark.com) that talks about Nike’s new line of Jordan-brand shoes that come in the colors of teams that Jordan demolished during his 6 NBA Championship runs with the Chicago Bulls.

Maybe you can help me figure this out… If I’m a Bulls or a Jordan fan (or both), why would I want to buy, let alone wear, shoes in Phoenix Suns team colors? Or, better yet, if I’m a Suns fan, why do I want to wear shoes that are inspired by the ass-whooping handed to my favorite team by Air Jordan and the legendary Bulls?

This just makes me think: does Nike care to make money, or are they just trying to get mega-blogs like NorthGeek writing about them? Who is going to buy these shoes?!

OK, fine. I’m from Montreal and don’t have a definitive favorite NBA team, so maybe I’ll buy a pair – if they’re comfy and less than $300.

Detroit automakers have some stiff competition!

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Email of the Day: Life in the 1500's

Got this as an email today, seemed pretty interesting, although I didn’t finish reading it. Some of us have actual work to do, DAD.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children, last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.’

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip off the roof. Hence the saying ‘It’s raining cats and dogs.’

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying ‘dirt poor.’ The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a ‘thresh hold.’

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, ‘Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.’ Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could ‘bring home the bacon.’ They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and ‘chew the fat.’

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or ‘upper crust.’

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of day s and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a ‘wake.’

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a ‘bone-house’ and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the ‘graveyard shift’) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be ‘saved by the bell’ or was considered a ‘dead ringer.’

How to get kicked out of a baseball game at Fenway

This dude is the man. He clearly threw back a bit too much of grandpa’s old cough medicine. Enjoy!

Why is Qik so great for Blackberry video streaming? Ontario drivers parking!

Today I was presented with a wonderful opportunity to make fun of Ontario drivers. Granted, Quebec drivers get our fair share of criticism, but does anyone have proof like this? The video below demonstrates a driver from Ontario, along with his (or her) assistant, getting out of a not-so-tight parking spot. They were there for a solid 25-30 minutes – no joke.

Oh, but my point: why is Qik so great? Many reasons – for starters, it’s a fairly light application. It streams video “live” as you are recording it, and it gives you the option to add a title and description right from your device. The Qik website (qik.com) is also a great video sharing site, in my opinion. But maybe the best feature of all, which was recently released in a software update, is the ability to upload previously recorded videos to the Qik website. Great stuff all around – I highly recommend it!

Enjoy the video!

Is it true that you can't fix stupid?

I had this video sent to me in an email recently, and the subject of the email was: “You Can’t Fix Stupid”. Catchy, but false. I know plenty of people that used to be stupid but have brightened up significantly, mainly from reading blogs like NorthGeek… This might be hard to believe, but I was once stupid… Can you find me in the video?

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Fox Racing Shox: So many adjustments!

A quick look at the Fox Racing suspension products on my Ellsworth Epiphany. A couple things to note – the shock is actually a Float R, not an RP23. Also, I refer to all products as “Fox Racing Shox” when in reality I’m showing a fork and a shock… Sound good? Well then, on with the show!

Also, a post-ride reaction:

Mr. Totally Awesome 2009: My Ellsworth Epiphany

‘Nuff said. Enjoy! Sorry about the dark video, I’m no pro with my MacBook…

How to take a nap at work…and yes, Qik has audio

Video of the Day: C is for Conan: A hysterical look at his ride…

He is the man! I can’t wait for him to be back on the boob tube…

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