Every year approximately 120,000 PEOPLE DIE FROM ACCIDENTS. Here’s some of that breakdown, according to 2006 data from the CDC:
Tag: News
Every year for the past 20 years, the AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY has gotten together to analyze and review word usage for the previous 12 months. The beginning of 2010 is no exception, as Allan Metcalf and Grant Barrett (from MacMurray College and the online dictionary Wordnik.com, respectively) have released this year’s WORD OF THE YEAR and WORD OF THE DECADE.
The word of the year? “tweet”, as either a description of the act of using Twitter, or the Twitter message itself.
The word of the decade? “google”, used as a generic verb to search the Internet.
In Peter Biskind’s new book about Warren Beatty, STAR: HOW WARREN BEATTY SEDUCED AMERICA, we learn that Warren Beatty has allegedly slept with over 12,000 different women.
Approximately 12,775 – if you believe what the book says.
While there may be some Web Watch readers who will applaud Warren for coming anywhere close to even 1/4 of that number, there will be a large number of folks who will believe that Warren has completed all those conquests… and more… without question.
And that is where Web Watch can step in. Because bedding 12,775 partners seems a bit over-achieving to us.
And apparently, we’re not alone in this thinking.
A new year has begun and newscasters, magazine writers, bloggers, and others are all proclaiming 2010 to be the first year of the next decade with all their “best of the 00’s” lists.
Just like Web Watch had to do during the Y2K celebrations, we’re not here to put a damper on everyone’s fun, but TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT THE FIRST YEAR OF THE TWENTY-TEENS IS NOT 2010, BUT 2011.
Remember it like this: was there a year zero? No. There was a year 1. And that made the tenth year, year 10. But the tenth year only counts as a full year when it ends, not when it begins. Which means that the completion of the first decade was on December 31st, 10.
Sure, there are those who will bring up the dictionary definition of “decade” as any set of 10 years that begin with a year ending in zero (ie 2000-2009), but that is just counter-productive to our discussion and will be ignored for entertainment reasons.
Apparently, science has proven what many have believed to be true: that WOMEN ARE WORSE AT PARKING CARS THAN MEN ARE.
And we all know that if scientists are able to prove it, it must be true.
You’re at a crowded bar or party where you don’t know anybody. You’re interested in using this as an opportunity to find someone new to date, but don’t want to blow your confidence by asking every lady in the room if they’re single or not.
So HOW CAN YOU TELL IF THE WOMAN ACROSS THE ROOM IS SINGLE OR NOT? Here are some signs to look for:
Kids today love music, and they love their YouTube.
So why not put the two together into a LIP DUB? It’s a better group activity than Rock Band or Guitar Hero, and can even result in some kids getting grades if they do this as a special project in the classroom (as seen in the amazing backwards video below).
What is a Lip Dub? It’s a homemade music video done as a single tracking shot through a school, office, mall, or other environment. All the participants are dancing around the camera into and out of the shot, and the main person on screen is lip-syncing the song. There are no rules – more than one person can sing any part of the song, and random costumes are encouraged. The term “Lip Dub” itself is traced to Jakob Lodwick, founder of the Vimeo video service.
If you get your office together to create a lip dub, you can even submit your production to OFFICE LIP DUB.
We won’t get into the details surrounding the hows and whys behind some of these lip dub videos, but you can click through to the stories behind the stories for full details. Let’s just say that some of these folks may have too much time on their hands, but they’re making stuff that’s wildly creative and entertaining.
- Shorewood One-Ups Rival with Backwards Music Video
- Rival Shoreline Schools in YouTube Music Battle
- Shorewood Responds to Challenge, Makes Own Video
The bigger question for these students is going to be whether making lip dubs and posting them to YouTube and other video sharing services is legal or not.
Jakob Lodwick’s Vimeo openly solicits for lip dubs to follow their original creation of Flagpole Sitta. Now, Vimeo is being sued by the record labels for encouraging these flagrantly illegal lip dub videos to be made in the first place. One side says that the homemade videos’ use of songs qualify under fair use; the labels say that doesn’t count since the entire songs are usually used.
Watch these videos, and decide for yourself if the music labels have a point:
HEY YA! by Outkast
What makes a movie a hit or a miss?
How do we know that a movie is destined to be considered a flop? Is it a film that has absolutely the most horrible reviews ever? Or is it based solely on box office success or failure? What if it is horribly reviewed and bombs at the box office, but finds a new lease on life at midnight screenings or on DVD?
Yahoo News has released their list of the TOP TEN BIGGEST MOVIE FLOPS OF THE DECADE. As they have so nicely pointed out in the article, all such lists are subjective at best. That being said – here are the films that made Yahoo’s list of biggest losers: