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April 25, 2008

Weekend mp3s: Clapton/Beck '07; One-wheeled motorcyle; Redneck mansion; 'Free Rice'

Jeff Beck with Eric Clapton, Exhaust Note, 4CDs.

Live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London, England, November 29 & 30, 2007.

Also, Country Joe McDonald, War War War Live at Norwegian Church Cultural and Arts Centre, Butetown, Cardiff Wales UK, May 25, 2007. Excellent soundboard stereo.

Yup, "Fish" cheer included.

Uno, the one-wheeled motorcycle: From Canadian magazine Motorcycle Mojo,

The 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto has always been heavily influenced by the American V-twin crowd and highlights some of the area's top custom builders who have on display a fine array of one-off custom machines.

This year's show, however, had one very unusual one-off custom, the Uno. The orange and grey coloured Uno made its first public appearance balanced on its two side-by-side wheels and its footpegs. Looking more like it should have been ridden by George Jetson as he pulled up to his space platform, it looked out of place amid the other custom creations in the building. Perhaps that's why it garnered so much attention. Since no one has ever seen a machine like this, the first question asked by on-lookers was:

"What is it?"

Many more pics at the bottom of that link.

Redneck Mansion:

Free Rice: In response to yesterday's link to Gaming for Charity suggested by reader Dub Not Dubya, reader Bill Marsland writes,

I caught a news piece on NBC's nightly news, I believe in the "Making a Difference" section concerning http://www.freerice.com/ . It's a site where you test and learn vocabulary while earning rice for the United Nations World Food Program. In their FAQ's section, here is how they describe how it works. If FreeRice has the rice to give, why not give it all away right now?

FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice―you are earning it 20 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.
Who pays for the donated rice?

The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. This is regular advertising for these companies, but it is also something more. Through their advertising at FreeRice, these companies support both learning (free vocabulary for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry). We commend these companies for their participation at FreeRice.
Does FreeRice make any money from this?

No, it does not. FreeRice runs the site at no profit.

The vocabulary itself is adjusted by how many you get correct, so if you start hard it will ease you back to easier words. When you do not give the correct answer, it goes to the next word but gives you the correct answer at the top of the page. It also repeats those words you have not correctly answered so you get a second chance.

Quite a novel idea; learning while donating. As of 4/24, participants had raised 29.2 billion grains of rice!!

Even if you have already mentioned this, might be a good time for a reminder.

I did mention this a while back, but it's worth a rerun. Since then, rice has become precious: Sam's Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 11:27 AM | Permalink