GLAT – Google Labs Aptitude Test

I saw this in one of my magazines at work.


The GLAT, a funny riff on the standardized tests that pervade academic life.
It seems Google Labs is trying to attract some high quality people into their ranks. If only I was a software guy, I’d apply…
The questions are a fun mix of items from “What’s broken with Unix? How would you fix it?” to a simple blank space you are expected to fill with “something that improves on emptiness.”
I scanned in whole test (it’s only 3 pages) for you perusal. Hit the more link below for the images.

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Caught being a geek

Take a look at this photo:


Yep, that’s Travis, Yoshi, and me in line at the comic book store.
The local newspaper, the Burbank Bugle, wrote up an article about ‘men’ reading comic books. Wednesday is the day that new comics arrive from the publishers, so aficionados usually stop by at lunch to pick up their latest fix.
After the comic book store is lunch where important issues are discussed. Important issues include Why George Lucas is a moron, the greatness of the Flash Gordon soundtrack, and the latest DVDs being released.

Jasper green laser

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Noah of Bigha asking if I wanted to try one of the Jasper green lasers that he’s selling. After verifying this wasn’t some strange spam, I said yes. Several days later the laser arrived in a tube and I started to play with it a bit.
Thanks go to James for helping me take several pictures of the laser beam and also to Jason for taking a picture at the gun range.

Closeup of the laser

The little oval black button is the trigger that turns the laser on. Unlike the red lasers, you can keep the green laser on indefinitely.

Sizing the laser

Here is the laser with the Universal Size Reference Unit, a CD case. The laser comes with a lanyard so you can hang it around your neck and not lose it.

Pointing out stars

The green laser is incredibly bright. You are sitting there thinking, “Yeah, yeah, bright smight, I’ve seen those little lasers before. How bright can it be?” Well, Mr. Smarty Pants, it’s so bright you can see the beam itself at night as it illuminates the air in the path of the beam.
This is a photo of the beam pointing up at night being used to point out stars.
For the rest of the review, click More.

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Laptop Stickers

Joi Ito posted about putting stickers on laptops.
When I was at SXSW a couple years ago, I struck up a conversation with Jason Nolan about laptops and stickers. He recommended putting a cover on the laptop so I could save the stickers when the laptop died or I wanted new stickers. My wife, the artist, explained to me that I should use Frisket Film as the transparent cover.
Here’s what my laptop looks like currently:


What does your laptop look like?

Sweet Moolah

For several years now, I thought the internet money party had died or was at a minimum, pining for the fjords. I have been mistaken. The money party is rolling but the people at the party are trying to keep it quiet this time.
I’ve known for a while that this site gets visited by a significant number of people besides my mother and some people from work. For the last several months I’ve been bumping up against the 15 GB data transfer limit of my web host in the last week of the month.
Somehow my site even has a Google Page Rank of 7. Now this simply must be a mistake, because there are much better sites that rank lower. Again, this points to the fact that my site gets a goodly amount of traffic.
I had read that people could make some money by putting Google ads on their pages. You see them all over the place now on weblogs and other personal sites. But I simply assumed that you needed huge amounts of traffic to make anything more than pennies.
It seems I was wrong. You can make money and the party is rolling full tilt.
At the beginning of August I put Adsense ads on my site in a few places and was shocked to find myself making several dollars a day via the Adsense ads. This wasn’t making sense to me and did a little research to find out what was going on.
<Research>
It seems that internet advertising is mainly based on the click-through, or when someone actually clicks on a advertisement on a site and is taken to a new site. Seems straightforward, no?
Actually, Google put a twist on advertising by placing ads related to the pages content in as the ad. I don’t know how they do it, but if you go to a page about travel, you will see Adsense ads about travel. Visit a page about computers and you’ll see ads for computer parts. Advertisers want this. They want people that are interesting their product to be the ones that see their ads. Targetted advertising is what it’s all about.
Google, being smart cookies, are letting the market set the price for ads. If you want your ad showing up on a page about online gambling, you bid a price you are willing to pay if someone clicks on the ad. Due to the competition to appear on the front page of a Google search, the price can get quite high. Making the front page can cost $4-5 per click. Supposedly the term mesothelioma (a kind of lung cancer that involves asbestos) can cost up to $100 per click.
So you can see that a single click on the right term, can bring in several dollars. Quite an amazing scheme if you ask me…
</Research>
Now Google doesn’t want people posting tons of statistics about their Adsense program, so I’ll be general about the results. In one month I made over $100 from Adsense placement on some of my pages. Over more than 30,000 views of the ads, people were clicking only a couple percent of the time. Most people reach my site via Google and are not repeat visitors.
I know people that are making thounsands of dollars a month on ads, so my revenue is not that remarkable to people in general. But for me personally, an extra $100 a month for just having my web site up is fantastic. It’s all funny money until the check arrives, but when it does, I’ll be ecstatic.
I now understand why guys like Nick Denton and Jason Calcanis are into making niche websites and filling them with ads. They can make a ton of money!
Who know what the future brings, but the right now the internet money machine is cranking away and it has nothing to do with IPOs of start-ups.

Spreading the know-how

Yesterday I received an email from Brody had built his own electric smoker based on the page I made.

No question.
Just thought I’d let you know I built the smoker, per your page.


I did cut a large hole where the elec. heater goes in, and I cover it during use with tinfoil, which I hold on with magnets.
I also had the opportunity to smoke something that wouldn’t fit in the smoker with the top on. Made a temp top from tin foil, and it worked fine.
thanks again,
Brody

Good work Brody, your smoker looks great.
Now that’s what I’m talking about people! Soon the backyards of America will be filled with homemade smokers and the smell of burning hickory wood.
I like his modification with the tinfoil and using magnets to keep it in place. He should be able to add wood chips to the smoker without having to move the meat like I had to do.

New Music

Here are a couple of albums I’ve been enjoying recently. I suggest you give them a listen. I put in a couple samples to listen too yourself. Due to the current silliness with the RIAA, and considering my job, I’ve only posted partial samples of the songs to avoid legal trouble.
Razorlight – Up All Night
Razorlight is a new British group that Suw told me about. This group is a mix of the sparse guitar/bass/drums sounds today of the Stokes mixed in with a few other things. There’s a dash of 80’s new wave and the occasional folksy riff that floats in and out. I listened to the new Libertines album first (think The Clash) and was suprised by the tasty songs on the Razorlight album. They avoid the ‘wall of sound’ style that’s been so overdone these days. I’ve been listening to them in heavy rotation in the car. The album is an import and the price varies widely, so shop around.
My favorite song on the album: Razorlight – Shuffle and Fall – 60 sec. MP3 – 700k
Northern State – All City
Northern State is a rap group of three New York women that lay down the fresh rhymes. Their first album, Dying in Stereo was fantastic, and this, their second album, does not disappoint. Branching out into a few different styles, the girls stretch their rap further. They aren’t the female Beastie Boys yet, but who knows what the future brings. They are heading out on tour with Cake! OMFG, what a kick ass show that would be. No LA dates announced yet, but I’m keeping my eyes open.
My favorite song on the album: Northern State – Don’t Look Down – 60 sec. MP3 – 700k

Poker Lessons

Played poker with Brad, Tim, Brian and Rich last night. Here are a few more lessons I learned.
While your full boat is nice, the other guys four kings are nicer.
Ratcheting up the betting when a pair appears on the table even though you don’t need it because you made your straight on the last card can be effective in misdirection.
Burning Castro’s crops is fun and enjoyable.

BBQ Insight

Here are my answers to the latest LABlogs.com Insight:
1. When you do fire up the grill, what do you put on it?
Briskets, tri-tip, turkey breasts, chicken
2. Where do you buy your goods (any secret meat markets)?
Bristol Farms for special things like 4-5 pound briskets, Ralphs for generic meats.
3. Besides your house, where do you/would you BBQ around your area?
I used to BBQ at Martin’s house, but he moved to Kansas. What do they know about BBQ in Kansas?
4. Gas or charcoal?
Wood! I smoke meats slowly for maximum tenderness and flavor. I do have a gas grill for the quick grill when needed.
5. What is your favorite drink to accompany the grill?
Sipper Jigger of Jack Daniels and Coke.
6. When you bring a side dish, what is it?
Michele will make a quiche or some asian dumplings.
7. If the host burrns the main dish, where do you go out to eat instead?
Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles
8. Post BBQ games: dominoes, croquet, bocci or badminton?
Drinking liquor, eating sweets, herding children.