In this video I talk about this year’s project. To explore my nerdy side for 1 year and vlog about it. Yay!!!!

I’ll be doing videos every week about the adventure so please subscribe

It prompted me to ask myself how many hours I myself have wasted on adorable youtube videos?? And here they are, the cute youtube video that have wasted the most of my time.

My Most Re-Watched Adorable Youtube Videos

Who’s Your Favourite?

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

Lets see the Dog Whisperer do this!!

☆french bulldog

Puppy vs. Mirror

Jerk Animals: Viral Video Film School

“One Man Disney Movie” Nick Pitera Disney Medley Music Video

This fits our theme of adorable because although he is not a puppy or a giggling toddler, Nick Pitera is truly the morst adorable thing on youtube.

Cute Cat Falls Down at the Purrfect Moment

Full disclosure this is actually a video of my own cat, but it would be a favorite even if it wasn’t.

African Bull Frog ant crusher

There you go guys. These few videos have taken up literally hours of my time. Was it worth it, hells yes. Enjoy.

Apparently the ratio of legally downloaded song to pirated ones is 1 : 20. So here’s the question we should really ask, why? Why are so many people choosing to pirate content?

Is it really because we all just want to get our content for free? Maybe a more reasonable explanation is that acquiring content legally is often just too difficult, time consuming and unreasonably expensive. If you are just joining us in the 21st century now, let me explain.

Torrenting is just about the easiest way to get any and all digital goodie you can possibly want. Simply search for your item of choice, click the download link, and the torrent starts automatically. You can pause the download at any time and restart it with out damaging the file and download problems are very rare.

When you purchase content legally you can expect to deal with slower and glitchier downloads that will require many more time consuming steps to complete than simply snatching up that torrent. You may first need to create an account on the site, type in all your credit card and personal information and verify by email before you can order the item. If you are dissatisfied with your purchase or have a download issue, tec support will likely be slower and more frustrating than you’d like. And because these companies are terrified you will redistributing this content, the legally downloaded versions of songs and videos are usually encoded with restrictions that get in your way if you ever try to move files between devices or burn them to disk.

Beyond the technical issues, many companies just don’t seem to realize that digital content should be priced differently than the physical versions. From my experience DVDs cost money to have printed, packaged, stored, handled and shipped. Where as it cost virtually nothing to have a program automatically email customers with a download link. Because I’m not the only one that realizes this, the perceived value of digital content is much lower, as it should be. Bull-poop “convenience” charges are not fooling anyone guys.

I really believe that as legally purchasing songs, videos and everything else becomes easier and more reasonably priced, we will see less online piracy and fewer resentful legal downloaders like my-self. I also imagine that if illegal downlading was less threatening to large companies they wouldn’t be wasting so much of their resources on creating restrictions and laws that could break the internet.

In the end we can’t really know how much torrenting is responsible for the lost revenue companies claim, and illegal downloads are certainly not tantamount to stealing a kid’s bike or someone’s purse like those ridiculous commercials suggest. There will always be people who torrent and share content illegally and see it as a victimless non-crime.

I personally avoid pirating content because I respect that the person who created it would rather didn’t and that’s enough for me.

Here is a fix for getting the videos in the “My Youtube Playlist” plugin for WordPress to apear bellow other web elements. I wanted to figure this out because I love the plugin but it was causing my cool javascript drop-down menu to apeare underneath the youtube videos, which sucks.

All you need to do is add

myYoutubePlaylist_cfStr += ‘<param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”>’;

Between the lines

myYoutubePlaylist_cfStr += ‘<param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/’+ type +’/'+ movie +’?rel=0&hd=1&wmode=transparent’ + play + ‘”/>’;

and

myYoutubePlaylist_cfStr += ‘<param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”/>’;

In the my-youtube-playlist/myYoutubePlaylist.js file in the plugin.

Once we found a new server, we started the move only to discover that the increase in trafic had attracted the interest of hackers who had unleashed a horrible nightmare onto the Firepedia team. 1200 files had embedded hack codes that re-directed readers to other sites. Luckily we were able to avoid compromising anyone’s account (unfortunately we had to delete them to do this). After that the stressful and delicate surgery of getting our site back up and moved to our more robust and secure server we are now working on recovering a few lost articles.

Thank you for your patients and understanding durring all this. And welcome to all the new readers.

[UPDATE]

Shortly after publishing this article and getting a good night sleep for the first time in days a vulnerability in the new server we had moved to was exploited by the same hackers and we lost everything for a 2nd time. It was heart breaking and the technical support was unsympathetic and very unhelpful.

Based on the recommendation of web-developers much smarter than us, we purchased server space on a much more secure service from another company and started rebuilding yet again. I really hope this is the last catastrophe for a while and we can go back to producing content for you guys.

Thank you again for your patients and all the emails and messages of support. You have been wonderful durring all this. Thank you

The weirdest thing happened, the internet noticed something I did! This images taken by photographer Derek Orr was shared on Facebook like crazy after being initially popularized by this Reddit post by user PeteDarwin.

I have read all of the comment, yes even the weird ones, and found that lots of folks wanted a wallpaper version. Well here she is.

Right click to Download the Widescreen Wallpaper.

And here is a high rez version of the original.

I’ll be more excited when he loses the goatee.

Convert any pair of headphones into bluetooth wireless ones. I got one for my-self and I love it. Perfect to listening to music around the house from your laptop with out needing to blast it through out all floors. At 16$ it’s a steal.

Tmart.com

2. FitBit – Fitness Tracker

This incredibly lightweight, easy to use little step counter is one surprisingly impressive piece of technology.

The clever size and shape makes it comfortable to wear, in fact you completely forget you have it.

With the push of a single button it displays steps taken, stairs climbed, distance traveled, calories burnt, or even an image of a flower that grows depending on your recent activity level. When the day is over the Fitbit is still working away, tracking your sleep patterns durring the night.

When you have the base station connected to a computer, it will auto-synch as soon as you’re within fifteen feet. Once the data is on your computer the software allows you to get an in-depth look at your overall fitness level.

The online community connected to the Fitbit turns staying healthy into an online game or a team sport. You can sign up to the site, join a group, compete and encourage other and follow each other’s progress.

It’s the perfect gift for the finess oriented gadget lover who has it all, since the $99 price point makes it something they won’t likely buy for themselves. After playing with one for just a few hours I desperately want one myself.

Website >> fitbit.com

3. Rocksmith – The Guitar Game, that teaches guitar

This videogame to allow you to plug an actual stringed instrument into your Xbox 360 or PS3 and is devoted to teaching you how to play guitar,

Well I have yet to play it myself but the views and demo videos are amazing, it gives you incredible controle over the way you learn and the pacing.

Learn to play a variety of song and styles, play with different peddles and effects to change the sound of your guitar and, best of all, play a game that leves you with a real world skill.

With the $60 price point this is an amazing value. The perfect gift for any musically inclined gamer in your life.

Website >> rocksmith.ubi.com

4. Olloclip iPhone 4 Lens System

Interchangeable lenses for you iphone including Fisheye, Wide-Angle, Macro. Great for the amateur photographer. $69 a set for this clever little gadget anyone would love to play with.

olloclip.com

5. Netflixs

You can watch unlimited movies & TV episodes instantly right on your TV using a Wii™, PS3™, Xbox 360 or any other device that streams instantly from Netflix.
You can even watch on your computer, your iPhone or iPad. We gave it to my Grandparents for their anniversary and they barely watch cable now, at 8$ a month it’s a very affordable gift that keeps on giving.

netflix.com

The following are shots of my organized purse and toiletry items the night before hoping a plane to Montreal.

Toiletry Items

Carry On Items

Prop Love

Ok, admittedly this one is more like “Neatly Photoshop”.