fak·tu·al (FAKE-choo-ell)

I had a dream this morning with Rainn Wilson in it. He's the odd-duck guy from the American version of The Office and Six Feet Under. Anyway, in the dream, we were in school and he and a schoolmate were working on a project for art class. The project was to create a fake car using specs and cutouts from real cars. While he was cutting out pictures from car brochures, Rainn turned to me and said, "My fake car nearly exists. You might say it nearly 'faksists.'" And with that, I woke up and felt the burning need to document this new fake-word:

fak·sist (fake-ZIST): To exist based on false facts and unsubstantiated rumors.

As I was mulling over faksist, I also created a spin-off word that I think suits me to a "T." My friends will tell you that I often adamantly and vehemently claim that something is true when, in fact, I really don't know whether it is at all (ask Andy about my moon theory). When I claim something is factual, I may actually mean it is faktual.

fak·tu·al (FAKE-choo-ell): The opposite of factual.

There you have it, two entirely unnecessary new fake-words that only faksist because of a silly dream. Let me know what you think!

Pizza On the Road

The last time I tried to cook pizza in my car, the cheese melted all over my engine bay. Well no more! Now I can just throw in a Freschetta and let 'er rip. Mmm...nothing like the smell of pepperoni in the air and molten cheese in your lap. Plus, bonus points if your passenger can toss and sauce a fresh pizza!

Super Bouncy Balls From Heaven

Super Bouncy Balls are fun one at a time. Now imagine thousands being dumped off the roof of a building in San Francisco for a commercial shoot. THAT is simply sublime. See the dump and the aftermath in this spectacular Flikr photo set.

Visit the Moon with Google

Every geek knows that Google Maps is the superior mapping site. Well now you can map an area of the moon with the aptly named Google Moon:

In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor. Happy lunar surfing.

Strangely, the "To Here" feature is absent. Zoom in all the way for a truly awesome view of the lunar surface.

Beer with Nicotine?!? Preposterous!

And yet, here it is. I love the idea of multitasking at the bar. As Gizmodo points out, "I think the implications are obvious: smoking makes you skinny and beer makes you fat. So if you add the two together, you get to your ideal weight." PLUS, it's a bonus for the smokers in New York and California that cannot currently smoke in bars. Personally, I think they should outlaw smoking in every bar in every state, AS LONG AS they serve this beer! Genius. Now if only they would come up with beer-flavored cigarettes to help drinker/smokers quit drinking...

Japanese Researchers Store Data on Fingernail

Gives a whole new meaning to the term Thumb Drive (found on Boing Boing).

Japanese researchers are using femtosecond laser pulses to write data into human fingernails. Secure optical data storage could soon literally be at your fingertips thanks to work being carried out in Japan. Yoshio Hayasaki and his colleagues have discovered that data can be written into a human fingernail by irradiating it with femtosecond laser pulses. Capacities are said to be up to 5 mega bits and the stored data lasts for 6 months - the length of time it takes a fingernail to be completely replaced.

Podcasts Are Fun!

I've been listening to podcasts for several months through a little program called iPodder. Now, in case you're the last person to hear, iTunes 4.9 now supports podcasting. About time. Anyhow, I now have a renewed interest in podcasts because I use iTunes constantly at work. So here's a rundown of what I have been listening to and enjoying (in order of fun-ness). Download iTunes 4.9 and search the Podcast section of the iTunes Music Store by keyword:

GeeksOn
Engadget
On Food with Hsiao-Ching Chou
Autoblog

There are thousands of podcasts out there, so if you find some that are worth listening to, please leave a comment and let me know what they are!