This is one of those “in the right place at the right time” kind of photos.

From the photo caption on Flickr:

Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico(Monday June-2-2008) Seven competitors from yesterday cyclist race were severely injured after being hit by a drunk driver, one of them died and other three were hospitalized. The drunk driver was arrested after the rest of the participants tried to lynch him.

30 year old Alejandro Alvarez, from Brownsville,Texas, was pronounced dead on the scene, while Alejandro Salvador Tamez, 18, Juan Machaita, 38, and Guadalupe Martinez,, 16, were severely injured.

Cyclists were participating in a race from Matamoros to Bagdad Beach, when drunk driver Jesse Campos, a Brownsville, Texas resident, in his Ford Grand Marquis, license 659-FKF from Texas, impacted seven cyclists, even as they were being escorted by Local Transit Officials.

Source: The Daily Telegraph
Picture: Jose Fidelino Vera Hernandez

Twitter has been facing all kinds of problems lately. In light of this I figured I would share this funny Twitter exchange between Jason Calacanis and Stu Maschwitz I happened to capture a screenshot of several weeks ago.

In case the JavaScript version of the original Super Mario game got a bit boring, Nihilogic has redone Super Mario Kart in much the same way. Weighing in at a mere 11Kb this proof concept lets you choose your driver (Mario, Luigi, or the Princess) and one of two courses. There is no collecting coins, knocking out opponents with turtle shells, or even counting laps. You can use the arrow keys of your keyboard to steer around a simple loop course over and over again until the end of time. The computer controlled drivers help keep up the pace though you can pass right through them as there is no collision detection.

Music is included to add to the nostalgia of the old SNES days. There’s not much else to this except to prove what can be done with modern JavaScript when applied to interactive games.

Sorry for the grim title but I just discovered this great infographic featuring statistics of how men in the United States will die in 2008. There are various causes covered including suicide, heatstroke, and electrocutions. The data was collected from the CDC’s WONDER Database. WONDER stands for Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research which is a collection of data that’s available to public health professionals and the public at large, boasting a wide array of public health information.

Thanks to this it looks I don’t have to worry about shark attacks (1), foreign objects left behind during surgery (2), or fireworks accidents (5).

UPDATE: This originally appeared in the November 2007 issue of Men’s Health and was designed by Julia Hoffman.

UPDATE 2: From Sean Nolan, Director of Men’s Health Online

Please remove the copyright-protected graphic from Men’s Health magazine currently at this URL:
http://www.russellheimlich.com/blog/stats-on-how-i-will-probably-die/
You do not have the permission of Men’s Health to us it.

Sorry people!

There are many web services and tools that can be used with Twitter. Such oddball web service/Twitter mashups include TrackThis which sends you a twitter message every time the status of a package you are tracking changes, and Timer which helps act like an alarm for things you need a reminder about. But I just stumbled across Fuelfrog which is one of the more useful collaborations.

Fuelfrog provides a simple service allowing you to track your cars mileage per gallon as well as the average price you pay at the pump. Using their website you enter 3 things: the miles you traveled since your last fill up, the price you paid per gallon, and the total number of gallons you bought. Fuelfrog will then tally your findings and provide you with some handy specifics over time. I only started using the tool today but the site will tell you the frequency you are filling up, the average MPG your car gets and the average price per gallon you are paying. In the future they hope to let you compare your performance to other vehicles to see how you are doing.

This simple tool comes in handy for tracking the performance of your car. My parents used to do this manually by writing down the mileage from the trip odometer onto the gas receipt and do the number crunching later at home. But thanks to Twitter integration I can ditch the pen and paper and simply tweet my gas stats straight to Fuelfrog. After providing my twitter username (kingkool68) I can now send a tweet from my phone to @fuelfrog with the miles, price per gallon, and total purchase amount in that order. A handy nemonic is MPG - Miles, Price, Gallons. There is also a Windows Mobile app if you want to be lazy about it.

I’m going to be using this over the next couple of weeks to see if I notice any patterns about my fueling habits. At the very least I can look back and remember when gas used to only be $3.71 a gallon!

(via DownloadSquad)

I was churning through my array of video podcasts this morning on my commute when I came across this 3 minute demo of InkSeine which stopped me dead in my tracks. InkSeine is a prototype ink application designed from the ground up to completely rethink how people interact with tablet computers. Gone are the menus that run across the top and instead are replaced with contextual gestures that can appear anywhere on the screen. Take a look at the video to see what I mean.

Technology like this would be really useful on a touch-screen mobile device, say maybe like an iPhone? At any rate it is interesting to see new interactions with a computer minus the mouse and keyboard.

Today is my 23rd birthday, but I’m not the only one who has a special day today. Did you know American Idol first season winner Kelly Clarkson’s birthday is today? Or how about Chipper Jones, the 3rd baseman for the Atlanta Braves who was also born on this day? Apparently Benedikt Lechler, a famous composer, celebrates his 414th birthday today. He was born in 1594.

Thanks to BrainyHistory.com I know all of this random trivia about April 24th. But not just limiting themselves to birth dates, Brainy History also offers a catalog of death dates and important events. Estee Lauder died at the age of 97 on the same day I turned 17 in 2004. But my favorite event that happened on April 24th hands-down has got to be from 1982 when the IBM-PC was introduced. Those that know me realize this is a perfect fit for me.

But birthdays aren’t all about looking back and reflecting; they’re about getting free stuff on your special day. HeyItsFree.net (via Pammy) has the ultimate list of food, entertainment, and services that give away free offerings to birthday boys or girls. We’re talking mostly about free ice cream and cake but some places like Chevys mexican restaurants give away a free desert and a sombrero. The catch is you have to sign up in advance to take advantage of most of the offers. Too late for me now, but maybe next year.

Finally my Dad reminded me that when he was 23 he was in Vietnam in charge of 30 guys in a supply department on the USS Warrington. I sure am lucky I’m not off in a war zone and get to spend my birthday with family and friends.

Kristina made me brownies and got me grown presents like shoelaces, belts, and the movie 300 for my birthday.

Blowing out candles is still fun no matter how old you are.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon by Brandon Bird features Christopher Walken building a humanoid robot in his garage, presumably on a Sunday afternoon.

I really like the quirkiness of Brandon’s paintings. Most of them feature celebrities in odd situations like The Anguish featuring Michael Landon in a stream holding a squid. Or one of my other favorites, No One Wants To Play SEGA with Harrison Ford, showing the popular action movie star holding a Sega Genesis looking on at two kids playing Nintendo, ignoring him.

Prints of the paintings are available in different sizes and in some cases the original is even for sale. Check out the rest of Brandon’s funny paintings.

by Rob-Sheridan. A wallpaper version is also available. His painting titled Cereal Mascot Reunion is also worth a look.

A friend sent this to me and it is just too funny not to post. Apparently it has been going around since 2002. A real gem of a farewell e-mail. Take a look:

Well as you all know today is my last day at the firm. I am not going to keep anything a secret like this bull shit firm likes to do. I understand that it was a consensus from the managers and partners that my employment with PwC should cease to exist. So I want to take this time to let all of you know how I feel about you:

To the partners, you are some of the most arrogant, pompus, jack asses I have ever met in my entire life. You have no heart. Just like you fired Mike Bodiker, like you fired Bob Sokol, yet you kept your six figure salary, and they had families, mortgages, etc. You really have some serious mental issues. I am not going to go out like that and not get my word out. So if you see me in person don’t even speak to me. Because I will DEFINITELY tell you how I feel about you to your face. Dave Whitman, you are an arrogant, selfish, racist BITCH. You think you are the shit because you are a partner. You ain’t shit or your fat ass ugly wife. She looks like she came straight out of the trailer park. You can’t even match your clothes right you pussy. You need some help as well. Stan, you are just fake.. That’s all that I can say about you. Ya’ll ain’t shit. Try to use big words, talk intelligent, you are an ignorant basturd. So Dave Whitman, John Quinn, Stan, Mark, and whoever else can kiss my blk ass.. I never liked none of ya’ll. I don’t care what you think about me.

Debbie Johnson you are just a fake BITCH. You smile in people’s face and talk shit behind their back. You ain’t nothing but a scandalous fake ass bitch.. I hope they pay you enough money to be fake…. All you will ever be is an HR lady for PricewaterhouseCoopers. And you probably got your job by sleeping with one of the partners you scandalolus BITCH. You ain’t shit but a ho for all the partners to pimp!!!!

Greg muller you can kiss my ass too. If I see you out in the streets, I will tell you the same.. You ain’t shit.. Been working here for years and I bet you don’t have over $5000 in the bank.. You are fake as hell too.. I have NO respect for you at ALL. So once again, you can kiss my blk ass. And if you see me out, don’t speak.

Steve Panning, kiss my blk ass you non dressing ugly ass fake BITCH. You have no balls man. And you going to step to me like you were upset with me for changing my schedule. You can kiss my ass like the rest of them. If I see you in person, please don’t speak unless you want to get told off.

Maybe I can take you shopping so you can find some clothes that match!! ps.. get a face lift and maybe you can get a prettier girlfriend!

Now that I have got that out of the way. I want to say thank you to the people that did remain my friends throughout my short time here. Monica, you know I will never forget you. You have given me a lot of help personally and professionally. Lindsey, Brian Kerrigan, Sara Beeler, I have no problem with you guys at all. Nancy you are truly wonderful. I really wish you well with this company. I’m sorry you had to read all of this foul language and stuff but as you can see I am highly upset. You are one of the nicest, sweetest ladies I have ever met in my entire life.

June you know you are my girl. It is about time someone voiced their opinion and let these fake people know what’s really going on. You know I don’t give a damn…

Now I am going to say that I am not sorry to go, or sad to leave. I truly hated this place. Getting up to come to work every morning was the worst thing that I have ever had to do. I know a bunch of you guys feel that way too but are too afraid to say it. Believe me I am not worried about finding a job, I was making money before I came to PwC, and I am making money now. I will make money today. As a matter of fact, I am making money as we speak. So never sleep on the shy quit people. Because we are always up to something. Do you think I was really going to just sit around and take your little $40K salary and be satisfied. I am about making real money. And this shit at PwC is no real money. So John Quinn you can take your $40K salary and stick it up your stuck up asshole. You fat fake bitch… Maybe you need to see Jenny Craig so you can loose some weight you fat bastard.

So in closing once again I would like to tell Greg Muller, Steve Panning, Stan Kwiatkoski, Dave Whitman, and of course that BITCH Debbie Johnson to kiss my ass.. I can not stress enough how much ya’ll ain’;t shit… Will Bryan, oh yeah I forgot.. You fake scandalous basturd. You know you ain’t shit.. Driving a damn ford escort… I can tell you don’t have no money. Oh yeah, you are probably taking care of them babies.. well have a good life basturd.

Debbie Johnson I have to call you a BITCH one more time. There is no better word that fits you. LOL You definitely ain’t shit…. I will call you a BITCH to your face…

And Dave Whitman, I will end with you. You just another fake, non dressing, arrogant bitch. I don’t know why you arrogant. If you got so much money, how come you can’t get a prettier wife than that. Instead of some fat, ugly hag? I don’t understand it.

Well I am out. If any of my FRIENDS want to get in touch with me. Please call my cell phone at 402-0728..

Take Care and I wish you well. *sarcastically*