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Posted on 09.19.11 by Widge @ 6:31 am
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  Each week we try to start you off with something that will stimulate your brain into working--or perhaps numb it into being able to take the work week a little easier. This week...well, not quite sure how you'll take this one. But here goes. Apparently by 2013 there's going to be a shift in the system of how doctors and hospitals code the services they provide. The system in place today uses roughly 18,000 different codes. According to the article in the Wall Street Journal, that number's jumping to 140,000. Why so many? Because the system is incredibly granular to the point where: Code V91.07XA, which involves a "burn due to water-skis on fire," is another mystery [Rhonda Buckholtz, who does ICD-10 training for the American Academy of Professional Coders] ponders: "Is it work-related?" she asks. "Is it a trick skier jumping through hoops of fire? How does it happen?"
Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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Posted on 09.12.11 by Widge @ 5:38 am
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  Each week we try to kick things off with something interesting, weird or mind-numbing. If possible we will try to hit the complete trifecta. So here we go. For those who have yet to attend a Need Coffee Fun Fest, part of what we do is play games. They are games that might be familiar to you as they are twisted parodies of game shows that you might know and love. One game that I dream about getting somebody from this site to host is Supermarket Sweep, the game that combines the price guessing of something (like Price is Right) with a mad dash through a store grabbing stuff (like the recent UK riots). I would love to see Rox hosting this, or Rob. But I have no idea how we would stage a run through a grocery store with a cart. Alas. Regardless, here's an episode from 1967. You'll no doubt be watching the odd hair, the terrifying fashions (even in black and white), and other such fun. But watch the faces of the contestants and their varied reactions to host Bill Malone's droning on about dishwashers and soap and soup and such. Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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Posted on 08.29.11 by Widge @ 12:01 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  I was not a fan of the 1998 live action Lost in Space film, which really needed a continuity person. While Gary Oldman and Matt LeBlanc's helmet both carried themselves off well, that's about all that could be said for the film, sad to say. Which is odd because despite the original Irwin Allen series is a campy bit of fluff--and yet is near and dear to the hearts of many. We try to start your week off with something odd or unique or something. This falls into the "something" category quite easily--I didn't know it existed until just now. Apparently a pilot was created in the early 70s for an animated version of Lost in Space. What's weird is that they felt the need to change...well, everything. The only character to make the transition to the animated version pretty much intact was a Jonathan Harris-voiced Dr. Smith who's a passenger. What's the point in having the head of the mission be Craig Robinson? Why change the Robot's name to Robon? Give at least some of this a watch for posterity's sake...and you won't wonder for long why it wasn't picked up as a series. I mean...why does Dr. Smith's face seem to morph each time he moves? And what's with the Grandpa Wolverine haircut? Wow. Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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Posted on 08.22.11 by Widge @ 4:31 am
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  Each Monday we like to give you something--whether it's to excite the brain or numb it...really, it depends on the week. This week we have the American television debut of Eddie Izzard. This is taken from October 1997 while he was performing his show Glorious in NYC, according to the NaughtButEddie channel on YouTube (which rather lives up to its name, I must say). I agree with one of the commenters on the YouTube page...at first, I don't think the audience knows what to make of him: the same sort of mad energy of a Robin Williams but more focused while at the same time much more surreal. But they eventually warm up and figure out what he's on about. For the most part. Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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Posted on 08.15.11 by Widge @ 3:27 am
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  Continuing with our series of things to kick off your week and bend your mind. Might want to save this to watch over lunch... Time Team is a show that's virtually unknown on this side of the pond. That's because we Americans simply aren't sophisticated enough to enjoy shows like it or QI--or at least that's what the people at BBC America are reported to believe. Nobody thought we would appreciate Doctor Who either, and yet, it's blowing up over here. Apparently there was a Time Team America two years ago (of course there was) but it lasted all of five episodes. Regardless, the setup of the normal show is fairly simple: Tony Robinson (yes, he of Blackadder fame) and a team of archaeologists have just three days in which to tackle a dig site and unravel some mystery or question they've had put in front of them. The shows are all fascinating--some more than others. They also do specials in which they tackle one-off or bigger projects. This is one of those: "The Somme's Secret Weapon." Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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Posted on 08.08.11 by Widge @ 6:16 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  The second greatest master of camouflage in the world is, of course, LL Cool J in the movie Toys. But even his powers are dim by comparison to cephalopods who are basically like swimming, living invisibility cloaks. In the picture there, pods are so good at camouflage that J is unaware the beret on his head is actually an octopus. True story. In regards to the vid after the break, I had seen the bit with the hidden octopus example before, but context is all: the additional parade of what we don't know about them, the close-up of how their skin works, how their vision doesn't work and what it all means about the world outside of us that we perceive...it's crazy heavy duty stuff to start your week with. But eh, it's good for you. Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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Posted on 12.27.10 by Widge @ 4:05 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Each week we try to give you something that will start your week off either very right or very, very wrong. We do this in the hopes that it will prepare you mentally for what is to come: namely another week of work. Granted, this week we're leading into the New Year after the madness of Xmas, so we'll go a little easy on you. In fact, this time around we want to make you feel better about yourself. Before it comes across that I'm completely insulting what you're about to watch, let me just make myself plain: New Colony Six was--and apparently still is, as they've reformed and are playing shows, per Wikipedia, which is always right--a serious band. Serious enough to put out four albums, chart ten times, and popular enough to warrant two compilation releases. All this while sounding like an unrealized title from the mind of Jack Kirby. Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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Posted on 12.13.10 by Widge @ 2:55 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  As it's a Monday morning, we take this opportunity not only to prep you for the work week at hand, but also to preface this year's 13 Days of Xmas, which begins today. True, every week we like to kick you off properly with something either weirdly awesome or awesomely weird. And when it comes to Xmas, well, there's a weird buffet available. This time around, though, we tap the Russian-dubbed-into-English 1958 cartoon, "Spunky the Snowman." You'll see why shortly after it begins, when the Frosty tale analog takes on an insidious cultish turn. Just imagine "One of us! One of us!" being chanted while they dance around Spunky. And why are the animals such evil bastards? And since when is Santa Claus from Krypton? Ponder these questions and more as you watch the animated tale of the original Buckethead. Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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Posted on 12.06.10 by Widge @ 9:28 am
Comments on this: 4 so far. Add your own.  Each week we try to start you off right--or wrong--or some nebulous place in-between. Because we feel you shouldn't go into your work week without an inoculation of either awesome or pure unadulterated WTF. This video is a lovely blend of both: it starts off with a gentleman in Belgium who's decided to busk and rock the faces off of the passers-by and could have been just amusing...but as the crowd starts to get into it, it veers into awesome territory. This vid was brought to my attention by Dom, who prescribed it as a cure for the blues. He was right, of course. Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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Posted on 11.29.10 by Widge @ 7:19 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Each Monday we try to give you something to start off your work week. Something odd. Something disturbing. Sometimes even something downright deranged. This week, it's Cyber Monday. And we hope you'll be kind enough to conduct all of your Amazon purchases through us, because we get kickbacks--and those kickbacks help pay for things like, oh, everything. But because it's Cyber Monday, we wanted to take a look at some gift ideas you probably (and perhaps sadly) won't be able to find online today. Or at least not for a bargain. First up, let's go to Mattel and their 1950s commercial for the Shootin' Shell pistol. Now...I'm not one of these weirdos who thinks we should kidproof the world. Far from it. I'm only a little taken aback that this thing actually shoots something out of the barrel, which seems like a recipe for potential disaster. No, what I find a little weird about this first vid is how the commercial paints the kid as a cold-blooded gunslinger. Which is by design, of course, and makes perfect sense in the context of the day. But today? It comes off as a liiittle bit creepy. Categorized as: Mental Sorbet
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