This post has absolutely nothing to do with Adam Pacman Jones.

A day-long, growing list of 12 productivity-busting web ditties:

geoGreeting: Send a message via this Google Earth mashup that utilizes a font comprised of building-footprints shaped like letters that have been found on Google Earth.

ElfYourself.com: It’s funny — especially funny is the thought that a company called OfficeMax would sponsor something that will result in minimum office productivity.

25 Things you can do with a mashed-up Google map: These aren’t merely time-wasters. Many are practical tools and hacks. (And here’s a link to 25 more where those came from.)

Ways to obsess over scenarios in which your home team can make it into the NFL playoffs: In my case, the link provides a guide to who I should or should not cheer for this weekend. (Bonus time-waster: Follow two Nashville bloggers who travel from Nashville to Buffalo for Sunday’s game.)

Random knowledge: That link will take you to a random page on Wikipedia. It’s especially helpful for Cliff Clavin-types.

StumbleUpon: I haven’t quite figured out the social networking features of StumbleUpon because everytime I click on something on my StumbleUpon tool bar I get, uh, what was I talking about?

Video of Vanilla Ice performing on Saturday Night Live: You can thank Rex Sorgatz for pointing to that one. By the way, if reading time-wasting lists is your productivity-busting web preference, his 2006 meta list of lists is enough to make you, uh, what was I talking about?

Oops. Where did the time go? I started watching that Vanilla Ice video and the next thing I know it’s time for me to tell everyone to go home early. Besides, there’s a party at my house in a couple of hours for about 60 19-year-olds. Wouldn’t want to miss that.

If that Dilbert cartooning gig doesn’t work out, I think Scott Adams should run for office. He’d never win (and he explains why) but it would sure beat the depressing $40 million senatorial campaign we’ve experienced here in Tennessee.

Sidenote: The study reported in Slate on which Scott bases some of the planks of his campaign platform gets the Freakonomics treatment from Steven D. Levitt who is a bit skeptical of the empirical result. Me too, but I’d still want to get an Adams bumper sticker.

Start-up acquisition article generator: Matt McAlister is one funny guy. He’s created a fill-in-the-blank news-story generator for articles with this headline: “[STARTUP] gets acquired by [BIGDOTCOM] for $[LOTSOFMONEY].”

Technorati Tags: web2.0

Stop it, already: Man, I can’t stand it when people like these blogblox jokers come up with really cool, free, open source stuff I can add to my weblog. I’m tired of folks like them messing up my evenings by enticing me to play around with their clever ideas. Man, that really ticks me off.

(via: Seth Godin.)

Another cool tool: This new Technorati “favelet” (a new word for me — referring to a bookmarked/favorites link that launches, well, something. They can also be called “bookmarklets”) gives you a means to highlight text on any page and launch a Technorati search of who may be blogging the topic (or, as “they” say, its “cosmos”).

(via: Joi Ito via David Sifry.)

Pardon this post: I’m making it for a technical purpose. Sorry to those reading this via a newsreader.

When the baseball game is not going your way: Sometimes, you need to take a break from all that other stuff and read a thoughtful essay about diagramming sentences.

(via Language Log)

Down elevator: Jeff Jarvis wants bloggers to elevate the pre-election discourse by discussing actual issues like healthcare and education. I plan to weigh in later with some healthcare comments, but this morning I only have time to spread goofy memes like the “horn guy” video (Windows Media Player).

(via joi ito)

rexblog bumper music: Cocktails for Two (Spike Jones)

Looking for adventure: One of the readers of this weblog says this article is about her hometown. That explains things.

rexblog bumper music: Born to be Wild (Steppenwolf)

Blog soundtrack: Now that I can link to specific titles on the rexblog affiliate iTunes store, I’ll be adding “rexblog bumper music” to some of my posts. I’ve also started an archive of the bumper music called “you heard it on the rexblog.” Keep watching for more “fun with iTunes affiliate store” ideas. And remember, as soon as all seven people who visit this weblog will together (or individually) purchase 20 million tunes from the rexblog iTunes afilliate store, I will be able to make a million bucks from doing this.

rexblog bumper music from the iTunes store:
Money for Nothing (Dire Straits)

iTunes affiliate program update: While I don’t plan on using the rexblog to keep the world informed on the progress of the iTunes affiliate program, I would like to pass along some information to assist those who may be searching the blogosphere for information about linking directly to a specific song or album or artist or audiobook that includes your iTunes affiliate tag. That feature will be available later this week, according to an e-mail from the iTunes affiliate team support folks at Apple (or linkshare?). At this point, an affiliate can point to the iTunes store and a few dozen specific text-ad (example: Choose from over 1 million tracks for only 99¢ a song at iTunes) and banner-ad related locations on the iTunes store. Again, this post is an off-topic public service as I couldn’t find any information on discussions or blogs when I went looking for it.

Update: iLife blogger Jim Heid, author of Macintosh iLife 04, let me know via comments below that he’s actually reporting this topic. I am happy to point folks his way. Thanks, Jim.

Olympics commercial note: Discovered this week, that with four sports-oriented teenagers doing non-stop commentary on fashion, performance and commercials, watching the Olympics is taken to a whole, new level. I am definitely in the minority, however, as I find the song in the Touareg commercial compelling (thanks to Google, I’ve discovered it’s
Richard Buckner - “Ariel Ramirez”) The 13-17 year-olds I was with all week judged it, “boring.” Finally, tonight, someone says, “Okay, it grows on you — but I still can’t figure out the plot of the commercial. Who’s the old lady and what’s the deal with the camera? Did she lose it? Do they keep her locked up on that bus so she can’t take pictures of mountain vistas?

Pump up the volume: I have no plans to take the rexblog into the space of Gizmodo and other gadget-blogs, but some finds are just too impressive not to mention. Earlier this week, I received my back-ordered Aiport Express and discovered (after more than the typical Apple-like adjustments) that the streaming of iTunes via AX is about all someone with my limited audio-appreciation needs to fill up a large room with wall-shaking sound. However, my tiny powered speakers sound like I paid $8 for them, which is about what I did.

So here was my Saturday-morning challenge: Without plugging the AX into an existing sound system, find a $100 (or less) solution to get sound from an Airport Express bridged signal that will crack the plaster on the ceiling in the room below it. I can now report that the Altec Lansing VS4121 gets the job done. For $99 retail (but you can purchase it for less if you search), these speakers are enough for those who don’t sit around analyzing mid-range tonalities but just want something with chest-thumping bass and enough clarity to pick up the nuance of Chris Thile’s mandolin.

Thumbs up from the rexblog. Oh, and the AX is great, but how un-Applelike is it to limit the streaming to iTunes and not DVDs? Anyone know of a work-around?

Window gallery library: I’ve mentioned before that I (and also Lewis) have been inspired by Doc Searls’ photography out plane windows enough to do some myself. So, when I saw (via a review from blogger Jim McGee) there was a book called Window Seat: Reading the Landscape from the Air, I had order a copy.

Quote from Jim McGee:

While I’ve always enjoyed picking out what I could figure out on my own, this book gives me a whole new set of things to look for. Better yet, it uses what you can see as a launching point into little lessons on geology and and human impact on geology. It’s a sturdy and compact enough book that you can toss it in your carryon bag just in case.

I plan to thow one into my back pack right next to my camera.