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This is just a quick note to let you folks know that the old URL for this site, accordionguy.blogware.com isn’t going to be active for much longer. Make sure you’ve bookmarked the new URL, which is…

It’s the first of June, which means that once again, we’re in Accordion Awareness Month! I strongly urge everyone to celebrate it by playing the accordion, enjoyign accordion music and even sending Accordion Awareness Month greeting cards.

I plan to celebrate by playing some accordion karaoke with friends tonight at Clinton’s. If you’re in the neighbourhood, please drop by!

(Big thanks to Nicole, who reminded me that I should post something today.)

Update — Sunday June 3, 2007: Now I know who created this LOLCat image — see below the image for details!

Tired: Schrodinger’s Cat. Wired: Schrodinger’s LOLCAT!

Click to see the image on its original Flickr page. Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

(Wondering what a LOLcat is? Start here, then go here.)

Who’s Behind This Picture?

Three people are behind this image:

• Justin Wick came up with the idea
• Kevin Steele, with whom I used to work at Mackerel Interactive Multimedia, took the photo, which is of his cat Xena.
• Dan “dantekgeek” Lurie, whom I know from the #joiito IRC channel, put it all together. Here’s the Flickr page where it first appeared.

Over at at my tech blog Global Nerdy, I’ve got a new essay titled Do the Stupidest Thing that Could Possibly Work, which you might find interesting if you’re wondering about the future of tech and software development.

Me singing some accordion-enhanced karaoke.

Unlike here in North America, even the toughest bar in the Philippines — even the ones with real-life pirates — are likely to have karaoke. That’s how hardcore we are about it. In my immediate family alone, we collectively own 4 karaoke machines (6 if you count my PlayStation 2 and XBox with their karaoke-based games).

And believe me, that’s nothing. Here’s a story from ABS-CBN news…

Man slain for singing off-key in videoke bar

For singing out of tune, a jobless man was shot dead by a security guard of a videoke bar at the height of an argument in San Mateo, Rizal Tuesday night.

The victim, Romy Baligula, 29, was shot in the chest and was pronounced dead on arrival in a local hospital.

Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas, acting Rizal police director, said the suspect, Robilito Ortega, 43, was arrested by responding policemen and yielded a caliber .38 revolver with five live bullets.

Rojas said Baligula and his companions were having a drinking spree at the Jullives KTV bar where Ortega worked as a security guard.

Prior to the incident, Ortega approached the table of Baligula’s group and shook hands with each of them, apparently in a show of friendship.

When Baligula started to sing, Ortega even danced to the tune. But when the song progressed, the suspect reportedly commented that the victim was out of tune, triggering a verbal tussle.

At the height of the argument, Ortega pulled out his service firearm and opened fire at Baligula before fleeing.

Rojas said policemen patrolling the area heard the gunshots and responded to the scene and eventually arrested Ortega.

Dave, who sent me the link to this story, wrote “I will never do karaoke in the Philippines,” to which I responded “Lightweight.” They should try to incorporate firearms-assisted judging into American Idol.

Here’s a clever space-saving idea: a staircase with drawers embedded in the steps:

Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

Of course, the drawers can pose a safety hazard: you’d better be the type of person who closes drawers — if not, you’d be setting yourself up for a nasty spill one night when you go downstairs, half-awake at o-dark-thirty.

In case you missed them, here are the latest articles from the tech blog I do with my buddy George, Global Nerdy:

• LOLCODE, the LOLcat Programming Language: I can has programming language?
• Shut Up and Play: “We’re users. We don’t hook up our headsets, we mute your voice, and we just play the damn game. We’re not here to make friends, and if you extend an invite, it will just get rejected. We rarely leave feedback. For us online gaming isn’t social; most people on Xbox Live aren’t worth being social with.”
• Cyberwar Ain’t What It Used to Be: This one got Global Nerdy BoingBoinged for the second time in a week — a comparison between cyberwar as depicted in William Gibson’s Neuromancer and as it happened in Estonia.
• A number of links on Microsoft Surface: Microsoft’s Midnight Surprise, Microsoft’s Midnight Surprise, Revealed: Microsoft Surface, This Thing’s Gonna Make Porn AWESOME! and Microsoft Surface, Sun Starfire and Apple Knowledge Navigator Videos.
• Mesh Conference 2007: A quick note on the Mesh Conference, which wraps up today.
• July 17th: Guitar Hero Encore Rocks the 80s:Lookin’ forward to this game!
• “Spam King” Robert Soloway Arrested: Is there any way we can get Soloway sent to the prison after which the TV series Oz was modelled? Please?