With all the fuss about the new Spiderman movie, a spider story from the real world caught my attention:

ALBANY, Ore. – These guys weren’t exactly Snap, Crackle and Pop. What began as a faint popping in a 9-year-old boy’s ear — “like Rice Krispies” — ended up as an earache, and the doctor’s diagnosis was that a pair of spiders made a home in the ear.
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“They were walking on my eardrums,” Jesse Courtney said.

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I’m guessing the next time this lad complains of something, the response will be to get to the doctor ASAP…..I don’t have any natural dislike for spiders, but this story makes me shiver!

I’m guessing this must have happened on a Monday…..kind of looks like that sort of event. Not quite taking out the Bay Bridge approach with your fuel truck, but still impressive.

Many of you probably use Google Maps, I do. Recently, I ran across this screen shot of directions from a Google Map on how to get from New York, New York to Paris, France. Ever dutiful, the program delivers results – but I sure hope the person taking the trip read the directions. See the image below….

Click the image to enlarge

Do you like to hack Roombas? Like to improve/modify everything you own? Do you invent new stuff just to do trivial tasks? Then the Maker Faire is the place for you…If you’re in the Bay Area May 19 or 20, drop by and be amused. I’m planning on attending and dragging my daughter along as she has interest in what she calls “cool stuff.” You can bet a blog entry about the event will follow…

One of the things I’m intrigued by is user interface design, the simpler the better. This is an interesting way to represent the passage of time in a simple, but highly informative user interface.