Blog Marco

OK Go - the band responsible for the treadmill dance video "Here It Goes Again" which was a youtube viral video have created another viral video for the band's new song "This too Shall Pass". "This Too Shall Pass" has been viewed over 300,000 times in less than two days, and according to link-shortening service Bit.ly, the link has been shared over 26,000 times on Facebook.

The video, depicting an elaborate series of chain-reactions known as a Rube Goldberg machine, may be rising in popularity by tapping into a YouTube trend. Rube Goldberg machines, named after the US cartoonist and inventor, are a popular subject of YouTube videos. Users share clips of the best contraptions, often created for real-world competitions, with some clocking up to 1.9 million views online. The four-minute video was shot in one take and took 60 tries to get it right over two days, according to Wired.com.

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - RGM version

Dictionary reading was a favourite pastime of mine when I was younger. I love discovering new words such as psychosomatic and many others. Other popular words... I was taking a quiz on definitions online when these 10 words popped up:

Banal: lacking force or originality; trite; commonplace

Erudite: having or showing extensive scholarship; learned

Loquacious: characterized by or showing a tendency to talk a great deal

Lugubrious: excessively mournful; doleful

Maudlin: foolishly tearful or sentimental, as when drunk

Obsequious: obedient or attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner

Perturbing: 1. To disturb greatly; make uneasy or anxious; 2. To throw into great confusion.

Platitude: 1. a trite, dull, or obvious remark or statement; a commonplace; 2. staleness or insipidity of thought or language; triteness

Here's a topic which would interest frugal shoppers and businesses who pay for outsourcing, services, gifts and other products online with Paypal. Comparing Paypal vs. Credit Card Currency Conversion - Which gives better rates? Personally I thought my credit card would get the better rate. But it turns out Paypal gives the better rate taking in consideration the whole transaction including fees. I though Paypal was only trying to be difficult when they try to force me to use Paypal for the currency conversion process and not my credit card.

Ok this is the experiment I did: First I took note of how much it was to convert from Australian dollars to US dollars using Paypal's payment method, with Paypal Conversion Rate. For $100 USD, it would cost me $115.78 AUD. That's including all the fees and currency conversion costs and Paypal allowed me to pay this bill either by using my Direct Deposit, or credit card or current Paypal Funds. But then I switched my payment conversion method to my own credit card company - so my credit card will do the currency conversion. My bill came to this: $100 USD cost $113.56 AUD.... BUT... there was an additional International transaction fee of $3.35, bringing my cost to $116.91 - which is $1.13 AUD more expensive. I did the same experiment with another transaction of a smaller value, and it was similar: PayPal was cheaper to use. Yes the Credit card companeis give you a good exchange rate, but then they charge their fees - and that's when they double dip as the card companies make money on the exchange spread and the supposed "international transaction fee" which is a fixed price per transaction plus a percentage. Check with your own credit card if this is the case.

How to stop "PayPal Instant Payment Notification Disabled" emails. Go to https://www.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-ipn-notify and you'll find your offending Paypal setting. I turned my IPN off since I don't use that shopping cart anymore. "To stop receiving IPNs permanently, click Turn Off IPN." Usually the result of an abandoned shopping cart website development project of yours...

Went to Eastern Creek Go Carts in Western Sydney last weekend. These are my racing cheat notes for their track for the next time I go there. I love how they say on their website that "The circuit has a total of two kilometres of the best quality Bitumen available. The racing surface was produced by Boral and is the finest ever laid on a kart circuit." But in reality, the track has degraded over the years and it really needs resurfacing. My local road has a better surface than their track! Watch out for loose gravel!

When you first hit the track from the pits, just gun it. There is no starting line. The faster you go, the more muscle you need to put into steering your go-kart, lose control and you'll find yourself hitting the kerb or the tyres. Oversteer with too much acceleration around a corner will send you spinning. It takes a little courage to not brake through a curve because it feels like you're going to run into the grass. You'll get faster times when you don't brake around shallow corners and just follow through by releasing the gas a little before the curve then gunning it after you've passed the main curve while completing the turn. For tighter turns, you need to enter the turn wide and brake before, then 50% into the turn start accelerating. You get a printout of your time at the end of the race.

Go Karting at Eastern Creek costs $85 for the 13 HP karts for 2 x 15 minute heats. It gets busy during weekends and holidays so if you can, go on a weekday, otherwise get a group booking so you're only racing with your mates and not some other randoms.