Technology: April 2009 Archives

This instructional film from the 1950s explains the mistakes young people make in dealing with relationships via Facebook. Dig the steampunk computer and camera:

(Via Christian Clark on -- what else? -- Facebook.)

A cool web app at xtranormal.com lets you take a script, assign it to a character, voice, and setting, and have the Lego-like character read it.

For a test, I had this Australian fellow with the cowboy hat read the North Carolina guidebook excerpt about the Self-Kick-in-the-Pants machine from the previous entry:

The air quotes are a nice touch.

MORE: In the comments, Mick links to the xtranormal version of Leon Russell's "Home Sweet Oklahoma".

DEAD LINK UPDATE 2026/07/26:

Xtranormal is gone, but you can watch my aforementioned Xtranormal experiment on the Wayback Machine, thanks to the Ruffle safe Flash player.

Some of the funniest Xtranormal content was created by John W. Smart in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, spoofing the cult-like mindset of many Ron Paul and Barack Obama supporters. "Liberty. Constitution. Liberty. Constitution. I win the debate." These videos are available on the johnwsmart YouTube channel. John Smart's blog from that era is interesting reading, starting on wordpress.com and migrating to his own domain.