I went looking for a Vista Sidebar Gadget to watch election results but didn't find any in the Live Gallery.  I figured I'd just have to be "Old Fashioned" and refresh a web page so went to MSNBC (after finding CNN appeared to be melting) and found they have gadgets for all kinds of interfaces (FaceBook, MySpace, etc.) including a sidebar gadget and blog embed code.  If you're biting your nails waiting for results, you may want to go pick up one in your favorite flavor.

Edit: Removed live gadget and inserted image for posterity.

I wouldn't say I'm a fan of documentaries... but I can't say I don't like them either.  Given the choice, however, I'm much more likely to pick an action adventure.  But who could pass up a story with a likable underdog, down on his luck and fighting against the establishment for recognition?

King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters tells the story of an out of work guy from Seattle who decides to beat the world record score for Donkey Kong.  The documentary follows his progress as he strives to take the crown from a champion who, it seems, may not deserve it. 

Steve Wiebe isn't your average gamer, he's attractive, was a jock and has a beautiful family. When Steve looses his job he decides to focus his competitive energy on something he can do from home, while caring for his children: beat a world record on a classic video game.  When he wades into the world of competitive video games, populated with... well... people who weren't jocks, it's almost like high school all over again, only this time, the geeks have the upper hand.  Can Steve prevail? Watch and find out, you never can tell how it may end.

My rating: worth the cost of a rental and the time to watch it.

... yeah, that's the spot.

I really, really miss having a dog.  At least I have web videos like this to fill part of the need.

It's been almost two years since I posted a random picture from our trip to Salzburg, but strangely enough I never posted the mini-tip for inserting a random picture from a SmugMug gallery.  It's actually simple enough.  Just insert an image link which points to random.mg with the album id and desired image size.  The URL ends up looking like this:

http://pictures.little.org/photos/random.mg?AlbumID=1886470&Size=Thumb

You can find the AlbumID by browsing to one of your SmugMug albums then examining the URL.

Go forth and randomize!

Now this is just pretty damn cool, Windows Media Center, NBC and TVTonic have collaborated to provide Summer Olympic coverage delivered direct to your Media Center (and through that to your Xbox too). 

Paula asked the important question: "Why should I care? I'll just TiVo it."

True, you can get the Olympics via TV broadcast (and time-shifted via your PVR of choice) or on demand from NBC's site.  The thing I think is a killer feature is that you can specify the events you want to watch instead of having to fast forward through an hour of equestrian events just to watch track and field (or vice versa).  Heck, you don't even need a TV tuner card to get the programming (most of it in ED and lots in HD).

Sure, there are limits: you have to be in the US and you have to have Vista Media Center (32 bit only).

Get the full run down from TVTonic's site.

Well, technically it's a video off the web, but I wouldn't have found it without Joel McHale.

Want more? Some more Beaker action here!