This little “photoshopping contest” we’re having on the BOL Flickr page is going just swimmingly. Every time I log on, there’s something new and hysterical. I think Tom will especially appreciate this most recent one (on your left).

In yesterday’s edition of I, Cringely, PBS writer Robert Cringley wrote that he thinks it makes sense for Apple to buy the floundering Blockbuster. His plan is relatively simple:

Take your Video-out iPod to Blockbuster, drop it in a kiosk dock then download from the local xServe your choice of 50,000 movies. You can rent the movie or buy it and you can even choose the resolution, which may or may not affect the final price. Take the iPod home, drop it in the dock attached to your TV and watch the movie. H.264 decoding takes place in the iPod in hardware.

That sounds like a very pleasant idea, except for one thing: The reason Blockbuster is losing money is because… wait for it… PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO LEAVE THEIR HOUSES.

Why leave your house, go to Blockbuster, and plug your iPod in when you can do one of the following:

Get Netflix and have the movie delivered to your house.
Wait two months and TiVo it.
Bittorrent.
Vongo

If Blockbuster really wants to save itself, they should make some deals with the major movie houses and have movies available for download off of their website in multiple formats. That way, they won’t have to tether themselves to one company (read: Apple).

Freezing?! FREEZING?? Man, my East Coast friends would kick my butt if they heard me complaining about the weather in San Francisco. But I guess I’ll close the windows tonight…

I went sailing for the first time this weekend! My friend Mike teaches sailing at Pier 38 here in SF, and offered to take me and two other friends out into the Bay. Wow, did I ever squeal like a little girl. I was so terrified that we were going to flip over that Mike had to spend 20 minutes explaining the physics of sailing (and why it’s pretty tough to flip on a perfectly calm day unless you’re trying to) just to calm me down. The best part was when he let me steer (notice the crazed look of excitement on my face?) for about 15 minutes. We went all the way to Alcatraz and back, and then went out for a lovely dinner of fish and chips. Next time we’re going to hoist a pirate flag and try to board one of the giant barges coming into the Bay. AAARRRRR!!

More on Flickr.