Internetova Hudebni Databaze (Internet Music Database)

I've got an "alpha" of my newest project up at ihdb.cz. There's also a mobile version at mobile.ihdb.cz.

This is a "non-profit" site - I just want to see if I can build a good database of Czech music through user-generated content.

Doing a little SEO work

I'm doing a little SEO work on the side for the Kampa Group of restuarants. I've only ever eaten at two of the six restaurants in the group: Cowboys (in Nerudova street), and La Provence.

Finally moving my car to Prague

I'm finally moving the Chrysler Town & Country I bought in June to the Czech Republic. Should be here in early September. Once I've gone through the entire process, I'll post here about it.

Yahoo Food

Yahoo! has a famous cafeteria as well, called "URL's" (get it?).

The history of the credit card

PBS is starting to post its shows on-line, and a good recent documentary is "The Secret History of the Credit Card". It's a five-part series, starting with the story of how Sioux Falls, South Dakota became the center of the credit card business.

Don't believe what you see in a movie trailer

Check out this very well done re-cut of Sleepless in Seattle (a sappy romantic comedy) into a trailer for a high-energy thriller.

Google Food

A Google employee has posted pictures of food he eats in the Google cafeteria (all free, of course).

Chuck Norris has counted to infinity. Twice.

Yep. And here are some other Chuck Norris facts (e.g. "Chuck Norris invented Kentucky Fried Chicken's famous secret recipe, with eleven herbs and spices. But nobody ever mentions the twelfth ingredient: Fear.").

Mercury buys Roman Stanek's Systinet

I was a bit slow to find this out, but it appears Mercury has bought Systinet for $105m. The company was founded by Roman Stanek, an investor in my former company AlbumCity.com. Congratulations to him and his team.

Why would James Frey agree to appear on Oprah's show again?

Yesterday (Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006), James Frey appeared on Oprah to admit that most of his best-selling non-fiction book A Million Little Pieces was, in fact, fiction. This comes as no surprise to anyone with an internet connection - TheSmokingGun.com reported in detail about the fabrications in the book more than two weeks ago. It's not news that James Frey is a total liar (a total liar who has sold more than two million copies of his first book).

My question is this: why would Frey agree to appear again on Oprah, when he would have to know that Winfrey will use the show to berate him and call him a liar on national television for an entire hour? This makes no sense. A normal person goes to great lengths to avoid being publicly shamed. Does one sign a contract when one appears on Oprah that stipulates that the guest must also agree to come back to the show to be hung out to dry if Winfrey so chooses? Or is Frey laughing all the way to the bank, having been paid a large fee by Winfrey to appear on the show again? Or is Frey a liar and an idiot?