During Thanksgiving, I thought of this classic episode of The West Wing, where President Barlet discusses stuffing with his staff. He learns of the existence of the Butterball hotline, and proceeds to get some advice. Here’s the degree of my nerdiness: I found a clip of it on YouTube, but the quality was a little crappy. So I ripped the…
Perhaps the reason why you suck at Jenga is that you’ve never had the right equipment. You wouldn’t play tennis using just the palm of your hand, would you? Of course not – you’d get a racquet. The same logic applies. The Jenga Pistol is the creation of Matthias Wandel, an engineer who has taken his math-y and science-y skills…
Baxter and Quincy really need to take some notes here. Those two need to start pulling their weight around the apartment! //Edit: On watching this another time, I noticed two other dogs in the video (mostly wandering around or napping in the background). Hilarious!
This is a collection of some seriously amazing video clips, featuring people skiiing, snowboarding, surfing and flying with a squirrel suit. FYI it’s an ad for a camera (the HD Hero from GoPro). But as far as ads go, I have to say… this is some pretty stellar footage. Most of the clips are based off of a helmet-mounted camera,…
A pretty amazing stop-motion animation based on the opening pages of Going West, by Maurice Gee. Made by Andersen M Studio, there are some pretty impressive moments (my favorite is of the identitcal houses, self-forming). Sadly, I wish I could track down the text, as it was a little hard to make out at points. Thanks to Gretchen for the…
Fran and Marlo Cowan have been married for 62 years. They played an impromptu song on a piano in the Mayo Clinic atrium in 2008, and YouTube fame arrived soon after. I like to think I’m someone who keeps pretty current on the latest online memes, but I had no idea about this video until just today. Really glad I…
This is a great tilt-shift, time-lapse video from Daily Dose of Imagery. I’ve been a fan of Sam Javanrouh for a while now, and his daily photo blog is one you should consider adding to your feeds. I’m generally not all that wild about the tilt-shift effect, myself. But there’s something about adding the time-lapse element, that gives a very…
Interested in joining? It’s easy: In order to become a member of the Original Scraper Bike Team, you must: Be a resident of Oakland, CA. Be at least 7 y/o or older. Retain A 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA), Create your own Scraper Bike…(It Has To Be Amazing, Or Else You Can’t Ride). [via BoingBoing] Related:Critical Mass Bikers, Logan SquareJosh…
Repetition and variation. Awesome. [via MetaFilter]
This is a visually stunning video from The Printing Ink Company, showing how ink is created out of powder and varnish. I started watching this thinking I’d return and finish it later… but got sucked right in. I’ve never seen a YouTube video look this good before! My favorite quotation from the short film: “Well you can see there’s a…
Last week, I had heard about Continuous Chest Compression CPR – a new way to perform CPR that doesn’t involve mouth-to-mouth contact, and requires no certification – anyone can do it. I first saw it metioned online, and a few days later happened to see a brief commercial on TV, detailing the process. Since I’m getting a more visitors checking…
Artist and Maker Reuben Margolin has an uncanny ability to create sculptures that capture the feel of natural movements. Looking at his work, it’s hard not to be mesmerized both by the water-like motion of his pieces… but also by the incredibly complex mechanical components that make the motion possible. It’s fascinating to get a tour of his workshop, and…
On Friday, I was proud to be one of the folks invited to participate in 20×2, a presentation format where 20 people are all asked to answer the same question. The catch? Each person only has 2 minutes on stage. En route to Martyrs’, right around Logan and Western, we realized we had a flat tire. We ended up ditching…
I was waiting for a Blue Line Train at the Jackson stop yesterday evening, when the strangest thing happened. The car that pulled up to me was completely dark. No lights were working on the interior, and the whole thing was mostly empty. I think there were maybe 3 or four people sitting there, in the dark, quietly staring straight…
This is video of a technician free climbing 1768 feet to the top of a transmissions tower, for repairs. Just so you know, that’s higher than the Sears Tower! All the footage comes from a camera, mounted on the helmet of the technician. It’s a little wobbly in spots, but it really gives you the false sense that you’re looking…