Halloween in July

“Christmas in July” is a common advertising theme, but it is overdone. Christmas selling comes earlier and earlier each year. In August, Costco will start selling Christmas decorations. So, how about Halloween?

Why Halloween in July?

If you like to hang out in the cemetery at night, and most cemeteries are open until dusk, you can stay later without getting kicked out. If you do decide to go the cemetery after dark, at least it is warmer at night in the summer.

You can buy candy for the trick-or-treaters. But, since you will not get any in the summer, more candy for you!

You can sit in the basement of your house, and watch Halloween movies. It will be cool down there, and it is easy to find Halloween movies in the summer to rent. Besides, it is too hot to be outside anyway.

So, you are all set. You got some Halloween movies to watch, and candy to eat. Now, to put you in the right mood for Halloween, here are a couple of Halloween short movies to watch.

The Raven by the Alan Parsons Project

A movie by AceGallagher. It is set to the song “The Raven” by the Alan Parsons Project.



The Raven from The Simpsons

The Simpsons Halloween episode with the reading of "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.



Ghost Busters Theme song

A movie from probro34.



Superstition

A short clip from the nWave Pictures simulation ride Superstition. I love that ride!



Happy Halloween!

100k Comments

This guy is trying to get 100,000 comments for his one post on his blog? Can he make it? With your help, maybe!

100kcomments.blogspot.

The Dog Days of Summer

So, how about some random dog videos? :)

Pug Bowling

No pugs were hurt making this video.



Border Collie Attacks Pumpkin

This dog has a lot of fun trying to get a treat out of a big pumpkin.



Summer Dog Fashions

Better TV reports on what the cool canine is sporting this summer.

Alternative Battery Power

Need a battery, and none are available? Just want to do a science experiment? Here are some batteries you can make at home.

Lemon Battery

This is a good tutorial on how to make a battery out of a lemon, and how it works.



Vinegar Battery



Lemon and Orange Battery

Dancing robot and music powered with a lemon and orange battery.

Destroy Cars!

Yesterday we had videos about Top Gear's ratings of various cars. Today, let's destroy some cars. :)

Shred a Dodge Daytona



Shred a BMW



Shred a VW Bug



Slash a Mini Van



Crush a car



I can’t embed this video, but it is a good one.

Top Gear Toasts a Nissan with a Jet Car

http://youtube.com

Top Gear

Summer is a good time for driving. How about some car videos?

Top Gear is a good BBC television series about cars. Here are some clips where they test various cars.

Range Rover vs Tank

They test the Range Rover Sports off-road capabilities.



Audi TT 2007, Alpha Romeo Brera 2007, Mazda RX8 2006

They run the cars through their paces.



Dodge Viper SRT-10



Porsche Cayenne Turbo vs Hummer

They do a short test of the Cayenne Turbo and the Hummer.



Race for the Universe

Who's faster in a Honda Civic: a Cyberman, or Darth Vader?



Mini Van vs Train

The mini van loses. Don’t do this at home.

Star Trek vs. Star Wars

And who would win in such a battle? Watch, and see. :)

Using Ice to Cool Office Buildings.

Ice Cubes (Isbiter)
Originally uploaded by Åsta

Some New York office towers and buildings are keeping their AC use to a minimum by using an energy-saving system that relies on blocks of ice to pump chilly air. This saves energy, and money.

Read more at: www.cnn.com

Robots, Robots, Robots

How about some fun robots?

Here’s the RoboNova-I dance team.



Tarzan the robot.



RuBot II - the Rubik's cube solving robot.



An industrial robot hacked so that it will play music.



And, for something to do while watching the paint dry, the Asahi Beer Robot.

Transformer Cell Phone

This is what I call the ultimate cell phone. :)



From Parkoz Hardware.

Red vs Blue

Red vs Blue is web comic based on Halo. It is pretty funny. Here is their video on new technology. You can find them at: roosterteeth.com

Jessica the Hippo

This is so cute! Jessica the Hippo has made herself a member of this South African family. She was adopted by the family as a child. She is free to leave at any time, but enjoys being one of the family.

Ask Paul McCartney

Do you want to talk to Paul? With the release of the new album, “Memory Almost Full,” they have a feature on the web “You Tell Me.” Ask the simulation of Paul questions, and see short videos of the answers.

http://www.memoryalmostfull.com/youtellme/

A lot of questions he will not know the answer.

“Sorry, I don’t know the answer to that.”

“No, I can’t answer that question.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand that question.”

“I haven’t really got an answer for that.”

Singing while playing the guitar, “I don’t know, the answer to that question, the answer to that question, I don’t know.”

You will get a response for:

- Tell me about the new album.

- Memory almost full.

- How did Wings start?

- How did The Beatles start?

- Sing a song.

- Dance tonight. (A song off the new album.)

- Tell me a joke.

“It’s All About Me” Songs

You’ve heard songs like this, where the artist just has to sing their own name in the song, just in case you can’t figure out who is doing the singing. I usually think these kind of songs are lame, but some of them are good, once they get over introducing themselves.

1. “I Feel For You” by Chaka Khan



Who sings this song? I dunno. Could it be…

“Chaka, Chaka, Chaka
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Let me rock you
Let me rock you”

That’s right! After this guy shuts up, Chaka Khan will start singing. Oh, now what was her name again?

“Chaka Khan,
Let me rock you
Let me rock you
Chaka Khan
Let me rock you
That's all I wanna do
Chaka Khan, let me rock you
Let me rock you, Chaka Khan
Let me rock you
'Cause I feel for you
Feel for you”

2. “Hollywood Swinging” by Kool and the Gang



“I remember
Not too long ago
I went to a theatre
And I saw the Kool and The Gang show”

Dude, your band saw your band?

3. “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” by Wang Chung



“Everybody have fun tonight
Everybody Wang Chung tonight”

Is "Wang Chung" a noun or a verb? It's the name of your band, so you should know.

4. "Float On" by The Floaters


The band members introduce themselves, one at a time, in each of the verses, along with their sign (how 70s) and the kind of woman they like. When it gets Larry’s turn to sing, he can’t think of anything romantic to sing, so he sings “Cancer and my name is Larry, huh. And I like a woman that loves everything and everybody.”

Wow, everything?

I guess that would include you, Larry.

5. "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell and the Drells



First, they introduce the band, and tell us “We don't only sing but we dance just as good as we walk.”

Good for you! Then, in each verse, they introduce another part of the band: the drums, the bass, the guitar, and the organ. Hey, now we got the whole band playing! This must be the end of the song. :)

6. "The Girl Is Mine" by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney


Two men fighting over the same girl. Who’s singing?

Paul: "Michael, we're not going to fight about this, okay?"

Michael: "Paul, I think I told you, i'm a lover not a fighter."

Oh, I guess that settles it.

7. "Ballroom Blitz" by The Sweet


It's a good song, but they can't seem to start it until they take roll call…

"Are you ready, Steve?"

"Aha."

"Andy?"

"Yeah!"

"Mick?"

"OK."

"Alright, fellas, let's go!"

8. "Daydream Believer" by The Monkees



In this case, the lead singer (Davy) doesn't know what song to sing next. Fortunately, the rest of the group can help him out.

Mike Nesmith: "7A"

Davy Jones: "What number is this, Chip?"

Mike, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork: "7A!"

Davy: "Okay, okay, I mean don't get excited guys, just 'cause I'm short, I know."

9. “Cars With The Boom” by L'Trimm


Who likes the cars?

“We like the cars, the cars that go boom,
We're Tigra and Bunny and we like the boom.”

Well, that answers that question.

Finally, to wrap up the list, we have:

10. “The Cover of the Rolling Stone” by Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show



While they don’t mention their names in the song, the whole song is about the band, and trying to get on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. By the way, they did get on the cover: wikipedia.org

More iPhone News

Art by thegoldenmane

First, we had the silly iPhone lady try to buy all the iPhones from an Apple store.

Now, Rachel Metz writes about her experiences trying to make money resell an iPhone on Ebay. www.mercurynews.com

Stephen Colbert is happy with his new iPhone. However, he does warn us that someday the machines may take over the world.

Area 51

Photo taken by gracey

By now, everyone has heard of Area 51, the top secret military base in Nevada.

How Stuff Works has an article about what is known about Area 51.

howstuffworks.com

How about Wikipedia? Well, they have an article about it, too.

wikipedia.org

Enjoy some light summer reading!

Wii Fit

At E3 2007, Nintendo held a press conference to give a first look to a new controller for the Wii, a pad tentatively called the "Wii Fit." The demonstration looks cool. I like having ways to exercise with the Wii; playing games with the Wii makes exercise less boring!

This is True

Here are the latest video episodes of “This is True.” You can sign up for their free newsletter at http://www.thisistrue.com

This is True # 3



This is True # 4

Driving Songs Revisited

Granted, I don’t listen to these songs exclusively while driving my car, but they all sing to me, “drive, drive, drive!” I decided to add the videos for these songs.

1. “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen

This one’s a gimmie. It’s got a fast beat, and is all about driving, among other things. With lyrics like “baby we were born to run,” let’s get driving.



2. "Crazy on You” by Heart

Not exactly about driving, but it has a fast beat, and the intro to the song sounds like

“DUM, do do do do, DUM, da da,
DUM, do do do do, DUM, da da,
DUM, do do do do,
DUM, do do do do,
DUM, do do do

“If we still have time
We might still get by
Every time I think about it I want to cry”



I have always imagined the intro being about shifting the gears in your car, with the “DUM” being the shift point. Of course, to shift this many times, and this fast, would require a 7-speed transmission, and you to be having the “petal to the metal,” to shift gears so fast.

3. "I'm In Love With My Car” by Queen

My favorite line: “Told my girl I’ll have to forget her, rather buy me a new carburetor.”



4. “Radar Love” by Golden Earring

“I've been drivin' all night, my hand's wet on the wheel
There's a voice in my head that drives my heel
It's my baby callin', says I need you here
And it's half past four and I'm shifting gear.”



5. “I Can't Drive 55” by Sammy Hagar

The way traffic is these days, I can't drive 55 either. :)



We’ll drop the pace down a notch, and go from driving to cruising.

6. "Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys

I can just picture this song in my mind.

“Well she got her daddy’s car
And she cruised through the hamburger stand now
Seems she forgot all about the library
Like she told her old man now
And with the radio blasting
Goes cruising just as fast as she can now
And she’ll have fun fun fun
'til her daddy takes the t-bird away”



7. “Low Rider” by War

War has a number of good driving songs, including "Cisco Kid", and "Summer". But for this list, I will stick with "Low Rider".



Dropping down another notch, here’s a couple of songs for quiet, nighttime driving.

8. “Drive” by The Cars

A good song for driving at night.



9. “Drive You Home” by Garbage

“I never said I was perfect
But I can drive you home”

Great song.



To round off the list, one song you shouldn’t listen to too carefully while driving.

10. “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas

If you follow the lyric “I close my eyes, only for a moment, now the moment’s gone” while driving, you could run into something. I used to do that, but would close my eyes briefly for the word moment only.



That’s my list. Your mileage may vary.

Homemade Wi-Fi Booster

How To Boost Wi-Fi Range With A Homemade Parabolic Reflector

This video will illustrate how to increase the signal strength of any wireless device using only about 25 cents worth of aluminum foil.

iPhone Dissassembly

In the continuation of the series about people who have more money than me, phonedifferent takes apart an iPhone to see what is inside.



Not to be left out, semiconductorDOTcom takes apart the Wii.



And with the all of the problems with the Xbox 360 lately, you will probably need to know how to take that apart, too. :) This is from CoBrA9891.

Fold Your Own iPhone

Do you want the new iPhone, but can’t afford it? Maybe you are hoping the price will go down, or maybe your current service contract is not up yet.

Well, then next best thing is to make a fake own. At the following site, you can print a .pdf of the iPhone. Just cut it out, fold, and tape. Ta-da! Your own iPhone. Of course, it will be difficult to activate it. :)

www.creativetechs.com

Space: 1899

Remember the old SF TV show "Space 1999"?

Ill-Conceived Productions took an episode of Space:1999 and treated it like a silent movie. Enjoy!



Produced for a Space:1999 convention in 2000, and later included as a bonus feature on the excellent DVD "Space:1999 and UFO - The Documentaries" by Fanderson, the official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society.

Blending an iPhone

Don't try this at home, kids. This guy is a professional with way too much money, and an industrial stength blender.

If you have been dying to get an iPhone, you may not want to watch this. :)

A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird

B-b-b-bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word

Here's a video about a crazy bird in the wild.



Crazy Birds - video powered by Metacafe

In case you wondering, the song I'm quoting is Surfin' Bird by The Trashmen

Cool Card Trick

Comedian and Magician Bill Malone does the card trick "Sam the Bellhop."

Not the way to buy an iPhone

DALLAS -- a lady thought she would make a killing by buying up all of the iPhones and selling them on Ebay. Well, it did not work out the way she wanted, but it made the day for one guy who was waiting in line.

FOX 4's Steve Noviello watched the money unfold.

More Real Life Video Games

These two videos are also by the Swiss artist Guillaume REYMOND.

PONG is the first video performance of the GAME OVER Project, directed by the Swiss artist Guillaume REYMOND (NOTsoNOISY creative agency). This stop-motion video was a test-case aimed at developing the series. http://www.notsonoisy.com/gameover

Pong



Pole Position

Space Invaders in Real Life

Space Invaders is a video performance of the GAME OVER Project, directed by the Swiss artist Guillaume REYMOND (NOTsoNOISY creative agency). http://www.notsonoisy.com/gameover

Some More Energy Ideas.

A man made a cheap rooftop solar water heater out of old beer bottles. www.sciam.com

Scientists develop microbes that convert food scraps into energy. www.technologyreview.com

The future is looking up!