Monday, November 3, 2008

An Overview of Obama's Plans

Sorry I haven't been posting in a long time, but school is INSANE. I may have more time next year, since 2 of my classes are only 1 semester, and therefore will be done by Christmas.

Anyway...

Here's a little note I wrote on Facebook, I figured I should post it here, too.

*sigh* Mark my words, if Obama gets elected, America is going down the toilet.

Let me give a little recap of what he plans to do:

He plans to take away gun rights, so people who legally own guns will be defenseless. Of course, "gangstas" and people like that will still find ways to get guns, and won't care about the legality. So, we will have villains roaming the streets, and no way to defend ourselves.

He plans to take the troops out of Iraq. Now, I'm not exactly "in favor" of war, and I hate how many people have died, but taking the troops out is definitely not the best option. It will show terrorists that we are weak, and is basically a sign of surrender.

He plans to remove funding for defense weapons. So, not only is he letting the terrorists know that they have won, he is giving them a free ticket to come attack us, and create another 9/11.

He plans to raise taxes on hard working citizens, for the benefit of those who are too lazy to work. So the hard-working have to work harder, and the lazy have an excuse to be even more lazy.

He opposes laws against illegal drugs. O_o Doesn't he think drugs are bad? What is up with that?

He plans to give illegal immigrants citizenship, resulting in more poverty, less jobs, and Spanish becoming the second national language. :p

There's more... but I don't have time to go into them all.

Anyway, my point is: Is this the kind of person we want for President? Seriously. Will this help America, or hurt it? The answer is obvious, IMO.

Too bad I'm not old enough to vote...

Monday, September 15, 2008

An open letter to Mr. Obama

A friend of mine wrote this note on Facebook, and he said I could post it here. No, I didn't write this. I just thought it was relatively interesting, and he makes some pretty good points.

Dear Mr. Obama,

I am writing to respond to several issues you have raised on the campaign trail as of late. I would also like to express my offense at several of your rude and uncalled for comments. I would expect someone with your vast experience as a community organizer and a state senator would have taught you basic etiquette, but I guess since you are a new kind of politician, you are not required to follow the courtesy of old.

First of all, what right do you claim to mock the fact that John McCain does not use email? He is unable to use email because his fingers are not nimble enough to type. This reason for this is an old wound that he received does not allow him to type…

An old wound he received fighting for your freedom and for the flag that you refuse to salute…

How dare you mock the injury of a soldier who stayed longer than he needed to in a Vietnamese hell hole so that another could go home first? One who has never fought for his freedom or country has no right to mock those of us who has or will.

By what right do you attack the family of Sarah Palin? You do your best to find everything wrong with her that you attack her pregnant daughter and try to crucify Palin for the actions of her child. Before your attack the family of another examine your own. By her own admission, your wife has never been proud of her country until you started winning and your brother lives in a hut in Nairobi on $12 a year when you could easily help him out of poverty.

By what right do you ask for more of my money? You and your Washington cronies already steal 1/3 of my paycheck. I need that money more than you do, Mr. Obama.

How can you possibly claim superiority in the area of gas prices? Your response to crippling gas prices is to tax gasoline and the oil companies that already pay 3 dollars of taxes for every 1 dollar they make. When that doesn’t work, you tell me to inflate my tires and get a tune up. Are you saying that I don’t know how to take care of my car? And even if my car isn’t in perfect condition, keep in mind that not all of us can get taxpayer funded cars and free gas…

Your record on guns is confusing. Your record shows that you have no respect for my right to carry a weapon and defend myself and my family, but when talking about your campaign you claim that, “If they bring a knife we’ll bring a gun!” I’ll have to think about that one…

How dare your talk to me about national security? You won’t fund our troops appropriately but you would gladly make friends with, Mahmoud Achmadinajahd (sp?), Kim Jong Il, Hugo Chavez, Hamas, and have proven your friendship with domestic terrorist John Ares. Your record on this is abominable…

5,000 unborn babies die a day, and not only do you want to use my money to fuel this geonocide, but you won’t even protect the babies that survive the legalized murder we call abortion.

I could go on with other examples of your audacity. Names such as Tony Rezco, Ludicrous, and issues such as global warming and illegal immigration could be razed, but I have to go to bed now and get a good night’s sleep. I have to get up to go to school tomorrow so that I am better equipped to provide for my future family.

For these and other reasons, I have decided to give my support to John McCain this election year.

Your favorite bitter gun and religion clinging, small town, racist, bigoted, un-enlighted young adult,

Robert Lass

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Through the Fire and Flames

Wow. I never thought this would happen. When I first got Guitar Hero 3 a few months ago, it was beyond my wildest dreams. (Well, maybe not my wildest.) But now it's happened, and I'm still in shock. I beat the hardest song in GH3 on Expert -- Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce. w00t!

Don't believe me? Check it out.



So there you go. Final score - 364,792 - 3*

You would not believe how many things went wrong while trying to make that video, though. One time I beat it only to find out my camera had died. Once I was in the middle of the solo and doing really well, and then my little sister started CLIMBING on me. O_o Needless to say, I lost that one. I used about 20 pairs of batteries; luckily most of them were rechargeable.

Once I finally beat it, I still had to edit the video. Obviously, I had some troubles there, too. It took about 14 hours to render the video. I had to render it three times. Unfortuntely, I would have only needed two times, but once the second one was done, (at about 1 AM,) and checked the file and found out that it was saved in the wrong format. >_<

So, I rendered it a third time. I stayed up until 2 AM the next night waiting for it. It FINALLY finished, but (of course) when I tried to upload it to Facebook, I found out the file was over the 300 MB limit. Grrrr.... So, I went to YouTube to upload it. And, according to Murphy's Law, YouTube was under construction, and I couldn't upload. So I ended up staying awake until 2 in the morning for nothing.

But that's not all! I was finally able to upload it this morning, at about 11. It is past midnight right now. It took more than 12 hours for it to upload to YouTube.

I'm done now, though. I hope it was worth it!

NOTE: Sorry that the sound is a bit off at the end. That's because I used two cameras, and I can only use the sound from one. One video is slightly longer than the other one, (probably because the frame rate is a bit higher,) so the sound from one doesn't exactly match the other. Deal with it.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Use Burnt Matches

Here's a magic trick that makes it look like you can light a burnt match.


Use Burnt Down Old Match Lite Again - Click here for another funny movie.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Chip Bag Bomb

Sorry, this one is actually kind of lame, but I figured it may entertain some people.


Creating A Bomb Bag - More amazing videos are a click away

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Nintendo Papercraft

As I'm sure you know, I've been into papercrafting for a few years now. A few months ago, I found http://www.nintendopapercraft.com/, which has supplied me with 90% of my papercrafts. So, I joined their forum, in hopes that they would give me even more. So, long story short, I now am part of NP's staff! I'm am a blogposter/designer, which esentially means that every time I design a model, I can post it on the blog. It also means that if the owner is gone, he may have me post someone else's creations. Pretty cool right?

And this is a pretty popular site; they were even mentioned in Nintendo Power!

So, let me show you which models I've designed lately:
Gyroid
Capsule
Pitfall

Also, I just posted a video tutorial about how to rip models!

UPDATE: I was just checking out the stats for my model ripping video. Before I posted it on the blog, I averaged around 12 views a day. Thats more than I expected. But, the day I posted it on the blog, I got 358 views! For the next month or so, I averaged 50-100 views a day. So far, it's been up for almost 2 months, and I've got 2,444 views. Not bad, eh?

Monday, July 7, 2008

Japanese Game

Here's a fun logic game. Here's the link. BTW, the answer is at the end of the video, so if you don't want to know it, stop the video. I got it in 4 minutes B-)


Cool Japanese IQ Test - Click here for more blooper videos

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Squishy Origami

Here's how to make a weird origami thing. Don't really know what it is...


Origami Squishy Blob - Funny home videos are a click away

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Friday, July 4, 2008

Trace Emails

Here's a video about how to trace the IP address of an email. I showed a video a while ago explaining how to do it with websites, and here's emails. BTW, the website in the video is http://www.ip-adress.com/trace_email/.


How To Trace Emails (no Software)!!!!!! - For more funny movies, click here

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Match Box Gun

Here's a video of how to make a rubber band gun out of match boxes.


Match Box Gun - More amazing videos are a click away

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Marble Top

Here's how to make some cool toys out of marbles. I've seen these in stores before, but you can always make your own.


Amazing Toy - The top video clips of the week are here

Monday, June 30, 2008

Chuck Norris Mii

Here's a funny tutorial on how to make a Chuck Norris Mii. ^_^


Chuck Norris Mii Tutorial - Watch a funny movie here

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Cool Origami

Here's a cool origami thing you can make. It's hard to explain, just look at the video.


How To Fold An Abstract Flexible Shape - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Japanese Marshmallow Eating

LOL! Another hilarious video. It's a Japanese game show (YAY!) where the goal is to eat the marshmallow with the rubber band pulling you back. It's soooooooo funny!! They all look like fish!


Marshmallow Eating Japanese Game Show - The funniest bloopers are right here

Friday, June 27, 2008

On Hold Music Prank

LOL! These guys put a telemarketer on hold, and play CRAZY hold music, claiming it's their boss. :p


On-Hold music prank - Celebrity bloopers here

Thursday, June 26, 2008

McDonald's Rap

ROFL!!!!!!!! This guy goes to the drive-thru at a McDonald's and raps his order!!


Mcdonald's Drive-Thru Freesylin' Order - Funny video clips are a click away

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

DIY Blowgun

Here's how to make a blowgun out of household items. Could be deadly if you shot it right, so don't do anything stupid!


How To Make The SIMPLEST Blowdart Gun Out Of Household Materials - The funniest home videos are here

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Filming Tips

If you often shoot videos, these tricks will really help you out.


Kipkay's Video Tricks & Tips! - For more funny videos, click here

Monday, June 23, 2008

Hacking Flash Games

Just a quick video about hacking an online flash game. Not sure if it works with other games.


How To Hack Flash Games - More amazing videos are a click away

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Easy Zoom

Ever want to zoom in to take a picture, but your optical zoom is too low and you hate digital zoom? Easy solution!


Telephoto Lens With Binoculars! Its So Simple! - The best bloopers are here

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Lappy

Yeah, so, I got a new laptop! Yay! It's pretty awesome. It's technically not mine, but rather the whole family's but I will be using it the most and, once I go to college, it will be permanently mine. I obviously don't really want to split it with everybody, but my dad payed for it, so it's better than nothing.

Here are some specs if you care:

Dell Ispiron 1420
2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
3GB RAM
1440 x 900 (widescreen) resolution
Windows Vista Home Premium
etc.

So yeah. Before you say "Vista, ugh", let me just say it hasn't really given me many problems. There have been a few compatibility problems, but it's only the occasional image blurriness because of different resolutions for the most part. One thing that was kind of a bummer, the image preview can't play animated GIFs. :p I know it's not that big of a deal, but you'd think they'd figure out how to do that. :D

My biggest complaint about Vista, I think, is that it uses 1GB of RAM automatically. That's just for the cool effects and stuff. So I'm only really left with 2GB of RAM, which still isn't bad.

But anyway, it's pretty cool. I'm still getting used to the way Vista works, for example the file layout and such, but mostly I'm liking it. There haven't been a ton of noticeable changes since XP, (except the obvious graphics upgrade) but most of the time, the changes I do notice are pretty nice.

So... yeah. It's mostly pretty awesome. Ooh!! I just remembered something. I took the default Vista background, played around with it in the GIMP, and came out with 9 new wallpapers! So, now you can download them! (I think you're legally allowed to do that... I don't know what license the original image is released under.) The first one is the original image.

EDIT: I've moved the pictures to a new folder, you can find them all here.

So there you go. I'm currently using Wallpaper4 for my background. Although I really like the default, that it exactly what it is, and EVERYBODY has it. So, I decided I'd be different. :)

EDIT: Okay, I took sooo long for those images to upload on to Photobucket, my other awesome thing got here in the mail. It's a drawing tablet!! So I have essentially turned my laptop into a tablet. So anyway, what I got was a DigiPro 8"x6" tablet. The price? $30 on Woot!. It's really awesome. The funny thing was, the day before Woot! offered it, I was looking at Wacom tablets, because I wanted one. Their cheapest one was $80, and it was really small. It probably didn't have pressure sensitivity, either. :p So now I've got this awesome thing for cheaper than I ever could have found it. :D

So... as a quick test I drew some things in the GIMP. Nothing special, but it's WAAAAAYYYYY better than I could have achieved with a mouse or the touchpad. ;)




Ferrofluid

Basically, a ferrofluid is a magnetic liquid. It's really awesome to watch. I found a place where you can buy it here, toward the bottom of the page, for about $0.75 per ml.


Amazing Ferrofluid - Funny bloopers are a click away

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Audio Illusion

If you've ever played Super Mario 64, then you probably remember the never ending staircase. No matter how far you climbed the stairs, you'd still be at the bottom. Also, the music kept looping, even though the pitch got higher and higher. Well, here's that musical illusion again.


Amazing Audio Illusion - More amazing videos are a click away

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Magic Stick

Woot, another magic video. Here's how to make a "magic stick".


Magic Stick Trick, Revealed! - Click here for more blooper videos

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

DIY Night Vision Headset

This is awesome! Here's a way you can make a night vision camera for a few bucks!


NightVision Headset Hack! - The funniest videos are a click away

Monday, June 16, 2008

Favicons

Do you notice any changes? No? Yeah. It's a small change, you probably won't notice it until I tell you. So I'll just tell you. Look up by the address bar, at the top of your browser (assuming you are using Firefox). I now have my own icon up there! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you must be using IE. So... just:

1. Favorite this blog
2. Look at the image next to it (it's not the typical blogger logo)
3. Get Firefox. ;)

Anyway, these little pictures are called favicons (stands for favorite icon, I guess). I just found out how to make a custom one! Lemme give you a quick tutorial. Just to let you know, this tutorial is meant for Blogger. The process is different if you've got your own website.

First of all, you are going to need an icon. It has to be 16x16 or 32x32. Anything bigger I think will just shrink down. So anyway, create your icon, (I used the GIMP,) and save it as "filename.ico". Obviously, replace "filename" with whatever you want. The ".ico" extension means it is an icon file (you should know this already). Most programs can't create icons though, that's another reason why I used GIMP.

So now, you have to upload your file to the internet. Unfortunately, many image hosting sites do not accept .ico files as valid images, so I had some problems figuring out who could host my file. After a bit of Google searching, I stumbled upon the perfect place: Google Page Creator. I had totally forgotton that they let you upload up to 100 MB of files. If you use Blogger, you should already have a Google account, so sign in to Google Page Creator with your account. Find the place where you can upload files, and upload it.

Now here comes the tricky part (if you don't know HTML). Open a new tab, and go to your blog. Customize it, and go to "Edit HTML". Now paste this somewhere in between the <head> and </head> tags:

<link href='http://mygpages.googlepages.com/myfavico.ico' rel='shortcut icon'/>

The <head> tag is right at the beginning, but you may need to use Ctrl-F to find the </head> tag, it's close to the bottom, but hard to find (or at least it was on mine).

Anyway, take that code and paste it between the <head> and </head> tags. I ended up putting mine right before the </head> tag.

You're not done yet though, there's one last thing you must do. Go back to Google Page Creator, and find your file in the list. Right click it, and click "Copy link location". This will copy the URL of the file. Go back to your blog HTML, and paste your file's location instead of http://mygpages.googlepages.com/myfavico.ico

For me, it ended up looking like this:

<link href='http://gollum9999.googlepages.com/Icon.ico' rel='shortcut icon'/>

And that's it! Save your template and view your blog! Now you've got a new favicon!

Rope Trick

Here's a simple one. If you tie a rope around your hand in a certain way, it will just slip off.


Quickly ! Illusion . - The most popular videos are a click away

... Sorry, that's all I've got for today.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Head Twist

Here's a really simple trick were you can make it appear that you are twisting someone's head around. They don't give the solution, but it's still pretty obvious.


Illusion Paper Toy :) Fun. - The funniest videos are a click away

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Coin Penetration

Here's an easy magic trick: make a coin penetrate into a cup!


World Easiest Magic Trick - The funniest home videos are here

Friday, June 13, 2008

Hilarious DUI

LOL! A guy gets pulled over for a DUI, ends up being hilarious!!!


Best DUI Ever - Funny Very - Funny bloopers are a click away

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Unlock Doors

Here's a video on how to make a tool that can open locked doors.


How To Open A Locked Door-The Easy Way - Amazing videos are here

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Trick Shots

Here's a game for you. Basically: you throw a ping-pong ball into a cup. Sounds easy, right?


Very Nice - Watch a funny movie here















There. Have you had enough videos for today?
By the way, if you want to look it up on YouTube, it's known as beer pong.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Pro Finger Spinning

Hey, sorry I haven't gotten back to the daily videos. I have a lot of unfinished projects that I need to do, so I haven't blogged anything lately. Here's something I found though. I guy who will spin anything on his fingers, from a Wii to a saw blade.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Board Game Murder

Sorry I haven't done daily videos in a few days, but I've been gone and apparently my list of future videos ran out. So, I'll try to get that going again soon.

In the meantime, I did find this video, and I had to post it immediately because it is so funny!
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if board games were real? Probably pretty close to this:

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Hidden "On" Switch

Here's a video of how you can set up an electronic device to only turn on in the presence of a magnet.


Pc Protection With Hidden Switch - The funniest bloopers are right here

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Peel a Raw Egg

Using water and a chemical, you can peel the shell off a raw egg! Looks cool.


Peel A Raw Egg - Watch more funny videos here

Monday, May 19, 2008

Blender 2.46

Yay, Blender 2.46 is out! It's got a bunch of awesome new features. Release notes can be found here.
I'm really excited about some of these new features. My favorites:

  • Glossy reflections
  • Continuous physics
  • Soft shadows
  • New particle system
  • Cloth simulations
I've been using the beta version for about 2 weeks now, so I'm glad I can use all these new features I've been testing. Here are some of the cooler updates:

Hair and Fur

Many features have been added to make fur and grass rendering for Peach possible. Big improvements were made in visual quality, rendering speed and memory usage.

Image Browsing

The new Image Browser is blazingly fast and stable, and not only allows to browse for images in your filesystem, but can also show previews of materials, textures, world, lamp and image data.

Glossy Reflections

Reflections and refractions are now possible to be rendered with a glossiness factor, controlling the roughness of material.

Physics caching and baking

The softbody, cloth and particle physics now use a unified system for caching and baking. For real-time tweaking, a new option "Continue Physics" will continue the simulation regardless of the current frame.

Soft Shadows

Raytraced soft shadows are now possible for all lamp types; including spot, sun and point lights.

The particle system has been rewritten from scratch. It now allows advanced hair grooming tools, but also much better physics, boid animation and even explosions!


Cloth simulation is available in Blender via a modifier on Mesh objects. Cloth then realistically and in real-time interacts with other objects, the wind or other forces, all of which is fully under your control.


Ambient Occlusion is a render option that darkens areas with less visibility, simulating the effect of environment light. This new AO option is based on quick approximation, giving many factors of speedup.

Blender now includes two new sampling methods, using a Halton sequence (Adaptive QMC) and a Hammersley sequence (Constant QMC).
Raytracing now also supports adaptive sampling.



Many many new goodies in our Video Sequence Editor:

  • UI made more accessible, new panels/views
  • Built-in strip blending
  • Color correction tools
  • Markers, NTSC support, preview, ...

UV texture coordinates now are accessible via regular Mesh editmode. And many more features were added such as:

  • UV draw types
  • Solid opengl view with textures
  • 2d cursor in Image window

The Invisible Color

Apparently, if you draw (using any drawing program) with the color Red 16, Green 0, Blue 16, (or hex #100010,) then you can see any videos playing behind it! And it's not some fancy editing trick, it really works. I tried it.


The Mysterious Color - The funniest movie is here. Find it

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Ping-Pong Gun

Here's a video of how to make a gun (that fires ping-pong balls) out of household objects.


Ping-Pong Pistol - The most amazing bloopers are here

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Arm Twist

Sorry for all these magic videos, but I'm going through my favorites list in order. I guess I must have been searching for magic videos the day I favorited these. There aren't many magic videos in the near future. ;)

Anyway, here's a trick that many professional street magicians do where it looks like they can twist their arm all the way around.


360 Arm Twister Explanation - The most amazing home videos are here

Friday, May 16, 2008

Open Source: GIMP

Sorry I haven't been doing any "normal" posts lately (i.e. not videos) but hopefully summer will give me much more time to do this kind of thing.

So anyway...

I couldn't forget The GIMP if I'm listing open-source software. For those who don't know, that stands for The GNU Image Manipulation Program.

It's basically Photoshop, but for free. There have even been some people who switched from Photoshop to GIMP because they like it more. I use it for almost all of my image editing. I occasionally still use MSPaint for things like pasting screens, but otherwise, it's the GIMP.

So, what can it do? Even if you don't want to take the time to learn to use it, you can still do a few awesome things as soon as you open it. Even without creating a new image, you can open up some awesome effects. It's got some presets for creating buttons, (like for a website,) it's got about 25-30 presets for creating logos, (for example, I used the neon logo creator to create the logo for "The Blog",) and it's got some other things like pattern generators (like camouflage) and web page themes.

But, of course, GIMP's strength is not in it logo generators, but in it's editing options. As of right now (version 2.4.1) there are 33 different tools for editing images, and far more options available in the menus. Some of my favorite tools:

*Fuzzy Select/Select by Color:
These both let you select parts of the images with similar colors. They each do something slightly different though, and I use both about the same amount.

*Foreground Select:
Using this tool, you can select an item separate from the background. It's a lot like keying in videos, but you don't have to be in front of a green screen or anything (although something like that would help). I've used this for a few things, one being removing my head. :p

*Crop Tool:
You may think "Bah. Every image editor has crop!", but in GIMP, the way they do it is REALLY easy to use.

*Bucket Fill:
Yeah yeah. Everything has bucket fill, also. But I do use it a lot. Also, the colors don't have to be EXACTLY the same, (like in MSPaint,) but you can set the threshold for similar colors.

*Airbrush:
This is really helpful for creating textures that I use in Blender. Unfortunately, I can't make anything good since I'm not using a tablet. :p

*Clone:
Yay for the clone tool! VERY helpful. I use it for removing dates from photos (and stuff like that).

*Smudge:
After fixing some things, it helps to get rid of the sharp edges with the smudge tool. :)

And those are just some of them.
Some of the other awesome things that the GIMP can do? Layers, for one. I LOVE layers. I use to have to do all my editing in MSPaint, and I would have to save a new image for practically every change I made, or to edit in "layers".
Another awesome thing: practically infinite undos. It always annoyed me how MSPaint only had 3 undos, so now I can know that whatever changes I want to make can be reversed.
There's also a ton of different filters and changes you can make to an image, so... yeah.

The only downside I know of: long loading time. It takes like 2 minutes to start up. Other than that, it's amazing!!!

Website
Download
Features

NOTE: I just found this out: Apparently, someone has created a hacked version of GIMP that looks and behaves more like Photoshop, called Gimpshop. So, if you use Photoshop and you want to see what GIMP is like, you might want to consider using Gimpshop.

Here

Straw Penetration

Here's yet another magic trick that shows how you can pull two straws through each other without breaking them!


Easy Straw Penetration Revealed! - Watch today’s top amazing videos here

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Finger Through Bottle Cap

Another awesome magic trick: shooting your finger through a bottle cap!


Useful Kung Fu Trick (Video Lesson) - Funny home videos are a click away

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Pen Spinning

Here's one of the most popular pen spinning tricks. I always wanted to learn this one, but even after watching this, I still can't get it :p


PenSpinning- Sonic Harmonic - Funny bloopers R us

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Fireballs!

This video has become somewhat controversial; there have been tons of comments on whether it does/does not work. Many people say they tried it and have burnt themselves, but others swear that it works. Just watch for yourself:


How To Make Fire Balls - The best free videos are right here

I made some of these, but what I did was instead of trying them out on my hands, I held them with tongs and felt near it, to see how hot it was. It seemed really hot, so I didn't actually try them out. I thought it was fake, but then I saw more videos (from more reliable sources) that showed them using them. So, assuming it's not fake, here are some tips that people have said:

"The fact is that the ball is hot. The fuel dosn't reach max temp until fully ignited(yellow). The bottom is cooler. If you have thick skin you can hold them longer. Rub ice on your hands for a minute then dry them and then you can hold them for much longer. Plus the vid is in some what slower than reality so it looks even longer." -200sx

"i tested it out, its really really cool !!
but if you hold it too long on one place at your hand, it's getting hot und you must change the place! when i see how long you hold it at one place i think : waahh its hot ;)" -ICE C0LT

Quotes taken from Metacafe.

So, to sum up:
*If you try it, you may get burnt
*Keep the ball(s) moving
*Rub ice on you hands and dry it off before you do it to keep your hands cool.
*DON'T TOUCH THE YELLOW PART OF THE FLAME!!!!

If anybody gets this to work, send me a video. If I see more people getting it to work, I may try it again.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Ring on Rubber Band Trick

I'm sure you've noticed by now: I've always liked magic, so here's another really easy trick that's really cool.


Ring On Rubber Band Revealed! - Click here for more blooper videos

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Cool Transformation

Here's how to transform an old plastic cup (like one for yogurt or butter) into a disc! I wonder if you could use it for frisbee...


Weird Transformation! - The funniest videos are a click away

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Goomba in Blender!

Hey, just finished a new thing in Blender! This one took me 2 days; it's a Goomba! Here's a picture:



And, as an extra bonus, I'm giving you guys the model! Do whatever you want with it. Mess around with it. Animate it. Whatever. One request, though: if you use it in a project, give credits for the model to me. That's all I ask. :)

Download here

Soda Cans Into Ashtrays

Here's how to make a soda can into an ashtray. You might also be able to use them as coasters, too, but I'm not sure. Might be too small.


Recycle Cans Into Ashtrays - A funny movie is a click away

Friday, May 9, 2008

Video Sunglasses

Here's how to make a pair of sunglasses with a camera so you can record video, and no one will know!


How To: Spy Sunglasses! - Watch more funny videos here

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Scared of Nothing

Didn't know what else to name this one... :p

Here's what's going on, if you can't figure it out: A guy gets in the elevator, and screams for no reason. It freaks everybody out. LOL.


Funny Pics No.3 - A funny movie is a click away

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Monday, May 5, 2008

Awesome Acrobatics

I'm sure you've seen videos like this before, but they're so awesome I still want to post them.


Martial Arts Tricks - Funny videos are here

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Funny Japanese Acting

Japanese people seem to like doing things like this; I've found a ton of videos. Here are some of them.

You've probably seen this first one.








Funniest Asian Show Every LOL!!!!!! - For more of the funniest videos, click here

Friday, May 2, 2008

Thursday, May 1, 2008

"Beautiful" People Part 1

Here's a video of a bunch of "beautiful" people. (Notice the quotation marks). LOL.


Beautiful People - The funniest home videos are here

"Beautiful" People Part 2 tomorrow!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Water Drops Painting Tecnique

Here's a trick that pros use to make things look like they have water droplets all over them. Not that I really do any custom painting, but I thought it turned out to be pretty cool.


Water Drops Effect - Custom Paint Secret - More free videos are here

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Angry Newslady

Watch what happens when this newslady gets too frustrated!


Newslady Fights Back! - The most amazing bloopers are here

Monday, April 28, 2008

Optical Illusions

Here is a video of some cool optical illusions. It's done better than most optical illusion videos.


The World Of Optical Illusions - Funny blooper videos are here

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Match Shooter

I know I've posted a lot of videos like this, but I love making weapons out of everyday objects!


Matchgun!!! - Click here for funny video clips

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Use Chopsticks!

Ever tried to eat with chopsticks? It's pretty tough. Here's a trick that anybody can use to be able to eat with chopsticks!


Chinese Secret - More free videos are here

Friday, April 25, 2008

Levitation Device

Here's a video about how to make a "levitation device" using magnets. Something cool to have around the house.


Build Levitation Device. - The funniest videos are a click away

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Living in an Animated World

Hey, it's my birthday! So, in honor of that, I bring a video slightly more awesome than all the others.


Living In An Animated World - The funniest home videos are here

By the way, look forward to a lot more videos! I've set it up (using Blogger in draft) to schedule my video posts, which I set up beforehand. As of right now, it will give you a video a day until May 4th, and hopefully before then I'll remember to add more posts. So now, until I run out of videos, at 10 AM every morning (CST) there will be a new video! This is the first one taking advantage of the schedule feature. :)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Match Tricks

Here's a video that shows some cool tricks you can do with matches.


Tricks With Matches: Extended Edition - For more funny videos, click here

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Mario Theme on Bottles

This is so cool! Someone set up these bottles and an RC car, and set it up so it'd play the theme from Super Mario Bros! Awesomeness!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Split an Apple w/ Your Hands

Here's a video of how to split an apple in half using just your hands!


Super-Human Strength - Halve An Apple With Your Bare Hands - Click here for more blooper videos

An Update... on Life

I've been meaning to post about SOOOOO many things lately, but I either don't have the time or am too lazy. So, here's a summary of my life recently that would have been spread out in many posts if I had done it when I meant to.

Let's see... my Rubik's Cubing has been going well. I now have my 3x3x3, (that I got for Christmas,) a 2x2x2 Darth Maul head, (that I've had for years but could never do,) and now, a 4x4x4. They're all lubricated. My best times:
2x2x2: Don't really know, but probably around a minute.
3x3x3: Last I checked, 1:18.
4x4x4: I've only timed myself a few times for this, but I think my best time was around 6:30.
I'm considering trying out Speedcubing once I get some free time. Unfortunately, it requires learning about 200 sets of moves! O_O It seemed crazy to me at first, but I think that if I just used the instructions over and over I would eventually just memorize most of the moves automatically. Hopefully. I haven't tried it yet, though.

I'm still playing Guitar Hero almost every day. Just a few nights ago, I beat it on Expert. If you've never played Guitar Hero before, and you're thinking to yourself "Meh. It's probably really easy." It's not. I must have played the last song before the boss a hundred times before I got it.
Oh, favorite songs from Guitar Hero?




Those should be (pretty much) in the order of how much I like them. TTFAF IS AMAZING!!!!!!! That song has basically achieved the status among everybody as the coolest (and hardest) song ever. But, anyway...

Hmm... papercrafting has been going extremely well. Too well in fact; I don't have time to do the hundreds (yes HUNDREDS) of pages of papercrafts I have stacked up. I've been meaning to do some posts on those for quite some time, but was never really motivated enough... I hope to soon though!

I went on the annual Freeze-Out with my Boy Scout troop a few months ago (February I think) and that was really fun. Also last week end I went with them to Ft. Leonard Wood, that was really awesome. We did a bunch a military training, exercises, etc.. I got to use night vision goggles. :)

For those that are wondering, I did go to the midnight release of Super Smash Bros Brawl, I just haven't posted about it yet. I need to get some pictures off of my mom's cell phone (my camera was out of batteries). It was a fun night, though. Like everything else, expect a post about that soon.

I found a new file host: MediaFire. I've been looking for a good file hosting service, and MediaFire looks like exactly what I've been looking for.
I was looking for a file hosting service that basically had virtually no download restrictions. MediaFire is what I was looking for; no bandwidth limit, no file expiration, etc. The only real limit is 100MB max per file, but I really don't care about that because I don't plan on uploading any humongous files that I can't split or compress. I think that you have infinite storage, too. So... yeah. Expect to see the links on some old posts change.

Anything else... my birthday is on the 24th... and I already know what I'm getting. It's a really awesome camera! Basically, the camera I have right now is pretty cruddy. The video quality is really awful. So, as a birthday present, (basically my ONLY present,) I'm getting a new camera. Let's see... It's 12MP, (it says) it can record HD-quality video, it's got like 20 shooting modes, and a TON of other cool features. The cool thing about it: we got it for only $100 on Woot!. :) I'm pretty excited. Unfortunately, that means that I'm going to buy some other stuff I was hoping for myself. Oh well. It's worth it.

That's all I can think of right now... so I guess I'm done.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Close Chips w/o Clip

Sorry I haven't been doing many updates lately, I've been really busy...

So here's a video of how to close a bag of chips when you don't have some sort of clip around.


How To Close A Bag Of Chips Without Using A Clip - The funniest home videos are here

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Movie Trailer...

Guess what...





















Oh, look at the date... is it April 1st already? lol

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Pull off your thumb?

One of the magic tricks that almost everybody already knows how to do, yet still funny to watch. Plus this guy does it really well.


CraZy Decapitated Thumb Trick!!! - The best bloopers are a click away

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Open Source: Blender

Okay, no open source series would be complete without Blender. I'm sure you've seen some of my pictures/movies I've done in Blender, but don't be impressed. Here are some pictures made in Blender by professionals:











Sorry it took me so long to add to the Open Source group, but I knew this post was going to be really long, so I've been putting it off.

Yeah.

And that's just the beginning, here's the gallery archive.

This program has soooo much stuff packed in, it's gonna be hard to fit it all in this post, but I'll try.

The main feature is obviously the CGI editor. It's really simple to use. I won't take a long time explaining this, because I'm sure you all can imagine creating 3d shapes. After you create your object, you can add a material and a texture, which is one of the really important steps. If you learn how to use Material Nodes (slightly more advanced) then you can create basically any look you want. Most can be accomplished without nodes, but for the most realism, you may need to use them.

If you want to do any animation, it's fairly simple. You just put the object in the starting position, insert a keyframe, set the new frame number, move the object to the end position, insert another keyframe, and Blender will calculate the rest of the motion. If you think the animation needs a little tweaking, you can edit the animation curves in the IPO editor. If you've got a person or animal that you're animating, then you can insert Bones into the character. Whenever you move a bone, the object around it will move with it. If you have to make a person talk, you can set up a face rig, and add keys for certain face movements. Then you can drag sliders that adjust the amount that that certain movement affects the face (fun to mess with). For more advanced animations, you can use Blender's built-in fluid simulator, physics engine, or softbody (cloth) simulator.

When you are done with your animations and you have rendered the scene(s), you can use Blender's video editor to put it together as a movie. For special effects and transitions, you can download plugins. I've even found one plugin that allows chroma keying (green or blue screening).

But that's not all! Download now (or anytime, actually) and you'll receive the Blender GE, or Blender Game Engine. It allows the creation of video games! It's easier than you may think, too. Blender uses Logic Bricks to do a bunch of the simpler things. Here is an example:

Sensors..........Controllers...........Actuators

[Keypress]...........[If]...................[Motion]
[Variable]...........[And]...............[PlayIPO]
[Mouseover]........[Or]..........[ChangeScene]
[Timer]...........[Python]....[ChangeVariable]

Where basically the Sensors sense if a certain something is true, like a variable, timer, or keypress. The Controllers define how it should let the action through. For example, If I have a Keypress sensor set to "R", and I have another one set to "Space", and they are both connected to an "OR" controller, then if I hit R or Space, the controller will let the action happen. That's where the Actuators come in; they do the action. So with the previous example, if my "OR" controller was connected to a motion actuator, then when ever I would hit R or Space, my object would have some sort of motion applied to it. It's fairly simple.

You may be wondering what the "Python" controller does... Well, if you're going to be making a more complex game, (one that needs actions beyond that of the basic sensors, controllers, and actuators,) then you can connect the "Python" controller to a Python script.

Python is used in Blender often; if you are good at it you can use it to do some advanced functions, or even create your own plugins that you can put on the internet for other people to use. It's fairly simple to learn, although it's integration with Blender doesn't have a ton of documentation, (or rather, it does have a lot of documentation, but some of it is hard to understand,) so some of it you may just have to experiment with.

Anyway, if you need to do more advanced functions like finding orientation or doing a bit of math, you can use Python. Don't worry though, if you just want to make a simple game, logic bricks should be enough for you.

Okay, enough talking about the game engine. Let's see... what else...

Oh yeah, the UV editor. This one took me a while to get use to, but now it makes sense. If you are doing more advanced texturing, you can use Blender's UV editor. You basically mark where you want seams on your object, and then unfold it. Then, if you don't have an image you were already planning on using, you can use Blender's Texture Painter to paint on the texture.

Still not done... there's more.

Blender also has a Sculpting Tool. It's really useful for making more "organic" models. You start out with the basic shape, and you use a "Multires" to temporarily turn up the resolution of your model. You then sculpt out some of the basic shapes. Every time you turn up the multires level, you do more detailed sculpting. Then, you can bake all the bumps and details to an image. You turn down to multires, (so you have a low-poly model,) but then you apply the image as a Normal Map; the different colors of the normal map represent different heights. That way, you have a low-res model that looks extremely detailed. It's hard to understand if you have no experience, and I haven't personally tried it, but some of the pictures I've seen of the process are really cool.

Well that's all I can think of right now. By the way, I think I saved this post as a draft 4 or 5 times before I finished it. Just in case you were wondering how long it took.

Oh, one thing I forgot:
If you read this post and are like O_O "I MUST HAVE THIS PROGRAM!!1!!", you may want to wait a few months before you learn it. Why? Because (hopefully) some time in May they will release Blender v. 2.5. The big deal? The interface is basically being entirely redesigned. From what I've heard, it should make it a lot easier to learn for beginners. If you don't mind waiting, it would probably be easier to learn once that comes out, instead of trying to learn it now, only to have to re-learn it in two months.

Weird Weatherman

I really don't get why this video is so funny. It just is.

"So pretty much everywhere, it's gonna be hot"

Friday, March 28, 2008

"Impossible" Balance

Here's an awesome thing you can do with just a hammer, a ruler, and a rubber band.


Impossible Object! - For more funny movies, click here

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Marble Cannon

Here's a video on how to make a marble cannon. I bet if you were shot in the right place with that, it could kill you. o_o


Make A Marble Cannon - For more funny movies, click here

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Hidden Tiger

Watch this video, and see if you can find "The Hidden Tiger". I couldn't. :( It's there, though.


Can You Find "The Hidden Tiger"? - Watch today’s top amazing videos here

Friday, March 21, 2008

Tracing IP Addresses

Here's a video on tracing IP addresses. I hear there are other sites that provide IP's for email addresses, too, not just websites.


Trace Any IP Address Or Website! - The most popular videos are here

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Arcade Games for $0.01

Here's a few videos on how to play video games for one cent.

Notice what he does at the beginning of this one.


Cheating Arcades - Watch more amazing videos here

Unfortunately, the Penny Arcade 1 video was deleted, but here's number 2:


PENNY ARCADE PART 2 - The best video clips are here

Here's a third video:



NOTE: I don't recommend that you do this at any place that gives tickets, because you would be essentially stealing. This should only be done for a highscore game, or just to show off.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Awareness Test

This is a test to see if you can pay attention. I failed. :( You'll like it!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Conceptual Table

Here's an (apparently conceptual) idea that works somewhat like the Microsoft Surface.


Awesome New Concept! - The most amazing bloopers are here

Friday, March 14, 2008

Mini Tablet

Here's a way you can make a pen that turns a laptop touchpad into a mini tablet. Great if you want to do a lot of image editing, but the touchpad is too hard for you to use.


$2 Mini Graphics Tablet - More amazing video clips are a click away

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Balance a Match

A video about how to balance a lit match on your finger. I couldn't get it to work very well, but maybe you'll have better luck.


How To Balance A Match On Your Finger, Amazing Trick!!!!! - Awesome video clips here