Gone fishin'

Taking a few days off from posting. See you in the New Year.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a joyous and very merry Christmas! May the nativity of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ fill our hearts, minds, and souls with joy and His Divine Love.

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Canon Rock:

Hallelujah Chorus

Tonight's musical interlude, Alaskan grade school edition - Hallelujah Chorus - with kids from the Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat 5th Grade school, and villagers from Quinhagak, Alaska:

Puppies for Christmas

Tonight's video montage - puppies for Christmas!

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Celtic Woman performs Panis Angelicus:

Hallelujah Chorus, Silent Monk edition

Tonight's musical interlude - the Hallelujah Chorus, by the Silent Monks:

Veni, Veni Emmanuel

Tonight's (bonus) musical interlude -- the beautiful Advent hymn Veni, Veni Emmanuel (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel) rendered in the beautiful Latin:

This performance by L'Accorche-Choeur, Ensemble vocal Fribourg, conducted by Zoltán Kodály:





This more contempory performance by Mannheim Steamroller:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Celtic Woman performs Amazing Grace:

A hub of activity

Tonight's Internet infrastructure video:

From the video's description:

Lower Manhattan’s 60 Hudson Street is one of the world’s most concentrated hubs of Internet connectivity. This short documentary peeks inside, offering a glimpse of the massive material infrastructure that makes the Internet possible. ...

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Celtic Woman performs Little Drummer Boy:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - the North Point Community Church's iBand makes music using iPads and iPhones:

Bob Hope - Christmas with the troops

Tonight's video - Bob Hope entertains the troops:

FedEx Ground dominoes

Tonight's domino video, FedEx edition:

Special effects

Tonight's special effects video collage, showing the use of blue and green screens in movies and TV shows:

Mi nombre es ...

Tonight's vocal impersonator, from the Spanish-language show Mi Nombre Es...:

Showtime

Tonight's department store Christmas display - Saks Fifth Avenue 3D video projection show at their flagship store in New York City:

Never Wet

Tonight's hydro-phobic video:

A friendly voice

Tonight's friendly voice:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Anna Burden (I think that's the singer's name) performs Lulu and the Lampshades' You're Gonna Miss Me:

Earth time lapse from ISS

Tonight's time lapse video - Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by the crew of expeditions 28 & 29 on board the International Space Station from August to October,
2011:

When news anchors fail

Tonight's news anchor fail compilation:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude, a repost - from an October 2010 performance:

From the video's description:

... [T]he Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. ...

Never Wet

Tonight's dry innovation:

Happy Hannukkah

Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish visitors! Tonight's Hannukkah rap -- Candlelight, by the Maccabeats:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - actor and comedian Michael Winslow, billed as the "Man of 10,000 sound effects" for his ability to make sound effects using only his voice, performs Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love on a Norwegian TV show:

Human slingshot

Tonight's fun-with-bungee-cords video:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - from Sachal Studios, Lahore, Pakistan, doing their take on Take Five, by the Dave Brubeck Quartet:

No more dammed river

Tonight's time lapse dam destruction:

From the video's description:

The White Salmon River in Washington state is flowing again as the nearly 100-year-old Condit Dam was disabled with explosives Wednesday. The reservoir draining took about 2 hours. ...

The Plain Truth

Today's food-for-thought, courtesy Judge Andrew Napolitano:

Starlings

Tonight's avian video - wildlife cameraman and travel journalist Dylan Winter captures flocks of starlings in flight:

Adrenaline

Tonight's stunt video collage:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Keith Medley plays Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King on his 27 string guitar:

Happy Thankgiving!

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. And as we thank God for our many blessings, let us not forget to also help all those who are in need.




Tonight's musical interlude - Thanksgiving, by George Winston:

Chevy Sonic, Skydiver

Tonight's skydiving auto:

Used car salesman

Tonight's "pre-owned" car ad:

Forgot the combination? No problem

Tonight's lock picking video:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - guitarist Chris Quiray performs his percussive guitar solo Self Indulgence:

Made in Iceland

Tonight's pedestrian travel video - Klara Harden takes a hike through Iceland:




Read more about her trip here.

Tonight's humor - ventriloquist Paul Zerdin performs at Comedy Rocks:

Fun with sticks

Tonight's mindless entertainment:

Landscapes

Tonight's time lapse landscape video - scenes from Arizona and Utah, shot with a Canon 5D2 DSLR:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Things You Think, by Ben Folds and Nick Hornby:

Jumping rope, automotive edition

Tonight's agile car:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - the Copenhagen Philharmonic does a flash mob performance of Ravel's Bolero at Copenhagen Central Station:

Parachuting Into Michigan Stadium with the 101st Airborne Division

Tonight's football delivery service:

From the video's description:

Sgt. Adam Sniffen from the 101st Airborne Division delivers the game ball via parachute before the Michigan vs. MSU game at Michigan Stadium on Oct. 9, 2010.

Note the service members on the field to retrieve the American flag when he lands so that the flag doesn't lay on the ground.

Goes, well, like a rocket

Tonight's rocket launch:

From the video's description:

On September 30, 2011 at 11:08am, Derek Deville's Qu8k (pronounced "Quake") launched from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to an altitude of 121,000' before returning safely to earth. Above 99% of the atmosphere, the sky turns black in the middle of the day and the curvature of the earth is clearly visible. The rocket motor produced 4,000 lbs of thrust for 8 seconds accelerating the vehicle to over Mach 3 at over 10,000'. After that, momentum carried the rocket skyward for another 84 seconds to a peak altitude of 121,000'.

Monster shredder

Tonight's shredder on wheels:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Zoe Keating, a San Francisco-based musician who uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop to create her music:

Quantum levitation

Tonight's levitation video - from a demonstration at the Association of Science-Technology Centers 2011 conference, held in October at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore:

Workout

Tonight's French commercial:

So sexy

Tonight's how-not-to-flirt video:

Korean pizza

Tonight's hard-hitting Korean-Italian culinary expose-satire-commercial:

When turkeys attack

Tonight's not-so-intrepid mainstream newswoman - a producer from Sacramento's KXTV gets chased by a turkey:

Bob

Tonight's animated short (be sure to watch until the very end, after the credits):

Super-soaker choreography

Tonight's water performance:

This is Halloween

Tonight's musical interlude - This is Halloween, from The Night Before Christmas:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, harp duet version:

Not as tall as you think

Tonight's circumferential measure video:

You call those lyrics?

Tonight's musical history - 26 songs, 47 years, no actual words:

The making of grit

Tonight's time lapse, done for a photo in the article "What if the Secret to Success is Failure?" in the New York Times Magazine:

The gag from outer space

Tonight's space gag:

We few, we happy few

Tonight's Shakespeare speech, from Henry V, on this anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, fought this day in A.D. 1415. King Henry played by Kenneth Branagh in this version:

Car or motorbike?

Tonight's hybrid vehicle:

You just don't get it, do you?

Tonight's movie montage [language warning - NSFW]:

Copyright

Tonight's intellectual property video:

How many continents are there?

Tonight's useless question video:

A photo a day

Tonight's video collage - four and a half years of photos in 40 seconds:

Landscapes

Tonight's time lapse nature video - scenes from Arizona and Utah, taken with Canon 5D Mark II DSLR:

Imperial March, floppy disk drive edition

Tonight's Star Wars theme, played on floppy drives:

Diaper science

Tonight's fun with polymers:

Bloopers

Tonight's blooper reel, from season 7 of The Office:

Pretty extreme

Tonight's sports compilation:

Roundup, Remote Control edition

Tonight's RC roundup:

Boat balls

Tonight's dangly appendage video - boat balls:

From the video's description:

How to get an 80' rig through the 65' bridges of the Intracoastal Waterway using two tons of water. The balls get swung out with an initial turn to port or stbd. The tendency then is for the roll to continue by itself, but is controlled by letting the bags out slowly with a line made off to each bag and running through necessary tackle to a cockpit winch.

Planet Earth overflight

Tonight's International Space Station video - a timelapse of Earth from orbit [try watching full screen]:

From the video's description:

A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line), a satellite (55sec) and the stars of our galaxy.

Fixing Social Security

Tonight's satire, from The Onion [language warning - NSFW]:

Blind man vs. ATM

Tonight's cash-withdrawal video:

Driver PSA

Tonight's public service announcement ... sort of:

A change of fortune

Tonight's restaurant diner video, Table 7 - A couple has an intimate conversation in a restaurant, unaware that their every word is being closely monitored. However, not all is as it seems:

Water balloon fight

Tonight's water balloon fight - 175,141 Water Balloons, 8,957 People, 1 World Record. August 26th, 2011. Johnson Center Field, University of Kentucky:

Mask

Tonight's optical illusion:

Inflationary language

Tonight's linguistic inflation video, with Victor Borge:

Not so safe safe

Tonight's hotel safe video:

All backwards

Tonight's interesting piano playing position:

Batmanning

Tonight's not-satisfied-with-planking silly craze - batmanning:

Battle at F-Stop Ridge

Tonight's battle of the photographers video:

Grinding the crack

Tonight's wingsuit video - Jeb Corliss flies down a mountain:

Cloud in a bottle

Tonight's science experiment:

500 people in 100 seconds

Tonight's creative animation, from Israel - 500 people holding more than 1,500 different photos, creating a video animation:

Grand Canyon sightseeing

Tonight's National Park overflight - Yves "Jetman" Rossy takes a scenic tour of the Grand Canyon:

Musical interlude

Tonight's Gregorian chant musical interlude - the Schola Hungarica performs the great medieval hymn Dies Irae (the Day of Wrath):

Unscripted

Tonight's movie montage - 25 unscripted scenes in movies [language warning - NSFW]:

How to wash a Harley

Tonight's motorcycle cleanliness video:

A century in sports

Tonight's video montage - a century of memorable sports moments:

Tuna sandwich, anyone?

Tonight's tuna fishing video:

Before they were famous

Tonight's movie star video - before they were famous:

Beach blanket bingo, er, magic

Tonight's beach magic trick:

Lightscapes

Tonight's time-lapse video, of Iceland:

Paragliding

Tonight's paragliding video, road edition:

Who needs a wheelbarrow ...

... When you can just use your head. Tonight's brick moving video, reportedly taken in Khulna, Bangladesh:

Eddy currents

Tonight's Lenz's law demonstration:

Air swimmers

Tonight's flying fish video - meet the Air Swimmers:

Facebook, CIA Superspy network

Tonight's social networking satire, courtesy The Onion:

Just one small miscalculation, at the very end

Tonight's car jumping fail:

Gulp

Tonight's stop-motion movie - Gulp:








And here's the "making of" video:

Cephalopod camo

Tonight's camo-in-nature video:

Little pitcher in the making

Tonight's little pitcher:

Jetting around

Tonight's fast remote-controlled plane - powered by a Jetcat P160 SE, and reportedly clocked at 366 mph:

Making of a motorbike - the Triumph Rocket III

Tonight's motorcycle construction video - the Triumph Rocket III:

Look ma, no net

Tonight's tourist attraction - the Edgewalk around the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where visitors can now take a walk around the outside or the building on a platform 356 meters (about 1,170 feet) above the ground:

A video from the construction of the walkway:




Steve Murray of Canada's National Post gets a preview of the walkway:

World's greatest extra

Tonight's less well known movie and TV extra:



Apparently, his name is Jesse Heiman, from Boston and now living in Los Angeles.

Fun with LEDs

Tonight's use for old hard drives. From the video's description:

This is a hard drive clock I built from a 3.5" hard drive, some tri-color LEDs and a PIC16F252 microcontroller. It works by shining the LEDs underneath a platter with a slot cut into it, and by timing the various colors it can produce an analog clock display as well as other patterns.

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Celtic Woman performs The Last Rose of Summer at Slane Castle, Ireland:

Not a Cooking with Paula Deen recipe: When pigs fly pork loaf

Tonight's gastronomic satire of a Paula Deen recipe:

Little sheep dog

Tonight's miniature sheep herder - meet Nancy, a Chihuahua:



Let's hope there aren't any wolves around.

Not exactly parallel

Tonight's parallel parking, sort of:

Big assembly line

Tonight's assembly line video - making Boeing 777-200LRs:

It's all downhill from here

Tonight's not-your-dad's mountain biking video - from a downhill race in Valparaiso, Chile:

Rube Goldberg takes a picture

Tonight's photo shoot, Rube Goldberg style:

But what about Global Warming

Tonight's fun with carbon dioxide:

Just a normal day

Tonight's normal day video:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - brothers Jonny Mizzone, age 8 on banjo, Robbie Mizzone, age 12 on fiddle, and Tommy Mizzone, age 13 on guitar perform Earl Scruggs's Flint Hill Special:

Chevy Bel Air, meet Chevy Malibu

Tonight's crash test - a 1959 Chevy Bel Air crashes into a 2009 Chevy Malibu:



Note the differences in occupant (driver) protection.

It's a ceiling fan, sort of

Tonight's home improvement project failure:

Speed and accuracy

Tonight's baseball play, analyzed:

Chocolate beer website

Tonight's chocolate beer website - about the creation of the website for Portuguese beer brand Sagres and their new beer - Sagres Preta Chocolate, a chocolate flavored stout beer.

Now if you could print me up a toolbox, please

Tonight's printing technology - a 3D printer. Methinks Gutenberg would have been impressed:

Rolling rock

Tonight's game of fetch:

Disco: It might just save a life

Tonight's public service announcement - hands-only CPR, from the American Heart Association, featuring comedian / physician Dr. Ken Jeong:




Behind the scenes video:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Hayley Westenra of Celtic Woman sings Scarborough Fair at Slane Castle, Ireland:

Beer-tech

Tonight's beer-dispensing technology:

Planet of the apes

Tonight's guerrilla, er, gorilla marketing campaign, apparently for the Rise of the Planet of the Apes movie:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Celtic Woman performs Ave Maria:

Sydney Harbor

Tonight's time-lapse video - the view of Sydney Harbor on New Years Eve 2010:

Chocolate painting

Tonight's chocolate lover's technology:

A little dusty

Tonight's dust storm video - from Phoenix, AZ, on July 5th, 2011:

The view from the ground - a 6 minute video time lapsed down to 2 minutes:




And an aerial view:

Pesky birdy

Tonight's fate tempter of a bird:

Mathieu Bich fools Penn & Teller

Tonight's magic trick:

Missed it by that much

Tonight's lucky tree rat (aka squirrel). The car is a Lamborghini LP670-4 SV:

Amendment XXVIII - Fixing the Constitution's Fundamental Flaw

The fundamental flaw in our beloved Constitution, it seems to me after much deliberation about our out-of-control federal government, is the lack of an "Or Else" clause for violation of the document's strictures by those in high office, to include all elected officials (in either the Executive or Legislative branches), federal judges, and those bureaucrats in senior positions. What do I mean by an "Or Else" clause? Allow me to explain.

When Congress passes a criminal law, it both defines and describes the proscribed conduct or activity, and sets forth a punishment for violating said proscription. For example, when Congress passes a law making, say, bank robbery a crime, it defines what constitutes bank robbery, and specifies the penalty or punishment for those who commit the crime of bank robbery, say, ten years in prison. The law against bank robbery has an "Or Else" clause; don't commit bank robbery, or else you'll go to prison for ten years (I'm over-simplifying for present purposes, as the sentencing process under federal law is more complex that this). The "Or Else" is what serves as both a deterrent to those thinking about robbing a bank, and as a punishment for those who do.

Unfortunately, our Constitution does not have a meaningful "Or Else" clause for violation of its terms by those who, freely and voluntarily, take a solemn oath to uphold and obey its dictates. In practical terms, the most a wayward, lying, dishonest, scum-sucking (forgive the obvious redundancies) politician has to fear for violating his or her oath of office is failing to get reelected. While impeachment remains a theoretical possibility, in practice the likelihood of a politician getting impeached is probably about the same as getting hit by lightning while having sex with one of his interns. Or telling the truth. Possible, but highly unlikely.

To close this unfortunate "loophole" in our governing document, I propose the following amendment to our Constitution:

*** Start of Amendment Text ***

Amendment XXVIII:

Section 1. Any elected or appointed Congressman (whether Senator or Representative), federal judge, or employee or federal official in the Senior Service of the Federal Government, or the President or Vice-President, who knowingly or intentionally violates the express terms of this Constitution, as amended, shall, upon conviction, and notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, be sentenced to death, by a method as determined in Section 6 of this article. The Presidential Pardon Power under Art. II, Section 2 of this Constitution shall not apply to anyone convicted under this Section, and no one convicted under this Section 1 shall be pardoned or have his or her sentence commuted or otherwise reduced from the prescribed penalty of death.

Section 2. Any elected or appointed Congressman (whether Senator or Representative), federal judge, or employee or federal official in the Senior Service of the Federal Government, or the President or Vice-President, who shall recklessly violate the express terms of this Constitution, as amended, shall, upon conviction, and notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, be sentenced to a minimum of twenty years hard labor, without possibility of parole. Anyone convicted under this Section shall be forever barred from serving in any capacity, paid or unpaid, elected or unelected, in any branch of the Federal Government.

Section 3. Any elected or appointed Congressman (whether Senator or Representative), federal judge, or employee or federal official in the Senior Service of the Federal Government, or the President or Vice-President, who shall negligently violate the express terms of this Constitution, as amended, shall, upon conviction, and notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, be impeached and removed from office, and shall be ineligible to hold elected federal office for a period of twenty years. Such person shall furthermore by forbidden from serving in any paid, unelected capacity in any branch of the Federal Government for a period of twenty years.

Section 4. Indictments under this article shall issue if said indictments are approved by a majority of state legislatures of the several States. Indictments shall be brought within four years of the later of (a) the alleged violative conduct, or (b) the discovery of same. The crime of Negligent Violation of the Constitution defined in Section 3 of this article shall be considered a lesser included offense of the crime of Reckless Violation of the Constitution defined in Section 2 of this article. The crime of Reckless Violation of the Constitution defined in Section 2 of this article shall be considered a lesser included offense of the crime of Knowing or Intentional Violation of the Constitution defined in Section 1 of this article.

Section 5. Trials under this article shall be presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, unless the person under trial is the Chief Justice, in which case the trial shall be presided over by a person mutually agreeable to, and appointed by, a majority of the several States. The prosecution team shall be appointed by mutual agreement of a majority of the several States. The jury shall be comprised of persons selected by the several States. Each State shall be entitled to select one juror. A number of jurors equal to a majority of the number of States shall constitute a quorum.

Section 6. A vote to convict shall require the consent of three-quarters of the jurors. Upon conviction of any person under Section 1 of this article the jurors shall determine, in their sole discretion, whether the person convicted shall be executed by hanging, beheading, or firing squad. No person or persons, including the presiding judge or the jurors shall have the power to prescribe any lesser penalty that that provided for in the respective Sections 1, 2, or 3 of this article corresponding to the crime for which the accused was convicted.

Section 7. A person convicted under this article shall have a right of appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United States, which court shall hear such appeal with all due haste. In no event, however, shall any court change, reduce, eliminate or otherwise modify the penalties provided in Sections 1, 2, or 3 of this article for the crimes defined therein, notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution or judgement of any court to the contrary. No one convicted under this article shall hold or continue in any official office, whether elected or appointed, nor collect any salary or compensation related to such office, during the pendency of his or her appeal.

*** End of Amendment Text ***

I believe such an Amendment will serve as a meaningful deterrent to the FedGov criminal class in Washington, DC. We the People, via our state legislatures, will undoubtedly need to employ the article as soon as it is ratified, in order to demonstrate to them that we mean business -- pour l'encouragement de les autres, as Voltaire might say.

The terms used in Sections 1 through 3 -- intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, negligently -- are terms well known to the criminal law, and thus a whole body of jurisprudence exists in which to interpret these terms in the context of this amendment. And these terms are also well known to Congress, which constantly passes criminal laws that apply to us, the People, and the Executive, which enforces them against us, and the Judiciary, which adjudicates them. So is it not fitting that criminal laws should apply to those who are among the worst offenders and despoilers of human liberty and human dignity? Note that the penalties apply only to those at the top of the FedGov food chain -- the President, Vice-President, senators, representatives, federal judges (including Supreme Court justices), cabinet members and senior bureaucrats such as heads of agencies, etc. -- since these are the ones who generally can cause the greatest evil by their disobedience to the rule of law and the will of the People, as expressed in the Constitution. We should be able to deal with lesser malfeasors using existing laws, once we have brought the greater malfeasors into line and obedience to the Constitution's mandates.

Naturally, the proposed amendment sensibly takes the indictment power away from the FedGov, because they're the ones we're trying to make obey the Constitution, and criminals tend not to self-indict. The amendment places the power to indict in the hands of the People via their state legislatures. Indeed, States may select whatever process they wish to decide on indictments -- some may choose binding state referendums, for example, while other states may choose non-binding referendums or simply allow their legislatures to directly decide. Same with the selection of jurors.

I think I've covered the essential elements of an "Or Else" Amendment, but there may exist other noteworthy considerations. So, what do you think? Read the proposed amendment, mull it over, suggest improvements. Granted, the likelihood of something like this passing in the current CONgress is virtually nil, since criminals rarely vote to punish themselves. But, who knows, at some point, after the country has fallen apart, this might become viable as the country emerges from the ashes (figurative or literal) of the social and economic collapse we face, and We the People seek a more perfect union than currently exists.

Feel free to share / reblog / repost / reprint this post in its entirely if you wish. Attribution to Artful Articulations and a link back to this blog (http://artfularticulations.blogspot.com/) would be appreciated.

Neither rain, nor snow, nor ...

... a couple of feet of water are going to stop the bus from its appointed rounds:

The United Kingdom, Great Britain, and England explained

Tonight's anglophile geography and geo-politics lesson:



By the way, I believe the author missed Trinidad and Tobago as a former colony, and now independent nation of the British Commonwealth.

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - some Gregorian chant from the monks at the Cistercian Abbey Stift Heiligenkreuz in the Vienna Woods:

Coffee, anyone?

Tonight's caffeine info:

Fish eyes

Tonight's yuppie guppy tech:

How's my driving?

Tonight's fast driver - former Formula 1 driver Riccardo Patrese takes his wife around the Jerez racetrack in a Honda Civic Type-R:

How it works, Quartz Watch edition

Tonight's horologic technology explanation:

Splashed

Tonight's slo-mo paint splash on a model:

Hard Drive

Tonight's look inside technology explanation - the computer hard drive:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - a video DJ mashup of Nelly's Country Grammer and Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama:

Not so funny car

Tonight's funny car mishap - when your car can go from zero to 200 mph in under 8 seconds, this is probably not what you want to have happen:

Dancing bikes

Tonight's unusual motorcycle crash, from a race at Magny-Cours:

A short history of Che

Today's history lesson:

Why Paddy's not at work

Tonight's Irish sick note:

Picture not in focus? No worries

Tonight's photo innovation:



Here's a promo video from the company:

Airbus future 2050

Tonight's aviation future, as envisioned by Airbus:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Gregorian performs Metallica's Nothing Else Matters:

Optical illusion

Tonight's optical illusion:

It's magic

Tonight's magic trick:

Tom Hanks, voiceover artist

Tonight's movie star interview - Tom Hanks talks on the Graham Norton Show on doing voiceover work:

Baby for dinner?

Tonight's lioness video, from the Cheyenne Mountain zoo:

What an astronaut sees

Tonight's earth-from-space video (try watching full screen):

Greenland weather

Tonight's time-lapse video, from the Greenland Ice Project:

The Domino Effect

Tonight's domino effect:

The Photoshop effect

Tonight's photo-editing videos:

Am I pregnant?

Tonight's blonde commercial:

The Facebook society

Tonight's Facebook parody:

Arena makeover

Tonight's time-lapse sports arena makeover - workers change the floor and seating layout of Arco Arena from an ice rink to a basketball court for the Sacramento Kings. Elapsed time 15 hours, compressed to a three and a half minute video:

Waking up at the dentist

Tonight's general anesthesia recovery video:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - The Corrs' Dreams:

Self-defense against fruit

Tonight's Monty Python self-defense video:

Heavy smoker

Tonight's magic trick - Tom Mullica does a card trick, while smoking:

Dem Phones

Tonight's not-so-vintage song:

Watch your step

Tonight's street art - an interesting pavement display in Stockholm, Sweden, at Sergels torg, created by Erik Johansson:

Happy Birthday, America

Tonight's Independence Day video - Fireworks display from New York City 2008:

Am I driving too fast for you?

Tonight's women passengers:

In a Porsche GT3:




Lexus ISF versus BMW M3:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Baz Luhrmann's Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen):

The humble light bulb

Tonight's technology explanation - the humble incandescent light bulb:

Say hi to Debbie

Tonight's dating site video bio:




(By the way, it's a spoof). :)

Thunderstorms

Tonight's time-lapse video, from the Hector Thunderstorm Project in Northern Australia:

Fooling Penn & Teller

Tonight's magic trick:

Lip dub

Tonight's musical interlude lib-dub, from Grand Rapids, MI:

From the video's description:

"The Grand Rapids LipDub Video was filmed May 22nd, with 5,000 people, and involved a major shutdown of downtown Grand Rapids, which was filled with marching bands, parades, weddings, motorcades, bridges on fire, and helicopter take offs. It is the largest and longest LipDub video, to date.

This video was created as an official response to the Newsweek article calling Grand Rapids a "dying city." We disagreed strongly, and wanted to create a video that encompasses the passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially, in this great city. We felt Don McLean's "American Pie," a song about death, was in the end, triumphant and filled to the brim with life and hope." - Rob Bliss, Director & Executive Producer

*Note: The "NEW WORLD RECORD" designation refers to size and scope, not duration. Storyboards and concept art by Greg Oberle. ...

Will you marry me?

Tonight's marriage proposal:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Gimme Shelter, by the Playing for Change project:

Automotive long jump

Tonight's car jump - from the video's description:

The Yellow Driver of Team Hot Wheels breaks the world record for distance jump in a four-wheeled vehicle at the Indianapolis 500 on May 29th 2011. Watch as the Yellow Driver, Tanner Foust, drops 10 stories down 90 feet of orange track and soars 332 feet through the air. ...

Not your usual garage door

Tonight's garage video:

Senior mobility

Tonight's custom golf cart video:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Gregorian's Angels:

The difference between men and women

Tonight's gender differences video, tennis edition:

Close call

Tonight's bicyclist close call, from the UK:

Makeup

Tonight's power of makeup video:

Miniature race

Tonight's not-your-average-RC-toy video - from the 2008 1/10th TV world RC car championship, from Bangkok Thailand. These little cars are fast!

Racing the otter

Tonight's otter race:

The difference between the boss' office and yours

Tonight's clever ad:

It's kind of like Capture the Flag

Tonight's asian twist on capture the flag, except the objective seems to be to tear the flagpole down:

Sexy girls have it easy

Tonight's, uh, hard-hitting documentary, from the UK:

Lifeguard, Elephant Edition

Tonight's it's-not-exactly-Baywatch video - female elephants rescue a baby elephant from a watering hole in Africa:

The Domino Domino Effect

Tonight's domino effect - domino shapes made of dominos do what dominoes do:

Takeoff

Tonight's airport video - time-lapse of planes taking off from Boston's Logan airport - about an hour and 10 minutes of elapsed time, compressed into less than 3 minutes:

Blooper

Tonight's Who Wants to be a Millionaire blooper:

Teasing the doggie

Tonight's talking doggie video:

Good catch

Tonight's quick reflexes - Tampa Bay Rays player Evan Longoria makes a quick catch:

Musical interlude

Tonight's a capella musical interlude - The Nylons perform The Lion Sleeps Tonight:

How it works, LCD monitor edtion

Tonight's technology explanation:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Carrie Underwood sings How Great Thou Art:

Four myths about the Crusades

Today's myth-debunking:

In 2001, former president Bill Clinton delivered a speech at Georgetown University in which he discussed the West’s response to the recent terrorist attacks of September 11. The speech contained a short but significant reference to the crusades. Mr. Clinton observed that “when the Christian soldiers took Jerusalem [in 1099], they . . . proceeded to kill every woman and child who was Muslim on the Temple Mount.” He cited the “contemporaneous descriptions of the event” as describing “soldiers walking on the Temple Mount . . . with blood running up to their knees.” This story, Mr. Clinton said emphatically, was “still being told today in the Middle East and we are still paying for it.”

This view of the crusades is not unusual. It pervades textbooks as well as popular literature. One otherwise generally reliable Western civilization textbook claims that “the Crusades fused three characteristic medieval impulses: piety, pugnacity, and greed. All three were essential.”1 The film Kingdom of Heaven (2005) depicts crusaders as boorish bigots, the best of whom were torn between remorse for their excesses and lust to continue them. Even the historical supplements for role-playing games—drawing on supposedly more reliable sources—contain statements such as “The soldiers of the First Crusade appeared basically without warning, storming into the Holy Land with the avowed—literally—task of slaughtering unbelievers”;2 “The Crusades were an early sort of imperialism”;3 and “Confrontation with Islam gave birth to a period of religious fanaticism that spawned the terrible Inquisition and the religious wars that ravaged Europe during the Elizabethan era.”4 The most famous semipopular historian of the crusades, Sir Steven Runciman, ended his three volumes of magnificent prose with the judgment that the crusades were “nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God, which is the sin against the Holy Ghost.”5

The verdict seems unanimous. From presidential speeches to role-playing games, the crusades are depicted as a deplorably violent episode in which thuggish Westerners trundled off, unprovoked, to murder and pillage peace-loving, sophisticated Muslims, laying down patterns of outrageous oppression that would be repeated throughout subsequent history. In many corners of the Western world today, this view is too commonplace and apparently obvious even to be challenged.

But unanimity is not a guarantee of accuracy. What everyone “knows” about the crusades may not, in fact, be true. From the many popular notions about the crusades, let us pick four and see if they bear close examination. ...

Read the whole thing here.

What a planker

Tonight's useless news story:

Playing with fire

Tonight's fire and water video:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Spandau Ballet's True:

How it works, Smoke Detector edition

Tonight's technology explanation:

Memorial Day

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day, as we remember those who gave their lives in service to our country for the securing and protection of the freedoms we enjoy. May the fallen rest in the Lord's peace.

Just swinging around

Tonight's mesmerizing pendulum action:

From the video's description:

Fifteen uncoupled simple pendulums of monotonically increasing lengths dance together to produce visual traveling waves, standing waves, beating, and (seemingly) random motion.

...

The period of one complete cycle of the dance is 60 seconds. The length of the longest pendulum has been adjusted so that it executes 51 oscillations in this 60 second period. The length of each successive shorter pendulum is carefully adjusted so that it executes one additional oscillation in this period. Thus, the 15th pendulum (shortest) undergoes 65 oscillations. ...

Saving souls

Today's pro-life talk, from Monsignor O'Reilly, given in London on May 18th, 2011. About 75 minutes. Good stuff. In the latter half of the talk, Monsignor O'Reilly shares some real-life examples of the power of prayer:

Rubber necker

Tonight's rubber neck:

Cleaning out a pit of vipers

Tonight's janitorial video - cleaning out a pit of cobras [probably not the video to watch if you're afraid of snakes]:

Colliding water droplets

Tonight's slo-mo video - colliding water droplets:

Mini airport

Tonight's miniature video - Kuffingen airport at Miniatur Wunderland in Germany:

Stunt bikers

Tonight's talented bicyclists:

What was the question? Kirsten Dunst squirms

Today's example of "When you're trying to get out of a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging" - Danish movie director Lars Von Trier goes off on an, uh, tangent during a presser at this year's Cannes Film Festival for his film Melancholia, starring actress Kirsten Dunst, who is sitting next to him at the press conference. Watch Ms. Dunst's obvious discomfort at Mr. Von Trier's remarks:




By the way, Ms. Dunst won the best actress award for her performance in Mr. Von Trier's film. Congrats to her.

Man vs. Moose

Tonight's ungulate matchup:

How its made - Glass bottles

Tonight's manufacturing lesson - making glass bottles:

Shark tango

Tonight's feeding frenzy - Cristina Zenato does a little shark tango [try watching full screen]:

Balance

Tonight's balancing act:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Metallica's Nothing Else Matters, performed by Apocalyptica:

A bird of many tongues

Tonight's avian voice - Einstein, the African Gray Parrot, from the Knoxville, Tenn. Zoo:

Mmmm, beef

Tonight's food recipe, from Chef John - Korean-style beef short ribs:



See the ingredient list here.

Yum!

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - George Winston performs his variations on Pachelbel's Canon, from Winston's December album:

Why your allergies are acting up

Tonight's springtime pollen allergy video:

Tour of the ISS

Tonight's space station tour:

The camera does make you look fatter

And older, apparently. Tonight's video gag:

Yoga master on the road to Nirvana

Tonight's meditation video outtakes [language warning NSFW]:

A century of U.S. Naval aviation

Tonight's U.S. Naval aviation video:

Light painting WiFi

Tonight's visual measurement video - some folks in Norway build a 4 meter (about 13 feet) tall light stick that responds to WiFi (wireless network) signals, and make light paintings of the variation in WiFi signal strength across various urban landscapes:




Read more about their project here.

Avalanche avoidance

Tonight's alpine video, from the French Alps:

How Jedi knights practice in their spare time

Tonight's Jedi knight training video:

Shape up, sailor

Tonight's poor boating skills video:

Extreme shepherding

Tonight's skillful shephards and nimble sheep video, from Wales:

Pizza thief

Tonight's larcenous (but hungry) doggy:

The view from the mountain

Tonight's time lapse video - shot from El Teide, Spain's highest mountain:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Celtic Woman performs Danny Boy:

Predator - The Musical

Tonight's Arnold Schwarzenegger opera [language warning]:

Swan Lake

Tonight's ballet - Swan Lake, Chinese acrobatic edition:

Please place your tray tables in their full, upright position for takeoff

Tonight's flight attendant rap:

Taking the scenic route

Tonight's speed-flying video - Fisher Towers, in Moab, UT [hat tip to Tom O. for the link]:

Skateboarding down the mountain

Tonight's skateboarding video:

Iceland lightscapes

Tonight's time lapse video, from Iceland:

I arise today

On this Easter Sunday, I wish for all my readers the salvation that comes from the saving grace of Our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Wishing you all a happy and blessed Easter!

Tonight's musical interlude - Lisa Kelly sings Christ in Me, a rendition of the Lorica of St. Patrick:

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Gregorian's Moment of Peace:

Musical interlude

Tonight's Good Friday musical interlude - an excerpt from J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion, performed by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Soloists, conducted by Ton Koopman:

Chain reaction

Tonight's science-made-fun explanation - the chain reaction:

Contact juggling

Tonight's contact juggler, courtesy National Geographic:

Doing a little jig

Tonight's flash mob - doing a little Irish jig this past St. Patrick's day in Sydney, Australia:

Dinner at the Double Dog Diner

Tonight's hungry doggies - according to the video's description, this was shot in one take, no cuts or editing:

What are they selling?

Tonight's what-exactly-are-they-selling commercial, from Japan:

Juggling helicopters

Tonight's rotor-robotic video - Quadrocopter Ball Juggling, at a research lab in Zurich, Switzerland. The 'copters and the balls are computer-controlled and tracked by an overhead motion capture video system:




Here's an overview of the project:

Just don't throw rocks

Tonight's glassy future video, from Corning:

The President's Speech

Tonight's movie parody, from Jimmy Kimmel:

Chain of fools: from DOS 5 to Windows 7

Tonight's Microsoft upgrade process video:

Truck drop

Tonight's airdrop video:

Little piggy

Tonight's cute piglet:

Going down the mountain

Tonight's urban mountain biking, from Valparaiso, Chile (I think):

Stuck on stupid

Tonight's stupid video:

But what if the spare tire gets a flat?

Tonight's fifth wheel video:

Small fry

Tonight's miniature aquarium: