Thursday, May 31, 2012

How it's made - Contact Lenses

Tonight's clear vision video:



Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Caro Emerald's A Night Like This:



Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Double Oh

Tonight's 00 video - all 190+ instances of "00" from all 23 James Bond movies:



Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day

Wishing you a happy Memorial Day, as we remember those service members who have paid the ultimate price in service to our nation:



Sunday, May 27, 2012

Veni, Creator Spiritus

Tonight's musical interlude - the beautiful and ancient (circa 9th Century) hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus, in celebration of Pentecost Sunday, performed by the Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis in Milan, Italy:

The lyrics in the sung Latin, with a loose English translation below each verse:

Veni, creator Spiritus
mentes tuorum visita,
imple superna gratia,
quae tu creasti pectora.

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
and in our hearts take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heav'nly aid,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.


Qui diceris Paraclitus,
altissimi donum Dei,
fons vivus, ignis, caritas
et spiritalis unctio.

O Comforter, to Thee we cry,
Thou heav'nly gift of God most high,
Thou Fount of life, and Fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.


Tu septiformis munere,
digitus paternae dexterae
tu rite promissum Patris
sermone ditans guttura.

O Finger of the hand divine,
the sevenfold gifts of grace are thine;
true promise of the Father thou,
who dost the tongue with power endow.


Accende lumen sensibus,
infunde amorem cordibus,
infirma nostri corporis,
virtute firmans perpeti.

Thy light to every sense impart,
and shed thy love in every heart;
thine own unfailing might supply
to strengthen our infirmity.


Hostem repellas longius
pacemque dones protinus;
ductore sic te praevio
vitemus omne noxium.

Drive far away our ghostly foe,
and thine abiding peace bestow;
if thou be our preventing Guide,
no evil can our steps betide.


Per te sciamus da Patrem
noscamus atque Filium,
te utriusque Spiritum
credamus omni tempore.

Praise we the Father and the Son
and Holy Spirit with them One;
and may the Son on us bestow
the gifts that from the Spirit flow.


Deo Patri sit gloria,
et Filio qui a mortuis
Surrexit, ac Paraclito,
in saeculorum saecula.
Amen.

Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
with Thou, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven.
Amen.










... et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam

... And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [Matt. 16:18]. In celebration of Pentecost Sunday, generally considered the birthday of the Church. May the Holy Spirit enkindle the fire of Divine Charity in our hearts.



Saturday, May 26, 2012

Shocking

Tonight's shocking musical interlude, courtesy two electrical engineering students - House of the Rising Sun, played on seven foot tall Tesla coils:

From the video's description:
... These are two gigantic solid state musical Tesla Coils. A Tesla Coil is a special type of transformer invented by Nikola Tesla that is able to generating extremely large voltages using a phenomenon known as electrical resonance. Each coil in this video is capable of generating a 13 foot spark. This equates to about 500,000 volts of electricity.


The primary drive system for the coils consists of high power semiconductors arranged into an H-Bridge switching configuration. During a spark event, the coil is pulsed on for a few hundred millionths of a second. During this short time, thousands of amps circulate within the primary tank circuit and the energy is coupled into the secondary resonator through magnetism.


So what appears to be a continuous burst of sparks is actually a specific number of sparks generated per second. By modulating the number of sparks that emit from the coil each second, different tones can be produced by the coils. ...




Friday, May 25, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Ben E. King's classic Stand by Me, performed by musicians around the world adding their part to the song:

Thursday, May 24, 2012

How it's made - Bubble Gum

Tonight's chewy video:



Wednesday, May 23, 2012

How to pull the perfect movie heist

Tonight's how-to video, movie heist edition:

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

America's fourth greatest president

Today's political video - a tribute to greatness:



Monday, May 21, 2012

Cubs vs. Sox

Tonight's sports rivalry - Chicago Cubs vs. White Sox:



Sunday, May 20, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Nick Kwas performs Adele's Set Fire to the Rain:

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Happy Armed Forces Day

Today's musical tribute to our men and women in uniform - The Warrior Song:

Friday, May 18, 2012

People are awesome

Tonight's stunt compilation:



Thursday, May 17, 2012

Pushpin art

Tonight's pointy art - using 15,000 pushpins to create a portrait:



Behind the scenes video:




Hat tip: Bayou Renaissance Man

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Pomplamoose's Bust Your Knee Caps:

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Meet the new master, same as the old master

Today's political fable:



Monday, May 14, 2012

Caine's arcade

Tonight's arcade story, from East L.A.:

Sunday, May 13, 2012

One more kilometre

Tonight's performance art - belt sander meets a stack of paper:



Saturday, May 12, 2012

Push button to add drama

Tonight's dramatic commercial:



Friday, May 11, 2012

Frasier's celebrity callers

Tonight's celebrity callers:



Thursday, May 10, 2012

Close calls

Tonight's close calls video compilation:



Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Card trick

Tonight's card trick - James Galea performs at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival:



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

How to boil water

Tonight's how-to video:

Monday, May 7, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Buddy Greene plays Carnegie Hall:



Sunday, May 6, 2012

Famous faces in their film debuts

Tonight's famous faces video:

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Bad pitches

Tonight's bad ceremonial first pitches:



Friday, May 4, 2012

Jay Leno on Top Gear

Tonight's celebrity auto lap - Jay Leno takes the Top Gear challenge lap:

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Ten foot put, the hard way

Tonight's ten foot putt:


Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Signs - A Love Story

Tonight's love (short) story:

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - the Salve, Regina:



The Latin text:
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae,
ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

And the common English translation:
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.