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.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Montage

Tonight's video montage:

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Flying car

Tonight's flying car video:

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Black bike

Tonight's bike skills video - Andrew Dickey shows off his bike skills in Melbourne, Australia:

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Look Ma, no Hands!

Tonight's self-driving car:

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Pomplamoose performs their rendition of Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson:

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Laser sword

Tonight's Star Wars parody:

Monday, April 23, 2012

Through a waterfall in a wingsuit

Tonight's wingsuit video - Jeb Corliss flies through a waterfall in the Swiss Alps:

From the video's description:
... Hurtling through the air at 85 miles an hour, daredevil adventurer Jeb Corliss becomes the first man to fly through a waterfall wearing a wingsuit. Flying through an exit point called 'The Ultimate' in the mountainous region of Lauterbrunnen in the Swiss Alps, 35-year old Jeb flies within five feet of the 2000 foot sheer cliff wall. Falling three feet for every one foot he moves forward, Jeb's precision flight enables him to travel through the two foot wide falls despite the turbulence hitting the water causes him. One year in the planning, Jeb practiced the flight eight times before nailing it on the ninth attempt. ...

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Some parking spots are better than others

Tonight's automotive parking video:

Saturday, April 21, 2012

The meaning of MPH

Tonight's blonde ruminations:

Friday, April 20, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - French actress/singer Nora Arnezeder does a rendition of Singin' in the Rain:

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Resupply

Tonight's time lapse video - off loading the supply ship at McMurdo Station in Antarctica [try watching full screen]. From the video's description:
Annual supply ship offload at McMurdo Station Antarctica, 2012.
Due to an unusually warm winter last year, the floating ice pier that is normally used to offload cargo melted badly this summer, making it unusable. A temporary floating pier had to be installed by the U.S. Army Transportation Corps.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Evidently, bobsledding's not his thing

Tonight's not-a-professional-bobsledder video - a man tries out the French ski area La Plagne's mono bobsled run:

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Official spoiler rules

Tonight's spoiler etiquette:

Monday, April 16, 2012

Riding the booster

Tonight's space shuttle launch video - from the perspective of the solid rocket booster:

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Test of Fire

Tonight's election 2012 video:

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath), in the beautiful Latin:



The Latin text:
Dies irae, dies illa
solvet saeclum in favilla:
teste David cum Sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando judex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus!

Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulcra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.

Mors stupebit et natura,
cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.

Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.

Judex ergo cum sedebit,
quidquid latet apparebit:
nil inultum remanebit.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix justus sit securus?

Rex tremendae majestatis,
qui salvandos salvas gratis,
salva me fons pietatis.

Recordare, Jesu pie,
quod sum causa tuae viae:
ne me perdas illa die.

Quaerens me, sedisti lassus:
redemisti Crucem passus:
tantus labor non sit cassus.

Juste judex ultionis,
donum fac remissionis
ante diem rationis.

Ingemisco, tamquam reus:
culpa rubet vultus meus:
supplicanti parce, Deus.

Qui Mariam absolvisti,
et latronem exaudisti,
mihi quoque spem dedisti.

Preces meae non sunt dignae:
sed tu bonus fac benigne,
ne perenni cremer igne.

Inter oves locum praesta,
et ab haedis me sequestra,
statuens in parte dextra.

Confutatis maledictis,
flammis acribus addictis:
voca me cum benedictis.

Oro supplex et acclinis,
cor contritum quasi cinis:
gere curam mei finis.

Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce, Deus:
pie Jesu Domine,
dona eis requiem. Amen.

Friday, April 13, 2012

That's a long shot

Tonight's long-range pistol shot:

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Remember to breate

Tonight's Canadian travel tourism video, courtesy Travel Alberta (try watching full screen):

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Perpetual ocean

Tonight's ocean currents video, courtesy NASA (try watching full screen):

From the video's description:
This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through [December] 2007. The visualization does not include a narration or annotations; the goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience.

This visualization was produced using NASA/JPL's computational model called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II or ECCO2.. ECCO2 is high resolution model of the global ocean and sea-ice. ECCO2 attempts to model the oceans and sea ice to increasingly accurate resolutions that begin to resolve ocean eddies and other narrow-current systems which transport heat and carbon in the oceans.The ECCO2 model simulates ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows are used in this visualization. The dark patterns under the ocean represent the undersea bathymetry. Topographic land exaggeration is 20x and bathymetric exaggeration is 40x.

credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

source: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3827

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

A lesson in Vagina Economics

Today's economics lesson, from Finem Respice. A snippet:
... Even if Jezebel's editor were not terminally mathematically challenged (and this is putting the case very mildly) the basic premises that underlie the thrust (so to speak) of her utero-call-to-arms are patently absurd.

After listing out a litany of drugstore and prescription items ranging from cranberry juice to toilet paper our heroine tacks the annual expense for a pair of ovaries at between $2,663.02 and $4,228.02.

Taking this decidedly amateurish analysis at face value, by implication this puts the present value of my vagina's ten-year discounted cash flow at between -$17,949.96 and -$28,498.77, or about on par with a Chevy Volt.

With the 10 year treasury yielding 2.05%2 and an implied equity risk premium hovering around 5.85%3 I use a 7.90% discount rate for my vagina here. This is befitting my highly conservative valuation approach as one could easily make the case that cost of capital for a vagina far from the end of its useful life is extremely low given the exceedingly strong borrowing power one commands on the highly liquid (as it were) global vagina market.

Certainly, the beta for long maturity AAA, AA, or A rated vagina vis-a-via the S&P 500 would be under 1.00, but I use 1.00 here. One can verify the conservative nature of these figures simply by observing the fact that top quartile and 1SD vaginas are effectively "same as cash" in most global (meat) markets with friday and saturday trading days.

In addition, there are active vagina futures and options markets with high open interest (forgive the jargon), particularly around the contracts with January 1st and February 14th expiration dates and those that fall near investment bank bonus seasons. (Unfortunately, a discussion of the vagina swap market and vaginal rehypothecation is beyond the scope of this piece). ...
Go read the whole humorous thing here.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Perpetuum Jazzile performs a Bee Gees medley:

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter

Wishing everyone a happy and blessed Easter as we celebrate the glorious Resurrection of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ -- He is risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Below, a rendition of G.F. Handel's Hallelujah Choris, from Andre Rieu's "Live From Radio City Music Hall" in New York City 2004, with the Johann Strauss Orchestra and the Harlem Gospel Choir:

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's solemn musical interlude - The Deer's Cry, also known as the Lorica (Breastplate) of St. Patrick:

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Way back home

Tonight's bike travel video - Danny MacAskill takes a trip from Edinburgh back to his hometown Dunvegan, in the Isle of Skye:

Monday, April 2, 2012

Let Calcutta surprise you

Tonight's hand-puppet video (try watching full screen):

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Cost saving

Tonight's cost-saving video, airline edition:

Friday, March 30, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Manfred Mann's Mighty Quinn:

Thursday, March 29, 2012

First dance

Tonight's wedding first dance video - meet Stephanie and Julien:

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Jewish Bra Shopping

Tonight's Jewish lingerie humor:

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Slinky workout

Tonight's workout video, slinky edition:

Monday, March 26, 2012

Flying rays

Tonight's ocean life video, courtesy BBC One:

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's a capella musical interlude - Perpetuum Jazzile performs Rosanna:

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Sweet dragon

Tonight's candy art - sugar painting a dragon:

Friday, March 23, 2012

Invisible car, Mercedes-Benz edition

Tonight's invisible auto:

Thursday, March 22, 2012

All alone in the night, Space Station edition

Tonight's time-lapse video - night video from the International Space Station, including some great aurora sequences:

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Taking shotgunning to a whole new level

Tonight's shotgunning video - shooting the "Gnat":

From the video's description:
... GNAT offers a new and exciting challenge for shooting enthusiasts with a target like no other, a radio controlled aircraft, capable of speeds up to 80 mph. It zips by, shows a flash of its belly and pulls up into a steep climb. With each hit, it sets off a pyrotechnic charge, a puff of smoke and keeps flying. ...


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - A Capella group Perpetuum Jazzile performs Killing Me Softly:

Monday, March 19, 2012

Rope swinger

Tonight's rope swing video, sandstone arch version - filmed at Corona Arch, in Moab, Utah:



Behind the scenes video:

Sunday, March 18, 2012

How to tie your shoelaces

Tonight's remedial how-to video:

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Romney surges in polls after flaunting wealth

Tonight's political satire, Republican primary edition, courtesy of The Onion:

Friday, March 16, 2012

Date Night, Rube Goldberg edition

Tonight's date night video:

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - James Taylor, Steve Martin and others rehearse Foggy Mountain Breakdown for the gala celebrating the 120th Anniversary of Carnegie Hall last year:

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Aurora

Tonight's aurora borealis video (try watching in full screen mode):

From the video's description:
... Shot in and around Kirkenes and Pas National Park bordering Russia, at 70 degree north and 30 degrees east. Temperatures around -25 Celsius. Good fun. ...

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Scared crows

Tonight's commercial humor - not your average scarecrow:

Monday, March 12, 2012

Cell phones in church

Tonight's cell phone free worship service:

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Fun with airsoft

Tonight's airsoft project:

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - the Kruger Brothers' Forever and a Day:

Friday, March 9, 2012

Trunk Monkey

Tonight's optional auto accessory:

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Ping pong toddler

Tonight's ping pong video:

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Tides of March

Tonight's high tide video, from the Bay of Fundy:

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Big bore

Tonight's "Who's afraid of a little recoil?" video - shooting the .950 JDJ rifle, billed as the largest caliber centerfire rifle ever built - weighing in at 50 lbs, firing a 2,400 grain bullet via 240 grains of powder:




My shoulder hurts just looking at the video.

Monday, March 5, 2012

How to make an entrance at a movie premiere

Tonight's flashy entrance - Navy SEALs parachute in to the premiere of Act of Valor:

Here's a first person point-of-view:




And one from the ground:




A trailer for the movie:

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's brief musical interlude - How Mountain Girls Can Love, by the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys:

From the video's description:
A bedroom practice of Ralph Stanley's How Mountain Girls Can Love. Brothers Jonny Mizzone age 9 on banjo, Robbie Mizzone age 12 on fiddle, and Tommy Mizzone age 14 on guitar. Jonny is playing a Huber Vintage VRB-75 Banjo.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Elephant Picasso

Tonight's artistic elephant, from Thailand:

From the video's description:
Watch this elephant paint a beautiful image of an elephant holding a flower. You'll be amazed at how her talent unfolds as she carefully completes each stroke. Her mahout talks to her throughout the process as his gentle touch gives her confidence. She focuses on her work and seems to enjoy the approval of the audience and, of course, the sugar cane and banana treats. All of her training has been reward based. ...

Friday, March 2, 2012

That's like, so, you know, totally uncool

Tonight's language rant, courtesy poet and comedian Taylor Mali:

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Training flight

Tonight's Navy aviation training video - according to the video's description, footage from a fighter detachment at NASWI (Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, in Washington State) with VFA-204:

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Temporal distortion

Tonight's time lapse video (try watching in full-screen mode):

From the video's description:
What you see is real, but you can't see it this way with the naked eye. It is the result of thousands of 20-30 second exposures, edited together to produce the timelapse. This allows you to see the Milky Way, Aurora and other Phenonmena, in a way you wouldn't normally see them.

In the opening "Dakotalapse" title shot, you see bands of red and green moving across the sky. After asking several Astronomers, they are possible noctilucent clouds, airglow or faint Aurora. I never got a definite answer to what it is. You can also see the red and green bands in other shots.

At :53 and 2:17 seconds into the video you see a Meteor with a Persistent Train. Which is ionizing gases, which lasted over a half hour in the cameras frame. Phil Plait wrote an article about the phenomena here blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/10/02/a-meteors-lingering-tale/
There is a second Meteor with a much shorter persistent train at 2:51 in the video. This one wasn't backlit by the moon like the first, and moves out of the frame quickly.

The Aurora were shot in central South Dakota in September 2011 and near Madison, Wisconsin on October 25, 2011.

Watch for two Deer at 1:27

Most of the video was shot near the White River in central South Dakota during September and October 2011, there are other shots from Arches National Park in Utah, and Canyon of the Ancients area of Colorado during June 2011. ...

Monday, February 27, 2012

Heavy machinery, delicate work

Tonight's deft excavator operator:

Sunday, February 26, 2012

How it's made, wheel edition

Tonight's how-it's-made video - steel racing wheels:

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude mashup - Queen's Fat Bottomed Girls + The Beatles' Come Together:

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Iron, wrought

Tonight's wrought iron video:

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Finger artist

Tonight's nimble-fingered artist:

Monday, February 20, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Chris Thile and How to Grow a Band From the Ground performs at the 2007 Joe Val Bluegrass Festival:

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Fishing under ice

Tonight's upside down video, from under the ice at Lake Saarijärvi in Vaala, Finland (try watching full screen):

Saturday, February 18, 2012

The joy of books

Tonight's animated bookstore - filmed at the Type Bookstore in Toronto:

Friday, February 17, 2012

Hello

Tonight's Lionel Richie song, movie collage version:

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Federer trick shot redux

Tonight's don't-try-this-at-home video - Andy Murray and James Corden, of the UK TV show A League of Their Own, attempts to recreate Roger Federer's William Tell trick shot:




Here's the original Roger Federer video:

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Robot meets Rubik's Cube

Tonight's robotics video - an automated Rubik's Cube solver sets a new Guinness World Record:

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Musical interlude

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

Monday, February 13, 2012

Fast hotel

Tonight's quick construction project - building a 30-story hotel in 360 hours using pre-fabricated materials:

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Word as image

Tonight's lexicographical video:

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Machete slingshot

Tonight's machete slingshot:

Friday, February 10, 2012

A real page turner

Tonight's Rube Goldberg page-turning contraption:

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Another blond public school graduate

Tonight's blond humor:

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

When bungee cords fail

Tonight's reason not to go bungee jumping - an Australian woman goes bungee jumping near Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe:

Raw footage (language NSFW):




Luckily she survived - here she is in an interview about the fall:

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Spray on clothing

Tonight's aerosol fashion:

Monday, February 6, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, Op. 11, performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra:

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Close calls

Tonight's close calls:

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Superbowl car ads

Tonight's look at some Superbowl ads, automotive edition:





Friday, February 3, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Florence and the Machine's Cosmic Love:

Thursday, February 2, 2012

The Pyro Board

Tonight's musical flames:

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

A short history of the modern calendar

Tonight's history video:

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Who's your favorite?

Tonight parental favorite:

Monday, January 30, 2012

Time is nothing

Tonight's time lapse video (try watching it in full screen mode) - Time is Nothing - Around the World Time Lapse: 17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs. One incredible journey.:

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Somebody that I used to Know, by Walk Off the Earth:

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Your flight, from your baggage's perspective

Tonight's passenger travel video, from your bag's point-of-view:

Friday, January 27, 2012

Not good at parking? There's an app for that

Tonight's parking assistant:

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Polite distances

Tonight's etiquette video:

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

100 Years in 10 Minutes

Tonight's history video recap:

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Rollerman

Tonight's extreme sports video - "Rollerman" Jean Yves Blondeau:

Monday, January 23, 2012

Move

Tonight's travel video - a guy travels the world and splices together one second of video from each location:

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Jarrod Radnich plays his original arrangement of themes from Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean":

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Maybe she's born with it ... or maybe it's Fotoshop

Tonight's digital image-manipulation video satire - Fotoshop by Adobé:

Friday, January 20, 2012

The higher the heels, the bigger the fall

Tonight's catwalk fashion model video:

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Lobsters... Whoa!

Tonight's cute kid reaction:

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Best of 2011

Tonight's best-of compilation:

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Dance like nobody's watching

Tonight's laundromat dancer, Angela Trimbur - in a laundromat in Echo Park, CA:

Monday, January 16, 2012

The Three Little Pigs, Shakespeare edition

Tonight's fairy tale, in the manner of The Bard:

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Snowboarding

Tonight's best-of compilation - snowboarding videos: