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: