Daily Shot of Awesome

Daily Shot of Black Holes!

2010-09-30T00:31:00.000-04:00

I thought this video was pretty sweet. I love watching videos about the Universe and the awesome stuff that we are discovering every day. Let me know what you think!

Daily Shot of Extraterrestrial Life Info!

2010-09-28T23:10:00.000-04:00

After the jump will be two articles about recent UFO/Extraterrestrial related stuff that has happened recently... I am neither confirming nor denying my personal belief in UFOs, but I do think that readers might be interested in the reads! Let me know what you think.

Are we about to get full disclosure about the presence of UFOs on Earth?
By Annalee Newitz

This morning in Washington, DC, several former US military officers confirmed in a press conference that they had witnessed UFOs tampering with US nuclear missile control sites.

This press conference took place at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

In these speeches, excerpted below, we hear about a 1967 UFO sighting in Montana, at a nuclear missile launch control facility. We hear about a 30-foot diameter object, covered in glowing red light, that was hovering outside the perimeter fence around the facility. It made no noise. Shortly thereafter, the missiles in the facility became "unlaunchable;" they had mysteriously shut down. It was called a "guidance and control system failure." Nobody at the base knew how to explain the event, and they were ordered never to talk about it. This was ultimately dubbed the "Echo Flight Incident."

Below we hear from two more witnesses about how the Air Force was telling officers with sufficient clearance that UFOs were interfering with nuclear missile sites. We also learn that Boeing was investigating UFOs in the 1970s, and were asked by the Air Force to stop doing it. Apparently a number of the UFOs were over Montana. We also hear that these UFOs were apparently common enough that the Air Force actually had a protocol for dealing with them. One person says he and his team witnessed a UFO landing in a canyon in Montana.

Given the appointment of an ambassador to extraterrestrials at the U.N. last week, we can't help but wonder whether we're on the cusp of a full disclosure from the US government that they've been in contact with creatures from other worlds.

At the end of the press conference this morning, a UFO researcher speculated that perhaps aliens were expressing concern that nukes could destroy the human race, or the planet. But the fact is, if these UFOs are piloted by aliens, nobody really knows what they're doing. One witness testified that he'd been told that the government had been in contact with aliens but that nobody knew what they wanted - the aliens had explained nothing, and given no signs of being interested in communicating further.

Via

Also...

UN Names Official Space 'Host'
By Todd Venezia

E.T. -- phone the UN!

If an alien ever lands in your back yard and says, "Take me to your leader," the United Nations is giving you someone to call.

Mazlan Othman, an obscure Malaysian scientist, will be named as the Earth's official alien-spacecraft greeter. She's expected to announce her new role at a conference next week.

While Hollywood and most Americans assume the president of the United States would speak to aliens on behalf of earthlings, the United Nations thinks real extraterrestrials should get a more globalized response.
Othman, head of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, backs that view.

"The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that someday humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials," she said in a recording of a recent speech, reported by the Sunday Times of London.

"When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination."

At the upcoming conference in Britain, Othman is expected to tell delegates that the recent discovery of hundreds of planets around other stars has made the detection of extraterrestrial life more likely than ever before -- and that means the United Nations must be ready to coordinate humanity's response to any "first contact."

Othman is an astrophysicist who got her Ph.D. in New Zealand.

Scientists who work with her say her job is essentially to be the mouthpiece for mankind.

"Othman is absolutely the nearest thing we have to a 'Take me to your leader' person," said professor Richard Crowther, a space law expert with the United Kingdom Space Agency.

Alien arrivals aren't the only cinematic-style issues that Othman's office investigates.

It's also in charge of deciding what to do if a deadly asteroid is found to be on a collision course with Earth.

The last UN official picked as Earth's official mouthpiece provoked controversy.

In 1977, two Voyager spacecraft went into space with recordings that were meant to be a message from Earth to intelligent life in the galaxy.

The voice on the message, however, belonged to then UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, who was later discovered to have been an enthusiastic member of the Nazi party during World War II.

Via

Daily Shot of Minecraft Awesomness!

2010-09-28T19:37:00.001-04:00

I don't personally play Minecraft, but WOW - this is amazing... I am not sure what the dimensions are for the "life-size" one, but this is apparently a 1:1 replica. Let me know what you think!

Via

Daily Shot of Thank You's!

2010-09-28T15:07:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to post a quick and sincere thank you to my followers - your comments inspire me to keep finding cool and funny stuff to share with the world! I look forward to keeping you entertained long into the future... Let me know if there is anything you'd like me to find or post about and I will do my best to provide it. Thanks!

Daily Shot of Han Solo Music Video Spoofs!

2010-09-27T17:41:00.001-04:00

I don't remember where I saw this video first, but I had it bookmarked and wanted to share it with the world. It's one of the better done fake music videos I have seen in a long time... Enjoy! Look forward to your comments.

Daily Shot of... Oopsies...

2010-09-27T01:30:00.000-04:00

Heya folks - I just wanted to drop by and apologize for not posting today - split and hauled/stacked 3 cords of wood today and was too exhausted afterward to find/come up with anything cool. I will be back tomorrow with new stuff for you all!

If you are looking for something neat to check out until my next post, check out my investing blog at http://investingwithearl.blogspot.com/! It's just starting out and has quite the following as well as some great information.

Daily Shot of MacGyver and Star Trek (YouTube Edition)

2010-09-25T23:56:00.002-04:00

Hey there folks... It has come to my attention that FULL episodes of MacGyver and Star Trek are available to watch on YouTube... For those of you that are bored and may happen to like either show... You're welcome :-D. I don't know how long ago this became available, but it's news to me and might be news to you all.

MacGyver

Star Trek

Daily Shot of Criminal Parrots!

2010-09-25T11:21:00.000-04:00

A parrot in Colombia has been arrested after it was seized during a police drugs raid.

According to environmental authorities, Lorenzo the parrot was trying to tip-off a local drug cartel when officers conducted an undercover raid early Wednesday.

"This parrot was sending out alerts," said police officer Hollman Oliveira. "You could say he was some sort of watch bird."

Authorities claim Lorenzo is one of nearly 1700 parrots seized by officials after being trained by drug traffickers to act as lookouts.

Lorenzo caused quite the stir on Wednesday as he was presented to journalists. The well trained creature even showed off his look out skills as he yelled out: "run, run you are going to get caught."

"He spent the whole morning saying that," police Colonel Freddy Veloza told RCN television.

Despite Lorenzo's attempts, Veloza's officers still managed to seize more than two-hundred weapons, a stolen motorcycle and a large quantity of marijuana.

At least four men and two other birds were also arrested in the raids.

Daily Shot of... Colorful Shots!

2010-09-24T14:11:00.001-04:00

This video is pretty amazing... Anyone know what the secret to making color-changing shots is? Could use this sorcery at my next gathering!

Protip: It's probably drops of food coloring in the actual shot glasses, but I am open to the more "magical" explanations of my visitors!

Daily Shot of Homemade Coil Guns!

2010-09-23T23:22:00.008-04:00

Ok, this video is amazing! If you thought the mini cannons were cool - check this out! Technical specs and links after the jump!

By the way - if you like investing information, check out my other blog!

After 2 long years of on-and-off work my coilgun project is finally completed. For anyone who doesn't know what a coilgun is, it's a gun that fires a projectile with magnetic force instead of gunpowder. The projectile from this gun won't kill a person, but the electrical energy stored in the capacitors is 78 times the lethal amount for human beings so this is no toy.

Some technical data:

- Action: single stage, bolt
- Power supply: 12V NiMH battery (fires about 15 times/charge)
- Charging: 40 watt regulated ZVS flyback driver (charge time ~30s)
- Capacitor bank: 4x 3900uF @ 400VDC
- Stored electrical energy: ~1.25kJ
- Switch: SCR
- Efficiency: unknown, probably 1-3%
- Body: lightweight ABS plastic pipe and sheets

Pictures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovSVYK...
Discuss: http://4hv.org/e107_plugins/forum/for...

***Answers to commonly asked questions***

Q: What is the projectile speed/energy?
A: I don't know yet. I'll post what it is once I have the equipment to measure it (speed trap, scale).

Q: Will a smaller projectile result in better efficiency?
A: No, a smaller projectile won't be able to absorb as much magnetic flux as a larger projectile, due to a phenomenon known as magnetic saturation (Wikipedia it!)

Q: Will multiple coil stages improve power/efficiency?
A: Yes! I only have one stage on this design for the sake of simplicity.

Q: Will rifling in the barrel improve accuracy?
A: No- not at these projectile speeds. A projectile has to be moving at a certain speed before rifling is effective.

Q: How do you claim 1.25kJ of energy?
A: 1.25kJ is the electrical energy stored in the capacitors, according to the equation E = 0.5*C*V^2. For this gun, C=15600uF and V=400V, thus E = 1248J. One of the main drawbacks for coilguns is EFFICIENCY, which, for single-stage hobbyist designs (like mine) is limited to about 3%. So if we assume a 3% efficiency, the kinetic energy (delivered to target by projectile) is in the area of 37J, which is much more than a bb gun but much less than a real gun. I don't have the equipment to measure the exact kinetic energy, but as soon as I do I will report it. Thanks!

Via

Daily Shot of the Future (of Books...)

2010-09-23T10:46:00.003-04:00

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

I don't know about you all, but this conceptual video about the future of books is pretty damn amazing... I am stunned.

The full article after the jump:

Today IDEO released a five-minute video exploring the future of digital books. Their illustrated concepts highlight some interesting opportunity areas in the publishing industry through three distinct reading experiences:

Nelson reinforces books as critical thinking tools, providing multiple perspectives, references, and current conversations on a single subject. The layers of information beyond the book itself provide greater context and encourages a deeper dive into the book throughout history and into the future.

Coupland addresses the challenge to stay on top of the thinking and writing in our world and professional field that so many of us feel. Readers can easily keep up with "must-reads" by following what colleagues are reading and interact with them through "book clubs" and other social layers (discussions, suggestions, lists, purchases) to help each other share and learn.
Alice explores new ways for users to interact and affect written narratives by introducing non-linear and game mechanics to reading. By introducing the reader's active participation, this concept "blurs the lines between reality and fiction." Certain interactions allow the reader to transcend traditional media by utilizing geographic location, communication with characters, and user contribution to storyline and plot.
The Future of the Book from IDEO on Vimeo.

A very cool blue sky project from IDEO to say the least. I enjoyed the way they chose to compartmentalize the functionality rather than attempting to redefine the book in a single all-inclusive interface (a failure we see in most of these concept projects). This project, and examples appearing all over the industry, only further prove that the future of books in the digital age does not lie in single solution but rather a utilization of technology to better address the wants and needs of users to share, interact, and learn more through specialized design solutions. We are certainly on the precipice of a whole new world for this morphed understanding of the "book."

If you are interested in hearing more about IDEO's project, check out the interview with two of the project's designers, Duane Bray and Robert Lenne, on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show. There's also a conversation about the topic going on over at IDEO's Facebook page.

Video and photos from IDEO.

Daily Shot of Purple Octopus Cuteness

2010-09-23T09:20:00.001-04:00

Quite possibly the cutest octopus ever found. Look at that thing!

Via: Here

Daily Shot of Mini Cannons Breaking Stuff! (Part 2)

2010-09-22T10:49:00.002-04:00

Part 2 of the cannon videos. This thing is simply amazing. Imagine what you could do if you had one...

Daily Shot of Mini Cannons Breaking Stuff!

2010-09-21T00:05:00.001-04:00

This is simply amazing! Check it out. Will post part 2 in a bit. I wish I had this thing!

Daily Shot of Content Suggestions!

2010-09-20T21:44:00.004-04:00

I am relatively new to the blogging environment, so I am asking for content, design and formatting suggestions in comments if any viewer has any. This will help me figure out what you, the viewer wants and will give me new, exciting information to post! Thanks in advance.

In return - here's a tutorial on how to properly fold a shirt.

Daily Shot of Tool - Schism!

2010-09-20T18:51:00.001-04:00

Daily Shot of Introductions!

2010-09-20T00:56:00.001-04:00

This blog is going to be a work on progress - I am going to try to update it daily and slowly work on the format and look to be more appealing. Thank you for your interest. Suggestions are appreciated!