Archive for the ‘really cool’ Category

Glass Blowing in Tacoma!!!

January 10th, 2010 by joey | 1 Comment | Filed in Fun, Life, Uncategorized, really cool

We spent New Years in Portland and Seattle with Katrina’s family this year. One of the things we did, is a little glass blowing at Tacoma Glass Blowing Studio. It was AWESOME!!! If you are ever in Tacoma, you should definitely do this! There is probably a glass blowing studio near you that may offer something like this as well. Definitely worth the money.

The Blow Tubes

They are kept hot because glass doesn’t stick to cold things.

Rolling The Glass into a cylinder

Heating the glass again

Rolling on the color!

Rolling colored glass into the clear glass

Adding twists to swirl the colors before introducing the bubble

Rolling before introducing bubble

This is interesting, they cool the outside, to ensure that the walls of the glass are consistent. By adjusting the heat in different places, they can vary the way the bubble will expand in the glass.

Introducing the bubble!!

He blows into the tube, and then places his thumb over the hole. The heat in the piece, and in the pipe cause the air to expand, and force the bubble into the piece when it’s small (which is hard, just like starting to blow up a balloon.

Adding more glass

More glass is added before enlarging the piece further

Cooling the blow tube

The blow tube gets really hot since it goes in and out of the furnace and glory hole repeatedly. So it is cooled every now and then with this simple machine.

Shaping and Cooling the added glass.

More shaping, cooling, blowing, and enlongating.

Atlast! Glass blowing!

Creating a small hole in the top so that it can be turned into a Vase / Candy Jar.

Widening The Hole

Widening It More

And More

Shaping Body and Flattening Lip

Finish flattening of Lip, and final shaping.

That is a stack of wet newspaper he is using to shape and cool the body.

Shocking the glass at the joint with the blow tube with water so it breaks clean and easy there.

He actually did this in three places around the tube, but I only got the last one.

Breaking the piece off with a few taps.

He had to hit this one harder than the others. With them, it was one very light tap on the blow tube, and the piece broke free.

And The Finished Piece!

Redneck Waterskiing = Mudhole + Trackhoe + Waterskis

December 28th, 2009 by joey | No Comments | Filed in Ingenuity, Life, funny, really cool

Only rednecks have so little hesitation to on the spot innovation.

I love being from SC.

Wheres My Cell Phone.com

December 26th, 2009 by joey | 1 Comment | Filed in Ingenuity, Life, really cool

This is an awesome site. Have you misplaced your phone? Just go here, enter your number, and they call your phone for you (I’ve used it a few times, this morning, my phone was under my pillow, I never would have found it). It’s free, and fast.

http://www.wheresmycellphone.com

Jenga Blocks for big Kids

December 19th, 2009 by joey | 3 Comments | Filed in Ingenuity, really cool

Today, I spent the afternoon in Perry’s shop and we emerged with 3 complete supersized Jenga sets for big kids.

Supersized Jenga

We made two different sizes. Two sets with 2×4′s, and one set with 2×3′s. Total cost is about $15 – $20 per set for the wood.

The 2×3′s are the correct proportion for the blocks. We did sand the edges down (a nice bench top belt sander from Harbor Freight ($60) made quicker work of those steps).

The game is awesome. It plays a lot like the small version, only it is more obvious when the tower is falling. I think it is way more fun.

AND! The blocks are good for more than just Jenga…

A Simetrical Multi Story block building.

My beutiful wife behind our picaso of blocks.

Instructions for building Jenga Blocks for Big Kids from 2x4s

Jenga consists of 18 rows of 3 blocks each. So, you need a total of 54 blocks. 2×4 dimensions vary slightly from state to state, so you will need to measure the width of 3 2×4′s to get the exact length you need, but for us, it was 10 1/2″. This meant we needed 7 8′ 2x4s. Cut all the 2×4′s to the same length. (You NEED a chop saw to do this) Set a stop on the saw so that you don’t have to mark or measure each cut. With the stop in place, you can cut all 7 2x4s in about 10 – 15 minutes. Once you have cut all the pieces, sand the edges to remove splinters and you’re done!

Instructions for building Jenga Blocks for Big Kids out of 2×3′s

Repeat above procedure, our length came out to be 7 1/2″.

Why you NEED sunlight lamps

November 24th, 2009 by joey | No Comments | Filed in Happy Living, Ingenuity, Life, really cool

Lightbulbs… A wonderful invention that’s been around for over a hundred years. Did you know how many different times Edison tried to make the lightbulb and learned how not to suceed? The numbers vary from 100 to 10000. I suspect it’s somewhere in the middle. Imagine, something as simple as the lightbulb we all know just waiting to be discovered.

A few years ago, I begin investigating different ways of overcoming a bad mood. I was in Salt Lake during a winter, and felt absolutely terrible. I did some reading and learned that the sun makes us happy. Amazing. Someone told me it is because the Sun creates Vitamin D, which affects seratonin uptake or something like that. Anyways, there is lots of supporting evidence that sunlight make people happy.

Enter… The sunlight lamp… Light is usually measured by it’s “temperature” see: Color Temperature. In a color temperature scale, you have incandescent lights at one end, and sunlight at the other. Incandescent light is yellow… (Because the light is generated by a glowing hot piece of wire, duh). Whereas sunlight bulbs are bright white light. They vary from 5000k to 6500k in color temperature.

Sunlight lamps are so good at re-producing sunlight, that when my wife and I first got one (A 200W huge desk lamp), we plugged it in and my brain said “Whoa! Where’s the window that all of this light is coming from?” And I turned my head to look out the “window” before I realized it was the lamp… Now, I feel my mood lessen when I walk from a room lit by sunlight lights and a room lit by regular lights.

So, how much does it cost?? Home Depot has a good selection of lights. Look on the box, and try to get ones that are 5500k, they have a lot of cheaper 5000k, these are good, but 5500k are better. It’s about $5 for a 60W equivilant 5000k light, but they are CFL’s, so they last forever anyways. If you buy one light a month you’ll have all the lights in your hose replaced before long! I suspect that as they get more popular (which they will) eventually they will be almost the same cost as regular CFL’s and the good 5500k ones will be just a few dollars each.

So, are you stressed? Wish you were a little happier? Or, just curious? However you feel, you’ll feel better with sunlight lamps, and you’ll never go back.

Emotiv, Allows you to control your computer with your mind.

November 14th, 2009 by joey | No Comments | Filed in Hacks, Ingenuity, Life, really cool

Imagine being able to control your game character with your mind. Or, fly an airplane by thinking. Well, the enabling technology to do this can now be purchased and used by anyone.

Emotiv EPOC Headset

Woman wearing headset

I first saw this technology when I was about 10 years old, on an episode of NOVA. A man had built a special EEG headband and a wireless link that allowed him to steer his yacht just by thinking. The military has investigated the technology but deemed it not beneficial for their uses.

I did a few simple experiments myself to try to make it work, but I didn’t have sensitive enough equipment. But! Emotiv invested in the technology and has made it work. Interestingly the headset is much better at detecting emotions then specific thoughts or intentions. I imagine games may emerge that allow your character to fly when you are happy, and be a terror when you are angry. Whether this will help people learn to control their emotions or create a generation of murdering psycho paths is yet to be seen. Emotiv has also added gyroscope controls similar to the Wii so that your computer can tell where your head is.

Check it out here!

The Coolest Spud Guns You Will Ever See

September 12th, 2009 by joey | No Comments | Filed in Hacks, Ingenuity, really cool

Spudfiles.com hosts an annual competition with prizes for the coolest and most innovative spud gun design. This years top five are sweet!

Spudfiles.com winners.

Tactical Interballistic Tennis Ball System

Details, including schematics and plans.

The Challenger

(This is essentialy a powerful large caliber rifle.)

Details

14mm Automatic Air Rifle

(Another Large (Larger) Bore Air Rifle)
(No Video Posted Yet)
Details

Cobra Striker

Details

MMSIPH-10 MK 1

(This is an ultra high velocity air gun.) 1500+ fps… Will Shoot AA Batteries, or Big Nails, Or whatever else you can put in it… And, because it’s muzzle loading, it is not a firearm. This one gets my vote.

(A AA at 1000 FPS againsta milk jug.) Faster and MUCH More Energy than a 12Ga Slug.
Details

Belgium Dancers Take Over Trainstation

July 20th, 2009 by joey | No Comments | Filed in Life, funny, really cool

YouTube – A new way to be heard – United Breaks Guitars

July 14th, 2009 by joey | No Comments | Filed in Life, funny, really cool

At Infusionsoft we are focusing even more on listening to customers, and this morning our support leader sent this around as a funny example of what can happen when you aren’t compassionate to your customers (courtesy of United Airlines). My sister told me about it Sunday, and so I figured I had to post it. Enjoy.

And the follow up.

Read The complete Story

Tower Defense Games

July 4th, 2009 by joey | No Comments | Filed in Life, really cool

So, I got an iPhone recently, and there was this one game everyone said I had to get “Field Runners”. I got it, and it was so totally awesome. I would try to tell other people about it, and 3 or 4 people said “Oh, is it a tower defense game?” And, I was like “huh? what’s that?”

Come to find out, tower defense games are TOTALLY AWESOME!! It’s like a RTS game that you don’t need anyone else to play. And NO RESOURCE HARVESTING. Just build, the more units you destroy the more you can build. Just balance your resources, and put the right defense in the right place. Just like field runner. Here are some quick links to tower defense games:

Flash Tower Defense Games

Flash Element TD
Frontline Defense First Assault
Onslaught(More Technical, but harder to play)

Tower Defense Strategy

Put defenses where they can cover the most enemy units possible. If the enemy loops around and comes back by the defense, it gets to fire upon them for twice as long. So if the trail is fixed, pick a good spot. If you can manipulate where the enemy must tread, make them pass by powerful defenses as long as possible.
Build what you can when you need it. There’s no point saving lots of resources to buy the biggest baddest defense up front. If you do that, you’ll get steam rolled. Progress from one level of unit to the next until you can afford that big bad super gun.
Upgrade!!! Almost all tower defense games provide a way to upgrade units. Usualy this is more effecient then building new units. Frequently a fully upgraded unit is twice as powerful or more as the base unit. Upgrading also makes better use of ground space, and allows for denser defensive power.