Where the Hell is Matt?

Here is my seemingly obligatory post linking to the wildly popular "Where the Hell is Matt?" video on YouTube. I've seen earlier versions of this Matt-dancing-around-in-various-places-in-the-world video, but this one seems to be the most recent version, and is quite impressive in terms of the number of locations he has visited. And if you are wondering, as I was, about the song playing during the video, here is another video that uses the song ("Praan" by Garry Schyman) and currently has a comment with the following translation of the Bengali lyrics:
I will not easily forget
The life that stirs in my soul
Hidden amidst Death
That infinite Life

I hear you in the thunder
A simple tune
A tune to which I will arise (3x)

And in that storm of happiness
As your music plays in your mind
The whole wide world
Dances to your rhythm

Houses made of Bottles

My friend Basia has posted some impressive photos of a house in Canada made in part from glass bottles. I would not have imagined such a thing existed. Impressive enough from the outside, but then when you see that bottles still exist inside, protruding in from the walls... pretty strange!

Iranian Censorship

Yet another interesting series of photos from the Amazing Things site. This one is Iranian Censorship: How Famous Magazines Look in Iran. Assuming this is true... it really is amazing indeed.

Earth at Night Photos

Here is a view of our planet that I've not seen often. I've seen night images before, but always of smaller portions of the landscape, not the entire globe. These really make clear what parts of the world are both populated and developed.

Germs, good and bad

The March 2008 issue of Wired provided an interesting one page look at the microbes typically found in the human body. Yikes... these numbers are large!

That's a Lot of Penguins

I've certainly never seen photos of this many penguins before!

Drawing on Feathers

The Amazing Things blog has impressive photos of drawing/painting on feathers. I've never seen this before, or even imagined one could do such fine work on something so fragile.

Frozen Grand Central

This video at YouTube is incredible! I've seen other such cool mob-actions before... I believe this is an instance of a Flash Mob. This would have been great to witness first hand. I especially like the guy on the phone who is complaining that he can't drive through where he needs to go, until they people start moving again and he basically says "oh, nevermind!". Pretty funny...

Blue Eyes? Then apparently we are related!

USA Today had an interesting article recently (another copy of the article ran here). Research published in the journal Human Genetics found that every person with blue eyes descends from just one "founder", an ancestor whose genes mutated 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.

I have blue eyes -- so if you do too, then we are apparently distant relatives.

Middle Earth Candy Model

My friend Chris forwarded me this link for a candy-based model of a Tolkien battle scene. Lots of photos with captions are provided, as well as a video tour. Impressive!

Ice Sculptures and Snow Flakes

Courtesy of the Amazing Things blog, here are some impressive ice sculptures, and photos of snowflakes.

Amazing Doghouses and Roads

Two of the most recent posts over at Amazing Things are worthy of note. First, we have several amazing doghouses. And then we have some amazing roads -- my favorite is the complicated junction.

Photos of Africa, again

In a previous posting I noted some great photos that my friend and colleague Basia took during her recent trip to Africa. The ones linked in that posting were her "top 5" items. But in the weeks that followed she uploaded dozens of additional great photo-series covering all kinds of animals of Africa, and assorted other aspects of her trip. Her photos and descriptions have made for fascinating viewing and reading. Check out her dozens of blog postings from September and October for all of them, or if time is short, here are my four favorites (hard to choose):

• African Birds: Superb Starlings -- a very deep blue!
• African Birds: Secretary Bird -- possibly the strangest bird I've ever seen a photo of!
• African Birds: Kingfishers -- more bright colors!
• Africa: Primates -- the last two photos here are must see... classic!

Winter Is Coming

Winter is coming to Rochester. No snow yet, but I can feel the change in the air.

Hopefully we won't have problems like these folks had: see these incredible ice photos over at the Amazing Things blog.

A Test for Right Brain, Left Brain Dominance?

Here is something interesting... a personal test for right-brain vs left-brain dominance. (Thanks to Rational Jenn for the link.)

Susan saw this first, showed it to me, and asked if I saw the woman as spinning clockwise or counter-clockwise. When I said clockwise, she said "What!!? No way!". According to this test, that means I am right-brain dominant. Susan saw it the other way, so that means she is left-brain dominant.

While I question some of the distinctions listed on that page (uses logic vs. uses feeling -- I use logic heavily!), there is some similarity between myself and what this page indicates are right-brain attributes. Most notably accurate for me I think are: big-picture oriented, present and future, philosophy and religion (obviously philosophy for me), spatial perception, presents possibilities. Some of the items in the left-brain functions list are definitely stronger in Susan than I, and overall the "left" list is more accurate of Susan and the "right" list is more accurate of me I would say -- so that is at least in line with the results of this test. But it isn't dead-on of course -- since Susan is a philosophy professor (right-brain list item), and I am considered very logical and am a writer both at work and for pleasure (both left-brain list items).

Regular Event: Train Through a Market in Bangkok

How is this for an apparently regular event... a train goes through what is otherwise a marketplace in Bangkok! This reminded me of a scene, somewhat different, from the movies Raiders of the Los Ark, where once Indiana takes control of the truck with the Ark, he is sheltered by the locals who quickly cover up where the truck has driven with market tables, fresh fruit stands, and so on. But this train scene is more interesting than that... since it is a) real, b) seemingly a regular occurrence involving the coordination of many people.

Amazing Animals

Here is a great collection of photos of some amazing creatures.

Vicipaedia

Now here is something I wouldn't have thought of... a Latin version of Wikipedia. It is called Vikipaedia. Apparently this is a good place for people to practice their latin skills.

Photos of Africa

My friend and colleague Basia recently made a trip to Africa, to follow the wildebeest migration. She has been posting some incredible photos of her trip -- a "Top 5" series thus far. Here are the links to each post... enjoy!

• Flamingos
• Got Blood?
• Fresh Kill
• Wildebeest Migration
• Leopard

Arachnophobia, anyone?

A popular story in the news over the past few days has been the incredible spider web that has engulfed acres of land in North texas. Here is the typical story about it, from CNN. Then here is a larger version of the same photo shown at the CNN site. And I believe this YouTube video is of this same event, and so is this YouTube video.

An Amazing Fallingwater Animation

I've always been a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece Fallingwater. Several years ago we were in the Pittsburgh area and were able to tour it. Definitely worth a visit!

But if you can't make it anytime soon, here is a great 5-minute animation that gives you a virtual tour is really quite amazing. (Thanks to Neatorama for the link.)

Car Accidents and Cars that Should be Retired

Here are some impressive car and other vehicle accidents, and then here are some vehicles that its amazing are still functional.

Obviously the past few days I've been getting caught up on all the cool stuff that the Amazing Things blog provides. Check it out, as you might like some of the dozens of other entries more than the ones I've linked to here at my blog.

Lucky to be Alive!

Check out this YouTube video montage of near-disasters!

An Amazing Crystal Cave

See these photos of an amazing crystal cave in Mexico. I've been in many caves before, but they have all been of the standard stalagmite and stalactite variety, never one with impressive crystals like this.

How much did they feed these animals?

See this series of photos for some sadly obese pets. The photos made me laugh in amazement, but really these are sad to see. Yikes...

Unique Houses

See this series of photos of unique houses. Makes me wonder if they are also strange on the inside!

Transportation Marvels

Check out this series of photos of transportation marvels.

Most Dangerous Landing Fields

Check out this series of photos of some of the most dangerous landing fields. Yikes!

The Frothy Oceans

Check out this article and photos. Incredible.

Impressive Sand Art

Here are some impressive examples of Sand Art. I wonder how long some of these took to build? (Thanks to GeekPress for this.)

Amazing "Photosynth" Technology

Check out this video (or see it here at YouTube). Pretty impressive! The ability to zoom in so far on so much photographic data at once was amazing enough. But then when he switches to the ability to generate massive photographic images from dozens or hundreds of related images from Flickr, well, that is when the jaw hits the floor. If you can grok all of what he is saying while displaying this and afterwards (play it a few times if necessary), then you can see the potential that he sees for this kind of technology. Simply amazing!

When Bicycle Helmets Are Not Going To Help

This series of images, assuming they aren't faked via PhotoShop effects, are quite amazing.

Three-way Battle in the Wild

Check out this 8-minute video at YouTube, showing what turns out to be a three-way battle in the wild -- though mostly between lions and water buffalo, with some crocodiles only entering for a bit when they had an opportunity. I don't know how common it is for water buffalo to act this way (at the end of the video), but based on the comments from one of the voices (a guide of some kind), it sounds like it is rare.

CD Spindle Bagel Tote

Now this is a brilliant/obvious idea! One of those "why didn't I think of that?" moments for sure. Wouldn't work well for bagel sandwiches that have "stuff" (meat, lettuce, whatever) that spans across the middle hole. But if you have just cream cheese spread on the bread, or something similar, then this would work fine.

Otters Holding Hands

At the risk of people questioning my manhood, I must admit that this YouTube video is interesting. I don't know much about Otters, so I have no idea if this kind of thing is common, or whether it is common in other species either. At first I thought it was coincidence, but it seems pretty intentional... I mean, after they separate for a bit when they swim back around to each other the one reaches out to reconnect. Pretty cool...

Places to Sleep

My friend Basia has written a post with lots of pictures of all the places she has slept in the past three years. She travels a lot, so I suspect few people have slept in as many odd and exotic locations as she has! Check out her collection...

On Lock Bumping

Maybe I've just been entirely out of the loop, but the phenomenon of "Lock Bumping" was news to me. See this YouTube video (news report), and also the Wikipedia entry on this. Assuming this isn't some sort of scam, this is pretty scary stuff.

Better Body, Better Mind

The January issue of Wired's cover story, or series of stories, had some interesting bits in it. The story "The Perfect Human" about Dean Karnazes gave incredible details about what he has been able to accomplish as a long-distance runner, and includes some of his dietary and other practices. This guy ran 50 marathons in 50 days, will do 200 miles "just for fun", and races in all kinds of difficult conditions (e.g., 120 degree heat, high altitudes, and so on).

The "Run Faster" piece describes a far more "normal" person's quest to improve his one-mile run time from over 8 minutes to just six minutes -- but do so in just 4 weeks of training. And the similar "Be Smarter" describes another normal guy's quest to improve his intelligence after just 4 weeks of brain-training. Both of these articles provide ideas on self-improvement that are worth considering.

The Colors of India

My friend and colleague Basia Kruszewska has recently compiled together over a hundred photographs from her travels in India and other Asian countries. They are arranged by color... that is, by the significant color in each image. To start the photo tour, start with Red. Then you can click on each color box at the top of the page to see the other colors' pages. Good stuff!

Watch the iPhone Introduction from Steve Jobs

I recently blogged at great length about how excited I am at the recently announced Windows Home Server. In that posting I mention how the recently announced iPhone product from Apple was getting a lot of press, but that I thought WHS was deserving of more buzz than it has gotten (virtually none!). While I still think that is a fair statement, having now seen the iPhone Introduction Video where Steve Jobs officially unveiled their product, I must admit the iPhone looks mighty impressive. This is a long video (about 90 minutes!), but I found it to be worthwhile. Jobs demos most of the features of the new iPod + Cell Phone + More, so it gives you a great idea of what to expect in June when this thing is available (at least in the USA). To watch the video, go here and then click on "Watch iPhone Introduction".

I don't use a cellphone much, and I don't even have an iPod yet! I've been thinking about getting one recently, as I'm sure I'd use it (I still use a CD player for jogging for instance). But having seen this iPhone introduction, I'm getting excited about the future for these kinds of devices. A few random comments about the iPhone, and this Intro Video with Jobs in particular:

• The new scrolling interface for looking through phone contacts, and also for scrolling through your music, is really slick.
• The "pinch" to zoom interface for photos and so on is really slick too.
• The initial pricing at $499 and $599 will of course slow sales, and leaves open the market for other cellphones and the current line of iPods and other MP3 players.
• The ability to have internet widgets on the device -- like stock info, weather info, and google maps is quite nice.
• The Starbucks phone gag, where Jobs located and then called a local Starbucks, and ordered 4,000 lattes to go... that was kinda funny.

But for me, by far and away the "WOW!" moment of his entire presentation was seeing the full internet displayed on the 3.5 inch iPhone display. That is, the entire New York Times homepage -- not one created specifically for mobile devices -- but the same webpage you would see in your computer's web browser. Of course, you can't read it that small... but it was so easy to then ZOOM IN and view the page, I could definitely see reading web content on this device. And ditto for email -- I could see travellers using this for real email, not just short little emails composed on or for such small-screen devices. Because of the resizing capabilities, and the ability to quickly see it in landscape view, you could read real (long) emails on this thing. This Web and Email featureset, along with internet gadgets, is what really blew me away from the annoucement and demos.

Top YouTube Videos via IceRocket

I've discovered a very interesting website called IceRocket. It provides various blog-tracking and online-video-tracking mechanisms, but the thing that first attracted me to the site was its "Top YouTube Videos" listing page. Now, YouTube itself has a page that constantly updates the Most Popular videos. And sometimes funny and amazing videos that I like to see make it on that list. But very often it also includes things I don't care about. YouTube has its own "community" of diehard fans and regular users, and certain serial videos have become popular, perhaps most of "Lonelygirl15", which became famous enough to warrant a cover story in Wired magazine recently. Since I don't care about those kinds of videos, I need a list that would weed those ones out.

The IceRocket "Top YouTube Videos" page should do that. This page tries to track which videos are getting linked the most at blogs and the like, and such videos would most often be (I'm assuming) stuff that people find funny, amazing, or otherwise worth mentioning. The latest episode of Lonelygirl15 might get a lot of viewers at YouTube, and creates lots of commentary at that site amongst fans, but it isn't likely to get a lot of linking from bloggers saying "You gotta ee this video... its funny/cool/amazing!". I'm sure other sites are trying to track such videos-mentioned-on-blog trends, but I like IceRocket's attempt at this.

As of right now, here are several worthwhile videos currently making waves in the Top 30:

• Ice is Dangerous, Even in Portland - amazing long skids and accidents on icy roads.
• Stephen Colbert Explains the Whole AT&T Thing - Clip that makes fun of Telecom companies splitting and merging over the years.
• Pachelbel Rant - funny comedy/music performance about an overplayed and overused classic
• 100 Person Flashmob Randomly Chasing After People - This is GREAT!
• Freak Accident at Football Match - Wow... crazy wind blast.

Not only does this list provide great videos, but it'll be interesting to see, week to week, how some videos move up and down the chart. I plan to check this out weekly, and I'll probably post links to my favorites every now and then.

Don Parrish's Trip to 13 Countries in the Middle East

My friend Don Parrish went on a trip to 13 middle-eastern countries in 30 days this past fall. He is a member of the Travellers Century Club, which has a membership requirement that you have been to 100 or more countries! He recently posted his overview and highlights from this trip, which is a fascinating read with lots of great data about the countries he visited. See especially the section called "Overall Observations".

But that is not all... he is going to provide a separate report for each country he visited on this trip, complete with photos from each! He has started with Iraq, and if the others are anything like the one he tackled first, I can't wait to read them all.

And if you enjoy these trip reports, see his many others from over the years... starting with his outstanding one on his trip to North Korea (that's right... he went there recently... a rare event for an American). This one page is packed with so much great info and wonderful photos... a real gem. And see also his additional report on Arirang in North Korea, which includes amazing photos too.

Keep up the good work Don!

Photos of Dangerous Roads Around the World

These photos are amazing! Take a look at:

• The Most Dangerous Roads in the World
• Dangerous Roads of the World, Part 2

Thanks again to Stephen for the first link.

Incredible Dancing/Gymnastics

Here is a video I found of some pretty incredible dancing/gymnastics... seems to be located in a sports or shoe store. The beginning isn't that impressive, but watch the entire thing... I think by the end you too will be saying "Wow."



The Hole - video powered by Metacafe

Great Animal Photos

If you enjoyed the link I gave back in July for cool insect photos, then you might also enjoy these interesting animal photos (as before, thanks goes to Stephen Hicks for the link). Its hard for me to choose a favorite from this bunch, but perhaps it would be the last one -- Nick Dunlop's photo of the bird on the mossy post.

Coke and Mentos: Part 2

I just found a followup to the world famous Coke and Mentos video. Here they combine the same simple effect with domino theory, creating a very elaborate display using 251 coke bottles and over 1,000 Mentos. Wow...