Straighten Up and Fly Right

This past January I reported my first drone flying crashing experience.

The weather has warmed but the rain and wind has been a too frequent visitor. Recently the air was mostly still on my deck but when I reached an open space in a nearby park the wind conditions were very different. I gave the drone a try anyway. The wind was pushing it around at will. After one hard landing I noticed I had cracked one of the four arms.

It was a fun challenge to repair it with tape and popsicle sticks. My "fix" didn't effect my flying. Still more hard landings than soft. However, I have increase my airtime between landings. The unpredictability of controlling it with wind and battery power has convinced me not to fly it around any crowds.  

No GPS, no live video streaming and no automatic avoidance system on my drone. Flying it requires constant eye contact with it.

(oh I found this Nat King Cole song performed by Lyle Lovett in my i-tunes collection - good fit for the video) 

roundabout

There's a feeling I get when I look to the youtube,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In those videos I have seen strange things through the clips,
And the voices of those who comment weirdly.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

What is really making me wonder is the meme I stumbled on (stumbling on youtube doesn’t hurt my bones unlike my other stumbling) during a recent youtube excursion.

So what was the meme that caused this bustle in the hedgerow? Don’t be alarmed now. It’s really just an very odd thing in my opinion.

The video gamer subculture created a meme using the beginning of the Yes song, “Roundabout”. (for your listening pleasure which you might need after this reading displeasure, you'll find the song clip below)

Are you as confused as I am? Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven has do wah diddy to do with the Yes song. They might only be related in my mind’s playlist. Led Zeppelin just filled their song with great phrases so it often pops up in my thoughts. (Note last year I discontinued all my telepathic services so maybe this doesn’t confuse you at all)

Even though I know better, while I was listening to the “Roundabout” clip I browsed the comments (it is a very long song). If you find my blog posting odd, then you should read youtube comments sometime. They are a whole level worse than fakebook comments.

You'll find about 20,000 comments on this clip. That seems odd and many of them are very recent. The song came out in 1971.

I noticed references to “GTA”, “JoJo”, and "To Be Continued” in many of those comment threads. Hmm, what odd things are these?

So with time on my hands and fingers on the keyboard I went searching. GTA is Grand Theft Auto which in my opinion is one of the worst games for impressionable teens (why they flocked to it?).

When the badass player steals a car in GTA the radio plays a radio station. Now there are tens of stations loaded in the GTA cars. The song “Roundabout” is played on one of those stations.

JoJo and To Be Continued are related to the same Japanese anime, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Apparently in that series they play the intro to this song, freeze the scene and flash, “To Be Continued”. Fans took to their smartphones and started creating clips of some odd action about to happen. They added this intro music then shared their “creative” clips on the various video sharing services. It became a meme for others not me. I’ll admit I found a few were America’s-Funniest-Videos funny.



I find all this meme stuff very bizarre. All of this reminded me of another song, “Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma” but I’m not going off on that tangent today.

jump

Having a good jump can make you a winner in many sports. That good jumping talent skipped over me. I need a plane ticket to get airborne.

not this type of jump

But there’s that another type of jump. The one if you have it has other people calling you jumpy. I’ve have many experiences of this uncontrollable quick reaction to a surprise shock. I suspect the catch your breath, open your eyes, sudden stop in your tracks events can be traced back to our prehistoric ancestors. I’ve notice some in my family being more prone to this jumpiness than most.

She-who-reads-more-on-FB found this clip of one jumpy guy. Oh I happen to share his cursing trait.

It’s a short clip. Watch it, then jump down to the comment section.

advice

I found this speech on G+ today.  It's long compared to many online clips but it is worth your time.  Towards the end (about 18:30 mark) he suggests for difficult tasks pretend you are someone who can do it.

Just after that he says:

"So be wise because the world needs more wisdom.   And if you can not be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise and then just behave like they would."

I’ve changed

But not much. I did a little tweaking to the blog layout. 

Also I updated my “about” page (if you want to know).

"So what?" you reply. Alright, maybe you'll enjoy this:

Comedy Central Stand-Up
Get More: Jokes,Joke of the Day,Funny Jokes

soak up the sun

I was surprised to learn that my childhood town was selected as a venue for Sheryl Crow.

I bought the tickets many weeks before the world was predicted to end. Remember that big joke? One of my end thoughts was the refund policy on this concert if that prediction was true.

When I left Joliet back in the 70’s, it was starting a decline. One big change that came along in the 80’s was riverboat casinos. I can see the effects all around the town of the money that was put back into the city from that. I played at one of the casinos once or twice.

Sheryl Crow played at the downtown Rialto Square Theater which was built in the 1920’s. As a teen, it was my choice place to go see 007 save the world.  I recall the bus fare to get there was about a quarter.  Also, on a lucky day I might  make-out with a girl while who-cared-what was on the screen.  My luck was better at catching the bus.

The Rialto looks much better today than it did when 007 played there. The floors are no longer sticky. It was restored to its past grandeur.

A couple of pics before the concert:

We found out that our niece is a bigger fan than I. Or just has more expendable income (?). She bought an expensive meet-and-greet ticket. We saw her down in the second or third row before the concert.

I asked her about the experience. She wrote:

ugh. it was 30 seconds, shake her hand and they took a picture that was it. I wasn't allowed to take pics..

Since Sheryl has a book, a cookbook, being lucky enough to catch a book signing would have been better.

As you probably know, Sheryl is extremely skinny. Too thin IMHO but what do I know? So I wonder if she eats much of the recipes found in her cookbook. I’m sure she has tasted all of them but probably never gets seconds.

Here’s picture from the concert that her team posted on FB:

We happened to catch another concert earlier this year, Jackson Browne. Comparisons of concerts are very subjective so with that in mind, the Sheryl Crow show had much more energy flowing into the audience.

Since she became a big hit in the 90’s, I thought the audience would be dominated by much younger fans. It appear to be a good mix of all ages. While we were certainly in the older half, our parents would have met people their age there.

As I writing this I thought of a great name for the aging fans of Sheryl Crow - crowsfeet

***+++***

Jene of the blog, "The Original Bean" has her latest music challenge up.  This time we need to post about our favorite road trip music.

Road trip music should be uplifting, energizing, wake-you-up, type of music.  Driving while sleeping does not go too well.  I have a number of CD mixes I play on road trips and many contain Sheryl Crow songs.  Here's a favorite for a summer road trip:  (oh she played this one at the concert too)

fun interaction

Not all blog readers are bloggers, but most of the comments I receive here are from fellow bloggers. I continue the interaction by commenting on their blogs. I find it a fun interaction.

But wait! There are interactions beyond comments. Trading links, guest posts, shout-outs, and playing along in the many blog games (some like to call them memes) add to the blog interaction digital fun.

Today, I tried yet another interaction. Do you know Pearl? (sounds more like a song title than question)

Pearl has a great blog called (not the most creative title IMHO) “Pearl, Why you little”. She writes one of the funniest blogs I know. Her dialog is great.

Because of her funny dialog, I thought using it for a script in creating a xtranormal clip would be perfect. I wrote to her about the idea and she accepted.

Maybe this will be a new way to interact with other bloggers.

Here’s a cartoon derived from a blog post of hers.

The link to the original post - link.

this could be big

or maybe just a passing fad.

xtranormal

Do you know about it?

Do you like cartoons or animated clips?

This service allows members to create cartoon clips online. It’s fun and somebody might even find it entertaining. Of course, some will say it’s just stupid and a waste of time. Those people probably have stopped reading this post by now.

I know it’s been out for months now, but I just noticed it being promoted on youtube. I think the youtube crowd will love it. Bloggers should use it.

I joined last week and have published my first clip. This thing is rising in popularity. I have already seen it used to make TV ads for GEICO. It's not completely free but when you join you get enough credits to create a video.

The application works completely online. Nothing to download. Basically you provide a dialog for the cartoon characters to speak. It does a text-to-speech to create the audio. For my first attempt I used an old blog post of mine.

Here's another one that is much better and funnier than my first one.

good cheer

Last post I told you to stay tuned for a video clip I created for the holidays. Here it is.

It hasn't gone viral yet but please pass it around to all your family and friends.

I'm a little concerned that the copyright slimballs lawyers might force the music to be turned off in which case I'll need to redo it.  Actually last year's Christmas video (I'm starting a youtube holiday tradition) had a copyright notice but I was very pleased later that they just displayed the song's owner and an offer to buy it below the video player.  Seems like a win-win to me.

Well here's some holiday cheer and if you are so inclined to partake in the holiday spirits (Irish whiskey goes good with it) I suggest doing so now because the video will be funnier.

pretending to give a sh-t

My teacher daughter shared this clip with me. The Onion once again produced some funny shit satire.  I need to browse over to their site more often.  Of course if you don't give a sh-t just skip it.

In The Know: Are Tests Biased Against Students Who Don't Give A Shit?

another circus         solar info link

   

words fragments blogs

Mrs. 4444's (  da 4444 html color code written as #da4444 is a nice shade of red  ) regular fragmented Friday feature has Lisleman posting again and once again asks “What’s it all about?”

Over at the blog “I Can’t Believe I’m Not Bitter” I learned shit from shinola. I can't remember how long ago it was that I first heard that phrase. My dad or older brother probably informed that I didn't know shit from shinola. I guess they were right because until reading that post I didn't know what shinola was. There are people that think blogs are a waste of time. Well this is evidence of the learning resource blogs are.

Using the above lesson, from now on in my daily cursing I will try using shinola more in place of shit because most everyone doesn't know the difference.

I don’t know if there are any words for this next picture but I can’t remember why I downloaded it from the Belfast Telegraph.

I imagine if you crawled through shinola you would look like that.

I had a fun time at my daughter's wedding reception this year and even had an f-bomb thrown my way by a guest that couldn't see straight anymore.  It was the f-bomb with the word “off” added on.  The f-bomb in this case had the effect of making me laugh.

So where do words get their impact or weight?

Have you noticed how the same word combined with a different word has a completely different meaning.  Here's what I mean depending on what you juxtapose with the word “down” you can create new meaning.  Some examples (if you don’t know shinola you might be too young for this too):

Songs in my past encouraged me to “get down”.  But nobody wants to suffer a “turn down”.  It is an accomplishment to “get down” to the bottom of it, after which we feel like “winding down”.

I’m not the only one who thinks about words.   Watch this fun clip at the bottom.




WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

I know it’s only rock n roll but I like it

I once read that if a guitar fell off a cliff it would play ‘Louie Louie’ on the way down.  Maybe I should jump.

I love music. Actually, I consider my taste eclectic. Chicago blues, “Rhapsody in Blue”, reggae, big band, standards, most anything but opera (Phantom of the Opera was great but I don’t think that’s considered opera).

New stuff, old stuff, Coldplay, Elvis (both Costello and Presley) - It’s all interesting, relaxing, and enjoyable.

As a young eager school kid, I tried to sing and play. At an earlier age, I was turned down for the boys choir (might have been for the best?) then my family had to suffered through a year of trombone noises. After that I was on a I-want-to-join-a-rock-n-roll-band quest. I got a bass guitar but it didn’t come with any gigs.

A minor success (there were cute girls) was the high school glee club. Anybody could join. But later in the year when we tried out for the real choir, it was a short painful audition.

Well at least my life got tempered with some rejection. Rejection builds character but it didn’t help me carry a tune.

I just don’t know how some people can create music so well. It’s called talent I guess.

-- Sheryl Crow --

I do know how to sign-up for fan emails.  Yesterday my inbox had a nice message (with pictures) announcing that Sheryl Crow would be on QVC that night.  QVC?  Is that the shopping channel, I wondered.  I'm sure I have skipped over that channel before.

Last night I watched QVC for the first time and for a whole hour.  It was a fantastic concert with some interesting interviewing in between songs.

Her cover of Michael Jackson’s “I want you back” was the best.

Enjoy her new song called "Summer Day".

Oh this is NOT me but my initial reaction was; "Did someone record my choir audition?". (I’m just giving you the link cause it is soooo bad for your ears. I’m interested to know how long you could listen to it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk4woNRD7NQ

Fly like the Jetsons

Back before my face was on an electronic virtual book, back when a single computer would fill large rooms and were fed by paper cards - 

back long ago -

I thought this would happen someday.

Flying cars  --  cool

A favorite cartoon of mine was the Jetsons. The ordinary family of the future (Jetsons) had a flying car and robot, so that could be my future.   I was ordinary but not a cartoon.

Did you watch the Jetsons?  Did you think a flying car and robot servant might be possible when you grew up?  

I didn't research when this idea was first tried, but I took a picture of an early attempt on display at a museum in Seattle.  From the looks of the flying car, I'm thinking the sixties.

Actually we are not quite there yet. The company, Terrafugia, is taking orders but the first ones don't roll off production until late 2011. Also, the price is slightly above an ordinary family's reach - $194,000.

  

But the Jetsons were there in the sixties.

No security lines and no checked baggage fee - Priceless!

does anybody really know what time it is

Change that song title by dropping one word. 

Does anybody really know what time is?

The answer is NO.

In my last post I mentioned that the current issue of Scientific American had an interesting article I wanted to share. I wish I could share a deeper understanding of it but while I have read many physics books and have visited a particle accelerator I don't know the theory that well. (maybe they could accelerate me)  I'll just point out a few things I found amazing and maybe you will find it amazing too.

Part of the physics world believes time does NOT exist. (well who has time for those guys?)

Good news you can't be late anymore but then since many are paid by a time factor your paycheck might not exist either. Thinking of money is a good analogy for this because money doesn't exist. No, I'm not referring to a parent's wallet who has teenagers. Money is an invention of man. It's been around for a long time but not from the beginning of time. Oh wait, there is no time. Time is really so interwoven into our experience that it's hard to talk about it not existing.

Like the value of money some think time is an invention within our minds or an illusion. They did change the definition of a second back in the sixties. That is when they based time on the cesium atom. Given that it was the sixties I hope they got it right and weren't influenced by any drugs. I guess it was cesium and not LSD.

Back when Newton's laws ruled (they are still good but they fall apart at high speeds or large gravity) time was a master clock that ticked the same everywhere. Einstein comes along with general relativity in 1915 and we get spacetime. Now time can be changed by speed or gravity.

In another article or documentary I learned that time would stop - just freeze - at the edge of a black hole.

Now any of you with teenagers have probably witness this when you approach the entrance to their room. Certainly cleaning stops in their black hole rooms.

Then we get advances in quantum mechanics and things just get worst. Someone blows off a bomb. People worry about the China Syndrome and that was before China was even the big economical power of today.

It turns out (I don't know but I'll assume they are being honest) that quantum mechanics and general relativity don't mix together well. So in the pursuit of unifying the physics it looks like time might be thrown out.  (could you imagine a prisoner doing time hearing this?)

Back in the sixties (again I'm suspect of this sixties work) two physicists (Wheeler, DeWitt) took a different approach to Einstein's gravity equations. Their result didn't have time in it anymore. I wonder, how much time did it take to get rid of time?

Here's an idea for you. Since we invented it and defined it, why not double the length of the year so we will all age at half the current rate. We could call it birthday savings time. It would work until everyone got used to it.

Well thanks for giving me your time even though it's just an illusion.  Oh since time isn't, you won't be too rushed to leave a comment.

I also have watched countless Nova programs, so this clip was especially funny for me.

Jokes.com
Brian Regan - Nova
comedians.comedycentral.com
Futurama New Episodes Ugly Americans Funny TV Comedy Blog

testing what you don't want to happen

NASA shared their success of testing a pad abort system today. Being that it is an abort system, you DON'T want to use it. Basically it propels the crew module away from the rocket so that they can escape a malfunctioning rocket.

Here's the video of the test. The whole flight lasts only 135 seconds and the top altitude is about 1.2 miles high.





I appreciate that NASA also shares their mistakes with us too.  Back in 2008, I posted the video of Spacewalker Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper's  mistake.

Hey that toy looks like me

If you changed his hair to a salt and pepper gray and put some bags under his eyes, I would need to get a lawyer to sue Mattel's Fisher Price for having fun with my image.  (see this post about a similar dumb lawsuit)

Is there money in toy reviews?

How could I get started as a toy critic?

I stumbled on this new toy being discussed over at the Crytomundo site.  Then I found this good detailed clip the CrunchGear team posted on youtube.

Now if you watched the above clip, did you notice the temper tantrum part?  Whose kid did they model for that behavior?  I have seen tantrums very similar to that.  How about you?

Two benefits of being a toy critic:

• getting toys sent to you to play and review
• going to the toy fairs around the world

solar info link

Listen up

Maybe you know of my other blog(s).  Maybe you don't.

My "Another Circus" is a blog mostly of collecting favorite internet video clips.  I also throw in a strange picture or two.  Now I know sometimes you can't access youtube (source of most clips) because your IT department decided youtube was evil and must be banned (well maybe they want you to work more?).

One reason I like keeping this other blog is the convenience of having the list of clips ready when I want to show someone the funny stuff I've found.  Also, since most of the clips are very G rated, I've used this blog collection to entertain my grandson.

I recently updated the background template (whad-ya-think?) and one problem I discovered was the original font is too dark.  I've been going back looking at some of the better posts and updating the font color.  Well this mini-review exercise gave me this short list of what I think are the better ones.  I'm not suggesting you've never seen any of these but take a look and share your thoughts in a comment - thanks.  (seriously these are all safe for work or little ones)

twins double your fun

sheep tech

beer story from downunder (this one of the longer clips)

talented pet

SNL fun

Never had a hamburger (this one is very interesting but not funny)

Dancing in the street (grandson really liked this one)

Best beer ad (only half a minute)

bad day but not tragic

Having a bad day?

We all get to have some - don't we?

As long as there are NO serious injuries, most disruptions and failed plans are just bad days, not tragic days.

So picture yourself up in orbit sailing around the earth waiting for the next shuttle visit. This visit is really special for a few reasons:

• 40th anniversary of the moon landing
• a new front porch (Japanese style) will be installed
• record number of astronauts together in space, 13 (hmm no superstitions right?)
  

So after some delays (launch schedules worst for being ontime than airline flights) the crew shows up and remembers to bring the new porch addition with them. All 13 have plenty of room and are getting along just fine.

Then the day before the big Apollo 11 celebration the TOILET backs up!


I think you can hear a backed-up toilet even in the emptiness of space.


Here's part of the statement from NASA:

Meanwhile, station flight controllers and crew members spent part of the day troubleshooting a problem with the Waste and Hygiene Compartment, or WHC, the toilet in the U.S. Destiny module. The system's dose pump failed after running for about 15 minutes Sunday.
....About six liters of pre-treated water may have flowed into the pump separator and other areas where it should not have, flooding the separator.

Update - I read a news release today (July 21) that they were able to fix the toilet. ASTRO the PLUMBER!

A bad day in space.

Here's an example of a bad day invading your space. Well actually a large wiener on wheels invading your space.

This happened in Wisconsin the other day. The Oscar Mayer wiener mobile crashed into a house.

Hmm if they eat hot dogs maybe they could get a lifetime supply.





One more example of a bad day:

browse stumble click

I certainly don't know how readers of this blog navigate their internet trips. I do suspect not too many bother to click on things over on the side column.

You know over there --> look over on the right there. It's not all ads. There are some other blogs/sites listed and some of my favorite past posts.

I find this stumbling around the net an interesting way to find things. Of course, it also can consume much of your time so it's not an effective way. How many of you use services like tumblr, delicious, digg, stumbleupon?

Well the following (was listed on the right side for a long time - did you ever notice?) was a fun post I did last year (I'll explain why I'm reposting below)


--- from May 2008 ---






--- back to today and why I reposted ---

very simple really - I stumbled across an update of that clip - the SECOND semester spanish love song. It's even funnier - do you think so?




If I watch it enough I might actually learn a little more Spanish. I know cerveza and what you need to know afterwards - baño

Mother's Day praise and laughs

For all of you, supermoms out there - have a great Mother's day.

Do you know who Anna Jarvis is? She is credited with founding Mother's Day in the US. I think she would be shocked and upset if she were here for Mother's Day 2009. She was angered by printed cards back in her day (hand written was the proper way). Can you imagine what she would think of an e-card?

Not sure, but I suspect there are more mommy blogs than daddy blogs. Well on one of them I came across this Mother theme site called Mamapalooza. It looks fun.


On the Mamapalooza site I found this funny clip - enjoy Happy Mother's Day.




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