Spirit House fun stuff

Tree Branch Falls On Power Lines

acland — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:17:03 +0000

Here the squeals and groans from this branch that landed on power lines before it bursts into flames. Fascinating…

A chimp, goes to get a cake – just watch.

acland — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:34:02 +0000

A chimpanzee goes to the bakery to pick up a cake, but the pack of bulldogs he’s walking turn on him and chase him down the road before a bird of prey steals the chimpanzee’s cake.

Hamburger make up artist

acland — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:39:52 +0000

You might wonder what’s in your local fast-food hamburger but it’s probably nowhere nearly as toxic as what is in the burgers that look oh so good in their picture board menu displays – check it out:

How an engineer loses weight

acland — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:58:44 +0000

We’re constantly bombarded with ads offering the latest scientific way to lose weight – usually when you add the word ’science’ in your claim then you know there’s going to be money involved. Wired.com has a fantastic article on how to lose weight mathematically . . .

Want to drop 10 pounds in two months? All you have to do is the math, says Autodesk founder and Hacker’s Diet author John Walker. Here’s the skinny:

Multiply the pounds you want to lose by the number of calories in a pound of fat: 10 x 3,500 = 35,000.

Divide the total by the days you’ll diet: 35,000 ÷ 60 = 583.

Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate 100 calories per ten pounds of body weight

Calculate your calories expenditure from exercize

Then use the formula (BMR+Exercise)-diet=total allowed calories

Or stated more simply: if you can eliminate 100 calories per day, that can add up to about 11 pounds a year, says Dr. Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating. 100 calories – that’s less than the calories in a can of Coke! Substitute one glass of water for one can of soda a day, and you’re well on your way to permanent weight loss.

Obviously exercise can help but eating less also makes sense. And how do you know if you’re over-eating?

One night, eat only half the amount of food on your plate. Wait 30 minutes, assess your feelings of satiation, and then wait 90. If you’re still not hungry, you’ve probably been overeating. Most people grossly overestimate the amount of food they need to feel full, says Dr. David Kessler, author of The End of Overeating

You can read more of this article at wired.com

What if scientists could sing?

acland — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:51:51 +0000

What you’re about to see is amazingly poetic and beautiful – thanks to the wonders of Autotune (the technology that most popstars use to shift their voice when they sing out of key) you’re about to see boring physics lectures turned into something amazingly poetic.

John Boswell of Symphony of Science made this song featuring Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Bill Nye.

Popstars should be banned from using autotune leaving autotune to the people who really do have something to say:

What if the earth had rings like Saturn

acland — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:33:34 +0000

I know you’re thinking the same thing too – what would it look like from earth if we had Saturn-style rings? Well your curiosity has been answered with this cool video:

Don’t you just love the interweb? So many people with way too much talent and way too much time on their hands. Oh yes, make sure you hit the FULL SCREEN button and watch this thing in full screen glory.

Personally, I’m all for space junk – we should be shooting all our trash into a ring like orbit in space around the earth and then our great great great grand kids would have these amazing rings to marvel at and they would thank the wasteful ways of the past.

How to Eat a Chicken Wing

acland — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:43:18 +0000

I wish I’d learned this earlier -

The greatest story ever told

acland — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:31:52 +0000

Nothing to do with food but just plain clever and funny – make sure you watch to the end:

Greatest Story Ever Told – Watch more Funny Videos

Malaysia stakes copyright claim to recipes

acland — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:41:37 +0000

The Indonesians got a bit upset a while ago with claims that Malaysia stole a Balinese dance and used it in a promotional campaign for Malaysia – which, in the end, turned out to be a mistake by the Discovery channel. Discovery channel apologised and a crisis was narrowly averted – except for this . . .

It seems that Malaysia is now claiming that Chilli Crab, Nasi Lemak, chicken rice and a host of other dishes belong to Malaysia. Basically all the dishes that you associate with Singapore and Indonesia.

Now this international food fight might sound a bit trivial but the rumor going around Indonesia is that Malaysia was behind the Bali-Jakarta bombings, and it supports militant groups within Indonesia in attempts to discourage foreign tourists from visiting Indonesia and have them visit Malaysia instead.

This latest food copyright claim is going to fuel that rumor mill for a while. So for a safe holiday in a tropical paradise with the best food – the winner is: Malaysia.

Via:The Canadian Press: Hands off our food: Malaysia stakes copyright claim to recipes for chili crabs, coconut rice.

National Flags Made Out of Food

acland — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:25:58 +0000

Australia.

See more national flags made from the country’s national food at my favourite design site:toxel.