Liam Lynch explains the origin of the video, but what was Dan Deacon thinking as he recorded the audio? Of all the free MP3 downloads he offers, Two Friends from the Acorn Master album may be the most, um, listenable.

Thanks to daily songsmith Corey B (Corey Blanchette) for the tip.

I’m simply in love with this video. Watch through the credits to see a bit of how it’s made.

Well, not ‘leaked,’ but just in time for the new Transformers movie, Patrick Boivin has posted this video of Bumblebee breakdancing.

Also in line with movies, here’s Bruce Lee p0wning Iron Man:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The homeland security press is just getting wind of Joe Weston-Webb’s attempts to deter vandals with nonlethal weapons, but the story became all the rage in Britain when it broke last year.

The stories hit all the timely bits: Joe got burgled, so he announced plans to install a catapult. A what? A catapult. Why? To launch chicken droppings at miscreants. Unfortunately, the local constabulary warned him off, and the catapult wasn’t ready when burglars returned. Or, it could have been that the catapult didn’t work. But, aside from the fact that Joe does floors for Strictly Come Dancing, the real story is that Joe previously used to put the dung tossing, home defense catapult in question to launching his wife, Mary, across the River Avon in 1976. Joe’s bio tells more.

Joe’s years spent building catapults and other contraptions (and a cannon not yet converted for his home defense), hasn’t worn him out on experiments, or from re-using those circus acts to protect his property. But what of his wife? “She’s 54 now and far too big to fit into the cannon in any case,” Joe is reported to have said.

Mrs Weston-Webb was one of Mr Weston-Webb’s squad of “Moto-Birds”, travelling the world driving motorcycles and cars over ramps and water features. While injured with a broken arm, she climbed into the catapult her husband is now employing to defend his warehouses, before an expectant crowd of 30,000. “I flew across 160ft of the Avon,” she said. “Unfortunately the net was set at an angle and I bounced into the river.”

Mrs Weston-Webb stood by her husband as he attempted to build a car with wings that would fly from the edge of a quarry (it didn’t) and a ramp that would take a double-decker bus across the Avon.

And she stands by his decision to lay booby-traps. “We just feel so helpless,” she said.

Doesn’t everybody need a PocketTorch? It’s a “safe, practical tool,” they say. More amusingly, the list of suggested uses includes: melting your cache of gold, scaring grandma, lighting illegal fireworks, dental/lab work, and making friends jealous.

Is this the most annoying song ever? Independent + catchy and pop gone wrong.

Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote it, but William Shatner did it best. Watch the video now and download the MP3 for future enjoyment.

Thanks to Vasken for pointing out the video.

Here are the lyrics so you can try this yourself at home:

She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much I miss my wife
Its lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

And I think its gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I’m a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

Mars aint the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact its cold as hell
And there’s no one there to raise them if you did
And all this science I dont understand
Its just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man

And I think its gonna be a long long time…

World Pillow Fight Day in Boston last Saturday was not only a lot of spring fever fun, it also resulted in a marriage proposal. Banditos Misteriosos estimates there were over 1,100 pillow fighters, apparently making it one of the largest fights that day. View the above panorama large to see the crowd.

Detroit police shut down the fight there, confiscating pillows and demanding permits, though the Calgary fight went without incident, despite concerns about permits.

At the end of it all, Will wondered aloud about the fate of so many pillow feathers and the pain of those less fortunate than us:

Though that didn’t mean he didn’t have plenty of fight left in him:

Music for the above is Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip.

More of my photos and video are on Flickr; there’s more from the group in the Banditos Misteriosos group.

Matt worked this up for our university portal today. Plymouth has long been the Panthers, but a little change does the University good. Panthers may have paws, but platypi have venom.

First it was 100, then over 500 complaints about the Matrix-style (that means fake looking) kung foo action in Volkswagen’s new ad.

Who doesn’t like bacon, or little piglets? Or kittens?

I love the engineering of the lift fan on this pedal powered hovercraft. It needs a little more lift to make really work, but wow.

Elsewhere, this grunt-powered hydrofoil looks like a lot of fun (it starts slow, skip in a bit):

This big wheel was purported to be the work of Cyclecide, a SF-based bike art collective. The Big Wheel is cool no matter who built it, and Cyclecide’s pedal powered contraptions look awesome:

The pedal powered roller coaster looks tame by comparison.

Valentine’s day will never be the same for this dude.

Aparently, however, marriage proposal rejections at basketball games are common, though this LOL cats proposal worked out well.

Darien’s new materials handling is cool, but not world record headspin cool. Actually, that’s probably a false comparison, enjoy them both.

shadowzack knows his games a lot better than I do. Even though he says it’s “crap”, I’m enjoying playing Bond 007: Quantum of Solace on my Wii. I only play about one game a year, so I’m not ashamed to go looking for a bit of help in shadowzack’s walkthroughs:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15 (Last)

A walkthrough can be better than a cheat, which is good because I didn’t find any.

Tankmen is funny, no doubt, but I wonder what it means when we’re deeply embroiled in two of the longest running armed conflicts of US history that we find it so easy to make comedy about war.

From the best-of-Craigslist: Manly Bike for Sale:

What kind of bike? I don’t know, I’m not a bike scientist. What I am though is a manly guy looking to sell his bike. This bike is made out of metal and kick ass spokes. The back reflector was taken off, but if you think that deters me from riding at night, you’re way wrong. I practiced ninja training in Japan’s mount Fuji for 5 years and the first rule they teach about ninja biking is that back reflectors let the enemy know where you are. Not having a rear reflector is like saying “FUCK YOU CAR, JUST TRY AND FIND ME”.

The bike says Giant on the side because it’s referring to my junk, but rest assured even if you have tiny junk that Giant advertisement is going to remain right where it is. I bought this bike for 300 dollars from a retired mercenary that fought in both World War 1 and World War 2 and had his right arm bitten off by a shark in the Phillipines while stationed there as a shark handler. When he sold it to me I had to arm wrestle him for the honor to buy it. I broke his arm in 7 places when I did. He was so impressed with me he offered me to be his son but I thought that was sissy shit so I said no way.

There’s more, read it.

These bikes are not from the listing. However, the picture is tagged “manly bikes.”

Thanks to Roger OZ for the awesome photo. And thanks to Cliff for the Craigslist tip.

Light-Paint Piano Player from Ryan Cashman on Vimeo.

After stuffing yourself with too much Thanksgiving dinner and the tryptothan kicks in, there’s some time when all conversations seem to work like this one from Martin Wilson.

You can only eat so much, and though we’ll likely stretch those limits tomorrow, at some point we all have to take a break. The good folks at Coudal Partners have the perfect solution: a simple test (available as a convenient PDF) that Einstein says only a handful of people can actually figure out.

The premise is simple: somebody in the neighborhood keeps a fish, but who? Read the clues, work it out, and send your answer to the Coudal folks. If you’re right they might have a prize for you. You can leave your answer in the comments here too, but all I’ll have for you is left over turkey.

Here are the hints. The question is “who owns the fish?”

1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green house owner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Malls keeps birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhills.
8. The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk.
9. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
10. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the one who smokes Dunhills.
12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Princes.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

DGENERATE NATION – Skate With Me from DGENETICS on Vimeo.