Friday Fun Stuff--Knitted Ferrari

It is time to go back to some Friday Fun stuff here. And I've found the perfect auto that combines great style, flash, speed, and delivers incredible gas mileage. From YouTube:



So, does it come with a knitted Thomas Magnum as an accessory?

Friday Fun Stuff--Bee vs. Jumping Spider

I found this National Geographic segment of a Honeybee squaring off against the Jumping Spider. Take your bets as to who will win. From YouTube:

Friday Fun Stuff--Summertime fun at the Caddyshack pool

It is summertime, where the kids get out of school and have fun in the pool. And where could we find even more pool fun than in this scene from the film Caddyshack. Just make sure the entire pool is scrubbed, sterilized, and disinfected. From YouTube:

Friday Fun Stuff--An Engineer's Guide to Cats

This is just brilliant. An Engineer's Guide to Cats has been on YouTube for around three months and it has already gotten over 2 million views. I love the cat getting spun around the chair, and yes, tuna is cocaine for cats. From YouTube:

Friday Night Fun Stuff--Lady Marmalade from Moulin Rouge

For tonight's Friday Fun Stuff, how about a gaudy music video featuring Christina Aguilera, Pink, Missy Elliot, Mya, and Lil' Kim--we're talking Lady Marmalade from the movie Moulin Rouge. Lady Marmalade was originally recorded by Patti Labelle with her R&B/Soul group Labelle. The original song topped the Bilboard Hot 100 singles chart in the U.S. during the week of March 23 to March 29, 1975. The Moulin Rouge re-recording of Lady Marmalade also became a number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for the second time, reaching number one in its eighth week and staying there for five weeks at the top position from May 27 to June 30, 2001. So let's have some gaudy fun for this spring weekend. From YouTube:

Friday Fun Stuff--Hillary vs. The Coffee Maker

Okay, this is a definite Friday Fun Stuff posting here! There is nothing more frustrating than being a presidential candidate who knows she's going to endure another 15-hour day--and she can't get her frickin' cup of leaded joe from coffee machine at the convenience store! To give Hillary some credit, these electronic coffee makers certainly do require the technical training and experience of an rocket engineer. We've had these coffee makers at San Jose State, where if you want to get your latte or cappuccino, you first had to press the button on what type of fancy coffee you wanted, and then press the button on the size of the coffee--or was it the other way around? I never could tell, but then again, I never used those fancy coffee makers, preferring the brewed stuff that was already sitting in the coffee urns. Hillary, maybe you should have chosen the already brewed stuff sitting in the coffee urns. From YouTube:



And yes, the political campaign commercials to terrorize you have already come out:

Friday Night Fun Stuff--Billy Idol is Dancing with Myself

I had a little trouble trying to find something to post for Friday Fun Stuff. So I decided to log into YouTube, and I found this little blast from the Generation X past--Billy Idol singing Dancing with Myself. The song was originally released by the punk rock band Generation X in 1981, which contained only two members from the original line-up--Tony James and Billy Idol. Billy Idol adapted the song to a more pop-friendly version for his solo album, which then went gold in 1983. Looking back at the song now, it has a fun beat that makes you want to just get up and dance. The music video, however, is a little strange. Is that Billy dancing with himself, in a post-nuclear holocaust, controlling pogo-dancing zombies with his electrifying power? Someone was smoking something strange back then.

So here is Billy Idol, Dancing with Myself. From YouTube:

Friday Fun Stuff--Genesis' Land of Confusion

For this crazy week, it might be nice to take a little political historical trip back into time with Genesis, and their 1986 music video Land of Confusion. Yes, that is the Republican Patron Saint Ronny Reagan in full puppet mode, with Bonzo at his side. See if you can recognize the rest of the 1980s celebrities in this YouTube video:

Friday Fun Stuff--Victoria's Secret is TOO SEXY for their clothes!

I had to reread this story twice. The lingerie company Victoria's Secret has decided to tone down its image because they are just...wait for it...TOO SEXY! From MSNBC News:

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Victoria's Secret, the lingerie company that introduced the Very Sexy bra, the Fantasy Bra, and the Internet server-crashing fashion show, has become "too sexy" for its own good, its top executive said.

"We've so much gotten off our heritage ... too sexy, and we use the word sexy a lot and really have forgotten the ultra feminine," said Sharen Turney, Victoria's Secret's chief executive, in a call with industry analysts.

Victoria's Secret was launched with the idea that Victoria was manor-born and lived in London, Turney said.

"I feel so strongly about us getting back to our heritage and really thinking in terms of ultra feminine and not just the word sexy and becoming much more relevant to our customer," Turney said Thursday.

Turney said Victoria's Secret has gotten younger with a strong focus on its successful Pink line of lingerie and loungewear created for college-age women, and has tried to chase those customers.

Turney said Victoria's Secret wants to increase its level of sophistication.

"We will also reinvent the sleepwear business and focus on product quality," she said. "Our assortment will return to an ultra feminine lingerie brand to meet her needs and expectation."

Sales at Victoria's Secret, like many clothing retailers, have been slipping.

Victoria Secret's parent, Limited Brands, said Wednesday that its fourth quarter profits fell 12 percent and that its first quarter earnings would come in below Wall Street expectations.

Same-store sales at Victoria's Secret fell 2 percent in 2007, with sales in the fourth quarter dropping 8 percent.

Model Gisele Bundchen is seen walking the runway during a Victoria's Secret fashion show. The lingerie company's CEO says she's planning an image makeover amid slipping sales. Mark Mainz / Getty Images file

Is Victoria's Secret too sexy for their clothes? Of course, Gisele does look very fetching in her pheasant-stuffed bra, but I'm not sure if Gisele's attire is very practical for everyday life--unless you are out in the Scottish countryside, hunting for game.

What really interests me here is how sales have been dropping for Victoria's Secret. Same-store sales at Victoria's Secret fell 2 percent in 2007, with sales in the fourth quarter dropping 8 percent. Victoria's Secret merchandise is a luxury item. I'm thinking that with the economic slowdown that we're seeing in the United States, and with consumers cutting back on spending, the first items that American consumers are cutting back on are luxury items, such as Victoria's Secrets bras. Instead of acknowledging that sales are dropping because of the economic slowdown, Victoria's Secret management are playing a little PR-image game here, saying that they are turning away from the pheasant-stuffed bras to a more pragmatic style of sleep-ware and lounge-wear. So instead of going to Target to purchase your next pair of pjs, you can go to Victoria's Secret.

I think the Victoria's Secret management needs a little advise from Right Said Fred. From YouTube:



Don't get too dull and dour....

Friday Fun Stuff--Muppet News Flash!

This is just totally irrelevant, and totally funny. It is a Muppet News Flash of furniture coming to life as monsters. But don't worry--the Bush administration will protect us from this latest terror threat. From YouTube:

Friday Fun Stuff--Psycho-Cat Christmas

This is from CutewithChris.com:



What a terrifying combination--Christmas trees and cats!

Friday Fun Stuff--Great Moments In Presidential Speeches Compilation

The title really says it all. From YouTube:



How did this idiot ever got elected president for two terms, I really cannot say.

Friday Fun Stuff--Incredible Comet Bigger than the Sun

Comet Holmes is shown in this photo taken through a telescope from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida November 4, 2007. The comet experienced an outburst and brightened a million times and can now be seen with the naked eye, according to NASA. REUTERS/Doug Murray (UNITED STATES)

Talk about a shooting star here! This is from Space.com:

A comet that has delighted backyard astronomers in recent weeks after an unexpected eruption has now grown larger than the sun.

The sun remains by far the most massive object in the solar system, with an extended influence of particles that reaches all the planets. But the comparatively tiny Comet Holmes has released so much gas and dust that its extended atmosphere, or coma, is larger than the diameter of the sun. The comparison is clear in a new image.

Comet Holmes (left) from the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii telescope on Mauna Kea showing the coma at 869,900 miles (1.4 million kilometers) in diameter. The white ''star'' near the center of the coma is in fact the dust-shrouded nucleus of the comet.The sun and the planet Saturn are shown at the same scale for comparison. Credit: University of Hawaii/CFHT (comet); NASA/Voyager (Saturn); NASA/ESA/SOHO (sun)

"It continues to expand and is now the largest single object in the solar system," according to astronomers at the University of Hawaii.

The coma's diameter on Nov. 9 was 869,900 miles (1.4 million kilometers), based on measurements by Rachel Stevenson, Jan Kleyna and Pedro Lacerda of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. They used observations from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The sun's diameter, stated differently by various sources and usually rounded to the nearest 100, is about 864,900 miles (1.392 million kilometers).

Separately, a new Hubble Space Telescope photo of the comet reveals an intriguing bow-tie structure around its nucleus.

The Nov. 1 photo at left, by an amateur astronomer, shows Comet Holmes' coma consists of concentric shells of dust and a faint tail. The Hubble image at right, made Nov. 4 and enhanced to reveal details, reveals the bow-tie appearance created by twice as much dust existing along the horizontal direction. Credit: NASA,ESA, and H. Weaver (The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory); Alan Dyer

The comet's coma—mostly microscopic particles—shines by reflecting sunlight.

Holmes is still visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy star anytime after dark, high in the northeast sky. You can find it by using this sky map. It is faintly visible from cities, and from dark country locations is truly remarkable.

"Right now, in a dark sky it appears as a very noticeable circular cloud," said Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist. Rao advises looking for the comet this weekend, before the moon becomes more of a factor. The comet will likely diminish in brightness yet remain visible for the next two to three weeks, he said.

"Over the next few weeks and months, the coma and tail are expected to expand even more while the comet will fade as the dust disperses," Stevenson and her colleagues write.

On Monday, Nov. 19, the comet will create a unique skywatching event with its see-through coma, according to the Web site Spaceweather.com: "The comet will glide by the star Mirfak [also called Alpha Persei] and appear to swallow it—a sight not to be missed."

A small telescope will reveal the fuzzy coma. Lacking a long tail characteristic of some great comets, however, Holmes is not the most dramatic object in the sky for casual observers.

Nobody knows why Holmes erupted, but it underwent a similar explosive brightening in 1892. The recent display, which began Oct. 24, brought the comet from visual obscurity to being one of the brighter objects in the night sky. It has since dimmed somewhat as the material races outward from the nucleus at roughly 1,100 mph (0.5 km/sec).

The Hawaiian astronomy team writes in a press statement: "This amazing eruption of the comet is produced by dust ejected from a tiny solid nucleus made of ice and rock, only 3.6 kilometers (roughly 2.2 miles) in diameter."

The new image from the Hawaiian observatory also shows a modest tail forming to one side, now just a fuzzy region to the lower-right. That's caused by the pressure of sunlight pushing on the gas and dust of the coma.

But the comet is so far away—149 million miles (240 million kilometers), or about 1.6 times the distance from Earth to the sun—that even Hubble can't resolve its nucleus.

The offset nature of the coma, seen in ground-based images, suggests "a large fragment broke off and subsequently disintegrated into tiny dust particles after moving away from the main nucleus," Hubble astronomers said in a statement today. The comet's distance, plus all the dust, prevent Hubble from seeing any fragments, however.

I am just amazed at the mysteries this universe has for us--to think that a tiny comet can erupt and grow larger than our sun.

Friday Fun Stuff--Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody in Legos

For today's Friday Fun Stuff, I've got Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody performed with Legos. From YouTube:



I guess someone has too much time on their hands--and too many Legos in their closet!

Friday Fun Stuff--Led Zeppelin's Black Dog (Live Video)

I couldn't find anything that interested me for Friday Fun Stuff today--the news is all pretty bad anyways. So I thought I'll present an awesome video of Led Zeppelin playing Black Dog in concert. What an interesting way to rock the clocks back. From YouTube:

Lock of "Che's" hair sold at Dallas auction

A lock of revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara's hair sits next to photos of Guevara's dead body and fingerprints taken after his death at Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas,Texas October 25, 2007. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

Today's Friday Fun Stuff is very weird. From Yahoo News:

DALLAS (Reuters) - A lock of socialist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara's hair and related items were auctioned on Thursday in Dallas to a Houston-area bookstore owner for the very capitalist sum of $119,500 (52,000 pounds).

The curious collection had belonged to Gustavo Villoldo, 71, a former CIA operative who helped hunt Guevara down in the jungles of Bolivia in 1967 and who claims he cut off the lock before burying the guerrilla fighter with two of his comrades.

There was media speculation that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a leftist who greatly admires the iconic Guevara, would bid for the items.

In the end, it went to Houston-based Bill Butler.

"Butler ... is thrilled to own items from Che (and) will display them in his store," said Kelley Norwine, vice president of marketing for Heritage Auction Galleries, which auctioned the mementos.

The auction house said the hair could provide DNA proof that the remains of Guevara -- affectionately known by his admirers as "Che" -- are in Cuba, where he is venerated as a hero of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power five decades ago.

Then 39, the bearded rebel was captured by CIA-backed Bolivian soldiers on October 8, 1967 and shot dead the next day in a schoolhouse. Some remains believed to be his were dug up decades later and taken to Cuba.

"This may be the only DNA that could prove that Castro has his body. Gustavo helped bury Che and he claims there were only two other bodies with his corpse," Norwine told Reuters shortly before the auction, as she pointed to the dark lock of hair sealed in a plastic envelope in a glass display case.

"But when the remains said to be his were dug up and taken to Cuba there were six other bodies in the grave," she said, adding that Villoldo claimed to know the precise location of his grave because he wrote down the coordinates.

The hair was auctioned with a few related items to Butler in one batch.

A scrapbook containing what Heritage says are previously unpublished photos of the dead guerrilla went with the hair. One shows a group of rag-tag soldiers brandishing rifles and standing proudly around his corpse like hunters posing with a trophy. Others show his corpse propped up, eyes wide open.

A hand-written note from one of Che's comrades-in-arms to the guerrilla leader saying he had reached an undisclosed location and awaited further orders was also sold.

Heritage had tightened security after receiving threatening e-mails from groups in Argentina, Guevara's home country, protesting the sale.

Guevera has came to symbolize rebel chic with his likeness emblazoned on countless T-shirts and buttons. But many of his left-wing admirers are uncomfortable with what they see as the commercial exploitation of his legacy.

Conservatives on the other hand see red at the pop-star status accorded a man they see as a ruthless communist killer.

Norwine said Heritage Auction Galleries has auctioned off hair before including strands from the heads of Abraham Lincoln, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe.

Who would spend $119,500 for Che Guevera's hair? I wonder how Che would feel, knowing that a lock of his hair was sold at a very capitalistic price, or that it will be displayed in a bookstore? Then again, maybe his lock of hair will inspire a communist revolution here?

Friday Fun Stuff--Controlled demolition of the Sands Casino in Atlantic City

Last night, the Sands Casino at Atlantic City was imploded in a brilliant display of fireworks, before 400 pounds of dynamite brought the famed hotel down. You can read the story here at the North Jersey.com. However it is more fun to watch the video from YouTube:



Damn impressive.

Friday Fun Stuff--KMart Blue Light Special on unique Faberge clock egg! It's yours for nine million pounds!

The Rothschild Faberge egg is displayed at Christie's auction house in London October 4, 2007. The previously unrecorded work of art will be auctioned in November and is expected to realise between L6 million to L9 million pounds (U.S. $12 to $18 million). REUTERS/Kieran Doherty


How would you like to check the time on this clock in your living room? This is off Yahoo News:

LONDON (Reuters) - A previously unrecorded egg by Russian jeweller Peter Carl Faberge containing a clock and animated cockerel goes on sale next month with a record price tag of up to nine million pounds.

The translucent pink egg has never been seen in public before and was not publicly documented when it was made in 1902 for the Rothschild family.

Faberge eggs have become a byword for opulence and luxury ever since the young jeweller was commissioned in 1885 by Tsar Alexander III of Russia to make one as a gift for his wife Maria.

The intricate pieces rarely come on the open market.

"There have been two or three in the last 10 to 15 years at auction. But to find one that has never been seen in public is absolutely extraordinary," said Anthony Philips, a director of auction house Christie's.

"There are only two other known Faberge eggs that have a clock in them and also an automaton. When the clock strikes the cock come up, shakes its wings and sings," he added.

The record for a Russian work of art of 6.6 million pounds was set by the Faberge Winter Egg at Christie's New York in April 2002.

The newly discovered Rothschild Faberge Egg is pictured in London. The Faberge egg made for a top banking dynasty is expected to fetch up to nine million pounds (13 million euros, 18 million dollars) when it is sold in London next month, auction house Christie's said Thursday.(AFP/Shaun Curry)

That egg was of Russian Imperial Family standard and therefore commanded a premium. Most eggs were made for the Tsar and his family, but a few were commissioned by wealthy collectors.

Christie's is confident the Rothschild Faberge Egg is of the same standard as the Imperial eggs and, because it bears the Rothschild provenance, may well attract similar levels of interest when it goes on sale in London on November 28.

"The market is incredibly strong. There has been an explosion of Russian interest," said Philips, adding that he expected bidding interest from across the world.

Tsar Alexander asked Faberge to make one egg a year until his son, the next Tsar Nicholas II, ordered him to make two a year -- one for his wife and one for his mother.

The tradition ended in 1917 when Nicholas was forced to abdicate and he and his entire family were executed by the Bolsheviks.

By then 50 such Imperial Easter eggs had been made, although not all have survived.

A maximum of 12 Imperial standard eggs are known to have been made for private clients.

The Rothschild Faberge Egg, signed K. Faberge and dated 1902, was a gift from Beatrice Ephrussi -- a scion of the house of Rothschild -- to Germaine Halphen when she got engaged to Beatrice's younger brother Baron Edouard de Rothschild.

Two-headed turtle goes on display in Pa.

Store manager Jay Jacoby displays a two-headed red slider turtle at Big Al's Aquarium Supercenter in East Norriton Pa., Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007. The rare turtle is on display at the store. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

This is a rather interesting story through Yahoo News:

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - A pet store has bought a two-headed turtle from a collector and plans to keep it on display, the store manager said. The 2-month-old turtle, actually conjoined red-eared slider twins, fits on a silver dollar.

It has two heads sticking out from opposite ends of its shell, along with a pair of front feet on each side. But there is just one set of back feet and one tail.

The turtle is apparently healthy, and the species can live 15 to 20 years, said Jay Jacoby, manager of Big Al's Aquarium Supercenter in East Norriton. The turtle has not yet been named.

The store would not disclose how much it paid.

The same exotic-turtle collector sold another Big Al's store a conjoined-twin turtle about 20 years ago, Jacoby said. The man lives in Florida, but he declined to identify him.

Friday Fun Stuff--Kitten and His Box

For today's Friday Fun Stuff, I was feeling kind of stumped. So what is the best thing to do but to get on to YouTube and search the videos. Sometimes my niece Delaney and I will get on YouTube and watch the kitten and puppy videos. One video we found that is especially fun is Kitten and His Box. You just have to watch it. From YouTube: