New Video Site Released

Posted on November 12, 2009 | Filed Under Web

I always thought the Invasion Cinema site was pretty cool.  They had some cool retro sci-fi movies and a blog with additional information. I even had the site in my delicious bookmarks and linked from here.

Awhile back, that site seems to have disappeared, so as an offshoot of a video testing project I had done, I decided to create a video site of my own.  I tracked down the retro sci-fi movies that had been on Invasion Cinema’s site.  This includes the following:

These movies are free and you can watch them on demand.  I will also be adding content to include plot synopsis, cast information, and other information about the films.

While I am at it, I decided to add the classic Superman animated shorts from the 1940s.  This series of animated shorts was done by Max Fleischer and I’ve always wanted to have a site with a “Superman Film Festival” flavor to it.  The first film is up at http://video.butlerblog.com/2009/11/12/superman/ and I’ll be adding more later, until we have the entire series.  You can view the entire “Superman Film Festival” here.

Free Online Warning Label Generator

Posted on May 22, 2007 | Filed Under Web

Here’s a way to have some fun… Make your own warning labels with this online warning label generator: warninglabelgenerator.com

The one I made demonstrates that you cannot use an apostrophe in your text:

Google Mars

Posted on March 14, 2006 | Filed Under Web

In the spirit of Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Moon, the next frontier for Google maps junkies has been released – Google Mars.

Using maps from images taken by NASA’s orbiting Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor, Google provides users images of the Martian surface. View mountains, craters, dunes, ridges, canyons, and plains… all by name. You can also view the location of various spacecraft that have explored Mars.

It works just like Google Maps, you can zoom in, drag from side to side, and pinpoint locations. � You can view by elevation, by infrared, or by the straight image.

Hopefully, Google will follow through with plans to add the images to Google Earth, which would allow you to tilt and pan the image. � Until then, enjoy the browser based version here – it’s pretty cool.

Duct Tape Wallet

Posted on September 13, 2005 | Filed Under Editorial

duct tape walletThis is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Ok, maybe not THE coolest, but it is clever. Ok, maybe not clever… Actually, it’s probably kind of dumb. But who knew Duct Tape could be so useful?

Most people agree that Duct Tape can save you money on costly repair bills but did you know that you could create a wallet to hold all of the money you’ve saved? It’s not as difficult as it sounds and in just a few simple steps, you could be the proud owner of this year’s most important fashion statement (Duct Tape is my life).

Full step-by-step instructions for your very own Duct Tape wallet are available directly from 3M:3M Canada | 3M Scotch Duct Tape | Duct Tape Workshop.

UPDATE: The 3M Duct Tape Workshop is (temporarily?) closed!  Bummer!
But despair not, Duct Tape Apprentice!  Here are some other sites and tutorials that may interest you:

More things with duct tape:

(The Mythbusters have since done an episode on all things Duct Tape where they built a sailboat out of Duct Tape.  Unfortunately, they did not get the plans from me.)

Urban Legend?

Posted on August 17, 2005 | Filed Under Editorial

So there is some kind of rumor circulating that, on certain elevators, if you push “Door Close” and your floor at the same time, it puts the elevator into “express mode” and will go right to the floor without stopping. I viewed this information with a certain sense of skepticsm, but nevertheless, it sounded good to me and was worth checking out. I felt it deserved special attention in my building since, a few floors below me, there is a company that occupies several floors. Their employees are constantly “interrupting” my trips to and from the lobby with their single floor “jaunts.” What better way to avoid these extra stops than with my own personal express elevator.

So I had been pushing “Door Close” in combination with my floor or the lobby (depending on my direction) and experiencing some success. I wasn’t making any stops along the way. Since this is unusual, especially during “rush hour,” I thought things were working out rather well.

However (you saw that one coming, didn’t you?), yesterday, after pushing the combination for the lobby, I made several stops along the way. Well, that shoots that idea. So it is either “urban legend” or my elevator isn’t one of those equipped with such fancy features. Personally, I think I’m storing this one in the “urban legend” category.