Proper firework usage 101

In retrospect, lighting it off in the intersection, might have been a bad idea. At least they can look on the bright side (no pun intended), the burn marks on their vehicle will make for an interesting story to tell at parties.

Also of interest, is this crazy fireworks display, that was lit off of a swing set, and shockingly did not end in an ambulance ride. At least people take the time to film their dangerous stunts, so that we can see it all from the comfort of our homes. Kudos to you, YouTubers, for making our time online that much less boring!

A poor man's Porsche

Now this is an interesting project, I'm sure a lot of people would like to own a Porsche, but out of those that want one, and can't actually afford one, how many of them went out and built themselves a 1:1 peddle-powered scale model of it? Not many I'm sure. This must have been quite the engineering feat, it's just too bad that there's no video of it in action.

Facebook explained...

At last, someone has managed to create an easy way to sum-up Facebook! This picture was created by an anonymous member of the Internet, and while I know this hardly qualifies as news, it seemed like a fitting way to kick off the weekend.

Also, if you're looking to kill some time over the weekend, I'd highly recommend checking out Freddy Wong's YouTube channel. I've featured one of his videos on here before, and I have to say he's one of the funniest filmmakers on YouTube, so, once again, check his page out if you get the chance.

Gag-inducing, yet funny, marketing parody

I think it's safe to file this video under "Thank God it's a parody!". I'm sure many of you have seen plenty of similar videos either on TV or the Internet, it's exactly because of that familiarity that I found this parody so amusing.

I for one am sick of marketing in this manner, yes we know that your product is "amazing", but do we need to hear some guy rattling off fake statistics to  make me want to buy it? I think I'll pass on that.

I'll also add that if the above video was real, I'd probably lose my lunch.

How big is the internet?

Have you ever wondered how big the Internet is? Some of you probably have, and for those of you that really care to know, Focus.com has put together a large chart with various statistics about the size of the Internet. There's also one other interesting statistic that I've derived from their chart:

• Total number of people using email services: 1.9 billion.
• Total number of Internet users: 2 billion

That means 95% of all Internet users also have e-mail addresses, that's a much higher percentage than I would have guessed. Now would be a good time to also mention xkcd.com's "map of online communities", which is fascinating in its own right.

(Internet size chart)

[UPDATE] Egypt under communications blackout

Just this morning, for reasons currently unknown, Eygyt has been cut off from the outside world, as they are now under a communications blackout, meaning, no internet or cell communcations can enter or leave the country.

The above video was reportedly filmed on the 27, and if the film is to be believed, there seems to be massive civil unrest in the country right now. I'll post more on the situation as it unfolds, in the meantime, I've added a few links below with further information on the blackout.

UPDATE: It seems the events in the above video are real, and are an attempt by citizens to protest their President Hosni Mubarak's totalitarian rule. The internet shutdown seems to have been an effort by the government to prevent the protesters from organizing their resistance, as the first round of protests was organized almost entirely on social networking sites like Facebook.

There also seems to be a concerted effort to crackdown on all media coverage of the events, with CNN reporting that several of their cameras have been seized by local police, and/or destroyed.

(Associated Press)
(renesys|blog)
(CNN)

Oops, wrong getaway car!

Imagine yourself waking up early in the morning to take out the trash or something, when you see the above situation unfolding. I'd probably just assume I was either dreaming or hallucinating and go back inside. Needless to say this is probably the most bizarre police chase video I've ever seen, it's just a shame the video is so short, I really would have liked to see how this played out.

The Brick Thief

I kind of have a thing for short films, they can tell quite a lot in a short time span, and a lot of times they're more creative than most of what comes out of Hollywood these days. This film is a great example of such creativity, eschewing a normal point A to point B style plot, in favor of an almost music video style presentation without any spoken dialogue. Its well planned, well filmed, and uses and interesting "toned-down" color style for most of the film. I look forward to seeing what else this guy will create in the future.

Not a bad way to die...

I found this hilarious video while browsing the Internet the other day, and thought this might make a good video to test YouTube video embedding on the blogger platform, plus, its funny!

Despite watching several times, though, I can't really figure out how jumping into a garbage can is going to protect you from getting hit by a car, if it were me I would've stayed off the streets altogether, but that's beside the point. Also, did anyone pick up the video game reference in there? Here's a hint: the name of the game starts with "Z".