Jason's Blog » interesting

BP Spill

Jason — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:14:49 +0000

Apparently the Gulf oil spill isn’t the only thing BP is incompetent with:

Hell

Jason — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:49:00 +0000

I think that would be a somewhat accurate description.

Google Maps UFO

Jason — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 14:22:13 +0000

There has been an UFO sighting in the UK on Google maps. (Hint: Look up once you’re in street view)

First Person Tetris

Jason — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:08:30 +0000

If you’re of the queasy persuasion, this game may not be for you. A rather interesting “spin” on the old classic if you’re up for the challenge!

What You See Isn’t Real

Jason — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:55:00 +0000

I know green screens are used in movies fairly frequently, but this is just impressive. I would have never guessed that the majority of these shots weren’t on location. I’m just impressed at how much green screens can be used these days and studios’ abilities to make it look real.

Piano Stairway

Jason — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:55:34 +0000

I always find it interesting how music and entertainment can change a person’s perspective on a mundane task. A simple, uninteresting task can suddenly seem more appealing once an objective or reward is involved, and the video below is a perfect example.

According to social experiment 66% more people than normal chose the staircase over the escalator now that it was converted to a “piano”. Of course, one has to wonder if that amount would decrease over time if something like this was “normal”.

Stereogram Tetris

Jason — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:28:43 +0000

This might quite possible be the most difficult game of Tetris I have ever played. The first time I played, I was able to get a high score of 1770, although my overall high score so far is 2644. How high can you go without going cross-eyed?

Olympus Pen

Jason — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:50:07 +0000

I know this is another stop motion video, but I really like stop motion videos. This is another creative take on 60 years of the Olympus Pen, and just looks really cool.

Lego Millennium Falcon Stop Motion

Jason — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:16:22 +0000

I loved Legos as a kid, and I would probably still play with them today if I had some sitting around. Not sure if I would have had the time, creativity, or the pieces to put something like this together though.

Man on the Moon

Jason — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:20:12 +0000

40 years ago, July 20th, one of the most amazing feats mankind has ever accomplished was done so by the Apollo 11 mission; man landing on the moon. I only wish I could have been around at the time to see this amazing feat live, but even 40 years later I am amazed and fascinated that this was accomplished using only 60s technology. Space exploration has made some leaps and bounds with the Shuttle project, and the international space station, but I feel empty considering we’ve all but abandoned missions to the moon. Thankfully, NASA plans to return to the moon by 2020, and I’m excited to see even higher quality footage and photos from those upcoming missions.

More recently regarding the 1969 Apollo missions, NASA has found the original tapes and has been undergoing a project to restore and update these videos to their original quality. In addition, I highly recommend you check out the Project Apollo Image Gallery providing high quality images from Apollo 11 in addition to all of the other Apollo missions.

If you consider all the factors going into the Apollo 11 mission, it’s quite an amazing feat that I feel will be unchallenged for quite some time. In only a short span of 8 years time from Kennedy’s speech to Congress, to Armstrong’s small step onto the Moon’s surface was the task accomplished. I dare you to find a goal of that magnitude being completed and accomplished successfully in that short time span today. It saddens me that today the world is shrinking and that we’ve almost lost the thrill of exploring the unknown. My hopes is that with the 2020 missions and beyond that ideal will be rekindled again, maybe eventually bringing way to a manned mission to Mars or beyond.