Observe The Banana

The Muppets have apparently been  making a come back on YouTube. I have always loved the Muppets, from watching them in prime time decades ago, to sharing them with  my son on DVD, they are classic family entertainment true style and the list of big name celebrities that were guest hosts is truly staggering. Here are two delicious Muppet version of classical music to enjoy with your family and loved ones.

Ode to Beeker




Classical Chicken



These put a new light on all the new solo acapella chorus YouTube videos out there recently.

[BoingBoing]

Here is another cool little drumming robot. Named the Lil’ Drum and Bass Bot, this robot has his own little pill bottle drum to beat on with two sticks, or can be converted to one larger stick to play out riffs on objects it detects in its path. It even has its own little tone generator music maker to accompany itself. A nicely executed and clever idea. His little writeup on the project includes some development information and reveals that he spent about $50 and 16 hours on this project which is uses a Picaxe 28×1 controller.



[Let’s Make Robots via Make via Gizmodo

Previously on ObserveTheBanana: Little Drummer Bot

I have just finished reading The Time Patrol by Poul Anderson. I first heard of Poul Anderson from this review of There Will Be Time that sounded like something I would enjoy. I was unable to find a copy that book, so I checked out “The Time Patrol” instead. I am feeling a bit lazy this morning so instead of writing my own synopsis I am borrowing this from the book jacket:

“The capacity for time travel has made human history a fragile thing. To protect the continuity of that history and guard humanity’s mysterious destiny, the men and woman of our own future have established the Time patrol, a far-flung organization dedicated to preserving the time lines and foiling the attempts of those who change history to suit their own purposes.”

This book is actually of collection of several shorter Time Patrol Stories combined with  “Star of the Sea”, the first full-length novel of Manse Edward and the Time Patrol. These stories are all very rich with a lot of historical details and color, and copious amounts of historical “what-if” speculation. What if that civilization had not rose to power, or if that leader can been killed before that great battle, or if that religion had taken hold and spread instead of the other one? I can not personally evaluate the accuracy of the historical details so generously offered in this book, but they seemed to be reasonable and were presented in a believable way. I would think that someone who was better versed in the historical details of ancient civilizations may be able to enjoy this book on another level. The premise is that the time line is somewhat elastic and will tend to recover or “snap back” from small changes (like one man’s death) but there are key individuals and moments in history that can shape many generations to come. Criminals from the future must be kept from influencing these key moments. The Time Patrol recruits suitable individuals from throughout time to study and maintain the time line.
Unfortunately the first few shorter stories seemed to be a bit repetitive and follow a clear pattern. First the agents travel back to a distant place and time, described with generous historical color and details, then a crisis unfolds which will mean the death of an agent or their loved ones. The only solutions to the crisis would involve breaking the Time Patrols strict rules, the biggest one being: an individual can not go back to change their own past. No jumping back a week to warn yourself not to open that door. Then the long buildup is quickly and neatly wrapped up by finding a way to bend (or break – just this once – wink) the rules. Luckily further in to the book the story lines grow longer and more complicated and involved.
Although a bit laborious at times wading through all the historical “what-ifs” while the characters try to identify the key moments of the time line that led to their own future which they must protect, this book is a good read and may be particularly interesting to students of history, ancient cultures or sociology.

Today’s YouTube banana sighting – Dr. Bunson Honeydew is tickled pink to announce his solution to “the banana problem”. And here I didn’t even realize there was a “banana problem.”




Goodbye forever to dull bananas!

A little over week ago I was finally lucky to win myself a Bag of Crap from Woot. Well, it finally arrived and with much fanfare and to-do the great unveiling commenced.

The box. Pretty big, that’s a good sign, but kind of light . . .

Air pillows, some little boxes, oh oh what’s inside? what’s inside?

First item a mysterious box of “4 sets”, but sets of what?

Ahhh, 4 iGo car chargers. Potentially useful for my iPod or cell, but they don’t come with any tips for devices. A quick search on Amazon reveals the tips are not so cheap at around $10-$15 each. If I get lucky I can sell 3 of them to buy 2 tips.

Second item, some weird little soda can charm thingy. Why? ‘Cause it’s crap! (Crap with a straw! -though I do wonder why such a thing is even manufactured in the first place)

Next item, three nice little camera cases, not too crappy.

Last item, now what’s this? A Palm computer? This may have potential . . .

but it is a Palm Zire – bottom of the line Palm in 2002. Works fine as it ever did, but has a crappy monochrome unlit LCD display. Resale value on eBay appears to be under $10. Oh well, I will try to download some game apps for it, or use it as a remote control.

As it was written:

“shalt thou not get the crap you want, want the crap you get.”

The anticipation was fun, and we enjoyed making up lots of B O C phrases all week….

Bag Of Carrots  Big Old Cat  Bozo, Original Clown  Brrrr Outside Cold  Big Ornery Cephlapod  Break Open Crustaceans  Ball Of Cotton  Broken Old Computer  Bad Old Crabs  Bring On Clowns  Bagel Or Cereal  Butter Or Creamcheese  Bowl Of Cereal  Bumpy Old Carpet  Big Old Camera  Bag Of Cookies  Box Of Cabbage ….

Some time ago I posted about the Ripsaw tracked vehicle. Well now it has apparently come up in the world as a real military vehicle. They have some big budget funding and are now developing the Ripsaw MS1 as an unmanned attack vehicle for the US Military.

Built by twin brothers, Geoff and Mike Howe of Barwick, Maine, the Ripsaw can careen at high speed over obstacles that would leave a vehicle’s crew dazed and bruised.

It is fast, it is agile, it is dangerous. It is not armored, but can carry a remotely operated M240 machine gun. The makers hope it can help troops in Iraq deal with roadside ambushes. In one of their videos they say that in over 6 years of extreme testing they have never once thrown a track. They did once manage to break a shock mount, but the vehicle continued to operate fine.

Howe and Howe Ripsaw MS1 and more videos from Howe and Howe

(via Defense Tech via Crunchgear)

A few videos from their site pulled over to YouTube. Some show the earlier manned version:

The crazy crew over at Top Gear decide to help the London mayor choose which style of bus is best. A mad race ensues as only they could pull off. To their credit, they do make it almost one half lap before making contact with each other, and then it is all down hill form there. I just love watch that long “bendy bus” wag its back half around high speed corners, and the double-decker managed to stay upright (though often on two wheels) longer than I thought it would. Watch all the bus smashing goodness below.

from TechEBlog

As of May 2008, Owners of the Nintendo Wii game console can now download free game demos to their Nintendo DS game system at home just like the Download Service available at some stores. The service is available as part of the new free Nintendo Channel on the Wii. You can purchase the Nintendo Channel (for free) through the Wii Shop Channel. The Nintendo Channel features Wii game videos and trailers. To find the DS Download service you will need to agree to allow “Data-Sharing” service that sends data on what games you play to Nintendo (Under Nintendo Channel settings, Data-Sharing Settings). Then go to “Find Titles for You” and the bottom choice will be “DS Download Service”. If the option is grayed out as unavailable, then you have not agreed to the data sharing. Once in the DS Download Service you will see a list of available demos, some of which appear to be permanent, some of which seem to be available only temporarily. I have noticed the “Distribution Ends:” date they give is not always accurate and the list does not update until at least a day after that date. After you download a game you can keep it on your DS until it is powered off. If you want to save a demo to play the next day, just close the DS to suspend it without turning it off (and consider plugging it in since the battery will slowly drain in this suspended state).

Since I have been unable to find a list on the web of what demos are available, I will post the new list on this blog as they change (which is usually a day or two after the “ends” date).
Enjoy!

December 2008 Wii Download Service Titles (Updated December 22, 2008)

Click here for the current list of available downloads

Mystery Case Files MillionHeir – No end date
Crosswords DS – Crosswords Demo – No end date
Brain Age Demo – No end date
Brain Age 2 Demo – No end date
Flash Focus Demo – No end date

Personal Trainer Cooking: Lasagna Demo – Distribution ends 12/28/08
Amazing Adventures: The Forgotten Ruins Demo – Distribution ends 12/28/08
Lock’s Quest – Distribution ends 12/28/08
Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero  – Distribution ends 12/28/08
Soul Bubbles Demo – Distribution ends 12/28/08
MySims Kingdom – Distribution ends 12/28/08