Frozen bubbles in Calgary | Nature

Last winter Chris Ratzlaff took some photos of blown bubbles freezing in the Calgary temperatures. This video is mesmerizing.



thanks CalgaryBuzz. and Chris Ratzlaff!

Cookie Monster should be a Letter | Crazy Cute

As an antidote to the seething malignant evil that is Friday the 13th... an oldie but a cutie... every so often I stumble back onto this clip and... even though I am fairly confident I am conversant with my ABCs... I watch this all the way through. The "I love you" is too cute to miss.

Ziggy Stardust live at the Hammersmith 1973 | Crazy Artist

There is nothing cooler on Halloween than paying tribute to those that don't care about dressing up even when it's not Halloween. Here's to one of the great originals: David Bowie, playing Ziggy Stardust live at the Hammersmith in 1973.

REM - So. Central Rain. live on Letterman 1983

The first national television appearance for REM was on the David Letterman show in 1983. I thought it was cool that Michael Stipe didn't chat with Letterman, only Peter Buck and Mike Mills.

Vancouver Night Landing by Air Canada 767 | Vancouver

The view from the cockpit of an Air Canada 767 while landing in Vancouver.



Original: JustPlanes. Thanks to VanCityBuzz for the tip.

Blooper Reel from Star Wars | Crazy Actors

Jimmy Fallon and The Muppets cover "The Weight" | Crazy Collaboration

At the end of his Late Night run, The Muppets joined Jimmy Fallon for a rendition of The Band classic The Weight.

FearWatch | The Numbered Radio Stations

Numbered Stations are unlicensed radio stations that transmit odd sequences for no apparent purpose, like buzzes and tones, or a voice reciting numbers, or bursts of music. Reports of numbered stations begin as early as World War I, with Anton Habsburg of Austria listening in on "enemy stations" and delivering 30 pages of transcribed broadcasts each day to the War Department. The broadcasts are considered to be a highly secure method for delivering one-way messages to undercover operatives in foreign locations. As the broadcasts are shortwave radio, they can be picked up across the globe.

At the time of this writing, the Numbers Station Research and Information Center lists 44 active stations in the world. Ten operate in English, two in German, six in Slavic, six in other languages, 17 in Morse code, two in polytones, and two in "other" mode: one listed as "Hybrid Mode" and one "Digital Pseudo-Polytone".

Here is a recording from the Conet Project, from a sample on Wikipedia:


I wonder if any declassified World War I code books (if such even exists!) could be linked to broadcasts transcribed by Anton Habsburg...?

Further reading:
Numbered station. [Wikipedia]
Numbers Station Research and Information Centre [NS-RIC]
The spooky world of the 'numbered stations'. [BBC]  Sorrel-Dejerine, Olivia. 2014 Apr 16.
The mysterious numbers station formerly known as UVB-76. [KNuts] Ramsay, Heather. 2015 Aug 9.
Numbers stations: mystery over the airwaves. [NPR] "Staff". 2010 Jul 17.
Inside the Russian short-wave radio enigma. [Wired] Savodnik, Peter. 2011 Sep 27.
The Conet Project. [ConetProject]
Spy Number Stations on Shortwave Radio [SpyNumbers]

Droning On

There has been some amazing footage taken by drones these last few years. Here are few of my favourites.

First, let's visit Newfoundland, and drone around an iceberg. Yes: these things just break off and float down the ocean, ending up offshore everywhere. This planet is amaze-balls.



Let's go from cold to colder: drone footage of Antarctica.

Antarctica from Kalle Ljung on Vimeo.

And for more than casual sightseeing, drones are good for... extreme sightseeing...? Footage from inside a fireworks show gives a pretty spectacular perspective.



And finally, no drone compilation would be complete without a viewing of OK GO's ingenious video.

Notes about The Guitar

I've picked a guitar up once or twice in my time, but have never taken the time to actually learn the thing. As a drummer, wherein "hit stuff make noise" is the starting point, the scales and finger-positions and strumming techniques all seem like a lot of book-work.

Favourite guitar-player jokes:

Q: How long does it take to tune a 12-string guitar? A: Nobody knows.
Q: What do you throw a drowning guitar player? A: His amp.

Alright. The evolution of the guitar solo:



But I do like the levity. Here's cat-meets-guitar.



And here's a pretty clever prank.



And back to some serious notes: Dr. David Grimes at Oxford discusses the physics of playing a guitar solo. (if you're interested in reading Dr. Grimes' paper, it can be found at the PLOS ONE site.)



Not to leave out the Bass Guitar, here are some of my favourite bass guitar jokes:

Q: Why couldn't the bassist get through the front door? A: He couldn't find the key and didn't know when to come in.
Q: What do you call someone who hangs around musicians? A: The bass player.
Q: What are the three most difficult years in a bass player's life? A: Second grade.

Seriously though: here is an amazing video of the 100 "greatest" bass lines, played in a single melody.



And don't worry, I also know lots of great "drummer" jokes.

The Hobo: A (N)Americana Icon

I was fascinated by hobos (one of many fascinations) in my distant youth. Growing up in a small town, a resource-based community, in the latter-half of the 20th century, the legendary escape of "running away to join the circus" was always almost a "real" option. Stories of the Great Depression, mass migrations of young people in search of work, of "riding the rails", were still part of everyday chit-chat.

I think I always realized the difference between hobos and tramps, and bums -- ideological cousins somehow, but each different in their own way. Hobos travel to find work; tramps work when they have to; and bums don't work at all. [wikipedia]

In this first video, John Hodgman presents a (fake) PBS American Experience documentary episode.



In the second video, narrated by someone with exactly the right voice for this, the National Hobo Conference in Britt, Iowa, is described.



And finally, the VICE documentary about the decline and fall of the hobo: "Death of the American Hobo".

Moon River | Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer

Moon River, written for Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's is a beautiful song. Composed by Henry Mancini, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, this is a demo version taped by Mancini and Mercer.



For the full story about the making of Moon River, visit the BBC website.

Crazy Filmsters | Alterna Films

Here's a collection of fantastic drone shots from Alterna Films' online demo reel. How many locations can you name? It looks like it was shot all around Vancouver and British Columbia.



Check out their Facebook Page, and Web Site. Great stuff.

I found their site from this Vancity Buzz page, which shows another great video of drone-flying shots of B.C.!