This YouTube mashup of the trailer for “Inception” and scenes from Pixar’s “UP” embodies everything that is right with the Internet.

YouTube Link [via Gizmodo]

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The original Double Rainbow Guy was not able to travel to Patagonia to view the total solar eclipse on July 11, 2010. However, it appears that some of his friends made the trip and lent their incredibly enthusiastic commentary to the event on his behalf. We hear it was “Ohhhhaha, so KILLER!” and “My battery died, but whatever!”

To be honest, a total solar eclipse viewed from the Andes Mountains would have elicited the same flabbergasted reaction from most people. I personally fear I would have ripped off all my clothes and rolled around in the snow as I succumb to astronomical euphoria. But that’s just me.

Raw Video – TSE in Patagonia 11 July 2010 [Vimeo] (via @neiltyson)

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Just last Thursday, June 10th, 2010, the demolition of a building in Vancouver took a turn for the worst when, twice in the same day, the “professionals” behind the demolition sent entire brick walls falling into the streets. The collapsed walls destroyed city property and narrowly missing workers, pedestrians and drivers. The whole debacle was captured from various angles by onlookers and posted on YouTube.

This video shows the first collapse, as a second-story wall falls to the sidewalk, damaging a streetlight and stunning a woman driving black Volvo while stopped at the intersection.

The same collapse, viewed from above in a taller building, shows the proximity of construction flaggers who had to scurry away to avoid getting hit with debris.

Later that day, the demolition continued on the remaining wall. (Notice the still-dangling streetlight damaged in the first incident.) This wall buckles and falls onto the sidewalk, crushing fences, two newspaper boxes and sends an entire street lamp pole crashing into the street where cars were passing only seconds before!

The second wall collapse, taken by another bystander:

At this time the demolition site has been closed pending further investigation. The building in question was Vancouver’s William Davis Centre for Acting Development, which was being demolished by a company called Global Excavation and Demolition to make way for new condominiums. They may want to consider building a school for construction demolition safety instead.

Local Vancouver news outlets have more on the story:
The Vancouver Sun
The Province
CBC News

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If you watch enough movies and TV, you’ve probably watched many scenes where an actor is reading a newspaper over his morning cup of joe. What you may not have noticed is that they are rarely reading a real newspaper. Instead, the blog slashfilm.com has noticed that many of them have been reading the exact same newspaper since the 80s!

The story behind the prop is still unknown, but it was probably made long ago for filmmakers to avoid copyright issues from using real newspapers. However, the whole situation comes full circle when comparing shots of actor Ed O’Neill reading the newspaper over two decades ago, portraying Al Bundy in Married… with Children, and more recently, as Jay Pritchett in ABC’s Modern Family.

Check out the SlashFilm post for a full collage of images of the newspaper in everything from the film No Country For Old Men to the TV comedy Scrubs.

LOL: The Reoccurring Prop Newspaper [slashfilm.com]

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Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing says:

Nothing I can say here will make this any better.

Agreed.

YouTube Link [via BoingBoing]

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Step 1: Undeniably cute, funny and accidental source material. Enter Melissa Brandts’ photo, featured in National Geographic’s Photo of the Day:

My husband and I were exploring Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park-Canada when we stopped for a timed picture of the two of us. We had our camera set up on some rocks and were getting ready to take the picture when this curious little ground squirrel appeared, became intriqued with the sound of the focusing camera and popped right into our shot! A once in a lifetime moment!

Step 2: Get posted on BoingBoing.net. Check.

Step 3: Unleash the throngs of immature amateur Photoshoppers across the internet to cut out the newly dubbed “Crasher Squirrel” and paste him into the foreground of many, many other photographs with sometimes hilarious results. Check. Check. Check.

Step 4: Get it out of your system by creating your own:

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

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We’ve probably all seen the still images of the Sarychev Peak Volcano eruption in Russia taken from 200 miles up in space from the International Space Station. What you haven’t seen is the entire series of images stitched together to create an awesome high-definition animation of the flyover. The 3D effect is just mind blowing and it is more than worth the cost of the entire space program (if you weren’t already counting landing on the moon, the Hubble telescope, the Mars rovers and just about everything else).

You must see this video:
(Warning: The video starts suddenly with loud intro music.)

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You may remember last month that Stephen Colbert directed his Colbert Nation minions to take over the NASA vote to name the next International Space Station module after himself. He did, in fact, win the vote when COLBERT climbed the ranks to gain 230,539 votes, even more than the NASA supplied 2nd place name of Serenity.

On tonight’s Colbert Report on Comedy Central, NASA officially announced that the node would not be named Colbert. Instead, Node 3 will be known as Tranquility, to honor the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Colbert didn’t leave empty handed, however, as NASA also announced that they will install a treadmill inside the Tranquility module which has been scientifically named the “Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill” or C.O.L.B.E.R.T.

On his show, Colbert graciously accepted the consolation prize, proudly confirming to himself that NASA followed his command.

NEW SPACE STATION MODULE NAME HONORS APOLLO 11 ANNIVERSARY [nasa.gov]

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I was caught off guard when I first saw a commercial for the Special Edition Barack Obama Chia Pet a few minutes ago. Up until the last two seconds I was convinced it was a hoax, being as how I was watching the commercial on Comedy Central. Yet, alas, it is a real product that some person has designed, created, manufactured, boxed and is currently taking pre-orders for.

We’ve seen the Obama Action Figure, crappy Obama Commemorative Coins and Ty’s uncalled for Sweet Sasha, Marvelous Malia dolls, so I guess we should expect anything. You can take the Obama Chia (availiable in Determined Chia Obama or Happy Chia Obama facial expressions) as offensive, funny, stupid or a must have. I think we can all agree that these are very, very strange times in which we live.

Why wasn’t there ever a Millard Fillmore Chia?

Chia Obama [chiaobama.com]

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Seems that news got around about NASA letting the public vote on the name of the next module to be added to the International Space Station, and on the March 3rd episode of the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert took it upon himself to implore his viewers to add his name as a write-in. Within 24 hours of the episode airing, “COLBERT” is now the #1 user suggested name for the Node 3 module, easily overtaking “XENU,” the believed vengeful galactic dictator taught by the Church of Scientology. The leading name from NASA’s provided choices is currently “SERENITY” with 86% of votes.

Even if COLBERT receives the most votes it is highly unlikely NASA will officially name Node 3 after him. The terms and conditions listed on the voting webpage indicate that “the results are not binding on NASA and NASA reserves the right to ultimately select a name in accordance with the best interests of the agency, its needs, and other considerations.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Colbert implored his influence on the internet. In August 2006 he commanded his viewers, affectionately known as the Colbert Nation, to edit the Wikipedia page for Elephant to update it with the “fact” that the wild elephant population had swelled and was no longer on the endangered species list. The ploy worked as thousands flocked to the page to update it, leading to the entry being locked for editing to prevent further vandalism.

In the end, Colbert, who frequently references his enthusiasm of space exploration, may not get the ISS node named after him. Instead, I suggest that we take Node 3’s copula, the protruding observation deck attached to it’s exterior, and name it the Colbert Bump.

The Colbert Report, Help NASA Name Node 3 

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