The controllable Schwippy Christmas Tree is back! On the Schwippy Christmas Tree page, you can choose to control our Christmas lights while viewing a web cam image of the tree and anybody (or any thing, for that matter) that decides to run across it

This year, along with the Red, Green, Blue, and White lights, we have also added a tree-topper star and even a train that you can control.
If you want to know how the project was put together, you can visit the project page at www.Plasma2002.com/tree, but if you want to control the tree and view the webcam, make sure you visit the following link:

Schwippy Christmas Tree

Have a cat that won’t stay off your counters? I do. I finally got fed up with it enough to do something about it: scare the crap out of him with a motion-detecting blender (while recording the results for my own amusement, of course).

Check it out at www.plasma2002.com/blenderdefender

Blender Defender via Me!

Me and my step brothers, David and James, were all at a public park for the day. While the adults were playing some basketball, we ventured around and whatnot, and eventually found a construction site where they were laying in new underground plumbing and drainage.

Us, being boys, decided it would be a good idea to investigate it. Eventually, we found a part where the fence didn’t connect, which let us into the site. Man, there was some awesome stuff in there too, haha.

What was probably the coolest thing was the 6-foot diameter concrete pipe laying on the asphalt. It was about 15 feet long, so sure, we would walk through it and stuff… but that’s not what interested us. What was fun was the fact that we could roll it

All three of us were on top ‘walking’ it across the pavement. Quite entertaining to kids… but not even this can stop an ADHD kid from losing interest after 45 seconds. So I quickly come up with another idea. I told David to stay on top of the pipe, while me and James both got off and got IN the pipe.

After a second or two of David getting his bearings, he finally gets the hang of walking it again with us both in the pipe on our backs hanging on for dear life.

Me, being the genius that I am, I was on the side closest to the edge of the pipe (James was more near the inside). Well, when the pip eventually rolls around, I start to lose my stance in the pipe and decide it would be a good idea to grab the edge of it to keep from getting hurt.

Not a second later, I feel a quick motion that didn’t feel unlike somebody slapping my hand. I didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t hurt. I also heard it. It didn’t sound like a slap, but more like the sound it would make if you took 3 celery stalks and snapped them in half at the same time.

While I was wondering what the heck just happened, I tried to pull my hand back so I could get out of the pipe to figure it out. And that’s when I noticed that it didn’t work. I was stuck. That’s when it hit me. The pip had rolled over my fingers. It had rolled almost all the way over, but for the next few seconds it stopped, right before going backwards and off of my hand. Those couple seconds felt like ages.

By this point, I didn’t think anything bad had happened, since it wasn’t hurting all that bad… but I was rather freaked out that my hand was stuck and I didn’t know what was going on.

When the pipe finally rolled off, I saw the pavement first. It could only be described as the same stain you would get if you took a cherry, laid it on the sidewalk, then hit it with a hammer.

That’s when I started to get scared.

Then I decided that it would be a great idea to look at my hand, so I tried to pull it back again. Yet I was still finding resistance. Upon further movements, I found out that my fingers were… well… lets put it this way. Take some Playdough, put it between 2 books, and press them together. That Playdough is gonna be stuck to at least one.

After I lifted my hand from an angle that allowed my fingers to basically ‘peel’ off of the pipe, I brought back my hand with horror in my face.

That’s when the pain started at a hot sensation.

Its safe to say at this point, I was screaming. Screaming like hell.

My two step-brothers had no idea that this had happened, but when they saw the blood, they ran and got some help. I was too busy trying to think of what to do to actually do anything useful. After a few seconds, I’m being picked up, thrown over a shoulder, and put in the back seat of a car and on the way to the hospital.

Still screaming.

…I’ll spare the boring details of the hospital, the stitches, and the cast, but I do think it important to mention that while it didn’t do much damage to the entire finger, the pipe had actually splintered and shattered the tips of the bone in my pinky and ring finger. Literally… shattered. I really wish I still had the X-rays. It looked like a very tiny bomb was put in the middle of the bone in my fingers. Pieces of bone were ‘thrown’ outward from the center of my fingers.

Long story short, I still have the scars on 3 fingers, though you would never notice them unless they were pointed out, and I have ultra sensitive finger tips. And no, its not like a superpower… more like super painful if touched the wrong way.

The video does it no justice… you totally need to be there to experience the awesomeness.

If you want to see how it was done and what all it consists of, go to the Emergency Party Button page at www.plasma2002.com/epb

If you are bored and feel like playing with our lights, go to the following website.

http://tree.schwippy.com

’nuff said.

Along with the three common hand signs that can be thrown, 22 more signs have been added, each with their own set of rules on what beats what.

Click the image for a full size view

Check out the main site for a different chart that you can buy a large print of and put on your wall for reference.
Rock Paper Scissors 25 @ UMOP

Is it just me, or was Superman a total jerk back in the old days? Haha, check out these funny comic book covers and image scans from real comic books from way back when. Linky linky below!

Funny Superhero Book Covers @ Fresh99

Anyways, while we were riding up, I was thinking to myself of ideas on how a system could be made to accommodate shopping carts going up or down a story. Somewhat along the lines of an escalator system. Well, I left it at that and didn’t think about it much more afterwards.

After we left Bed Bath and Beyond, we went to the other side of the mall and found Target, my girlfriend’s OCD-friendly fantasy store. As much as she loves Target, I wasn’t surprised at how thrilled she was to learn that just like Bed Bath and Beyond, this store too was two stories. Up where we live, we have ever yet to see a 2 store Target. I honestly didn’t think they could have that much crap to sell.

What’s great about this Target is the fact that they had solved the shopping cart escalator problem! We were both as mesmerized with this thing much in the same way that Asian tourists are with a pretty blonde girl in Las Vegas. I felt like an idiot taking the footage of this thing in action, but I knew what I had to do. I was on a mission to bring back a sight of the new world to the people of the IE! So behold: the Target Cartalator! (Well, if I got to name it anyway…)

Finally! Put your hamster to some REAL use! Make him work for his own well being. Load a sheet of paper into the shredder, and your little buddy just does his thing, running his little butt off, and presto; a few gear reductions later, an instant hamster bed made from purely recycled credit card applications and unfiled TPS reports.

This is artist Tom Ballhatchet’s design, which he plans to put on display in Milan, Italy.

Check out his hanster shredder and his site below.

Tom Ballhatchet [Via Gizmodo]

Well, ok…. maybe we all just like sticking them in the microwave. But that aside, heres an awesome little tutorial on making your own peeps, done by the minds over at Evil Mad Scientist. Clicky clicky on the linky linky.

Make Your Own Peeps @ EvilMadScientist

I’ll admit it, thats gonna be pretty funny. But Ill also tell you straight out that Im not that excited about the movie. Im just as much of a Simpsons fan-freak that can recite every episode from the first 6 seasons as the next, so I think I have the right to say that the quality of The Simpsons has gone way way down over the past 5 years. But anyways, back to 7-11.

Besides just changing the name to the Kwik-E-Mart, they are going to change a few select items to coincide with the cult hit. Such as the Squishy (What flavor did you get? Blue), Buzz Cola (Twice the sugar, twice the caffeine!), and Krusty-O’s (Now with flesh-eating bacteria in every box!). Unfortunately, theres no confirmed word about offering Duff (Duff-man does not approve!).

Along with the changes, there will also be the usual store-wide sponsored ads (Think ‘MMMM… donuts’).

Seeing as how there are more than 4,700 stores nation-wide, and only 11 are getting the new clothes, unfortunately it seems that not many people will get to see the changes. The locations haven’t even been released yet.

Ya know what would be great though? If Wal*Mart started the same thing. At least if they did it, you KNOW you would finally be able to go buy yourself an authentic Li’l Bastard Clock-Tampering Kit.

Real Kwik-E-Marts [Via Boing-Boing]

Although it may seem simplistic to most, the American Hotdog is a very intricate and unique breed of hotdog. It acts as a mere standalone relying on other species, such as humans to help its pollination. Although modern science has yet to explain exactly how it attracts the eye, the American Hotdog does quite a good job at luring the unsuspecting person to it with a watering mouth.

In its simple form, the American Hotdog can be quite a treat, but some carnivores (mainly the humans) like to prepare the hotdog even further. This of course, does not please the hotdog.
When the now turned predator tries to engulf the friendly hotdog in flames, perhaps next to its distant cousin the beef patty, the hotdog uses its last measures of self defense. To ward off anything it can, our friend the American Hotdog uses a method unique to its own species and none other in the world as we know it. Upon the desecration of its kind, the hotdog tends to bulge out at either or both ends and depending on the severity of the attack, can split open, or with the harshest attacks, can even perform an extremely gruesome kamikaze-like ritual and explode. This ensures that the predators will no longer desire the once friendly and delicious treat.

As the ages has advanced in time, humans have tried many times to stop the defensive actions of the American Hotdog. One of the more favored attempts involve fornicating the hotdog with a wooden stick, and then dipping the entire thing in a golden batter.

Although this may sound completely inhumane, to the hotdog, it causes little discomfort……. until a predator desires to raise the temperature of the corn-batter encased hotdog, or “reheat” it. This, yet again, causes the American Hotdog to go into its natural defense mode.

And yet again, to be frank, the American Hotdog will live on in our hearts for years to come.

As long as we keep the microwave on for under 2 minutes, that is.

-Brian Gaut

If youve got a thing for legos, then Its probably time you took it to the next level.

Its a 4-component sofa setup, But the interesting thing about it is the fact that you can reconfigure it in anyway you want without having to worry about everything not fitting together.

The complete set, dubbed Bekky, is made of rubber and foam (which actually sounds kinda comfy), and all pieces fit into each other, essentially making an endless amount of configuration possibilities for you to rest your rump on while you play Star Wars and drink your ice cold Bawls, you ninja, you. The 4-piece set will set you back $466. But im sure you would agree with me when I say its totally worth that just so you can match your lego wallpaper colors.

Bekky Lego Sofa Set [Via Gizmodo]

The website address alone is enough to make your curiosity get the best of you.

PoopooPaper.com has done the unthinkably gross and taken elephant crap and manufactured it into something useful. Great. All the paper and covers are made out of re-recycled materials.

Elephants crap a lot. Enough to make 10 books every time they do. That’s a lot of bullshit. Literally.

We can make about 25 large sheets of paper from a single piece (or turd) of elephant poo poo!!! That translates into about 10 standard sized journals including the front and back covers! Neat, huh!?!?!?

The site says that the paper doesn’t smell like anything but paper. Maybe, maybe not. But there’s always one thing that’s going to sit in the back of your mind. You’re writing on poo, dude.

PoopooPaper [Via Boingboing]

The robot, Keepon, has no arms or legs, but still manages to look damn good on the dance floor.

Using its two squishy semi-spheres, it bounces, twists, turns, and stretches its way around while listening to any music it can detect a beat from. Once it detects a beat, it matches its movements to the timing of the song perfectly. It actually looks so good you would think it was preprogrammed. And not to mention its so cute it makes you wanna puke, ha.

Go to the page and play the video, making sure you watch the ‘Keepon dancing to Spoon‘ video. (Its one of 2 buttons at the bottom of the video player)

But theres still one question. If you put it in the microwave, would it do the same thing the peeps do?

BeatBots [Via Engadget]

Ha! The bottom book it attached to the wall. Its a super simple idea, but its just one of those awesome things that are gonna make visitors just stand there for a few minutes staring at it with a look of confusion on their faces.

Invisible Bookshelf [Via Make Magazine]