Link Thread

[Nate the Great]

The Engineer Guy explains how drinking bird toys work.

The amazing thing that I learned today is that Albert Eistein couldn't figure out how they worked upon discovering them in 1922.

I also learned that if you think the bird isn't bobbing fast enough, you can use alcohol instead of water.

[Nate the Great]

Ghostbusters cosplayers gather around a Herbie recreation.

Talk about an odd pop culture crossover...

[Nate the Great]

The technical 25th anniversary of the release of Groundhog Day isn't until the 12th, but we might as well start today. Favorite lines? YouTube clips?

Pogo does his magic in the music video Bing
CGP Grey on the holiday (again, call it a time loop)

Your Amazing Thing to Learn Today is that Groundhog Day coincides with the Gaelic festival of Imbolc, yet another Christianized Pagan holiday.

Furthermore, today I finally found out what the definition of "early spring" is, thanks to Wikipedia. If a majority of days between Groundhog Day and the Spring Equinox reach 40 degF (4 degC), it's an early spring.

[Nate the Great]

Wintergatan is making another marble machine

And the amazing thing that I learned today is that he's using Mattias Wandel's Gear Generator program.

Knowing that Wintergatan is a fan of Matthias Wandel just brightens my day.

[Nate the Great]

How To Make Stuff makes a half-scale Optimus Prime Ion Blaster

I must confess that I didn't watch much G1 when it was first airing, I guess I was still in my Disney Afternoon phase back then. I jumped on board the whole Transformers thing for Beast Wars later on. However, I do really like the design of G1 Optimus Prime and agree that Peter Cullen is the voice of the character.

JTMitchell87 reviews the Masterpiece Optimus Prime collectors toy/statue. This is one cool toy.

Phelous reviews the Pepsi Convoy toy.

The death of Optimus Prime.

Optimus Prime "meets" Optimus Primal. I think I was aware at the time how they'd mixed up Optimus Prime's spark holder and the Matrix of Leadership, but at least they tried to cover it up by having Rhinox say that the spark "has the Matrix with it", implying that both could possibly be held in the same holder. Other sources imply that the two holders are different sizes, and one lies behind the other...look, continuity in Transformers is almost as bad as Star Trek and Star Wars, let's move on...

Orchestral version of the theme. I think SFDebris took this version as the theme for his Transfomers reviews...

Peter Cullen announces that he's no longer the voice of Eeyore in Disney's Winnie the Pooh productions (starting with the 2011 movie), so he has Optimus Prime "talk" to Eeyore.

Acapella theme courtesy of the Game Grumps

[Nate the Great]

It's Studio Ghibli Fanart Day!

Alice in Wonderland has tea with Chihiro
Group shot of various Ghibli characters
Another group shot, but this time everyone is drawn in more conventional manga style
The Ghibli girls gather to take a ride on the Cat Bus
Everyone is flying in a spiral toward the singularity of Totoro
This group shot is even more expansive, including non-Miyazaki characters (does that Anne of Green Gables look more like Judy from Daddy Longlegs to anyone else?)
Ghibli characters drawn in Adventure Time style
Sailor Venus and Artemis take over for Kiki and Jiji

[Nate the Great]

List25 made a video on the 25 funniest test answers kids have ever given.

I knew about some of these already, but most were a surprise.

[Nate the Great]

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood's first episode. I wasn't aware of that until today. So it's Mister Rogers Day here in the Link Thread! Yes, a few of these I've already posted, but I don't care.

Remixes courtesy of melodysheep: Garden of Your Mind and Sing Together
331Erock performs a metal cover of the theme song
Today I Found Out and List25 present 20 Interesting Facts About Mr. Rogers
Watch the pilot episode! He looks so young!
Captain Kangaroo pays a visit
Mr. Rogers visits Sesame Street
Mr. Rogers visits Arthur
Margaret Hamilton pays a visit
LeVar Burton pays a visit
Bill Nye the Science Guy pays a visit
How bass violins are made
How trumpets are made
Snopes debunks a number of urban legends about Mr. Rogers

[Nate the Great]

It's Vintage TV Commercials Featuring Star Trek Actors Day!

Leonard Nimoy (in a wonderful Seventies mustache) shills a LaserDisc player and talks to a beeping crystal.
MCI Phone Plan featuring the TOS cast (and Jonathan Frakes for some reason)
This Cheer laundry detergent is a weird one. The TOS music and sound effects are authentic enough, but the costumes and transporter visuals are just wrong. No Trek actors, but there is a guy who it looks like he's attempting to evoke the Klingons, along with a Leonard Nimoy voiceover.
A group of TOS lookalikes shill for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Nice usage of music and sound effects, but it's a little unsettling how close the impersonations got. I suppose the Uncanny Valley can exist even in live-action.
DeForest Kelley shills for Trivial Pursuit. "I'm an actor, not a doctor!"
Robert Picardo (with hair, a mustache, and a cheesy French accent) sells Crystal Sugar.

Back in the 90's Hallmark made some commercials for their Star Trek Christmas ornaments featuring minor characters:

Nurse Ogawa
Chancellor Gowron
Sub-Commander T'Rul (or Martha Hackett playing another Romulan)
Leonard Nimoy (not a minor character or even in-character, but still!)

[Nate the Great]

Mathologer presents alternate ways to prove the Pythagorean Theorem.

Just in case you didn't really believe that a^2+b^2=c^2.

Stick around for a proof of how the cosine rule ties into the theorem.

[Nate the Great]

What happens when you launch what would normally be ten minutes of fireworks all at once?

It's rather underwhelming, if you ask me.

Some more Tom Scott recommendations:

Shelves of lava lamps that generate random numbers that keep the Internet secure.

The musical road that's out of tune.

What is the largest clock in the world? And what counts as a "clock"?

The absolutely insane border between the Netherlands and Belgium.

[Nate the Great]

Mathologer gives another method of solving the "how do you measure out 4 gallons when you only have a 3 gallon jug and a 5 gallon jug" problem.

I find this stuff fascinating.

[Nate the Great]

The TNG cast made a sketch for the Comic Relief charity back in 1994. Wait for the inevitable "Whoopi Goldberg looks like Guinan" joke.

[Nate the Great]

Coming on Thursday is Episode One of the Hexagonal Phase of the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (based on the pseudocanon sixth book And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer) with a CD edition being released later this year.

I appreciate that they've kept as much of the original cast as possible, but I don't really care. I never read And Another Thing because it's not by Adams (and you never use frood as a verb or capitalize zark).

[Nate the Great]

The first teaser for Mary Poppins Returns was released yesterday.

My feelings about this film are complicated and will have to wait until later.

[Nate the Great]

Maybe it's a bit too soon, but I'm going to do another Star Trek Deviantart Day anyway...

And just to make it easier when I do this again, this is the Third Deviantart Day, and the first two are here and here.

Hugh meets Livingston
The TNG cast as crocheted dolls
The DS9 cast presents "Last Call" (totally not a spoof of The Last Supper!)
The major Cardassians if they really were snakes (with hair for some reason)
Someone decided to draw Vreenak as though he was actually a pleasant person

Nymeria-Stark gives us very nice colored pencil portraits:
Guinan, Geordi, Kang, Janeway, Moriarty

Starfire Productions gives us collages of the many faces of TNG characters:
Data, Crusher, Picard, Worf, Deanna

JamieFayX gives us the women of Trek in a nice balance between caricature and realism:
Ezri, Kira, Janeway, Seven, Deanna, Tasha

[NAHTMMM]

Pictures from the National Czech and Slovak Museum in Iowa.

There are a lot of pretty things and some thought-provoking exhibits as well.

[NAHTMMM]

Someone recreated Mega Man 1 in Mario Maker.

And Mega Man 2 in another of their videos, maybe more.

[Nate the Great]

Apparently today is the newest geek holiday, Mario Day, (MAR 10, get it?).

To celebrate, here are some links. Some reruns, of course.

Custom Rubik's Cubes creating Mario pixel art in real life
JWittz presents Zelda cameos in Mario games and Mario cameos in Zelda games
The 30th Anniversary Music Video
Mario Music on Marimba
Mario Theme on Piano and iPad
Mario Disco Medley
Mario 64 Menu Music Box Version
Mario 64 Menu Guitar Collab
Mario Parkour (watch out for all the lost caps!)
Mario Parkour 2 (more impressive this time, and fewer lost caps)
Collegehumor animations: Luigi Finally Snaps, Bowser and His Minions, Mario's Warp Whistle, Koopa's Hell

[Nate the Great]

Stephen Hawking died.

Ouch. I know it's a miracle that we had him as long as we did, but it still hurts.

Of course I have to link to the TNG poker game
Dogbert goes to fetch Professor Hawking
His children take the Ice Bucket Challenge in his stead
His daughter Lucy talks a bit about him
He performs Monty Python's Galaxy Song
Clip of him performing as the new voice of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the Hexagonal Phase of the radio show. Since it's based on And Another Thing, which I don't consider a real entry in the series, I don't care to listen to the rest, but I still consider it a kick to hear him here.
Clip of him performing as Deep Thought in a documentary about the Hitchhiker's Guide. It's a shame he couldn't deliver that "42" punchline with the same gravitas as Valentine Dyall did in the TV series.

Incidentally, I never did get around to watching The Theory of Everything. I've read about him and know how depressing it's going to get, why torture myself again?