Magic Man - Real Life Color

This album is SO GOOD. These two guys are from Boston, they produced by sending things back and forth on the internet, AND THEY HAVE A SONG CALLED POLYGONS. Truly awesome and so worth downloading.

I am going to give them some money for this once I figure out how to use the internet and do so. You should too if you're into it. These guys obviously put a lot of hard work and time into this album and it definitely should be rewarded.

Free download here.

In other awesome news, my iPhone got fried somehow and I got my SECOND replacement iPhone this week (they replaced the first one because I beat it up so much that they said it was embarrassing to the company for me to be carrying a product that looked like mine did. SCORE).

Benefits of getting your messed up iPhone replaced:

(1) It works again.
(b) You can do stuff with it.
(4) It's not broken anymore.

Drawbacks of getting your messed up iPhone replaced:

(a) You have to start all over on Angry Birds.
(b) I guess that's about it.
(3) Yeah.

As you can see, getting your iPhone replaced sucks and I don't recommend it. 

I am also doing an unofficial study of roses on the street. I have a theory that the ugly roses smell better than the pretty ones. So far the only official thing I have figured out is that grabbing a rose stem or sticking your face in a bush will horribly scratch your face and arms. But when I figure out more I will post a colorful chart or graph.

Torani Cupcake Syrup

It is amazing that this exists.

Take Out Beverage Lids

Awesome. 

Subway Etiquette

I'm digging these posters by Jay Shells. 

Oobleck

So today I got to spend 4 hours figuring out how to make 2 tons of corn starch goo turn the same color as a swimming pool. Life is so good. But it got me thinking about this Oobleck stuff, which oddly enough I had to make in huge quantities when I was working as a counselor in the Nature Shack at Coleman Country Day Camp like 10-12 years ago, between cleaning up goat crap and pulling kids out of the pond when they fell in. I suppose the fact that I'm doing this for a TV show now should be some kind of full circle moment or something. But I'm not cognitively developed enough to make that connection; all I can focus on is huge quantities of awesome colorful goo.

This is Lori. And a pig. This picture is like 10 years old. 

I worked in this pen every summer for 5 years. It smelled like shit.

Oobleck is basically a corn starch and water mixture that, when combined in a specific ratio, creates something called a non-Newtonian fluid. This basically means that the viscosity of the fluid is not directly proportional to the amount of stress applied to it. Usually there's a direct relationship (i.e. a constant coefficient) between stress and viscosity; the cool thing about non-Newtonian fluids is that they can function much like a solid under certain conditions.

This little girl scares me

If you want to make your own, take two parts cornstarch and one part water, and mix them together in a bowl. It will be difficult, and more like kneading. You might need to add more water or corn starch depending on how humid it is, and it varies a bit from batch to batch. Add a few drops of food coloring to your liking and mix until the color is even.

If you haven't made this before you definitely should. It doesn't matter if you're an adult, you'll have fun. And the materials are cheap enough that it's worth it. I'm going to make some this week. It's awesome if you're having a bad day too. It's like a stress ball only more awesome.

I will try to take pictures in a few weeks of the 2,000+ pounds of this stuff that's going to be made. I think it's gonna be pretty cool.