Now this is a doorbell! Over at ThinkGeek they have a USB doorbell.

The USB Doorbell replaces your current chime and allows you to play your favorite sound effects, music, audio clips, movie quotes or whatever strikes your fancy. Anytime someone presses that little button by your front door the USB Doorbell will "ring" using the sound you have selected. It first connects to your computer via USB (cable included) and will store any up-to-thirty second WAV or MP3 soundclip that you wish to use.

According to the article it works with standard low voltage doorbell systems, so it doesnÂ’t look like it would take a lot of tinkering. Here is a clip of it working in all of itÂ’s geeky action.

Yea, I may have to get one of these.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:52 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Not in a million years did I think that a Tesla Coil could be a musical instrument. That is until I saw this clip. They played some video game theme music from Super Mario Brothers and Tetris. So all of us old Nintendo geeks should recognize at least those parts. A U of I Urbana-Champaign student Steve Ward built the coil.

According to the blurb with the video:

So just to explain a little further, yes, it is the actual high voltage sparks that are making the noise. Every cycle of the music is a burst of sparks at 41 KHz, triggered by digital circuitry at the end of a "long" piece of fiber optics.

What's not immediately obvious in this video is how loud this is. Many people were covering their ears, dogs were barking. In the sections where the crowd is cheering and the coils is starting and stopping, you can hear the the crowd is drowned out by the coil when it's firing.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:40 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Need to get something cold really fast? Just add salt! No seriously.

This isn’t anything new. I’ve known about this one since college. This knowledge was passed down to some friends and myself by a senior my freshman year. He said, “Dude, if you have to cool a keg really fast, through it in a garbage can filled with ice. Add a lot of salt and stir. It’ll be ice cold in about 10 minutes” He wasn’t lying. I’ve done this numerous times with cans, bottles and kegs.

IÂ’ve gone to parties where itÂ’s bring your own beer. Unfortunately the store I went to didnÂ’t have the beer I wanted cold. No problem, but the beer, ice and salt containerÂ… VIOLA! Cold beer. DonÂ’t believe me. See this video and try it yourself.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:36 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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In April I went to see some Midget Kick Boxing, which was pretty damn cool. Now today I find on the Internet Midget wrestling in a cage.

You have to love the little folk!

Posted by: Contagion at 07:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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