Bored 4 All » Cool Stuff

Kinect Star Wars Mod

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:11:17 +0000

The hacking possibilities for the Xbox 360 Kinect peripheral seem to keep growing every day. The latest hack to hit the inter-pipes: the Kinect lightsaber.

Yankeyan used the OpenKinect drivers, along with image processing, tracking and rendering by OpenCV to create this great real-time lightsaber effect on his PC. All he has to do is pick up a wooden stick, and the Kinect tracks its position and the image processing software adds the lightsaber effect.
Hopefully, LucasArts will oblige us with the same when their Star Wars Kinect game comes out next year. For now, Yankeyan’s hack will have to tide us over. OpenKinect is using GitHub to share code with you! GitHub is more than just a place to share code. It’s a place to keep tabs on your favorite developers and projects, easily contribute fixes and new features, and visualize what’s going on inside your codebase! OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision) is a library of programming functions for real time computer vision.

World Records Longest Tongue!

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:04:17 +0000

Take Los Angeles resident Chanel Tapper (photo to the right, click to enlarge). She now officially has the state’s longest tongue. According to the Guinness Book of World Records it measures 3.8 inches. She lost the world title however to Stephen Taylor of the United Kingdom, whose tongue measures 3.86 inches. And just how does that measure up to KISS’s Gene Simmons’ mouthy appendage? No one knows.

Urban Gold Miner

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:32:49 +0000

Believe it or not, the streets of New York really are paved with gold, but you have to get down and dirty to get your hands on it. For urban prospector Raffi Stephanian this isn’t an issue, just a great way to pay the bills.
Using only a Styrofoam cup, a butter knife and tweezers, 43-year-old Raffi scours the streets of New York’s Diamond District searching for gold, diamonds and other precious jewels. You’ve probably walked on 47th Street countless times and didn’t realize the riches that were right there in front of you, but don’t beat yourself up about it, Raffi was probably the only one who ever thought there was something valuable on the sidewalk. And that only because he worked as a stone setter, years ago, when he found gold scraps on the floor of a diamond exchange. He realized if he could find gold inside, then people must have carried it outside, as well.
The gold and precious stones industry is a hectic one, and you can see people running from one shop to the other, from a diamond supplier to a diamond dealer, and so on, and in the process, they drop tiny valuables without even realizing it. Most of the fragments found by Raffi Stephanian were carried into the streets by diamond merchants who accidentally picked them up on their clothes or on the soles of their shoes. He also finds platinum chips, loops from broken necklaces, watches or bracelets, all of which were dropped by mistake.

Raffi Stephanian scrapes the mud from cracks in the sidewalk, using his trusty tools, puts it in his Styrofoam cup and takes it to a polishing studio, where he uses a bowl and sieve to get rid of the mud, just like old prospectors used to do. Only he says the percentage of gold on the streets of New York is actually higher than in a mine, plus all the precious stones he finds are already processed and ready to be sold. And he sells all his loot to jewelry sellers in the area, to whom it belonged to in the first place.
But is this kind of modern prospecting enough to make a living in New York City? In the last six days, Raffi made $819 selling found gold to dealers in the Diamond District, and he says if done right, his method can produce up to $200 a day. He claims he makes between $40 and $60 in just one – two hours, every day. Asked if he sees himself doing this for a long time, Mr. Stephanian said he would, if the Diamond District weren’t so small. He’d probably end up cleaning the place up in order to make a living off its gutter riches.

While other people would have probably guarded this secret with their lives, Raffi even did an interview on how he does his prospecting and says he would actually like other people to enjoy doing what he does. I have a feeling he’ll be out looking for another job pretty soon, after this.

Modern Gladiator

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:26:27 +0000

Ryan Kennelly of Ukraine, became a bench press world recordsman by lifting 1050 lbs (476.3 kg) of weight. He beats his own world record of 1036 lbs and the previous records held by Gene Rychlak Jr of 1010. Kennelly himself weighs 290 pounds.

Professional Ball Washer

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:19:55 +0000

Pocket Golf Ball Washer is a unique way to clean your golf balls. Fits in pocket. Just drop the ball in and clean with ease. Waterproof and washable.

Wooden Replica Of The Ferrari 365 Engine

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:29:40 +0000

An Australian wood sculptor has created an amazing wooden replica of the Ferrari 365GTB V12 engine and is now selling it on eBay.
I couldn’t find much info about this one-of-a-kind wooden masterpiece, other than it’s entirely handcrafted from wood, including the manifold, and it weighs approximately 25 kilograms. It’s roughly the same size as a Ferrari 365GTB V12 engine, and unlike it the original, all it needs is care and love to run for a lifetime.
Most of us will probably never get to own a real Ferrari engine, let alone a whole sports car, so this wooden replica of the engine could be the closest you’ll ever get to owning an Italian wonder of engineering. The asking price is $6,000 and the owner is willing to ship it anywhere around the world.

World Bodypainting Festival 2010 In Seeboden

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:18:28 +0000

The World Bodypainting Festival 2010 takes place in Seeboden, Austria each year. In 2010 artist from 48 countries came to compete in the world’s largest body painting competition and 28,000 visitors saw their work. The colourful contest has been taking place at Lake Millstatt since 1998 and has become the world’s largest bodypainting event, attracting thousands of visitors every year. In the world’s largest bodypainting festival, artists tranform the body of models under the layers of colours. This is not just a competition but is also a riot of colours. Have a look.

Han Solo In Carbonite Executive Desk

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:26:21 +0000

I’ve been looking for a cool executive desk for a while, but often I find them too high class or professional for my tastes. But I think I’ve finally found something cool enough for the /Film Offices – The Han Solo in Carbonite Executive Desk. Too bad it’s not on sale. Tom Spina Designs created this desk for Mark Hall of the Grammy Award winning group Casting Crowns.But I really wonder how the desk might look with a screen, keyboard, mouse, mousepad, and all the other junk which needs to be on top of it to function. Thanks to Derek, Bryan, and anyone else who sent this in to us.
“We had someone looking for a highly unique desk with a sci-fi theme for his home theater/home studio office. I created several designs and eventually hit upon the idea of using a Han in Carbonite (derived from an old Illusive Concepts artist proof) as the top of a combination desk and art piece. I did the initial concept and sketches and Richard handled the details, worked with the metal shop and did the final build. Two RPF’rs also contributed resin detail pieces (where better to go than the RPF for the best parts around?). The main “box” for the desk is custom metal, as are the computer cut side boxes which both light up with an orange glow. The piece is finished with a 1/2? thick glass table top.”

First SUV Ever

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:16:13 +0000

Nowadays SUV’s are very popular all over the world, all major car makes started production of their own all-road luxury cars. The concept behind the SUV is to get comfort of the luxury car but have four wheel drive on big rims so that you can go off the road with the same feeling.
But it seems that in Soviet Russia they had already this ideal car – you can see here a luxury Soviet “Pobeda” (“Victory”) car on the high wheels, and people say it is not a self-made thing but was in production in limited edition at the car factory, so it can be probably not only the first Russian SUV but first SUV ever.

The Amazon Wrestler – Lindsay Haward

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:34:19 +0000

Lindsay Hayward is a 23-year-old woman born in Walnut Creek, CA who is now known as a professional wrestler in the U.S.

Her story began early in the childhood when, because of the abnormal height ( 6ft 9ins at the age of 13 ) and the wickedness of others , Lindsay began to drink on her own, only making it worse. At the age of 16, during a fight with another girl, Lindsay lifted her off the ground and then threw her into a brick wall. Not long after, she left home and started a career as a model, where we can see that she began to have a good feeling about the way her body looked.

Lindsay Hayward began her professional wrestler career in June 2008, at which point she started to train hard at the gym, eating 5oz of chicken every two hours in order to build muscle and gain strength. Known by the fans as Isis, the 109Kg female signed a contract with WWE ( World Wrestling Entertainment ) in the summer of 2010 under which Lindsay received a new stage name, Aloisia, and she was going to be part of their NXT show. But, with this amazing debut very close to her, on September 15th 2010, Vickie Guerrero announced that the contract between the two parties ( Lindsay Hayward and WWE ) ended. The reason seems to be some pictures taken, according to Lindsay, 5 years ago.

How To Make A Ghost

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:45:04 +0000

You simply need the fence you would normally use around your house. This should be easy to shape and stand up on its own.

How David Blaine Held His Breath For 17 Minutes

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:07:30 +0000

David Blaine Sets Breath-Holding Record
By JOHN TIERNEY

David Blaine broke the Guinness world record for breath-holding today by staying underwater for 17 minutes and 4 seconds on “The Oprah Winfrey Program.”

It was quite a feat, particularly considering what “Oprah” did to his heart. When I watched him train in a swimming pool on Grand Cayman Island by doing a 16:09 breath hold, his heart rate went down to 46 beats per minute right away and then stayed fairly low (sometimes up to the 60s) throughout. But he told me was concerned he’d have a tougher time slowing his heart on television, and sure enough, he did.
After he filled his lungs with pure oxygen, his heart rate remained at 130 during the second minute of the breath-hold and then stayed above 100 for much of the time. It was 124 in the 15th minute. The higher the heart rate, the more quickly oxygen is consumed, and the more painful the carbon dioxide buildup. But apparently his CO2 tolerance training (repeated breath holds every morning) was just enough to compensate. In the last minute his heart rate became erratic and he got concerned enough to start rising from the bottom of the water-filled sphere, but he kept his head underwater more than a half minute longer than the old record of 16:32.

“I really thought I was not going to make it,” he told me afterwards. “At minute 12 I felt the pain coming, and by minute 14 it was overwhelming. This was a whole other level of pain. I still feel as if somebody hit me in the stomach with the hardest punch they could.”
Besides the pressure of performing on television, he explained, there were a couple of other unexpected distractions working in the sphere: A heart-rate monitor happened to be close enough to his ear so that he heard its beeping, and he had to keep his feet locked in holds at the bottom of the sphere — instead of just floating freely, as he’d done in the pool on Grand Cayman. Back then he’d said he was so relaxed he “wasn’t even there” during most of the breath-hold. But when he emerged from the sphere today, he told Ms. Winfrey, “I was pretty much here the whole time.”

When she asked him what he’d been thinking about, he replied, “You.”
Mr. Blaine asked me to send his thanks to the Lab readers who encouraged him. And before today’s breath-hold, he offered an answer to readers’ questions about how and why he set out to break the world record:.

I have been fascinated by the idea of long breath-holds since I was just 5 years old. Houdini claiming to be so tough underwater
and living up to his claim inspired me as well. As a boy on the YMCA swim team in Park Slope in Brooklyn at age 5, I would win by not breathing across the length of the pool. At age 11 I was up to 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Back then I would fight to hold my breath for so long.
It wasn’t until I met Kirk Krack, my freediving coach, that taught me to relax into it. The stillness changes everything. It is much easier to go further when the condition is accepted instead of opposed. My next challenge was to control the heart rate. I found out that by doing good cardio training and not eating foods for the sake of indulgence but rather for the nutritional value the body functions like a well maintained machine.

I also use breathing techniques to control feelings, but the absence is the exact opposite. In order to go without breathing for extended periods, it is important to remove all thought as much as possible. That feeling cannot be described very well, other than I try to imagine going into the abyss of the ocean as I begin the breath hold and then everything fades slowly away.
Well, that wasn’t so easy to do today, but Mr. Blaine said he was more than satisfied with the results: “It’s better when you have to fight, anyway.”