Super Sled Ride

The Rocketman

Make Magazine recently featured inveterate "Rocketman" Ky Michaelson and his rocket powered super sled he scaled up from a miniature "radio flyer" (sic) sled model. The Rocketman and Make Magazine have the photos and details of his test run on the sidewalks of his Bloomington, Minnesota neighborhood. The Rocketman is better known for his record breaking rocket powered cars, hot rods, dragsters, trucks, motorcycles, snowmobiles, go-karts, skateboards, hang gliders, boats, outboard motors, and wheelchairs. The 250 lb. thrust sled was built in 2001 along with a 750 lb. thrust luge. Three years ago he also built and launched the first amateur rocket to space. His website has all the photos and details of his rocket powered exploits. He also hosts the "Most Comprehensive Website on Rocket and Jet Belts". Now the "Radio Flyer" company did manufacture a ski sled in the 1970s, but the iconic American downhill sled was the "Flexible Flyer Sled". Unfortunately Flexible Flyer sleds no more but has relegated itself to "the largest American manufacturer of consumer swing sets and hobby horses". Radio Flyer does still manufacture their signature coaster wagons; and me, that's what I'd like to see The Rocketman rocketize next.

Super Sled Ride

MAKE: Blog: Rocket powered sled

The Rocketman

Most Comprehensive Website on Rocket and Jet Belts

Laconic's oil fire type fire screen

Christmasy!

Here's links to a couple of free fireplace screensavers from Crawler and Acez to keep your computer cozy while you're analogging with your fellow humans. Me, I'm opting for laconicsoftware's Free Fire Screensaver which makes my computer screen virtually catch fire.

Fireplace Screensaver

Fireplace Screen Saver

Free Fire Screensaver

The Great Fruitcake Toss

Let them toss cake

It was Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit who said, "A fruitcake is a geological homemade cake". Given the non-alcoholic recipe of mailorder cakes and the fact that the density of the average fruitcake is the same as mahogany, it's not surprising that many fruitcakes end up as projectiles or doorstops. Some online calendars would have you believe that Fruitcake Toss Day is always January 3rd. However, the Great Fruitcake Toss has been held on the first Saturday in January since 1995. The Manitou Springs (Colorado) Chamber of Commerce has the details (and rules) for the BYOF tossing, launching, hurling, and other events. The record is 1,420 feet, set last year by eight Boeing engineers with their compressed air "Omega 380". If you can't attend, 123greetings.com and Praize have (respectively) secular and Christian Fruitcake Toss Day E-Cards. Doorstopwise Bob's Cool Crap apparently has functional fruitcake doorstops for your holiday needs. Last of all, for your seasonal listening pleasure there's Musical Fruitcake, a collection of the worst Christmas songs ever created.

Manitou Springs Great Fruitcake Toss

Fruitcake Toss Day E-Cards

Christian Fruitcake Toss Day E-Cards

Aunt Jenni's Vintage Fruitcake Doorstop

Musical Fruitcake

'Tis The Season

Because handmade isn't always pretty

Craftastrophe was created to showcase those crafts that are funny, weird, or strange.

Craftastrophe

Pvt. Wilhelm

The Wilhelm Scream

You've heard it before, probably many times. It only lasts about 1.5 seconds, starting on C and descending through four semi-tones to G sharp. Once you've heard it a few times and recognize it, you'll never be able to un-hear it again. Before there ever was a Wilhelm there was "Man being eaten by alligator" a Warner Bros. studio sound effect for "Distant Drums" (1951). After that it was used sporadically as a stock effect until its revival by a Star Wars sound designer. He named it after "Pvt. Wilhelm", a minor character who emitted the same scream in "The Charge at Feather River" (1953). It was included in every Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie. It went on the become a in-joke for Hollywood sound-mixers, who've tucked it into movies (149 and counting), television programs, and video games. From Toy Story, A Star is Born, and Reservoir Dogs; to Halo 3, Twisted Metal 2, and Grand Theft Auto IV. There's even a Punk Rock Band named "A Wilhelm Scream". Nobody knows for sure, but it's believed that the Wilhelm Scream was performed by Sheb Wooley better known for his hit record "Purple People Eater".

The Very First Wilhelm Scream

The Wilhelm Scream Compilation

List of Movies using The Wilhelm Scream

The Wilhelm Scream I

The Wilhelm Scream II

Star Wars: Battlefront - Wilhelm Scream