This is the second version of a animation where the creator draws a stick figure in Flash and then battles the stick figure as he attempts to take over the drawing area. The original animation took something on the order of six months to create.

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Here's a demonstration video of what can happen when a lithium ion battery explodes in a laptop. The video is a little slow so you'll probably want to click forward past some of it. In any event the first 'cell' in the battery explodes releasing some smoke and damaging the casing. The next cell explodes because of the heat from the first cell and blows a hole in the top of the cashing. Each cell explosion is progressively worse than the last one with the fifth or sixth cell explosion throwing out a pretty good size jet of flame.

Check out the full video of the lithium ion battery explosion test below or click over and view it on the host site.

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Here is a video of a "prototype" tractor that was (is?) being developed by a defunct John Deere subsidiary. It looks a lot like some kind of insect with six legs�or a lot like that mondo spider video we posted the other day. According to some of the comments with the video they were developing it for use in low impact logging but it really moves very slow. I can't see it being practical moving that slow (though that mondo spider moved pretty fast). There are three different videos of this from different angles and at different locations so check out the "related" section on the host site for the other two.

Watch the insect tractor video below and click over to view it on the host site.

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Here is a video featuring various objects being hit by a bullet and recorded in slow motion. First up is an apple which you've probably seen before or at least a photo of before. Next up is a banana and the bullet basically turns it from a solid to a liquid in milliseconds. Third is a playing card which rips right through the middle and then a cola can which ejects more liquid from the point of the bullet entry than the exit and flies in that direction.�Fifth it shows an egg getting hit and exploding outward and sixth a waterbottle getting hit in the bottom with the bullet exiting the cap. The video ends with a second soda can being hit. See our other blog where a bullet is shot against the blade edge of a katana sword.

Watch the video of the slow motion bullet time below or click over and view it on the host site.

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Up for today we have two different videos with one featuring 20,000 bottle rockets being shot off (plus 16,000 firecrackers) and the other featuring 16,000 bottle rockets all being shot off at once. In the first video which has the firecrackers it starts with them lighting it up and then running back. Their description of the video is "It starts slow and then turns into Vietnam" which is apt since when it really starts to go off they end up running away from it as fast as they can (warning: language). The second video goes into more detail showing the bottle rockets they bought before they take them out and setting them all off (via sparklers). Neither of them have a very good video camera setup.

Watch both videos of the tens of thousands of bottle rockets going off below or click over and view them on the shot site.

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In case you live in a cave and you missed it, here is a video of the space shuttle Discovery lift off today from Florida. This video looks like it is off of NASA TV but the video itself is somewhat blurry (though the sound is better than some of the news station videos of the launch I saw). Apparently there is an ESA guy on the shuttle which will be station on the ISS for six months. Also some sizable chunks of foam fell off the main fuel tank (just like before) but as far as I read they didn't mention any damage caused to the shuttle from them. Turn your base up before watching for the win.

View the space shuttle Discovery launch below or click over and watch it on the host site.

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So apparently in Japane they have contests on who can build the best Rube Goldberg machine to make noodles with. A Rube Goldberg machine is a complex 'machine' which usually has at least 10 different steps to accomplish a simple task. In Japan they call it a Pythagorean Machine. The machine in this video goes on and on and on (and on) including using bowling balls, metal ball bearings, a cross bow, burning string, marbles, paper boats, bamboo fountains, a tea pot, a temperature gauge, an egg roll, and finally it ends with a bowl of noodles (what I assume to be hot water) and a raw egg dropped on top. It takes about six and a half minuates for the 'machine' to complete.

Check out the complex Rube Goldberg machine making a bowl of noodles below or click over and view it on the host site.

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So the most emailed photo on Yahoo for today was this photo of a lamb which was born with six legs in Belgium. This fits right in with all the other mutant animal photos (remember the two headed snake and the one eyed kitten). So is the farm where this lamb was�born down river from any nuclear power plants,�in the fallout path from Chernobyl, or is this just random mutation? Is a lamb with six legs a better all terrain vehicle than a lamb with four legs? Would you eat the meat from a lamb that had six legs?

Check out the full sized photo of the lamb with six legs to get your mutant glow on.

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Here is a pretty amazing car accident test video done on what happens when a large truck rear ends a number of stopped cars. In the video they have maybe six to eight cars at a fake Stop sign and they have a large dump truck sized truck which they slam into the rear car. The last two cars in line pretty much completely disintegrate under the force of the truck. The very last car is completely gone, the second to last car is a pancake between the third car and the dump truck and the third car crashs into the fourth car but the passenger area stays intact. If you look closely the very last car seems to get ripped off it's chassy completely like it was made of paper. They are using European cars and a European truck in the video.

Check out the full video of the dump truck turning two cars into metal shreds for a good time below or click over and view it on the host site.

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The robots are flying fast and furious lately with another robot for today which looks like a roach and can climb vertical surfaces. They show the robot climbing up a treetrunk, climbing up a brick wall, climbing up a wood wall, and climbing up a plastic wall or some such. Apparently this is another DARPA funded project (military) and I can think of all kinds of things you could do with it.�For example, it could be used for�mounting turrets or antenna on cliffs,�climbing cliffs, bugging trees with cameras and speakers, and any number of other things where you need to climb a vertical face. Have the mule robot from yesterday siddle up to the cliff and launch these climbers. Six legged robot roach�ninjas for the win!

Watch the full video of the ninja robot roach running up the wall for yourself below or click over and view it on the host site.

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