Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

The words do not have to be perfect.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

The willow is too close to the house.

This fight is for everything.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

This really is a full service blog.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The revolution will be supervised.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Late Night/Early Morning (Eastern Daylight Time) Open Thread: Mad Weapon Designer Edition

Late Night/Early Morning (Eastern Daylight Time) Open Thread: Mad Weapon Designer Edition

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If you’ve never seen one of the Slingshot Channel’s videos, you are missing out on sheer, insane, fun. Jorge Sprave, the genius behind the Slingshot Channel, seems to have more fun, at all times, than anyone I’ve ever seen. In this recent episode from April 7, he demonstrates his fully automatic Ping Pong ball shooting Gatling Gun!

 

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66Comments

  6. 6.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Davebo: Some of the stuff he makes is really innovative, but the real goodness here is him. He’s like a little kid who just got everything he wanted at Christmas.

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: I don’t think it would kill you. You do know that a TRX is a suspension training for doing functional strength training that requires full utilization of one’s core at all times?
    https://www.trxtraining.com/

    I’ve got my first TRX split of the week (and the first time I’ve done one in a little over two weeks) tomorrow. And yes, there will be pain!

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: Nope. Firearms are tools. Deadly tools. They have their uses. Making faux threats with them in jest is not one of them.

  14. 14.

    lamh36

    Off to bed, but first, as I said, I’m already over the primary season, so I’ve been trying to focus on the last months of the Obamas presidency…

    In that vein, I just came across the video for PBO’s My Brother’s Keeper Mentorship Initiative on my FB timeline. As usual, I’m late seeing it (it’s from 7hr ago), but it’s just another example of how this White House has embraced social media to move it’s agenda forward and engage with the tech savier electorate. Unfortunately, I don’t see ANY of the 2016 candidates having the same ability as PBO and his administration, to their detriment, IMHO.

    Anyhoo, check it out:
    WATCH: President Obama beats Stephen Curry in Connect Four and coaches him on his jump shot in new mentorship PSA.

  15. 15.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Last year I converted all my light bulbs to be remotely controlled(GE Link bulbs). So last night I went to Home Depot to get a magnetic latch for on of my cabinets, and checked the remote controlled stuff section. They had these bulbs that you can control the color! I ended up buying 3 of them.

  17. 17.

    srv

    You should forward this to Megan McArdle – students everywhere could build this defensive weapon to provide cover for those applying her gang rush strategy.

    Alas, liberals will probably want to ban this guy’s youtube channel.

  18. 18.

    redshirt

    @BillinGlendaleCA: That’s me! I worked for the company that created the color changing LED light and brought it to production then sold it to the megacorp when the offer came.

    I knew it in 1999 – the ability of a light to be programmed is game changing. The ability of many lights to be synchronized by central command is game changing. And so it will be.

  19. 19.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @redshirt: I’ve automated mine. When I go to bed(put my cellphone in the charger), they all turn off, one turns on when I wake up(remove the cell phone from the charger). I also have one light that turns on when it’s a 1/2 hour before sunset.

    ETA: What’s nice about these bulbs(as opposed to the Phillip’s Hue bulbs) is they work directly with my hub and don’t need their own.

  20. 20.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    You’ve talked about TRX before. I’m an old geezer who needs to do some workouts to keep flexibility and normal strength, not looking to buff up, etc. Is this useful for easier workouts to get started?

  21. 21.

    TaMara (BHF)

    For some reason I was expecting him at some point to say “I’m gonna pump you up!”

    Posting this video for my bros, they’ll love it.

  24. 24.

    seaboogie

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He also writes children’s books and is a power lifter.

    Is this perhaps upping the ante in that vein? Forty years ago when I was 15, I visited my mom at her adults only apartment complex in St. Paul, MN. There was an adjacent family complex, and we went to a children’s party there where there was a clown doing balloon animals and such. His IRL name was Red Rudensky, and in his earlier days he used to work as a safe-cracker, for…mmm…Al Capone, as one example, and was, in fact, Capone’s cell mate in Hotlanta. BOOM!

  27. 27.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @lamh36:

    Shared that on my FB page. The coolness on display is next level.

    ETA: rewatching Jackie Robinson. The parallels with Jackie and Rachel and Barack and Michelle as to their racial pioneering is on point. No wonder Rachel got to go to Cuba with them. She’s amazing.

  29. 29.

    seaboogie

    @lamh36: Missing Obama already – it’s a bit like a public version of my sweet canine companion aging out to the inevitable conclusion, though not as personally painful – but both of them “once in a lifetime”. Thank you for sharing this.

    ETA: I wonder what Obama’s second act will be. Hopefully more like Carter, and a bit less like Clinton as he is these days. Obama has so much more vision and self-control.

  31. 31.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Anya: Agreed, she’s really special. She was at the Dodgers game on Friday.

    (She’s also a fellow alum.)

  32. 32.

    Anya

    @seaboogie: In Clinton’s defense, other than the poor campaigning skills (strange for someone who’s known for his excellent political instincts), what did Clinton do? He set up a foundation that championed and invested in a lot of worthwhile causes. I think the republicans tried to smear the foundation in their quest to damage HRC’s presidential chances. We shouldn’t fall for that trap.

  33. 33.

    benw

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I’ve thought for awhile now that there are clear similarities between the Robinsons and the Obamas; how they each performed with such grace under huge amounts of pressure.

    History is now pretty unanimous that Robinson’s career brought out the worst in the bigots and racists, but also good in a lot of people. I hope history books 50 years from now make that same point about Obama’s presidency (I guess I’ve stopped wishing our own media today would make that simple admission).

  34. 34.

    Anya

    Did any of you watch Confirmation on HBO. It was so uncomfortable for me to watch Joe Biden depicted as sabotaging Anita Hill or falling for republican manipulations. Almost all the senators acted disgracefully. I just can’t believe they confirmed this disgusting man. I bet this is one of Joe Biden’s biggest regrets.

    On a positive note, Greg Kinnear looked and sounded like Joe Biden. The whole cast did a wonderful job.

  35. 35.

    ruemara

    @Ruckus: The seniors at my gym love it. And I’ve done a few moves on it to preserve my error prone knees. It’s kinda fun, like working out with a giant stretchy band.

  36. 36.

    seaboogie

    @Anya: Excellent points. I guess I just appreciate the simplicity and humbleness of Carter’s diplomatic efforts, Habitat for Humanity, and his nearly completely successful work on eliminating guinea worm. Truly a very decent man down to the soles of his feet.

    Clinton and his/their foundation have admirable goals, but there is an element of (the usual) political narcissism there, and desire for continued power and influence. Good works, to be sure – but the personal psychology that feeds it is less genuinely altruistic than Carter.

  37. 37.

    Mike J

    Argh. Stupid hockey bullshit on NBCSN, they say hey, go to the streaming thing online for the F1 race. We get to hear all the music stings, but the announcers mics are cut.

    They do, of course, have audio in the commercials.

  38. 38.

    benw

    @seaboogie:

    I wonder what Obama’s second act will be. Hopefully more like Carter, and a bit less like Clinton as he is these days.

    If Barack’s second act is like Bill’s, in that he’s (over) enthusiastically supporting his wife’s run for the presidency, I will be stoked! Michelle 4 Prez!

  39. 39.

    AnotherBruce

    Imagine walls and ceilings behaving in similar fashion. Imagine a world of no fixtures but rather glowing surfaces.

    We used to call that ell ess dee.

  41. 41.

    Mike J

    @seaboogie: What has Clinton done in his years since leaving office that you disapprove of? The Clinton Health Initiative? The Climate Initiative? The Development Initiative? Or is the problem that all of these things cost money and he goes out and asks people for it?

  43. 43.

    seaboogie

    @Mike J: Thank you for asking that question. The simple truth is that I am uninformed on the scope of the Clinton initiatives. It’s not that I am not curious, but more that I have been unaware. I know that they have the Clinton foundation, but the specifics of it have not been on my radar. So I ask myself why this is. Perhaps possible that because the Clintons are still politically active and also vilified by The Village that their good works are not generally visible in the news? Your question prompted some spelunking on my part – and the breadth of what they are doing is impressive. I admit that I am likely a typical sympathetic but uninformed member of the public. Thank you for the heads up.

  44. 44.

    jl

    That ping pon shooter changes everything. Everything!
    President Michelle could handle two of those, one on each arm.
    Whip ’em out during her first SOTU Address, Congress will mind themselves from then on. Believe me.

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:
    I’ve used stretch bands in the past (even still have a set but the TRX looks to be better quality and usability. May have to give them a try. They have a one yr no questions asked return so what can I lose?

  46. 46.

    Roger Moore

    @redshirt:
    My thought is that somebody ought to come up with a crown molding that acts as a diffuser. Then you could hide one of the LED strip lights behind it and integrate lighting into something that’s already going to be part of the room. It would be easier and cheaper than replacing the whole wall or ceiling with a lightable panel, and tame the glare that’s the big problem with the LED strip lights.

  48. 48.

    The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...

    One of the coolest things I’ve ever done is/was help set up and the set off 4th of July fireworks on the Berkeley fishing pier in the East Bay. Took 25 of us 10 hrs to set up all the tubes (plastic & copper) and load them, and then 30 minutes to set off approx 500 6, 7, & 8 inch charges w/ high way flares. It was the last year they set off the fireworks manually. Now it’s all electronic ignition.

    So damned much fun…

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: Yes, if you go the link, you’ll be able to find a variety of workouts. A lot of the exercises can be done from moderate to intense. You can even use it for yoga and for pilates sans reformer.
    https://www.trxtraining.com/

    While I did take about 10 months and lift free weights and selected machines heavy, I’ve predominantly used the TRX for strength training plus core training since late 2008. My workout is set up to provide both of those plus cardio. Its so I can do a complete workout in about 45 minutes if I have no time for anything else. Finally, if you think you have a strong core, which I did, prior to starting the TRX you will quickly learn it is not as strong as you think.

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: If you get one, email me and we’ll get you sorted. It will come with a video and a guidebook. Even better if you can get someone who knows how to use it to show you how to use it.

  54. 54.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Not nearly as strong as it was 15 yrs ago, and it could stand to be stronger for sure. But 15 yrs ago I was doing 1 1/2-2 hrs a day when I wasn’t on the road, running, and bike riding on weekends if I had them free. Mainly low intensity but lots of reps and cardio. Cable machines, free weights, steps, and recumbent bike at the gym. At 66 I no longer have the stamina for that much but need to get off my butt and do something besides walking.
    ETA Have gone to the website and looked at what they offer, of course the pics are all of people who work out a lot. And look like it.

  55. 55.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:
    I think Cleek lives in OK.
    I also went to the website of the fellow running for congress. I like that while I didn’t read every word on the site, I never noticed that he was a republican. But I sure got that impression from what I did read. There must be some sort of a workbook on how to be a republican candidate. Cause this guy has all the boxes ticked. The 3rd has been pretty republican for some time but John Garamendi (D) won in 2008. Hope he wins again.

  58. 58.

    RedDirtGirl

    Coming in late from a night of music in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Guess I missed the party, unless Anne Laurie is just getting up….

  59. 59.

    RedDirtGirl

    Fine! I’ll just make myself a snack, and go to bed. Catch y’all on the flip side…

  64. 64.

    Miss Bianca

    Aww, I needed that, thanks. Perfect antidote to the horrorshow of the state convention. What a great, evil-cartoon-villain laugh that guy has. I think I need that gatling-gun tennis-ball cannon, too.

  65. 65.

    planetjanet

    @benw: That is a great insight. I pray we come through this storm of bigotry and hate as a better country.

  66. 66.

    Tom

    @Ruckus: I’m not in great shape and also am an old fart. I like TRX because you can easily adjust the resistance and it’s simple to set up.

    There are a lot of videos to show you how to use them. But I checked my local rec. center and found someone who could give me an hour or so of coaching to make sure that I was using good form.
    It’s a real workout, too.

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