15. Making the Sun with Sunflower Seeds

Today I made my day a little brighter by making a big sun with my sunflower seeds.  I also added a little house with a chimney. I was originally just going to make the sun with sunflower seeds but I landscaping pictures.  This morning was very foggy and I wanted the sun to come out and the perfect material to make a sun with is sunflower seeds. 

14. Brain Storming Dorm Election

In my dorm this week they are having elections for executive positions for Crum which is my dorm.  I was joking to Ben if he would be the "Bernie of Crum", and what made him different.  He got the idea of taking a risk and leaching off Bernie's image and making flyers as if he was in Bernie's shoes.  I take credit for brainstorming the idea but Ben was the one who came up with the graphics.  

13. Playing With My Food

I played with my food yesterday and took a picture of it.  I made two different penises both ejaculating cheese.  I felt very uncomfortable making such an obscure scene on my plate in the dining hall.  I wonder if anyone saw my masterpieces before I trashed them.    

12. Learning from "One of Those Days" Part 3 - Candide Thovex

Here is the third video of the "One of Those Days" trilogy by Candide Thovex.  I post this video because of the creative process Candide uses by enhancing the video.  I think it was a brilliant idea to start the video by adding the news channels reporting his warrant for his arrest in the beginning. I would have never known how popular this guy truly was without this showing it.  By breaking the law, he was able to get much more fame and media coverage of his stunts.  He is arguably getting free publicity and it makes me want to learn more about this guy.  I don't condone his actions because I have broken my wrist snowboarding as a result of another person's negligence but I do respect his originality in skiing and publicity stunts.

The man is very smart and talented film maker and skier.  If I was as athletic and daring as him, I would be tempted to follow in his footsteps.            

11. "One of Those Days" Part 1 & 2 - Candide Thovex

Have you seen the videos of Candide Thovex? He is an extreme skier and film maker from France.  He has a trilogy of "One of those days" and here are the first two videos of the trilogy.  They are absolutely crazy and dangerous.  I dream of being able to ski with his skill and his editing skills are very good.  He slows down the videos to make the jumps seem more dramatic which makes the jumps seem that more impressive.     

10. My Copper/Zinc Penny Sorter (Carpentry Skills)

Here is a video I uploaded on January 6, 2009 on YouTube of my penny sorter.  I am the original Sportsdude1325. I can't believe this was 7 years ago.  It sorts copper and zinc pennies from one another.  All pennies made pre-1982 contain 95% copper and pennies made post-1982 contain 97.5% zinc.  I wanted an easy way to sort these pennies from each other without hand sorting them.  So I bought an old coin comparator that was salvaged from a slot machine.  You place a sample coin inside the comparator and then the machine will "accept" or "reject" any coin that goes through based off weight.  The difference between a copper and zinc penny is .61 grams. Pennies on the left are 'accepted' copper and the pennies on the right are 'rejected' zinc. 

The quality of the video absolutely sucks where I was actually never even able to prove the contraption works but it does.  You may ask why someone would want to sort the pennies but copper pennies are worth more melt value than face value.  It is now illegal to melt the pennies but people will still buy the 'only' copper pennies on eBay.  Coin collecting and coin hoarding was a fun hobby I did in middle school.

I got the idea from an industrial size one that called a "Ryedale Apprentice Penny Sorter" which at the time cost $850+.  I clearly didn't have the money but I wanted to try and make one.  I found no one who had made one themselves so I had no manual or guide.  The two hardest parts of building this was first finding the comparitor, that took 2 months of checking eBay every day till one popped up.  Secondly, there was no power source included so I had to find the wire harness myself and that took weeks because I couldn't just go buy it. I found a place about 20 miles from my house which was a computer salvage place and I asked if I could go through their stuff till I found the harness.  I was there for hours and finally came across the piece.  Then I had to buy a volt converter that plugged into the wall and attach a cigarette receptacle to each end.  The power source cost more than the coin comparitor.  Finally, I was able create my own penny sorter with $50 than spend $850 for the industrial one.        

9. My Response to Embrace The Shake

The original "Embrace the Shake" Video: 

I can relate to the video above because I also have a trembling or "shaky" hand which makes drawing nearly impossible.  Writing is also very difficult and painful.  I have huge calluses from holding a pencil to tight.  My limitation of shaking has made me completely abandon drawing and I had to turn my attention to ceramics and carpentry as my replacements for drawing.  Phil Hansen in the video was fortunately able to find a way around his limitation and not completely abandoned drawing.  The man clearly was born with a god given talent and his limitation may have made him a more creative artist.

8. Solving the Poopy Toilet Seat Epidemic

In my dorm, someone on our floor would always cover the toilet seat in half a roll of toilet paper as a seat cover.  Then they would never flush the toilet and leave their disgusting toilet paper all over the seat and leave.  Even though they covered the seat they still got their shit all over the seat.  After putting up with it for months we bought some toilet seat covers and hung them next to the toilet with the following sign:

    The sign has solved the shit on the seat problem and saved us toilet paper but he still hasn't learned to flush.

7. My Mind Map

In my advertising class we were told to make a Mind Map.  My center word or beginning theme was "Popcorn".  Popcorn is my favorite snack and it also describes how sometimes I think of creative ideas.  Once I get one good idea, I start to have many others like popping kernels all at once.  Below is my mind map.

 

6. Local St. Louis Superbowl Commercial - Slam Stan

I am from St. Louis and grew up a St. Louis Rams fan.  During the Superbowl, a local St. Louis Law Attorney made a commercial slamming Stan Kroenke for moving the Rams to L.A.  The commercial is quite boring to the average person but it was quite comical to St. Louis football fans.  I tip my hat to Terry Crouppen for making this commercial and spending the money to #SlamStan   

5. Best Superbowl Commercial - Heinz Ketchup

Let me say this first, I usually hate commercials that have animals in it because usually every year the highest voted commercial goes to one with animals.  I am tired of it year in and year out but I have to give credit to Heinz this year because their commercial was so simple.  Dachshunds (aka wiener dogs) dressed up as hot dogs running towards there owners dressed up as Heinz Ketchup.  This is the best commercial because it the average person would agree its the best and want to share it with their friends.  This will be the most successful commercial with the most views because people will share the commercial with their friends and share it on social media.   

4. Collect All The NFL Bud Light Cans (Well Not Every Team...)

Have you seen the Bud Light commercials where it says "Collect All The Cans"?  The average guy would think you could find all 32 NFL team cans but that isn't the case.  You won't find four team's logos.

You won't find:
1. Bears
2. Cowboys
3. Packers
4. Vikings

This is because Miller is the official team beer sponsor for these teams and Bud Light doesn't have the rights to use these teams logos.  Bud Light is very sneaky in their ad campaign.  Miller must hate these commercials because the average person would assume they can go out and get a Cowboys Bud Light Can.  What do you think of this?    

3. Cooking Videos - Bacon Wrapped Eggs

During Winter Break I got bored and found a way to make bacon wrapped eggs that are cooked in the oven.  I wanted to share it with you guys.  Basically, you just take a muffin tin and put bacon on the rim and place a raw egg on the inside and bake in the oven.  Below is the link to the video.


Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOurjE9s3GA