Awesome Halloween Costumes Part 2.3

I apologize for the links, but I am swamped with school for the next few days and will just be placing a few filler posts for the next few days. I will continue with my Halloween themed posts today with a few sites that have some good and easy do it yourself costumes. The Fun Times Guide has them arranged a bit better than the Fox News link, but both have great ideas.

Jim and Lynnette's Fun Times Guide - Best Halloween Costumes to Buy or Make Yourself

Fox News - 8 Killer Do-It-Yourself Last-Minute Halloween Costumes

The Sun in all of its Glory

Wow, these pictures speak for themselves. These came from a gallery post of 21 pictures here. Additionally, the SDAC or Solar Data Analysis Center at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland USA has a page dedicated to the Sun and its many different faces.

Their site is found here showing many more views.

In 2006 NASA launched the STEREO mission to study the sun in 3D. An excerpt from their website explaining the mission is below:

STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) is the third mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program (STP). This two-year mission, launched October 2006, will provide a unique and revolutionary view of the Sun-Earth System. The two nearly identical observatories - one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind - will trace the flow of energy and matter from the Sun to Earth. They will reveal the 3D structure of coronal mass ejections; violent eruptions of matter from the sun that can disrupt satellites and power grids, and help us understand why they happen. STEREO will become a key addition to the fleet of space weather detection satellites by providing more accurate alerts for the arrival time of Earth-directed solar ejections with its unique side-viewing perspective.

For additional information about that mission, follow this link.

Unnecessary and Necessary Kitchen Items, MMM . . . Crepes.

Although I will never hear the end of the cinnamon in the spaghetti incident, I actually enjoy cooking. And no not just the drop a slice of toast in the toaster and sit back and watch kind of cooking. I can still whip up a mean batch of peanut butter cookies from scratch if it was a life and death situation.

Along those lines, a secret love of mine is Good Eats. I have Good Eats set to record on my DVR and have a few of those saved for perpetuity. (He recently had an episode on where he made Cracker Jack from scratch that I want to try.) Well, one thing that I really enjoy about his program is all of the different implements of torture that he has in his kitchen. Well, not really torture but he has some great, easy to use, gadgets in his kitchen that he regularly uses. One of those that I have yet to purchase are the measuring cups that slide up to push out the measured item. That description really does not do them justice so here is a link and a picture. (I found out that they are called Wonder Cups and are really not that expensive.) Another item that I want is the small kitchen scale to measure items by weight. I just think that's cool.

A recent article by Ricardo DeAratanha of the Los Angeles Times discussed which items we actually need in our instruments of destruction in the kitchen and which ones are superfluous. That link can be found below:

Kitchen Essentials, and Items You Can Pass By

Changing the oil in my Honda Rebel, Amsoil, and Toy Recals for 2008. . . What?

I passed the 1000 mile mark on my motorcycle last week. I guess it is time to go change my oil. And since my bike only takes 1.6 - 1.8 quarts of oil I did not want to pay $30 to change it.

Actually, changing oil is really easy. You just have to know where the drain bolts on your engine block are, have a drain pan, and then you just need a funnel and a torque wrench(a lot of people don't even use a torque wrench and just tighten to feel).

If you feel like tackling your own vehicle, you can generally find information on the web and even videos on YouTube that will show you step by step. My motorcycle video is found here(part 1) and here(part2).

Lastly, and pretty much most importantly, is the oil that you put back in. My recommendation, and recommended by the majority of blogs and people that I can find, is Amsoil. You can get this oil for your car and your motorcycle. They have a number of customer purchase options from dealer to retail account which I will post about later. Wish me luck on my first oil change for my bike.

Lastly, due to the holiday season coming up, I found the link below that can help those worried about the toys that they have purchased for their kids. It is not an exhaustive list, I would recommend you visit the manufacturer's website to be sure, however the following link has some of the big toy recalls of this year.

Biggest Toy Recalls of 2008

Halloween How to . . .

More Halloween goodness from the Instructables website. I found another good DIY/How To article about an easy to make a living Severed Hand.


- More cool how to projects

Also, Goldie's Bubbling Halloween Cauldron looks interesting but it is simple enough that it could be easily modified to incorporate it into a lot of other applications. This one appears pretty simple to create and has a descent effect.


- More cool how to projects

And finally for today, here is a good DIY Freezer Paper Skeleton Costume. Check out the link for the details. This is showing on a child but could easily be modified for an adult if necessary.

Work Communication . . .

Every once in a while I hear about a very interesting conversation at work and I wanted to share this one with you. The names and places have been changed to protect the innocent:

Steve [9:27 AM]:
unless the application did it, but why?
Ken [9:27 AM]:
I told it to actually
Steve [9:28 AM]:
are you the software whisperer
Ken [9:28 AM]:
yes, but don't tell anyone
Steve [9:29 AM]:
I am the dog whisperer
my wife is convinced that I can communicate with the dog
she's nuts
but after two kids, who isn't
Ken [9:30 AM]:
lol yeah a few kids will do that to you
what does your dog do then? tricks?
Steve [9:31 AM]:
sometimes, when I say something, he might do it a minute later
but its just coincidence
nothing more
she thinks he hears me
but this is someone who swears the cat waved to her out the window one day
hmmmmm...........
Ken [9:32 AM]:
hahahaha
Steve [9:32 AM]:
I married a loony toon
Ken [9:32 AM]:
that's awesome
. . . . . .

It continued but that was the good part.

Software Piracy by Jack Black.

I found this looking through videos at YouTube and just had to post it. I will let the video speak for itself: