5 Ways to take a quick fun break this winter!

Shawn Kinkade — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:35:30 +0000

We’re at that time of year when the winter blah really sets in (I’m sure February is the longest month of the year!). We’ve at least had a couple of days that weren’t gray, but it’s certainly been looking more like Seattle then Kansas City.

It’s cold outside – so here are 5 diversions on your computer that might help brighten your day up. Shake it off, have some fun and check out some cool stuff (some with a local tie)!

1. Amazing Shot!

You’ve probably seen this sometime in the last few days – it’s been all over TV and the internet, but in case you missed it – you need to check out the vide of the Olathe Northwest Girls Basketball coach who’s getting set up for a prank. The students are challenging him to shoot a 1/2 court shot…blindfolded and if he makes it he wins Final Four tickets. The prank is that the students are going to cheer wildly when he shoots to make him believe he hit it.

The drawback to their plan? He actually hits the shot! It’s unbelievable and a lot of fun to watch.

If that video doesn’t work, here’s a link with the video along with some additional coverage: http://onwravens.net/media/www.onwravens.net_media/The_Shot.html

To complete the story, it turns out someone has now donated Final Four tickets so he actually did win!

2. More Basketball fun

It’s not as dramatic, but it will likely waste more of your time!

Check out this free online game of Basketball! The idea is to make as many baskets as you can during a timed session. It takes a few tries to get a handle on how to shoot, but once you make a couple of baskets you’ll be hooked. It’s challenging and addictive!

3. A Flight of Imagination!

Remember the Jetsons and their flying cars? Apparently NASA engineers have developed a concept of a personal flying vehicle that could be built any day. It’s an all electric vehicle, so it’s quiet with no pollution and although the range is only 50 miles on a single charge, it can go 140 miles an hour at cruising speed!

I’m not sure who would really use this, but it’s definitely got a cool factor to it! You can learn more in Wired’s article on the Nasa Puffin.

4. Jump start your travel planning!

It’s always good to have an inspiration when it comes to day dreaming about cool places to travel to. This article on the Top 33 World’s Strangest Buildings might just inspire you to find some cool places to visit. There’s a Kansas City connection here as well (you’ll have to click through to figure out what it is).

5. Pigeon Impossible!

All of the other stuff here is great, but this one is really spectacular! I’m a huge fan of all things Pixar and they clearly inspired the team that created Pigeon Impossible!

A group of 100 volunteers spent 5 years making this 6 minute animated video, but it is one of the funniest, most creative things I’ve seen in a long time. The link will take you a larger version of the video than I can fit here – so go check it out and enjoy your break!

Shawn Kinkade Kansas City Business Coach

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3 cool things that are well worth your time

Shawn Kinkade — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:45:19 +0000

photo by emdot

It’s a Friday afternoon and I thought I would share 3 fun and interesting, but totally unrelated things. The internet is an amazing resource…what is it not capable of?

Item #1 – Accidental Innovation

Most of the time you think about inventors laboring away in the lab, spending years coming up with great ideas and products. However for a lot of products, the innovation actually comes about accidentally.

You may have heard the story about Post-its as an accidental creation at 3M, but did you know that Corn Flakes were totally an accident discovered by the Kellogg brothers in the late 1800s?

Or that the x-ray was discovered accidentally when a fluorescent screen unexpectedly started glowing during an unrelated experiment?

The fun folks over at Business Pundit have pulled together an article on popular products that were invented by accident – you can see it here at the unique origins of 25 popular products!

Item #2 – Unbelievable Photos!

I’m a big fan of photography and the amazing things you can do with Photoshop, but it’s even more amazing to find untouched photos that are unbelievable.

photo by phillip perold

The WebUrbanist has come up with 15 incredible images that look altered but aren’t. As an example, the picture above is actually a reflection on a beach, not a body of water. Cool stuff – check it out.

Item #3 – Google Wave is coming!

Finally, if you haven’t heard about Google Wave, you’re hearing about it now and you’ll be hearing a lot more in the next couple of months. The quick explanation of Google Wave is that it’s a new platform / technology / application that represents what email would be if it were invented today instead of 40 years ago – bringing in all of the real-time collaboration and sharing that people are using in Social Media applications everywhere else.

Confused? Me too – but this video might help you make sense of it (and it’s only 2 minutes long!).

If you can’t see the video, you can find it here.

I can see a ton of uses for something like this and with Google’s backing you know it’s going to get a lot of exposure. Stay tuned, it will be interesting.

If you’ve seen some fun stuff lately, share it in the comments below – I’d love to see it.