DIY Rube Goldberg machine

My son and I used to play Mouse Trap, a game by Hasbro that is based on the concept of a Rube Goldberg machine.  (Good news, the game is available on Amazon, and elsewhere!) Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist whose name has been immortalized by generations of tinkerers.  The site wikiHow has tips on how to build one.  When you get your skills up, you can enter contest(s) with specific challenges at rubegoldberg.com.

For samples of Rube Goldberg machines, take a look at the site Cool Material, "10 Brilliant Rube Goldberg machines."  Here are some of my favorites.

In my eyes the best of all time is OK Go's video for "This Too Shall Pass."

Mythbusters did a Rube Goldberg machine for Christmas one year.  I picked up two versions -- the first one has poor video quality, but Adam Savage's description of how the machine works is as good as watching the machine in action; and the second one has good video quality but isn't nearly as entertaining.  Mythbusters is aired and licensed by the Discovery Channel.

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Here's one made with pieces like Mega Bloks by Hasbro in an animation by Ron Schon:

There was even an interactive Google Doodle of a Rube Goldberg, this video of it from rustybrick's library.  Unfortunately it doesn't work here; it does work on my playlist.

Remember to wear your safety glasses.

-- Marge

Google doodles and more

Woohoo! Today's my birthday and I opened my browser to this  --

While I know it's a feature of Google+ membership that is programmed by Google staff, it still gives me a warm fuzzy.  As a thank-you, I rounded up some of what I think are the best Google Doodles. You can find them on my playlist at YouTube.  Here are two of them.

First is the Google balls interactive animation, published on September 7, 2010, and uploaded by rustybrick.  This animation features Java and HTML5.

For more HTML5 effects, try Aynilists, "All you need is lists." On the "10 Awesome HTML5 Effect Demos" page you will find HTML5 Canvas Liquid Particles by spielzeugz.de (definitely a page to have fun with).  Then there's the HTML5 Canvas and Audio Experiment by 9elements.  If you accidentally click and get the oversized messages, just reload the page.

Then there was Google's interactive guitar, celebrating Les Paul's 96th Birthday.   You could actually play a song on it.  This video was uploaded by paradigma.

At Google's "Web Audio API Demos," there is a link to plink by DinahMoe.  All of the demos here require Chrome, the plink demo is worth the extra effort (it's another of those can't-stop-playing experiences, so beware).  At Mozilla Labs Demoparty, the Demo Gallery, you can also find a number of interesting submissions, among them "dx - drum effect" by Egon Elbre.  At Egon's site you can play with a javascript sound effect generator.

-- Marge