THE “GREAT CATCH” VIDEO THAT WE HAD POSTED for a few days at the top of the right sidebar has another story behind the story.

I imagine that many of you already know that it’s a staged stunt, but a lot of others never gave it a thought.  Surprisingly, only one person wrote to tell me that it was a bit phony.  So here’s the rest of the story:

The complete clip is actually a Gatorade commercial.  I don’t know how much they’ve actually run it on tv beyond the Super Bowl, but the ad agency leaked it out onto the Web in January knowing that it would fly the universe in short order.

The first part of the clip is from an actual ballgame between Fresno and Tacoma and is genuine up until you hear the crack of the bat as the ball is hit.  From there on, the digital artists take over.  Using a mathematical calculation of what the trajectory would be, a camera pans what would be the flight path of the ball.  Back at the studio, a digital technician put a ball image onto the picture at the correct place.

Then, as you might guess, actors take over the rest of the action, including the acrobatic “ball girl.”  It must have been great fun putting that one together.  “Batter up!!”

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR SUN ‘N’ SAND, and you prefer your beach to be quiet and private (most of the time, anyway), here’s a list of 15 of the longest beaches in the world.

Starting with a couple that are 150 miles long, the list includes a few in North America, too.  The beach in the photo above is a mere 12 miles long.

You can start dreaming and planning HERE.

FIND OUT LOTS OF THINGS THAT ARE associated with your birthday.

Click on this WEBSITE, then scroll down to the boxes where you enter your Month, Day and Year of birth, then click the “Submit” button.

You’ll be amazed.  Well…. at least you’ll have some fun.

A SPORTING GAME THAT WAS DEVELOPED LESS THAN 10 years ago in Germany is sweeping Europe and gaining fans everywhere.

SPEEDMINTON is basically the game of Badminton without the net and with a few adjustments.  For one thing, the shuttlecock, or birdie,  is much heavier and made of sturdier stuff.  They offer less wind resistance thanks to their higher weight and smaller, streamlined basket. Altogether, they achieve much greater distances - up to 100 ft. - and a more precise flight path.

(left) match speeder; (right) night speeder

The players stand in an outlined square and must hit the “speeder” (as the new-style birdie is called) into the opponent’s square.  The two boxes are 18′ x 18′ and are 42 ft. apart.

An advantage of the game is that investment in equipment is slight.  All you need are two rackets and a speeder, and you can stop and play it literally anywhere.

Rooftop Speedminton is NOT recommended for beginners.

Another interesting variation is called Blackminton.  The speeder has a lighted capsule inserted into it and the game is played in the dark.  The players will sometimes don fluorescent-enhanced clothing to add to the atmosphere.

Next month Liverpool, England, will be playing host to the first-ever European Championships.

Click to play the Speedminton promo VIDEO

Speedminton official WEBSITE.

……and it’s coming from the Hilltop Teahouse.

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Let’s just hope that the place is sprinklered!

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Thanks to Gil D. for the pic

MOST PEOPLE HAVE PLAYED WITH AN ETCH-A-SKETCH at one time or another in their lives.  Personally, I get fed up with the things rather quickly and heave it across the room before I can even draw the snow caps on the mountain tops.

Other people can work the things smoothly, though, and sit there for long periods drawing a masterpiece while grinning all the while.

But the electronic geek fraternity does it even better.  For years now they have been hooking the dials up to computerized servo-motors that will do all kinds of etch-a-tricks.

One fellow, who undoubtedly has a hard time getting dates, has taken it to a new level.  He has connected his computer program up to a time-counter of some sort and has developed an automatic etch-a-sketch that keeps the time, faithfully updating it exactly every minute.

Click on the video to view this diabolic creation:

TETRIS

EVEN IF YOU’VE NEVER PLAYED IT, everyone knows what TETRIS is.  Well, almost everyone, anyway.  That nerve-twisting, blood pressure-raising computer game with the tumbling colored blocks that you have to guide into the available spaces.

Last November a Swiss artist named Guillaume Reymond found a bunch of people with time on their hands, gave them each a snazzy T-shirt and made a stop-action video that he calls (of course) “Human Tetris.”  And now you can enjoy it, too.  Just click on the video player and enjoy the game without the stress.

If you liked that, he has some more computer game videos on his website, including Pong and Space Invaders.  You’ll find them all HERE.

NEED A BREAK?  TRY THIS ONE FOR FUN……

You’ll get a chuckle out of it…but…. your kids will LOVE it !!

First, click on the link posted below.  When you do that you’ll get this screen:

Then, take your cursor and click on each of the horses’ noses to start them up.  You can also click on each one to stop it.  Make your own combination.

Above all, have fun.

Now ….. click HERE.