Cool Crap of the Week is back! I'm hoping to actually do this every week now, so feel free to complain if I don't keep up with it (at least not without a halfway believable excuse).

We've all seen things that were so incredibly pointless — yet entertaining — that they managed to dumb our thoughts down to nothing more than, "that guy has too much time on his hands."  Those sorts of things are the bread and butter of Cool Crap of the Week — this segment is all about highlighting those absolutely nonsensical wastes of perfectly good time that, nonetheless, make you wonder how someone could develop such an amazingly useless skill.

What I came across in the last week does exactly that: Star Wars ASCIImation.  I'm not going to explain; you've just got to see it.

InvertedMind is looking to get a new car.  As much as a love (read: lovelovelovelovelove) my Mazda6's Zoom-Zoom,that second Zoom costs too much money in the gasoline department.  So I'm getting myself a new vehicle.  I'm quite fond of the styling of the 2008 Focus (although I'd love to have the luxury of waiting for the 2011 model when they finally — finally — bring the European version across the pond), so I'll be picking one of those up as soon as the right incentives come along.

That being said, my heart just skipped a beat when I saw the pre-release shots of the 2010 Mazda3.  We're talking BMW-quality styling at fully-loaded Focus prices.  I just wish these were about $3,000 cheaper, and also here now.  I give you exhibit A:

P.S. - About the Focus for a minute, in case anyone is looking at buying a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle: about $13,500 gets you a base model (manual windows, single CD in-dash with an auxiliary input jack, nothing fancy).  That's with no incentives.  Do your homework and wait for the right time, and you could be as lucky as the one guy who got $3,500 off between dealer and factory incentives.  Why is it worth it?  Does advertised 25 city/35 highway miles per gallon speak to you?  How about the actual achieved mileage results people have managed: most people seem to be getting between 38 and 43 miles per gallon.  For me, that makes it seem like I'm paying $2.50 per gallon again.  Sounds like a good deal to me.

Well, it’s been a little over a week since I last blessed cursed your world with my thoughts. This week has been a tough one, but I won’t bore you with the details.

What I will do, though, is give you the latest Cool Crap of the Week!

Everyone who has seen or used a Mac but doesn’t own one knows that, while the utter lack of useful things like mouse buttons and the shallow reach of software into the Mac world, one thing is true: even with the advent of Windows Vista, Mac OS is still light years ahead in appearance. It’s got a slick interface, nice animations, it’s intuitive enough that even the dumbest of the dumb can figure it out (once you get past that whole mouse buttons thing), and it has some nice little desktop “widgets” that are both useful and attractive.

What’s a “widget”? Well, speaking strictly from the technical side of things, it’s almost anything. We programmers use the term in a lot of different ways, but it’s basically a cross between a whatchamacallit and a gadget: too small to call it an application, but too useful to not have it anyway.

Unfortunately, Microshaft Microsoft thinks that the only tools that are useful cost at least $400 and take up half your hard drive. So we don’t get widgets. We do, however, get a talking freakin’ paper clip.

But there’s an alternative. Two, in fact. The first, and slightly less popular, is Google Desktop (GD). GD basically tries to be an all-in-one solution for the desktop: a place to put all your information, in the form of “Desktop Gadgets” in Google terminology; as well as a desktop search tool. Basically, it replaces the Windows Search functionality, which was never very good anyway. It also integrates into Google’s Web site, so you can see a combo of local files and Web search results. Don’t worry, your local results are “injected” into Google results. No personal data is ever transmitted to the Googleplex.  There are several hundred to maybe around a thousand gadgets available.

 

Yahoo! has taken the __dget idea to a whole new level, aesthetically.  While Google’s gadgets lean toward simplicity, the majority of developers for Yahoo! Widgets are pushing appearance to the extreme.  Making great use of alpha channel transparency, they–…what?  You don’t know what alpha channel transparency is?  Never mind, just know that it makes things look really, really awesome.

 Does that make one better than the other?  Not really.  It all comes down to what you need.  If appearance and a clean look is important to you, go with Yahoo! Widgets.  If you need the peak of functionality with desktop search capabilities, Google’s your ticket.

So, what does InvertedMind use?  Well, it’s sure not a Mac.  I’ll just leave it at that, and let you decide for yourself which one you like best.

Some things can’t wait a week.

Some people jump off roofs in roller blades. Some guys break boards over their buddy’s heads. And then there are those crazy asians, who play extreme Roshambo (Rocks, Paper, Scissors, not “first I kick you in the nuts, then you kick me in the nuts, and the first one to scream loses”).

But wait, there’s a twist. Well, not a twist. The end result is more like a statue. Watch below to see what I’m talking about.

There is, without a doubt, absolutely nothing I can add to this video to make it funnier, except that “size matters.”

Without further adieu, this week’s Cool Crap of the Week.

It takes a lot to be added to my list of heroes. Well, okay, you really just need to pour me a decent cup of coffee on a Monday morning, or make a Website like “You Park Like an A$$hole” (lightly censored, because I care).

See, my second-biggest pet peeve is people who don’t give a rat’s behind about how poorly they park (preceeded only by people who don’t give a rat’s behind about how they drive). My goal in life is to go through it quietly, help as many people as I can, collect thank-yous as repayment (except where money, food, or the aforementioned Cup of Joe is more appropriate) and simply avoid inconveniencing others. You don’t have to like me for it. I just figure that the easiest way to avoid a black eye is to not do things that might make someone want to slug me.  If you don’t mind getting the snot beat out of you, though, then you’d be more at home at IParkLikeAnIdiot.com.

Among other uses for water, the guy in the video below has found a way to use it for welding. Through a new, highly efficient method of electrolysis, he has managed to separate out the hydrogen in water in such a high concentration and purity that he can run a welding torch on nothing but pure water. And because the gas being burned is hydrogen, it burns insanely hot. He also runs a car on the stuff (also in the video) that covered 100 miles on four ounces of water. To do that kid of distance in my 2003 automobile, it takes between four and five gallons of gas (depending on how impatient I am that day).

I won’t spoil it any further. You have to see it to believe it, so here you go.

I’m taking a brief break from everything under the sun and posting this, because it’s too cool to pass up. Super Mario Brothers medley — performed live by one person on a piano. Ahh, the memories of faking illness to play video games.

I’m a technojunkie.  I admit it.  I need my tech toys or I get stir crazy.  I can’t afford to live on the bleeding edge of technology, but I do love to get myself some cool crap now and then.

Because of my obsession, I had to have DVR.  We suffer through Comcast’s more-for-less business model (every month I pay more, but I always get less) but I’m willing to throw down an extra $10 each month to be able to watch my shows on my time.

But there’s something fundamentally wrong with these services.  The hard disk on which the recorded shows are stored is inside my cable box.  There’s nothing going on at the Comcast offices that warrant a monthly fee — but I’m strapped with one.  Even with TiVo, unless you were one of the lucky few who managed to pick up a lifetime subscription when they wereon sale several years back, you’re stuck paying a monthly fee on top of the cost of the equipment.  There’s nothing going on at some TiVo office to be paid for each month!

Enter MythTV.  The only thing mythic about this is the cost — it’s the only part that doesn’t exist.  Indirectly, at least.

MythTV is Personal Video Recorder (PVR) software that can run on most PCs.  Team it up with Linux and you have a cheap setup that will run even on your old PC that hasn’t been booted in three years.  And thanks to small form-factor PC cases available today, you can build a kick-ass system in a liiiiiiiiittle box for under $300 — far less than you’d pay for the latest TiVo box, and no monthly fees on top of it.

If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can drop a second TV tuner card into your PVR PC and record while you watch another show, or even use picture-in-picture.

Why are you still sitting there not building your PVR?

Where to find it: WikiSky 

While this one is primarily for stargazers, nearly anyone can find it both useful and fun.  WikiSky is a star map of sorts, but with a Google Maps-like twist: you can click and drag the map, and choose to show or hide layers including constellation drawings.  You can also move the sky to show what is directly above you at that moment, with a single click.  Many stars can be moused over to get in-depth details.  The best part?  It’s all on the Web, so you don’t need to download a thing.

See Also: Celestia, Stellarium