Happy 90th birthday, Nelson Mandela

Happy 90th birthday to the world's greatest politician, leader EVER - Nelson Mandela. May he have very many more.

Copyright: Photograph from Dismantling Apartheid

He has taught mankind through his sincerity to his cause - the people of Africa.

Thank you Nelson Mandela.

Jack Frost, the Mobile Snowman

Jacob was watching our satellite TV channels the other day when he stumbled on a movie called "Jack Frost". This is the description from movieweb.com.

Release Date November 2nd, 1999
Genre Fantasy
Studio Warner Home Video
Production Year 1998



Plot

Michael Keaton stars in this special-effects-heavy Christmas film about a boy who discovers, after his father dies in a car accident, that his dad is still alive in the form of a snowman.

Unlike the horror film of the same name, Jack Frost is a children's film designed to warm the soul during a chilly winter season. Think of this film as a live-action version of the children's classic Frosty the Snowman.

The story starts with Jack Frost (Michael Keaton), a harmonica-playing blues rocker who spends too much time pursuing his musical career, leaving little time for his wife (Kelly Preston) and son Charlie (Joseph Cross). Feeling guilty for his absence and missing his son's hockey practice, he decides to forego his big audition to spend Christmas with his family.

While driving home for the holidays, however, Jack dies in a tragic auto accident.

The following Christmas, Jack's son builds a snowman and decorates it with his father's old clothes. When Charlie plays his father's harmonica, Jack Frost returns home in the body of the snowman.

Jack has to show Charlie how much he loves him and also has to teach him the ice hockey shot he never got around to when he was alive. Along the way there are snowball fights and sled chases, and Jack finally realizes the great times he was missing with his son.

~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide

As was told to me by Jacob there were "sled chases" which were animated effects.

So I cannot claim to be the first who thought of the idea of a "Mobile Snowman" but probably the first who has made a real one and actually allowed it to move unattended down a snow slide!

Hopefully back on line

(Posted on all my major blogs)

Yesterday, after some 33 days of being without my internet connection, I was put back on line. Several errors were found at the connections outside our premises and also in the Gateway.

The first thing I did after getting back my connection was test my speed. I pay for a 8 M line, but I was shocked to find my upload and download speeds were less than 500 kbps.

Additionally, I have a fixed IP and I found that the IP that I was using was not mine.

Thirdly, all my computers are connected to the internet through a Router. i found that if I went on to connect my router, I lost the internet connection.

Lastly, during the last 7 years I have used DHCP to connect to the internet. I have not used PPPoE. I found that I was unable to connect using DHCP and my own Fixed IP but only through the PPPoE which was assigning me the random IP.

All these problems has made life continue to be difficult as I am using just a single computer to connect to the internet.

I have a backload of about 6 weeks of work. With this situation I will only be able to catch up by the end of April.

I have lodged my complaint with my ISP .- and hopefully I will get some action by the end of this week.

Please bear with me till I get back into full swing.

Another hilarious video

Jacob has been putting up videos on YouTube regularly about the Mobile Snowman so as to show the various aspects of what happens when you develop a new concept.

The last one he has put up is outstandingly hilarious.

Mobile Snowman completes run and loses head

After the run down the snow slide, the head of the snowman came off qand rolled over to Jacob's foot where he was videoing the run.

All of us were in splits of laughter.

Mobile Snowman Take 6

Here is one more version of the Mobile Snowman taken by Jacob on 8th March at Joanna and Tony's home.



We have a few more takes to share with you after which I will give you the details of the components required to create your own Mobile Snowman.

Mobile Snowman Take 5

As I get versions of the Mobile Snowman videos, I am putting them up.

Here is one taken on 8th March at Joanna and Tony's home in Oulu using Samu's digital camera that he received a a birthday present.



The quality of this video is significantly better than the earlier one. It was also filmed by Jacob.

Daniel is standing there watching while Samu and I launch the snowman on his journey downhill.

This was watched by several parents from the kitchen window.

Ever hear of a Snow Volcano?

I tell stories to children which I make up on the spur of the moment. One of my characters is "Jungle Boy".



Our grandson, Daniel (almost 4), is enthralled by my Jungle Boy stories.

Recently, I told him one which had a mention of a "Volcano". He was fascinated by the concept of burning fire and lava pouring out from a crater on the mountain top. We now look at pictures from an encyclopedia of volcanoes. He has great pleasure in looking at them, again and again.

When Annikki was creating the Mobile Snowman in their garden, there remained the ruins of an igloo that Samu and Daniel had made. It was in the shape of a small mountain.

Annikki always has ideas that are generated by the surroundings, and as Daniel had been asking her about volcanoes, she and Samu thought of creating a volcano out of the snow mountain.

Samu dug out the top to form a crater. Annikki provided the candles of different colours.



Last night, in the grandchildren's garden, we had a raging snow volcano with smoke pouring out of the crater and the coloured lava flowing down the side.

Creating a Mobile Snowman

I thought of creating a Mobile Snowman last December (2007).



My husband, Jacob, searched the internet and found that no one had so far reported that this had been done.



Together with our eldest grandson, Samuel, who celebrated his 11th birthday today, I designed and we created the first Mobile Snowman about 8 weeks ago.

Since then we have tested various designs.

This blog is devoted to expanding the concept of creating different versions of Mobile Snowmen.

We now have several photographs and short video clips which show how we achieved our goals.

I am sure, seeing the excitement among parents and children who saw our designs in action, that this will prove to be one of the most popular pastimes in years to come.

I must thank our grandson, Samu, and my husband, Jacob, for having faith in me and my creativity so that this objective was realised.

I must especially thank Vishwanath Mallabadi, a professional photographer, who gave his time to record the first video clip of the Mobile Snowman.

In subsequent entries I will describe the different Mobile Snowmen that I have designed and also add the video clips to show how the concept was given life.



Will this go into the Guinness Book of Records? Will it be considered as a new form of dynamic art? Will it be developed to such an extent that it could become a competitive sport, especially for children?

It is possible to speculate, but in doing this, my grandson, my husband and I had a great deal of thrills and spills!

Hope you enjoy this site as it develops out of the work that I have done on designs in snow over the past several years, which has culminated in this unique development.

I would love to host pictures Aand video clips of your Mobile Snowman designs.