Dave’s Cool Toys Blog

I came across this excellent video this morning. Check it out, then scroll down for more information. Be sure to click on "HQ" for high quality and maybe full screen if your computer can handle it.

	Walking with T-Rex

I did a little research and discovered that this was an event on a live German TV show. The dinosaurs are from the BBC production of "Walking with Dinosaurs, the Arena Spectacular". This is the live action adaptation of the wonderful BBC series "Walking with Dinosaurs".

This show looks incredible. There are 15 life-size dinosaurs that roam freely on the arena floor. The largest dinosaur in the show is 72 feet from nose to tail. The T-Rex, for example took a team of 50 craftsmen and engineers a year to build. The show follows the dinosaurs evolution straight through to their demise from a comet impact. Yikes!

The dinosaurs are controlled by both puppeteers inside and maneuvering them on stage as well as off-stage puppeteers using scale model versions of the dino’s to manipulate their full-size counterpart by radio control.

I’ve complained in the past that the coolest stuff is not here in the US, but in this case, it is. Unfortunately for us, it was just in Washington DC in September and we missed it. Hopefully, it will come back to our area (they are adding new dates yet). But for those of you in other areas of the US, the show has dates listed through November.

Incidentally, they have a very nice website as well with information on all the "cast members" and very cool video from the show.

Elmo’s Tickle Hands

Many holiday shopping years there is a breakout toy that everyone wants and nobody seems to have. In past years it was Cabbage Patch Dolls, or Tickle Me Elmo. Obviously, toy manufacturers want to be the one who has that item and toy stores want to have them in stock. Tyco, the manufacturer of Tickle Me Elmo has tried ever since to repeat their success with various "Tickle Me" items including more and more complex Elmo’s with varying success. This year they will try again with the Elmo’s Tickle Hands.

For 2009, both Toys "R" Us and Kmart have released their list of what they believe will be the hottest toys this season. Following are their lists:

Toys "R" Us "Fabulous 15"
Bakugan Battle Brawlers New Vestroia Maxus Helios 7 in 1
ChixOs Pink Design-A-Luxury Loft
Color Me a Song
Disney Netpal
Toy Story Interactive Buddies Talking Action Figures (Buzz and Woody)
Disney Princess: Just One Kiss Princess Tiana Doll
Fast Lane JLX Over Drive RC All Terrain Vehicle from Toys "R" Us (they listed their own item, nice.)
Laugh & Learn Learning Farm
Little Mommy Baby Ah-Choo
Mindflex
NERF N-Strike Raider Rapid Fire CS-35
Star Wars Fan’s Choice Anniversary Edition Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser (Lego)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Construction Devastator
Wii Sports Resort
Zhu Zhu Pets Hamsters

Kmart’s Fab 15 Toy List:
Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo
Bakugan 7-in-1 Maxus Dragnoid
Chixos Design Luxury Loft
Dora Loves Puppy (sold exclusively at Kmart…surprise!)
Handy Manny’s Repair Shop
Holiday Barbie
Laugh & Learn Learning Farm
Littlest Pet Shop Adoption Center
Liv Dolls
Moxie Artitude Airbrush Gallery
Nerf n Strike Raider
Paperoni Deluxe Studio
Sesame Street Tickle Hands Elmo
Transformers Bumblebee Helmet
Trio Kings Castle

Of course, they both have their best interests at heart when it comes to these lists. This is really just what they hope will be the hot items this year because they have them.

Mr. Squiggles

But there is one item that may be poised to be the big breakout toy this year and it only appears on one of these lists (sorry K-Mart).

Zhu Zhu Pets (formerly called Go Go Pets) had a pre-season launch in Phoenix that sold-out. They are now gearing up for the Fall holiday season and are expecting to ship between 4 and 5 million pets. Already they are having trouble keeping up with demand.

What are Zhu Zhu Pets? They are electronic hamsters that scamper about like the real thing without that pesky feeding and poop. You can let them run around on the floor in "explore" mode and have the run of your house. Or you can put them in "loving" mode and they will be receptive to petting, making squeaks and chattering. Each hamster has it’s own unique personality and sounds. Suggested retail price for the hamsters is supposed to be $7.99 with accessories ranging from $3.99 to $19.99. However, they are already selling for far more on sites such as Amazon and eBay with hamsters in the $15.00-$30.00 range (if you can get them).

	Arnold on the hunt

Of course, there are also accessories. There are hamster balls, wheels, play houses, carriers, beds, and the Giant Hamster City Playset for around $85.00.

And there’s another wrinkle in this story. Unlike hot toys from other years, Zhu Zhu Pets are not only popular with children, but they are also being bought by college students for their dorm rooms. This may make them even harder to find in the stores.

Will you be able to find Zhu Zhu pets this holiday? Although they were on the Toys "R" Us hot list, at the time of this post they had none in stock on their website. So, if your child (or college student) wants a Zhu Zhu hamster this Christmas, you may want to rent Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwartzenegger to get a feel for what you may have ahead of you.

The tunnels are multiplying

I didn’t post over the weekend, so there has been quite a bit more progress on my ants tunnels. These ants weren’t very imaginative so far, making their tunnels along the bottom and corners of the AntWorks habitat. But now they are branching out and making some more complex tunnels. You can see the partially complete tunnel they’ve been working on today (although it doesn’t have any ants in it in this picture). It is about halfway down in the gel, sticking up from the curved tunnel toward the right of the photo. It comes off the tunnel in the back and goes forward through the gel until it hits the plastic front. After I took this picture, the ants started enlarging the end of that tunnel. There were 3 ants all working on it at the same time.

You can’t see it in the picture from the front, but they have also been tunnelling through the gel piles that they have made on the top of the "surface" So I’ve taken a photo from the top, looking down to try to show them. The surface is quite bumpy from all the holes and tunnels.

	Cross Tunnels

At the bottom of the AntWorks, they have created two cross tunnels, which look like a little cavern when you look in from the front or back. I’ve tried to get a picture of it here, but it didn’t show it too well.

I think I’ve had 2 casualties. I’m pretty sure there is a dead ant encased in the gel pile in the upper right. When there are no ants on top I’ll check on it and remove whatever is there. There also seems to be a dead ant in the bottom tunnel. Hopefully, they will bring her out.

Tunnelling through the gel piles

The ants mostly seem to congregate in the bottom-most tunnel, where they are all hanging out in most of my pictures.

The instructions tell you to open the lid once every week or so. For the writing and photography of this series of posts, I’ve opened the lid much more often than that. I didn’t think it would matter, but I have noticed that the gasket around the lid has begun to get smooshed up a bit, which could cause trouble if it got worse, so we won’t be opening it up quite as much and I’ll be more careful with it when I do. I would suggest following the guidelines that came with your AntWorks and not removing the lid as often as we have.

Today our ants are tunneling again in their AntWorks home, so I’ve uploaded a video of their new tunnel. They are just about to break through. Once they do, they will create a sort-of Grand Central Station with 5 tunnels all converging in one spot. This is lit with the AntWorks Illuminator.

They look like ants from up here!

My ants haven’t been doing much tunneling. It’s been a bit cooler here so maybe it’s due to the temperature.

I thought there was a dead ant in the gel on the top, but when I dug down a bit into it, it was apparently just ant poop. You can see the dark spot in the picture here, just above the ant in the middle of the picture. This picture is looking down from above through the lid. There was also a bit of condensation on the lid which I wiped off. You can also see down through the tubes in this picture.

Speaking of the lid, my sister-in-law expressed concern that her cat might knock over the AntWorks and let them escape. So I thought I’d mention that the AntWorks is not glass, but plastic, and the lid fits on quite tightly. It could not be accidentally knocked off and it actually takes a bit of prying to get it off.

Since I didn’t have much to share in the way of new tunnels today, I thought I’d post a video I came across which shows what happened to someone else when their AntWorks gel pulled away from the side a bit, and two curious ants got stuck between the gel and the wall. I really don’t know how this could happen. The gel is very tight (it seems like it has been poured in as a liquid and set-up inside the container) and it would take something serious to pull it away from the side. Perhaps they dropped it. It’s a long video, but you could zoom ahead to see the outcome.

Ants with mood lighting.

Our ants haven’t made much more progress today, so I thought I’d attach the AntWorks Illuminator to their habitat and see if it gets them in the mood to tunnel.

The Illuminator is very cool. It slips right into the base of the AntWorks and has 4 blue LED Lights in an array which light up the gel from below. This turns the AntWorks into the coolest night light in the universe.

The other cool thing is that as the ants pass above the lights, they cast shadows in the gel, which looks kinda eerie. If they are active, the lights look alive.

You can’t see it in this picture, but the ants seem to be tunnelling in the gel mounds they created "above ground". There is what appears to be an ant encased in the gel. Not sure yet if it’s a dead ant that they entombed, or if it’s just an ant that’s sleeping in a tunnel. Otherwise, the ants are tunneling upwards in one corner again. They now have a tunnel all the way across the bottom connecting four vertical shafts.

We have tunnelage!

Our ants in the AntWorks continue to build their tunnels. They even connected the one that goes behind to the straight vertical tube, giving them a little shortcut. Now they are extending the tunnel that runs along the bottom of the AntWorks.

There’s some discoloration of the gel that the ants deposited at the top. Some may be ants in the top showing through the gel, but I believe some of it is ant poop in the gel. I’m not sure what I can do about that. Every time I take the lid off, the ants scurry to the top and get very excited. I suppose you could put it in the fridge and slow the ants down, but I’m not sure what that would do to the gel.

	Experiment patch

Advertising for AntWorks says that it is "based upon a 2003 NASA Space Shuttle experiment". Well, yes, it is, sort of. The experiment was part of the Space Experiment Module (SEM-14) on board STS 107 (Space Transport System mission 107). Unfortunately, this was the Columbia mission that disintegrated in orbit, so the experiment was not recovered after the flight. It was not exactly a NASA experiment, however. The experiment was part of S*T*A*R*S (Space Technology And Research Students), which allowed students from around the world to fly experiments on the Space Shuttle. The Ants in Space experiment was conducted by the G.W. Fowler High School in Syracuse, NY, which is very cool.

		Image from onboard Columbia showing the ants progress on their tunnels in space
	STARS module prototype

The gel was developed in order to see how ants tunneled in the weightlessness of space compared to ants on earth. If they had used sand or earth for the experiment, the tunnels would have collapsed on the return trip due to the extreme G-forces. It also wouldn’t have allowed them to see the tunnels as clearly. The ants in space were released into the gel to begin tunneling at the same time as ants on earth in an identical module so that they could compare their progress. Although the experiment did not return, they did determine that the ants in space made tunnels faster than those on earth. And that they were a bit more erratic.

Back here on earth our ants’ tunneling has seemed to slow a bit. They also seem to be sticking to the corners and bottom at the moment. Hopefully, they will create more tunnels in the middle soon. This morning I watched one ant work quite hard to bite off a chunk of gel while her sisters kept nudging her from behind. It looked like they were impatient with her progress.

Incidentally, all the ants that you receive are all female. In fact, almost all the ants you ever see are female. Male ants are only created as needed by the queen for reproduction.

Tunneling along the bottom of the AntWorks	You can just see the area where the ants have connected the tunnels as they cross paths

Our ants didn’t sleep much last night.

Overnight our ants were quite busy. They began two tunnels from the starter holes I created last night. One tunnel goes straight to the bottom and the other curves behind the first one. I’m not sure at this point if they are going to break through to the other tunnel, or continue on behind it.

You can see all the little chunks of gel they have removed from the tunnel and deposited on the surface at the top. Oddly, they are also taking the gel chunks up the walls and sticking them there. Wonder how they know that will work.

The instructions tell you to open the lid now and then and give them some fresh air. When I did that today, they got very excited and started running all around. There are air holes in the lid, but apparently they like getting fresh air. On the right of this photo you can still see the other two starter holes in the gel. I don’t think they are holes any longer from the top because they seem to have buried them in the gel chunks.

	They seem to have made a little room at the bottom of the tunnel

Other than removing the lid for a "few seconds every week or so", there isn’t much more you need to do to care for your ants. The gel is their food and water, so you don’t need to find food for them or give them a drink. Other than that, you just need to keep them out of direct sunlight because ants prefer shade. I also suspect AntWorks would heat up pretty much in sunlight and cook the ants in their gel. That would be bad. The ants prefer room temperature between 58 and 74 degrees Fahrenheit.

This basically leaves you to watch your ants at work. And they are busy. Ants do sleep, but I haven’t seen any that seem to be sleeping yet. They all seem busy. The manual says that some ants sleep while others work, so there is activity 24/7.

The whole family is enjoying watching our new buddies building their tunnels and scurrying around.

I should point out that AntWorks is not meant to be an ant colony. That is, it is not meant for long-term ant populations with a queen and breeding. It is meant to house about 20-30 ants for their lifetime and give kids and adults an opportunity to get to know these incredible creatures. The gel makes the entire tunnel system, and the ants activities, available to a degree that an ant farm with dirt could not. But it is not meant for long-term sustainability of a colony.

A close up of the ants in their tunnels.

AntWorks habitat ready for ants.

The AntWorks ant habitat has been one of my favorite "toys" since we first started selling them several years ago. It’s been some time since I started one of my own, so I thought I’d get one going and post some blogs with the ants’ progress. Check back on my blog, or click on the AntWorks category to see the entire process form beginning to end. All the photos in this post will be ones I’ve taken from this "group" of ants and I’ll give an honest report of how things go.

If you’re not familiar with AntWorks, it is "A Space-Age Habitat for Ants". You can get more information here, but basically it is a gel that supplies everything the ants need: food, water, and tunnelling medium. It is also fairly clear, so you can see your ants’ tunnels and see what all of them are doing while they make their way around in their habitat.

	Our new ants in their luxury travel accommodations

On September 21, I ordered my ants online from one of the ant suppliers listed in the AntWorks booklet. They were $4.95 total including shipping. The ants are not included in the price of the AntWorks, but you can gather your own ants from your yard if you prefer (care should be taken). On September 26th, they arrived in the mail. They mentioned that some of the ants may not arrive alive, but mine were all just fine. We were on our way out for the day when the mail was delivered, so we weren’t able to start our AntWorks right when they arrived, but the ants were fine until later that evening when we were able to put them in their new home. I wouldn’t keep them waiting too long, but a few hours was fine. The timing on our ant order was great because my Niece was visiting and she was able to help us. Her hand is in some of the pictures here.

	Poking holes in the gel to help the ants get started

The ants you receive are Harvester Ants. They are a really good size to view, but they should not be handled because they do sting. They arrived with a sheet warning "Caution! Do Not Touch These Ants!". Fortunately, there is no real reason to handle them, they come in a nice little tube ready to be added to your AntWorks.

When you’re ready to add your ants to the AntWorks, you are instructed to place them in the fridge for about 10 minutes, which slows them down. While we were waiting for them to calm down in the fridge, we followed the instructions and poked 4 holes in the AntWorks gel to make starter holes for the ants to tunnel. There is a little stick included for this. This makes it easier for them to start tunneling, and I think also gets them started in the locations you would like them to tunnel, so plan your starter holes well. We also wiped off a little bit of condensation that was on the plastic above the gel when we opened it. This is normal and the instructions tell you to just wipe it off.

	Adding our chilled ants to the AntWorks habitat

We took the ants out of the fridge after 10 minutes and they were fairly quiet. Unfortunately, it took me too long to get things set up for taking photos and they began to get active again, so we popped them back in the fridge for a few more minutes to calm them down again.

Next, my son gently "poured" them into the AntWorks habitat. Since they were still chilled, they were not moving much and there was no chance of them getting out the top. This was a chance to clean out some of their poop that poured out with them using a damp Q-Tip. We closed up the lid and waited for them to come around, which they did soon. Obviously, the ants were quite curious about their new home and they began exploring it as soon as they woke up.

They didn’t start tunnelling just yet but we did enjoy watching them for a while. They sometimes check out our starter holes, but by the time we all went to bed, they hadn’t made any tunnels. Check back to see their progress the next morning!

Our ants in their new home, still groggy from the fridge

Getting up close and personal with our ants using the included magnifier. You can also see one of the starter holes.

We picked up a load of used packing peanuts and other packing materials from a local college department yesterday and I began thinking that I’ve never really told our customers and visitors the things we do, and the concerns we have, for the environment.

Dave’s Cool Toys strives to use recycled materials whenever possible. We also recycle or reuse everything we can. This not only helps protect our environment, but it lowers our costs, which allows us to keep shipping fees as low as possible (we do not make money from shipping charges).

Much of the packing material we use in our shipments is recycled. We pick up packing peanuts, bubble wrap, and packing paper from local businesses and sometimes from individuals when it’s available. We re-use all packing material we receive from our suppliers. We do purchase packing peanuts new, but we are using less of them all the time as we find other resources. We have tried biodegradable packing peanuts, but were not happy with them. They cost somewhat more than standard peanuts, they didn’t fill and cushion the shipments nearly as well as we would like, and in damp weather they shrink and stick together. We use them when possible for fill when the items are fairly safe from breakage. We have instead focused on obtaining used peanuts and it’s been quite successful.

We also use as few peanuts and wrap as possible by cutting down cartons to size when packing your shipments and simply by arranging items to reduce the need as much as possible.

We receive many of our shipping cartons from a local printer that receives envelopes in them. Once they’ve used the envelopes, they save the cartons for us and we pick them up on a regular basis, flatten them, and store them for future shipping. We also reuse as many cartons as possible from shipments from our suppliers.

Some cartons cannot be re-used. Either they are too damaged, or have so many markings on them that it would not be practical to clean them up. In this case, we recycle them.

	Packing Peanut Lamp. Yikes!

We recycle as much as possible. All waste corrugated cardboard is regularly taken to our local recycling center, as well as office paper, catalogs, plastic bags, flatboard, plastic, and foam. Other items we recycle are printer cartridges, glass, metal, electronics, and more.

Here in Bethlehem, PA we have an excellent recycling program. Much recycling is picked up at the curb, but we also have a great drop-off center. They take cardboard, paper, magazines, plastic, glass, cans, newspaper, phone books, textiles, aluminum, scrap metal, foam, and appliances. We also have a large compost center where yard waste can be dropped off and finished compost is available free of charge. We recycle all these items in our household as well.

Our recycling center also has a free shredding service and I want to assure our customers that we are very careful when recycling to destroy all personal information that may be present. We either cross-cut shred papers here in our office, or witness it being shredded at the recycling center.

One other area in which we reduce waste is packaging. Some of our suppliers allow us to order their items (mostly wooden toys) either with packaging, or without. Since we are an online store, we don’t need to worry about how our items will look sitting on a shelf in the store, so whenever possible, we order without boxes and packaging.

Speaking of wooden toys, many of the ones we carry are made from either scrap wood from other manufacturing processes, or, in the case of Tree Blocks, wood that is the discards from managed paper forests that might otherwise go to waste.

We encourage our customers to recycle their packing materials when they receive their orders. There are lots of good resources for this, but one of the best we’ve found is Freecycle. Freecycle is an online group who’s users post items they no longer need for others to re-use. Another resource is your local mailbox or eBay store to see if they would like them. Many would gladly take them for their shipments. You can also call the Peanut Hotline (I kid you not) at 800-828-2214, a toll-free, automated 24-hour service that provides the location of the nearest site that accepts loose fill packaging for reuse.

	Metal Sculpture from packing peanuts

If you are looking to dispose of your biodegradable packing peanuts, you may not want to flush them. Apparently they can cause clogged sewer lines when large quantities are flushed. Instead, spread them in your lawn or garden and hose them down lightly until they disappear. They are made from food starch and are perfectly safe for the environment. Obviously, this won’t work with Styrofoam peanuts.

Or… you could try making a lamp out of them. I found this interesting post online of a lovely lamp made from old packing peanuts (see photo above). Not sure how safe it is.

Maybe you’re artistic. Then try out this project… zinc casting sculpture using packing peanuts.

On the other hand, if you need some packing peanuts and want to make your own, try this interesting project. Yes, it is instructions on how to make your own cornstarch packing peanuts. OK, it’s probably not practical or cost-effective, but it might make an interesting project with the kids on a rainy day when you’re bored. Really bored.

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Buzz Lightyear, looking very confident before blastoff.

He may be just a toy, but Buzz Lightyear has just recently returned from quite a trip. In May, 2008 Buzz was launched into orbit on board Discovery for a 6 month scheduled mission aboard the International Space Station as part of an educational program teaching children about space. But his mission was so successful, that NASA and Disney extended it to more than a year. That means that Buzz holds the record for his stay in space, surpassing the longest duration mission held by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov set in 1995.

	Buzz’s pal Woody sees him off on his journey.

Buzz, a 12-inch tall action figure, finally travelled into space through a partnership between NASA and Disney Parks to encourage students to pursue science, technology, and math. To further encourage students, NASA and Disney have created an online program called the Space Ranger Education Series.

Buzz returned to earth on board the Space Shuttle on September 12, 2009. Buzz spent 468 days in space, beating the record by 30 days. His good pal Woody was on-hand to wave goodbye when he lifted off in 2008, but was probably not there when he landed since the Shuttle had to land in California. After several "debriefing sessions" Disney is planning on a ticker-tape parade for Buzz in honor of his space duration achievement on October 2, at Walt Disney World along with his space station crew mates and Apollo 11 Astronaut, Buzz Aldrin (who maintains that he is the real Buzz)

	Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger, on duty.

While on-board the station, Buzz made some video recordings designed to teach kids the basics of working and living in the weightless environment of space. In one video, an astronaut sleeps with Buzz, letting him go as he drifts off, which lets Buzz also drift off across the station. He will also contribute a journal about his adventures.

Buzz also made some great videos before he left for his adventure. Scroll down to see one of them.

Buzz’s triumphant return to California.

Buzz wasn’t the only toy in space for this mission. STS-128 pilot Kevin Ford, brought a model of the space shuttle along for his elementary school as well as a model car for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Astronauts are allowed to bring a small amount of personal items along on their trips into space. They are usually out of reach for the duration of the flight.

Will Buzz’s space adventure be reflected in the upcoming Toy Story III? Probably not. Will Toy Story III be delayed due to Buzz’s extended space mission? Hopefully not. But a re-issued Buzz action figure will be on-sale at Disney resorts to commemorate his mission and Buzz, the Astronaut, will be on display at Disney in the future.

Josh firing our 6F Big Bang Cannon

At the beginning of the summer, my son was firing off our little 6F Big Bang Cannon. One of my neighbors heard it and checked to see what he was doing and we got talking about the cannons. He mentioned he had a cannon somewhere that he doesn’t remember ever firing. He thought it was in pretty bad shape and might not be fireable (is that a word?).

The next day he came over and he’d found an old cannon in his basement that was the size of a 10FC, but with military green finish (not currently available). I’ll have to do some research to see what cannon it is exactly. It wasn’t in too bad shape, but it needed some work. He asked me if I would mind getting it working and I gladly agreed (I need to keep his wife’s plum goodies coming).

It took me about two days to clean it up, but this mostly involved soaking time. The loading mechanism was fused and needed some work. I soaked it overnight in WD-40, cleaned it up (it must be completely dry to work), and put some graphite on it and it worked fine. There was a bit of calcium buildup in the chamber, so I soaked it for about an hour in CLR, which cleared it out nicely. Other than that, it just needed a bit of cleanup, spiderwebs cleaned out of the barrel, a new "spark plug" and it was ready to go.

I returned it to him with a new tube of bangsite. He brought it back later that evening for my son to fire and it worked great! It was very loud and Josh had a great time with it.

My neighbor wasn’t sure how long he’d owned the cannon, or where he got it from. He was pretty sure he’d never fired it. But with just a little work, it’s good as new. He was fortunate that no parts were missing, but those could mostly be replaced as well.

I’ve been thinking about this. There aren’t many toys out there that you could say this about. Perhaps some older wooden toys could be sanded and oiled and would be good as new if they were kept dry. But Big Bang Cannons are certainly unique. A little bit of cleanup and it’s usable. No need to keep it on a shelf and never touch it to preserve it for future generations. Just make sure you flush the chamber after use, keep it dry, and keep all the parts together.

My son enjoys firing ours. I keep an eye on him to be sure he is using it properly and cleaning it up once he’s done. But he gets the "bang" of fireworks with almost none of the dangers. He certainly enjoyed the larger one too (are you listening Santa?).

Following are some photos of our neighbor’s cleaned up cannon. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take any pictures before and during the clean up.

I was having a difficult day on Friday. My son decided to make this for me out of K’nex.