44-year-old rapper Vanilla Ice is returning to the DIY Network for a second season of The Vanilla Ice Project.

In the first season of the show the rapper worked to renovate a run-down mansion in Palm Beach County, Florid and it was a hit among viewers, enough so that the network has agreed to pick up another 13 episodes of the project beginning tomorrow.

The TV series is a welcomed surprise hit for one of the 1990s most recognized rappers thanks to his hit Ice Ice Baby. Following that song public backlash against the rapper sent him into obscurity.

While he may not have been producing hit tracks after his career fizzled out the rapper managed to etch out a millionaires living through smart real estate buys including home in Manhattan, Los Angeles, Miami Beach and Utah. According to Ice:

“I literally made millions of dollars on them.”

After realizing that the former rapper was becoming a big name in the real estate flipping game a TV producer put together The Vanilla Ice Project. 

Vanilla Ice says of the new seasons surprised:

“I’m showcasing a lot of modern, state-of-the-art home features that you can’t even get until 2013.”

If you haven’t had the privilege of seeing an episode of this DIY showcase here’s a small taste:

Ever the prominent pitchman Vanilla Ice has found the strangest of new jobs for a former rapper, the consummate interior decorator.

Vanilla Ice Project Returns For A Second Season is a post from: The Inquisitr

DIY Network is asking for your help in finding the country’s worst DIYer. From now until October 3, viewers can log on to DIYNetwork.com and vote on the top 10 worst DIYers.

Results will be revealed on October 6 at 9:00pm ET during a one-hour special entitled America’s 10 Worst DIYers on DIY Network. Watch as the candidates attempt any number of exceptionally unsafe and totally ridiculous renovation “techniques” that are sure to evoke fear and chaos.

According to DIY Network, what you will “witness is ugly, engrossing and nothing short of unbelievably hysterical. Ten people, who should never again be allowed to hold a hammer.” In the end, though, only one will be crowned “America’s Worst DIYer.

Meet the nominees here and take your pick. Each site visitor is given 10 votes to cast per day for their favorite entry.

Are you casting your vote? You should. At least that will ensure that someone will be crowned as the worst DIYer and it’s not you (nor me).

DIY Network to Crown America’s Worst DIYer is a post from: The Inquisitr

Darn those Chinese, if they aren’t out building their own life-size Transformers they are soon going to be zipping past us in yet another cool ‘thing’.

This time it is a Chinese farmer by the name of  Shu Mansheng who decided to create his own personal flying circle – errr wheel – err .. oh hell I don’t have a clue as to what you would call it but it is still really cool.

What he did was take eight motorcycle motors, attach them each to a spoke in an 18-foot in diameter wheel type thing, and then add propellers to those motors.

Guys like Mansheng don’t build their own flying machines because they’re looking to make a quick buck — they do it because they’re passionate about this stuff. Mansheng’s flying machine is powered by eight motorcycle motors with propellers. Aerodynamics? Mansheng doesn’t need that. All he needs is ambition to build.

And that’s what the Chinese farmer has. The 18-foot diameter machine that’s worth about $3,135 in parts is Mansheng’s fifth prototype and can hover 3.3-feet in the air for about 10 seconds — with him in it. No remote controls here, my friends. Da Vinci would be proud.

via DVICE

Sorry but that reported UFO was only a Chinese man with a homemade flying wheel is a post from: The Inquisitr

Whether it be incredible cos-play costumes to things like the Fallout Monopoly board game, gamers are known for getting into their favorite games in ways that the rest of us can’t even imagine.

Following the Fallout Monopoly board comes anther great DIY project, this time from TomPudding on reddit where he shares the end result of wanting to create a working Fallout Pipboy.

This is the first test of my attempt to build a working pipboy 3000, complete with fully functional controls just as depicted in the game.

It consists of an HTC Desire HD as the screen and processor, and an Arduino Uno with a USB host shield running microbridge to act as an ADB host for the phone. The Arduino then sends button presses to the phone via TCP over USB. The casing is a cast made by Skruffy over at http://www.therpf.com , it’s amazing!

Man I wish I was half as creative, and capable as these people who keep turning out really cool stuff.

Fallout Video Game Fan Goes the Extra Mile and Creates a Real Pipboy 3000 [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

How you like me now, My Super Sweet Sixteen bitches?

While proms have become lavish displays of orange tinted skin excess in many areas, including trips to Cancun and approaching wedding like levels of conspicuous consumption, one adorable Iowan teenager made her coming of age frock out of blue and white gum wrappers. Elizabeth Rasmuson of Garner fashioned the wrappers from Wrigley’s “5″ gum into a bodice for her dress and a matching vest for her date, Jordan Weaver.

Rasmuson’s DIY prom dress took some advance planning. The high school junior, who began saving the gum wrappers in August, was inspired by some of last year’s stunning duct tape prom dresses. She had a little help, too. Weaver says Rasmusen ”bought a ton of gum and gave it out to friends and then would collect the wrappers back.” Since the wrappers are slightly fragile, Weaver added a vinyl top coat to fortify her bodice.

Enterprising teen creates stunning gum wrapper prom dress is a post from: The Inquisitr

When we talk about the changes that the Web and technology has brought to our world most people will automatically think of things like the music industry, newspapers and soon the book industry.

There is however another change coming that will dwarf anything that has happened before. This change is already starting to happen but its snowballing effect is still in its early days.

You can see an inkling of what is happening in hackerspaces around the world and in the blooming world of Maker Faires. It is what Chris Anderson refers to as the second industrial age but one that is being governed by individuals rather than large manufacturing corporations.

With the constantly lowering of the cost of entry individuals can now own their own 3D printers that when combined with open sourced 3D modelling software allows them to do in a day what would take large manufacturers month or years to get approved and made.

Out of the box, the MakerBot produces plastic parts from digital files. Want a certain gear right now? Download a design and print it out yourself. Want to modify an object you already have? Scan it (a researcher at the University of Cambridge has developed a technology that will allow you to create a 3-D file by rotating the object in front of your webcam), tweak the bits you want to change with the free SketchUp software from Google, and load it into the ReplicatorG app. Within minutes, you have a whole new physical object: a rip, mix, and burn of atoms.

Other tools offer additional tricks. The $18,000 ShopBot PRSalpha can work door-sized pieces of wood. Or buy a smaller kit for $1,500 at buildyourcnc.com. If metal is your material, try a CNC mill for around $2,000. Or, if you’re more into electronics, use the free CadSoft Eagle software to create your own circuit boards, then upload the file to have it fabbed in a few days at places like Advanced Circuits.

So, too, for CNC laser cutters, plasma cutters, water-jet cutters, and lathes. You can make anything from fine jewelry to car chassis this way, and tens of thousands of people are doing just that. We’ve already seen this DIY creation movement boom around such simple platforms as T-shirts and coffee mugs, then expand into handcrafting at Etsy (which did about $200 million in sales last year). Now it’s moving to more complex platforms — like 3-D models and plastic fabrication — and open source electronics hardware like the pioneering Arduino project.

Source: Wired Online

No longer are we restricted to products that large companies feel are profitable for them to develop, make and market. Now we can create the goods we need and if the interest in them is there market them on a global scale never before seen.

There is a change coming that will forever change the products we buy and use on a daily basis. It is a change that will make what is happening in the music business, the book business, and news businesses seem like a walk in the park. Where once the Industrial Revolution meant the creation of large companies and the automation on man this new Industrial Revolution will totally reset how we think of crating and manufacturing of goods. It is no longer about huge companies but rather about the human involvement.

While the changes that came before this new Industrial Revolution might have been radical this change will literally be tectonic.

Should be interesting.

The coming tsunami of change that nobody is expecting is a post from: The Inquisitr

Around 0:35, when asked why Falcon didn’t respond to calls, Falcon replies, “…you guys said… uh…  we did this for the show…”

Things get all quiet, then mom Mayumi Heene just says unsteadily, “…no.”

Whoops?

Did Falcon Heene out balloon incident as a publicity stunt on CNN? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Police are searching the skies for a Fort Collins, Colorado boy who floated away from the family home on an “experimental aircraft” this morning.

Police say that the homemade dome-shaped, 20 foot, 5 foot aircraft (covered with foil) was tethered with a rope while the family constructed it. Some time this morning, the family’s six-year-old son entered the craft and released the rope. Neighbors have spotted the craft nearby, and the Federal Aviation Administration is helping track the aircraft on its radar tower. Denver International

Airport has been notified about the situation.

The FAA is reporting that the craft was last spotted twenty-six miles east of Fort Collins in Greeley, Colorado.

Update: The craft has not yet been located, but aviation expert Greg Feith spoke to News 9 about the logistics of the rescue:

“It is an unusual event and the big thing now is trying to get that child down from this balloon. It’s all going to depend on of course the environment. It’s windy outside so it’s going to keep it adrift for quite a while. The helium, depending on the size of this thing, if it ran into very cold air, it may help it come down as you know if you let a helium balloon go the higher it gets it’ll stagnate only because of the cold air,” Feith said.

Feith added that without knowing the structural integrity of the aircraft it is difficult to know how it will withstand any turbulence.

“The other key here is the structural integrity. Not knowing how it’s constructed and given the fact that we do have these wind conditions which of course create turbulence we don’t know how much turbulence this airship, if you will, can actually withstand so there’s a lot of external factors here,” he added.

Update 2: The family are the storm-chasing Heenes featured on an episode of ABC’s Wife Swap.

Update 3: The craft has landed. The boy has not yet been removed from the craft, and it is unlikely he is still inside. Reports indicate the boy may have fallen from the craft elsewhere. The boy has been identified as 6-year-old Falcon Heene.

Update 4: Reports indicate the child may have never been in the balloon to begin with.

Update 5: The child, Falcon Heene, remains missing at 2:59pm local time. The boy’s brother reports that Falcon may have been in a box attached to the craft. He has been missing for several hours.

Update 6: Experts claim that the balloon couldn’t have supported the weight of the child (60 lbs.) and some news sources are speculating that the incident may be a publicity hoax.

Update 7: Falcon Heene has been found safe, and is reportedly home with his family. Reports indicate he was hiding in the attic the entire time.

[9News]

Updated: “Balloon Boy” found alive, home with family is a post from: The Inquisitr

As a result of attending a conference where a $1 million “sea-sick flashlight” was demonstrated by the Department of Homeland Security some folks got together to create their own open source version of The Dazzler called the Bedazzler.

While you can’t buy this as a finished product or as a kit but you can download the instruction to build your own for under $250. As well they have made the source code, schematics and PCB files available for download.

Make your friends puke for $250 – and a little DIY is a post from: The Inquisitr

I always liked the idea of paintballing but have never gotten around to actually playing and that is a lot less likely now since someone out there might actually have one of the beasties. What you are seeing in the above picture is probably every paintballer’s wet dream that they can build themselves either by following the downloadable plans or by ordering the kit.

Courtesy of the folks at InventGeek.com to celebrate the launch of their new redesign of the site this mean monster of paintball hell can be purchased at Ponoko.com. Below you can see the video they have provided of the test firing of the paintball turret.

What you get as part of the downloadable plans.

Be a paintball king with your own paintball turret is a post from: The Inquisitr

A young British man was rushed to the hospital Tuesday morning in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, after being stupid enough to try to circumcise his own dangle with a pair of nail clippers.

Regarding the so-close-yet-so-far to a Darwin Award act, Dr. Obvious told the UK Telegraph:

“This is something we would advise men never to attempt. The results can be quite horrific and long-lasting and have quite an affect on a man’s sexual performance. Using a pair of nail clippers must have caused excruciating pain, even if he had had a few drinks beforehand.”

ORLY? I neither have a penis nor attended any kind of medical training and I could tell you that much. As for why the man attempted to give his soldier a haircut in a country that does it for free, the article was sadly mum.

Okay, attempting your own circumcision is ridiculously retarded. But didn’t he at least have an x-acto knife in his arsenal of idiocy? Could anything to hand have possibly been less effective? Perhaps a nail file…

Really dumb guy attempts DIY circumcision with nail clippers is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sure, your trusty old Weber grill cooks stuff, but is it eeeeeevil?

Via Wired, a story about an enterprising (and handy) geeky dad who took the rejected Star Wars promotional items post on Geekologie to heart. Inspired by the concept, he ripped apart two classic Weber kettle grills, and produced a Death Star replica that also char-grills burgers to juicy perfection.

Need one for your summer shindigs? The grill is available for purchase on eBay. Take note, though- the fancy-schmancy paint used to finish the ambitious project is only recommended for temperatures up to 500F.

I find your lack of mustard disturbing- check out the Death Star grill is a post from: The Inquisitr