Episode 868

Soirée
Leo also has a wine aerator called the Soirée which, just like Dick's Vinturi, makes use of the Venturi effect.  When the wine is poured through the narrow opening, the speed increases, causing a reduction in pressure in the wine which in turn draws in air to allow the wine to breathe instantly.

Soirée Wine Aerator
Coin Wrappers
In Episode 861, Dick and Leo talked about Coinstar and reminisced about wrapping coin stacks in paper.  DrMom, the resident doctor in the chatroom, writes in to say that paper wrappers are still available in most stationery stores, or at coinwrappers.com.  For a fun gadget, DrMom prescribes the Twist-N-Crimp, for a professional coin stack finish.

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Episode 867

Home Cinema
Epson PowerLite 6100 Home Cinema Projector
Leo loves the Epson PowerLite 6100 Projector.  For $1,000 more, you can get even higher quality with the PowerLite 6500UB.

A Real Work-Out
Angelic Venus, aka Samantha, was turned on to the Daily Giz Wiz, the first podcast she ever listened to, by her fiancee.  They are quite a bit behind with the show as they now have a 9-month-old addition to the family.  She recently listened to Episode 772, and disagreed with Leo that the Wii Fit is not a real work-out.  It might be a bit wimpish to start with, but as you continue, you unlock a wealth of exercise.  You can pile on the number of reps, and the hula hoop can become a 10-minute exercise.  Samantha has managed to lose 10 pounds after she gave birth to her baby.  P.S., Samantha adds, "Dick, you're great!"  She loves the Match Game and they should bring back the show, with two caveats.  Dick should host the show, and they should bring back the guests from the original series (some of whom from the dead presumably).

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Episode 866

From Chinese Studies to Podcasting
Dick's friend Dennis Wunderlin was wondering aloud to Dick the other day, how one gets from studying Chinese to podcasting.  "Ce suo zai na'r?" is apparently Leo's answer, or question.  Right now, that question has little place for Leo, as he is in the Temple of Heaven.  Follow Leo's journey on The Life of Leo.  Leo has also started using AudioBoo, sending audio clips about his trip from his iPhone.  Here's Leo's page on AudioBoo, or you can subscribe to his updates directly using iTunes.

Temple of Heaven: taken by Leo on his iPhone
The Serious Case of a Mum's Give-Away
In Episode 850, Dick recounted how his Mum gave away his beloved Altec Lansing 604 speakers and model train sets.  Matt from Akron, Ohio knows of a more serious case of a cast-off by a mum.  Leonardo da Vinci used to make sketches and notes of his discoveries and inventions on pieces of paper, and store them in a chest.  He was once commissioned to go to Florence to create a piece of artwork.  18 months later, he returned to his parents' home, only to find that all his sketches and notes had gone, used as cheap fuel by his mother for the fireplace.

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Episode 865

Preparations for China
Right now, Leo is in China, probably wearing the Scott-E-Vest Lightweight Travel Pants or Travel Shorts, and carrying the Tom Bihn Tri-Star stuffed with Packing Cubes.

SeV Lightweight Travel Pants and Travel Shorts

When Leo gets back from China, he might talk about the Tri-Star and Scottevest pants on TTTT.

Tom Bihn's Tri-Star with Packing Cubes

It's Time for 4th July Fireworks Again

Jan Reesman is a loyal listener. She last wrote in Episode 382 about the Great Gildersleeve. She has a blog called dogsandcats101. Leo remembers her well because Jan used to call his radio show about her blog, whose old name had the word "bitches" in it and she had to be edited out. Her favourite story from Dick is the way Dick watches the 4th July fireworks on the Hudson River, which he explains again. The only difference this year is Dick's old analogue portable TV won't work.

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Episode 864

Strange Bargains
Bill Gaines loved a bargain. When Bill learned from Dick that the Casio Dictionary Watch TE2500 (Episode 45) was available at a reduced price, he thought it was a great bargain and bought one for everyone at MAD. Maybe not such a bargain after all.

Kung Fool
Kung Fu star David Carradine, who played Kwai Chang Caine aka Grasshopper in the show, passed away on 3 June 2009. This reminds Dick of a MAD magazine parody of Kung Fu, featuring "Mosquito" who chose a blade of grass over a sack of gold, and got slammed by his master, rightly so. Check out collectmad.com and look for Issue 164 in January 1974.

A Visit to Skywalker Ranch
Leo had the privilege of visiting the Skywalker Ranch, courtesy of Greg Edmonson and Alan Steinberger, composer and arranger respectively for the sci-fi TV series Firefly, to watch them work with a 70-piece orchestra who were recording music for the PS3 game Uncharted 2. Leo interviewed them on TWiTLive on 10 June 2009, video at odtv.me. Those of us who are less fortunate than Leo would have to content ourselves with watching the virtual tours of the Skywalker Ranch, at Skysound.com.

Skywalker Ranch at Skysound.com
The Sinkable Titanic
This is the 3rd letter from a listener about Episode 844. John Paradox, a parody writer for the Daily Giz Wiz (see Episode 520), reminds Dick and Leo, who were wondering what Titanic musicals there were, about the Unsinkable Molly Brown, which was first a musical, and then a film.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown on DVD
Welcome to Hell
Jeff Lundberg, from Northville, Michigan and long-time listener since Episode 1, has another suggestion for the TWiT Home Office. Dick and Leo have already got Kalamazoo, but how about Hell, Michigan? Dick says there are souvenirs aplenty from Hell. Try e.g. hell2u.com.

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