All-Access

While I have certainly touched on it in previous blogs, I have not yet delved too deeply into one of Youtube's most redeeming qualities: the fact that it is available for use by everyone. Yes, that's right - anyone who signs up with Youtube can immediately begin uploading their own videos to be seen by the world. While this does bring many privacy issues into play, they can easily be dealt with because Youtube allows you to block users as well as manage your own profile settings to dictate how much information you share. This is very helpful when some creeper is sending you videos and you are tired of being bothered.

Because anyone can upload anything, you sometimes have to wade through a big lake of crap to find a good, funny video, but it's always worth it. Take one of my favorite diamonds in the rough for instance. I don't remember how I stumbled upon "Fire Melon," but it is now one of my favorites that I pull out whenever I'm sitting around the campfire with friends sharing Youtube videos. Some really smart guy hollows out a melon, fills it with gasoline, lights it on fire, and hits it with a baseball bat. My favorite part is right before he does it, his friend asks him if he's ready, to which he replies "Damn skippy I'm ready!" Right after he does it, he is engulfed in a fire ball and he runs away cursing and kicking off his burning shoes. Without Youtube and its ability to make video sharing available for everyone, people like this might actually focus their attention on lame, boring stuff like school work and not have nearly as much fun in their lives. I mean, catching yourself on fire is only so much fun until you can share it with 69,028 people on Youtube.

Just sitting here at my computer, I have discovered so many great videos that you can watch and enjoy for nearly every occasion. This one video, entitled "REAL Ghost Footage," shows a mysterious light for about fifteen seconds, and then some dude pops up in front of the video camera with a ghost mask on, a lot like the one pictured at right. It really scared me the first time I watched it, and it is sure to do the same to your roommate if you show it to him or her this close to Halloween. After I got my fix of ghosts and scares, I moved on to other stupid acts that were more reminiscent of "Fire Melon." You would be surprised to see how many different ways of making a bomb you can learn from Youtube. So far, I have seen them made with "The Works" toilet cleaner and aluminum foil, Mentos and Coke, or just by hitting a can of WD-40 that's been in a bonfire.

Regardless of what you're in the mood to watch, chances are you will be able to find it on Youtube without too much hassle. Along with plenty of other stuff that you weren't really looking for but is kind of cool anyway.