more useless usb accessories
but neat if you like plasmas next to your keyboard. from thinkgeek
August 20, 2008
August 18, 2008
amish bike baskets
Very stylish in its own way
candle powered hot air balloons
I used to make them in college out of the lightest dry cleaning bags you could find. Get one made for dresses, seal the hole in the top and attach a cluster of birthday candles by thread. Very effective at night. You can experiment with holes on the sides to make them more stable . I strongly recommend attaching a thread so they don't get away, unless you fly in a desolate and/or wet area.
Checking around to see if other people do this, I found an updated version as well as a link to something very similar to what I did in college.
August 13, 2008
z-machine on the iphone
Frotz
I'm surprised it took this long - but the price is right. Get it at your friendly iPhone/Touch appstore
playing with sand
Another gem recommended by Greg
August 07, 2008
sukie's trike arrives
Sukie's new Trek trike was just delivered!
She will probably give a review in the near future. Construction and detail are very good for a bike/trike in its price range.
(posted from the iPhone)
August 01, 2008
attention dave k., you *need* this! (maybe nancy too)
Greg has a prototype of his slide rule wall clock (check the movie)
This is just too cool (I'll take one too:-)
He notes the mindstorm programming environment leaves much to be desired..
July 31, 2008
July 23, 2008
July 22, 2008
a minute of mac silliness
Have a MacBook Pro or MacBook of recent vintage? These have accelerometers built in and fun can be had...
try this!
lego mindstorm + group theory
This is wonderful - a little robot made out of lego that solves a Rubik's cube. Instructions are detailed.
A tip of the hat to Bart for pointing this out.
July 03, 2008
phun physics
One of several simple 2d classical mechanics simulators - this one works on OS X and Linux
June 18, 2008
timing
Today Jessica called around four to wish me happy birthday and to tell me a package was on the way.
Simultaneously with the ringing of the phone, the doorbell rang announcing a UPS package - her package.
awesome timing Jessica!
(not to mention a great package)
June 17, 2008
love 1, narrow minded hate 0
this makes me so happy
Look down you gods, and on this couple drop a blessed crown.
~ Shakespeare, from The Tempest
Ellen gets it right and the other guy is deeply rooted in an earlier time
June 15, 2008
those norwegian kids
a most excellent commercial from norway
(thanks for the link Jim)
June 11, 2008
fireplace 2.0
moodstream from Getty Images
June 04, 2008
zeppy the pedal blimp
Zeppy the pedal blimp will try to cross the English Channel
A few have been built over the years - the White Dwarf is probably the most famous.
inefficient, silly and why not?
May 31, 2008
someone with great grid neurons
amazing coordination in juggling (via the NY Times)
May 14, 2008
more distorted maps
make sure you have some time
May 13, 2008
where new zealand is huge
distorted movie maps from a VW ad
May 07, 2008
"cheap" first person video
My FPV Movie from Crash9 on Vimeo.
Yann has commented on first person video, but this is a turnkey kit for $550
May 06, 2008
family guy/matrix mashup
In case you missed it ...
April 29, 2008
neat model airship
Airjelly (thanks for pointing this out Greg!)
from the press release
Air is the element of the AirJelly. Rather than swimming through water like the AquaJelly, it glides through the air with the aid of its central electric drive and an intelligent, adaptive mechanical system. The remote-controlled AirJelly is kept in the air by its helium-filled ballonet.
The AirJelly’s only energy source are two lithium-ion-polymer batteries, to which the central electric drive is attached. This transmits its power to a bevel gear and then to eight spur gears, which drive the eight tentacles of the jellyfish via their respective cranks. The structure of each tentacle is based on the Fin Ray Effect®. Using a peristaltic movement to drive a balloon was previously unknown in the history of aviation. The AirJelly is the first indoor flying object to use such a peristaltic propulsion system. The jellyfish glides gently through the air thanks to this new drive concept based on the reaction thrust principle.
The AirJelly steers through three-dimensional environments by shifting its weight. Its two servo motors are located at the “North pole” of the jellyfish and controlled proportionally. If the pendulum moves in one direction, the AirJelly’s centre of gravity shifts in this direction – the AirJelly is thus able to swim in any spatial direction. The propulsive force of the drive can be varied by moving the Fin Ray® tentacles more quickly or slowly.
Festo demonstrates with this exhibit that a central electric drive – combined with an intelligent mechanical system – can offer fascinating possibilities for “lighter-than-air” aviation. Festo aims to delight its customers with innovative, fascinating and intelligent solutions in both automation and didactics. It therefore offers a wide range of electric, pneumatic and hybrid drive systems, together with the respective sensors and control possibilities.
April 25, 2008
music on your mind
From today's walk - Radiolab had an excellent show on music hallucinations, songs that go beyond language (guess where country music is popular?) and other neat things you may not have considered.
recommended!
April 24, 2008
April 20, 2008
infocom and douglas adams
If either of these ring a bell - go here
(I had a tiny bit of input on Zork:-)
April 08, 2008
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
What a language - this is grammatically correct. How you can puzzle and confuse friends and enemies alike through the use of homonyms and homophones.
This example has been around for awhile - I remember a linguist at Bell Labs impressing a bunch of us at lunch, but had forgotten it until Rich reminded me. Very cool!
My favorite example of lexical ambiguity comes from Groucho Marx and was printed on one of my tshirts
Time flies like an arrow... Fruit flies like a banana.
April 02, 2008
back to the future on the iphone
Some will celebrate (as noted on Cosmic Variance)
One of the worst things about the iPhone is the lack of an rpn calculator. The 15 wasn't the best HP, but it was useful.
I can't wait for June
March 29, 2008
overcoming odds
A video of a fantastic two legged dog
(thanks John)
the blind and photograph
neat and inspiring The little movie is a nice introduction.
thanks for the link Jean!
March 26, 2008
trunkcams and beyond
As Bjarne says - brilliant
snip
"But elephants are the ultimate four-by-four camera vehicle - and have allowed us to film these animals closer than we have ever been able to film them before."
March 25, 2008
roadside america revisited
Roadsideamerica is one of those fun places that just gets better with time (a disclaimer - I know one of the principals, so I may be biased). Tools for those who are into the art of the road trip.
The new redesign is a big improvement and it shows up well on the iPhone.
a very nice summary of TED
Autodesk sponsored a very nice summary of the TED conference ... (largish PDF)
google visualization api
very cool with enormous opportunities to abuse data
March 23, 2008
March 21, 2008
google sky in your browser
Not as nice as the sky portion of Google Earth, but now you can look at the sky from your browser. There are some interface bugs (try zooming in to fix appearance - counter intuitive, but it sometimes works), but it might be fun.
I tried it on the iPhone - it works, but you *need* a wifi link for this one.
March 18, 2008
March 17, 2008
the 17th of ireland
I have a lot of Irish in me, so this is ok:
thanks for the link Jim
daydream material
little tree house in the rain forest... and the website
OK - it doesn't scale to many people and there are probably lots of problems, but it is good for a few minutes of dreaming.
March 16, 2008
goose repellent
I mostly like geese. They are fun to watch and amazing in flight, but in large numbers they can be - let's be charitable - a bit on the messy side.
A small pond near our place has been home from anywhere from 100 to 150 geese. Some are permanent, remaining through the Winter, but most seem to migrate.
This year several two dimensional black plywood dogs were installed. At first it seemed to be for the amusement of the geese who largely ignored the new objects. Last week red and white bandanas started appearing on the dogs. Now we are down to about a dozen geese. Probably the hard core crew.
You have to wonder what goes through the mind of a goose -
• tacky dogs don't know how to dress• they must be hungry - look at their napkins!
• my gosh! someone has spiked those poor dogs to the ground!
If this scheme works, the manufacturer seems to have stumbled on a protection racket.
But war is war and the geese may strike back! (thanks for the link Roger)
March 10, 2008
3195 gram road bike
remarkable that it can be ridden and last more than an hour
March 08, 2008
great vortex canon
I've built smaller versions, but this one is lovely - thanks for the link Greg!
February 29, 2008
cute overload
(thanks Jessi!)
February 25, 2008
if you have waaaaay too much money on your hands
Some of the colors look good, but black just rules for something like this.
February 17, 2008
a simple race
thanks Les
The whole trick is the length of the race. At some shorter distance a human on foot would be faster.
February 16, 2008
an iphone program one of our ferrets could use
the program
the ferret (poor quality video and she is much better now. her habit of getting herself wet before playing may not sit well with an iphone)
February 12, 2008
dog powered bikes and trikes
The dogs probably love this (assuming they are large enough)
February 10, 2008
pork - not for politics or eating
pigs flying ...
(thanks for the image Geoff)
February 04, 2008
folding wheels
Not a competitor for real wheels, but maybe better than folding bikes with tiny wheels.
February 01, 2008
doodles and stuff
doodles and drafts -- a neat exhibit from the Smithsonian
January 29, 2008
folding paper and numbers
Representing Internet statistics as oragami
Not my favorite representation, but extra points for cleverness!
On the other hand, some people are doing very interesting art with paper ... this the work of Robert Lang
a380 flight deck
Brian notes an impressive interactive image of a A380 flight deck. Lots of detail!
January 28, 2008
time travel sans tardis
Travel time to a specific location and time of day from various points near London.
January 27, 2008
isabel allende
from TED
January 19, 2008
January 18, 2008
January 11, 2008
how walkable is your neighborhood?
very cool - walkscore
Consulting a tool like this before you move is useful for anyone who wants to be "green"
eating the body of the fsm...
Thanks for the noting the construction tip Dan!
January 08, 2008
plugging on...
A 875 km foot race in 5 days 15 hours and 4 minutes
snip (but read the article )
Every professional athlete knew for certain that it took about 5 days to finish this race, and that in order to compete, you would need to run 18 hours and sleep 6 hours. The thing is, old Cliff Young did not know that!
When the morning news of the race was aired, people were in for another big surprise. Cliff was still in the race and had jogged all night down to a city called Mittagong.
Apparently, Cliff did not stop after the first day. Although he was still far behind the world-class athletes, he kept on running. He even had the time to wave to spectators who watched the event by the highways.
When he got to a town called Albury he was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. He said he would run through to the finish, and he did.
He kept running. Every night he got just a little bit closer to the leading pack. By the last night, he passed all of the world-class athletes. By the last day, he was way in front of them. Not only did he run the Melbourne to Sydney race at age 61, without dying; he won first place, breaking the race record by 9 hours and became a national hero! The nation fell in love with the 61-year-old potato farmer who came out of nowhere to defeat the world’s best long distance runners.
He finished the 875-kilometre race in 5 days, 15 hours and 4 minutes. Not knowing that he was supposed to sleep during the race, he said when running throughout the race, he imagined that he was chasing sheep and trying to outrun a storm.
When Cliff was awarded the first prize of $10,000, he said he did not know there was a prize and insisted that he had not entered for the money. He said, “There’re five other runners still out there doing it tougher than me,” and he gave them $2,000 each. He did not keep a single cent for himself. That act endeared him to all of Australia. Cliff was a humble, average man, who undertook an extraordinary feat and became a national sensation.
January 07, 2008
more daily coyote
a bit of video...
the blog is here - a daily must visit for critter types
January 04, 2008
hacking toys
NPR's Bryant Park Project is approximately eclectic ... recently a strange piece on toy hacking appeared
December 30, 2007
eye candy
but fun eye candy -- even if it is commercial
December 27, 2007
December 25, 2007
chiron beta prime
Also available in yummy aac on iTMS (sadly with DRM - it must be those pesky robot overlords)
December 20, 2007
really cheap helmet cam
The video doesn't look great, but this is potentially cool and may be attractive to teenagers doing really stupid things.
November 28, 2007
bumps and valleys...
I was using Google maps for its satellite view and noticed a terrain view tab ...
no idea how long it has been there, or if it is even useful, but it is cool...
November 20, 2007
4000 lumen flashlight torch
er -- a nice project?
and the video
rube goldberg catalog
thanks Jeff!
November 17, 2007
singing the bovine electric
Bjarne points to an article about contented Danish cows... and offers a translation:
Over the last 10 years 80% of Danish cow farmers have installed brushes, so that cows can walk up and give themselves a back rub. 50% have installed the fancy electrified models that start rotating when a cow rubs it. The cows line up and take turns. 93% of the farmers reports that the cows use the brushes frequently and are happier for it.
November 13, 2007
more on adorable handmade (unleaded) holiday toys
A few days ago I plugged Magi's handcrafted toys, I commissioned her to do a custom piece of work without a firm idea of the design in mind. The process was to offer a few basic ideas and talk about a price range (extremely reasonable). We agreed to go ahead and she went to work tuning a few ideas via email. The final project is ready and it is great. Highly recommended!!
If you are interested in custom stuff, send an email to me and I'll pass it along. She has limited slots for those of you who want to surprise someone with something fantastic mixing a bit of your imagination with hers.
November 08, 2007
safe toys!
And made in the US by someone I know and trust (Magi)
very cool things for kids or those who act their shoe size
In any event there are a good number of craftspeople and artists in the US who can create wonderful things for your friends and children that are much better values than things from huge stores made by unknown companies and materials of questionable safety.
October 26, 2007
where the aflac duck got his start
everyone has to start somewhere .. even a duck
(a tip of the hat to Sara)
October 19, 2007
the viele map
In 1865 Egbert Viele created the definitive topographical map of the original water courses of Manhattan with street grids overlaid. It is still used today. Note - about 8MB
great stuff!
October 18, 2007
great clip resource
Clips of The Daily Show are now online...
the server was crushed when I tried.
October 09, 2007
it's what's upfront that counts
Where one Don Wetzel becomes the first and only jet engineer for the New York Central Railway.
Very simple and strangely cool. Take a small commuter coach and tie two ancient (even by the standards of the mid 60s) J47 jet engines. As a special touch the engine location was dictated by the artistic judgement of someone who wasn't an engineer on the project.
But it worked and got up to 183mph on the second straightest stretch of railway in the US (sort of asks the question,,,)
____
But amateurs can play - a rocket powered bike may be a bit too much for most, but tying a couple of turbines to a bike sounds do-able (if you can afford the turbines)
necessary tshirts
Judith mentions a desirable...
October 03, 2007
September 22, 2007
real atomic clock wristwatch
Forget about those poser watches that merely synchronize with WWV - this is the real deal.
Impress your friends, check special and general relativity .. fun for the whole family.
I have a tall friend who has been looking for ways to creatively answer questions about her height ... seeing this clock and doing a bit of back of the envelope calculations tells me she has a terresterial gravitational blue shift of -2.2 * 10-16 ... it just doesn't get more geekish than that.
September 08, 2007
30 yrs of tokyo in 10 seconds
in case you haven't seen this time lapse gem
August 23, 2007
panda monium
a tip of the hat to Jessica -- note several other clips are available
August 19, 2007
weasel weed
If http://nippynihon.blogspot.com/2007/08/wily-weasel-words.html is really true (any Japanese out there?), I have a new respect for Forsythia and wonder where "weasel weed" comes from?
Our ferrets enjoy digging up nearly any plant, but weasel weed?
(thanks for the link Sukie)
August 13, 2007
glowing time
Someone wrote asking about nixie tube clock kits ...
this one appeared in Make
August 11, 2007
July 28, 2007
uses for really big sling shots
Just the ticket for serious tree climbing.
an old article .. and of course there is Richard Preston's book The Wild Trees.