STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[Fuzz]

The Most Detailed Star Wars Figure Ever Is 13 Inches Of Sith Glory

It's only a sixth scale figurine, not much to write home to momma about. Now if you really want to impress, get yourself this bad boy....

This statue stands at a massive 7'3" tall, has light up LEDs on the chest plate, collar, wrists and lightsaber, and a fabric cloak. Of course, it goes for a smidge under $6k (okay, one lousy cent under $6k), but you'll be guaranteed to spark Star Wars geek envy with it.

And if just can't spend that much, but still want something that will impress, grab yourself this little fella...

Compared to the life-sized Darth Malgus, Darth Maul stands at a measly 3'6", with a light up dual blade lightsaber and fabric cloak. All yours for $1999.99!!

[MIKA27]

It's only a sixth scale figurine, not much to write home to momma about. Now if you really want to impress, get yourself this bad boy....

This statue stands at a massive 7'3" tall, has light up LEDs on the chest plate, collar, wrists and lightsaber, and a fabric cloak. Of course, it goes for a smidge under $6k (okay, one lousy cent under $6k), but you'll be guaranteed to spark Star Wars geek envy with it.

And if just can't spend that much, but still want something that will impress, grab yourself this little fella...

Compared to the life-sized Darth Malgus, Darth Maul stands at a measly 3'6", with a light up dual blade lightsaber and fabric cloak. All yours for $1999.99!!

WOW!!

[MIKA27]

Catholic church in Madrid says it needs exorcists to help flock cope with the devil

THE Catholic archdiocese in Madrid says it needs more exorcists to help some of its faithful cope with the devil.

An archdiocese spokeswoman said on Friday Madrid only has one exorcist priest and that it is considering a plan to train more.

She spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with archdiocese policy.

"The devil exists. That's a fact," she told The Associated Press.

Only a priest authorised by a bishop can perform an exorcism and the brief rite involves blessings with holy water, prayers and an interrogation of the devil by the exorcist during which the demon is asked to leave the victim.

ReligionenLibertad, a Catholic website, blames the growing secularisation of Spanish society for what it calls an increase in people asking for help with their demons.

Exorcisms hit the headlines earlier this week when Pope Francis's blessing of a disabled man was said to be an exorcism.

The Pope was filmed laying his hands on the head of a young disabled man after celebrating mass in St Peter's Square on Sunday.

The young man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, shook, and he then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him.

The Vatican television station, TV 2000, said it had surveyed exorcists, who agreed there was "no doubt" that Francis either performed an exorcism or a prayer to free the man from the devil.

[MIKA27]

People with the wackiest jobs: Tasting dog food, sniffing armpits, watching paint dry

MARK Gooley (Above) spends his days chewing dog treats, Paul McCorkell watches paint dry and Peta Jones gets paid to sniff armpits.

Welcome to the world's wackiest jobs.

But don't tell these hard workers they're in the wrong occupation: they wouldn't have it any other way.

Mark Gooley, from Geelong, taste-tests doggy dental sticks, chewy bones and liver mixture as the owner of dog and horse food company Huds and Toke.

"If you wouldn't put it in your mouth don't you dare expect your dog to eat it,'' the canine food critic said.

"I'm looking for palatability. I want it to be soft in the mouth and I want it to be an enjoyable experience for the dog.

"The dog might not be able to tell me 'that tastes terrible' so I have to taste it and if it doesn't pass the taste test then it's not going off the factory floor to the animals.''

Asked what his wife thinks when he kisses her after work, the 50-year-old said "there is always a bottle of Listerine somewhere.''

"People don't understand me because I talk about my love for dogs and my love for horses and I'm making a horse treat,'' he said.

"I don't know how to explain it. It's like being a mad scientist: people look at me blankly and say `I just don't get it, I understand but I don't get it'.

"I'm stuck in that box of no man's land. But I wouldn't do anything else.''

Consumer goods company Unilever _ who own brands of deodorant _ employ the likes of Peta Jones who loves her job just as much as Mr Gooley, even though she has to sniff strangers' armpits for a living.

As the company's "underarm odour assessor'' she works on research and development for brands like Rexona, Dove, Lynx and Impulse.

"The first time I took part in sniffing it did seem a bit strange however, within the first week of the job it was fine,'' she said.

"It (soon) felt normal as there are a team of us doing the job and I could see the results we were producing were useful.

"When I sniff an underarm I am testing for the level of odour, the type of odour and measuring how good our products are.''

Watching paint dry may sound mind-numbingly boring to some but Taubmans technical manager Paul McCorkell has made it an art form.

Mr McCorkell, 39, of Sydney, cumulatively spends at least a few days a year staring at walls and painted panels at the company's Villawood factory.

"I'm not going to sit there for two hours obviously but we would evaluate the paint at regular intervals,'' he said.

"If you're out on site you talk to the painters about how the brushing and rolling is and you are also talking to them about how it is drying.

"I would look at the paint every few minutes and evaluate it for different appearance. We need to make sure the customer is happy that it dries down to a uniform appearance.''

Mr McCorkell said he finds paint a lot more fascinating than the average person.

"I find when I walk into a building while people might be admiring the architecture, I'm looking at the paint work and how well it has been applied or not _ whether it is a good job or not,'' he said.

[samreddevilz]

Superb work for such an amazing post. I can not do but be grateful to you mate. Keep that up!

[CanuckSARTech]

A Tactical Apron For Chefs Who Take BBQs Very Seriously

For some, barbecuing is simply a means to heat food that involves the opportunity to play with fire. For others, it’s as serious an operation as open heart surgery. And if the act of grilling a steak is far more important to you than actually eating one, you won’t ever want to go near a BBQ again without this tactical apron backing you up.

Is it over the top and ridiculous? Absolutely. Is that what makes it so awesome? Most definitely. It of course won’t protect you from bullets or other combat-related risks, but splattered grease and hot popping coals won’t bother you when wrapped up in this all-cotton outer layer. The $35 apron, which debuted on ThinkGeek today, also includes two large pouches and three smaller ones that can be arranged and attached anywhere for maximum convenience. And in case someone forgets their place and tries to intervene at the grill, the apron is emblazoned with ‘Chef’ on the front and back to remind everyone who’s in charge of the situation.

MIKA: I might need one but for when my wife cooks!

THIS is classic! LOL. Pure cheesiness, but still awesome!

[MIKA27]

This Is NASA’s Solar Propulsion Engine Of The Future

This Tron-esque glowing blue ring isn’t the latest designer lamp. It’s actually NASA’s cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster, which is currently being tested in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Using xenon ions to create its thrust, the engine is being considered for use as part of the Asteroid Initiative — NASA’s plan to capture a small asteroid and redirect it safely to an orbit around Earth. In fact, the engine is a radically updated and redesigned version of the one currently powering NASA’s Dawn mission as it heads towards the asteroid belt.

[MIKA27]

Some Of The Best Video Game Concept Art On The Planet

There are very few artists working in video games who I’d label truly “top shelf” without a moment’s hesitation. There’s Craig Mullins. Sparth. Jaime Jones. Daniel Dociu. Oh, and today’s subject, Jesse van Dijk.

Formerly of Guerilla Games, the studio behind the Killzone series, van Dijk is now working on Bungie’s Destiny, and is behind some of the best art we’ve seen so far for the game.

I love his art for the same reason I love the guys listed above: they do more than just design buildings or make pretty pictures; they lavish enough detail and character on their work to really give you a feel for the world that’s being created, something that shines through here.

Below you’ll see a sample of his work (we’ve seen some of his Killzone pieces previously), from his time at Guerilla to Destiny to other stuff.

You can see more of Jesse’s work at his personal site and CGHub page.

Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios.

[MIKA27]

Ants Will Give You Free Advertising If You Pee On The Billboard

Most people don’t take a trip to the Amazon looking for publicity opportunities, but if you stumble on one you have to run with it, right? At Smarter Every Day, Destin and his rainforest guides took advantage of the complicated process leafcutter ants go through to forage for salt and got the ants to carry a little Smarter Every Day sign instead of the leaves they normally tote.

The ants all play a role in collecting, vetting and cleaning leaves, but they’re happy to carry anything that’s soaked in a “salty liquid”.

So rather than crying bitter internet tears, the guys on the shoot put a little bit of urine on each slip of paper, and the ants dutifully brought the signs into their colony.

Life lessons.

[MIKA27]

Apple 1 breaks auction record, sells for US$671,400

One of what's believed to be only six still-working Apple 1 computers set a record at auction on Saturday, selling for US$671,400 in Germany.

The machine, built by Steve "Woz" Wozniak in Steve Jobs' parents garage back in 1976, was sold along with the original owner's manual and a signed letter from Jobs to original owner Fred Hatfield.

Breker, the German auction house that handled the sale, sold another Apple 1 in December for US$640,000, a substantial jump in price from the Apple 1 sold by Sotheby's in New York last June for US$374,500.

Auctioneer Uwe Breker said that the appeal of the machine goes far beyond the realm of geekery.

"It is a superb symbol of the American dream," he told The New York Times' Bits blog. "You have two college dropouts from California who pursued an idea and a dream, and that dream becomes one of the most admired, successful and valuable companies in the world."

That can-do spirit is reflected in this brief description of the Apple 1's genesis, given in the Sotheby's notes to last June's auction:

When Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs presented the Apple I Computer to the Homebrew Computer Club in 1976, it was dismissed by everyone but Paul Terrell, the owner of a chain of stores called Byte Shop. Terrell ordered 50 computers for US$500 apiece, insisting that the circuit boards come fully assembled rather than as DIY kits similar to the Altair, and Jobs and Woz managed to produce the requisite computers in 30 days. They continued production, immediately creating 50 additional Apple 1s to sell to friends, and an additional 100 to sell through vendors, at a retail price of US$666.66, a number that garnered complaints among conservative Christians, but provided a lucrative 33 [per cent] mark-up.

Let's see, 50 computers in 30 days; that's about 1.67 Apple 1s per day. At today's prices, that would add up to about US$1,121,238 for a day's work. Not too shabby.

Sotheby's has estimated that another 44 Apple 1s exist, in addition to the six that still actually work.

[MIKA27]

Ghostly Ship Graveyards From Around The World

Where do boats go when they die? Sometimes they end up in vast ship graveyards, sometimes craggy, foggy places where ships have met their doom, and sometimes spots where ships are deliberately left to rust. There’s a quiet beauty to many of these graveyards and their resting inhabitants.

The port of Nouadhibou, Mauritania

More than 300 ships are resting in the world’s largest ship graveyard. The practice of abandoning ships here started in the 1980s after the country’s fishing industry was nationalised.

Mo’ynoq (Muynak/Moynaq), Western Uzbekistan

The former sea port city has lots of rusting ships, abandoned since the 1980s due to the recession of the Aral Sea, which is now at least 150km away from the former harbour.

Skeleton Coast, Namibia

The area was named after the whale and seal bones that littered the shore because of the whaling industry, but there are more than a thousand ships caught by rocks and fog.

Staten Island Boat Graveyard or the Witte Marine Scrap Yard, New York

A dumping ground for disused and decommissioned ships in New York.

Military graveyard near Landévennec, France

Grytviken, South Georgia, South Atlantic

The settlement was established in 1904 by a Norwegian sea captain as a whaling station for his fishing company. It was closed in December 1966, but the church is still used occasionally for marriages, and the whaling ships are still in the harbour.

Gadani ship-breaking yard, Gadani, Pakistan

The world’s third largest ship breaking yard has a capacity of 125 ships of all sizes, including supertankers. In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, 107 ships were on the yard.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the ship breaking industry was on top, and Gadani was the largest breaking yard in the world.

Bonus: Cemitério das Âncoras or The Anchor Graveyard, Tavira Island, Portugal

A portion of the beach is littered with hundreds of rusted anchors.

Double bonus: Japanese Midget Submarines, 1945-1947

“At the end of World War II, Allied Occupation forces found hundreds of midget submarines built and building in Japan, including large numbers of the “Koryu” type. Many of these boats were in massed groups at shipyards and naval bases.”

[MIKA27]

The Horrifying Flame Tank Of The 1930s Meant To End All Wars

In 1936, Hugo Gernsback proposed a terrifying new war machine meant to be more efficient than any that had come before it. He called it the “flame tank”. And while the thing looks absolutely horrifying in every way (those appear to be dozens of people being burned alive by the tank’s flame guns), the stated goal of Gernsback’s machine of death was actually to make war less brutal.

Science and Mechanics magazine featured Gernsback’s flame tank of the future on its January 1936 cover — at a time when World War II was just over the horizon.

Gernsback was operating under the surprisingly common assumption that if humans could make war too horrible to comprehend, then nations would simply no longer engage in it. Nikola Tesla had a similar rationale for a “death ray” that he was attempting to develop in the 1930s. As history shows us time and again, the road to war is paved with weapons that promise peace.

The concept of mutually assured destruction wouldn’t enter the popular psyche until the Cold War, when both the US and Soviet Union had nuclear weapons. But the idea of the flame tank — something so powerful and grotesque as to scare away entire armies before anyone fired a single shot — was meant as a deterrent of prolonged warfare.

As Gernsback explained in the accompanying article for Science and Mechanics, the threat of the weapon should be enough:

The flame tank, which I present herewith as a new idea in warfare, is not — as it would appear on first thinking — a frightful war implement to burn the enemy to a crisp. It is merely the threat of this new weapon which makes it important.

The flame tank is the outgrowth of the German fiammenwerfers (flame-thrower) which were used in the World War. These flame-throwers were, usually, small portable reservoirs attached to the backs of the soldiers, and containing gasoline or other fuel; by providing pressure in the reservoir, and connecting a hose to it, a flame could be directed about 20 to 30 feet ahead of the soldier. It constituted an excellent threat and would make any soldier at whom it was directed turn tail unless, of course, his comrades shot down the men carrying the flame-throwers.

Gernsback even thought that the tank could find work during peacetime, cutting down paths through jungles or woodland areas:

The flame tank may also find peacetime uses, where roads have to be built through woods or jungles. A few such tanks, by burning down trees and vegetation, will probably be able to clear a path quickly and economically; other tanks following will throw not gasoline but water, under high pressure to keep the fire from spreading when and where it is not wanted. A path can thus be cut quicker through woods, and particularly thick jungle, more easily than by present methods.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this updated concept actually found its way into real world warfare. Both the Allied and Axis powers had many different versions of flame tanks that they used throughout World War II. And while some credit its short range and extreme intimidation factor as positives that resulted in fewer deaths, it certainly didn’t do anything to make the larger war less bloody.

[MIKA27]

The Enduring Mystery of the Brown Mountain Lights

They are one of the most enduring mysteries and natural wonders of the United States, and their mysterious presence has long inspired fantastic tales about ghosts that haunt the steep slopes of the Linville Gorge Wilderness. But these curious natural phenomenon–whatever their real cause–may hold the key to understanding some UFO sightings, or may even bear promise in the study of innovative new kinds of energy. They are the Brown Mountain Lights, and their intrigue has outlasted many who have come and gone over the last century, seeking to find the root of their strange presence.

There appears to be as much interest in discussion about the Brown Mountain Lights as ever, with many emails, stories, and comments coming from around the area. A gentleman named Tom, had been eager to share his fascination about the phenomenon, which he had never mentioned before. “I had never heard about the Brown Mountain lights,” he explained, “and have been researching them since you mentioned it. I am obsessed.”

In honesty, I share Tom’s enthusiasm, and find that it’s hard not to become obsessed with the lingering mystery of the lights.

Of the unique items I have recently come across, also worth noting here is the photo above, which was apparently taken in the late 1950s or early ’60s by photographer Bruce Roberts, and was featured in his wife Nancy’s book The Illustrated Guide to Ghosts in 1974 (the image, as well as Nancy’s account of the lights, had appeared in print years earlier, hence the presumed age of the photo. What I find particularly unique about this photo is that it appears to depict the lights hovering above the horizon, which would suggest that these illuminations had indeed been airborne. However, I should point out that we aren’t certain as to what the conditions may have been at the time this photo was taken, such as the exact location where Roberts took the photo, or the elevation in relation to Brown Mountain. The orientation strongly suggests, however, that the image was taken from a gravel pull off at mile marker 20 off of Highway 181, which passess Brown Mountain on its route between the towns of Morganton and Linville.

Similar photos of what are presumed to be the lights can be viewed here, featuring the photography of Brown Mountain Lights researchers Bill Fox and Bob Ashmore. Bill and Bob have been coming to North Carolina for years to study the lights, and attenpt to photograph them. One of my all time favorite images of an odd, spherical light hovering over Table Rock, a large prominent mountain in the Linville Gorge, can be seen below, courtesy of Bill Fox’s archives:

This image is similar to what is, arguably, the best photo of an aerial illumination over the Linville Gorge, taken in 2001 by photographer Charles Braswell. The image was featured in the Charlotte Observer, and can be viewed by clicking here. Perhaps the most important element that photographs like these present is the fact that aerial illuminations of unexplained origin do seem to account for some instances where the lights are reported. However, most conventional attempts at explaining the lights omit completely these kinds of reports, as well as the photos that seem to provide evidence of consistent, and strange-looking illuminations in the area.

My intention here is not to assert that there is anything “paranormal” about the cause behind the Brown Mountain Lights, although by definition, they are a variety of phenomenon which, albeit a natural one, seems to be produced by means that are complicated enough to have escaped scientific explanation until the present day. Thus, the reason for their endurance as a mystery is clear, and the challenge they present in terms of studying and documenting their cause also remains nearly unparalleled.

[MIKA27]

Flying Triangles in 1965

As many people interested in Ufology will be aware, the last couple of decades or so have seen a rise in reports of one particular type of UFO. It has become known as the Flying Triangle. The FTs are triangular in shape and very often black in color, hence the name, of course! They often emit a low humming noise, and have a trio of lights on their underside. They usually have rounded corners too, rather than sharply angled edges. And, in some ways, they are not unlike the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit (otherwise known as the Stealth Bomber) in design. This has, quite naturally, given rise to the possibility that the FTs are next-generation Stealth planes, rather than true UFOs. It’s not an unreasonable assumption. But there’s a problem with that scenario: the FTs are actually not new, or even recent, at all.

While digging through a whole host of formerly classified files on UFOs at the National Archives at Kew, England in 1996, one researcher came across a one-page report dated 28 March 1965 that, I confess, I almost overlooked. On closer inspection, however, I realized that it was potentially one of the most important UFO-related documents that I had ever come across. According to the MoD paperwork, on the night in question a witness saw at approximately 9.30 p.m. over moor-land near Richmond, North Yorkshire, England: “Nine or ten objects – in close triangular formation each about 100ft long – orange illumination below – each triangular in shape with rounded corners, making low humming noise.”

Interestingly, as noted in the first paragraph of this article, the “rounded corners” and “low humming noise” are precisely what many witnesses to Flying Triangle-style UFO encounters are reporting today – in a world-wide capacity, no less.

Recognizing the significance of this, he made a photocopy of the document and set about locating the witness, who is named in the files, I should stress. This did not prove to be a difficult task. He introduced himself and explained that he had located at the National Archives a copy of the original report that dealt with his sighting all those years ago. It is fair to say that the man was shocked, to say the least, to find that details of his long-gone encounter had been kept on file by the MoD for more than thirty years.

“Yes, I did send in a report all those years ago, but I didn’t think they would have kept it all this time,” he said, with astonishment in his voice. As he explained, on 28 March 1965 at approximately 9.30 p.m., he had been driving through the North Yorkshire moors. On approaching the village of Skeeby, near Richmond, however, the engine of his car began to splutter and die.

“It was a 1951 Ford,” he states, adding with some humor, “and it was a good car but a bit unpredictable at times. I didn’t want to break down on the moor because it was icy cold and the nights were still dark. I got out of the car to have a look at the engine and that’s when I saw this light.”

He continued: “At first, because it was so dark, I wondered if it might be a weather balloon. But then I had a good look at it over the hedge and realized how big it was and how low down it was. It was about one hundred feet from end-to-end, about one hundred feet above the moors and shaped like a huge triangle and white, milky-white in colour.

“It kept coming towards me and then stopped about two hundred yards from me over the moors. It hovered for a while – nothing came out of it, but there was a light below it that just pulsated like a light bulb. There could have been quite a few lights on it but from a distance the light just looked like a glow. Then without a warning, it just took off at a speed that isn’t recognised. Good gracious, I thought, it must be a UFO!

“As it shot up, not vertically but at an angle, it joined a group of others that were identical and that were in a triangular or V-formation. The others were very, very high; a whole fleet of them. They all then headed south, I think, at a tremendous speed and disappeared over the horizon. I saw the main one for no more than a couple of minutes,” he recalls, “but after they had gone I was still stood by the moor watching this fleet disappear. I waited in case something else exciting happened, but of course it didn’t.”

Curiously, shortly after the encounter, and after having reported the incident to the Ministry of Defence at Whitehall, the witness began to notice “awful red marks on my skin which were like a stretch mark, but they were like a deep salmon red and they kept coming and going. But I didn’t have them before.”

The most bizarre angle of the entire episode was still to come, however, as the man now graphically illustrates: “For about eighteen months after the sighting, I would get strange telephone calls from people. These would be every two or three months. They just phoned out of the blue but didn’t introduce themselves. They just said they were from some bureau or other. They didn’t mention the name of the bureau but kept mentioning ‘sightings’ and asked whether I had seen anything else strange. Had any men come to interview me?”

The witness was never visited by anyone with regard to his Flying Triangle encounter, nor did the MoD ever offer an explanation as to what it was that he saw on that fateful night in March 1965. He was, however, unnerved by those mysterious telephone calls – primarily because aside from informing the MoD of what had occurred, he made no other report (either official or unofficial) with anyone and kept the details to himself: “The only report I ever made was the one I sent to the MoD. It was so exciting that I had to tell someone.”

This important testimony raises a number of vital questions. Why was someone so determined to find out if the witness had received any strange visits with regard to his encounter? Why the interest in knowing if he had had any other unusual encounters of a UFO nature? And most important of all: who was his mysterious caller?

Finally, if as some researchers contend, the Flying Triangles are a relatively modern day creation of the military, how is that an entire squadron of them – right down to the triangular shape, the underside-illumination, and the low humming sound – could have been seen flying over England almost 50 years ago?

[Fuzz]

Ghostly Ship Graveyards From Around The World

There's a military ship graveyard in Sydney, down at Garden Island.... oh wait, that's just the Australian Navy!

[OZCUBAN]

NOW THIS IS COOL @ $6995.00 it would want to be

Apollo Saturn V 1/48 Scale Item #: PROACH-SATURN

Apollo Saturn V Large 48th scale

This is the king of rockets in our collection. Proach Models has pulled out all the stops to bring you this incredibly detailed and authentic model of America’s Moon Rocket.

Standing almost 8 feet tall and built to order, we include all the umbilical’s, personnel access doors and hatches, fuel vents, ullage motors, antennas plus a very detailed Boost Protective Cover over the Command Module, a well detailed Service Module and accurate vinyl markings throughout. This model is built using cast acrylic tube for the basic tank structure, with custom-cast fiberglass and resin parts throughout.

The model separates stage by stage for setup, repacking and shipping, and can be handled over and over again. The model can be ordered as a pre-Apollo Integrated Test Facility model, Apollo flights 4 thru 6, 8 thru 14, 15 thru 17 or the Skylab version, and there are differences in the equipment used between flights, which can be captured in your custom-built Saturn. Simply tell us what version you would like and it’ll be built for you. Please allow 3-4 months for delivery.

Included with the model is a custom black walnut base complete with nameplate and Apollo project logo. Re-useable shipping crate and shipping are extra. Be the envy of your collector friends by adding this to your space model collection.

Scale – 1/48 Length -94″ x 12″

[MIKA27]

There's a military ship graveyard in Sydney, down at Garden Island.... oh wait, that's just the Australian Navy!

Haha!! Are they still using the ex-US Collins Class subs?

[mazolaman]

Great photography of the ship yards...ghostly.

[Fuzz]

Flying Triangles in 1965

Whilst the B2 was not around in the 60's, it's precursor, the flying wing design YB-35 and YB49 were around in the late 40's.

Haha!! Are they still using the ex-US Collins Class subs?

Last I heard, we're going to be stuck with them for at least until 2020. Then we will probably get a few upgrades, like a slightly less noisy engine (who knew subs had to be quiet ), or a targeting system that doesn't think a dinghy is an enemy destroyer but at least could hit it if required....

[MIKA27]

Sydney Gets The Disaster Porn Treatment In A New World War Z Poster

What is it about Sydney? It’s a beautiful city, so why do film studios seem so keen to show it being destroyed? First the Pacific Rim robots started beating on the Harbour Bridge, now World War Z creatures are laying waste to the Sydney Harbour foreshore.

Interestingly, this print chops off the Gizmodo offices. On the far-right of the image you can see the “Toaster” building on fire, so one assumes that if the zombie apocalypse comes to Sydney, your editor will be locked up inside with a shotgun and a bottle of scotch.

[MIKA27]

US Navy Wants Aircraft Carriers To Manufacture Weapons On The Go

These days, the mention of 3D-printed weapons conjures up visions of libertarians printing AK-47s in their garages (OK, that might just be me). But a recent story in the Armed Forces Journal brings word of a more systematic implementation of 3D-printed warfare.

According to one Lieutenant Commander Michael Llenza, the US Navy’s future lies in converting aircraft carriers into “floating factories”, each carrying a fleet of 3D printers to churn out weapons, drones, and even shelters at a moment’s notice. There’s money and time to be saved in the sheer logistical rationality of the scheme. For example, when cylindrical bullets are stacked, tiny bits of wasted space are created — which add up, when you’re talking about millions of the things. Rectangular packages of powder, which could be printed into bullets when needed, are a far more efficient use of space.

Right now, research on such a scheme is being done in bits and pieces. Llenza points out a handful of examples, including Contour Crafting, the building-sized 3D printing system, as well as several recent projects in which complete UAVs were produced overnight:

[…] The University of Virginia printed a UAV controlled by a relatively cheap Android phone whose camera was used to shoot aerial imagery. Designed for a top speed of 45 mph, the aircraft crashed on its first flight. The students just went back to the lab and printed out a replacement nose cone, a capability envied by any squadron maintenance officer. The eventual goal is a drone that flies right out of the printer with electronics and motive power already in place. An organic ability to print replaceable drones from ships, forward operating bases or during disaster relief operations to serve as targets or observation platforms could be a huge enabler for sailors and Marines.

Of course, there are still huge gaps to be bridged, technologically speaking, before 3D printing can be adopted as a large-scale military inventory strategy. It’s supremely expensive right now, and, more importantly, the structural stability of many materials is inconsistent — so replacing critical pieces of machinery is out of the question. Still, it’s an exciting idea, especially when you see it in the terms laid out by MIT’s Neil Gershenfeld, who describes the 3D printing as the ability to “turn data into things and things into data.” Llenza sums it up nicely by wondering how much simpler Apollo 13′s mission would have been, had the crew been able to simply request the appropriate CAD model from ground control.

[MIKA27]

A Drone That Follows You Around Is Way Less Messy Than Puppy

After leaving his uninspiring job at a bank, Sameer Parekh started his own company, called Falkor Systems, to further develop the concept of autonomous flying drones that don’t require a pilot. His first creation is a modified Parrot AR.Drone designed to follow someone around a room like an incredibly loyal — but noisy — puppy.

He also has more practical applications in mind than just an expensive airborne companion that eats through batteries faster than dog food. Parekh first wants to provide extreme athletes with another way to capture their ridiculous stunts. Right now, the GoPro is typically the go-to camera for that, but it only provides a first-person view of their experience.

A flying drone following at a short distance would capture footage of the athlete themselves, and, if things go awry, it also means it wouldn’t get caught up and destroyed in an accident. But a pet that could successfully deliver breakfast in bed? That’s still an idea worth pursuing.

MIKA: Pretty cool stuff

[MIKA27]

Classic Arcade games deserve a beautiful wooden console system:

Swedish designer Love Hultén is freaking obsessed with classic arcade games. You’d have to be, to hand carve a beautiful wooden console to house a massive collection of them. Awesome.

At first, Hultén’s R Kaid-42 (“arcade for two”, get it?) looks like an old, hand-crafted box. It’s made of dark walnut with brass fittings, and measures about 18 x 18 x 35 centimetres, which is considerably smaller than even the tiniest mini-fridge.

But the box, which is held together by magnets, magically breaks apart from this compact package into a console with two controllers. Some basic assembly is required.

The controllers are wireless with rechargeable batteries. They’re big and beefy, just like you want them to be.

Beneath the wooden exterior, the R Kaid-42′s console box is a small 1.8 GHz PC that instantly boots to a homegrown interface that lets you pick between some 2000 classic titles. The console has VGA connectivity so you can connect a display of your own—none is included with the R Kaid-42.

You, too, can have a beautiful arcade like this one. Pricing starts at about £650, but Hultén doesn’t specify a final price for the package, saying each unit is a custom job that will be tailored to each customer’s needs. No matter what, it’ll cost you more than a quarter.

MIKA: Nice! Would love to see this also made out of a desk top humidor which houses some select stogies.

[MIKA27]

The alien incandescence of Dylan Kehde Roelofs

Glass artist Dylan Kehde Roelofs takes pages out of the books of Edison and Tesla to create stunning works of art that would be at home in a HG Wells novel.

The age of the incandescent bulb is ending as the more energy efficient compact fluorescent and LED lamps find their way into homes around the world. In Australia, our government has been working on phasing out incandescent bulbs, and now all but a few types of bulbs are banned from sale.

But there's one thing that incandescent lighting can do that has yet to be replicated by CFL or LED — and that's create an atmosphere of old-world wonder. Case in point: Dylan Kehde Roelofs, a glass artist who has been hand-making lamps and bulbs for around 10 years.

Roelofs began some 22 years ago, learning to make beakers, retorts and test tubes. "I went to a trade program in scientific glassblowing some 22 years ago," he told CNET Australia, "But had a bit too much artistry in my heart to just spend my life making beakers..."

Inspired by Thomas Edison, who invented the first commercially viable filament bulb, Roelofs creates his works with a gorgeous, alien twist — and they're all made by hand.

"These works ... herald the creation of the poetics of the filament: the delicate interplay of the incandescent arc with chimerical vacuum envelopes of Modernist and Surrealist paradigms," Roelofs said. "Each is a piece of lighting history, evocative in colour of candles and candelas past, and of a paradigm shift in the quality of light."

First, Roelofs hand-winds doped-tungsten, which is designed not to sag and which he obtained in an 80-kilometre spool from a liquidation sale. Then he constructs the bulbs. These, he said, are made of three different types of glass in order to match the expansion of the tungsten wire. The substance has to be heated to about 400 degrees Celsius, while a high-vacuum manifold and pump work to extract impurities from the glass.

Roelofs told Wired: "The torch flame is thousands of degrees hotter than your stovetop, so even a glancing brush of it will peel your flesh. I am speaking a sign language in which errors of syntax are punishable by death."

With the filaments placed inside, Roelofs then seals the bulb with a torch, and adds limbs and tentacles crafted from Pyrex.

But he doesn't just work with Edison's filament bulbs — much of his work is also inspired by Nikola Tesla, who invented the fluorescent vacuum light. The artist has recreated Tesla's original wireless brush bulbs in a limited edition using techniques lost for nearly a century.

"Much has been written and rumoured over the years concerning Tesla's various lighting systems and their frequencies, distances and voltages. Much has been muddled, confused and mistaken," he said on his blog. "To my knowledge, nobody but myself has ever faithfully recreated the wireless bulbs."

Each of Roelofs' bulbs runs at about 12-15 watts per filament, so the single-filament bulbs fit well within Australia's 25W restriction (at least for the time being). Once they burn out, Roelofs can replace the filament for a nominal fee — although at 2500 hours, his test bulbs show no sign of slowing.

[MIKA27]

Is this the next step towards a real-life lightsaber?

A DIY laser enthusiast has created an ultra-powerful hand-held laser "lightsaber" that can burn through small objects.

There are a few key differences between 17-year-old Drake Anthony's gadget and an actual lightsaber. For one, Anthony's "lightsaber" has a laser blade rather than plasma, and its length isn't clearly defined. For another, it doesn't really cut through things cleanly — but it sure produces a lot of heat.

At a massive 3000 milliwatts, the blue laser is the most powerful handheld laser that the self-described "laser guy" has ever used.

Clad inside a modified Sirius-1 host is a nine-millimetre 450-nanometre laser diode — the kind found in DLP projectors — powered by a pair of high-power 18650 lithium-ion batteries — usually used in laptops.

Anthony is well aware of the differences. "I usually try to refrain from using the term 'lightsaber' when referring to my lasers but there really isn't much else out there to describe this laser," he said on YouTube. We'd agree that his laser is pretty close.

In the video below, you can see Anthony testing the laser against a variety of objects — flash paper, cardboard, even a ping pong ball. He can even use it to make a solar-powered toy car roll across the floor.

Anthony has been working with lasers for about five years now — since he was 12 years old — and even he doesn't feel entirely comfortable with the power of the thing. "To be honest I don't even like handheld lasers this strong, but I knew my subscribers would like this!" he said, also noting, "This laser is legal to own in the US, and I wore goggles while shooting this video."

According to local federal law, though, any hand-held laser higher than one milliwatt is banned from importation, so we won't be seeing lightsabers here any time soon.