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Original post by JohnKit
Archive for May, 2008
Octopus Jewelry
Etsy seller OctopusMe has metal jewelry made from real octopi. I’m not sure I want to know how it’s done. Tentacles hanging from your earlobes would be an instant conversation starter. Link -via Dump Trumpet
Original post by Miss Cellania
Ice Sauna
Ice is a great insulator, as attested to by anyone who has visited an igloo. English Russia has a video report of a hot sauna built from ice! If that isn’t weird enough, you’ll see a builder chinking the cracks with slush using his bare hands. And after a nice hot sauna, the participants take a dip in the water outside! The audio is in Russian. Link -via Unique Daily
Original post by Miss Cellania
What the CIA Learned From Get Smart
Wired has a gallery of some of the stranger gadgets the CIA developed since the 1940s.
“Many of the devices first seen in movies and on TV actually came about,” says Robert Wallace, former head of the CIA’s covert skunk works, the Office of Technical Services. “Remember the Cone of Silence? We built shielded enclosures that did the same thing. And the pen communicator in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.? That evolved, 10 years later, into short-range agent communication.”
Unfortunately, those particular devices are not illustrated in this post. In his new book Spycraft, Wallace writes about the CIA’s technical advances and some ideas that didn’t quite work out. The cigarette pistol pictured was a success! Link
(image credit: Steve Sanford)
Original post by Miss Cellania
Billboards With Cameras Bring Us One Step Closer to ‘Minority Report’
Advertising has always been an enterprise fraught with uncertainty. How can you know if all that money you’re paying is actually making you a return? Who’s actually even giving your advertisements a look? And are those people really paying attention? With some forms of media (e.g. on the internet), these questions are relatively easy to answer, but with other forms, like billboards, it’s still a significant gamble.
Enter billboard cameras, the type that can monitor not only how many people see a billboard, but what type of people they are too:
They are equipping billboards with tiny cameras that gather details about passers-by — their gender, approximate age and how long they looked at the billboard. These details are transmitted to a central database. Behind the technology are small start-ups that say they are not storing actual images of the passers-by, so privacy should not be a concern. The cameras, they say, [...]
Original post by David
Robert Caputo’s African Widelife
Some really beautiful photo shots from the African widelife by Robert Caputo. Visit his galleries after the click.
Images by Robert Caputo. @ haha.nu.
Original post by hahanu
Fugu Fish
“The fugu chef has your life in his hands”… a tale about one deadly fish but also an ultra high-end delicacy if cooked right. Click on the image to read more.
@ haha.nu.
Original post by hahanu
Kermit Praising Apple Computers
The original video is posted here also.
@ haha.nu.
Original post by hahanu
Tennis for Two
(YouTube link)
You might think that videogames began with Pong, but here’s one that dates back fifty years!
Way back in 1958, William Higinbotham invented Tennis For Two to liven up visitor day at Brookhaven National Laboratory, his workplace. The game uses an oscilloscope with two control pads. It remained largely unknown until 1981 when a lawyer trying to break Magnavox’s patent for video games came across writings talking about the game.
Blueprints of it were found to predate Magnavox’s game, the case was settled out of court, and the game found fame as the second ever invented, since it was later predated by A.S. Douglas’ ‘OXO’ game from 1952.
Read the full post (124 words)
Original post by Miss Cellania
Tiny Needle Felted Birds
Leanne makes itty-bitty needle felted birds and nests that look like the real thing (only smaller). In this picture, you see cardinals, a goldfinch, a chickadee, and some robins, among others. The entire nest is only four inches long! Link -via Everlasting Blort
(45 words, 1 image)
Original post by Miss Cellania
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