Reader Starblade sent this link to me today. The download has four JPGs to print (I’d use slightly thicker than normal paper) and if you have the Japanese Pepukura Designer program it includes a PDO file to use. His F1 car looks pretty cool too.
Author: John
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade As An Animated GIF
The TrekPod Hiking Staff
I’m going to have to get myself one of these. It’s a hiking staff that incorporates a collapsible tripod in it’s lower end. Provides useful support for you when your out walking and in a few seconds it turns into a light duty tripod for capturing the moment with your camera. You can get a variety of heads for it including a ball joint, standard screw mount and something that’s new to me, a magnet mount. I guess you screw a magnet into the tripod socket on your camera and just click into place.
[via Red Ferret]
30 Foot Tall Walking Robot Elephant
As part of a Jules Verne celebration in France (back in November ’05), a 30 foot tall robotic elephant was constructed. The ears, head and trunk move about an will even spray water on the crowd as it walks (yes walks) down the street. You have got to see the video to believe it! The event called Royal de Luxe also had some other Verne inspired images like the moon capsule that was fired out of a giant canon, giant marionettes, more images can be seen here. I’m wondering how this totally missed me until now, it’s a stunning display of engineering magic.
[via Red Ferret]
Ballistics Recovery Parachute
It’s a toss up on what the coolest recent invention has been for civil aviation. Its either the GPS or the recovery parachute. Most people know what a GPS is and might have even look forward to using one however a recovery parachute is something that you don’t want to use unless you are in quite a fix. What is it you might ask? Well, its a device that mounts onto a light aircraft that will fire a parachute out of a mortar mounted on your plane. Why would anyone want to do that? Well, the idea is that if you stall, your engine quits, or even if the pilot has a heart attack the ‘chute will arrest the forward motion of the plane and gently land you on the ground safely. So far the system has saved 184 lives. Thats quite an impressive record. It’s too bad you can’t mount one on a commercial jet (the device would be about half the size of the jet !) but you can use it on small aircraft and even ultralights.
[via Flight Nest]
Schlieren Shock Wave Photos
For years I have been fascinated by shock wave photos (Schlieren effect). This is an outstanding article on how new techniques are helping scientists understand the dynamics of everything from explosives to how materials are processed.
[via Netorama]
American Scientist Online – High-speed Imaging of Shock Waves, Explosions and Gunshots