Author: John

Sensorama: Virtual Reality from 1962

Sensorama Who says that virtual reality is anything new? Inventor and cinematographer Morton Heilig had a firm grip on it back on the early 60’s:

(Sensorama was) an immersive 3-D virtual reality motorbike ride, in a form factor resembling an arcade game. Heilig saw Sensorama as the future of cinema, an immersive experience, complete with nine different fans to simulate the wind blowing on the user’s face, vibrating seat (to simulate driving over cobblestones), and the aromas of jasmine and hibiscus as the driver passed a flower garden, or the smell of baking pizza as one passed by an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. (Rheingold, 1991) It never received the funding necessary to scale up to commercial production, and quietly disappeared, although Heilig persisted, patenting improvements over the next decade.

[viaNeatorama]

Morton Heilig’s Sensorama

The IT Crowd

The IT Crowd

The funniest thing I’ve seen on TV in a while has got to be the British comedy The IT Crowd. If you have ever had to work in a computer department or had to deal with computer people this show hits very close to home. Season one is avaliable  from Amazon UK and I understand that season two is on the way, I can’t wait!

What Wikipedia says about the IT Crowd

The IT Crowd – UK Comedy Series

Channel4 – The IT Crowd Official Site

Grimace, Evil Mastermind of McDonaldland

I knew I wasn’t crazy! I remember Grimace being a thief AND having two sets of arms! In the commercials of the very early 70’s, he would steel the milkshakes from various inhabitants of McDonaldland and then get caught by Ronald or Officer BigMac. This must prove that either the criminal system works or that he was subject to some volunteer medical program, because he’s fully reformed. Heck, he’s Ronald’s right hand man these days.
[via neatorama]
The Pop Culture Addict presents… Miscellaneous

‘Remind Me’ Video on YouTube By Roysopp

Good song, if you have a TV you have listed to is as background on at least one car insurance advert. The band is called ‘Roysopp‘ and are out of Bergen Norway (more info here) and have quite a nice sound, same style as ‘The Postal Service‘. The infographics on the video are very cool, it’s very much how I think of the world sometime when I walk around.

[via ektopia]
YouTube – Royksopp – Remind Me

EasyStill Home Alcohol Making Kit

EasyStillIf your as lazy as I am the idea of not having to drive down to the local liquor store to get a bottle of booze is quite appealing. How cool would it be to have a distillery in your back room?

EasyStill is a tabletop distillation unit. 4 liters of mash or wine are added and the unit plugged in. No cooling water required no thermometer or other nuisance. The unit is fan cooled. If you forget the unit it switches itself off when the boiling vessel is empty. Warming up takes one hour, and then distillation takes 3 hours. This gives 1.4 liters of spirits of approximately 46% alcohol. Active charcoal purification takes place during distillation through a 500mm purifying tube. The spirits produced have the flavour of vodka and are ready to drink or flavour with essences or herbs. Those choosing the easy way connect up a timer so the process looks after itself.

[via ohqizmo]
EasyStill

Armoured Paintball Battle Tank

Well, now this would put the fear into your friends as you engage in a friendly game of paintball now wouldn’t it?

Experience the fun and excitement of driving tanks and amphibious vehicles over a variety of challenging courses set in a World War II bombing range.

Why not start your day off with an exciting drive in an Amphibious 4-track snowcat, followed by the thrill of driving an FV432 Tank, finishing off the session by taking on the enemy vehicle with your 40mm cannon!

Most confirmed kills wins.. can you kill him before he kills you?

Combine driving and paintball to make an action packed day of adventure! Sessions or days can be tailored to suit all… whether it’s a birthday, stag/hen party or a corporate event.

It’s sad that this is only in the UK…

[via Retro Thing]

Armourgeddon