Category: Technology

Find Yourself on the Map of the Internet!

Have you ever wanted to visualize the entire layout of the IP addresses on the Internet and at the same time wanted to know just where you fit into things? If so this is just for you.  I never knew that the Internet looked like a hand drawn map. I’ve had my suspicions…

What? This site plots any IPv4 address on the map from last Monday’s xkcd comic. In other words, it shows where you lie in the structure of IP addresses — so your placement has more to do with the pecking order of the computing industry in the late 1980s than with actual geography.

How? The comic uses a 4th-order Hilbert curve to arrange /8 blocks, and within each of those I’ve assumed that the /16 blocks are arranged in similar Hilbert curves, just smaller.

This is the little patch of IPv4 that TeamDroid lives on. It’s got a nice view and the neighbors aren’t too loud.

Find yourself on the Map of the Internet!

Cool Water Jet Action Shots

Waterjet in actionThis has got to be one of the best stunts to advertise a moderately obscure service I have ever seen. What is a water jet? Remember how when you were a kid (or maybe you still do this) when you were told to water the lawn you inevitable ended up seeing how deep a hold you could make in the ground by blasting it with the finest setting on the nozzle? Ok, that’s called ‘hydraulic mining‘ but the idea is the same. Shoot ultra high pressure water through a super fine hole and you can cut through stuff. Sometimes a bit of grit is added to give the jet some better cutting action. Wood, plastic, metal, cloth… Just about anything can be cut this way. It’s better than a laser in some ways because there is zero heating. You could cut butter this way if you wanted to. Anyway, this is a link to a great FAQ on the process and some stunning photos on how to seriously void the warranty on your game systems.
[via fosfor gadgets]
Water jet pictures

Rocket Booster Video of the Space Shuttle Discovery Launch.


From launch to a water landing, this stunning video shows you exactly what it would be like if you were duct tapped to the side of a space shuttle solid rocket booster. They get extra points from me for adding sound to the video. They must have bolted a transducer to the space frame of the SRB. RocketCam has more videos from past SST missions and even a few from some satellite launches.
[via neatorama]

Inkless pen made of solid metal

I wonder if this uses a low melting point alloy like Field’s metal.

The solid metal ‘nib’ consists of a metal alloy, that leaves a mark on most types of paper. If you use the sort of paper typically used in printers and photocopiers, the pen leaves a mark that looks as if it was made by a pencil. However the line will not smudge, and cannot be rubbed out. Since there is no ink, there is nothing to dry out, so the pen will work just as well in 25 years time as it does today. And of course it never needs sharpening.

[via Boingboing]
Inkless pen made of solid metal

DIY Electric Kenetic Energy Weapon System

Now this is classic mad scientist stuff! The idea is simple, fling bullets at your target. Ok, it’s a little more complex than that but not very much. This is a simplified version of something that’s been popping up in the tech news lately, the DREAD system. I think the version form 1963 could be made from an Altoids tin and an electric motor from a Furby…

DIY centrifuge weapon from 1963 Popular Mechanics