September 2010
6 posts
The Jiffy Crew
Seriously, how cool are old vehicles?
I’d like to see how long it takes to do that with any modern SUV.
WatchTHIS. IS. AWESOME.
“You could probably just construct one around her and despite the hassle of...”
– David, the foggot
“I think of America as being analogous to the internet. In theory, it is an...”
– GimmeSomeSugar, Reddit
August 2010
49 posts
I am not questioning the calculation, I am... →
Another classic 27b/6 article. Click through the link and read the whole thing, but I wanted to note that the following paragraph has a certain comedic genius to it:
During school holidays when I was about ten, I attempted to construct a robot from household appliances which included a blender, Atari 2600 and Vacuum cleaner. My intention was to have it completed before the holidays ended so...
Steve and Wendy
My fiance Sheri’s brother got married on the beach this past weekend at Ft. Monroe in Newport News, FINALLY, I might add, after a 10 year courtship. The wedding went really well and a good number of the Samoan Army (Sheri and Steve’s mom is from Samoa, and is one of nine children- when the family comes to town, it’s like a military invasion) were able to come from CA and HI.
...
Dance Movie Challenge
Ok readers (in particular my mother and sister), here is your goal: Name as many of the movies in the following video as you can in the comments.
READYSETGO:
Craft
It’s always amazing to see individuals who are completely and utterly committed to the ethos of the craftsman, who focus so acutely on their trade that their external eccentricities become insignificant in the face of their passion and product.
I think these next two videos are these types of individuals, though each video captures a completely different approach to being a craftsman.
...
Joker and Lex
This might be the most perfect Calvin and Hobbes tribute I’ve seen yet. Here is a description from IGN’s Superman/Batman #75 review:
As noted before, the back-up material is the real reason to plop down five of your hard earned dollars for this issue…the book’s back half is filled with two-page gems from an eclectic line-up of talent.
…but that’s all a mere...
Tapi: Tap Squeeze Drink Fountain →
This company, dreamfarm, seems to have a lot of designers sitting around finding clever and useful solutions for basic problems, ideas that make you say “Huh, that makes a lot of sense. Wish I’d thought of it.”
The Tapi is one of those:
I’m particularly enamored with the Scizza, a replacement for the common rolling pizza cutter:
Brilliant!
They See Me Rollin
(via Reddit)
American Power Tool Company →
These guys build tools for companies like NASA and Boeing- aerospace quality tooling with one-handed operation and clever design, like the tube bender:
*Insert Tim Taylor grunt here*
Wookie The Pooh
(James Hance via geeksaresexy)
AskReddit: What are some unexplainable things you... →
The OP (original poster) has an ok story, but it’s the one with the most upvotes that creeped me out:
“Saw a lot of weird shit over 2 deployments in Afghanistan… Best one was the “ghosts” that first showed up couple hundred yards outside the hesco barriers.
First time (a little after dusk):
Random PVT: “Hey there’s a dude out there” Me:...
Diamond Offshore →
The offshore oil industry is a fascinating environment to visually explore, BP atrocity aside. The scope and complexity of the required equipment is intimidating and impressive, and I can only imagine how impressive it is in reality. I highly recommend clicking through the link to see these images full-scale:
Complicated Mechanisms Explained →
These kind of animations are always really fascinating to me. For example, did you ever wonder how a sewing machine works?
What about a manual transmission?
or the Maltese Cross Mechanism, which powers the second hand on a clock?
I think I watched the sewing machine one for 5 minutes straight.
(via kottke)
Cornell and Keuka
One of the coolest parts of my job is the opportunity to do a lot of traveling to universities, conferences, and technical briefs all over the US (not much international traveling yet, other than Halifax).
This week took me to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and then to Keuka Lake (an hour away from Ithaca), where my boss’s in-laws have a house on the lake. The visit was to hear about...
Mike Wilson is a crazy person.
Mike Wilson is a professional freeskier who is somewhat insane and fearless:
I would like to point out the particular insanity of that sled jump and the linked backflips at the end.
This quote from the previous video really sets the stage…
“Well, Wilson is probably one of the craziest people I know, I think. He’ll look at something that’s just completely...
WatchQ: How could you get me to like a Justin Beiber song?
A:
thedailywhat:
Bubblegum Chillout of the Day: Soundcloud user Shamantis slows down Justin Bieber’s “U Smile” 800% (original), and suddenly the mop top bopper is “Sigur Rós doing Vangelis covers in a cathedral being washed away by the sea.”
No joke.
ATTC
I attended the American Towing Tank Conference last week at the Naval Academy. I’m sure that most of your reactions to this statement fall somewhere close to “There is a conference about towing tanks?!” to “What do they tow in towing tanks?” to “Are there International Towing Tank Conferences?”
1. Yes
2. Scale models of ships
3. Yes. There is an...
W vs. S
I’m not sure that any video has ever been recorded that better captures how Wimmer and I interact. Warning: brief NSFW language and un-brief enthusiasm. Also, we make fire out of wood, flint, steel, cotton balls, and vaseline…HOW AWESOME IS THAT!??!?
Just for the record: I built the fire. I was the architect. Wimmer started the fire. He was the…arsonist, I guess.
Watchthedailywhat:
Chuck Patterson was stand up paddle surfing off the coast of San Clemente, CA when he noticed he was being tailed by two great white sharks, so he did what anyone in his situation would do: He grabbed his GO PRO HD camera and tailed them right back.
[ratsoff / vimeo.]
I think the first comment “Huge. Giant. Brass.” just about sums it up.
Now with Comments!
I got a request today from one of my eight dedicated readers to enable comments again. Since I don’t want to drop down to seven readers, I did a little bit of code monkeying with Disqus (and by little, I mean “I copy and pasted”), and comments are working again.
The ability to berate me or my posts in a public forum is BACK!
KABOOM!
One can bike commute for only so long before the inevitable happens- you go down. Whether its another car, another biker, or a lapse in attention that leads to the crash, it’s probably going to happen at some point or another.
Today it happened to me.
Heading down Custis Trail towards Key Bridge, passing the Marriott on my left. The trail is a reasonably quick downhill at that point, and...
Stainless Steel iPhone 4 Case →
Certainly not the aesthetic that Apple is going for, but kind of cool in a hyper-industrial kind of way. I like that I can carry all of my IDs/credit cards in it as well.
Also, I think this is the first step. In case you were wondering, this is the last:
Kelty Vintage Pack
Kelty is bringing back a line of their old school designs this year, circa 1960-1970:
1725 cubic inches, $124.95. Awesome.
(via Trailspace)
The Illustrated Guide to a PhD →
This is a pretty brilliant visual representation- the longer I’m out of school and the more I experience at ONR, the more I realize how niche every 300+ page PhD dissertation truly is.
Lesson: we’ve learned a lot, but there’s lots to learn. Keep learning.
Ba Dum Ba Dum Ba Dum
Rode Military Rd. on Saturday. Nice ride, legs felt strong, no problems.
Rode Arlington Loop yesterday,
past the Pentagon Ba Dum Ba Dum Ba Dum
down the river past the Memorials Ba Dum Ba Dum Ba Dum
up the hill from Key Bridge to Ballston Ba Dum Ba Dum Ba Dum
It was at this point that I stopped to look at the back tire. There was a section of tire that was misshapen, so that every time it...
The Sharpie Liquid Pen →
This has been making the rounds of the internets today. The liquid pencil:
Huzzah for continued engineering of the common pencil. I hope to get a couple soon and see how well they work- Engadget ran a limited review and mentioned that since you can write with the pressure of a pen, they tend to leave indentations in the paper that you can see after erasing.
Regardless, neat innovation....