Contraptions
Maywa Denki – Dedicated To Whimsy
by Nick Glossop on May 14, 2013
Innumerable species play, and many – certainly many primates – laugh and tease and jest. But are we alone in our ability to grasp, appreciate, and delight in the absurd? How stands the octopus on Dada? (On his head-foot, of course.) As this video of the Maywa Denki group illustrates, true nonsense requires a most subtle and flexible mind, and whimsy takes dedication.
Via Laughing Squid
Originally posted May 24, …
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Top 10 Most Powerful Nuclear Bombs In History
by Nick Glossop on March 23, 2013
Via Democratic Underground…
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Folding And Cutting The Space-Time Continuum (with things you probably have around the house)
by Nick Glossop on February 11, 2013
With paper, felt pens, scissors and some unspecified power tools, the charming mathemusician, Vihart, plays Grinderman with the fabric of reality. Dance, critters!
via Open Culture…
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Compressorhead ~ Ace Of Spades
by Nick Glossop on January 6, 2013
No Sleep ‘Til… …well, just no sleep
Compressorhead is:
Stickboy (drums) was created to exacting specifications. 4 arms, 2 legs, 1 head, no brain. he plays a Pearl 14 piece kit with double kick. stickboy junior, the bastard child of an unknown mother takes control of the hihat shuffle. inception date 2007
Fingers (guitar) joined stickboy in 2009 and brings 78 purpose built fingers, enough to play the entire fret
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Mars 360 (Through Curiosity Eyes)
by Nick Glossop on September 21, 2012
Click, pan and zoom the martian landscape through the lenses of the Curiosity rover.
Mars Panorama – Curiosity rover in New Mexico
h/t Alex Evstr…
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1000 Words, 1000 Days: Day 234 – Class & Elegance From The Bradford Exchange
by Marty Schwartz on August 26, 2012
I have waited a long time for this day.
No online catalog of kitsch, from the Franklin Mint to the R2D2 replicas on Skymall, comes close to the sheer volume of quirky miscellany as the Bradford Exchange. Indeed, this may be the first topic I re-visit, as they continue to update their supply of unfathomable oddities.
Founded in 1973 as a way for collectors to swap trinkets and doodads …
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Canada Succumbs To Drone Envy
by Nick Glossop on August 7, 2012
Canadian military intends to spend $1 billion on armed drones
Senior Canadian defence leaders pitched the idea of spending up to $600 million for armed drones to take part in the Libyan war shortly before the conflict ended, according to documents obtained by the Citizen.
And while the death of Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi effectively ended the war and scuttled the Defence Department’s plans, the military has now relaunched
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The Curiosity Has Landed
by Nick Glossop on August 6, 2012
Earlier today the nuclear-powered Curiosity Rover successfully completed its 9-month space journey and touched down safely on the Red Planet. Images to be posted here as they become available.
Live screen-capture from NASA TV
What’s so special about the Curiosity?
Well for one thing, it’s the first Mars rover whose tweets you can follow. Make sure you follow the Curiosity avidly and retweet often; it requires regular infusions of trendium …
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Red Ribs
by Nick Glossop on August 6, 2012
A Slice of the Soviet Music Underground
For almost as long as rock and roll has been played in the West, it has been heard in Russia. Soviet youth received its first large infusion of Western styles and sounds during the Seventh International Festival of Youth and Students, which took place in Moscow in 1957: “Thousands of real live young foreigners flooded into virginal Moscow. Among them were Jazz musicians,
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Where Are Our Robot Servants And Other Gizmos, Asks David Graeber
by Laurence Miall on July 16, 2012
Has the spectacle of somebody poking and prodding an iPad or some other iThingy ever left you feeling rather underwhelmed? Do the latest apps that make your cell phone resemble a beer glass leave you cold? World-famous anthropologist, David Graeber, probably shares some of your cynical snarkiness. His new essay, “Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit,” builds upon a fascinating question: where are the flying cars, Mars …
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