Category: Curiosities

Pouch potato

In space nobody can hear you scream. Which is lucky. Because it’s pretty difficult to get down to the pub for a beer and imagine astronaut after astronaut has wrestled with that problem. Until now. Because now, they can just pack their beer into a sealed pouch to ship off to space with all the other sealed stuff… I bet you could even seal up that delicious bacon vodka.

For those of us not going to space this is just a handy way to transport your beers in a less rigid container that can then be used as a mini pillow to go with your leftover cask wine bags.

August 9, 2009

From Russia… with bacon

You know what stops me drinking Vodka… other than the fact that I don’t live in a region with Siberian temperatures and the need for an internal warming agent… it’s the flavours. I’m just not that into them. Well, I wasn’t… until now… I give you “Bacon Flavoured Vodka“… and a series of bacon cocktail recipes.

August 9, 2009

Water melon

There are people out there who aren’t blessed with a Bob Hawke head drink dispenser.

But don’t despair. You can have a great Australian summer party with your very own watermelon drink dispenser…

Here’s how…

What you’ll need:

  • Hose Bibb, Quarter Turn (that’s the tap)
  • Faucet Lock Nuts (those black circles)
  • Brass Pipe Nipple 1/2″ (the piece with threads on both ends)
  • Coupling 1/2″ (what looks like a hex nut)
  • Drill bit (optional)
  1. Cut a small hole in the top of the melon large enough to accommodate an ice cream scoop and your hand.
  2. Remove all the yummy insides and place in a blender.
  3. Drill a hole in the bottom/side of the watermelon large enough to accommodate the brass pipe nipples.
  4. Attach your hardware (hose bibb on the outside, coupling on the inside).
  5. Blend the watermelon “meat” with whatever else and fill your new dispenser.

I will hire out the Bob Hawke head for Labour Parties… or anything else. I bought it for 25c at a garage sale on my second weekend in Townsville.

August 7, 2009

Flash photography

Getting lighting just right in photos is very important.

August 7, 2009

Lava at first sight

Lava lamps are so last century. They were, of course, big in the 80s. I think I’ve actually said somewhere before that I think Lava Lamps were about the pinnacle of human innovation in the 20th century.

Sadly, they could have been invented centuries beforehand had people not been so reliant on electricity. See, all you need is heat, waxy stuff and coloured liquid. And the heat, well, it can come from tea light candles… and now you can buy a lava lamp 1680s style…

August 6, 2009

Clocking Off

Clocks
Like the Mario thing I have heaps of clocks and watches just waiting to be posted, so here they all are at once…

The Mississippi Clock – available from Amazon – counts the passing of time in the traditional.

Or how about the whiteboard clock – a clock that allows you to jot down appointments so that you don’t forget.

This one takes the whiteboard clock concept to a new level. It automatically wipes out the past…

Some people get up so early that they need to callibrate their eyes. This test pattern wall clock should help…

Sometimes when you wake up you want to be alert quickly, and alarmed, this pneumatic alarm clock will do the trick…

This digital “black and white” clock is digital technology taken to a whole new level. And it’s pretty awesome.

Digital clock: only figures, no case, only the necessary – only accurate time. Each figure has self-contained power supply and independent control, it can be fixed to any surface autonomously. A light sensor will switch the clock to an invert mode: the figures are white in the dark time of day and black at daytime.

Watches

Here’s a spherical pocket watch of awesome.

The problem with the myriad social networks available to divert and distract is finding the right time to use each… that’s no longer a problem with this social networking watch.

Look mum, no hands. This is a ground breaking moment in clock technology… Blue for hours, red for minutes.

August 5, 2009

Unblocking the queue

Thanks to the awesome power of Google Reader I have a stack of things (more than 200) that I have the best intentions to post.

Sometimes these build up, and as you’ll no doubt note from the post of Mario stuff, and the post of clocks, they are often variations of a theme.

This post is all about Tetris. Enjoy.

The perfect Tetris fit out requires perfect Tetris cushions…

Like these…

These Tetris shelves are part of a bigger collection from a pretty clever design firm. They’re the almost perfect modular storage system…

Tetris is so good that it’s captured the heart, minds and skin of fans.

There’s also this salt and pepper shaker created by this clever Flickr user.

Credit for finding these gems must go to Walyou.

August 5, 2009

Super Mario Art

There’s a whole lot of awesome Super Mario Bros stuff out there just waiting to be posted.

To save myself some of the trouble I’m going to compile it all into one post.

Found here.

This vibrating Mushroom Cushion ($US11.99) will give new life to your room.

This Etsy user has a whole stack of bed spreads and other 8 bit inspired manchester.

A game is only as good as its collection of villains. Here’s someone’s take on how the bad guys were cast…

Obviously Super Mario Bros was a good game. And much more entertaining than that video. Good enough to inspire this sort of street art…

Or these sorts of incredibly painful tattoos…

And this sort of painstaking dedication to converting things into Japanese artwork…

This, for those not familiar with the whole Mario thing, is someone’s attempt to get everything turned into a handy graphical representation of a family tree – you can get a bigger version here.

And finally, this is a shirt laying down the life lessons learned from a life playing Mario games…

August 5, 2009

Sticking around

Sticky tape. It’s so versatile. If I’m not using it to hold broken things together – I’m using it for some sort of nefarious inter-office purposes.

You could be using the power of stickytape for so much more. Like inter-office football tournaments. You can buy a roll of this here, and check out the guy who designed it (and the second roll of "frame" tape too)…

August 5, 2009

Go where others fear to tread

You’re torn right. A bike. Walking. It’s so hard for the environmentally conscious fitness freak to decide how to get to work. Oh, and there’s fitting in the gym too… Here’s a solution. A treadbike. From Wired. There’s a company making these – and they’ve taken it to a whole new level of production quality…

August 5, 2009

Teenage Mutant Siamese Turtles

I’ve seen a few pictures floating around the interwebs of this siamese turtle…

It looked like a photoshop job. So I googled it. And it’s not.

It’s rare, but thanks to the Internet – all too common.

A pet shop even purchased a siamese turtle a couple of years ago to keep on display – and there’s this YouTube video too…

Lucky nobody gave them a set of nun chucks and a bo staff – that would have been majorly problematic to synchronise.

August 3, 2009

Pacman Punk’d

I haven’t really been excited about the whole “steampunk” thing. Attaching brass and copper plating to current technology to make it look like you’re from some Back to the Future prequel isn’t that cool… unless you’ve built a pacman arcade game out of cogs and levers…

Now, that’s cool.

August 2, 2009

Science hurts

Mythbusters has a lot to answer for. They really should append “don’t try this at home” to anything to do with soft drink and mentos.

From bits and pieces…

August 2, 2009

Death becomes you

I probably don’t write enough about death. Mostly because it’s one of those topics you don’t talk about in polite company.

But I can’t let these advances in post mortem technology go by without comment.

Finding the right, dignified, treatment for your loved ones is an important choice…

Firstly, you could turn your loved one’s ashes into a rather smart casual diamond… from LifeGem. Here’s a testimonial…

“Dear Mr. VandenBiesen,
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. The Archie Life Gem is so beautiful. I received it on Wednesday last week, had it mounted into a ring the same day, and have been wearing it ever since. The color is so amazing.(so is the size-Thank you) I am thrilled. What a wonderful service your company performs. Thank you for making my heart smile again.
Angie McKinnon”

If that’s not your thing, you could always choose to keep your loved one’s ashes in a purpose built urn – reproduced in the image of the recently departed. From PersonalUrns.

August 2, 2009

Hide and Seek

Never play hide and seek with someone who is prepared to merge with their environment…

Like this guy (there are heaps of them at the Daily Mail).

 

July 28, 2009