That would be fact, in fact, and it’s none other than Amazon.com founder and gazillionaire Jeff Bezos who’s backing the project. The clock, as designed, will tick once a year, have a century hand that moves once every 100 years, and a cuckoo that, well, cuckoos once every 1,000 years. And the whole shootin’ match… Continue reading Fact or Fiction? 10,000 year clock being built in West Texas
Category: Around the Web
Underwater Flight
It’s been years since we’ve been scuba diving, following a period where we took a dive trip for seven or eight consecutive years. We enjoyed the sport immensely, but other priorities – financial and otherwise – took over, and our gear is probably slowly succumbing to dry rot in our closet. It’s hard to explain… Continue reading Underwater Flight
Playing with Uranus
Hey, they started it! Nevertheless, I think you’ll be impressed by this interactive 3D model of the solar system. What did you think I was talking about?
Hey, does that thang have a first stage booster rocket?
I don’t know what possessed someone to do an in-depth comparison of the new Ram 3500 Heavy Duty pickup with a Delta IV Heavy rocket…but I like it! The truck actually compares very favorably with the rocket when it comes to payload, defined for the pickup as towing capacity (25,400 pounds) and for the rocket… Continue reading Hey, does that thang have a first stage booster rocket?
Zombie Movie Posters
The dismayingly prolific Neatorama website has an e-commerce arm called, appropriately enough, the Neatoshop, and I just discovered that it has an entire section devoted to classic movie posters that have been reworked with a zombie theme. While I’m pretty sure you-know-who wouldn’t consent to my hanging any of these on our walls (she can… Continue reading Zombie Movie Posters
The Throwaway Special Effect
Yesterday, I ran across a link on Smashing Magazine‘s twitter feed to an article entitled The protocol-relative URL. This is a rather esoteric topic that will be of extremely limited interest to most (all?) of my readers (it provides a technique for avoiding certain warning messages that occur when a browser calls up a secure… Continue reading The Throwaway Special Effect
Drillcycle
OK, this is just awesome. This guy Nils Ferber built a…a…well, I’m not sure what to call it, but it’s a vehicle that’s powered by a couple of 18-volt cordless drills. (If your first question is “why,” then, sadly, this blog isn’t for you.) The Drillcycle reportedly has a top speed of almost 20 mph.… Continue reading Drillcycle
Georgia to Maine in Four Minutes
No, I’m not referring to your teenager’s driving, I’m talking about the following video, which documents a 6-month, 2200-mile hike of the entire Appalachian Trail. [Link via Neatorama] I found this fascinating, probably because it makes the hike look a lot easier than it probably was. It also made me wish I was retracing Kevin… Continue reading Georgia to Maine in Four Minutes
Pi Plate
OK, the creator calls it a “pi bowl,” but that’s semantics, and not very punny, to boot. Anyway, this ceramic concoction is etched with the first 1,498 decimal places of pi, and can be ordered in a variety of colors via Etsy. [Via Neatorama]
Two Vids for the Weekend
Why is it that the Japanese excel at sword fighting? Perhaps they’ve had more practice, or perhaps they see it not just as a battle technique, but as an art form. Exhibit A: [Link via Neatorama] Then there’s this kind of art form, the kind that either makes you want to grab a board and… Continue reading Two Vids for the Weekend