Illinois has become the first state to ban microbeads, those tiny round balls of plastic found in face cleansers and soaps. When microbeads are washed down the drain, they're missed by filtration systems, ending up in waterways where they become toxic and harm wildlife .
"harry james potter," harry said, "you were named after the bravest man i ever knew. it was me. i’m awesome."
LMAO
ha ha ahahahhaha
bitcoin is the funniest disaster i’ve seen in years
amazing
As fans around the world tune in watch the World Cup in Brazil, a few fans out of this world will be watching, too. German astronaut Alexander Gerst and U.S. astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman sent this video greeting to players and fans on Earth—and then engaged in a match of zero-g soccer.
Bunker.jordanNSFW?
This is a still from an upcoming (hopefully) movie called The Prototype. What’s you’re looking at is… - http://pinterest.com/pin/106467978665955491/
Reminds me a lot of Akira
reminds me of the time travel thing in 12 monkeys which I’m watching right now by pure chance 8|
The Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, built in 1573, is one of the most famous mosques of Ahmedabad.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidi_Saiyyed_Mosque
pro pet ownership tips: you deserve a cut of your cat’s protection money collections, don’t let them guilt trip you with a sad kitten face when they just got back from being all “nice leg you got here, it would be a shame if someone were to…. claw the bejeezus out of it”
This centuries old, one-third scale anatomical model of a human skull was sculpted by hand and contains remarkable detail. And research suggests that it maybe be a previously undiscovered work made by none other than Leonardo Da Vinci.
Bunker.jordanUgh. Gross.
Satsuki Ohata has designed fondue-inspired Fondue Slippers. Not for consumption.
I’d like to present you the new footwear which will perfectly match with your foot by “dipping” your own foot. I have named it “Fondue Slipper” because the production process is similar to cheese fondue. It’s very easy to make. You just dip your foot and dry it. That’s all. *This prototype is using PVC, which hardens at 200~300 degrees Celsius (392~572 degrees Fahrenheit). This time I used my foot mold instead of my foot. I am currently developing a kit which allows Fondue Slipper to make at home. Soon this new kit will be complete and you will be able to make your own Fondue Slipper that fits your foot perfectly. You can wear Fondue Slipper both inside and outside. It can also be used as slipper by folding the heel, or you can wear it without folding the heel if you want to run.
Bunker.jordanI want one.
CNET has the story on this incredible mission that is using the most advanced diving suit in the world to search for ancient technology.
The Exosuit — the most advanced diving suit in the world — was originally designed to help study deep-sea flora and fauna, but it will soon be deployed in the search for more information about what is called the world’s oldest computer — the Antikythera mechanism.
The Antikythera wreck lies at a depth of 120m (around 400ft), and early attempts to reach the wreck resulted in decompression sickness and death. The Exosuit suit will allow a diver to spend a greater time working at the wreck site, hopefully leading to the retrieval of more artefacts — and more information about the mysterious Antikythera mechanism.
The Exosuit qualifies as an atmospheric diving suit (ADS) — a one-person anthropomorphic submarine that allows divers to operate at depths where the pressure would normally crush an unprotected diver.
The suit was designed by Nuytco as an upgrade of its Newtsuit designed in 1987. Like the Newtsuit, the Exosuit has articulated rotary joints that allow the diver to move freely and can be used up to a depth of 1000ft (305m). The Exosuit, however, introduces several upgrades.
Crafted of aluminium alloy, it’s 250-350lb (113-159kg) lighter than the Newtsuit. It has fewer hours’ worth of life support oxygen supply — 50 hours compared to 56 — and less powerful thrusters coming in at 1.6hp rather than 2.25hp; but it also has much more advanced communications, relying on a full duplex intercom with six stations.
Its control system and recording equipment is much better, too, using gigabit Ethernet over fibre optic, connected to a high-definition camera that sends a live video feed to the surface and allows the crew to monitor the diver, an Imagenex 852 SONAR, as well as voice comms and a data feed.
The suit is connected to the surface via an umbilical cord, which supplies both the fibre optic cable and the power cable for the vertical and horizontal thrusters. These are controlled using foot pedals, leaving the hands and arms free for more complex tasks using the claws.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
Radar image of the 1,300-foot-long asteroid 2104 HQ124.
Telescope twin powers: ACTIVATE! Form of… an asteroid?
Okay, so the telescopes involved aren’t twins — one is a giant 70-meter dish in California’s Mojave Desert and the other is a 305-meter behemoth high in the Puerto Rican rain forest — they did combine their powers to image the passing asteroid 2014 HQ124 on June 8 as it came to within about 3 lunar distances, obtaining some of the highest-resolution data of a near-Earth asteroid ever.
Before the pass this object was being called “the beast,” but once astronomers bounced some radar off it its true beauty shined through. Read more in my Discovery News article here.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arecibo Observatory/USRA/NSF
Bunker.jordanWait, what? Photoshop has 3D printing capabilities now?
Here’s an in-depth 3D app review from Tested for Adobe Photoshop’s 3D functionality, one of the most comprehensive tests we have seen so far. While a number of designers have produced amazing work using this tool, the cautionary notes towards the bottom of this review are well worth investigating further:
Adobe has been adding 3D functionality to Photoshop over its last few versions, and with this past January’s release they have also implemented 3D printing features. Adobe supplied me with access to Creative Cloud and a credit at the online 3D printing service Shapeways so I could give those new features a try. My experience with processing a 3D model for printing in Photoshop was mixed, with many bumps and hiccups along the way, but I ended up with a nice print by the end. Here’s what 3D printing enthusiasts can expect if they want to integrate Adobe Creative Cloud software in their modeling and printing workflow.
Photoshop CC’s 3D features allow you make or modify 3D models and even texture (paint) them which is particularly nice as it can be a frustrating process with most other pure modeling applications. The new 3D printing module allows you to size the model for printing, choose the level of detail and send it to a local printer or prepare it for online printing through Shapeways. It’s possible to build and modify 3D models purely within Photoshop CC, too. If you’re an Adobe-whiz and very comfortable in the CC suite of apps, this may be a good option as it utilizes familiar tools. With my more traditional modeling background, I actually found it frustrating. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad–it’s just different. If someone were to ask me how they should get started with modeling, I would still recommend more traditional programs, like what we’ve covered before. But for testing and curiosity, I attempted to use Photoshop to process a fairly complicated 3D model for printing.
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! We also offer the LulzBot TAZ – Open source 3D Printer and the Printrbot Simple Metal 3D Printer in our store. If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!
Raspberrypi.org posted this sweet video from Theremin Hero of his Raspberry Pi-based keytar playing the Game of Thrones theme song. It’s like all of our favorite things rolled into one awesome video!
Theremin Hero has built the keytar of our dreams. He says a build diary is coming soon – from what we can make out there’s a degree of sophistication in there, with the Guitar Hero controller providing octave up/down, slide and modulation input; we’re dying to find out what that Famicom controller is doing.
From the Theremin Hero site:
Full explanation of the NESKeytar construction and it’s various features coming soon…
…Most of the buttons are functional and can be remapped to different functions, as can the whammy bar. It also has an onboard arpeggio and drum sequencer.
The sound comes from the original RP2A03 chip in the NES, giving it that classic 8-bit sound. All of the available sound channels are utilised.
The software runs on a raspberry pi and is written in a language called Pure Data (pd). There are various modes including a midi controller mode as well as a standalone mode, which allows the whole instrument to be used with a battery pack.
Components:
- NES
- Guitar Hero Controller
- Famicom Controller
- NES controller
- Toy Keyboard
- 3 Mini Arduinos
- Raspberry Pi
- MaxM LEDs
- Midi IN/OUT connections
- MidiNES / Chip Maestro
Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!
Neuroscientists Join the Open-Source Hardware Movement @ IEEE Spectrum.
Graduate students Josh Siegle and Jakob Voigts were planning an ambitious series of experiments at their MIT neuroscience labs in 2011 when they ran into a problem. They needed to record complex brain signals from mice, but they couldn’t afford the right equipment: The recording systems cost upward of US $60,000 each, and they wanted at least four. So they decided to solve their dilemma by building their own gear on the cheap. And knowing that they wouldn’t be the last neuroscientists to encounter such a problem, they decided to give away their designs. Now their project, Open Ephys, is the hub of a nascent open-source hardware community for neural technology.
BBC News – E3: Xbox One ad is switching on Microsoft consoles.
The ad – featuring Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul – has the actor say “Xbox On” near its start. The instruction appears to trigger the machine’s Kinect voice/motion sensor, activating the console. A spokesman for the firm said it had no comment at this time, but noted that previous ads had also featured voice commands.
Cool hack 
If you’re planning to dress as Captain America, a shield and helmet are practically requirements. They’re two pieces of the costume that make it instantly recognizable. Instructables user RuckaFett wasn’t happy with any helmets he saw in Halloween shops so he made his own by combining a cheap Captain America half mask (pictured below) and a skateboard helmet. He also used opaque vinyl, automotive interior striping, leather pieces for the ear flaps and chin strap, and a few more basics. He did an amazing job turning the two pieces into a quality helmet.
Here’s how he started after he gathered supplies:
I cut the rubber eye cushion out from the inside of the face mask. Cutting these support posts out was one of the more difficult portions of the project, but honestly the hardest part of the ENTIRE project was removing the dense foam padding from out of the inside of the FREAKING skateboard helmet! That one step nearly made me give up on the ENTIRE project! My advice is to just exercise LOTS of patience, and allow LOTS of time… I should point out that I left the elastic strap attached to the face mask for quite a while. As it was helpful in holding the mask and helmet together while fitting and bonding.
I estimated where I needed to cut the front lobe out of the skateboard helmet, and test fitted the mask over it. I did this a few times, only taking a slight bit off each time. This allowed me to “sneak up” on just the right size without going too far.
Once I had everything placed where I wanted and all was prepped, I spent countless hours bonding, gluing, and sanding until I had the finish looking as damn near perfect and smooth as I could. At that point, I sprayed the entire helmet primer white, then sanded it down again. I then used a computer graphics program to draw and print the graphics I could use to create stencils of the “A” and wings. That way they could be reversed out of the blue top coat (as the white primer would be exposed through he blue).
Read more at Instructables.
USMS Asset Forfeiture Sale – wow, things are getting really weird.
Bunker.jordanSLINKY TREADMILL
Bunker.jordanIf I had my own office at work, this would certainly be by the door.
Ah yes, Portal — one of the most iconic puzzle games from this past decade by Valve. [Yvo] just put the finishing touches on his fully 3D printed, working, Portal Turret. Well — it doesn’t have guns — but it does just about everything else!
This intricate prop replica has attention to detail written all over it. [Yvo's] carefully designed it to actuate as close to the video game model as possible. Its eye and arms move, has a targeting laser and even features a camera for color based object tracking. You can also play around with it using a joystick — but it’s much more fun to leave on autonomous mode.
Because the whole thing is 3D printed, [Yvo] has also made up an Instructable for making your own, and according to him, it’s not that hard to build! This isn’t his first rodeo either, if you remember the awesome GlaDOS we shared last year – that’s his too.
Portal is a long time favorite here at Hack a Day, heck, we even made our own working Portal Gun once!
Bunker.jordanA friend of mine in Chicago has had one of these for a few years, and they're actually pretty cool! He designs and cuts his own RC airplanes with his.
Typically, CNC Machines take up a larger footprint than that of the raw material it is cutting. The size of such a machine may have prevented interested makers/hackers from buying or building one for themselves. If you are one of those people then you’d be interested in [Fly3DMon's] series of CNC Router projects called PhlatPrinter.
A typical CNC Router has a bed that the work piece is mounted to and that work piece stays stationary. The tool then moves in 3 axes, removing material, leaving behind a finished part. The PhlatPrinter works more like a large format plotter, where the work piece is moved back and forth via rollers while the tool only moves in 2 directions. What this allows is a CNC Machine that takes up very little floor space when not in use that can handle any length of material!
It appears that the first PhlatPrinter was intended to cut foam for RC Airplanes but a quick ‘net search shows a couple newer iterations, some of which cut wood and MDF. If you are interested in building one, the parts list, SKP and DXF files are available at the above link.
