The BBC News Monitor site is relaying the story of a man who was accidentally killed by a clock jack -- the figures that strike the bell in large tower clocks -- back in 1876. What a way to go.
Here is where you can read the article Victorian strangeness: The man killed by an automaton.
opferziegensfw = nice stuff for werewolves
The Spitzer Space Telescope explores the skies in a wavelength we're blind to, sensing the heat of infrared. After 3,925 days of service, it's had plenty of time to built up an impressive gallery. Now continued funding is in jeopardy, it's a good time to look back on the gorgeous images of science.
What do The Hobbit, The Dark Knight and Game of Thrones all have in common? Well, you probably all enjoy them. But they also are part of this amazing, beautiful musical mash-up by Jason Yang. Give it a listen and try not to imagine Bilbo and Batman at the Red Wedding.
The Great War may have ended nearly a century ago, but its legacy lives on. As these remarkable images taken by Irish photographer Michael St. Maur Sheil illustrate, it's going to take a very long time for the scars of this war to completely heal.
Presentation Sword for General Joaquín Sinforiano de Jesús Crespo Torre
The sword features a straight, double-edged blade of fine Damascus steel, triangular section, hexagonal toward the tip, the rectangular one finely engraved and gilt on blue ground with dedication "A. SCHRIEVER AL GENERAL J. CRESPO EN MUESTRA DE ADMIRACION" among floral motifs on a side, and Venezuela coat of arms among floral motifs on the other.
At the back lies the name of the German manufacturer "WEYERSBERG, KIRSCHBAUM & CO. SOLINGEN", on a marked tang. The beautiful, gilt bronze hilt is richly pierced shell-guard with Venezuela coat of arms at the centre, counter-valve pierced with leaves, at the guard the in-he-round of a winged goddess, the head of a gryphon at the upper edge.
The pommel comes with the monogram “JC” as for Joaquin Crespo, decorated with cherubs and laurels. The metallic grip is partially blackened and at the front features the effigy of the war goddess. The sword is presented in its leather scabbard, which is damaged, but still has its gilt bronze mounts, richly pierced and belt hooks in the shape of Medusa’s head. The scabbard also has three suspension rings.
Sidenotes:
Source: Copyright © 2014 Czerny’s International Auction House S.R.L.
Swept-hilt Rapier
The hilt is basically a classic Norman type 58, but with recurved quillons with disc finials, constructed of flattened bars with filed and incised decoration. Fine faceted pommel is forged in one piece with the baluster button.
The wire grip wrap appears to be original and the pommel peen does not appear to have been disturbed. The ricasso comes with a man-in-the-moon stamp, and the blade of flattened hexagonal section is marked in the fullers "IHS" (Jesu Hominem Salvatore).
“Dune is a 1984 American science fiction action film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The plot concerns a young man foretold as the “Kwisatz Haderach” who will lead the native Fremen of the titular desert planet to victory over the malevolent House Harkonnen.
“The film was not well received by critics and performed poorly at the American box office. Upon its release, Lynch distanced himself from the project, stating that pressure from both producers and financiers restrained his artistic control and denied him final cut privilege. In some cuts, Lynch’s name is replaced in the credits with the name Alan Smithee, a pseudonym used by directors who wished not to be associated with a film for which they would normally be credited.”
This week’s selection is the Airport Security Belt by Norwegian Kris Cleven.
It is a very simple design, but its value is the functionality. Cleven says:
Tired of having to take off your belt for security? Tire no more! Convert your buckle to this plastic one. Stop looking like a moron walking and putting on your belt at the same time. Note: Not responsible for pants falling down.
Oh, we so sympathize with this. As avid travelers, we have been caught with our pants in the scanner many times, resulting in additional checks and frisking. To have a choice other than frisking or appearing beltless is wonderful.
Let’s forget about 3D printed weapons that might sneak through an airport scanner and instead make clothing that can get through, a far more practical and desirable function. Hooray for Cleven!
The choice of color is important, however, as the buckle must match the rest of your outfit. With 3D printing, that’s easy, so long as you have the right filament in hand.
We’re wondering why the belt buckle has not yet become a popular item in 3D printing model repositories, as it is a platform on which much artistry could be deployed. The Airport Security Belt is a prototype of what might develop in the future.
Meanwhile you can try out the Airport Security Belt at YouMagine, Ultimaker’s 3D model repository.
Via YouMagine
Check out Raquel Meyers‘ awesome art made using a hacked commodore 64! from TheCreatorsProject.
One such artist, Raquel Meyers (the Hack n’ Trade member known as AcidT*rroreast), performs her solo work at festivals and museums worldwide. On top of creating richly textured C64 pieces that stitch together like Mexican or Navajo Indian weavings, she also equips another dated technology, Teletext, to help her create the glitch-art universes that are unmistakably hers.
We decided to a feature a few of these works, in GIF, still, and video form. Check them out below. And if you’re in Israel next week, you can catch her performing her Teletext performance Thread of Fate live at the Musrara Mix #14 Festival, in Musrara.
Conductive filaments and printing solder are one thing, but what if you could spice up your 3D prints by embedding wire right inside the filament? That’s what [Bas] is doing, paving the way for printable electronics, PCBs, coils, and odd-shaped antenna.
The general idea of [Bas]‘ technique of embedding thin copper wire inside a single layer of a print is to lay the wire down in front of the nozzle, effectively turning bare wire into insulated wire in whatever shape you can imagine. The trick, however, is figuring out how to put wire down in front of a nozzle. [Baz] accomplished this with a slew ring turned by a stepper motor connected to a 5th axis on the control board.
There are a few things this prototype doesn’t cover – cutting the wire, connecting the wire to components, fine-tuning, and a host of other things that prevent [Bas]‘ machine from building real functional circuits. Despite these limitations, the machine could probably fabricate the secondary for a tesla coil right now, something that’s really annoying to make unless you have a lathe.
Video demo below.
Day two of Comicpalooza in Texas brought bigger crowds and a ton of costumes. I spotted everything from a little Hellboy to Darth Vader to some original designs while wandering the convention floor today. While it’s always fun to take photos of cosplayers, I highly recommend taking a minute and asking them about their work. They’re usually glad to discuss materials and processes because they put so much time into creating their costumes. You can see examples of some quality craftsmanship in these ten great costumes from day two of Comicpalooza (photos by me unless otherwise stated):
Enchantress, Thor, and Loki from Marvel Comics
Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty
Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus
Robb Stark from Game of Thrones (he had a cool handmade direwolf necklace pendant)
Gender swapped Daredevil from Marvel Comics
LEGO minifig Huntress, Deathstroke, and Deadpool from DC and Marvel Comics
Post-apocalyptic Super Mario Bros. group
Skylanders from the game of the same name
Zer0, Gaige, and Claptrap from Borderlands 2
War Machine from Marvel Comics, photo by @skrilmau5ex
IBM announced the discovery of two new classes of polymers, the first discovered in decades. We’re wondering if they have any applicability to 3D printing.
The two polymers were “discovered” in a very different way from traditional approaches. Instead of time-consuming trial and error, as has been done for over 100 years, IBM used their considerable number-crunching abilities and lab work to “model new polymer forming reactions”. In other words, they used software to dramatically speed up the search for the new polymers.
The two materials have vastly different properties. “Titan” is a very hard material that is “stronger than bone and fiberboard”, but is as brittle as glass. The other material, “Hydro”, is gel-like and has the curious property of self-healing. If you place two samples beside each other, “the chemical bonds are reformed between the pieces making it a single unit again within seconds”.
While we’re quite certain Titan and Hydro won’t be commercially available for a while, we do wonder whether they could be used for 3D printing if formed into appropriate filaments. Hydro likely cannot as it is a gel, but perhaps it could be extruded with syringe-based 3D printers. It’s also possible Hydro could be mixed with other polymers to create extrudable compounds that self-heal.
Titan is also interesting: at 250C it becomes “incredibly strong”. We’re not certain how this may be used in 3D printing. One concept could be to 3D print an object, then bake it at 250C to make it rigid.
Some may believe extrusion-based 3D printing is mature. The mechanical technology may be so, but the materials used in such machines are not. If IBM keeps running their discovery system, we may see many new extrudable materials that may change 3D printing possibilities.
Icarus Interstellar is an international non-profit organization that is dedicated to startship research and develop. The organization has many projects in which teams of architects, scientists and designers are working on, and Project Persephone is one of them. In this project, the experts are stepping away from an industrial design and taking on a more organic approach. via the guardian:
The good news is you will fly into space on a mission to save humanity. The less good news is you will abandon the rest of Earth to certain doom and live in a mud burrow with only nerds for neighbours.
Such are the quandaries that passengers will face if plans work out for an interstellar spaceship designed to serve as a lifeboat for Earth should the planet face disaster in the next century.
Architects, designers and scientists have joined forces to explore the technologies needed to build a spacecraft that could be launched within the next 100 years and sustain human life for generations.
Early designs for the ship envisage a giant 15km-wide ball filled with soil that will support complex ecosystems of microbes, plants and animal life. Rather than building homes on top of the soil, humans will live within, carving out rooms in a network of connected burrows.
“We need to think how we might live in space long term,” said Rachel Armstrong, lead researcher on Project Persephone at of Greenwich University. “So far, our approach to space has been very top-down. We take a vessel, put an environment in it, and off we go. For generational starships we need a different approach.”
Day three of Comicpalooza is over, and as usual, I’m feeling inspired to work on my cosplay projects. Attending conventions and seeing the hard work others put into their costumes always makes me want to do the same. It’s smart to take notes or photos to keep track of props and accessories you like or costumes you want to replicate someday. Haven’t been to a convention lately? Look through photos from others – like these – and start brainstorming about your next project. Hopefully these ten cool costumes from Comicpalooza will help get the gears turning:
Loki from Marvel Comics, photo by 8bitgeek
Gender swapped Kraven the Hunter from Marvel Comics
Princess Darth Vader from Star Wars
Carmen Sandiego, photo by @its_me_adrian.
Steampunk Green Lantern from DC Comics
Man-Thing from Marvel Comics
Gambit and Jubilee from Marvel Comics, photo by @thegamefanatics
Princesses Zelda and Hilda from Legend of Zelda
Tinker Bell from Disney’s Peter Pan
Gender swapped Robin, Batman, and Wonder Woman from DC Comics, photo by @its_me_adrian
How does an island in New York City’s East River go from being notoriously feared, almost 100 years ago, to being completely forgotten about today? That’s the story behind North Brother Island, the subject of photographer Christopher Payne’s new photo book.
A 10-minute boat ride from the Bronx’s Barretto Point Park, North Brother Island originally housed Riverside Hospital between the 1880s and 1930s. While in operation, the hospital served hundreds of patients who suffered from extremely communicable diseases, including smallpox, typhus, scarlet fever and even leprosy. It was also where “Typhoid Mary” was quarantined, and where she eventually died. In a 1935 profile for the New Yorker, the editor Stanley Walker described the island as “…a dismal spot. Sitting there, one may see, as the best view, the gas tanks on the Bronx shore. Now and then a ferryboat glides past. At night the dirty water of the East River laps against the rocks, making a messy, ghostly noise.”
The island’s facilities have since been decommissioned and the island itself abandoned since 1963. It sank into the depths of our memories until 2008, when Christopher Payne wrote a proposal to photograph and document the island in its current state. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation agreed, and thus began Payne’s expeditions, which would continue for the next 5 years. His stunning photographs are now available in his new book, “North Brother Island: The Last Unknown Place in New York City.” (via Animal and Slate)
Another weekend, another comic convention. We’re headed into the time of year when the schedule is packed with show after show, and you know what that means: more cosplay! Though crowds didn’t seem thick at the first day of Comicpalooza in Houston, Texas, I still spotted inventive, impressive, and adorable costumes around the convention. Here are ten of my favorites (photos by me unless otherwise stated):
Gender swapped Ozymandias from Watchmen
Little Sister from Bioshock
Maya from Borderlands 2
Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones
Baby Thor and Obi-Wan (they barely stopped moving for photographs)
Western-style TARDIS dress, photo by @raymrnd
Peggy Carter from Captain America: The First Avenger
Rumplestiltskin and Belle from Once Upon a Time
Black Widow, photo by @SHIELDTv
Master Chief from Halo, photo by @askagam3r
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In the past month, a few patent applications from MakerBot were published, and like everything tangentially related to the prodigal son of the 3D printer world, the Internet arose in a clamor that would be comparable only to news that grumpy cat has died. That’s just an analogy, by the way. Grumpy cat is fine.
The first patent, titled, Three-dimensional printer with force detection was filed on October 29th, 2013. It describes a 3D printer with a sensor coupled to the hot end able to sense a contact force between the nozzle and build plate. It’s a rather clever idea that will allow any 3D printer to perform software calibration of the build plate, ensuring everything is printed on a nice, level surface. Interestingly, [Steve Graber] posted an extremely similar design of a bed leveling probe on October 6th, 2013. In [Steve]‘s video, you can see his bed level probe doing just about everything the MakerBot patent claims, all while being uploaded to YouTube before the patent application.
When it rains it pours, and the Quick-release extruder patent application, filed on October 28, 2013, bears this out. It claims an extruder that includes, “a bistable lever including a mechanical linkage to the bearing, the bearing engaged with the drive gear when the bistable lever is in a first position and the bearing disengaged from the drive gear when the bistable lever is in a second position.” Simple enough, a lever with two positions, where one presses a bearing against a drive gear, and the other position disengages the bearing from a drive gear. Here’s something that was published on Thingiverse in 2011 that does the same thing. Hugely famous RepRap contributor [whosawhatsis] has weighed in on this as well.
It is important to note that these are patent applications. Nothing has been patented yet. The US Patent and Trademark Office does seem to have a lot of rubber stamps these days, so what is the average Internet denizen to do? Here are easy to follow, step-by-step instructions on how to notify the USPTO of prior art. Remember, just because prior art does not completely invalidate a patent application’s claims doesn’t mean you shouldn’t send it in. It is a patent examiner’s job to review the prior art.
So there you go. MakerBot applies for patents, people complain, but not to the USPTO. Highly relevant video and transcription below.
Annelise: Annilise here again with episode three of the second season of MakeBot TV. So, one of the things you’ve probably heard us talk about before here at MakerBot is the power of sharing. But what exactly do we mean by that? Well, at MakerBot we follow a production model called open source. In the open source world, developers share the backend knowledge of their product with the public. And if anyone in the community makes an improvement upon that work, that progress gets folded back into production. And what happens when everyone is sharing in that sort of way is that improvements happen at a much faster rate. Because we’re all working on it together. Simple and beautiful. I talked to Bre a bit about how he got into open source.
Bre: For me personally, I got into open source by being a teacher. I would take my lesson plans and put them up on Geocities back in the day and other teachers would do the same thing. Because we were sharing, it lightened the load for everybody. If you had a lesson I hadn’t done yet, I could start where you left off, and use your curriculum as a basis for by curriculum. And it meant that we saved time and built a community.
When we started MakerBot, we knew we were going to be open source hardware. We were inspired by Arduino, and we were open source software nerds. So, we knew the idea if we could make it and share it, we’d get more back from it. And I think this is something we learned as kids, that sharing is good, that if you share something you get more back from it, but we forget this as adults. So, with open source hardware we’re back to that. When you get a MakerBot, you’re not just getting a machine, you’re getting the knowledge of how it works. You’re getting the information about everything that puts it together. So if you want to modify it, or if you just want to learn about it, if you want to hack it, you can do it.
When you build on open source hardware, you’re standing on the shoulders of giants. And then you’re letting other people stand on your shoulders. And then, if you want, you can stand on those people’s shoulders. So it’s kind of a standing on the shoulders of giants Möbius strip if we all participate.
We’re at an interesting time where if you want to build this future, if you wan to solidify the future where open source is the norm, you have to support open source by participating. You have to get into it, you have to support companies that do open source, cause I want to live in that future where we share things and the world is a better place for it.
Annelise: And that’s a wrap for this week. Let me know what you guys think about open source by tweeting to @makerbotTV. And don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or iTunes. Next week, we’re heading up to Boston to meet with a group of students who have been frosting cupcakes with our MakerBot. Until then, keep it awesome.
hey here’s a freebie: bill cosby is a serial rapist irl
you’re welcome
