Dan Jones

Carry your stuff around with some NCC-1701 styling!

ShelfPack may not be quite big enough to hold your kitchen sink, but it can hold an entire set of shelves. Talk about expandable luggage. Take stacks of items from your dresser or closet organizer and restack them just as they were on this suitcase's tower of retractable shelves. Not only will it make loading up easier and tidier, but once you reach your destination ShelfPack will change 2 weeks's worth of living out of your suitcase from a burden to a cakewalk.

ShelfPack contains 4 built-in shelves and 3 outer pocket compartments secured by telescoping supports, all of which drop into the base of the suitcase when it's time to shut and zip. Closed bag dimensions are 26" tall (28" including wheels) x 18" wide x 14" deep. Expanded into your portable closet, ShelfPack stands 42" tall (case lies on its backside). Weight is 17 pounds.

I’m just leaving this here for myself, for the next time I need to watch Justin Bieber get shot for ten hours straight.

Yikes

(Reddit via Neatorama)

Nope, it doesn't just shoot spitballs. This 1:32 scale replica of the Civil War-era Field Howitzer cannons sucks up and then blows back out good old booming black powder and BBs. With the help of a piece of firecracker fuse. You still have a few of those lying around from the 4th of July, right?

The fully functional miniature cannon mimics the Howitzers built to launch projectiles at a higher trajectory and steep angle of descent. They had a 400-yard range with exploding shell and canister rounds. Yours won't carry ammo quite that far, but it's a pretty fair exchange given this Field Howitzer's 2.2-ounce versus the real thing's 1700-pound weight, and $75 versus...well, they might have cost $75 back then too, but that's at least, like $20 grand in today's dollars...price tag.

The replica cannon's carriage is made of precision laser-cut wood that's been bolted together just like the original. The barrel has a CNC-machined brass construction. At 2.5" high x 1.75" wide, it's not only small enough to sit on your desktop, but small enough to sit in the palm of your hand. Probably best not to fire it from there though.

The miniature Field Howitzer is rated .177 caliber and functions with black powder or the equivalent, a BB, and any fuse 1.8mm or smaller. The set also includes a sold brass ramrod and detailed firing instructions.

It all starts so innocently. You choose a baby name that plays off the meaning of Dad's name, and everybody loves it. So you choose something in the same vein for babies two and three, and soon you have an unbreakable theme. Then come septuplets.

That's the kind of naming challenge NASA scientists face this week, as the first detailed images of Pluto are seen. The not-quite-planet Pluto was named for the god of the underworld in classical mythology. Its first discovered moon was thematically named Charon, after the ferryman who carried souls into Pluto's realm. More underworld-chic names like Styx and Kerberos followed.

Now, with a space probe revealing more of Pluto, a host of new names are needed. As a scientist on the project explained, "(we) cannot just say 'that dark spot.' 'No I meant that dark spot.'" The problem is, by this time most of the best underworld choices are already taken, if not by the Pluto family then by near relatives. (Elysium, the underworld realm of heroes, and Acheron, a river of Hades, are both tectonic features of Mars.) It's like an astronomical version of the Duggar family naming dilemma.

What do you do when a theme reaches its breaking point? You can cling to it, choosing increasingly unsatisfactory names. You can abandon it and start fresh. Or you can redefine it. NASA has opted to redefine, broadening its theme from the Greco-Roman underworld to other realms of death and darkness.

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A company called Oxitec has genetically modified mosquito eggs so that the mosquitos born from them pass along a gene to their offspring that prohibits the mosquitos from reaching sexual maturity and mating. They release the mosquitos into the wild, they mate with the local population of mosquitos, and those born from those matings will die before mating themselves. Voila! Pest control.

Oxitec has conducted trials with its modified mosquito in dengue-ridden regions of Panama, Brazil, Malaysia, and the Cayman Islands. The results show population suppression rates above 90 percent-far greater than the typical 30 percent achieved with insecticides.

The company is currently planning a trial in Florida using this technique to curb an influx of mosquito-borne illness.

Support Lunarbaboon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=82761&ty=h

Now you can always be in your element (badum-ching) thanks to this Periodic Table Panel Dress from Etsy store Shenova. It’s also handy if you have a science test, though its not what you would call “inconspicuous”. However, it does come in sizes XS – large.

See the entire dress after the break…

Product Page ($139)

Lightsaber Room Light – Sleep tight knowing you have a lightsaber right next to your bed.

In between rock climbing 1,000 feet up the face of a mountain and zip lining back down, why not spend the night suspended square on the side of it? No, not at the top. And not on a ledge. In a geometric cocoon made of aerospace aluminum and polycarbonate mounted right smack in the middle of only God above, and only certain death below.

Natura Vive's Skylodge Adventure Suites hang from the top of a mountain in the Sacred Valley of Cuzco, Peru. Access them by hiking or, better, rock climbing up a via ferrata, the path of metal ladders and bridges Natura Vive has installed from ground to lodging. Via ferrata climbers are permanently tied to a steel cable for the duration of the route, so no ropes are needed. The idea is to replicate the physical challenges of rock climbing while keeping the route accessible even to those without prior climbing experience. According to Natura Vive, all that is required to access their Skylodges by way of straight-up-ascent are good health and a minimum age of 9. O.M.Dios.

Adventure Suite arrival means 1 night of 300-degree views in a transparent capsule with 7 of your best friends (i.e., likely strangers). There are 3 pods total, each measuring 24' long x 8' wide and tall, and able to accommodate up to 8 people. They have private bathrooms with dry toilets and sinks, separated from the sleeping areas by an insulated wall. Four interior lamps and a reading light are all solar-powered. Lodges are fitted with 6 windows and 4 ventilation ducts for the hyperventilators and guests who ate too many beans during the evening's gourmet dinner. Entry and exit are via a portal at the top.

The morning after a Skylodge stay, guests head back to ground level harnessed to Natura Vive's 7-cable zip line system.

Don’t mind She-Hulk. She’s just jamming out to @taylorswift, as you do. (Howard the Duck #1) http://ift.tt/1MrF4sg

Prosopagnosia is a disorder where you're unable to recognize faces. Neurologist Oliver Sacks and artist Chuck Close are both face-blind. This is a really interesting interview with a woman who suffers from prosopagnosia so completely that she cannot recognize her own daughter or even herself (sometimes).

The researchers concluded that I'm profoundly face-blind. One thing I find very difficult to get across is that it's not as if I can't recognize anybody at all -- it's that it can take me up to five minutes before I can figure out who they are. I have to wait for the signs. The other thing I have discovered is that there is a specific expression people have when they see somebody they know.

I call it the "I know you face" -- it's sort of a surprised micro expression. I'm convinced that it's completely involuntary. It looks a little like surprise. The eyebrows go up, and usually the mouth opens like they're about to say something. When I see it, I say hello, and then when I start interacting with them, I'll remember who they are. That's just one of a whole set of observational skills I've developed. Another is when I'm meeting somebody in public, I'll arrive early so they'll approach me.

I'm always looking for visual hooks. My daughter has a particular thing she does with her mouth. If there's several people who could be her, I look for the mouth thing. If she's nervous, or she's irritated, one side of her mouth goes up. She's done it since she was a baby. She doesn't like having her photograph taken, so when I look at a group photo, I look for the kid with the smirk and I know it's my daughter.

But her face-blindness is sometimes an advantage:

I'm also a very good listener because the tone of voice and body language are what I always pay attention to. I'm good at calming people down, because I can tell when they're starting to freak out.

And she's also less quick to notice things like race or gender:

When I worked at a homeless shelter, I was often praised for the way I interacted with my African-American clients. I couldn't figure out what I was doing differently from the other white workers, but I was allowed into their circle and they bonded with me. When we lived in Louisiana, I was always being asked by African-American women if my husband was black.

When I was tested at Dartmouth, I scored low on unconscious racism. Apparently babies show a preference for their own race at about nine months because that's when they start being able to recognize faces. My head doesn't do this.

(via mr)

Let it hang, tuck it in, buy a bigger one after the all-you-can-eat pig parts cook-off, or just get the MagBelt. Magzook Tightening Systems has created what they call the perfect belt for everyone: a magnetic belt with no holes, no overhang, no loosening, and a full range of precisely calibrated adjustments for every wearer and every wear.

Made of military-grade nylon webbing and interchangeable aluminum buckles, the MagBelt's trademark feature is as simple as it is significant: a set of built-in magnets, one fixed on the end of the belt, and the other free-flowing in the center. Feed the end through the buckle, snap the fixed magnet onto the center magnet, and tighten to your desired position. Achieve a precise fit without battling holes or screwing around with a flapping strap. See for yourself in this GIF .

The MagBelt is available for pre-order to Kickstarter backers through July 19, 2015. Choose from a variety of strap and buckle colors.

Muchas danke to Peter H. for the Dude Product Tip.

On his YouTube channel, Dylan Marron is cutting down films to only include dialogue spoken by persons of color. Under those conditions, Moonrise Kingdom is 10 seconds long. Her is about 40 seconds. Noah is 0 seconds.

(via @riondotnu)

(via A Lego-Friendly Prosthetic Arm Lets Kids Build Their Own Attachments)