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The robotics lab at Ben Gurion University in Israel has created a robot that walks on the ceiling. SpiderBot has suction cups tethered to the ends of its four legs. It aims a leg at a spot on the ceiling, then shoots the cup at it. Then it reels itself toward the spot, releases a rear leg’s suction cup, and slowly repeats the process. Video at the link.
Paul Elkins built this lightweight travel trailer for his trip to the Burning Man festival. It has a roof-mounted wind turbine for electical power, as well as a solar cooker and water heater. It weighs only 100 pounds dry, so he can haul it around with his bicycle:
The skin is 1/4″ flutted plastic like whats used for election signs. This was riveted and screwed onto 3/4″ square aluminum tubing salvaged from an old satellite dish. The base was made of 2×2 fir. The 30″ square door frame, made of 1×2′s was skrewed to the side panel, cut on the sides and bottom. The upper part was left uncut to act as a hinge. The bed hinges in a lounge attitude. On the outside resides an herb flower box, a urinal funnel (sanicans were a ways off) and 13″ wheel barrel wheels on a 1/2″ axle mounted with 1/2″ square tubing made up the running gear. I used 3/4″ steel for the tow bar, A recycled card table for the corner camper supports, and misc this and that. It’s whatever I had kicking around at the time, and that’s how anyone would have to do it if worst came to worst.
There are many pictures at the link.
Tezcatlipoca is a three-minute animated short film by Robin George that uses music from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake to tell the story of the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca:
Like other Aztec deities, he could be both helpful and destructive. As a god of the sun, he ripened the crops but could also send a burning drought that killed the plants. The patron god of helpless folk such as orphans and slaves, he was also the patron of royalty, and he gloried in war and human sacrifice. Another of Tezcatlipoca’s roles was to punish sinners and cheats, but he himself could not be trusted.
Although associated with the sun, Tezcatlipoca was even more strongly linked with night and its dark mysteries, including dreams, sorcery, witches, and demons. Legend said that he roamed the earth each night in the form of a skeleton whose ribs opened like doors. If a person met Tezcatlipoca and was bold enough to reach through those doors and seize his heart, the god would promise riches and power in order to be released. He would not keep his promises, though….
As a trickster god, Tezcatlipoca delighted in overturning the order of things, causing conflict and confusion. Sometimes, these disruptions could also be a source of creative energy and positive change. Tezcatlipoca’s ultimate trick was one he played on his fellow god Quetzalcoatl. After introducing Quetzalcoatl to drunkenness and other vices, he used his mirror to show Quetzalcoatl how weak and degraded he had become. Quetzalcoatl fled the world in shame, leaving it to Tezcatlipoca. He did, however, promise to return at the end of a 52-year cycle.
The YouTube video isn’t bad, but for a full-screen, high-resolution version, click on the link.
Link via The Presurfer
After a gestation period of nine months, humans usually live in their parents’ nest for around 16 years. While the parents are out foraging for food, juveniles are looked after in large groups by other adults.
In adolescence, the offspring adopt a more nocturnal lifestyle and engage in ritualized activities of drinking fermented liquids and dancing to rhythmical sounds, which scientists believe help them to find a mate.
Enlarge the picture at the link to read all of it. Link -via Boing Boing
Sixteen-year old Daniel Pelletier is paralyzed from the waist down and has endured twenty-five surgeries during his recovery, but he doesn’t let that stop him from being an accomplished skateboarder. Pelletier hopes to get corporate sponsorship with this video. More videos at the link.
But was it always this way? The answer, of course, is no. And so, we decided to take a look back to the glory days of flight – when the stewardesses resembled beauty pageant contestants, when pilots seemed likes heroes, and when flying still seemed to be an adventure – to remind us, of just how things once were.
Enjoy 50 photos of stewardesses from the good old days of air travel. Link -via Gorilla Mask
Officials acting on a tip searched a bus in Tarapoto, Peru for cocaine. They had been alerted that the cocaine was in a crate of turkeys, but they didn’t see any. However, the two live turkeys appeared bloated. Police chief Otero Gonzalez said the turkeys had been surgically implanted.
“Lifting up the feathers of the bird, in the chest area, police detected a handmade seam,” he said.
A vet extracted 11 oval-shaped plastic capsules containing 1.9 kilograms (4.2 pounds) of cocaine from one turkey.
A further 17 capsules with 2.9 kilograms (6.4 pounds) were recovered from the other, he said.
The turkeys survived the surgery to remove the cocaine and are recovering. Link -via Arbroath
YouTube user macjonesnz programmed his CD-ROM tray to repeatedly open and close. Then he tied a string between the tray and his child’s car seat. Result: sleeping baby.
Via Bits & Pieces
Attach this spout to a bottle of liquor. As you pour, a LED light will illuminate the liquid. Unlike similar gadgets, it only lights up when liquid pours through it, adding a cool visual effect to bartending during its four-hour battery life. Video at the link.
Link via Nerd Approved
