Geek Ball – $7.95

Are you a geek in need of some cosmic advice? You need the Geek ball from the NeatoShop. This great little magic ball is fluent in geekish. Just ask it a yes or no question and be prepared to get a truly geeky response. Responses include things like: 404 Error, FAIL, Meh, and LOL.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Office and Desk fun!

Link

Besides being cute, Purin the Super Beagle plays catch a bit differently from the way most dogs do it. And he gets better at it as the video goes along! -via Arbroath

Here are more scenes from the Edwardian Ball and World’s Faire 2011 last month in San Francisco, where the man with the Goldfish Bowl Helmet caught our attention. The Los Angeles version is scheduled for March 5th. -Thanks, Mark Day!

Undoubtedly that has been hammered into your brain since grade school. So, how do you explain this neat little video from the clever folks over at MIT:

Two wood boards are connected by a hinge. A small cup is mounted near one end of the upper board with a tee for a ball on the end. The board is lifted to a certain height, and when released the ball ends up in the plastic cup. This shows that the board has moved farther than the ball in the same period of time.

To see the video, visit the MIT News Multimedia website: Link – via Science2.0

So, the hinged plank has to travel in an arc, which is longer than the straight path that the ball falls through in order for the ball to fall into the cup. Notice that the plank hits the tabletop before the ball. Assuming air resistance doesn’t come into much play (after all, the plank has more surface area than the ball) Does this mean that gravity affects the plank more than the ball? Is Galileo wrong?

Juergen of Random Good Stuff posted a few neat photos of an elevator that looks like it was taken straight out of The Jetsons. Here’s the Globen Sky View in Stockholm, Sweden:

The Sky view globe elevators run outside the Ericsson Globe which is currently the largest hemispherical building in the world and took two and a half years to build. Shaped like a large white ball, it has a diameter of 110 metres (361 feet) and an inner height of 85 metres (279 feet). The volume of the building is 605,000 cubic metres (21,188,800 cubic feet). It has seating capacity for 16,000 spectators for shows and concerts, and 13,850 for ice hockey. (wiki)

Link – Thanks Juergen!

(YouTube Link)

We were stationed on the ground floor, where I hoped my Superball-loving Geeklet would get a good view of the big bounce. While the folks up top had the fun of dropping balls from five stories up, we had the wild experience of being inside the ricochet zone. Yep, I took a couple of hits, but it was worth it — especially when we started scooping up the balls.

via GeekDad

This week’s collaboration with the What is it? Blog brings us this strange looking device – can you guess what it is for?

Place your guess in the comment section. One guess per comment, however, you can guess as many times as you’d like. Post no URL or links – let others play.

No prize this week – you’re playing for bragging rights only. For more clues, check out that What is it? Blog. Good luck!

Update 10/30/09 – the answer: A policeman’s blackjack or sap, for striking miscreants on the head, this was on display with a pair of handcuffs and a different type of blackjack that looked like a small club. Congrats to Tim Giachetti who got it right first!

I crumple up tinfoil sheets all the time, but never once did I consider what I’ve made was actually – gasp – art. Behold the Giant Tinfoil Ball, by Emily Keegin: Link (includes artistic nudity, NSFW)

Now, if I had only kept my giant wad of bubblegums to compete with her awesome creation …

This dog must think that it’s a seal – here’s a YouTube clip of the dog skillfully juggling a basketball on its nose. (According to its owner, the dog was never taught to do this – it learned to juggle on its own)

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Christophe.

Grab your barf bag and get ready to strap yourself into the Buzzball. Best described as a hamster ball for humans, the Buzzball delivers a unique rollercoaster ride where the pilot is in complete control of the ride experience.

The product is still in the development phase but looks like a blast. The Buzzball is a dual motor configuration that enables its pilot to control the motion and direction of travel via control triggers and provides power to the driving wheels. The amount of power each wheel receives determines the Buzzball’s direction of movement.

Link

From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by whitespace.

Place your guess in the comment section. One guess per comment, please, but you can enter as many as you can think of. Post no URLs, let others play. The first person who guesses right (or gives the funniest guess, if no one gets it right) wins a Free Neatorama T-Shirt.

For more clues, check out the What is it? Blog. Good luck!

Update 1/2/09 – here’s the answer: A BLU-26/B ball-type submunition of a cluster bomb, this inert practice piece has aerodynamic vanes and is made of solid metal, it’s also called a Guava Bomblet.

Congratulations to JKirchartz who got it right! And a big thank you and a free T-shirt to Coyote who corrected the missing picture error!

Link – Thanks Christophe!