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Don't worry, PETA! No hamsters were harmed in the making of this epic Hamster-powered Soda Bottle Submarine (Material cost of this awesomeness? $57!). Behold, HMS Hamstar!
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] | HMS Hamstar's Official Website - via Geekologie
Wall Decals – $19.95 each
Are you looking for a fun and easy way to spruce up your dorm room or apartment walls? You need Wall Decals from the NeatoShop. These fantastic decals are repositionable, removable, and reusable. The are easy to apply and easy to remove. The Decals are currently available in 8 different styles:
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Home & Garden products!
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Yellow Submarine Shower Curtain - $15.95
Is your bathroom in need of a little face lift? The Yellow Submarine Shower Curtain from the NeatoShop is to the rescue! Nothing brightens up a dreary morning space like this cheerful yellow submarine shower curtain. Let the happiness and off-key singing commence.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Bath Accessories!
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The Beatles Yellow Submarine Ice Cube Tray – $10.95
After much crying, waiting, and hoping summer is finally here. Are you planning your next backyard come together? Why not make it Beatles themed! All you need is love and The Beatles Yellow Submarine Ice Cube Tray from the NeatoShop to throw a fantastic party.
Be sure to check out all the awesome Ice Trays available at the NeatoShop.
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Splash! Wine Bottle Stoppers – $6.45
Are you looking for an fun gift for your favorite wine lover? Check out the Splash! Wine Bottle Stopper from the NeatoShop! It’s a little gift that’s sure to make a big impact.
Don’t forget to check out all the amazing Cocktail & Barware items now available at the NeatoShop!
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Author Jules Verne {wiki} was born on this date, February 8th, in 1828. To celebrate what would have been his 183rd birthday, Google is paying homage to his 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Google’s logo is shaped as if you are looking out a submarine’s portholes. On the search page, you can see through the portholes at marine life as your vessel moves. And there’s a joystick on the right you can use to change the orientation of your submarine! Link -via Happy Catholic
Learn more about the interactive logo at the Google Blog. Link
What happens in war when an enemy rescues endangered civilians? In 1942, a German U-boat sunk a ship carrying 400 Allied troops, dozens of civilians, and (unknown to the Germans) 1800 Italian POWs. The attack left a couple of thousand survivors floating in lifeboats or treading water in the ocean.
The survivors faced a certain and protracted watery death.
Then, the U-Boat commander Werner Hartenstein (left), made an extraordinary decision that went beyond all protocol.
He ordered the U-boat to surface he ordered his submariners to save as many of the marooned survivors as possible.
This act of humanity would save the lives of many hundreds of people. Yet the tragedy of the Laconia was not over yet.
A U-boat cannot accommodate so many people. What happened to the survivors of the RMS Laconia is the subject of discussion even today. Read the whole story at Kuriositas. Link -via the Presurfer
Tina Law writes in New Zealand’s Stuff magazine about one man who wanted to own a den that looked the interior of a submarine. Wayne Eyre of Spencerville, NZ hired special effects artist Dean Johnstone to design it. These were the results:
Customwood has been sprayed with concrete and painted to resemble rusting steel beams, while plastic sheets have been melted to give the impression of bent steel ripped apart when the submarine hit an island. Speakers emit sonar and ocean sounds throughout the 12-metre by 5.5m room.
At one end of the room, a bar has been created from materials likely to be found on a deserted island. Shelves have been made out of halved tree trunks, while there is a washed-up surfboard.
The bar top is engraved with the random writings of a shipwrecked soul, while vines work their way through the submarine and smoke seeps out of interior walls.
Tao Xiangli, a Chinese inventor, is reported to have built a functional submarine:
Amateur inventor Tao, 34, made a fully functional submarine, which has a periscope, depth control tanks, electric motors, manometer, and two propellers, from old oil barrels and tools which he bought at a second-hand market. He took 2 years to invent and test the submarine which costs 30,000 yuan (US$4,385).
This comes a month after a Chinese farmer was reported to have built a helicopter from spare parts.
The fastest submarine in the US Navy can go only 25 to 30 knots. But the Electric Boat Corporation, the primary designer for US Navy submarines, is trying to design one that can reach up to 100 knots. It plans on testing a 1/4 scale model off the coast of Rhode Island next year:
The sub utilizes the phenomenon known as supercavitation. Supercavitation is the process wherein an object moves so fast through the water that it creates a gas bubble around itself, nearly eliminating drag. Unencumbered by the high drag of water, the object is free to speed along at much higher speeds than otherwise possible. Supercavitation has been known since the end of World War Two, and the Soviets succeeded in creating a torpedo that utilizes supercavitation for high-speed travel, but so far no one has succeeded in scaling the effect up to the size of a whole submarine.
Students at the University of Quebec won a competition of human-powered submarines by basing their design on the body and movement of a penguin:
Team OMER, composed of students from the school’s Ecole de Technologie Superieure in Montreal, drove two propellerless submarines to victory (winning $1,000 per race in the process) using thrust delivered from a pair of carbon fiber oars resembling the wings of the tuxedoed bird.
OMER 6, a one-person submarine, achieved a speed of 4.916 knots (5.65 miles per hour), beating the previous 4.642-knot (5.34-mile-per-hour) speed record for subs without a propeller. The two-person OMER 7 sub hit a top speed of 5.133 knots (5.90 miles per hour).
Marine engineer Graham Hawkes’ latest creation, Deep Flight Super Falcon is a $1.5 million battery-powered winged submarine is just like a plane, except it "flies" underwater:
A single rear-mounted propeller, looking much like an electric fan, drives the vessel, and a 48-volt lithium phosphate battery provides power. Its thick pressure hull is a carbon-epoxy mixture, and the two passengers aboard ride seated in cockpits fore and aft, observing their watery surroundings through thick Plexiglas canopies.
According to Hawkes, the craft “flies” just like a jet plane, with electric motors controlling for roll, pitch and yaw. It can fly downward at a maximum of 200 feet per minute, upward at twice that speed and keep flying for a maximum of five hours at 4 knots – about 4.6 mph. [...]
John McCosker, [California Academy of Sciences] chair of aquatic biology, said the agile submarine will enable him and his colleagues for the first time to follow along with the travels of “whales and dolphins and even super sharks – maybe even the mysterious giant squid.”
Link – via coralnotesfromthefield
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by mattphunkadellic.
