The gameroom encompasses two large rooms. The main gameroom has blacklight carpeting and overhead black lighting. The room is divided into two sections, with a total square footage of approximately 500 sq.ft. The main section is 19' x 18', and a railed elevated section measures 22' x 7'. The extended gameroom is about 11' x 26' (286 sq.ft.) and has checkered vinyl flooring and rope lighting.
All games are dedicated originals - no conversions. Not all the machines are depicted in the gameroom photos. There's just not room for all of them in the gameroom, and some are in another room awaiting refurbishing.
http://www.peterhirschberg.com/arcade/gameroom.htm (Thanks Steve!) | If you like that, see also: Gibby's Game Room (blogged here before)
EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) was one of the very first computers ever created. It ran its first programs on May 6, 1949 calculating table of squares and a list of prime numbers.
Martin Campbell-Kelly of the University of Warwick, England, created a neat software to simulate the EDSAC computer you can download and play with:
The Edsac simulator is a faithful software evocation of the EDSAC computer as it existed in 1949-51. The user interface has all the controls and displays of the original machine, and the system includes a library of original programs, subroutines, and debugging software. The simulator is intended for use in teaching the history of computing; as a tutorial introduction to the classic "von Neumann" computer; or as an historical experience for current computer practitioners.
Hans Nyberg must have known how much I love panoramas! He just posted a very neat collection of Quicktime VR panoramas from the locations in the Da Vinci Code.
Check it out: http://www.panoramas.dk/da-vinci-code/ (Thanks Hans!)
Vincent van Gogh used paint. Auguste Rodin worked in bronze. Larry Moss shapes air with the use of balloons. Moss's unusual art has been displayed in 12 countries on four continents. His achievements have been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Larry's world record is to create the largest non-round balloon sculpture in the world: a soccer player balloon sculpture made from 40,781 balloons!
Whole Wheat Radio user 65strat built this banjo from an old Chevy hubcap:
Ok, I admit that the banjo is silly. But I think its kinda cool. The ring is made of 5 plies of maple. The neck is mahogany with Bolivian rosewood on the fingerboard, head plate, and heel plate. The head is goatskin held on by about 70 upholstery tacks. Here is a sound sample.
Want to add more bling to your car? Try ExtremeXhaust's Spinner Exhaust Tip:
The SPINNER EXHAUST TIP adds a spinner to the end of a car’s exhaust pipe. The spinner will rotate in the exhaust stream. At high engine speeds the spring-loaded spinner is also pushed out of the exhaust tip, giving a visual indication of the revving engine. For a variety of cars with electronic fuel injection engine control, the SPINNER EXHAUST TIP has the beneficial effect to eliminate the initial hesitation of the engine under rapid acceleration. Furthermore, the exhaust gases emanating from the tailpipe will be uniformly dispersed into the atmosphere. In some instances the speed of the vehicle will be sufficient to create a negative presence at the outlet of the exhaust tailpipe to assist in the evacuation of the exhaust gases.
it's J.R.R. Tolkien reading and Singing his Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers/The Return of the King it's a magnificent piece of audio and was recorded before the books publication.On this Lp Prof. Tolkien reads from his notes for the books as well as sings and chants verses of prose in elfish!
This Stone Golem was constructed using about 5 foam mattresses, over 50 sticks of hot melt glue, and 8 cans of grey and black spray paint. The foam is glued in large thick sheets (approx 20cm thick) to a fabric bodysuit, and the deep cracks are carved into the foam surface. The bodysuit has a zip up the back to allow the wearer to enter it, and the zip is concealed by abutting foam. The soles of the feet are made of corflute that has been sliced in half to expose corrugations that act as grip. The arms are about twice the length of the wearer's arms, and act as swinging weapons made entirely of soft foam. The golem took about 100 hours of work to construct, between 3 people. On its first appearance, the Stone Golem sent twenty bold adventurers into a hasty retreat without so much as touching them.
On August 16, 1960, US Air Force pilot Joe Kittinger was lifted about 30 km above sealevel in a pressurized balloon, and then jumped out!
His freefall lasted four and a half minutes, during which he accelerated to more than the speed of sound. This made him the first man touch the edge of space and to break the speed of sound barrier without an aircraft.
Hit play or go to Google Video Link (via Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society)
The Bookman is a bookshelf in the shape of a man and is a highly decorative piece of furniture as well as a sculpture.
Designed by East Anglian artist Kazmierz Szmauz who also designed the CDMan, the DVDMan and Videoman. However, as booksellers we regard Bookman as his highest achievement. The Bookman holds about 100 books and looks most splendid when they are leatherbound books which we can also supply.
Climbers found a piano on top of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, while on a trip to remove litters and stones from the summit:
"Our guys couldn't believe their eyes," said trust director Nigel Hawkins.
"At first they thought it was just the wooden casing but then they saw the whole cast iron frame complete with strings. ...
"We have a constant battle against litter being left on Britain's highest mountain - but this elevates being a litter lout sky high into a completely different category. We are now trying to track down who took it there.
When the news broke, Kenny Campbell, a former Highland Games athelete claimed responsibility:
He said: "I carried an organ weighing 226lb to the summit and played Scotland the Brave on it and I had some Norwegian tourists who were up on the summit and they were dancing."
A renter in Ogden, Utah left a surprise for his landlord: 70,000 beer cans!
Inside, he took just a few snapshots to document the scene. Beer cans by the tens of thousands. Mountains of cans burying the furniture. The water and heat were shut off, apparently on purpose by the tenant, who evidently drank Coors Light beer exclusively for the eight years he lived there. ...
The cans were recycled for 800 dollars, an estimated 70,000 cans: 24 beers a day for 8 years. ...
The townhouse was cleaned up last year and it's just fine today.
The man who lived there seems to be back on his feet. We spoke to him today and he says he's completely stopped drinking. He was welcomed back to his old job a few months ago, and his co-workers speak highly of him.
