Densha otaku are people in Japan who are fascinated with trains. To appeal to their tastes, the Washington Hotel in Akihabara has built an elaborate model train set in a hotel room:

Of course the guest can play with model trains along the thirty-meter track (there are apparently two authentic controllers, so friends can drive the trains together) and even the real thing — the Shinkansen line and Akiba station — is visible from the room’s window.

Though it is possible to rent from the hotel, the Nikkei Marketing Journal reports that many guests bring their own trains to use on the four-line track. The first to stay over was a 23 year-old company employee, followed by a man in his eighties. But there have also been mothers with their kids, so it’s not just strange guys with train obsessions!

The train room opened in June and costs from 23,000 JPY ($265) per night. If you want to make a reservation you will have to wait up to a month!

Video at the link.

http://www.japantrends.com/train-room-in-akiba-hotel-for-railway-fans/ via OhGizmo! | Photo: Japan Trends

China is trying to find a way to increase urban transportation without slowing down traffic. One proposal is an elevated bus that allows cars to pass beneath it:

Basically, it's a huge bus that operates like a train on wheels, and is so tall that cars can drive right under it. Each bus is about two street lanes wide and 18 feet tall, according to Song Youzhou, the chairman of Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Company, which is building these enormous buses.

Video at the link.

Link via CrunchGear | Image: StapleNews

Artist Tom Sale, who goes by the pseudonym "Pinky Diablo", shapes skulls out of vintage silverplate spoons. From a 2009 article in The Dallas Morning News:

But his signature – perhaps his legacy – is the skull spoon, a vintage sterling or silver-plated sipper transformed via Dremel tool, buffing wheel, jewelers rouge and twisted imagination into a symbol of our own impermanence.

"I think of them as memento mori ," says Sale, whose workshop is the Ennis, Texas, farm he shares with wife, Dotty, and storefront is a booth at East Dallas vintage emporium Dolly Python. "We should be reminded of death, not be afraid of it. Maybe even laugh at it every now and then."

News Article and Artist's Website via Make | Photo: Make

The Japanese toymaker Tamiya makes model kits. So the Bangkok advertising agency CreativeJuice made a business card that can be used to build a toy car, plane, or boat:

Apparently Tamiya realized that people didn’t fully appreciate the skill and design that goes into their plastic models, and conceived the card as a promotional tool to raise respect for their brand and business.

http://www.japantrends.com/model-kit-business-card-from-tamiya/ via Make | Ad Agency Website (self-starting sound) | Image: Japan Trends

Is your home octopus-proof? Maybe you should check. And trying to freeze them out won't help because some octopuses discovered in Antarctica are the first known to have venom that works in freezing temperatures:

Antarctic octopuses eat a wide variety of animals, from clams to fish. They catch their prey with their tentacles and use their venom to kill them, much like snakes.

The venoms are being studied as potential sources of pain-killers, Fry said, because they work on the nervous system. So far, analysis of the venom has revealed two toxins that are new to science.

The scientists still don’t know what biochemical tricks the octopuses use to keep their venom working at freezing temperatures

Link via Geekologie | Photo: Samuel Inglesias

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and DARPA have begun testing the effectiveness of a thought-controlled artificial arm:

Researchers plan to install the first system into a quadriplegic patient; while amputees can be outfitted with traditional prostheses, the MPL will be the first artificial limb that can sidestep spinal cord injury by plugging directly into the brain. This isn’t the first brain-controlled interface to be used in humans – we’ve previously reported on Braingate, a system that uses brain impulses to control computer cursors and restore communication to locked-in patients. But the MPL will offer the first hard-wired neural control of bionic body parts, whether lost to injury or neurodegenerative disease.

Link via Nerdcore | Photo: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory/DARPA.

After allegations that some of Toyota's cars get stuck accelerators, designers are taking a look at a 1990s Swedish design that never became popular. Sven Gustafsson's invention was a single pedal that did both jobs. Masuyuki Naruse brought the invention to Japan years ago and has been trying to popularize it. It's a superior approach to driving safety, according to psychology and engineering expert Katsuya Matsunaga:

“Simply speaking, the conventional pedal setup, which forces drivers to switch back and forth between pedals, is dangerous,” Mr. Matsunaga said.

“Mr. Naruse’s pedal works because it takes into account how our bodies work,” he said. “It makes sure that when we make a mistake, the car stops.”

Replacing standard pedals with the Naruse device requires no big changes to a car’s braking or acceleration systems, Mr. Naruse said, and retrofitting costs about 100,000 yen ($1,156) each. The biggest challenge of mass marketing the pedal, driving specialists said, would not be cost or technology, but the need to fundamentally change the way millions of people drive.

Link via Popular Science | Image: NYT

(YouTube Link)

A baby bear got caught in a fisherman's dip net. Human residents at the homestead tried to safely remove the bear, but mama bear stepped in to solve the problem. The action starts at 0:50.

via Urlesque

This headline is from last Friday's Christian Science Monitor. So irritating monkeys is a field of study? What are the undergraduate prerequisites? Should Neatorama keep a monkey-irritator on staff, or contract out the work?

Link via Marginal Revolution

London-based designer Ryan McIlhinney made this lamp out of action figures held together with a polyurethane lacquer:

Trawling for materials quickly became an obsession, with Mc Elhinney’s limited budget, natural eye and vivid imagination ensuring he spotted the perfect finds to bring to life his early designs. Full of expression and movement, dollar-a-bag sacks of second-hand plastic toys became the designer’s chosen medium. Telling a story with each manipulation, Mc Elhinney meticulously gloss-painted and fused together each figure in a six week process, creating the first in his series of ‘Toy’ frames and lamp bases.

I can see Buzz Lightyear, the Thing, and Spider-Man. Can you identify any others?

Link via Great White Snark

Sikorsky Aircraft's prototype X2 helicopter became the world's fastest helicopter when it reached a speed of 225 knots -- 9 more than the previous record set in the 1980s by a Westland Lynx. From the company's press release:

The X2 Technology demonstrator combines an integrated suite of technologies intended to advance the state-of-the-art, counter-rotating coaxial rotor helicopter. It is designed to demonstrate that a helicopter can cruise comfortably at 250 knots while retaining such desirable attributes as excellent low-speed handling, efficient hovering, and a seamless and simple transition to high speed.

Press Release via DVICE | Photo: Sikorsky | Previously: Full-Sized Electric Helicopter

(YouTube Link)

At a recent trade show, the Nakajima Lab at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo demonstrated a prototype GPS directional system that is built into a pair of glasses. The user starts by inputting his/her destination, then following lights in the frame indicating which direction in which to travel. The Nakajima Lab says that this system could be safer than handheld GPS guidance systems because the user can keep his/her eyes on the road.

via CrunchGear

This image of unknown provenance is going around the Internet. In reflection of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, it depicts a cosmology of Hell for Internet users. You can view a larger size at the link. Do you agree with its arrangement?

via GearFuse

A Japanese food manufacturer called Morinaga produces canned milkshakes that are flavored like pancakes:

Morinaga, on the other hand, simply strives to imitate the taste of breakfast (and a Morinaga Hotcake breakfast at that) without worrying overly much about vitamins and so forth. They're not seeking to provide a substitute for brekky, ion other words, just a reminder of its glorious, soothing flavor.

Each can of Morinaga Hotcake Milkshake contains 280 grams (10 oz) and costs 120 yen or about $1.40 when it goes on sale September 8th.

What do you think: awesome or disgusting?

Link via Geekosystem | Photo: Inventor Spot

Chelsea Clinton recently got married in a truly grand spectacle, and TMZ has pictures and diagrams of some of the luxurious porta-potties that were available for guests. Featuring stereo music and running hot water, they cost a total of $15,000 for the event.

Link via DVICE | Photo: TMZ