Zebra + Horse = Zorse!

When your dad is a Zebra and your mum is a horse, you are definitely gonna get some funny looks whn you turn up for your first day of school!
This half-cast called Eclyse resides at the Schloss Holte Stukenbrock Safari Park near the German border with Holland. Apparently, the one-year-old zorse was the accidental product of a holiday romance when her mother, Eclipse, was taken from her German safari park home to a ranch in Italy where she mated with Eclyse's father Ulysses.





This black and white photograph comes from an experiment in 1899 to see if it would work and it did obviously. (image from wikipedia)

The Ultimate Bike Helmet

When it comes to the "Are bicycle helmets a cool look to rock (sensible too!) or are they for weirdos?" qustion, the ESP camp is divided in two. This bike helmet by Luke pannel of Brunel University should keep both teams happy.



"It features a filtering "shield" over the mouth and nose, which cuts particles and dust, then expels them through a plastic tube when the user exhales. The helmet isn't currently in production, but the designer hopes to find a manufacturer, then market the device for around £100. Now all it needs is an attached Bluetooth headset so you can communicate back to the Death Star without taking your eyes off the road."

-Joshua Topolsky @ Engadget

Steampunk Mouse

I'm really getting into the whole neo-Victorian Steampunk movement and there are some seriously nutty people who are not only trying to make custom products wih a "Steampunk" feel even down to the usual PR product descriptions which are in ye-olde English! The mouse is known as a Telecalculograph!
I'm gonna be running a series of posts on Steampunk this week to see if you like it or not.






Here is the "report" that came with the post on Jake Of All Trades:

"Though the eccentric Professor William C. Ravenscroft remains stingy on details of his “Telecalculograph“, he has recently allowed photography of the device with which its user controls it. These images, as well as speculation upon their contents follows: One holds the device in a manner similar to the way a wood-worker holds a sanding block. The palm rests upon the “ball” in the foreground, with the fingers extending forward. The middle digit is placed upon the spiked cog, while the pointing-finger and the ring-bearing finger sit on the studded levers on either side. The thumb and small-finger rest comfortably on the side of the cylinder, helping to grip the contraption. The “Bug”, as the Professor calls it, is slid about upon a table top–thusly controlling a mobile indicator upon the Telecalculograph’s display. Push the device away from one’s self, and the arrow “moves” towards the top of the viewing window. When the arrow has been positioned appropriately so that it is pointing at the desired “item” on the glass, the user pushes down upon the various levers to elicit his desired effect. Turning the wheel in the center produces an action similar to turning a page in a book, or cranking a kinetoscope."

Thanks to Jake Of All Trades for the amazing inventions!

Dan Witz

For those of you who aren't familiar with Dan Witz, I hope you will be a fan after you see the hyper-realistic pieces he paints on the street. They are usually tiny and take ages to paint but the realism he can put into his work makes finding these gems worthwhile. I wish I could see one in the flesh! Visit his website and marvel at the actual length of time he has been getting up for.







Dan Witz Words:
"I have to admit that with all the media attention on street art lately, when planning this summer's work I was feeling some pressure. All my grand schemes and ideas began to feel suspiciously self conscious. So for 2005's campaign I decided to get outside my comfort zone. I abandoned the airbrush and my usual bag of illusionistic parlor tricks and tried to keep it simple

Also, conceptually, I figured I'd squeezed the old 'Challenging The Integrity Of The Picture Plane' game pretty dry and should move on to uncharted-or less charted waters. But, this, alas, was not to be, so I thought it might be amusing to actually turn the wall into water, an idea which (besides being self conscious in a positive way) seemed to satisfy my formal needs, and some current personal narratives as well."

www.danwitzstreetart.com
Images and text copyright of Dan Witz.

Electric Man

Continuing on the electrical tip, this 71 year old man (Mr Zhang) from Xinjiang, China, routinely charges himself with 220V of electricity to stay fit and healthy!Apparently, he can even control the brightness of bulbs once he is holding the live wires with his hands, using himself as a conductor.




Mr Zhang sometimes uses his strange ability to treat his friends and relatives with illnesses such as rheumatism, arthritis and lumbago, which is a very kind thing to do I say.

Report and images from Spluch.

Uncle Sam has $1,000,000 for you

The Department of Defence is looking for a winning design that will assist their soldiers in wearing/carrying a portable electric power system. In return, they will give you USD$1,000,000! The winning design must be able to produce 20Watts of power for at least 96 hours and it has to weigh less than 4kg.



Here's what the DoD techincal requirements stated:

"The complete power system must weigh 4kg or less and provide a minimum of 1920Whr. The power system must operate continuously for 96 hours. During the 96 hours of operation the system must operate: (1) continuously (i.e., 24 hours a day); (2) at partial power; (3) for a number of periods of high power of up to 200W for 5 min; (4) in a non-air breathing mode in a sealed container for a time to be determined; (5) be attitude or vertical orientation and motion independent; (6) provide output voltages of 14V and 28V. The system must attach to a vest and operate while worn. The government will provide connectors for the equipment on the course with additional cables, outlets, etc."

Thanks to Gizmodo for the report.

Speedstacking

Insane sport that originated in America. Stacking plastic cups in different combinations.....Enough said, watch the vid.

The Great Doktor A.

Doktor A has fused the mecha of old and new to create stunning steam-punk versions of the world's favourite vinyl toys. He has worked in TV, theatre, advertising and toy designing and a visit to his website will do you good!







All images are courtesy of Doktor A. and his wicked skills!

Flickr Time Application

Another great user-created freeware that uses Flickr images you tag in order to tell the time.





Designer Hiroshi Tazawa combined the digital clock interface with cool images that you can zoom into.

www.hottoast.org/convexstyle/flickrtime

Christian Marclay mini documentary

The real inventor of the scratch sound.