Lumenshroom
Newly Enlightened
This thread was originally made in Notepad for posting on some of my more regular forums- I figured I'd post it here, now. I update it occasionally.
The cool and futuristic stuff hyperthread, at over 55 thousand characters.
Cool Stuff
From this point down, stuff not partaining necessarily to the future but still cool will be shown- scroll down for futuristic stuff, which tends to be more interesting
The real Gundam
http://www.supertouchart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gundamtk1.jpg
Weaboos, rejoice! A 59-foot-tall "life-size" statue of the popular anime's Gundam robot is scheduled be built at Shiokaze Park on Tokyo's artificial Odaiba island (artificial island?) this July as part of Bandai's "Mobile Suit Gundam 30th Anniversary Project." If only it was functional.
The human nest
http://www.supertouchart.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/nestrott1.jpg
Belgian artist Benjamin Verdonck has taken the usually verboten medium of performance art to new heights of greatness with his new nest installation titled "The Great Swallow"(sounds kinky) in Rotterdam, Netherlands. At 50 meters above the city square on the side of the 13th floor of the Wenna Tower, Verdonck's windy new home is, according the artist, constructed of "the crowns of 23 silver birches, two straw bales, one bucket of spit, three bags of sand, twelve buckets of glue, and nineteen cans of polyurethane foam.". Sounds kinky, again.
Robot jellyfish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSTJ...user_name=John+Heylin&feature=player_embedded
Made by a German company named Festo, the robo-jelly is not only beautiful but quite advanced for its time. According to a Popular Science bit on it:
"Each is coated with conductive metal paint that draws the robot to a nearby charging station. It also has LED illumination, integrated pressure, light and radio sensors, and 11 infrared light-emitting diodes used for jelly-to-jelly communication."
They reckon that, conceptually, they could make a colony of these that could work together to perform simple tasks like lift objects or fetch something. As long as I get a crew of robot jellyfish henchmen, ok. I'm in.
The Warthog- No, this isn't another commercial for a weed-eater
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phprZ4OkOAM.jpg
That's right. Every Xbox 360 fan all over the world just lolgasmed
According to a gadget blog, the WETA workship (they make props for Hollywood) has produced a fully functional replication of the Warthog in Halo 3, complete with machinegun, which fires blanks.
X-ray vision lens- the ultimate tool for perverts
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/xray_lens.jpg
Comic book readers, fret no more- at Davidsteele.com you can pick up an IR camera lens that will allow you to see through most or all clothing.
Here's how it works according to the site
The theory behind how it works is really simple. Many types of clothing allow light and infrared light to pass through the fabric. This light is reflected back through the clothing, off the skin, to our naked eyes. What we normally see is both the reflected normal light mixed with the Infrared light. The lens filters the normal light out, leaving only the Infrared light and some other ambient light waves. The result…the clothing (and many other materials) become as clear as glass.
Of course, us, being professional CPFers, would NEVER use this for anything but science.. Right?
Well.. Anatomy is a science, =D
http://www.davidsteele.com/X-ray-Vision-Camera-Lens-p/xr-l.htm
Wrapping paper nobody will complain about
Not so much futuristic as it is cool.. Why do you think it's under Cool Stuff?
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/uncut_currency.jpg
Yeah. It's wrapping paper, cool. Great. Oh wow, it's novelty paper with fake bills on it, (moderator removed language), stop wasting my time, Lumenshroom
But wait, good sir! These are actual bills of currency! Available at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing online store, you can seriously cut these apart and spend them (but be neat about it, more stores won't accept shredded bills =D)
http://www.moneyfactory.gov/store/section.cfm/69
Drawdio- a pencil. That.. Uh.. Draws audio.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/drawdio.jpg
The Drawdio is a simple music synthesizer made by Jay Silver. To use the Drawdio you hold the pencil in one hand so you've made good contact with the copper tape wrapped around the body, and then touch your finger on your other hand to what you've drawn on the paper. The current from the AAA battery on the pencil flows through the graphite and uses your body as a sensor, producing a unique series of sounds based on what you're drawing. Pix or it dnt hapn
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDaj3tBSM2M&eurl=http://www.ohgizmo.com/tag/unusual/page/5/[/media]
So I bet you're like (moderator removed language)], so here's the solution.
Make one here http://www.ladyada.net/make/drawdio/make.html
Buy one here http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=28&products_id=124
Thermaltake Level 10- The computer case BMW designed
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/screenshots/418x627/2009/03/Cebit_Thermaltake_Level_10_PCGH__8_.jpg
That's right- The company providing you with kick-*** sports and luxury card now threw their hat into the ring of case design by designing a case for Thermaltake. Instead of cramming everything into what is essentially a box with fans, they decided every piece of hardware should rest in its respective position and be ventilated properly. No prices have been released yet but it's expected to debut at Computex in early June.
Multisync- The thing that makes TVs.. Uhh.. Just read it.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/nec_x461un.jpg
Multisync is four TVs with a device that syncs the picture of LCD televisions so that one could make a wall of orgasmic display- Heck, it supports linking so you could link up to 100 tvs, so.. With some magix math, you could have 104,908,800 pixels on your wall. Really.
Microsoft Surface- Touch-screen injected with distilled Rambo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxk_.../08/ces-2008-hands-on-with-microsoft-surface/
Microsoft Surface is an amazing application of current technology to make a breathtaking, well, touch screen.. of sorts. It's not actually a touch screen- It's a tabletop with trickery. Underneath the tabletop are five cameras, a projector, and a computer. The cameras watch for user interaction on the surface, and then control the projection on the underside of the table. Surface identifies objects by looking for a tag, which is a specific combination of white dots on a black background (it's like a bar code.)
Either way, currently, it's available to certain companies for ten grand- but in half a decade it's expected to be available to the public for a good chunk less.
Bullet with your name on it
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/my_bullet.jpg
A company called My-Bullet will engrave your name (or whatever you want within 16 characters) on a silver or brass .50 caliber bullet for 70 bucks. Pretty cool conversational piece.
"Hey, why did you buy a bullet with your name on it?"
"stfu n00b"
Just FYI, these are loaded bullets- Pretty cool sheet considering you COULD actually fire it if you bought the brass version
http://www.my-bullet.com/us/
The most kickass Halloween costume ever?
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/gaping_hole_costume.jpg
Quite possibly one of the most convincing and awesome Halloween costumes ever. A guy decided to hook up a video camera, concealed on his back, to an LCD screen on the front, and concealing it partially with his shirt- Resulting in a "Hole blown through you" effect
Big-Dog advanced quadropedal robot
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/images/LAND_Robot_BigDog_and_Controller_lg.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww&feature=related
The Big-dog is a quadroped robot- ie, one that walks on four legs- that, unlike most junky crap you see in terms of modern robots, is actually useful. It self-stabilizes, it carries things, it compensates for different surfaces, hell, you can go ahead and give it a good kick and it will just keep on chuggin'. Big Dog is being developed by Boston Dynamics and would be used for things like military on-the-field first aid supply delivery, and being funded by DARPA. I want one. Maybe two, so I could use one as a coffee table.
Futuristic stuff
=D
Dynamic input
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smai...-multitouch-controls/&feature=player_embedded
Developed by a student, this form of input can be inflated, vacuumed, and let taut- and as thus, it's not limited to only input. If you wanted to create depth in a projectile display, vacuum it- if you want the watchers to be highly engrossed, subtly inflate it. Watch the video to fully understand it.
Multiple-Kill Vehicle
http://images.nerdgrind.com:9000/images/2008/12/multiple-kill-vehicle-hover-test.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO67Yha_03g&feature=related
The multiple kill vehicle is a hovering vehicle that uses rockets to deploy itself and get to an incoming rocket (or group of rockets') trajectory, and from there it deploys tiny kenetic missiles which collide with collide with said rockets. This is a great addition to the US' Missile defense grid, and besides that it's BADASS. Watch the video.
The EyeMove PC
http://www.mobilewhack.com/images/eyemove3.jpg
The EyeMove is quite an interesting prospect. A powerful, ultra portable computer packed into a disk shape with its own very portable input devices and projector. It's pretty close to what we see in movies, but hold on- it's just a concept. Nobody has said it's gonna be made.
The lonely lake hotel.. Wow.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/images/hotel_lake.gif
A Norwegian man, Carsten Höller, decided it would be a cool idea to make a transparent hotel room on the ocean. It was.
I know nothing about its design or its chemical makeup so I'll hand the microphone over to him for a moment.
Carsten said, once:
"The piece has a striking visual appearance, which at a distance looks almost like a huge diamond or an ice crystal. The sculpture will be constructed from semi transparent glass and inside it will house a hotel room. Thus it will be possible to spend the night inside the sculpture with all facilities belonging to a normal hotel room. The difference is the fact that the walls, floor and ceiling will be transparent so that the overnight guests will experience the ocean and the surrounding nature intimately. "
I don't know how I can respond to that one. Is "I'll take it" a proper rebuttal?
Specialized Venom series bikes, possibly the sexiest bikes in existence.
I just had to elongate my article past my usual couple paragraphs. I like to keep them brief, but I <3 this product too much.
The Venom series is a futuristic line of bicycle being made by the well-known company Specialized. When I say futuristic, I don't mean "it has some obscure alloy for its chain so it gets a .0000001% speed boost sometimes if the moon and stars align", I mean.. Futuristic. I'll cover a few of my favorites and you'll see what I mean.
http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/special3.jpg
The Viper has NO rear hub, as you may have noticed. Its rear wheel is suspended in a magnetic field inside the frame by strong magnets, meaning you get next to zero friction and coupled with that, much higher speed, and less moving parts to break. In my opinion this is the coolest bike in their line if only for its aesthetics and innovative nature.
http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/special7.jpg
The BMW Feather Deluxe is a bike that they teamed up with BMW to make. Seriously. A luxury bike. It's designed to be comfortable and look good while not giving much away on performance. Equipped with ultra-plush suspension and the usual "hydro-drive" gear system and contained internals, it's one of their more intriguing concepts, if only because BMW had a say in it.
http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/special4.jpg
The Black widow is innovative for several reasons, but I'm too dumb to understand half of them, so I'll tell you what I know: The back of the frame is independent from the rest, pivoting (with some resistance) to the road/dirt's curves. A neat way to provide a bike with suspension, and it's the best looking bike in their line, to my eyes.
Read more at http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/specialized.html
Transparent supermetal, sign me up
http://beverlytang.com/photos/transparent_alumina.jpg
Transparent Alumina is a transparent material made from aluminum oxide, the stuff they use to anodize those nifty flashlights I showed you in my earlier threads (Read it towards the bottom of this post.)- If you did read that, you'd know that aluminum oxide is almost as hard as diamond, rated 9 on the Mohs scale, with diamond a ten. This particular stuff is arrayed so that it's three[/i] times as strong as steel, and transparent. It's manufactured by sintering (welding together small particles) tiny aluminum oxide bits. It's been alloyed with other materials to make ridiculously hard glass (Think, stop a .50 caliber bullet.). It could be used for a lot of stuff.. Think, transparent skyscrapers with opaque bits of this stuff for rooms (for privacy).. And who doesn't want a clear sword that's three times stronger than other peeps'?
The cloaking device, except real
http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/cloaker.png
Engineers from Duke University have created possibly the only working cloaking device in the world. It works by using "metamaterials"- materials that bend light, which are man-made- around an object, so it appears that it isn't there at all. What this means basically is that this machine has a bunch of invisible fiber-optic cables that carry light around the object so it's not possible to see. They tested it with microwaves (which are much easier to measure than light) and found that it worked fine. Pretty cool stuff.
Read more at http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-01/real-cloaking-device
Clear light
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4014/1663_big_web.jpg
Clear light is a patent pending process that allows buyers to embed electronic devices-usually LEDs- into glass and use invisible wires made from a type of conductive, transparent coating to power them. This would be fking awesome if applied right, think elevators made entirely of glass
Angelflames, flames that are freaking... Uh.. COLORFUL
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4050/1693_big_web.jpg
Less new technology and more a good application of it. Known by firework technicians for since 1970, metals make flames glow different colors. Lithium burns red, sodium yellow, potassium purple, rubidium blue, cesium sky blue and copper green. Now, a company called Angelflames intends to take advantage of this to make color-flame candles. Pretty neat stuff imo.
Available at http://www.angelflames.com/buy.htm
Galinstan, Gallium on steroids.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/3717/1228_big_web.jpg
Galinstan is an alloy made by combining gallium, indium, and tin, creating a metal that's completely liquid at room temperature- And not toxic. I'm not much of an inventor personally but the idea of making cords that work by pinching them sounds pretty sweet.
USBcell- The battery that's.. Nevermind, ran out of catchy titles.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4224/1876_big_web.jpg
USBcell is a AA battery able to plug directly into any PC USB port- Very convenient considering how expensive li-ions
http://www.usbcell.com/
SuperFruit- The futuristic Kool-Aid
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4620/2393_big_web.jpg
Company Nutraflavor found a way to extract not only the flavor, but also the important vitamins and healthy stuff from so-called superfruits- Fruits that are high in antioxidants, vitamins.. You know, nutritious stuff, like pomegranate (Which are my favorite fruit possibly- They're DELICIOUS, or, specifically, the seeds, see them far left in picture.). Not only that but they're supposed to taste much more authentic than synthetic flavoring. I could care less about how healthy it is- I don't drink stuff like this to bulk up- but intense flavor and the fact that they have pomegranate means they get an awesome-label in my book.
The flexible battery
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/3882/1541_big_web.jpg
Called Flexion, this battery is not only high capacity relative to its size (using li-ion technology), but is flexible and able to be hot laminated. It can also take tons of pressure, 550 PSI to be exact. That said, my bet is that THIS will power the cars of the future.
Contortionist metal- Corex.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/3918/1570_big_web.jpg
Contortionist metal is just like any other alloy. Hard. Conductive. Durable.
Except, in this case, it bends. I could name 101 uses for this.. Armor, roll-up ironing board, furniture that melds to your body type, etc. I love this stuff. It works by collapsing and un-collapsing small air capillaries inside the metal. It's called Corex.
Contortionist plastic
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/3960/1620_big_web.jpg
Contortionist plastic is an amazing type of polymer that can be crumpled up and compressed/folded without suffering permanent warping, meaning you could fold up your pool after the summer's over, crumple up your water bottle and store it in your pocket, or whatever you like, really. Awesome stuff.
Intelligent magnets
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4095/1761_big_web.jpg
Smart magnets aren't really patented or anything but they're magnets that are hemispherically oriented, or magnetic down their centers. This means they self-arrange into geometric shapes like circles and hexagons, etc. A really cool spin on old technology.
Memory Metal
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4119/1781_big_web.jpg
A new metal called Elastamat is uprising- It's basically what you saw in every 1980s UFO comic. This stuff can wrap around your finger and then spring back to its former shape without any distortion at all. Discovered by a leading.. Well.. Future-materials company, Elastamat is possibly every conspiracy theorist's dream.
ColdShield- The only material that slugs it out with lava and comes out swinging
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4530/2223_big_web.jpg
Possibly some of the coolest stuff ever to grace my eyes, ColdShield is a heat sink and heat shield. It very rapidly absorbs energy but also completely negates it. You can buy it in liquid or paste form. Ambient heat quickly dries up the liquid content when it's sprayed/applied and leaves a "white, crystalline material" that soaks heat up like crazy, apparently, but as usual, the creators didn't want to go too in depth. It's available to some fire-fighting departments and industries where welding is needed. Apparently this stuff can make a white-hot plate cold to the touch in a couple seconds and it can protect completely against stuff up to eight thousand degrees, more than the surface of the sun.
Temperature-display plastic
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4527/2207_big_web.jpg
Yeah, we saw my temperature display glass article, but now, somewhere in some place, a group of monkeys on typewri- Err, a group of scientists found a way to make temperature detective plastic. Seriously. And the kicker you can go ahead and heat meld it to stuff- it's not electronic. Turns out, a line of Puma shoes used these to change color, so if you really want some, you know where to look.
A few wacky designers also decided to make a lounge sofa out of this stuff.
MagInk Paper Display
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-4-470-0109.jpg
Current OLED technology around here perhaps isn't perfect for the idea of fold-up-ultra-portable TVs right now, but a company called MagInk made something that IS.
A brand new product just unveiled, they say they intend to make a series of display products based on this. It is basically an OLED screen that's incredibly thin and uses very minute amounts of power- Think, most portable 60" on Earth. I really wish I could talk about this more because, to tell you the truth, it fascinates me, but the Israeli company that makes it wants to keep it mysterious a bit longer.
Temperature Glass
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-7-470-0109.jpg
http://trendsupdates.com/wp-content...perature-sensitive_glass_tiles_shower_big.jpg
OmiGAD, do want. A company called Moving Color decided to make this stuff- It's glass that CHANGES COLOR as different temperatures contact it. That means if a warm water droplet falls on it, it blooms with awesome colors and this is just amazing. They've applied this already- They made a prototype shower made of this that changes colors as the water hits it. Apparently it's pretty inexpensive to make but they're keeping the public in the dark as to how it works- For now, I'll just sit here and eyegasm at the picture, thanks.
UPDATE-Moving Color announced they're selling it currently at rates of, as quoted
Standard 4x4x3/8" Glass:
0-25 square feet (up to 225 pieces) = $149.00/ft or $16.55/piece
25-100 square feet (up to 900 pieces) = $139.00/ft or $15.44/piece
100 and up (900 pieces or more) = $129.00/foot or $14.33/piece
http://www.movingcolor.net/products.html
Translucent Concrete
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-6-470-0109.jpg
A Hungarian guy made concrete. Sure. Great. But you know those things on the ends of the tiny fake Christmas trees? Those are called optical fibers. They're basically a tube with the lining made of mirrors. Pretty cool, but even more cool when you put them in concrete..
If you can hunt em down he sells it at Litracon, his company.
Anti-Graffiti film
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-8-470-0109.jpg
Made with a type of adhesive and permanent Teflon, this stuff basically means anything drawn on it or painted on it or whatever will just wipe easily right off with a paper towel or something. Pretty revolutionary if you think of cities with a lot of graffiti- And it doesn't eliminate it completely. If some amazing artist draws something someone really wants to leave on their building, they can.
Water-activated expanding plastic
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-10-470-0109.jpg
Pretty cool stuff if you ask me- If you add water it expands to a bunch of times its original size, meaning it could serve as non-liquid foam n schtuff.
Ceramic paper.. Wait what?
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-2-470-0109.jpg
A company in NY, NY made ceramic paper by weaving together a ton of ceramic fibers. Anyone who works in pottery knows ceramic is really heat resistant, so this could see tons of use as wall paper and stuff.
Water-soluble glass
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-12-470-0109.jpg
Basically, a team of scientists made glass that dissolves on contact with water. This could be useful if you think about it- A fire happens, sprinklers go off, they dissolve the glass surrounding fire extinguishers and stuff, etc.
Large articles
OLEDs
OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. In my previous megathreads on flashlights I covered that LEDs are a type of light source that use semiconductors to produce large amounts of light in comparison to the amount of power they use. OLEDs are different in that due to the fact that they use organic semiconductors they can be arranged in a way that they can make extremely high resolution, high-efficiency display systems.
http://www.wa007.com/labs/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/optimus_oled_lebedev.jpg - Low resolution OLEDs used in a brotheren control pad of the Optimus Maximus OLED screen keyboard
OLEDs recently have begun to be recognized as viable display sources- Sony having already produced some televisions from them, both large and small, and the U.S. Air Force has begun trialling them in use as HUDs- Heads Up Displays. There's a couple companies devoted to researching their use as camouflage- One day, invisible tanks will be pwnin noobs everywhere!
http://www.gadgetvenue.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/flexible_oled.jpg
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/oled-1.jpg
Unlike other display methods, OLEDs are completely flexible, meaning if you're not using your monitor or TV you can just fold it up and take it with you- You could take your 80 inch to the park with you and plug it up to your video camera to review those (moderator removed language)And because OLEDs are flexible, you could go ahead and pin one to your chest and run around streaming CSI: Miami for all to see. Many companies are manufacturing clothing with OLEDs built in- You don't need a watch, just check your sleeve to see the time!
And unlike LCD displays, OLEDs don't need a backlight to function, so they can be ridiculously thin and use extremely low amounts of power. Due to the nature of the components used they also produce very crisp, defined displays- moreso than that of current LCDs or plasmas
http://www.gadgetroad.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/January/Sony STE OLED/sony_oled_tv_4.jpg
And OLEDs aren't JUST limited to display. They, while not able to produce the AMOUNTS of light LEDs can, produce it more efficiently and in softer colors, because most LEDs do not use much phosphor so as to not limit output. Fold up your new ceiling light and shove it in your pocket to go show off to your hobo friends. In addition, if you want your light to be dimmer, hell, make it dimmer! Want it to change colors? Make it change colors. This is OLED stuff, remember?
http://www.dodevice.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/roll-to-roll-oled-01.jpg
Because OLEDs are so efficient they can easily be mated with low output, natural power sources like cheap solar panels and cells, meaning they're very eco-friendly even if you're not using the power grid. Some scientists have found a way to turn OLEDs into very efficient, flexible solar cells as well. Imagine turning your TV off and then going outside and tossing it up on the roof to generate power for your house.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/oled.jpg
www.ohgizmo.com/2006/09/18/oled-solar-cells - source
OLEDs are quite phenomenal in that due to their high resolution very tiny screens are possible- A Dutch designer made a fully programmable keyboard using them. Due to their nature they're also simpler than other displays to unify into one processing unit. This also means that video CONTACTS instead of glasses, may be possible
http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads2/2008/04/art-lebedev-optimus-maximus-oled-keyboard.jpg
Feast your eyes on some more OLED fapfodder
http://www.oledevices.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/samsung_40_inch_oled.jpg
http://www.ubergizmo.com/photos/2007/1/468_lg_oled_01.jpg
http://www.oled-display.info/images/etri-oled-clothes.jpg
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/4/2008/12/494x_OLED_xmastree.jpg
http://www.treehugger.com/osram-oled-j001.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9s8iqcCd0DY/R4kiTSiA6cI/AAAAAAAABX4/cXqhT9g7nk8/s400/sony+XEL-1+OLED.jpg
Nokia's concept OLED phone, the Morph
http://www.mobile-weblog.com/imgnam...ible_mobile_phone---50226711--nokia morph.jpg
Gel magnets
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/1031/748_big_web.jpg
Gel magnets are a new material just found by a Japanese company. They're basically like any permanent magnet. They have poles. They attract some metals. They're awesome. But in this case, they're also squishy. Gel magnets are the maliable counterparts of their neodymium cousins. They have a ton of possible uses.. Refrigerator and cabinet doors (To attract the door and cushion the impact), specialized shocks, etc.
Organic super-glues
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/16/gallery/mussel-540x380.jpg
A glue that can stick to Teflon. Made from the stuff mussels use to stick to rocks. Seriously. Navy subs and anti-stick cookware use that poop and now something sticks to it? That's not possible for any conventional glue. Ever. Glue works by locking into pores in the substance and then chemically bonding with it, but this stuff is mysterious.. It sticks to things without the required pores.
Heck, it's supposedly 20X stronger than industrial paste they use to hook cars together.
It's not commercially available at the moment. Most of it is going into research for its practical uses.
In the meantime scientists have found out a way to create a synthetic version that's nearly as effective
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/16/mussel-glue.html
-[tab]Gecko glue?![/tab]
Geckos are incredibly awesome, nobody debates that.
-They gave us car insurance! http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/commercials/2005/10/geico-gecko-1.jpg
-They look sexy! http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/2070845/gecko-madagascar-main_Full.jpg
-They gave us re-stickable tape!.. Wait, what?
http://www.worldchanging.com/postimages/article/5467_largearticlephoto.jpeg
A gecko can climb walls for a reason. Their feet are covered in trillions of trillions of tiny suction cups which react microscopically with surfaces, allowing them to support their weight (And then some) easily on walls or upside down. Some scientists think that they could synthetically reproduce this effect to create re-stickable tape, and if combined with the mussel glue, it would be one of the most powerful adhesives created. I dunno, but if I get gecko hands and feet, I'm in.
http://damyantiwrites.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/writing-about-gecko-tape.jpg
Smart-plastic
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/1061/865_big_web.jpg
Because of their characteristic to hold a shape, metal is commonly used over plastic. Now, a Japanese man trying to find firmer plastic inadvertently made shape-retaining plastic. This might not sound like much, but it is. Compare the above image to something like a garbage can bending back into shape after being warped.
Shape retaining plastic opens up a lot of possibilities- Who needs wristbands for their watch, real men use plastic.
Dry water
Dry water is a synthetic water. Well, it's kind of like water. You can drink it, it's liquid, it's clear, it does the same stuff water does, but it evaporates 50 times as fast as water, meaning the instant it "wets" something like paper or clothes it evaporates into the air. A company manufactures this in the USA for fighting fires, called Sapphire. http://www.fs-world.com/Print.asp?id=3222&url=http://www.fs-world.com/Show.asp?ID=3222&Form=5
It's already being used to fight fires and in some sprinklers.
In things like arctic rescues, dry water warmed could be used to quickly elevate body temperature without the subject being left soaked in a freezing environment. Water transfers heat to and from the body very efficiently. I can't find any pictures of dry water at the moment but videos of it surely exist. If you head over to Japan you might be able to secure some, otherwise, wait.
Miracle Fruit
There's been threads on it before but most were personal response and only briefly covered what it was.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZfxsaVdMA04/SUne5Z78gZI/AAAAAAAAACc/h9DI6fRbkwE/s400/miracle-fruit-1.jpg
Miracle fruit is a type of berrylike fruit that contains a mysterious protein, miraculin. It's not known exactly how, but miraculin bonds to your taste buds and makes sour and bitter things intensely sweet. I mean ANYTHING almost- Vinegar, orange rinds, lemons, limes, hell, even Guinness tastes different (like caramel) cause it maker the bitter hops taste sweet.
Way back a guy saw natives in Africa licking the fruits before meals, so he tried some and was like "omfg haxx0rs" and brought it back and planted stuff and boom, miracle fruit was discovered.
In the 70s some peeps tried to make it commercially available so fat people could eat it then eat non-fattening (removed) tasting foods to make them taste nice, but the sugar industry was all like "(removed language)" and messed up their research and stuff.
So basically, today it's available at places like Miraclefruithut.com.
They sell the bare fruit (Which has the best effect), freeze dried tablets (Longest shelf life), and the actual plant. Don't bother with the tablets, they barely work. Buy the plant itself and have an endless supply or grab some fruit, slather up yer' tongue, and tear into some sour stuff.
http://www.miraclefruithut.com/images/largemiracleplant.gif
http://www.miraclefruithut.com/images/miraclefruittablets.jpg
http://www.miraclefruithut.com/images/miraclefruitberry.jpg
HOW TO GROW YOUR OWN:
Buy a seed or one of the actual small plants
If seed, buy Gibberelic acid from UnitedNuclear.com's Chemical and Metal section; Gibberelic acid increases the germination rate to almost 100% as opposed to like 40%.
If plant, go to step 2
Put the plant in a large container filled with 50% perlite and 50% peat. Miracle fruit needs really acidic soil to flourish. If it's a seed do the same thing but apply a bit of gibberelic acid to the seeds and use several, with smaller containers. Buy seeds from http://www.miraclefruitusa.com/products/miracle-fruit-seeds/20/ or wherever you can get a good deal.
http://www.buyhardwaresupplies.com/?t=5&m=g1&itemNumber=7100688
http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-159740/Detail
Next, just.. Well.. Wait. Transplant if they outgrow their containers. A few years and the sprouts should start bearing fruit.
I have a plant growing at the moment, but in the meantime I bought a few of the fruit themselves and I tell you, what these do is absolutely crazy.
http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2005/9/images/kiwi.jpg
I love kiwis but they have a really sour aftertaste that kind of hurts after eating a lot. With miracle fruit they're like.. God, a green, fuzzy orgasm. Eat these FIRST.
http://www.producepedia.com/images/commodity/grapefruit.jpg
The rinds of citrus fruits tastes like concentrated poop without miracle fruit, as you would expect, but with it, rinds become delicious bonus snacks to eat after the grapefruit. It tastes like really sweet kumquat rinds except a bit tougher. The juice itself doesn't change much but you can definitely discern a powerful, sweeter change.
http://www.svgopen.org/2005/papers/Prasad_Abstract_R2V4SVG/lime.JPG
I didn't have any lemons but these were just as good. Limes taste like a ton of sprite or lemonade packed into a 4 inch surface, they're really good.
http://www.assuredproduce.co.uk/resources/000/145/727/blackberry_main.jpg
Blackberries are by nature quite sweet but the premature ones I ate were VERY sweet, an intense difference from the adult ones.
http://miyagi.sg/wp-content/kumquats.jpg
The rind and fruit in kumquats already taste sweet so there was no real change, but they're fking good so I ate em anyways
http://www.chemistryland.com/CHM107Lab/Exp10_pHindicator/Lab/VinegarLemon.jpg
Vinegar was really weird. To describe it best I'd say gummy bear mixed with pepsi?
Will try more when my plant buds
Till then, dnt du drug u kan maek an differenke
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../800px-Ferrofluid_Magnet_under_glass_edit.jpg - Here you see a bit of ferrofluid on a sheet of glass with a magnet underneath. The spikes are a result of surface tension and the properties of magnetic fields.
Ferrofluid
Ferrofluid is defined as any kind of liquid that becomes uniform or rigid when magnetic force is applied. Almost all of the time this is achieved by suspending bits of iron and other magnetic stuff in a liquid, creating a kind of magnet-activated colloid.
Most often used for entertainment, Ferrofluid has lots of uses.
Art-
http://www.slipperybrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/ferrofluid.jpg
http://centripetalnotion.com/images/ferrofluid.jpg
http://bored-night.com/pics/Ferrofluid Sculptures/ferrofluid_sculptures006.jpg
Already Ferrofluid has been recognised as beautiful. Through electromagnets artists make the ferrofluid dance to their will, making graceful patterns and spiky monstrosities. Because ferrofluid is in fact a fluid its uses artistically are virtually un-ending. Think of it as lustrous, liquid clay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTn2rtULhTI
http://www.ubiquit.us/blog/images/ferrofluid-1.jpg
Military-
Some Russian and US companies have been researching the use of Ferrofluid as a sort of liquid armor. Since ferrofluid is a liquid it could be held onto the subject by a weak magnetic field, allowing it to remain supple and not at all encumbering like heavy vests. Sensors could then be rigged to detect impacts with the ferrofluid and then to immediately apply a extremely strong magnetic field, making the ferrofluid rock solid for the moment it was impacted. This would best be used on vehicles, but they predict through fancy fabrics it could apply to human beings too. No pictures or video of this have been released to this date, but progress is supposedly going well.
Display-
Some people have recreationally found ferrofluid makes for interesting displays, one man making a game (Snake) out of it
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTn2rtULhTI[/media]
But if you used a complex magnetic machine such as an MRI and multicolored layers of ferrofluid, it could be used as a serious display method.
http://blog.makezine.com/img413_621.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CYdC8hMD3.../hAGcEX8eD5g/s400/snoil_game-over_470x264.jpg
Fuel-
NASA originally had a project in which they would use flammable ferrofluid as a fuel source. This would be so that in in-space fuel transactions the flow of liquid could easily be controlled. Also, in liquid fuel rockets, it would make the cutoff of the rocket flame consumption more reliable.
Engineering-
Ferrofluid can be used as extremely efficient lubrication, making virtually zero-friction contact possible. Because the ferrofluid as a whole under magnetic influence is solid, but the substance is in a liquid state, ie not bonded strongly together and thus allowed to flow past one another but still attracted, it is seemingly the perfect lubricant, and in fact it's already in use as a sort of liquid ball bearing in some vehicles.
But Lumenshroom, where can I acquire this wondrous substance and for how much?
Suprisingly, cheaply, and at Unitednuclear.
http://www.unitednuclear.com/chem.htm at about half-way down the page. It's listed as MagnaView fluid.
You can get 175 milliliters for 75 dollars.
Images-
View more luscious, ferrous liquid!
http://media.techeblog.com/images/ferro_7.jpg
http://www.eng.yale.edu/koserlab/Outreach_Files/ferrofluid_spikes_4.jpg
http://www.technorama.ch/typo3temp/pics/a42350a15a.jpg
http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/assets/press/oil_girl1.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2024/2193636946_a6e2a816f9.jpg?v=0
Gallium
http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~scintech/mercury/gallium1.jpg
- A cube of gallium melts on hand temperature
Gallium is a metal with a very low melting point, just above room temperature. Not only this, but like water, it actually spreads APART when it's cooler. This means if you fill a metal container up with liquid gallium and let it sit at room temperature it will break the container. (Ever wondered why water pipes bust in winter?)
It's also a semiconductor; It's used almost entirely in LEDs.
http://qfichennai.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/24-c.jpg - Gallium at room temperature.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phpvcJXE9AM.jpg- Gallium-based blue LEDs.
Gallium sticks to glass and porcelain, too, so some people make mirrors out of it.
http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070620/070620_liquid_telescope_hmed.hmedium.jpg - A mirror of gallium.
Heck, you won't even die if you decide to mess with some. It doesn't give off lethal vapors like mercury.
It's even used in thermometers, like mercury.
http://theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Samples/031.6/s12s.JPG - A thermometer of gallium is shown.
If you feel like handling any, it stains stuff and it sticks to skin pretty well so get some rubber gloves unless you want a mess- Get a plastic container, too, it will break a metal one. Gallium not only is larger when cold but it diffuses into almost any other metal, making all kinds of alloys.
http://www.pse-mendelejew.de/bilder/ga.jpg - Some Gallium crystals
Gallium is slightly magnetic so if you had a really strong magnet you could probably mess with it.
Gallium conducts heat really well (65 times more than water!) so people have thought that if you mixed it with other alloys you could make a safe alloy liquid at room temperature that would be a valid coolant.
Gallium isn't found just randomly in nature but it's manufactured by smelting impure stuff.
"Moar pictoors!"
Fine.
http://binrock.net/permanent/2006/1201_gallium/gallium.jpg
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/php7nackwAM.jpg
http://www.indium.com/_images/1116/..._aluminum_reaction_corrosive_packaging_1.jpg- Gallium eats a hole right through aluminum.
http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/visualelements/hires/gallium_2.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2187/2205154603_2de39e1e4d.jpg - Peakaboo!
https://www.emovendo.net/images/T/t-16205-73.jpeg
http://krdnet.com/EBAY/Galleries/favorites/images/Gallium 03.jpg
"Lumenshroom, tell me where to get it or I'll slit your throat!"
Well, since you put it nicely..
http://www.unitednuclear.com/chem.htm
Scroll down to the Gs to see gallium. It's a little expensive at 50 bucks for five grams but if you want anything this balls to the wall awesome you'll have to spend some money
Make sure to order some rubber gloves or go out and buy some, it's really annoying to try to get off your skin.
u kan acheev ur draems dnt doo drugs yoyo peece.
Aerogel
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/php5JZFSPAM.jpg-
Seen here, a slab of Aerogel, with its amazing insulating qualities, completely negates the heat of the blowtorch underneath from igniting the matches.
http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogelb.jpg- The same test is ran with crayons.
http://eetdnews.lbl.gov/cbs_nl/nl8/images/Aerogel_flame.gif- Who needs hands anyways
Aerogel is an extremely light solid, only a few times more dense than air. It's made by aerating a type of glass with air, infusing it with tiny pockets of air and making it volumes less dense. Because it has these pockets of air and the silicon negates heat so well, coupled with that its translucency, meaning it partially blocks light, Aerogel is THE perfect insulation. Heck, it even blocks sound and electricity. Some modern, expensive houses use powdered Aerogel as insulation in some walls.
As quoted by an Aerogel retailer: A one-inch thick Aerogel window has the same insulation value as 15 panes of glass and trapped air - which means a conventional window would have to be ten-inches thick to equal a one-inch thick Aerogel window.
Aerogel is only three times as dense as air. Three. You could bench a house made of this stuff. (Even moreso if it's a hobo's house)
http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogela.jpg - A solid block of Aerogel is held. Its smoky, murky nature is clearly displayed.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/php1fxtMpAM.jpg- Because Aerogel is so durable yet gel-based NASA used many blocks of it to collect comet dust in space in the Stardust mission. The dust would embed itself in the array for observation back on Earth.
Aerogel's amazing properties don't stop there, either. It holds 15 Guinness book of world records entries. It's not only the lowest density solid and best insulator, but it has a remarkable structure, enabling it to hold many, many times its own weight.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phpIhds8pAM.jpgp- Seen here a bit of Aerogel supports a brick.
Texturally Aerogel feels like kind of spiky Styrofoam.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phpnB2bqyAM.jpg- A NASA scientist holds a large cube of Aerogel. Looking at this, you can see why it's nicknamed "Frozen smoke".
Aerogel, because it's essentially glass with a ton of air pockets, will shatter when hit hard. It's also prone to soak up water. There's more than one type of Aerogel, the most common being the mentioned silica, and the others being aluminum oxide and carbon.
The U.S. Army is supposed to be making a type of wetsuit made with powdered Aerogel to insulate divers completely from the cold.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phpvOLQNRAM.jpg
- Heck, if butterflies like it, it must be cool.
But Lumenshroom, I NEED Aerogel RIGHT NOW! Where do I get some?!
You can buy it at http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogel.htm
They sell other wacky poop like ferrofluid and gallium too, be sure to check out their other stuff.
Aerogel - granular, 950cc: $35.00
Aerogel - granular, 500cc: $25.00
Aerogel - granular, 250cc: $13.00
Aerogel - granular, 100cc: $5.50
Aerogel - Fragments, vial: $45.00
Aerogel - Small Sample: $45.00
Granular is tiny bits of it, fragments are chips of it, small samples are inch-size cubes
So, yeah. Don't deu drawgs u can acheev ur dreems woohoo
Balisong Mega-thread
Well, I'm one of several hobbies. Not only do I like photons, I like sharp stuff. But not just any sharp stuff, Balisongs!
DURR HURRF DURRF WHAT ARE A BALLASONG? It's a knife with two handles and a blade which fits into the center. It's renown for its ability to do incredible acrobatics and superfast opening speed. (And it's not illegal! Eat your heart out, switchblade.) [THEY ARE ILLEGAL IN THE UK]
Have a picture of one. http://www.knifeworks.com/ProductImages/benchmade/bm42.jpg
DURR, WHERE AM I IS T0 BUY ONE? Whoo, partner. You're starting too fast. We need to learn the basics! A balisong is just like any other knife. Dangerous, sharp, and.. Really sharp. REALLY.
SO. The basics. First, you gotta know how to open one! No, you don't retrieve it from your pocket and pry it apart with two hands. In the case of the Model 42 Benchmade balisong, my favorite model (It's VERY fast to open and the pins feel frictionless. Pictured above.), you squeeze the handles together to depress the safety pin and grab the "danger" handle, the handle which the blade of the knife would hit if it swung forwards, swinging the "safe" handle (The butt would hit this handle) out and over and moving your thumb before the handle gets your thumb. The knife will stay in front. I have a way of being utterly confuzzling, have a video. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNqXVlSQPfs&feature=related[/media]
The balisong is extremely fast to open in the hands of someone who knows this technique. Because of the low friction involved you can draw the knife faster than a switchblade. And fixed blades are so awkward, don't even think about them rivalling it. This is the knife to have when going down a back-alley.
TRICKS.
These are what most balisong users buy them for. There's way too many to list all of them, and the names are obvious. (Finger pass, aerial, hand pass, twofinger catch, twirl, etc.) You shouldn't be worrying about these in your balisong infancy, anyhow, as these things are SUPER SHARP. Your hands could be cut to ribbons. Even for pros doing tricks without a mark is extremely unusual. But you want to see SOMETHING, I guess.. Just have another video. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMEPuXK4Eog&feature=related[/media] more detailed stuff at BalisongXtreme.com
DEFENSE
Balisongs are extremely good defense weapons. They're small, the attacker would have no idea what they were, are super fast to open, and can be used as blunt weapons too.
But keep in mind the rules of self-defense. Someone drawing a knife and charging at you is reason to flay them, not them saying "I'm gonna kill you" without showing any physical aggressive behavior. But drawing it, just in case, won't hurt, as you wouldn't be attacking them, merely warning.
That said, if that awful moment comes, you'll need to be ready. If someone pulls a gun/knife/whatever, you'll be shaking like a leaf, and will have little time to draw. Getting a knife stuck means death or injury. Practice opening a few times a day, it could mean the difference.
Now, the part most of you will want to read. How to tactically use your Balisong as a weapon.
Balisong blades are extremely sharp, but the human body has alot of fats and muscles to block blows. That means that if fighting a large attacker, the pierce works better, not the stab. The same goes backwards for fighting small attackers. But the pierce works on them, too.
Balisongs are thought of as being knive weapons, and they mainly are. But half of the battle is disorientation. Not knowing which way or how the next strike will come. Blunt attacks with Balisongs have alot of momentum and are very painful. Grabbing the safe handle, flip the balisong out towards the target. And when I say target, don't pick a broad area and hope to hit it, pick a small space. Sturnum, eye, navel, exact. Less room for error. Anyhow, flip the other handle towards the target. The under area of the chin is very hard to block and is painful, but any exposed bone hurts. Lethality is a last resort, so save the temple for last. Lots of times a strike from a Balisong will scare the assailant away, and if it doesn't, the form used will automatically open the blade and you can use that. Remember, lethality is a last option, so go for legs and arms first. But if the assailant has a weapon, take them down. Punches, stab to the midsection, slash to the arteries, etc. Practice opening your Balisong without looking at it, as looking at it tells the attacker it's a weapon and gives him time to attack.
THROWING BALISONGS.
Throwing Balisongs is not an effective way of combat, but if someone's charging you at high speed, it may be your only option. It means abandoning your weapon, though, so careful. Anyhow, to throw the Balisong, grab the safe handle and fling outwards towards the target. The handles and blade should be spread eagled heading towards the target at blinding speed. If the blade hits, he has a puncture wound. If the handles hit, he's in some pain. Either way it's not good for him.
INJURIES: Doesn't matter if you're a Balisong master, you'll get cut. Luckily, clean cuts (Not jagged rips) are easy to treat. Keep the injury above heart level to make it hard to get blood there. Apply neosporin and a bandage using high pressure, then a moderate pressure level after half an hour. If a vein/artery is sliced, get immediate medical attention. Unlikely, though, since most tricks are done with fingers.
These are just a few good things to know. For more stuff BalisongXtreme.com is a good site to visit.
Oh, I think I'm forgetting something. Go buy one! Buy one of the blunt-edge trainers if you're a little scared at first. www.knifecenter.com and search for a Benchmade model 42 or Benchmade 32 Morpho. The model 42 is stainless steel and is better for tricks, but the steel used in the blade won't last as long as the Morpho steel, but the Morpho rusts if exposed to water. It's also incredibly sharp and good for every day carry.
Feel free to please your eyes with some Balisong freestyle. Some people can do this, except many times more advanced, with two hands, doing independant tricks. These are beginner tricks, and, believe it or not, are pretty easy.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btcmFMGreLc&feature=related[/media]
Butterfly knives of this magnitude can easily slice paper from edge to edge without even slightly wrinkling it. They're that sharp. And can be sharper with the correct sharpeners. (I use an Edgepro Apex with the polish tape.) Use gloves dnt du drug u can achev ur drems
The cool and futuristic stuff hyperthread, at over 55 thousand characters.
Cool Stuff
From this point down, stuff not partaining necessarily to the future but still cool will be shown- scroll down for futuristic stuff, which tends to be more interesting
The real Gundam
http://www.supertouchart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gundamtk1.jpg
Weaboos, rejoice! A 59-foot-tall "life-size" statue of the popular anime's Gundam robot is scheduled be built at Shiokaze Park on Tokyo's artificial Odaiba island (artificial island?) this July as part of Bandai's "Mobile Suit Gundam 30th Anniversary Project." If only it was functional.
The human nest
http://www.supertouchart.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/nestrott1.jpg
Belgian artist Benjamin Verdonck has taken the usually verboten medium of performance art to new heights of greatness with his new nest installation titled "The Great Swallow"(sounds kinky) in Rotterdam, Netherlands. At 50 meters above the city square on the side of the 13th floor of the Wenna Tower, Verdonck's windy new home is, according the artist, constructed of "the crowns of 23 silver birches, two straw bales, one bucket of spit, three bags of sand, twelve buckets of glue, and nineteen cans of polyurethane foam.". Sounds kinky, again.
Robot jellyfish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSTJ...user_name=John+Heylin&feature=player_embedded
Made by a German company named Festo, the robo-jelly is not only beautiful but quite advanced for its time. According to a Popular Science bit on it:
"Each is coated with conductive metal paint that draws the robot to a nearby charging station. It also has LED illumination, integrated pressure, light and radio sensors, and 11 infrared light-emitting diodes used for jelly-to-jelly communication."
They reckon that, conceptually, they could make a colony of these that could work together to perform simple tasks like lift objects or fetch something. As long as I get a crew of robot jellyfish henchmen, ok. I'm in.
The Warthog- No, this isn't another commercial for a weed-eater
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phprZ4OkOAM.jpg
That's right. Every Xbox 360 fan all over the world just lolgasmed
According to a gadget blog, the WETA workship (they make props for Hollywood) has produced a fully functional replication of the Warthog in Halo 3, complete with machinegun, which fires blanks.
X-ray vision lens- the ultimate tool for perverts
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/xray_lens.jpg
Comic book readers, fret no more- at Davidsteele.com you can pick up an IR camera lens that will allow you to see through most or all clothing.
Here's how it works according to the site
The theory behind how it works is really simple. Many types of clothing allow light and infrared light to pass through the fabric. This light is reflected back through the clothing, off the skin, to our naked eyes. What we normally see is both the reflected normal light mixed with the Infrared light. The lens filters the normal light out, leaving only the Infrared light and some other ambient light waves. The result…the clothing (and many other materials) become as clear as glass.
Of course, us, being professional CPFers, would NEVER use this for anything but science.. Right?
Well.. Anatomy is a science, =D
http://www.davidsteele.com/X-ray-Vision-Camera-Lens-p/xr-l.htm
Wrapping paper nobody will complain about
Not so much futuristic as it is cool.. Why do you think it's under Cool Stuff?
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/uncut_currency.jpg
Yeah. It's wrapping paper, cool. Great. Oh wow, it's novelty paper with fake bills on it, (moderator removed language), stop wasting my time, Lumenshroom
But wait, good sir! These are actual bills of currency! Available at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing online store, you can seriously cut these apart and spend them (but be neat about it, more stores won't accept shredded bills =D)
http://www.moneyfactory.gov/store/section.cfm/69
Drawdio- a pencil. That.. Uh.. Draws audio.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/drawdio.jpg
The Drawdio is a simple music synthesizer made by Jay Silver. To use the Drawdio you hold the pencil in one hand so you've made good contact with the copper tape wrapped around the body, and then touch your finger on your other hand to what you've drawn on the paper. The current from the AAA battery on the pencil flows through the graphite and uses your body as a sensor, producing a unique series of sounds based on what you're drawing. Pix or it dnt hapn
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDaj3tBSM2M&eurl=http://www.ohgizmo.com/tag/unusual/page/5/[/media]
So I bet you're like (moderator removed language)], so here's the solution.
Make one here http://www.ladyada.net/make/drawdio/make.html
Buy one here http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=28&products_id=124
Thermaltake Level 10- The computer case BMW designed
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/screenshots/418x627/2009/03/Cebit_Thermaltake_Level_10_PCGH__8_.jpg
That's right- The company providing you with kick-*** sports and luxury card now threw their hat into the ring of case design by designing a case for Thermaltake. Instead of cramming everything into what is essentially a box with fans, they decided every piece of hardware should rest in its respective position and be ventilated properly. No prices have been released yet but it's expected to debut at Computex in early June.
Multisync- The thing that makes TVs.. Uhh.. Just read it.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/nec_x461un.jpg
Multisync is four TVs with a device that syncs the picture of LCD televisions so that one could make a wall of orgasmic display- Heck, it supports linking so you could link up to 100 tvs, so.. With some magix math, you could have 104,908,800 pixels on your wall. Really.
Microsoft Surface- Touch-screen injected with distilled Rambo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxk_.../08/ces-2008-hands-on-with-microsoft-surface/
Microsoft Surface is an amazing application of current technology to make a breathtaking, well, touch screen.. of sorts. It's not actually a touch screen- It's a tabletop with trickery. Underneath the tabletop are five cameras, a projector, and a computer. The cameras watch for user interaction on the surface, and then control the projection on the underside of the table. Surface identifies objects by looking for a tag, which is a specific combination of white dots on a black background (it's like a bar code.)
Either way, currently, it's available to certain companies for ten grand- but in half a decade it's expected to be available to the public for a good chunk less.
Bullet with your name on it
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/my_bullet.jpg
A company called My-Bullet will engrave your name (or whatever you want within 16 characters) on a silver or brass .50 caliber bullet for 70 bucks. Pretty cool conversational piece.
"Hey, why did you buy a bullet with your name on it?"
"stfu n00b"
Just FYI, these are loaded bullets- Pretty cool sheet considering you COULD actually fire it if you bought the brass version
http://www.my-bullet.com/us/
The most kickass Halloween costume ever?
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/gaping_hole_costume.jpg
Quite possibly one of the most convincing and awesome Halloween costumes ever. A guy decided to hook up a video camera, concealed on his back, to an LCD screen on the front, and concealing it partially with his shirt- Resulting in a "Hole blown through you" effect
Big-Dog advanced quadropedal robot
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/images/LAND_Robot_BigDog_and_Controller_lg.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww&feature=related
The Big-dog is a quadroped robot- ie, one that walks on four legs- that, unlike most junky crap you see in terms of modern robots, is actually useful. It self-stabilizes, it carries things, it compensates for different surfaces, hell, you can go ahead and give it a good kick and it will just keep on chuggin'. Big Dog is being developed by Boston Dynamics and would be used for things like military on-the-field first aid supply delivery, and being funded by DARPA. I want one. Maybe two, so I could use one as a coffee table.
Futuristic stuff
=D
Dynamic input
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smai...-multitouch-controls/&feature=player_embedded
Developed by a student, this form of input can be inflated, vacuumed, and let taut- and as thus, it's not limited to only input. If you wanted to create depth in a projectile display, vacuum it- if you want the watchers to be highly engrossed, subtly inflate it. Watch the video to fully understand it.
Multiple-Kill Vehicle
http://images.nerdgrind.com:9000/images/2008/12/multiple-kill-vehicle-hover-test.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO67Yha_03g&feature=related
The multiple kill vehicle is a hovering vehicle that uses rockets to deploy itself and get to an incoming rocket (or group of rockets') trajectory, and from there it deploys tiny kenetic missiles which collide with collide with said rockets. This is a great addition to the US' Missile defense grid, and besides that it's BADASS. Watch the video.
The EyeMove PC
http://www.mobilewhack.com/images/eyemove3.jpg
The EyeMove is quite an interesting prospect. A powerful, ultra portable computer packed into a disk shape with its own very portable input devices and projector. It's pretty close to what we see in movies, but hold on- it's just a concept. Nobody has said it's gonna be made.
The lonely lake hotel.. Wow.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/images/hotel_lake.gif
A Norwegian man, Carsten Höller, decided it would be a cool idea to make a transparent hotel room on the ocean. It was.
I know nothing about its design or its chemical makeup so I'll hand the microphone over to him for a moment.
Carsten said, once:
"The piece has a striking visual appearance, which at a distance looks almost like a huge diamond or an ice crystal. The sculpture will be constructed from semi transparent glass and inside it will house a hotel room. Thus it will be possible to spend the night inside the sculpture with all facilities belonging to a normal hotel room. The difference is the fact that the walls, floor and ceiling will be transparent so that the overnight guests will experience the ocean and the surrounding nature intimately. "
I don't know how I can respond to that one. Is "I'll take it" a proper rebuttal?
Specialized Venom series bikes, possibly the sexiest bikes in existence.
I just had to elongate my article past my usual couple paragraphs. I like to keep them brief, but I <3 this product too much.
The Venom series is a futuristic line of bicycle being made by the well-known company Specialized. When I say futuristic, I don't mean "it has some obscure alloy for its chain so it gets a .0000001% speed boost sometimes if the moon and stars align", I mean.. Futuristic. I'll cover a few of my favorites and you'll see what I mean.
http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/special3.jpg
The Viper has NO rear hub, as you may have noticed. Its rear wheel is suspended in a magnetic field inside the frame by strong magnets, meaning you get next to zero friction and coupled with that, much higher speed, and less moving parts to break. In my opinion this is the coolest bike in their line if only for its aesthetics and innovative nature.
http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/special7.jpg
The BMW Feather Deluxe is a bike that they teamed up with BMW to make. Seriously. A luxury bike. It's designed to be comfortable and look good while not giving much away on performance. Equipped with ultra-plush suspension and the usual "hydro-drive" gear system and contained internals, it's one of their more intriguing concepts, if only because BMW had a say in it.
http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/special4.jpg
The Black widow is innovative for several reasons, but I'm too dumb to understand half of them, so I'll tell you what I know: The back of the frame is independent from the rest, pivoting (with some resistance) to the road/dirt's curves. A neat way to provide a bike with suspension, and it's the best looking bike in their line, to my eyes.
Read more at http://www.geocities.com/verdrahciretop/specialized.html
Transparent supermetal, sign me up
http://beverlytang.com/photos/transparent_alumina.jpg
Transparent Alumina is a transparent material made from aluminum oxide, the stuff they use to anodize those nifty flashlights I showed you in my earlier threads (Read it towards the bottom of this post.)- If you did read that, you'd know that aluminum oxide is almost as hard as diamond, rated 9 on the Mohs scale, with diamond a ten. This particular stuff is arrayed so that it's three[/i] times as strong as steel, and transparent. It's manufactured by sintering (welding together small particles) tiny aluminum oxide bits. It's been alloyed with other materials to make ridiculously hard glass (Think, stop a .50 caliber bullet.). It could be used for a lot of stuff.. Think, transparent skyscrapers with opaque bits of this stuff for rooms (for privacy).. And who doesn't want a clear sword that's three times stronger than other peeps'?
The cloaking device, except real
http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/cloaker.png
Engineers from Duke University have created possibly the only working cloaking device in the world. It works by using "metamaterials"- materials that bend light, which are man-made- around an object, so it appears that it isn't there at all. What this means basically is that this machine has a bunch of invisible fiber-optic cables that carry light around the object so it's not possible to see. They tested it with microwaves (which are much easier to measure than light) and found that it worked fine. Pretty cool stuff.
Read more at http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-01/real-cloaking-device
Clear light
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4014/1663_big_web.jpg
Clear light is a patent pending process that allows buyers to embed electronic devices-usually LEDs- into glass and use invisible wires made from a type of conductive, transparent coating to power them. This would be fking awesome if applied right, think elevators made entirely of glass
Angelflames, flames that are freaking... Uh.. COLORFUL
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4050/1693_big_web.jpg
Less new technology and more a good application of it. Known by firework technicians for since 1970, metals make flames glow different colors. Lithium burns red, sodium yellow, potassium purple, rubidium blue, cesium sky blue and copper green. Now, a company called Angelflames intends to take advantage of this to make color-flame candles. Pretty neat stuff imo.
Available at http://www.angelflames.com/buy.htm
Galinstan, Gallium on steroids.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/3717/1228_big_web.jpg
Galinstan is an alloy made by combining gallium, indium, and tin, creating a metal that's completely liquid at room temperature- And not toxic. I'm not much of an inventor personally but the idea of making cords that work by pinching them sounds pretty sweet.
USBcell- The battery that's.. Nevermind, ran out of catchy titles.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4224/1876_big_web.jpg
USBcell is a AA battery able to plug directly into any PC USB port- Very convenient considering how expensive li-ions
http://www.usbcell.com/
SuperFruit- The futuristic Kool-Aid
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4620/2393_big_web.jpg
Company Nutraflavor found a way to extract not only the flavor, but also the important vitamins and healthy stuff from so-called superfruits- Fruits that are high in antioxidants, vitamins.. You know, nutritious stuff, like pomegranate (Which are my favorite fruit possibly- They're DELICIOUS, or, specifically, the seeds, see them far left in picture.). Not only that but they're supposed to taste much more authentic than synthetic flavoring. I could care less about how healthy it is- I don't drink stuff like this to bulk up- but intense flavor and the fact that they have pomegranate means they get an awesome-label in my book.
The flexible battery
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/3882/1541_big_web.jpg
Called Flexion, this battery is not only high capacity relative to its size (using li-ion technology), but is flexible and able to be hot laminated. It can also take tons of pressure, 550 PSI to be exact. That said, my bet is that THIS will power the cars of the future.
Contortionist metal- Corex.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/3918/1570_big_web.jpg
Contortionist metal is just like any other alloy. Hard. Conductive. Durable.
Except, in this case, it bends. I could name 101 uses for this.. Armor, roll-up ironing board, furniture that melds to your body type, etc. I love this stuff. It works by collapsing and un-collapsing small air capillaries inside the metal. It's called Corex.
Contortionist plastic
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/3960/1620_big_web.jpg
Contortionist plastic is an amazing type of polymer that can be crumpled up and compressed/folded without suffering permanent warping, meaning you could fold up your pool after the summer's over, crumple up your water bottle and store it in your pocket, or whatever you like, really. Awesome stuff.
Intelligent magnets
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4095/1761_big_web.jpg
Smart magnets aren't really patented or anything but they're magnets that are hemispherically oriented, or magnetic down their centers. This means they self-arrange into geometric shapes like circles and hexagons, etc. A really cool spin on old technology.
Memory Metal
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4119/1781_big_web.jpg
A new metal called Elastamat is uprising- It's basically what you saw in every 1980s UFO comic. This stuff can wrap around your finger and then spring back to its former shape without any distortion at all. Discovered by a leading.. Well.. Future-materials company, Elastamat is possibly every conspiracy theorist's dream.
ColdShield- The only material that slugs it out with lava and comes out swinging
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4530/2223_big_web.jpg
Possibly some of the coolest stuff ever to grace my eyes, ColdShield is a heat sink and heat shield. It very rapidly absorbs energy but also completely negates it. You can buy it in liquid or paste form. Ambient heat quickly dries up the liquid content when it's sprayed/applied and leaves a "white, crystalline material" that soaks heat up like crazy, apparently, but as usual, the creators didn't want to go too in depth. It's available to some fire-fighting departments and industries where welding is needed. Apparently this stuff can make a white-hot plate cold to the touch in a couple seconds and it can protect completely against stuff up to eight thousand degrees, more than the surface of the sun.
Temperature-display plastic
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/4527/2207_big_web.jpg
Yeah, we saw my temperature display glass article, but now, somewhere in some place, a group of monkeys on typewri- Err, a group of scientists found a way to make temperature detective plastic. Seriously. And the kicker you can go ahead and heat meld it to stuff- it's not electronic. Turns out, a line of Puma shoes used these to change color, so if you really want some, you know where to look.
A few wacky designers also decided to make a lounge sofa out of this stuff.
MagInk Paper Display
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-4-470-0109.jpg
Current OLED technology around here perhaps isn't perfect for the idea of fold-up-ultra-portable TVs right now, but a company called MagInk made something that IS.
A brand new product just unveiled, they say they intend to make a series of display products based on this. It is basically an OLED screen that's incredibly thin and uses very minute amounts of power- Think, most portable 60" on Earth. I really wish I could talk about this more because, to tell you the truth, it fascinates me, but the Israeli company that makes it wants to keep it mysterious a bit longer.
Temperature Glass
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-7-470-0109.jpg
http://trendsupdates.com/wp-content...perature-sensitive_glass_tiles_shower_big.jpg
OmiGAD, do want. A company called Moving Color decided to make this stuff- It's glass that CHANGES COLOR as different temperatures contact it. That means if a warm water droplet falls on it, it blooms with awesome colors and this is just amazing. They've applied this already- They made a prototype shower made of this that changes colors as the water hits it. Apparently it's pretty inexpensive to make but they're keeping the public in the dark as to how it works- For now, I'll just sit here and eyegasm at the picture, thanks.
UPDATE-Moving Color announced they're selling it currently at rates of, as quoted
Standard 4x4x3/8" Glass:
0-25 square feet (up to 225 pieces) = $149.00/ft or $16.55/piece
25-100 square feet (up to 900 pieces) = $139.00/ft or $15.44/piece
100 and up (900 pieces or more) = $129.00/foot or $14.33/piece
http://www.movingcolor.net/products.html
Translucent Concrete
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-6-470-0109.jpg
A Hungarian guy made concrete. Sure. Great. But you know those things on the ends of the tiny fake Christmas trees? Those are called optical fibers. They're basically a tube with the lining made of mirrors. Pretty cool, but even more cool when you put them in concrete..
If you can hunt em down he sells it at Litracon, his company.
Anti-Graffiti film
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-8-470-0109.jpg
Made with a type of adhesive and permanent Teflon, this stuff basically means anything drawn on it or painted on it or whatever will just wipe easily right off with a paper towel or something. Pretty revolutionary if you think of cities with a lot of graffiti- And it doesn't eliminate it completely. If some amazing artist draws something someone really wants to leave on their building, they can.
Water-activated expanding plastic
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-10-470-0109.jpg
Pretty cool stuff if you ask me- If you add water it expands to a bunch of times its original size, meaning it could serve as non-liquid foam n schtuff.
Ceramic paper.. Wait what?
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-2-470-0109.jpg
A company in NY, NY made ceramic paper by weaving together a ton of ceramic fibers. Anyone who works in pottery knows ceramic is really heat resistant, so this could see tons of use as wall paper and stuff.
Water-soluble glass
http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/inventables-12-470-0109.jpg
Basically, a team of scientists made glass that dissolves on contact with water. This could be useful if you think about it- A fire happens, sprinklers go off, they dissolve the glass surrounding fire extinguishers and stuff, etc.
Large articles
OLEDs
OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. In my previous megathreads on flashlights I covered that LEDs are a type of light source that use semiconductors to produce large amounts of light in comparison to the amount of power they use. OLEDs are different in that due to the fact that they use organic semiconductors they can be arranged in a way that they can make extremely high resolution, high-efficiency display systems.
http://www.wa007.com/labs/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/optimus_oled_lebedev.jpg - Low resolution OLEDs used in a brotheren control pad of the Optimus Maximus OLED screen keyboard
OLEDs recently have begun to be recognized as viable display sources- Sony having already produced some televisions from them, both large and small, and the U.S. Air Force has begun trialling them in use as HUDs- Heads Up Displays. There's a couple companies devoted to researching their use as camouflage- One day, invisible tanks will be pwnin noobs everywhere!
http://www.gadgetvenue.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/flexible_oled.jpg
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/oled-1.jpg
Unlike other display methods, OLEDs are completely flexible, meaning if you're not using your monitor or TV you can just fold it up and take it with you- You could take your 80 inch to the park with you and plug it up to your video camera to review those (moderator removed language)And because OLEDs are flexible, you could go ahead and pin one to your chest and run around streaming CSI: Miami for all to see. Many companies are manufacturing clothing with OLEDs built in- You don't need a watch, just check your sleeve to see the time!
And unlike LCD displays, OLEDs don't need a backlight to function, so they can be ridiculously thin and use extremely low amounts of power. Due to the nature of the components used they also produce very crisp, defined displays- moreso than that of current LCDs or plasmas
http://www.gadgetroad.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/January/Sony STE OLED/sony_oled_tv_4.jpg
And OLEDs aren't JUST limited to display. They, while not able to produce the AMOUNTS of light LEDs can, produce it more efficiently and in softer colors, because most LEDs do not use much phosphor so as to not limit output. Fold up your new ceiling light and shove it in your pocket to go show off to your hobo friends. In addition, if you want your light to be dimmer, hell, make it dimmer! Want it to change colors? Make it change colors. This is OLED stuff, remember?
http://www.dodevice.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/roll-to-roll-oled-01.jpg
Because OLEDs are so efficient they can easily be mated with low output, natural power sources like cheap solar panels and cells, meaning they're very eco-friendly even if you're not using the power grid. Some scientists have found a way to turn OLEDs into very efficient, flexible solar cells as well. Imagine turning your TV off and then going outside and tossing it up on the roof to generate power for your house.
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/oled.jpg
www.ohgizmo.com/2006/09/18/oled-solar-cells - source
OLEDs are quite phenomenal in that due to their high resolution very tiny screens are possible- A Dutch designer made a fully programmable keyboard using them. Due to their nature they're also simpler than other displays to unify into one processing unit. This also means that video CONTACTS instead of glasses, may be possible
http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads2/2008/04/art-lebedev-optimus-maximus-oled-keyboard.jpg
Feast your eyes on some more OLED fapfodder
http://www.oledevices.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/samsung_40_inch_oled.jpg
http://www.ubergizmo.com/photos/2007/1/468_lg_oled_01.jpg
http://www.oled-display.info/images/etri-oled-clothes.jpg
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/4/2008/12/494x_OLED_xmastree.jpg
http://www.treehugger.com/osram-oled-j001.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9s8iqcCd0DY/R4kiTSiA6cI/AAAAAAAABX4/cXqhT9g7nk8/s400/sony+XEL-1+OLED.jpg
Nokia's concept OLED phone, the Morph
http://www.mobile-weblog.com/imgnam...ible_mobile_phone---50226711--nokia morph.jpg
Gel magnets
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/1031/748_big_web.jpg
Gel magnets are a new material just found by a Japanese company. They're basically like any permanent magnet. They have poles. They attract some metals. They're awesome. But in this case, they're also squishy. Gel magnets are the maliable counterparts of their neodymium cousins. They have a ton of possible uses.. Refrigerator and cabinet doors (To attract the door and cushion the impact), specialized shocks, etc.
Organic super-glues
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/16/gallery/mussel-540x380.jpg
A glue that can stick to Teflon. Made from the stuff mussels use to stick to rocks. Seriously. Navy subs and anti-stick cookware use that poop and now something sticks to it? That's not possible for any conventional glue. Ever. Glue works by locking into pores in the substance and then chemically bonding with it, but this stuff is mysterious.. It sticks to things without the required pores.
Heck, it's supposedly 20X stronger than industrial paste they use to hook cars together.
It's not commercially available at the moment. Most of it is going into research for its practical uses.
In the meantime scientists have found out a way to create a synthetic version that's nearly as effective
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/16/mussel-glue.html
-[tab]Gecko glue?![/tab]
Geckos are incredibly awesome, nobody debates that.
-They gave us car insurance! http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/commercials/2005/10/geico-gecko-1.jpg
-They look sexy! http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/2070845/gecko-madagascar-main_Full.jpg
-They gave us re-stickable tape!.. Wait, what?
http://www.worldchanging.com/postimages/article/5467_largearticlephoto.jpeg
A gecko can climb walls for a reason. Their feet are covered in trillions of trillions of tiny suction cups which react microscopically with surfaces, allowing them to support their weight (And then some) easily on walls or upside down. Some scientists think that they could synthetically reproduce this effect to create re-stickable tape, and if combined with the mussel glue, it would be one of the most powerful adhesives created. I dunno, but if I get gecko hands and feet, I'm in.
http://damyantiwrites.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/writing-about-gecko-tape.jpg
Smart-plastic
https://s3.amazonaws.com/inventables_technology_production/technology_images/1061/865_big_web.jpg
Because of their characteristic to hold a shape, metal is commonly used over plastic. Now, a Japanese man trying to find firmer plastic inadvertently made shape-retaining plastic. This might not sound like much, but it is. Compare the above image to something like a garbage can bending back into shape after being warped.
Shape retaining plastic opens up a lot of possibilities- Who needs wristbands for their watch, real men use plastic.
Dry water
Dry water is a synthetic water. Well, it's kind of like water. You can drink it, it's liquid, it's clear, it does the same stuff water does, but it evaporates 50 times as fast as water, meaning the instant it "wets" something like paper or clothes it evaporates into the air. A company manufactures this in the USA for fighting fires, called Sapphire. http://www.fs-world.com/Print.asp?id=3222&url=http://www.fs-world.com/Show.asp?ID=3222&Form=5
It's already being used to fight fires and in some sprinklers.
In things like arctic rescues, dry water warmed could be used to quickly elevate body temperature without the subject being left soaked in a freezing environment. Water transfers heat to and from the body very efficiently. I can't find any pictures of dry water at the moment but videos of it surely exist. If you head over to Japan you might be able to secure some, otherwise, wait.
Miracle Fruit
There's been threads on it before but most were personal response and only briefly covered what it was.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZfxsaVdMA04/SUne5Z78gZI/AAAAAAAAACc/h9DI6fRbkwE/s400/miracle-fruit-1.jpg
Miracle fruit is a type of berrylike fruit that contains a mysterious protein, miraculin. It's not known exactly how, but miraculin bonds to your taste buds and makes sour and bitter things intensely sweet. I mean ANYTHING almost- Vinegar, orange rinds, lemons, limes, hell, even Guinness tastes different (like caramel) cause it maker the bitter hops taste sweet.
Way back a guy saw natives in Africa licking the fruits before meals, so he tried some and was like "omfg haxx0rs" and brought it back and planted stuff and boom, miracle fruit was discovered.
In the 70s some peeps tried to make it commercially available so fat people could eat it then eat non-fattening (removed) tasting foods to make them taste nice, but the sugar industry was all like "(removed language)" and messed up their research and stuff.
So basically, today it's available at places like Miraclefruithut.com.
They sell the bare fruit (Which has the best effect), freeze dried tablets (Longest shelf life), and the actual plant. Don't bother with the tablets, they barely work. Buy the plant itself and have an endless supply or grab some fruit, slather up yer' tongue, and tear into some sour stuff.
http://www.miraclefruithut.com/images/largemiracleplant.gif
http://www.miraclefruithut.com/images/miraclefruittablets.jpg
http://www.miraclefruithut.com/images/miraclefruitberry.jpg
HOW TO GROW YOUR OWN:
Buy a seed or one of the actual small plants
If seed, buy Gibberelic acid from UnitedNuclear.com's Chemical and Metal section; Gibberelic acid increases the germination rate to almost 100% as opposed to like 40%.
If plant, go to step 2
Put the plant in a large container filled with 50% perlite and 50% peat. Miracle fruit needs really acidic soil to flourish. If it's a seed do the same thing but apply a bit of gibberelic acid to the seeds and use several, with smaller containers. Buy seeds from http://www.miraclefruitusa.com/products/miracle-fruit-seeds/20/ or wherever you can get a good deal.
http://www.buyhardwaresupplies.com/?t=5&m=g1&itemNumber=7100688
http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-159740/Detail
Next, just.. Well.. Wait. Transplant if they outgrow their containers. A few years and the sprouts should start bearing fruit.
I have a plant growing at the moment, but in the meantime I bought a few of the fruit themselves and I tell you, what these do is absolutely crazy.
http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2005/9/images/kiwi.jpg
I love kiwis but they have a really sour aftertaste that kind of hurts after eating a lot. With miracle fruit they're like.. God, a green, fuzzy orgasm. Eat these FIRST.
http://www.producepedia.com/images/commodity/grapefruit.jpg
The rinds of citrus fruits tastes like concentrated poop without miracle fruit, as you would expect, but with it, rinds become delicious bonus snacks to eat after the grapefruit. It tastes like really sweet kumquat rinds except a bit tougher. The juice itself doesn't change much but you can definitely discern a powerful, sweeter change.
http://www.svgopen.org/2005/papers/Prasad_Abstract_R2V4SVG/lime.JPG
I didn't have any lemons but these were just as good. Limes taste like a ton of sprite or lemonade packed into a 4 inch surface, they're really good.
http://www.assuredproduce.co.uk/resources/000/145/727/blackberry_main.jpg
Blackberries are by nature quite sweet but the premature ones I ate were VERY sweet, an intense difference from the adult ones.
http://miyagi.sg/wp-content/kumquats.jpg
The rind and fruit in kumquats already taste sweet so there was no real change, but they're fking good so I ate em anyways
http://www.chemistryland.com/CHM107Lab/Exp10_pHindicator/Lab/VinegarLemon.jpg
Vinegar was really weird. To describe it best I'd say gummy bear mixed with pepsi?
Will try more when my plant buds
Till then, dnt du drug u kan maek an differenke
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../800px-Ferrofluid_Magnet_under_glass_edit.jpg - Here you see a bit of ferrofluid on a sheet of glass with a magnet underneath. The spikes are a result of surface tension and the properties of magnetic fields.
Ferrofluid
Ferrofluid is defined as any kind of liquid that becomes uniform or rigid when magnetic force is applied. Almost all of the time this is achieved by suspending bits of iron and other magnetic stuff in a liquid, creating a kind of magnet-activated colloid.
Most often used for entertainment, Ferrofluid has lots of uses.
Art-
http://www.slipperybrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/ferrofluid.jpg
http://centripetalnotion.com/images/ferrofluid.jpg
http://bored-night.com/pics/Ferrofluid Sculptures/ferrofluid_sculptures006.jpg
Already Ferrofluid has been recognised as beautiful. Through electromagnets artists make the ferrofluid dance to their will, making graceful patterns and spiky monstrosities. Because ferrofluid is in fact a fluid its uses artistically are virtually un-ending. Think of it as lustrous, liquid clay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTn2rtULhTI
http://www.ubiquit.us/blog/images/ferrofluid-1.jpg
Military-
Some Russian and US companies have been researching the use of Ferrofluid as a sort of liquid armor. Since ferrofluid is a liquid it could be held onto the subject by a weak magnetic field, allowing it to remain supple and not at all encumbering like heavy vests. Sensors could then be rigged to detect impacts with the ferrofluid and then to immediately apply a extremely strong magnetic field, making the ferrofluid rock solid for the moment it was impacted. This would best be used on vehicles, but they predict through fancy fabrics it could apply to human beings too. No pictures or video of this have been released to this date, but progress is supposedly going well.
Display-
Some people have recreationally found ferrofluid makes for interesting displays, one man making a game (Snake) out of it
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTn2rtULhTI[/media]
But if you used a complex magnetic machine such as an MRI and multicolored layers of ferrofluid, it could be used as a serious display method.
http://blog.makezine.com/img413_621.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CYdC8hMD3.../hAGcEX8eD5g/s400/snoil_game-over_470x264.jpg
Fuel-
NASA originally had a project in which they would use flammable ferrofluid as a fuel source. This would be so that in in-space fuel transactions the flow of liquid could easily be controlled. Also, in liquid fuel rockets, it would make the cutoff of the rocket flame consumption more reliable.
Engineering-
Ferrofluid can be used as extremely efficient lubrication, making virtually zero-friction contact possible. Because the ferrofluid as a whole under magnetic influence is solid, but the substance is in a liquid state, ie not bonded strongly together and thus allowed to flow past one another but still attracted, it is seemingly the perfect lubricant, and in fact it's already in use as a sort of liquid ball bearing in some vehicles.
But Lumenshroom, where can I acquire this wondrous substance and for how much?
Suprisingly, cheaply, and at Unitednuclear.
http://www.unitednuclear.com/chem.htm at about half-way down the page. It's listed as MagnaView fluid.
You can get 175 milliliters for 75 dollars.
Images-
View more luscious, ferrous liquid!
http://media.techeblog.com/images/ferro_7.jpg
http://www.eng.yale.edu/koserlab/Outreach_Files/ferrofluid_spikes_4.jpg
http://www.technorama.ch/typo3temp/pics/a42350a15a.jpg
http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/assets/press/oil_girl1.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2024/2193636946_a6e2a816f9.jpg?v=0
Gallium
http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~scintech/mercury/gallium1.jpg
- A cube of gallium melts on hand temperature
Gallium is a metal with a very low melting point, just above room temperature. Not only this, but like water, it actually spreads APART when it's cooler. This means if you fill a metal container up with liquid gallium and let it sit at room temperature it will break the container. (Ever wondered why water pipes bust in winter?)
It's also a semiconductor; It's used almost entirely in LEDs.
http://qfichennai.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/24-c.jpg - Gallium at room temperature.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phpvcJXE9AM.jpg- Gallium-based blue LEDs.
Gallium sticks to glass and porcelain, too, so some people make mirrors out of it.
http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070620/070620_liquid_telescope_hmed.hmedium.jpg - A mirror of gallium.
Heck, you won't even die if you decide to mess with some. It doesn't give off lethal vapors like mercury.
It's even used in thermometers, like mercury.
http://theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Samples/031.6/s12s.JPG - A thermometer of gallium is shown.
If you feel like handling any, it stains stuff and it sticks to skin pretty well so get some rubber gloves unless you want a mess- Get a plastic container, too, it will break a metal one. Gallium not only is larger when cold but it diffuses into almost any other metal, making all kinds of alloys.
http://www.pse-mendelejew.de/bilder/ga.jpg - Some Gallium crystals
Gallium is slightly magnetic so if you had a really strong magnet you could probably mess with it.
Gallium conducts heat really well (65 times more than water!) so people have thought that if you mixed it with other alloys you could make a safe alloy liquid at room temperature that would be a valid coolant.
Gallium isn't found just randomly in nature but it's manufactured by smelting impure stuff.
"Moar pictoors!"
Fine.
http://binrock.net/permanent/2006/1201_gallium/gallium.jpg
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/php7nackwAM.jpg
http://www.indium.com/_images/1116/..._aluminum_reaction_corrosive_packaging_1.jpg- Gallium eats a hole right through aluminum.
http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/visualelements/hires/gallium_2.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2187/2205154603_2de39e1e4d.jpg - Peakaboo!
https://www.emovendo.net/images/T/t-16205-73.jpeg
http://krdnet.com/EBAY/Galleries/favorites/images/Gallium 03.jpg
"Lumenshroom, tell me where to get it or I'll slit your throat!"
Well, since you put it nicely..
http://www.unitednuclear.com/chem.htm
Scroll down to the Gs to see gallium. It's a little expensive at 50 bucks for five grams but if you want anything this balls to the wall awesome you'll have to spend some money
Make sure to order some rubber gloves or go out and buy some, it's really annoying to try to get off your skin.
u kan acheev ur draems dnt doo drugs yoyo peece.
Aerogel
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/php5JZFSPAM.jpg-
Seen here, a slab of Aerogel, with its amazing insulating qualities, completely negates the heat of the blowtorch underneath from igniting the matches.
http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogelb.jpg- The same test is ran with crayons.
http://eetdnews.lbl.gov/cbs_nl/nl8/images/Aerogel_flame.gif- Who needs hands anyways
Aerogel is an extremely light solid, only a few times more dense than air. It's made by aerating a type of glass with air, infusing it with tiny pockets of air and making it volumes less dense. Because it has these pockets of air and the silicon negates heat so well, coupled with that its translucency, meaning it partially blocks light, Aerogel is THE perfect insulation. Heck, it even blocks sound and electricity. Some modern, expensive houses use powdered Aerogel as insulation in some walls.
As quoted by an Aerogel retailer: A one-inch thick Aerogel window has the same insulation value as 15 panes of glass and trapped air - which means a conventional window would have to be ten-inches thick to equal a one-inch thick Aerogel window.
Aerogel is only three times as dense as air. Three. You could bench a house made of this stuff. (Even moreso if it's a hobo's house)
http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogela.jpg - A solid block of Aerogel is held. Its smoky, murky nature is clearly displayed.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/php1fxtMpAM.jpg- Because Aerogel is so durable yet gel-based NASA used many blocks of it to collect comet dust in space in the Stardust mission. The dust would embed itself in the array for observation back on Earth.
Aerogel's amazing properties don't stop there, either. It holds 15 Guinness book of world records entries. It's not only the lowest density solid and best insulator, but it has a remarkable structure, enabling it to hold many, many times its own weight.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phpIhds8pAM.jpgp- Seen here a bit of Aerogel supports a brick.
Texturally Aerogel feels like kind of spiky Styrofoam.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phpnB2bqyAM.jpg- A NASA scientist holds a large cube of Aerogel. Looking at this, you can see why it's nicknamed "Frozen smoke".
Aerogel, because it's essentially glass with a ton of air pockets, will shatter when hit hard. It's also prone to soak up water. There's more than one type of Aerogel, the most common being the mentioned silica, and the others being aluminum oxide and carbon.
The U.S. Army is supposed to be making a type of wetsuit made with powdered Aerogel to insulate divers completely from the cold.
http://www.shrinkpictures.com/processed/phpvOLQNRAM.jpg
- Heck, if butterflies like it, it must be cool.
But Lumenshroom, I NEED Aerogel RIGHT NOW! Where do I get some?!
You can buy it at http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogel.htm
They sell other wacky poop like ferrofluid and gallium too, be sure to check out their other stuff.
Aerogel - granular, 950cc: $35.00
Aerogel - granular, 500cc: $25.00
Aerogel - granular, 250cc: $13.00
Aerogel - granular, 100cc: $5.50
Aerogel - Fragments, vial: $45.00
Aerogel - Small Sample: $45.00
Granular is tiny bits of it, fragments are chips of it, small samples are inch-size cubes
So, yeah. Don't deu drawgs u can acheev ur dreems woohoo
Balisong Mega-thread
Well, I'm one of several hobbies. Not only do I like photons, I like sharp stuff. But not just any sharp stuff, Balisongs!
DURR HURRF DURRF WHAT ARE A BALLASONG? It's a knife with two handles and a blade which fits into the center. It's renown for its ability to do incredible acrobatics and superfast opening speed. (And it's not illegal! Eat your heart out, switchblade.) [THEY ARE ILLEGAL IN THE UK]
Have a picture of one. http://www.knifeworks.com/ProductImages/benchmade/bm42.jpg
DURR, WHERE AM I IS T0 BUY ONE? Whoo, partner. You're starting too fast. We need to learn the basics! A balisong is just like any other knife. Dangerous, sharp, and.. Really sharp. REALLY.
SO. The basics. First, you gotta know how to open one! No, you don't retrieve it from your pocket and pry it apart with two hands. In the case of the Model 42 Benchmade balisong, my favorite model (It's VERY fast to open and the pins feel frictionless. Pictured above.), you squeeze the handles together to depress the safety pin and grab the "danger" handle, the handle which the blade of the knife would hit if it swung forwards, swinging the "safe" handle (The butt would hit this handle) out and over and moving your thumb before the handle gets your thumb. The knife will stay in front. I have a way of being utterly confuzzling, have a video. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNqXVlSQPfs&feature=related[/media]
The balisong is extremely fast to open in the hands of someone who knows this technique. Because of the low friction involved you can draw the knife faster than a switchblade. And fixed blades are so awkward, don't even think about them rivalling it. This is the knife to have when going down a back-alley.
TRICKS.
These are what most balisong users buy them for. There's way too many to list all of them, and the names are obvious. (Finger pass, aerial, hand pass, twofinger catch, twirl, etc.) You shouldn't be worrying about these in your balisong infancy, anyhow, as these things are SUPER SHARP. Your hands could be cut to ribbons. Even for pros doing tricks without a mark is extremely unusual. But you want to see SOMETHING, I guess.. Just have another video. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMEPuXK4Eog&feature=related[/media] more detailed stuff at BalisongXtreme.com
DEFENSE
Balisongs are extremely good defense weapons. They're small, the attacker would have no idea what they were, are super fast to open, and can be used as blunt weapons too.
But keep in mind the rules of self-defense. Someone drawing a knife and charging at you is reason to flay them, not them saying "I'm gonna kill you" without showing any physical aggressive behavior. But drawing it, just in case, won't hurt, as you wouldn't be attacking them, merely warning.
That said, if that awful moment comes, you'll need to be ready. If someone pulls a gun/knife/whatever, you'll be shaking like a leaf, and will have little time to draw. Getting a knife stuck means death or injury. Practice opening a few times a day, it could mean the difference.
Now, the part most of you will want to read. How to tactically use your Balisong as a weapon.
Balisong blades are extremely sharp, but the human body has alot of fats and muscles to block blows. That means that if fighting a large attacker, the pierce works better, not the stab. The same goes backwards for fighting small attackers. But the pierce works on them, too.
Balisongs are thought of as being knive weapons, and they mainly are. But half of the battle is disorientation. Not knowing which way or how the next strike will come. Blunt attacks with Balisongs have alot of momentum and are very painful. Grabbing the safe handle, flip the balisong out towards the target. And when I say target, don't pick a broad area and hope to hit it, pick a small space. Sturnum, eye, navel, exact. Less room for error. Anyhow, flip the other handle towards the target. The under area of the chin is very hard to block and is painful, but any exposed bone hurts. Lethality is a last resort, so save the temple for last. Lots of times a strike from a Balisong will scare the assailant away, and if it doesn't, the form used will automatically open the blade and you can use that. Remember, lethality is a last option, so go for legs and arms first. But if the assailant has a weapon, take them down. Punches, stab to the midsection, slash to the arteries, etc. Practice opening your Balisong without looking at it, as looking at it tells the attacker it's a weapon and gives him time to attack.
THROWING BALISONGS.
Throwing Balisongs is not an effective way of combat, but if someone's charging you at high speed, it may be your only option. It means abandoning your weapon, though, so careful. Anyhow, to throw the Balisong, grab the safe handle and fling outwards towards the target. The handles and blade should be spread eagled heading towards the target at blinding speed. If the blade hits, he has a puncture wound. If the handles hit, he's in some pain. Either way it's not good for him.
INJURIES: Doesn't matter if you're a Balisong master, you'll get cut. Luckily, clean cuts (Not jagged rips) are easy to treat. Keep the injury above heart level to make it hard to get blood there. Apply neosporin and a bandage using high pressure, then a moderate pressure level after half an hour. If a vein/artery is sliced, get immediate medical attention. Unlikely, though, since most tricks are done with fingers.
These are just a few good things to know. For more stuff BalisongXtreme.com is a good site to visit.
Oh, I think I'm forgetting something. Go buy one! Buy one of the blunt-edge trainers if you're a little scared at first. www.knifecenter.com and search for a Benchmade model 42 or Benchmade 32 Morpho. The model 42 is stainless steel and is better for tricks, but the steel used in the blade won't last as long as the Morpho steel, but the Morpho rusts if exposed to water. It's also incredibly sharp and good for every day carry.
Feel free to please your eyes with some Balisong freestyle. Some people can do this, except many times more advanced, with two hands, doing independant tricks. These are beginner tricks, and, believe it or not, are pretty easy.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btcmFMGreLc&feature=related[/media]
Butterfly knives of this magnitude can easily slice paper from edge to edge without even slightly wrinkling it. They're that sharp. And can be sharper with the correct sharpeners. (I use an Edgepro Apex with the polish tape.) Use gloves dnt du drug u can achev ur drems
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