Curious Vending Contraptions: 3

Chilli, spaghetti and meatballs and yep, you've guessed it...

...CANned-SPAM!

Holy Flying Bananas, Batman!

A team of designers, engineers and legal eagles are currently building a 300 metre long inflatable banana.

The semi-rigid structure, built of bamboo and synthetic paper, will be launched over the skies of Texas in August 2008.

The banana, which will float between 30km and 50km in the sky, will be visible by day and night only from the state of Texas and surrounding areas.

The cost? A cool million dollars.

For the full story of the project: GeoStationary Banana Over Texas

Curious Vending Contraptions: 2

iPod and PSP vending machine in Las Vegas.

Accesories available too.

Mine's white with two sugars...

Curious Contraption: Any Ideas?

Abandoned in the streets of Zinguinchor.

Looks like a mobile, armoured cement mixer to us...

Is that an 'L' plate on the back?!

Curious Contraption

A very Curious Contraption found at "a very weird show that consisted of creepy, moving machines, lights and music..."

...somewhere in Scotland, Uk.

Anyone know what it does?!

Curious Vending Contraptions: 1

So, you thought vending machines were only good for a cup of java and a snicker bar?

Rice Vending Machine
Japan

Curious Design: Valencia's Opera House

Designed by Santiago Calatrava Valls, the 'Palau de les Arts' Opera House in Valencia, began construction in 1996 and was officially opened in October 2005, by Queen Sofia of Spain. The building cost around €150,000,000 - approximately $204,610,557.

Descriptions of the opera house have varied from 'a blend of seagoing vessel and spacecraft' to 'some sort of prehistoric trilobite' or a 'giant warrior's helmet'.

Planes in The Planes?

Down under, in the back of beyond, this sculpture park was born "in protest of some sketcy mining paractices being carried out in the area."

The planes are real and not very curious - if they were on a runway and the right way up, but stick'em tail down in the middle of the desert...

D'oh! Nut

Bart and Homer Simpson have been visiting a home from home - Springfield, New Zealand, where a monster 12ft Pink Frosted Doughnut sculpture has been unveiled.

The small town of less than 300 inhabitants, has been swarmed with Simpson's fans since the huge delight was revealed. Springfield, NZ, couldn't be much further away from Homer's own home town, but was picked by 20th Century Fox, as part of the international marketing campaign for 'The Simpsons Movie'.



Springfield Township Committee chairman William Townshend says not to get too excited about the piece as it only has a resource consent that allows it to be erected for two months. He also said those hoping for a piece would be disappointed. "It is definitely not edible." D'oh!

Mapping The Internet

Partial map of the Internet, made from data on January 15th 2005, representing less than 30% of Class C networks reachable by the data collection program. (Data Source: The Opte Project).

Each node represents an IP addresses and the length of the line in between two nodes indicates the delay between those two nodes.

Each line is colour-coded according to it’s allocation:
Green: .com, .org
Dark Blue: .net, .ca, .us
Magenta: .uk, .it, .pl, .fr
Red: .mil, .gov, .edu
Yellow: .ip, .cn, .tw, .au, .de
Blue-green: .br, .kr, .nl
White: unknown


Image by: Matt Britt - License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

Always Look On The Bright Side of Life...

We came across this video, by 'realmoocher', on YouTube and couldn't resist adding it here....

From 'the solar powered torch' to umbrellas for shoes, it's all here!

A very cool shirt

A Japanese company, ‘Kochou fuku’, have found a way to revolutionize keeping cool.

Available in a variety of colours and styles, the patented shirt has a couple of battery powered fans sewn into the back.

CEO, Hiroshi Ichagaya, said “Until now, air-conditioning implied cooling the entire room. Now, we can cool just the body."

Although the clothes have been on the market for three years, the 5,500 sold so far have mostly been to workers at the factory.

Ichigaya’s daughter admits she won’t wear them, as “the shape is no good”.

The shirts are available to buy on the internet and cost 11,000 yen (about $97)

The World of Tomorrow hovers, prepares to land

by Mike Redmond

"Someone finally invented a flying car, sort of. It’s a hovercraft, the M200G from the fine folks at Moller International of Davis, Calif. It has eight rotary engines that create enough oomph to lift the thing about 10 feet in the air, just high enough to zoom over traffic and crack your head on a stoplight. Which, let’s face it, would add a much-needed element of comedy to the average morning commute."

Read the rest of the article: Indianapolis Business Journal

Next to the Real Thing

Next to the Real Thing
Originally uploaded by vaughn235

Everyone wants an iPhone these days.

A Japanese man was so desperate to have one, he built his own - out of clay. The exact replica is almost indistinguishable from the real thing - except for one slight problem - It doesn't work.

He even went as far as building a clay model of the box!

Curious Contraption: Designer Restroom

"Seven years ago, the City Council of Bainbridge Island, Washington, set out to build a public restroom for downtown Waterfront Park so visitors would no longer have to use portable toilets."

No big deal, so far. However....

"The toilets are still there, following council battles over million-dollar proposals such as a glass-tiled structure dug into a hillside, a combination restroom and scenic viewing area, and a design that anticipated $45,000 just for artwork. "

...Would you want to go sight seeing in a public restroom!

"In May the council gave the public works director some money and ordered him to 'just (build) a bathroom.'"

What a 'relief'!

Source: KansasCity Star