Period Three Blog » Random Stuff

Sep242007

Paper Record Player

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

This is truly awesome, I would really like to hear one of these working.

Fully working, manual record player made entirely of paper. To play the record the handle needs to be turned in a clockwise direction at a steady 331/3rpm. The paper cone then acts as a pickup, amplifying the sound enough to make it audible.

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Sep012007

Design Interact Interview

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff, Business

Take a look at the latest designinteract.com interview… it’s one of us, err me… Anyways, check it out.

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Aug272007

Dean Kamen will save the world

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

I love this guy, in my opinion he’s the worlds foremost, builder/inventor/gadgeteer/thinker/geek… His sterling engine project(s) certainly raise my eyebrows. Especially if you consider that he can engineer one to run on just about any kind of junk:

“We run two villages in Bangladesh on Stirlings that run on freakin’ cow dung,” says Kamen, who envisions Stirling engines powering the world’s off-the-grid villages and using the waste heat produced by the engine to purify water.

Putting one of his sterlings into this “smart car” made by Think, this would probably extend its mileage by hundreds of miles, that’s crazy… If only there were more “thinkers” like him in the world, or if our government would forego the oil company lobbies’ money, we could quite possibly change the way we consume energy across our country. I wish Kamen was an American inventor so we could have him all to ourselves, but then again, perhaps he’ll actually make a difference in England…

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Aug202007

Customized Action Figures

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

I’m kind of a nerd so i’ve known about this sub-culture for quite a while, no I don’t make my own action-figures at home - I promise! But I do admit I have a pretty extensive collection that i’ve kept since I was a kid and do enjoy perusing the toy aisle with the kids every time we go to Target. In case you have never caught this one out there, there is a very large sub-culture of people who build their favorite characters out of other action figures and/or pieces parts.

A dedicated subculture of craftspeople have been frankensteining, kitbashing, boiling-and-popping, sculpting and painting one-of-a-kind figures for years. Their efforts are bringing to life characters that don’t enjoy enough of a following to justify mass production — think the 1950s Batman foe the Killer Moth — or which, like the Watchmen figures, are tied up by copyright and creative differences.

The results can be pretty neat, some of these folks have talent, i’ll give them that.

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Aug142007

Huck Hack

Posted by Jay in Random Stuff, Design

So these guys came up a hack of sorts to allow you to do 2 way video-conferencing. They won the “Iron Coder” contest at this year’s C-4 conference. That is a very cool achievement, don’t get me wrong, but an ingenious part is that is uses a mirror contraption to reflect the camera to the front of the iphone, since, like every other cell or smartphone, the camera and screen are on opposite sides. It’s a gloriously low-tech solution and it turns out they have a product that does the same thing for macbooks and macbook pros. It’s called the Huckleberry mirror.

via Daring Fireball

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Aug132007

Graphic design of pirates

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff, Design

If you’ve never really studied the flags of the worlds famous pirates, you’ve definately missed something pretty neat. Not the old standard thought of skull and crossbones to say the least. Pirates of the world had a fairly intricate signage system and in many cases the history behind the pirate’s lives take form in the different versions of their flags/signage. it’s astounding to think that they actually cared about their brands at the same time killing and pillaging their way through life…

Take Blackbeard’s signage; he fancies himself the king of pirates while holding an hourglass. Which can only signify that his time is limited as king, seeing as how he’s a pirate and all… While my main point was to present the pirate flag as a design work, I am still a bit of a history buff and pirates are definately one of my favorite subjects, so I’ll just share a few interesting links:

Brief History of Blackbeard
Wikipedia on Blackbeard
National Geographic Kids on Blackbeard
Blackbeard was from North Carolina
Queen Anne’s Revenge (Blackbeard’s ship)
Blackbeard’s real name was Edward Teach
They even made a movie
Party with a pirate
Playmobile loves pirates

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Jul312007

Oregon Trail

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

I don’t know how many of you remember the Oregon Trail game back from middle school (I know that dates me…) but I came across these great sites recently that sent me into a fit of nostalgia.

Although its efforts are largely forgotten today, MECC (the makers of Oregon Trail) was perhaps one of the most influential and important organizations in the field of educational computing to have ever operated. It was also more successful and had a much larger impact than earlier projects and initiatives to improve education and increase the awareness of computers in education.

I just remember playing this game for as long as I could during english class, doesn’t say much for my school I know, but fond memories of dysentery and bandit raids still linger…

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Jul252007

Technorati reloaded

Posted by Gene in Random Stuff

Technorati the popular blog and misc web info aggregator website has recently relaunched with a brand spanking new look. I have to question though the navigation element title “WTF”. It doesn’t mean what you think it means, they use it for “what’s on fire” but c’mon folks, I know the internet crowd’s demographics are known to be younger and hipper but that’s really not too professional… or am I just missing the point?

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Jun282007

There are hippies and then there are hippies….

Posted by Jay in Random Stuff

What’s a Freegan? Freegans are people “employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.” They’re also people who subsist solely on foraged items. Because they hate The Man so much they’ll gladly live off of his trash.

On July 13, in NYC, of all places, you can show up for their “monthly dinner, held at a rotating series of homes of New York City freegans, is an opportunity to plan, prepare and partake in a delicious dinner made with ingredients from Thursday’s trash tour, plus our labor and love.” Mmmmm, that’s good trash.

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Jun222007

The Keywasher

Posted by Jay in Random Stuff

I used to have a bit of a reputation for going through keyboards. The telltale sound of me cursing while sliding away from my desk to avoid coffee pants. My grimy fingers don’t help either, guaranteed to add a nice patina to any surface in no time. The folks over at Coudal have found a way to resurrect that old grimy, coffee stained keyboard. The Keywasher.

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