Legends of the Joystick: video game characters remember their youth: “
Legends of the Joystick is a short original comic about video game characters remembering the days of their youth written by Gene Yang and drawn by Thien Pham, the duo who produced Level Up, the fantastic graphic novel about filial piety, video game obsession, and the American immigrant experience that also came out this week.
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Self-reproducing 3D printer for $500: “
Jmgiacalone sez, ‘The future is 3D printing, and it has never been more accessible. For less than $500 you can get your very own desktop 3D printer, capable of printing in a range of plastics and different colours.
These machines can be assembled in a weekend, and are a great way to get into 3D printing and access this exciting technology.
eMAKER are offering a limited run of 100 eMAKER Huxley RepRap 3D printers, for a limited time, for the promotional price of $475.’
(Thanks, Jmgiacalone!)
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[Might be a good option if you wanted to commit suicide in a particularly painful and messy way? -egg]
[Video Link]. Update: Previously blogged on BB. Here is a link to the ‘shred of the month’ archive.
(via Jon Swaine / spaceghetto)
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[Hmm. I’m not sure I’m convinced, but it’s worth thinking about. -egg]
Thanks to a Google Earth update containing two decades of data from seafloor-scanning expeditions, armchair explorers can take a virtual submarine ride into Earth’s last frontier.
Hula-hooping from the hoop’s point of view: “
Laura and Nick Saik, a brother and sister team in Alberta, attached a small, wide-angle camera to the inside of a hula-hoop and then recorded a hulaing session from the hoop’s point of view. It’s a great piece of video, in which Laura Saik comes across as a whirling dervish while the skybox reels overhead and around and around.
(via Kottke)
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The American Museum of Natural History, one of my favorite…: “
The American Museum of Natural History, one of my favorite museums in States, has an incredible video showcasing a rare spider silk they had on exhibit. Apparently, this textile took four years to make and the spinning of over one million spiders in Madagascar.
In the way Cleverly made shoes out of that legendary Russian leather, someone needs to give this to EG Cappelli or Sam Hober. I want a grenadine necktie made out of this!
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“As clothes have become cheaper, our clothing consumption has gone through the roof. In 1930, the…”: ““As clothes have become cheaper, our clothing consumption has gone through the roof. In 1930, the average American woman owned an average of nine outfits. Today, we each buy more than 60 pieces of new clothing on average per year. Our closets are larger and more stuffed than ever, as we’ve traded quality and style for low prices and trend-chasing. In the face of these irresistible deals, our total spending on clothing has actually increased, from $7.82 billion spent on apparel in 1950 to $375 billion today.”
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“The History of the Cheap Dress”, on Etsy
A fascinating and brief history of the rise of cheap clothes. Focused on women, but men can learn much from it, too. Two of the key results of this trend are a glut of clothes on the second-hand market and too many people impulse buying cheap clothes they don’t need.
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Rotting Gulliver’s Travels themepark in Japan: “
In 2006, the urban explorers at SleepyCity went for a trip to Gulliver’s Kingdom, an abandoned Gulliver’s Travels-themed themepark 2.5 hours out of Tokyo. The park was shuttered in 2001, and in five years, it had become a fine example of a haunting, abandoned themepark.
Gullivers is about 2.5 hours west of Tokyo, nestled into the darkside of Mt Fuji. The mountain areas are beautiful and lush. Dense waves of green cascade through the clouds, into the mist filled valleys below. Bizarrely golf courses and urbex pair up. Spot a golf course or driving range and surely urbex lurks nearby. The three themeparks we’ve exlored have been adjacent to golfing establishments. Gulliver’s provides an old culture mash of European fairytale in the Japanese mountains. It’s well worth the day trip for the surreal atmosphere, just watch out for people on the golf course.
Gulliver’s Kingdom & Sea of Trees
(Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
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