Airship Dreams - Massaud's Manned Cloud

Readers of the blog will know my affinity for airships. I can't get enough of these vessels, in all their various forms and functions.

So a late night reading about a vessel that travels at 280 km per hour, looks like a whale and promises to recreate the hotel experience of the Graf Zeppelin catches my eye.

Jean-Marie Massaud has designed the Manned Cloud to recreate/reanimate the corpse of the airship age. If Massaud can keep his promise with a white whale of an airship (no pun or ill thought intended) look to the skies for this vessel with three years.



For a more well thought post, go to the addictive Airshipworld Blog.

A Post for Chris - Crow cares for Kitten

Happy New Year Chris!



Why is this the first time Alan Thicke has been on the blog?

found via cute overload

Worlds that might be - The Order Electrus

A BBC Natural History Unit doc that you wish were true.



Are these mechanical insects the product of rampant factory bots? Or are they the work of over-zealous German children?

Check out more of Microbia's films.

found via BotJunkie

Future Soon Christmas #4 - IM IN UR MANGER KILLING UR SAVIOR

Wow.

I should really put some more science/design/enviro issues on this blog.

Tomorrow.... I promise.

Until then, watch the best nativity since I fell out of a hayloft halfway through a church play.



Ben Levin, you are my hero.

found via hodg-man

Future Soon Christmas #3 - Chiron Beta Prime

This could be the best Christmas Song ever! And no one can be sued for playing it!



There is never enough Coulton on this blog.

Look out! It's the Santa bots!

Six for Science

And here we go:

1. Guess how old the solar system is? At least an order of magnitude older than the bible

2. A new bigger and more dangerous species of spitting cobra has been found, just in time for the holidays.

3. Mountains on Titans. Now all we have to find are some sirens....

4. The aliens can see you, so look busy.

5. You can buy a million dollar stud, but it doesn't mean he will breed true. I'm talking about horses.... what were you thinking?

6. Keep you eyes on Mars, because on Jan. 30, 2008, the red planet might receive a Tunguska size impact.

Wanna see what it might look like?

Future Soon Christmas #2 - The Last Christmas

Maybe it's my penchant for online comics and classic science fiction. Or maybe it's my way of getting back at my Evangelical upbringing (or at least seven years of it.)

Either way, I give you a little Cthulu fear.


Read more Penny Arcade - Dagon commands it.

found via ectoplasmosis

Remote Controlled Robot Gorilla

I spend a lot of time looking at online animation - I know, I should be doing other things.

Anyway, I found this very short vid by Adam Marisett of the Vancouver Film School.



Now, I can't figure out if I want to be the guy with controls, or the robo-gorilla...

Shift Happens - getting ready for the 21st Century

information aesthetics is one of my favorite blogs because they SHOW you cool new info-porn.

Check out this video by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod:



I really like this video - simple, well scripted, excellent flow. Makes me want to try my own lectures...

Who would have thought that one of the most powerful forms of info-distribution would be innovative uses for that worn-out, old workhorse Powerpoint.

Get ready for the future.

found via information aesthetics

Future Soon Christmas #1

The Nutcracker March



The robots are real - the Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System (Kiva MFS) specializes in moving pallets/storage in warehouses. They are pre-programmed, semi-autonomous robots that can do so much more than lift things.

I want a few.

found via gizmodo

Dubai's Restless Planet

Dubai, home of man-made islands, indoor skiing and foreign workers. Now, you can add animatronic dinosaurs.

From Cosmos Magazine:

Called Restless Planet, the theme park will be home to the world's largest collection of animatronic dinosaurs. The T.rex is the first to be completed of 109 robots, which are being built in various shapes and sizes to resemble more than 40 different extinct species.

Once finished, the dinosaurs will populate displays emulating a range of prehistoric habitats in the glitzy, US$1.1-billion (A$1.3-billion) park, currently under construction in Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Restless Planet promises to be spectacular, and maybe even a little more accurate in it's portrayal of dinosaurs because paleontologist Jack Horner is advising.

Who is Jack Horner? Only one of the best dino guys out there, specializing in breaking open bones and figuring out how dinosaurs worked from the inside out.

So, the theme park:
- a domed 500 thousand sq. ft habitat of robot dinosaurs that follow you with their eyes or lunge at you.
- depictions of life 100 million years ago that follow current theory.
- have I mentioned robot dinosaurs?

Check out the promotional video.

But why should Restless Planet stop with fixed-in place dinosaurs when there are working, touring dinosaur puppets?



I think a twice daily rampage of a pack of velociraptors would beat anything Disney could ever do.

Restless Planet

Six for Science

And here we go:

1. Artificial jellyfish and covert undersea surveillance networks.

2. Hey, Galaxy 3C321, stop shooting particle beams at your neighbours. It isn't nice.

3. When life gets wiped out by an asteroid, life doesn't get angry - life gets more diverse.

4. Honeybees and the new dance of the web-servers.

5. Giant rats - they are much bigger than you would think.

6. Glow-in-the-dark kittens.

Peak Oil

Here is a short little animation about the history of oil production.



From EnergyChallenge.TV (via AutoblogGreen)

What is Peak Oil?