Lego fans can now build outwards from walls, chair legs, household objects or the backs of other toys using a new studded tape.
The Nimuno Loops tape is the creation of Cape Town-based designers Anine Kirsten and Max Basler. They launched the product on crowdfunding site Indiegogo three days ago, and have already amassed 12,107 per cent of their $8,000 (£6,470) target.
This looks like so much fun! You can see and read much more at Dezeen.
I wish I had seen this before PI day, but I didn’t, and it’s always time for pie, right? You can still have edible mathematical fun! You might want to mute the video, the music is a tad obnoxious. You can read more at The Creators Project.
Photography by Hep Svadja.
If anyone is planning on a few nice garden parties this Spring or Summer, why not make Strawberry DNAquiris? They have a lot of rum! (Seriously – calls for 151.) Make magazine has step by step instructions.
Yasuhati a voice-sensitive game by Japanese developers Freedom Crow, is really hard to play if you’re not trained in the art of controlling your pipes. Pitch, tone, and volume all seem to factor into its audio-based gameplay, but a layperson like me winds up in the pit more often than not. Whether this is due to a lack of training—or a lack of commitment—is up for debate. After all, the description suggests that you can win by, “shouting, screaming, and even groaning in different degrees.” Performance artists like Kim Boem, known for his 2012 performance Yellow Scream, or Marina Abramoviç, who replicated Edvard Munch’s The Scream with her own vocal chords, would excel.
For me, playing the game isn’t nearly as entertaining as watching the scattered demo videos which have popped up on the internet. A Japanese voice actress, whose control over her vocal chords is mesmerizing in and of itself, kills it playing the game in the video above. (Turn your speakers down.)
I love it when she groans and says “can’t you die faster.” You can read more, and watch more videos of people happily making all manner of noises at their phones, which is what phones are for, right? :D
At some point between the age when you were accidentally sticking them up your nose and the first time you heard your hip crack, Legos went from being a kids toy to a real tool for creative expression. Today, Legos range from ultra basic to extremely high-tech, and if you’re looking for an excellent example of the latter, look no further than a build commissioned by aerospace and defense contractor Arrow. Arrow’s ad team hired Brazilian designer and Lego genius Arthur Sacek to construct a jaw-dropping Lego robot capable of turning a single sheet of paper into an airplane, and then launching it — a metaphor for Arrow’s own business — and the result is just awesome.
Now to the really neat stuff – building the machine!
Via BGR.
Voting is now open for the Smithsonian Finalists! Go look, and vote, too!
© Michael B. Hardie. All rights reserved.
© C. Ford.
I get the best gifties, they make me a happy monkey! *Scampers off to play*
Hydrophilic beads are fun to play with – they bounce! They also hold and disperse scent nicely.
© C. Ford.
© C. Ford.
With added bonus of play time, courtesy of Marcus, who sends the best goodies ever. Hydrophilic polymer beads, orange oil, water, and really excellent glassware! I don’t know if the sun will cooperate, it’s sunny and remarkably warm today, but it’s supposed to be snowing by Odin’s day. Oh, where’s the virtue in patience? Off to play!
© C. Ford.
The time of stench is now over, thankfully. So, I had a bit of time to play. Years ago, I wanted to experiment a bit. The experiment didn’t work out, but the paint was so beautiful. I found out then that I could peel it off the baking parchment paper I had used. I still have a number of those pieces. Watching paint dry might not be fun, but peeling it is. Have fun with acrylic paints (I suggest using baking parchment or the ever trusty freezer paper), let them surface dry, or as long as you want, then peel. Purty paint to play with results. This is also one way that paint doesn’t need to go to waste. Even very thin layers will peel, but the thicker your layer of paint, the easier the peel.
Escargots. Jacques Collin de Plancy – Dictionnaire infernal.
I’m being much too distracted by the Dictionnaire Infernal right now. How did I not know about the Snail Telegraph? The original text from Dictionnaire Infernal:
Escargots. On ne voit nulle part que ces honnêtes créatures aient jamais figuré au sabbat. Mais il paraît qu’elles ont aussi leur côté mystérieux, et qu’elles pourraient, quand les études dont s’occupent les savants auront abouti, faire concurrence au télégraphe électrique. On a donc proposé en 1850 un procédé qui se mûrit, c’est la boussole pasilalinique-sympathique. Si vous trouvez ce nom bizarre, l’agent de cette boussole ne l’est pas moins ; c’est l’escargot. Deux amis séparés par de grandes distances se seront munis chacun d’un escargot de même espèce, les auront magnétisés ensemble pour établir la sympathie ; puis l’ami resté à Paris chargera son escargots des nouvelles qu’il veut transmettre à son ami installé à Pékin, et ce dernier répondra de la même manière ; par quels moyens faciles ? nous l’ignorons ; mais en mars de la présente année, les journaux disaient qu’on était à la veille de résultats satisfaisants, et les spiriles affirment que cette découverte se rattache à ce que nos pères appelaient la magie naturelle. Un Américain prétend même que les escargots magnétisés parleront, ou bien un esprit, de ceux qui tiennent aux tables, pourra parler pour eux.
Makezine has you covered for the upcoming science fairs, with 8 cool projects. Here are a few of them:
Build a physical display that demonstrates the property of retroreflection at work.
Create a micro ecosystem in a jar.
Power an LED with nothing more than a fancy bucket of mud.
This slimy goop isn’t just fascinating fun, it’s also a perfect example of a non-newtonian fluid.
I really like and enjoy the incense Marcus makes and so generously gifts me with, and burning methods have come up. Most of the time, I just light a stick up and lay it in an ashtray. There are times when I want to burn frankincense or myrrh, and those call for the monkish method. Charcoal tablets are available in handy little rolls from any monastery supply. Using tongs, light up your tablet – I use the stovetop, just holding one edge to the flame. These burn easily and well, so you don’t need to torch them to death. Care is required here so you don’t burn your house down. Place the tablet in or on a fireproof surface. Think of it as a little stove, you need zero clearance. You don’t need anything special, rocks work great. Care is also needed when placing your incense of choice on the tablet. These produce a great deal of smoke, so be stingy with the amount you place on the tablet at one time. As you can see, smoke starts billowing right away. If the smoke decreases, gently blowing on the tablet will start it going again. The monkish method works great with Marcus’s incense, too!
© C. Ford.