Random Picture and Video Thread

[kach22i]

I went into Zellers in Windsor, Canada yesterday and for $90 they had a cool RC toy which I thought could be "scaled up".

http://www.rcmania.com/terrainiac/

 

[kach22i]

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/strings/silent_electric/silent_c/index.html

More here (silent strings):
http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/strings/silent_electric/index.html

 

[kach22i]

Dishmaster - Imperial............................they still make them, but I don't think in the gold.

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/retro/2007/10/28-week/

http://www.dishmaster-faucet.com/modelm76.html

http://www.tmnews.com/stories/2008/01/16/news.nw-500808.tms

MITCHELL — Soon, the SilverStream faucets that are sold in Mitchell will be made in Mitchell.

That announcement came this week after the city of Mitchell signed a lease with Quantum Machining Technologies of Bloomington to bring Quantum Machining Technologies and its sister company, SilverStream, to the city-owned former Dana Corp. building on West Frank Street. Both businesses, which are currently operating in Bloomington, will now be housed under one roof in Mitchell.

Quantum does medium and high volume machining. SilverStream makes its signature Dishmaster faucet. The businesses fall under the Showers Group umbrella.

 

[kach22i]

My Saturday afternoon project. We had a DishMaster "Imperial" when I was a kid, and loved it.

Before

.......................................................

After

 

[kach22i]

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=125505&page=1014

 

[Jem90]

Underwater car

http://www.rinspeed.com/pages/cars/squba/pre-squba.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/ttv/news.jhtml?bcpid=1137942530&bclid=1155254697&bctid=1417354699

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/14/ncar114.xml




James Bond fanatic creates underwater car

Q would have been proud - 30 years after James Bond disappeared under the waves in a specially adapted Lotus, car designers have done it for real.
Cinema audiences gasped as Roger Moore's 007 took his white Lotus Esprit for a surprise dip to evade the enemy in the film The Spy Who Loved Me.

The famous scene, shot using a model, triggered the imagination of countless gadget-lovers, who wondered if such a car could be made.

Now a self-confessed Bond fanatic has made an up-to-date version of the wondercar using the Esprit’s spiritual successor, the Lotus Elise, as its base.

The "sQuba" will be exhibited at the Geneva Motor Show next month.

These pictures show the €1 million (£750,000) prototype, which can dive to a depth of 10m, in action off the coast of Florida.

It was the brainchild of concept car designer Frank Rinderknecht, 52, who said: “For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water. Now we have made this dream come true.”

He added: “Everybody knows James Bond and the Esprit but it was always just fiction. We thought, 'Let’s do something everybody knows but nobody has tried.'”

The team at his firm Rinspeed replaced the petrol engine with three electric motors, one to power the rear wheels and two for the specially designed propellers. They are capable of taking it to 75mph on land, a more sedate 4mph while cruising in "boat" mode and a positively tranquil 2mph while underwater.

The company also claims that the car is extremely “green” as well, as it is a zero-emission vehicle powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Unlike the Bond original, which featured an enclosed passenger cabin, the modern version has an open top with the occupants exposed to the elements.

The Swiss car designer explained: “The passenger compartment is three square metres of air - you’d need to add about three metric tonnes of added weight to pull it down under the surface.

“That would give it the land mobility of a turtle.”

The second reason for having an open cabin is safety: “Even at one metre depth, the water pressure would keep the doors closed so you could not get out in an emergency.”

Although one would expect the car to sink like a stone, special compartments have been filled with foam to ensure it floats.

“The car will come to the surface by itself,” said Mr Rinderknecht.

“It is basically unsinkable.”

Rather than achieving neutral buoyancy with weighting, the propellers drive it downwards so that if it were to stop it would rise up.

Once under water, its occupants breath air coming from an integrated tank of compressed air similar to that used by scuba divers.

The vehicle can stay under water “until you run out of air or battery power,” which is about two hours.

The designer said the sensation was just like scuba diving - in a car.

He said: “It’s a special feeling.”

While some might quibble that on land the sQuba is not fast enough, he said the main aim was to demonstrate its aquatic potential.

“We could have made it a lot quicker by using a bigger model with more batteries but that wasn’t the issue,” he said.

“The focus was really on it going underwater.”

Sadly, those taken by the sQuba may never be able to get their hands on it as there are no plans to put it into production.

“It’s a tradition that we produce a concept car for the Geneva Motor Show,” said the designer, whose firm makes its money making concept cars and parts for the mainstream motor industry, and tuning Porsches.

“We don’t plan to build it, even in a limited capacity,” he admitted.

“But if someone wants to take up the project that would be great. I’m sure there will be people interested in buying one.”

A spokesman for Lotus, which is not involved in the project, said: “We are delighted that they have chosen to use the Elise.”

 

[Jem90]

Underwater Lotus

Cool !

 

[Jem90]

Inferno Speaker Thrives on Pain and Vomit

A writer for Wired got to experience the new Inferno "Sound Barrier" and lived to tell the tale. The Inferno speaker is designed to make people leave the area by causing ""vertigo, nausea, and pain in the chest."

The device is made in Sweden, but being actively marketed to the US government who has already bought a number of them. Oddly enough the marketing director for Inferno claims to have had very little problems boarding airplanes with the device in tow.


The Wired journalist describes her encounter with the device as, "the most unbearable, gut-wrenching noise I've ever heard in my life. I screamed a few expletives, Nathan almost dropped the camera, and Dr. Goldman turned it off."

The Inferno speaker blares out four different frequencies simultaneously that are all between 2-5kHz. The volume it attains is only a mere 123dB, but as Steve Orfield of Orfield Labs explained to me, every body organ has a frequency that can adversely affect it.

 

[kach22i]

rinspeed.com.........concept car designer Frank Rinderknecht

This is one of the few projects he has done which I like. He usually molests a Porsche and does something terrible to it.

 

[twich54]

Kach, thought of you on this one !

 

[twich54]

Title this............."Like father like son".........that's my boy !!

 

[tsmooth]

This was sent to me by a friend in the surveillance field. I am sharing it with friends and family on a need to know basis.

I cannot vouch for its validity.

But if true, it could very well rock the foundation of this country.

SECURITY PHOTO: CONFIDENTIAL

The photo is a video capture from a security camera located in the North Corridor that leads to the Senate floor in the US Capitol Building.

This is classified material, so do not ask how or where I got it.

 

[tsmooth]

You have to see this

Score: Porcupine 1, Pitbull 0

A pitbull was in his backyard in southern California,

minding his own business....until this procupine

invaded his territory. The brave, but stupid pitbull,

immediately challenged the porcupine!

Bad decision...the porcupine won this short contest.

A vet sedated the dog, and then removed a total

of 1,347 quills. The dog survived, and hopefully

learned a valuable lesson.

Now, tell me you had a bad day!!

 

[kach22i]

In back of City Hall - Ann Arbor, Michigan...............my tax dollars at work.

 

[kach22i]

Looks just like a real car.

 

[kach22i]

Weird/cool house on M-60 in Three Rivers, Michigan.

Can you see the decapitated Big-Boy along Huron River Drive?

 

[kach22i]

http://safehavenmarine.phanfare.com/
The 1:12 scale model test were awesome, the way it keeps righting it's self is magical.

http://carnuts.us/viewtopic.php?p=44569#44569

Cool 20 picture slide show of the USS New Jersey:
http://images.military.com/slideshows/ussnj.htm

 

[Jem90]

New Atom has double power to weight of a Veyron

Ariel has announced the latest version of the Atom – the Ariel Atom 500, powered by a small V8 engine.

With over 500bhp in a 500kilo package the Atom 500 will boast one of the highest power to weight ratios ever for a production car.

The Atom will have over 1000bhp per tonne (compared to a Bugatti Veyron’s 521bhp/tonne) and will be built in limited numbers.

The 500 started life as a one off special project with RS Developments in 2007 and features the Russell Savory designed 2.4 litre V8 engine coupled to a 6 speed sequential Sadev gearbox.

Developing over 500bhp at 10,000rpm the supercharged engine features all alloy construction, 5 valves per cylinder and a dry sump.

The gearbox will have flatshift capability, a paddle gearchange with manual override as well as launch and traction controls.

The new car is recognisable by twin rear intakes for intercoolers and will feature a unique colour scheme for chassis, wheels and bodywork combined with carbon fibre panels and carbon fibre aerofoils.

Other features will include chromemoly aerofoil wishbones, integrated function steering wheel, Alcon 4 pot caliper brakes and Dymag magnesium wheels.

Simon Saunders, Director of Ariel, said: ‘This is an interesting project for us and an experimental departure from what we normally produce.

'For a few customers the Atom 500 will be the ultimate expression of lightweight performance and represents the outer limits of what is achievable in a road registered car.

'We also use this sort of project to explore the possibilities of how we can improve our standard cars.

'The Honda engined production cars already combine all the elements that we want in an Atom and by pushing the envelope to these sorts of extremes we can further improve the breed.’

The Atom 500 will be produced in Somerset at the new Ariel factory with the first car available from Spring this year.

Prices have not yet been finalised and expect performance to be earth shattering…

 

[Jem90]

World-Famous Single Malt Whisky Adds Tone To New Manne Guitars

An oak cask from Lagavulin distillery on Islay, one of Scotland's famous whisky islands, has been given a second life in the form of three hand-crafted guitars built by Manne Guitars, Italy. They will be unveiled at this month's Frankfurt Music Fair (12-15 March, Frankfurt am Main, Germany).

The cask was donated by the distillery, and arrived in the Manne workshop earlier this year still drenched with the complex peat-smoke aromas that are the hallmark of this single malt whisky. The weight and rigidity of the cask oak, so different from the standard guitar materials, posed several technical challenges for Andrea and his team. The flat round ends of the cask were carefully dried, treated and sanded and became the backs of the guitar bodies, preserving much of the distinctive distillery identification markings. The curved staves, which originally formed the sides of the cask, were flattened and glued together to form the tops and bodies of the guitars. Andrea was careful to preserve some of the distinctive charring marks from the inside surface of the staves: all whisky barrels are toasted and charred on the inside before being filled with whisky.

Three instruments have been built from the one whisky cask: two Guitars and one Bass. The two Guitars incorporate the cask heads, while the Bass is made entirely from the oak staves.

The guitars have been finished with an oxidised patina and typical rust marks from the hoops of the barrel, and the wood was finally treated with a preparation containing some Lagavulin Distillers Edition from 2007, which won the ultimate Whisky Trophy at last year's International Wine and Spirit Competition. This ensures that the guitars will always preserve some of their native Lagavulin fragrance.

Andrea Ballarin had visited the distillery in 2007 during the annual Islay Festival of Malt and Music. He said "Tasting a great whisky is a creative experience that incorporates the world of flavours and tastes, and leads us to memories and sensations. These, like music, are something that transcend words and explanations — they are both universal languages, both complex and at the same time deeply simple. You just have to feel it!"

In due course, two of the guitars will be put on sale, and the third will go back home to Lagavulin in time for this year's Islay Festival. This is an exclusive collaboration — no further instruments using Lagavulin wood will be made. The special edition guitars have been built by long-established Italian bass and guitar maker and whisky lover, Andrea Ballarin, who founded Manne Guitars in 1987 in Schio, in north-eastern Italy.

 

[kach22i]

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/the_future_is_h.php

http://www.aptera.com/