Adnan writes “So what if your chances of ever becoming an astronaut are less than nil, you can still defy gravity using Oooms’s Anti Gravity Machine and you know it’s probably more fun. All you have to do is harness yourself on to the moving sea-saw contraption and voila, you can moonwalk like Neil Armstrong all over the Basketball court.” Looking at this counterweight machine, it wouldn’t be that hard to build, I’ll see if I can find (or make) a how-to. Link.
A honey extractor, made from old parts and bicycle wheels “There are few people more symbolic of rural African ingenuity than the bush mechanics. People with no formal training in mechanical repair, or engineering, who build strange contraptions to solve everyday problems and maintain fleets of ancient vehicles that keep Africa slowly moving forward…Dr Garth Cambray, a self professed ‘bush mechanic’ (and biotechnologist by profession) shows how he designed and built a very low cost honey extractor from readily available scrap parts.” [via] Link.
This is one of those woodworking projects I’d love to squeeze in over the holidays – The “Impossible Triangle Illusion” made into a shelf. I really like the idea of turning these iconic examples of optical illusions into real objects, for this project, I have enough optical illusion books to actually put on a shelf too! Thanks Walt. Link.
Leadingzero writes “It seems that these days everyone has the handy little gadget that we have all grown to know and love- USB storage devices. However, the appearance of the USB leaves much to be desired: grey, ugly, and plasticky, they aren’t easy on the eyes, to say the least. But not anymore. Imagine a USB drive that you can display proudly on your desk or cubicle; a USB drive that is so undeniably cool, that it actually overshadows your own personal lack of said cool. Imagine the Homer Simpson USB drive…” Link.
“Pressing the fresh curds to remove excess whey is important since spoilage of the cheese is hastened by retention of too much water in the finished cheese. This cheese press can be fashioned from items you may already have in your kitchen, or which should not be difficult to obtain. The pictures show the use of the press to press curds from the recipe to turn five gallons of milk into cheese.” Thanks Star! Link.
RPS writes “Low tech how-to on making sound insulating earphones for listening to music while drumming, operating machinery (or doing anything else in a loud enviro) using cheap ear protectors and headphones.” Link.
Here are some great instructions on how to make your very own water rocket launcher along with how to modify a pencam. This will allow you to record in-flight movies of your rockets. [