The View From Mars
Chrismas 1968 — men were on the moon. The crew of Apollo 8 pointed their camera home and took a photograph, now know as Earthrise, that forever changed the way we view our planet and our place in the universe. That image was taken almost forty years ago. And today, […]
If
If you give me … I’ll …
Do you belive in the power of the Troll?
What’ll Happen To The Bay Bridge Troll? This is a great little bay area local story. The steel workers repairing the Bay Bridge after the Loma Prieta earthquake took some of the scrap from destruction and had it cast into sculpture of a Troll. They welded it to the under […]
The Big Word Project
The Big Word Project wants you (thanks but not me) to buy words from them, at $1 a letter, that represent your web site. Your site then “represents” this word allowing you to define it. It’s supposed to “create a new tapestry of words …” or some such rubbish. They […]
Time Travel Mart
826LA, which is the Los Angles version of 826 Valencia, the famous San Francisco Pirate Store, had their opening recently and in keeping with the “store front” theme (see also the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store) they are a Time Travel Mart. Well done and quite clever. This is all from […]
Two New Chris Jordan Prints
Photographer Chris Jordan’s ongoing Running the Numbers series was kicked around the internet last year. This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans […]
Heron Videos
Heron of Alexandria was a bad ass (obviously or else he’d been forgotten) Greek mechanical engineer and fabricator who made incredible kinetic devices involving the movement of air, water and steam. (I’ve bloged about him in the past) My current interest in Heron focuses on his Aeolipie — a steam […]
A Day In US Air Traffic
I came across this really cool NASA movie that visualizes the air traffic data over the US for one day. I’d love to see this data superimposed with an index of CO2 and air pollution levels. [QUICKTIME https://www.almostscientific.com/facet24.mov 640 480]
The Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator
The Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator is a kinetic, “steampunk” sculpture of a “time machine” that is powered by a real steam boiler and steam engine. It was built in collaboration with my good friends at Kinetic Steam Works. It was original displayed at the Edwardian Ball in 2008 and will be […]
Video of The Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator
On Thursday Dick and I fired up Little Baby Steamy Pants, on of KSWs small boilers and hooked up the DCA. I shot some video and quickly threw this little movie together. It as my first time shooting video and it’s something I need some more work at;) But I […]
Physics Phun
Phun is a 2d physics “sandbox” program that look like it would be great for teaching and for creating quick mock-ups of kenetic sculptures. I’d have tried it out and given a full report if there was a version for the mac. Check out this video of Phun in action. […]
SF Freeze This Weekend
I loved the Improve Everywhere freeze in Grand Central. This is a similar even in SF. It smacks of Me Too’ism but could still be fun and cool. At least it has a twists on it:
George Lucas In Love
Perhaps I’m a touch late on this one but I just saw it:
The Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria
From the Steam Engine Library: THE PNEUMATICS OF HERO OF ALEXANDRIA FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK
Patina Formulas
Patina formulas for Brass, Bronze and Copper