pyromania

ISO: Dangerous Kits

ISO: Dangerous Kits

We’re in the process of working on another special issue publication for holiday release, like our popular Ultimate Workshop and Tool Guide from last year. This one is going to be the Ultimate Guide to Kits! It will feature over 150 kit reviews plus new kit-related articles and other delectable MAKE goodness.

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El Pulpo Mecanico: A Flame-shooting Octopus Vehicle

I think you’ll all get a kick out of Duane Flatmo‘s El Pulpo Mecanico, a flame-shooting octopus vehicle from this year’s Burning Man. I have to agree with Cyriaque Lamar from io9, who likens this pyrotechnical cephalopod to a video game boss. Anyone out there who wants to ride this contraption has to line up behind me!

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What would happen if all the elements were combined at once?

What would happen if all the elements were combined at once?

OK, so I spruced up the sublimely boring image accompanying this interesting question over at Popular Science with a picture of the thermite reaction. I couldn’t find a picture of burning plutonium. C’mon wikimedians! What’s taking so long?

The real answer, it turns out, is something like “at first it would be very exciting, and then it would be very boring.” Here’s a characteristically droll quote from my old quantum mechanics instructor, John Stanton:

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Nitroglycerine detonation at 1/600 speed

More:

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Match-heads

Match-heads

David Mach, whose coathanger gorilla we hit on Friday, also makes these pretty amazing sculptures from matches with the heads arranged to colorize the surface. Just, you know, keep away from open flame. [via Dude Craft]

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