Retrocomputing
Antique computers run the world.
Month: May 2010
Lasersaur, an open-source laser cutter
Following in the footsteps of Makerbeam, an open-source building set which got its funding on Kickstarter, and loom designers OSLoom, which got funded the same way, we have Lasersaur, a project to make an affordable laser cutter and then release the specs so that anyone can build one or improve on the design. Here’s the […]
Lasercut chess set
This excellent chess set definitely wins points for beauty. My dad taught me how to make, create, design, build, program, and solder from a young age. This year I finally remembered that parents don’t like their children to buy them expensive things, they like their children to build them things. And you could end up […]
Rose-shaped map of Bohemia
This fascinating map is full of coded symbols: Leopold was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1658, a title that had been in his Habsburg family for centuries. However, realising the increasing weakness of this institution (2), Leopold instead shifted his political energy to the consolidation of his Austrian, Hungarian and Bohemian dynastic territories. Vienna was […]
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO)
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory… Located in a cave more than a mile underground in Canada, SNO can be thought of as a type of telescope, though it bears little resemblance to the image most people associate with that word. It consists of an 18-meters-in-diameter stainless steel geodesic sphere inside of which is an acrylic vessel […]
How-To: Assemble a Quilt
My mom, Bette Stern, doesn’t joke around when it comes to quilting. At last count, she had constructed at least 20 handmade quilts for her family and friends. Once she finishes the patchwork top, she has a foolproof way of layering it together with the batting and backing fabric in preparation for machine or hand […]
The Mendel, explained
From the RepRap blog: The New Scientist is running a feature article by Tom Simonite on RepRap and its derivatives this week. Tom visited the RepRap Lab at Bath University, the London Hackspace and other places a few weeks ago to research his article.