The Long Now Orrery clock
Stunning photos of the Orrery clock from Make pal Jacob Appelbaum. The Orrery is a ten foot tall planet tracking display. The lower half is a mechanical binary calculation engine. Each layer is calculating the orbit if one of the six human eye visible planets (Mercury through Saturn) to 28 bits of accuracy. The Orrery is primarily made of monel (a nickel copper alloy), and stainless steel. The planet spheres are ground from natural stones that resemble each planet they represent. [via] Link. More information about the clock here.
Digitaler Lumpensammler sent in this wonderful collection of cassette tapes – when memories were named memorex…There are hundreds on this Japanese page – and the funny thing is you can tell exactly which ones were from the 80’s. 
As Halloween approaches, we’re going to post some costumes and spooky goodies to make – Here’s a fun costume based on the game “Operation”. Felxis writes “Basic supplies – this is what I started with. Wire, a battery, doorbell, Krazy glue, velcro, some markers, Scotch and electrical tape. The metallic items are outlet covers, which I got from Home Depot. Really, any sort of metal will do; I just happened to like the box shape of these guys, and they make grabbing the candy a little harder”. 
Garth on Extreme Craft writes “For every crafty punk rocker or artist dipping their toes into the craft world, there’s a techno-geek with a heart of gold and a yen for the handmade. So it is with Leah Buechley, a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the University of Colorado. Leah is a part of the Craft Technology Group, which investigates intersections of craft and technology with a pedagogical bent. Her personal projects have included LED tank tops and bracelts with programmable light-up ornaments, math handbags, and an automated wine glass orchestra”… [
Wonderful looking (and I bet sounding) hand cranked musical instruments – There is a mount for a contact microphone (piezo) on the back of each one, so it can be amplified. Each has a hand-crank in the middle, and all but the Spring Board Hand Crank have a feather-spine that acts as a plectrum that rotates when the hand-crank is cranked. As the plectrum rotates, it plucks something that vibrates and is amplified. The “something” that vibrates is in some cases a rubber band, in some wires sticking up, in one it is a metal strip, and in another one is a heavy spring. Each has a handy handle too. 
Video game inspired quilting on Flickr, in the same set as some other sewing projects, including a nice jacket with a pirate-looking skull on it. I think the Tetris one in my favorite. [