Brian from Candyaddict writes “The National Association of Manufacturers has just released this awesome 15:18 minute video of the history of chocolate and how it is made. If you have never seen how chocolate is made, this is a must-see. Most of us take chocolate for granted – this video really makes you appreciate all the work that goes into making chocolate.” Link.
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.
Make vintage papercraft toys. These mechanical paper puppets are from the 20’s and the vintage artwork is simply spectacular. Rob says “Not the fancy new papercraft with .pdf files and colour printers – this is the papercraft your parents or grandparents did. I’ve almost finished making the duck. (read: I had to put it down after an hour or so, realizing I was spending an entire evening making a paper duck) I’ve found that a good substitute for the pins that hold things together together(“Here, kids, here’s a whole box of pins! have fun!”) are small pieces of copper wire stripped out of cat5 network cable. Put them through the holes, fold them over, and secure with tape. Spray adhesive is good for pasting the printouts onto some heavy card stock.” Thanks Rob! Link.
If you’re at the Portable Media Expo, pop by and say hi for the MAKE session! – “…hacks, mods, tips and how-tos that will likely void the warranty of just about anything you might consider to fetch or record podcasts. From the pages of MAKE magazine, to sharing his publishing tips and tricks, to a flurry of how-tos for mobile devices, this session will be action packed with everything you didn’t know was possible with a myriad of technologies.” 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.
Here’s a bevy of robot quilts. This one entitled “The Robot Visits the Farm” is just one of many of the quilted collage artwork pieces that Kathy Weaver creates. Weaver states, “The robot represents progress, science and technological improvement resulting in change to the status quo.” [