Made On Earth

Centuries of cranks vindicated by human-powered ornithopter flight

Centuries of cranks vindicated by human-powered ornithopter flight

Although the Snowbird, made of carbon fiber and balsa wood and with a 105-foot wingspan, could hardly be described as “practical,” to me this seems like a major aviation milestone: Somebody, specifically University of Toronto PhD student Todd Reichert and co-workers, finally did it. All those old black and white “wacky inventor” blooper reels set to goofy music can eat it. [via Toronto Star]

Watermelon car

Watermelon car

The biggest and best-quality versions of these watermelon car images I can find come from a members-only forum post on this South Korean site, which appears to be some kind of auto marketplace and/or enthusiast’s hub. Problem is, the plates on the car do not appear to be Korean. Can anyone identify their nationality, or […]

Reader-built laminar water jet

Reader-built laminar water jet

Mike Pantrey, aka Flickr user Mrsuperpants, saw Phil’s post on Friday about Dave’s homemade laminar water jet and “in two evenings of tinkering in the garage, and some time reading up the background over a couple of lunchtimes” produced his own version, shown here. Construction details are available on Mike’s personal site. He cites The Laminar Project Forum as a valuable design resource.