More pics on how to build one
Gadgets
Cellphone symphony
Vodafone New Zealand hired a production team to orchestrate cellphones into playing Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture. The effort took 1000 phones and 53 different ringtone alerts, synchronized to recreate the famous classical piece.
It’s just a commercial. I was hoping it was going to play a whole song. Interesting nonetheless.
The unique origins of 25 popular products
Happy accidents make good inventions. Spills, explosions, odd chemical reactions, and plain old forgetfulness produced some of today’s most practical products. From saccharin to shopping carts, each of the inventions below has a strange and unique origin:
Here are a few examples:
The Bra
New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob patented the modern bra as the result of an unsuitable corset. When she found her whalebone corset poking out of an evening gown before an event, Phelps used silk handkerchiefs and ribbon to build herself a primitive bra.
When friends and strangers started asking for their own bras, Phelps knew she was onto something. In 1914, she patented her “Backless Brassiere,” then started a business that sold it. She later sold the patent to the Warner Brothers Corset Company for $1,500; that company, in turn, earned $15 million from bras during the next three decades.
Slinky
In 1943, US Navy engineer Richard James was trying to develop a spring for ship instruments when he stumbled across the Slinky. He knocked a spring from a shelf and watched it “step” its way down to a pile of books, then a table, then to the floor. His wife Betty named the toy “slinky,” and a company was born.
In 1960, Richard, fed up with success, left the family to join a religious group in Bolivia. Betty continued to run the company until 1998.
Velcro
After a 1941 hunting trip, Swiss engineer George de Mestral and his dog were both covered in burdock burrs. De Mestral examined some of the burrs under a microscope. He found that their hook-shaped spikes would latch onto loops in fur, hair, or clothing, making them incredibly sticky. He realized that materials could be bound together in the same way, if the hooks and loops were constructed properly.
After years of experimentation, de Mestral found a way to make hooks and loops from nylon, then mechanize the process of weaving the hooks. Ten years after making his discovery, he submitted his hook/loop combo for a Swiss patent, which was granted in 1955. Worldwide patents and manufacturing plants followed, although it took more than a decade for Velcro to gain widespread acceptance.
Texts from last night
Remember that text you shouldn’t have sent last night? We do
Here are a few examples:
- (615): i’ve been called drunk 4 times today and it’s only 3pm
- (972): It’s sad that I have started checking out the ring finger before the rack…I’m getting old
- (402): The walk of shame isn’t so shameful when you do it in a stolen, autographed Favre jersey.
- (502): All my problems are solved. I just got McDonalds and scratch off lottery tickets.
- (910): He was crying to my sister about feeling like a bad person. Then he groped my breasts.
- (972): I just named my vagina “The Boneyard”
(1-972): More like “Chia Pet” - (480): I texted her sayin “I gotta brush my teethn then Im omw” maybe hint to do the same
- (636): maybe after you take off her top her face will be hotter
- (937): I sometimes forget that turkeys are alive even when its not Thanksgiving.
- (209): I think this dress is screaming I want a birthday 3some with two moderately attractive guys. I hope.
- (970): She told me that she faked her orgasm. Does she think I care??
- (513): theyre just this beautiful family of functioning alcoholics. i want them to adopt me.
- (850): I’m gonna die fat and alone and all they will find is pizza crusts
- (214): I have a pussy blister if you wanna poke at it with a needle tomorrow…by this text i realize just how strange our relationship is, especially because you’re probably excited
(1-214): I think you mean your blister is filled with pus…atleast i hope - (843): At one point during the moaning he reminded me of Forrest Gump
22 states banned texting but display traffic alerts on Twitter
Sending a mixed message
NEW YORK – Fiddling with your iPhone behind the wheel can get you fined across much of the nation. But many states are more than happy to tweet you with up-to-the-minute directions on how to steer clear of a traffic jam.
It is a mixed signal that some safety experts and politicians say could be dangerous.
At least 22 states that ban texting while driving offer some type of service that allows motorists to get information about traffic tie-ups, road conditions or emergencies via Twitter .
“You shouldn’t be fiddling around with any kind of electronic gadget in your car while driving,” said Minnesota state Rep. Frank Hornstein, who helped write his state’s no-texting-while-driving law.
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have banned all texting while driving, and eight others prohibit texting by younger drivers only, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Many of these laws essentially bar people from fooling with their smart phones in any way behind the wheel; in some cases, just reading from a mobile device is against the law.
Some supporters of text-messaging bans say that states that provide traffic information via Twitter are undermining these laws.
