Odd Lots

[jeff_duntemann]

• Those who marveled at the quirky motion of the Big Dog quadripedal robot should not miss the (inevitable) video parody.
• And while we're watching videos, make sure you watch this one, starring a Pope Benedict XVI bobblehead identical to the one on my bookshelf

Comments

high-tech foreskin

[anonymous]

Whether you identify it as a copy of nature, or of God's design, it's a clever use of silicone.

Bill Meyer

[sraun]

I recall a story where someone's custom sailing ship (IIRC, multi-hulled) caused gold to plate out on the hull. Worked real well until they had an accident, which broke the effect, and then they sold it to someone.

[beamjockey]

Buzzing in on the trivia contest:

I vaguely recall an old SF story about a guy who pulled gold out of seawater somehow. Anybody remember what that was?

"The Man Who Ploughed the Sea," one of Arthur C. Clarke's White Hart stories. Harry Purvis hooks up with an American lawyer and his midget sub, and the two of them meet a chemist whose yacht is stuffed with some interesting apparatus.

Bet that's the one you remember. However, gold-in-seawater is a Sunday-supplement-science staple, so no doubt there are lots of stories that play with the idea. I recall a Trans-Lux Felix the Cat cartoon involving plants that removed gold from seawater and bore golden fruit.

Yves Rossy

[anonymous]

Hello,

Wikipedia tells:
"Yves Rossy (born August 27, 1959) is a Swiss pilot, inventor and aviation enthusiast."

This is a jetfighter designed by Swedes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAS_39_Gripen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0LBj_8xs_w

They have had firmware problems so sometimes flying with it is as wild as with Yves Rossy's "plane".

Did you know that Hasselblad cameras are "made in Sweden"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasselblad#Hasselblad_cameras_in_space

--Aki Peltonen

[alanajoli]

Great links today! I really want a personal flying machine of my own now... ;)