Mind-Bending Kinetic Tower

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Mind-Bending Kinetic Tower

This 6-meter-tall stainless steel kinetic sculpture (which looks like one of these mind-control towers from the 1950s sci-fi) was made by Anthony Howe from Eastsound, Washington: watch it spin in the sun and hypnotize your mind!

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Today's pictures & links:

This Fly Goes to College

These 2-millimeter-wide fly glasses were made in 2006 using ultrafast laser micro-machining by Micreon company in Germany

(left image credit: Micreon, via; right image: Nanoscribe)

Right image above and images below show another example of nano-scale manufacturing: Nanoscribe 3D printer which can reportedly print a spaceship on the scale of a human hair - see video.

(images credit: Nanoscribe)

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Uniquely Ornamented Vintage Slot Machines

These old slots sport plenty of chrome, engravings, expensive wood carvings - or, on the contrary, some gaudy cheap plastic and rainbow shapes of any sort. In any case, these machines have collectible value today and many companies restore them and sell for a premium. There is also an added enjoyment factor in playing these machines, in our day and age when anybody can head online to play WSoP poker, for example, on their computer screens.

(images credit: Daniel's Antiques, San Diego Slots)

Shown above are some examples of the unique slot machines: on the top right you see "Jennings" from 1932 and more machines from the San Diego Slots Company and Cherry Restorations.

(image credit: Cherry Restorations)

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This is a Single Photograph, not a Collage!

New York based photographer Bela Borsodi came up with this set-up, and trust us, it was not easy fooling the camera and setting up lighting angles - watch the video of how it was done!

(image credit: Bela Borsodi, via)

Read our Optical Illusions series for more mind-bending visual work by other artists.

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Mixed fresh links for today:

Our WILD Solar System - [great article, wow space]
Found in a Coffee Shop Drawer - [somebody got bored]
Who Knew These Things? - [wow research]
Colossal Old Computers that Changed History - [geek info]
Another Mystery is Solved - [wow nature]
Abandoned & Creepy: The Hole btw. Brooklyn & Queens - [urban exploring]
Atomic Annie: The Nuclear Gun - [Cold War, pics]
Weird Maps: Where do the Rich Live? - [re: iPhones]
Music video where you can control how drunk the band are. - [ha!, nsfw?]
What's inside these logs? Wait for it... - [wow video]
Taxi Cab Drives Without a Wheel. Business as Usual. - [wow video]
How movie sound effects are made - [cool video]
Petting the Eel: Surprisingly Cute - [fun video]
Craziest School Buses Ever - [weird, pics]
Most Famous & Ruthless Barbarians - [compilation, history]

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"Empires of the Deep" (sunk without a trace?)

This animated fantasy blockbuster (China, 2012) seem to have gotten stuck in a post-production limbo... The film itself (including animation) is shaping up to be pretty dismal, judging by the quality of a trailer - but the matte backgrounds and the concept art for this movie are amazing!

(images credit: "Empires of the Deep" Facebook group)

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Lovely Stewardesses

"Four United Airlines stewardesses, modelling new uniforms designed by Jean Louis, pose on the left wing of a UAL airliner":

(image credit: National Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

This is the Monarch Airlines cabin crew in their original 1968 uniforms:

For more lovely vintage images of stewardesses check out our series "Glamour of Flight"

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Cool-looking space vehicle: the "Mobile Geological Laboratory" (GEOLAB)

George Coutts sends us the pictures he took at the Huntsville Alabama US Space and Rocketry Museum:

(images credit: George Coutts)

Interestingly, this vehicle is parked in the back of the museum and marked as a post Apollo Luna Rover concept...

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Calgary 2013 "SuperMoon" Flood

Seeing that DRB is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, we had the dubious opportunity to witness the calamitous power of nature on June 21-23 (the time of the closest full Moon of 2013, so called "Super Moon"). The double-whammy flood of both rivers running through Calgary - the Bow and the Elbow rivers - came hard and fast: with waters rising in a matter of couple of hours, rushing with speed of more than 100 km / hr, the city's downtown got a full-blown deluge and more than 100,000 people had to be evacuated.

These photographs show what happened in Calgary, Bragg Creek, High River and other areas close to these rivers:

(images credit: Calgary Herald, Facebook, Twitter)

Why did the waters rise so quickly? A number of freak weather factors played a part in this. But prolonged heavy rain in the mountains is never good news: this map shows the whole huge area that drained into the Cougar Creek in a matter of hours and caused major flooding disaster in a nearby town of Canmore:

Many highway bridges in the Banff National Park and Kananaskis area were swept away and roads destroyed:

This house did not fare very well... the picture also shows how quickly the flood waters can rise and a desperate situation develop:

A new poster for the Calgary Zoo (which had to be partially evacuated) has been circulated on the internet:

Here is a good collection of more images of the flood. The waters have receded and now the clean-up effort goes full steam, as the City of Calgary prepares to host the Annual Calgary Stampede Fest in around 10 days, "come hell, or high water"!

(image credit: Amanda Gable)

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Cow stuck in a washing machine drum? Or an alien robot gobbling up a cow after crash landing on planet Earth?

Here is the explanation: "a curious cow got her head stuck in a washing machine drum in a field at Higher Fraddon, St Columb, Cornwall. The lucky cow escaped injury after her ordeal."

(image credit: RSPCA/PA Wire )

And here are more cows stuck in impossible situations:

Poor animals. Hope they got out of their predicament.

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High-tech Japanese Toilets Go Mobile

This is a "Toilet Bike Neo" displayed in Tokyo in 2012, conceived by TOTO toilet maker employee Akiko Matsuyama - this thing runs on bio-fuel "made from the discharge of livestock or waste water", not your poo, as many originally believed.

(image credit: AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, via)

Speaking of unique showroom motorcycles, here is an archive classic from the Chicago Tribune: this is a "Sniper Bike" outfitted with fifteen guns for the Police and Fire Thrill Show in July 1941:

And another badass biker in Russia:

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Humongous Bubbles to Get Lost In

'Bubbleologist' Samsam Bubbleman attempts to set the record for the world's largest free-floating soap bubble:

(images via)

They also got Bubble Nets! See more here. Another "huge bubbles" show is the Bubblebou, created by an artist by the name of Pep Bou:

(image via)

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Summer Means Fun!

These unknown models are radiant enough to rival the sunny weather! -

(images via)

Check out this Flickr group for lots of "Retro Beach" images.

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Build it, and they will come?

A luxury penthouse was spotted on a roof in Kiev, Ukraine: