| Steampunk Pipe Lamp Looks Good in Any Laboratory
So, you're a Victorian-era mad scientist, and you need more light in your cavernous laboratory. What better to provide it than this steampunk pipe lamp, crafted from brass plumbing and long-length incandescent bulbs? The creation of "Fzz (Prof.)," the wonderful finishing touch is the use of a valve as the power switch. "Following on from my previous Steampunk Lamp, here's something a little more minimalist this time. I wasn't aiming for it to look like anything in particular, but I vaguely had in mind the idea of water level gauges on steam locomotives." The contruction process was photojournaled here, revealing one happy coincidence that helped make it all possible: the bulbs used just happen to fit perfectly into the 15mm plumbing brass. Gallery [Fzz via Makezine] .
Inventive premises and their sticky complications
Fans of Michel Faber's voluptuous, exhaustively researched The Crimson Petal and the White, a Victorian novel to make the most worldly Victorian blush, are in for a more varied experience reading this, his latest book of stories released in North America. Unlike The Apple, which continues the stories of prostitute Sugar and her Crimson Petal cohorts, The Fahrenheit Twins has more in common with his debut collection, Some Rain Must Fall. Both books exhibit an eclectic array of styles and plots. Memorably inventive premises give rise to sticky complications as Faber writes his characters into trouble and then stands back while they struggle to get out. Although many of the endings are dropped or left inconclusive, the writing is clear, the pace snappy, and the effect entertaining if not always completely satisfying.
It’s Official. He makes Thingies
He has worked at the same company for 7 years, doing the same job. Nonetheless, when people ask me what he does, I give what could only be compared to as the verbal form of a shrug. I know he works in a high-tech field, using computers and current mirrors. He discusses writer signals and waveforms, op-amps and voltage faults. That I can remember. He's in a laudable profession. If you are reading this via the computer, you could probably thank him for your computer's hard drive. Or something he did working on computers. Or for working. If you asked me what he did, I could tell you he is an analog design engineer. At least that's what his degree reads. Because we live in the silicon mountains (not Pamela Lee's-the high-tech ones), there is a pretty good chance that I'm going to meet someone who works for one of the local high-tech companies.
Convention offers look at future vehicles, aids
DETROIT - From a vehicle that drivers can wear to lasers that make a dark road visible without illuminating it, a glimpse into the future of automotive technology is on display this week at the SAE World Congress at Cobo Center. Automakers and suppliers from around the world who converged for the annual conference of the Society of Automotive Engineers showed off gizmos that seem out-of-this-world today, but could become as common as power windows or anti-lock brakes tomorrow. Amid a host of technical paper presentations, the biggest buzz was about Toyota Motor Corp's personal mobility vehicle, the i-Swing. The Japanese automaker touts the concept single-person vehicle as "wearable," because the driver fits snuggly into the i-Swing and can use body motions to control the vehicle.
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