What hath man wrought? Here we talk about some of the most astounding inventions conceived of by the human mind.
posted by Gregory on Sep 3
I came across this article from CNN the other day, about a company called WiTricity, derived from an M.I.T. research group. They are experimenting with the wireless transfer of electricity. Being the League’s Archivist, I was immediately reminded of one of my very favorite, (not so) mad scientists, Nikola Tesla, and his similar experiments back in 1901.
posted by Andy on Aug 26
After five score and three years of holding the land speed record for a steam-powered vehicle, the dusty crown of the honorable Fred Marriott has been handed over to Charles Burnett III, whose vehicle tore across the California desert at 139 miles per hour. Burnett and his team spent a full decade working on “the fastest kettle in the world,” a project that was essentially designed to provide Burnett with the most awesome 30 seconds of his life.
In an interview with the BBC, Burnett described the car as “very stable.” Immediately following that claim – and without any sense of irony – he explained that the car was “fading back and forth probably two to three feet in either direction” while he was going over 150 miles and hour (the speed record is an average over a mile, the car actually goes faster than 139). Charles Burnett III, I bow to your adventuring might. Swaying back and forth two to three feet at 150 miles an hour would leave me with very, very wet pants – not to say that I wouldn’t give it a shot. According to Burnett, “the key there is not to try and drive the car, but let the car do what it wants, because once you start trying to control the car, you put yourself in danger of overcontrolling it and throwing it sideways.” I think I’m going to start applying that rule to every aspect of my life.
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posted by Gregory on May 26
I profiled this amazing little piece of Cold War history recently, as those who have already listened to our Guns & Ammo meeting know, but I wanted to go ahead and put up some pics of it as well. After the jump is the full text of that profile as well as some additional pictures of this bad idea just waiting to happen.
It also occurred to us after the podcast that this portable nuke launcher (which was quite capable of killing its own operators) was named after Davy Crockett. A man who died in a hopeless last stand at the Alamo… Whether this name was intended to draw parallels between that moment and the use of this weapon is unknown, but frightening nonetheless.
