Stonehenge uses a CrustCrawler Smart Arm and a Parallax Propeller chip to display the current time. All the digits needed to display the time are located on cards positioned in a semi-circle around the left and right sides of the arm. The time itself is displayed in front of the arm. This gives the clock a “Stonehenge” like appearance. There are a total of 14 cards. Each card has two digits with one on each side. The software planner determines which card and which side is needed to display the time and then sends the necessary movement commands to the arm.

What happens when the robot knocks over one of the cards and can’t pick it up? Does it get stuck on the time or does it just go on to the next card, et cetera? The clock is pretty cool though, in a Rube Goldberg sort of way - a more complex and cool way to do something that’s fairly easy to do. [Norris Labs via BoingBoing]

Telstar Logistics got to take a demo flight of the new Emirates A380 leaving our of San Francisco. You know how you always imagine what it should be like to fly on an airplane in your head and it includes showers, a swanky bar, comfortable seating, etc. Well it looks like Emirates Air has heard granted your wishes.

The company flies out of Dubai, so, obviously they do things bigger and better than their American rivals. Generally speaking, the A380 can be configured to carry up to 850 passengers, but this particular plane had room for 399 economy passengers in the lower deck and situated in the upper deck 76 business class seats and 14 first class passengers suites. There was a bar, showers for first class passengers, video cameras on the tail, nose, and underside of the plane that you can watch during the flight, and a relatively soundproof cabin.

Luxurious is how flying should be, instead it’s become herding cattle from one place to the next. Seriously, if American airline companies don’t reconfigure their business model they are going to go the way of the train.

Actually, I think if Amtrak came back with high-speed maglev trains clustered around major city groupings and put a little breathing room/luxury into the trains they would attract lots of people burned out from flying. People don’t want to feel hassled or anxious when they travel but that’s just want Amtrak did and that’s what the airlines are doing now.

Still, that plane looks amazing. Bringing all back home!

The Red Bull Flugtag set up shop over the weekend down at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on Saturday, so that amateur daredevils could launch their homemade flying vehicles into the Willamette River. What makes the Flugtag so special is how it celebrates poorly made machines with an enthusiasm not seen elsewhere. You don’t just win because you flew the longest you win with a combination of length and creativity too.

But mostly you win by showing up in some poorly conceived design and launching off a huge ramp into a river. Vehicle have a maximum wingspan of 30 feet and can weigh no more than 450 pounds (including the pilot). There were some doozies this year, and if The Flugtag proves anything it’s that people like to dress up in crazy outfits and jump into rivers.

Team Yakima’s “Big Wheel,” from Beaverton, won the day with a launch of 62 feet. Full results can be found here. This was the first time in four years the event was held in Portland. MORE »

The Hong King Lego Users Group recreated the city of Bejing in under 100 hours.   The National Aquatics Center is in the center.  Other photos of Lego venues can be seen here.  The good thing about this is there is no smog. [via]

Best. Thing. Ever.  If only this came with a radio activated voice.  Or a way to control him like a remote control car.

More photos at Brickshelf.  [via]

I find the architectural designs that are being created in the Middle East absolutely fascinating. The region of the world, known more in these parts for terrorism, failed states, and oil cartels are at the cutting edge of architectural wonders. So much so, that they are shaming design in the U.S.

Part wishes that our designs were 1/10 as courageous as anything in Dubai, including that newly announced rotating skyscraper, and now this cultural center that is going to be built in Saudi Arabia for King Abdulaziz. The amorphous building is striking and oddly reminds me of the alien life form from The Abyss.

In competition with some of the world’s greatest architects, Snøhetta has won the competition about designing Saudi Arabia’s new Cultural Center. Saudi Aramco – the world’s largest oil company – is the client.

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz set the cornerstone for the Cultural Center which will house a museum, library, theater, cinema and more. The building reflects the history of oil in Saudi Arabia and is different from the country’s architectonic traditions with its abstract and spectacular form.

Along with five other internationally know architect offices, Snøhetta participated in the competition and was chosen in preference to famous names as Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas.

[via]

Bill Gates, mastermind behind the not-so-easy to use Microsoft Windows, sent an email to some honchos at his company regarding a software download. Unfortunately, all Gates was able to do was download a tantrum. Seriously, if there is any proof that Windows needs to be reconfigured to be consumer/idiot friendly it is this email.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligence:

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don’t drive usability issues.

Let me give you my experience from yesterday.

I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack … so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.

The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.

This site is so slow it is unusable.

It wasn’t in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.

These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.

They are not filtered by the system … and so many of the things are strange.

I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).

I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.

I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.

In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve.

Anyway, the email goes on for a bit and it’s really funny to read Gates’s frustrations spilled across the page. Also, this was written five years ago. Have things with Windows gotten easier to use? I doubt it. It’s enough to make one want to switch to a Mac. The best part is at the end of the article, where the reporter did a follow up interview with Gates regarding the email.

Gates chuckled and admitted that, “There’s not a day that I don’t send a piece of e-mail … like that piece of e-mail. That’s my job.”

No sir, your job is to make an operating system that doesn’t suck. [via]

Nike is paying homage to England’s sartorial history at this year’s Wimbeldon. Stars like Roger Federer are wearing button down cartigans, Serena Williams is rocking a white trench coat and Maria Sharapova is donning a white tuxedo during match play.

As strange as it sounds it’s pretty neat what they’ve done and elevates tennis fashion to a whole’nother level. As a collection this shames Federer’s white blazer from last year, though that single piece of tennis fashion was aces.

A talented woman created combustible singer crack addict Amy Winehouse for Bt3a.  Unfortunately, she ran out of black Legos before constructing her beehive.

Not appropriate for children under 18, crack pipe included.

[via]

Today marks the anniversary of the roller coaster opened in 1884 at Coney Island.  What would the world be like without roller coasters.

For me, I thrill to the excitement of roller coasters and would gladly wait two hours in sweaty lines for the chance to hang upside down at 200 mph, having my brains twisted and banged against my skull, thrown from side to side from G-forces beyond a human’s capacity to protect itself.

I know lots of people love the entire two or three minute spectacle, but for me the most exciting part is the slow ascent up the first long incline.  There is always that moment right as you approach the top of the climb, right before the top and the eventually plunge; it’s almost like hitting the pause button where you take a quick glance at your surroundings your heart pounding in your chest, the anticipation building until you finally fall into that light-speed frenzy of motion sickness.

So here’s to Coney Island and LaMarcus Adna Thompson who started it all here in the States.

Wired has a gallery of the coolest roller coasters in the world. It has become difficult to keep up, since it seems every year sees the opening of another “tallest and faster” coaster in the world.  I don’t need tall and fast, so much, as I want my roller coaster to be “dangerous.”

The Wired gallery seems to have omitted Cedar Point, which is a huge travesty, and also Magic Mountain’s X is reportedly a huge leap forward in coaster design - considered a fourth-dimension coaster.

Does anyone have a favorite roller coaster or a suggestion for ones to check out?

Adidas has teamed up with Hellboy to create the two most badass pair of kicks around.

Outstanding street wear brand Adidas Originals is proud to announce a unique tri-collaboration project for the fall/winter season 2008. It will launch two sneakers to coincide with the global release of the Hellboy II ‘The Golden Army’ movie in August 2008. The collaboration brings together adidas Originals, Universal Studios & Guillermo Del Toro, the film’s director, and Dark Horse Comics & Mike Mignola, the original comic book artist of Hellboy. Together, this tri-project has produced two outstanding sneakers: the Forum Mid-Golden Army and the Stan Mid-Hellboy.

The Forum Mid-Golden Army takes the court standard and mixes the appropriate trio of gold, black and white with Hellboy lettering across the Velcro strap, with an image of Ron Perlman as the titular demonic anti-hero on the outsole and footbed. Additionally, adidas Originals created a jaw-dropping statement with the Stan Mid-Hellboy in cooperation with Dark Horse Comics & Mike Mignola. The black shoe has the image of Hellboy printed on its side in red and extra details on the inner and outer sole, like a collection of three extra footbeds, plus lace jewels, a mini-comic and unique tongue branding. Both the Forum Mid-Golden Army and the Stan Mid-Hellboy come in a specially designed shoe box and different tissue wrappings, making them true collector pieces.

The shoes will both be released worldwide in a limited edition run, with only 5,000 pairs of the Forum Mid-Golden Army to be sold in adidas Originals stores and other outlets. 1,000 pairs of the Stan Mid-Hellboy will be available.  The demonic shoes will set you back about $100 for the Forum Mid-Golden Army and $150 for the Stan Mid-Hellboy.  I’m totally getting the Forum Mid. [via]

Forum Mid

Stan Mid

We all sort of know that it’s a dog and pony show when Congress parades the big oil company CEO’s to discuss their record profits and the soaring cost of gasoline. Rather than develop a legitimate energy policy, everybody knows that Congress would rather have the appearance of our best interests instead of rolling up their sleeves, getting dirty and doing the work we voted them to do. (ed. note: After watching John Adams it’s hard not to be filled with the bile of revolution and the notion that it is time to take our country back, that things are going to break very soon)

How else to explain their fondness for Roger Clemens, steroids, and whether or not the New England Patriots cheated. It’s all a sham.

One thing that the traditional media and our elected officials never seem to mention is that nearly two-thirds of our oil energy consumption is directly related to transportation costs, according to the annual energy review. That’s where the squeeze is coming from. Granted, clean and affordable energy needs to be developed for lots of other things. But people are feeling the crunch at the pump.

How is it that no one is demanding more from their car companies? Isn’t it sort of a joke that we celebrate the Toyota Prius when it only gets 35-40 mpg? Car companies are still using essentially the same combustible engine that was used when cars were first invented. What’s the analogy? We don’t use whale oil to light our houses anymore.

All of that is preamble to say that one car company is thinking outside the traditional mode.

Tesla Motors