Weird Universe Blog — October 29, 2024
The Anti-Earthquake Bed and other inventions of Dahir Insaat
The videos of the Turkish company Dahir Insaat are a viral phenomenon online, but I wasn't aware of them until recently. So perhaps they'll be new to some of you as well. Some info about the company and its strange videos from Wikipedia:Dahir Insaat (Turkish for "Dahir Construction")... is a company founded in Istanbul by Russian engineer and inventor Dahir Kurmanbievich Semenov. It is known for its futuristic design concepts, including concepts for large quadcopters, automation, and prefabrication. The designs are generally dismissed as wildly impractical, and the animated videos featuring them have frequently gone viral on the internet due to their absurd nature. Semenov has been compared to prolific inventor Buckminster Fuller.
One of Dahir Insaat's designs is for a bed that becomes a "fortress" in an earthquake. Critics have described it as a claustrophobic coffin.
Another design is for an aerial train. Insaat says it could travel at 400 mph with electricity supplied by a tether that is linked to an electrified rail. This rail runs on the ground between stations.
The firm's other designs include a drive-thru supermarket which would literally be driven through and a gyroscopic transport vehicle that would move above traffic.
One of Dahir Insaat's designs is for a bed that becomes a "fortress" in an earthquake. Critics have described it as a claustrophobic coffin.
Another design is for an aerial train. Insaat says it could travel at 400 mph with electricity supplied by a tether that is linked to an electrified rail. This rail runs on the ground between stations.
The firm's other designs include a drive-thru supermarket which would literally be driven through and a gyroscopic transport vehicle that would move above traffic.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 29, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Inventions | Video
Sounds of the Junkyard
All the other tracks are at this link.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 29, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Noises and Other Public Disturbances of the Peace | Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings | Debris, Junk, Detritus, Salvage and Other Random Remnants | 1960s
October 28, 2024
The First Living Work of Art
In 1961, German artist Timm Ulrichs put himself on display inside a glass case and called himself the "first living work of art" (erstes lebendes Kunstwerk). He repeated this performance at various times throughout his career.
Artmap.com explains: "Instead of found objects, Ulrichs uses his own body. A simple and simultaneously great idea: whereas with Duchamp the producer and the work were still separated, in the case of Timm Ulrichs, the artist and the work are one and the same."
A "great idea" is one way to describe it.
Some more examples of Ulrich's art:
In 1962, Timm Ulrichs signed his own body. His name was engraved as a tattoo on his upper arm.
In 1963, he tracked his heartbeat with a stethoscope. He broadcast it on a loudspeaker and exhibited the medical record as a musical score.
In 1966, Timm Ulrichs showed the tanning of his skin as a filmic process for the first time. The covered, untanned areas of his back, in contrast to the tanned areas, slowly reveal the word “Hautfilm” [skin film].
In 1969, Timm Ulrichs became a sperm donor at the Bremen sperm bank – ironically referring to Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility”.
In 1973, Timm Ulrichs ate for one year according to the average consumption of Germans, precisely observing the consumption of milk, bread, and cigarettes. Four cigarettes a day.
In 1978, using professional police equipment, Timm Ulrichs had a facial composite of his own face made.
In 1963, he tracked his heartbeat with a stethoscope. He broadcast it on a loudspeaker and exhibited the medical record as a musical score.
In 1966, Timm Ulrichs showed the tanning of his skin as a filmic process for the first time. The covered, untanned areas of his back, in contrast to the tanned areas, slowly reveal the word “Hautfilm” [skin film].
In 1969, Timm Ulrichs became a sperm donor at the Bremen sperm bank – ironically referring to Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility”.
In 1973, Timm Ulrichs ate for one year according to the average consumption of Germans, precisely observing the consumption of milk, bread, and cigarettes. Four cigarettes a day.
In 1978, using professional police equipment, Timm Ulrichs had a facial composite of his own face made.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Oct 28, 2024 -
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Category: Art | Body | 1960s
Follies of the Madmen #609
Too much nicotine causes the user to hallucinate that the cigarette is talking to them.Source of ad.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 28, 2024 -
Comments (3)
Category: Advertising | Smoking and Tobacco | 1930s | Mental Health and Insanity
October 27, 2024
Likelihood of Paper Cuts
A recent article in the journal Physical Review E explores what kind of paper is most likely to give you paper cuts. The answer: dot-matrix paper. Followed by magazine pages.The likelihood of cutting has to do with the thickness of the paper. Too thin and the paper buckles instead of cutting. Too thick and it indents material rather than slicing it. There's a specific range in between too thick and too thin where the paper cuts.
For the purpose of their research, the authors created a "papermachete" which they used to cut apples, bananas, chicken, etc. (see image below).
The article itself ("Competition between slicing and buckling underlies the erratic nature of paper cuts") is behind a paywall, but you can find a copy on github. One of the authors posted a video on YouTube that explains their research and findings.
More info: phys.org
Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 27, 2024 -
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Category: Injuries | Science | Experiments
Miss Grits
Alas, I fear this contest has been discontinued.
Teeny Miss Grits Ava Dean, 2, (L) and Miss Grits Lindsay Dobbs, 16, participate in the parade during the 14th annual National Grits Festival in Warwick, Georgia USA on 09 April 2011.
13th Annual National Grits Festival in Warwick Georgia every April featuring arts and crafts, eating event, corn shelling, parade and rolling in the grits pit.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 27, 2024 -
Comments (4)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Food | Parades and Festivals | Regionalism
October 26, 2024
Monument to the Unelected
The front yard of a Phoenix home displays campaigns signs of major candidates who have lost a presidential election, including failed candidates of yesteryear such as James G. Blaine and Winfield Hancock.The signs are the work of artist Nina Katchadourian who calls it the "Monument to the Unelected." She's been creating it (and finding homes to host it) every presidential election cycle since 2008. On her website she explains:
Each sign was made in a design vernacular that could have come from any time in the past few decades, even if it advertised a candidate from a previous century. At a time when the country was preoccupied with the "fork in the road" moment of a major national election, the piece presented a view of the country's collective political road not taken.
More info: smoca.org, AZFamily.com
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 26, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Art | Politics | Signage
The Birth of the Robot
The creator's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 26, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Robots | Stop-motion Animation | 1930s | Cars
October 25, 2024
The Ding Dong Dog of Cuminestone
Newport News Daily Press - Dec 15, 1963
Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 25, 2024 -
Comments (0)
Category: School | Dogs | 1960s
Louvered Sunglasses
Wouldn't you look chic wearing these? And no more viewing the world through "rose-colored glasses."Original patent here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 25, 2024 -
Comments (1)
Category: Inventions | Patents | 1950s | Eyes and Vision
