There’s a great scene in the first season of Mad Men where Don unveils a campaign for Bethlehem Steel. "New York, Chicago, and Detroit—all brought to you by Bethlehem," reads the copy. The client rejects the pitch, but the sentiment itself was hard to argue with: steel from those small rustbelt towns was feeding the growth of a kind of city never imagined before the 20th century.
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Sooner or later, if you want a studio-quality photo of an object, you’ll have to get a light box. But aren’t those expensive? Not really. For about $20, you can build your own. And this week, you will! More »
Take the blood of a freshly slaughtered animal. Mix thoroughly with preservatives and sand, pour into square molds, and bake for one hour. Allow to cool—then build your home from the result. No, really. More »
I’ve loved LEGO bricks since I was a little kid. I’ve never had the time or patience to build some of the more complex and gigantic creations that some of you guys have, but I’m still a huge fan. Now adult LEGO fans have an opportunity to play with their bricks without feeling out of place.
The guys at LEGOLAND Discovery Center Chicago are hosting their first ever No-Kids-Allowed night, just for adult fans of LEGO. The event is only open to guests aged 18 or older, and will include an opportunity to learn at an advanced model-builder workshop, as well as to participate in Halloween speed-build and creative challenges to win cool LEGO prizes.
Participants are also encouraged to bring their own models to show off at the event, and to dress up for the costume contest. I can only imagine how many Minifig costumes are going to turn out for the party.
The $19 registration fee will also grant unlimited access to LEGOLAND Discovery Center Chicago (and its over 3 million bricks) for the night.
The event takes place at the Streets of Woodfield, 601 N. Martingale Road in Schamburg, IL, from 6:30 to 9:30pm on Monday, October 29, 2012. Register in advance at www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com, and annual pass holders get in for free. So leave the kids at home, and play with some LEGO like a grown-up.
A team of researchers at ETH Zurich has developed a rooftop mat made of a five-millimeter-thick polymer that can absorb water when it rains. The material changes properties along with the temperature—the mat becomes hydrophobic as it warms up, and the water is expelled, extracting heat from the building in a process the researchers compare to human sweat. The idea is to cool the interior with less reliance on air conditioning. It’s hard to imagine how this is possibly going to work. More »
So there you are, walking around on the world’s most advanced aircraft carrier. Everything around you is a multi-million dollar machine packed with advanced technology. Then something propped in the corner catches your eye. Is that an old wooden ladder? What the hell is that doing here? More »
Aircraft carriers are, how to say, big. Building them is a lot easier if you have a really, really big crane. Meet Big Blue. She’s the largest crane in the western hemisphere, and she’s hard at work piecing together the new Ford-class aircraft carriers in Newport News, Virginia. More »
You want to give the handyman/woman thing a shot, but you don’t want to invest in an entire toolbox worth of gear in case it turns out you’re inept. Try Black & Decker’s new Modular Matrix system—it fits most of a workshop in one relatively affordable handheld tool. More »
It’s easy to understand why the town of Järfälla, Sweden, chose Tham & Videgård‘s Double-Helix Tower as the winning design in a competition held to select an observation deck from which to watch the progress of on the Barkarbystaden urban development project, just west of Stockholm. More »
A German heavy equipment manufacturer decided they’d impress potential buyers—or maybe just people with a fetish for construction equipment—by using a series of massive cranes to lift each other. More »
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