Star Wars Death Star Birdhouse shows you’re all heart

death-star-birdhouseIn the Star Wars space opera, most of us would be able to tell right from the get go just who are the bad guys, and which are the good guys who are all out to save the galaxy from the firm grip of a crazed Emperor Palpatine. Well, those who need to eke out a living have signed up with various Stormtrooper divisions, simply because the Rebel Alliance are unable to pay that well, not to mention they do not have the latest hardware to play around with. Still, this does not mean all under the Galactic Empire are evil, some of them have a heart so much so that they keep pet birds in their homes. If you are part of such a crowd, why not do so with the £24.99 Star Wars Death Star Birdhouse to stay in vogue?

Of course, the Rebel Alliance might not look on to this particular birdhouse design too kindly, especially when it has been used to blow up an entire planet in the past, so any representation of this particular symbol should not be used despite the fact that it houses a life (or more!) within. At the very least, this is the deadliest birdhouse in the galaxy, no? Made out of high quality ceramic, there are no exposed thermal exhaust ports that could compromise its structural integrity. Watch out for dropping “torpedoes” from above now!
[ Star Wars Death Star Birdhouse shows you’re all heart copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

3D Print Your Own Death Star Birdhouse: A New Home

A little while back, we featured an officially-licensed Death Star birdhouse, but thanks to Thingiverse member plainolddave you can save some money and 3D print an evil space station for your winged Sith friends.

death star birdhouse 1

If you want, you can scale it down and use it as an ornament, a trinket or accessory – or scale it up and make an actual Death Star. You can even print the energy beam – though that’ll keep the birds out.

death star birdhouse 3d model by plainolddave

Head to Thingiverse to get the Death Star plans now.

[Evil Mad Scientist via NoPuedoCreer via OhGizmo!]

Future soldier: Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku on building a Death Star and Silicon Valley brain drain

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku

Morning light shines softly through a large glass window as a travel-weary Michio Kaku gamely musters a smile. Just a few hours removed from a cross-country flight from the East Coast, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this physicist is plain tired. Then the camera starts rolling. In an instant, Kaku looks rejuvenated as he plays to his audience and waxes poetic about his favorite subject — science.

In the world occupied by nerds and techno geeks, theoretical physicist and futurist Kaku is akin to a rock star. Chalk it up to a flowing mane of pepper-gray locks and the fact he co-created string field theory (which tries to unravel the inner workings of the universe). These days, Kaku can mostly be found teaching at City College of New York where he holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics. When he isn’t teaching, Kaku still spends most of his extra time talking science, whether it be through his radio programs, best-selling books such as Physics of the Future or appearances on shows like The Colbert Report, where he recently enlightened Stephen Colbert about the dangers of sending Bruce Willis into space to blow up a deadly asteroid. As fun as it is for Kaku to talk physics, however, he also considers it a matter of survival

Future soldier Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku on building a Death Star and Silicon Valley brain drain video

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LEGO Death Star Trench Run: Okay Kid, Lets Build This Thing and Go Home

This is a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to see the Death Star Trench Run in LEGO, but never had the time or LEGO parts to build one myself. This is a pretty impressive build, complete with another Death Star standing watch on a game box next to it. That’s just a backup in case the rebels discover this very flaw in the design.

lego death star trench

Flickr contributor Abathar photographed this model at the recent Brickworld LEGO convention in Chicago. It was built by Green Bay, WI LEGO fanatic Scott Vandeleest. Here are some more pics the guys at BrickWars-Sets shot of this epic build:

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I love the way he used the ships, making it easy to reenact the scene again and again.

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It even shows the missile firing into the exhaust port. Nice touch.

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That detail is simply amazing. Great job, Scott!

[via Geekologie]

Death Star Birdhouse: That’s No Nest

We’ve seen birdhouses that look like R2-D2 and C-3PO, but if your feathered friends lean towards the Dark Side – and are suckers for official Star Wars merch – forget about the droid nests and get this instead. It’s an officially licensed Death Star ceramic bird nest. Now that’s what I’m Tarkin about.

star wars death star birdhouse

It doesn’t have a superlaser, but at least it doesn’t have vulnerable reactor cores either.

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star wars death star birdhouse 300x250

You can order the Death Star birdhouse from the Fowndry for about $39 (USD).

[via Bit Rebels]

 

Was the Destruction of the Death Star an Inside Job?

Was there more to the climax of Star Wars: A New Hope than met the eye? According to the creators of Luke’s Change: an Inside Job, a fantastically clever take on another documentary you’re probably aware of, there certainly was. And come to think of it, some of the details of the whole thing were pretty convenient. I’m starting to think that maybe all this stuff didn’t actually happen…[Boing Boing via io9] More »

X-Wing Squadron Seeks $11M On Kickstarter For Measured Response To Funding Of Intergalactic Weapon

x-wings

The Death Star may be well on its way to Kickstarter success, with £224,596 pledged out of total £20,000,000 goal, but its construction won’t go unopposed. Rebel forces have rallied to crowdfund a means to oppose Imperial tyranny, in the form of an X-Wing fighter and a pilot trained to use it to take down any moon-sized space stations that may end up floating around in the void.

The project’s creators are seeking $11,000,000 in funds to finance the development of a single X-Wing, and to train a pilot to use the fighter to deliver its deadly payload. Let me take this opportunity to volunteer myself to wear the orange jumpsuit, since I’ve logged countless hours on the X-Wing and TIE Fighter simulators that LucasArts wisely issued back in the 90s in anticipation of this exact scenario.

If somehow I’m not picked to be the first X-Wing pilot, then at least I hope to be considered for the entire X-Wing squadron that project creators Simon Kwan and Ed Dean hope to put together if they can manage to hit their stretch goal of $4,458,672,683. For backup, should the project achieve 13 million Galactic Standard Credits, the team will also fund and build the creation of a Corelleian YT-1300 freighter, which certainly came in handy when the Rebels took down the second death start in our distant past during that far-flung galactic struggle we all know so well from the re-enacted documentaries created by George Lucas.

While it’s likely true that the galaxy needs an X-Wing or two, I’m a little skeptical about this project’s ability to achieve its goals, for one reason: the conversion rate for Galactic Standard Credits is all wrong. The GSC was estimated to be worth around 0.62 USD back in May 2012, which means that that 13 million stretch goal would translate to around 8.6 million USD – under the total funding amount required to make the project successful in the first place.

That’s just crazy, and it definitely doesn’t give me any confidence in the ability this project’s creators to get the job done. If you can’t handle basic galactic currency conversion, how do you expect to manage planetary defence? There’s a lot of math involved.

Death Star Kickstarter Project Kicks Off – And They Need Just $31 Million Dollars to Start

The U.S. government said ‘no’ to a petition signed by thousands of people asking for the construction of an actual Death Star. Not to be deterred, another group of concerned citizens have taken to the internet to raise funds to build the massive structure themselves.

Death Star KickstarterIt’s called the Open Source Death Star project and it’s currently up for funding on Kickstarter. The goal? A massive £20,000,000 (~$31.4 million USD). But that money won’t go toward building the actual thing; rather, it’s going to be used to come up with “more detailed plans and enough chicken wire to protect reactor exhaust ports.”

Yeah, okay.

The stretch goal is $850,000,000,000,000,000, which is the amount required to build the Death Star, as per the estimates of the U.S. government.

Death Star Kickstarter1

That circle above? That’s no ordinary circle, since that’s the “initial design” posted on the Kickstarter page for everyone’s reference.

Funnily enough, the project has raised over £191,000 (~$300,000 USD) so far. It’s clearly a joke, as the project’s creators have indicated on their project page under ‘Risks and Challenges’: “The main challenge is assuring Kickstarter that this is a joke and not a serious project. As proof, the goal has been set high enough to make successful funding almost impossible.”

Of course, if the project should reach actually its goal, they’re gonna have a whopper of a challenge on their hands.

[via Bit Rebels]

Death Star Kickstarter Campaign Seeks $850 Quintillion To Fully Fund

Death Star Kickstarter Campaign Seeks $850 Quintillion To Fully Fund

We’re not sure what is the Internet’s obsession with getting a Death Star built as they petitioned for the U.S. government to build it, only to be met with rejection weeks later. You would think that would be the end of the story and Star Wars nerds around the world would return to their forums to choice to complain about The Phantom Menace for the millionth time. But it turns out it didn’t end there as a Kickstarter project has been started to help build a Death Star.

The Kickstarter Open Source Death Star campaign has a $30 million dollar funding goal, which will be used to help create “more detailed plans” than the current design team has come up with as well as purchasing “enough chicken wire to protect reactor exhaust ports.” The project also mentions a Stretch Goal of $850 quintillion dollars would be needed in order to use the funded plans to actually build a full-scale Death Star.

(more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: DARPA Wants Self-Destructing Electronics, TrackingPoint Brings ‘Auto-Aim’ To The Real World With Linux-Powered Rifles,

Open Source Death Star Hits Kickstarter After Government Foolishly Refuses To Build One

Star Wars Death Star

The Death Star is undoubtedly a worthwhile undertaking. Sure, in the Star Wars films it’s generally depicted as an offensive weapon but it could have terrific value as a defensive platform, too. The government recently responded to requests from the general public that it look into constructing the massive, moon-sized space station, shutting down the idea because of a short-sighted “we don’t blow up planets” political stance and an unwillingness to dip into the treasury.

Now, a new Kickstarter project wants to pick up those plans, using an open source design effort and crowdfunding to help make it happen.

The project has a £20,000,000 (over $30,000,000 U.S.) funding goal, which would be used to create “more detailed plans” than the initial design the team currently has (pictured below) and improve on the original from the Star Wars movies with some unique defensive measures to keep out pesky X-Wings. If the project reaches its stretch goal of £543,000,000,000,000,00 (or $850,000,000,000,000,000), then the plans will actually be put to use building a full-scale production Death Star.

The project’s founders don’t share much about their backgrounds, so it’s difficult to say if they have the chops needed to deliver on their stated December 2015 delivery timeline. And of course there’s always the possibility of Rebel saboteurs to consider, too. For what it’s worth, we’ve learned from a source that Darth Vader himself is confident things are progressing as planned. “The Death Star will be completed on schedule,” he was overheard to say in conversation with a high-placed Imperial executive.