This week in Maker Update, Donald Bell presents a zoetrope combined with a fidget spinner, an SLS printer from Formlabs, a Raspberry Pi weather chamber, component carnage, and a tiny OLED Pi screen. Our featured Cool Tool is the Hakko FX-901 cordless soldering iron. Read the full review on Cool Tools .
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Maker Update: Hakko FX-901 cordless soldering iron
The inedible green leaves left behind during pineapple harvesting contain fibers that can be transformed into goods traditionally made from leather, including shoes, bags, and other leather accessories. Pinatex has details. (more…)
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These shoes are made of pineapple leaves
Atlas Obscura discloses a secret library, The Conjuring Arts Research Center , established to preserve the secrets of magic! The not-for-profit organization was established in 2003, “dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of magic and its allied arts.” It was started by William Kalush, who developed a love of magic from the card tricks shown to him by his father, a Marine wounded in World War II. This love of card magic turned to a love of collecting magic books, which now form a wondrous collection of over 15,000 books—some dating to over 600 years old—housed in this hidden location. “I like early books that no one else has ever seen”, Kalush says, sitting in a high-backed, ornately carved wooden chair that wouldn’t look out of place with a wizard sitting on it. “Books of performances pieces, card secrets, many that are unique.” Browsing through the shelves stacked with all things conjuring, you will find obscure books on sleight-of-hand techniques, mentalism, deceptive gambling, the history of magic, and the mysterious secrets of card tricks. One book is the seminal The Expert At the Card Table, which appeared in 1902, written by an S. W. Erdnase. It’s one of the most detailed collections of sleight-of-hand techniques and card sharping, a book so iconic and well-studied within magic circles it is known as “the Bible.” Appropriately enough, S. W. Erdnase was a pseudonym. The real identity of the writer has remained a century-old mystery.
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The Conjuring Arts Research Center: Manhattan’s hidden library of magic
In a post to the venerable NANOG list (mirrored since to Dave Farber’s Interesting People list), anti-spam researcher Ronald F. Guilmette posts the results of his investigation into the IP addresses claimed by a mysterious company called host-offshore.com — IP addresses assigned to “various parties within the nation of Columbia (including the National University thereof)” but, strangely, routed through Bulgaria. (more…)
One of the most hotly-contested fields of genetics revolves around the genetic lineage of ancient Egyptians. A new study of 90 Pre-Ptolemaic, Ptolemaic, and Roman mummies raises as many questions as it answers. (more…)
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Controversy over DNA sequencing of 90 Egyptian mummies
“Role-players, boardgamers, writers, coders, artists, graphic designers, teachers, house-cleaners, lucid dreamers, gym-rats, distance runners, commuters” can enjoy over 100 ambient atmospheric loops with names like “Orbital Promenade,” “Lunar Outpost,” “Testing Chamber” and so on. (more…)
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Tabletop Audio: ambient loops for your RPGs
From Tallahassee, Florida’s Lofty Pursuits who offer these “handmade artisinal candies” at $6 for a 2.75oz bag: A new technique for a new effect in our image candies. These Crystal Roses are formed from nothing but hot sugar, and flavors. This is the first in a series of candies using this kind of design.
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How it’s made: hard crystal candies with cherry-flavored roses inside
https://youtu.be/27dnddCq5gc Here’s how to make web page with cute dog photos, taught by Satan!
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The best way to learn HTML is by watching this death metal video
Cody Xiong from North Carolina should have kept his mouth shut, but when police came to his door to ask about something unrelated, the paranoid poppy grower said, “I guess you’re here for the opium.” This led police to discover over an acre of poppy plants, worth about $500 million, in Xiong’s backyard. According to Time : Investigators believe the plants were being harvested in Xiong’s isolated rural lot, before being shipped elsewhere. Opium poppies are used to make opium, morphine, codeine and heroin, and police estimated that the haul consisted of over 2,000 pounds of the plant. Xiong was arrested at the site and charged with manufacturing a Schedule II drug and trafficking in opium, both felonies. He was later released from jail after posting $45,000 bail. Image: Magnus Manske
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Oops, man panics and snitches on himself about $500 million opium poppy field
https://youtu.be/RW7W-OKZBsw The original name for The Beverly Hillbillies was The Hillbillies of Beverly Hillbillies. The core cast in this unaired pilot from 1962 didn’t change with the new name, and it also features the amazing customized 1921 Oldsmobile Model 43-A touring car built by car customizer George Barris (who created Black Beauty from Green Hornet , the Batmobile from the 1966 Batman TV series, and the Munster’s Koach).
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Unaired pilot for Beverly Hillbillies (1962)