Related: RoboCup German Open 2008 – LEGO Sumo Robotic Championship – Musical Robots – Robo-One Grand Championship in Tokyo
Chimpanzee learning to ride a Segway on Japanese game show.
Related: Orangutan Attempts to Hunt Fish with Spear – Friday Cat Fun, Bunny and Kittens – Quantum Teleportation – RoboCup German Open 2008 – Water and Electricity for All
| Buy Qubits – The Construction Toy via Amazon). Post suggestion provided through our suggest a post link. Children are naturally curious. We need to provide opportunities for them to do what they would do naturally. This is one nice way to let kids explore the physical world.
Qubits® for Kids by Mark Burginger, architect / inventor Many of us recognize the name, Frank Lloyd Wright. He was America’s most famous architect. However, did you know that he was closely connected with the construction toy industry? It just happens that his son, John Lloyd Wright invented Lincoln Logs®. John traveled to Japan with his father Frank Lloyd Wright and while he was there John looked at the wooden log foundation his father designed for the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo. It caused him to think of a simple system of notched logs that could be used as a toy. After returning to the United States he created the toy sensation – Lincoln Logs®. |
You don’t need to be an architect of any stature approaching Frank Lloyd Wright to feel this sense of influence. The inspiration for me came from the same Lincoln Logs that John Lloyd Wright invented. I used to play with them for hours and hours on end as a child. Now as a parent and an architect I feel I should do my part to provide a unique construction toy for children to play with and draw inspiration. The toy that I have spent the last five years developing is coined with the name, Qubits®. This dynamic new entry into the toy industry is gaining popularity with teachers, professors and of course – children all over Central Oregon. A simple plastic toy that can be built-up using a unique patented modular geometry. It quickly captures the imagination of children who might have visions of becoming architects, engineers, scientist or even nanotech designers.
Continue reading
“Once we saw him juggling the hermit crabs in his tank, another time he threw stones against the glass damaging it. And from time to time he completely re-arranges his tank to make it suit his own taste better – much to the distress of his fellow tank inhabitants.”
Related: more fun posts – The Brine Lake Beneath the Sea – Baby Sand Dollars Clone Themselves When They Sense Danger – Virgin Birth for Another Shark Species
| Once again the tortoise show persistence can pay off:
a fierce little tortoise that would not allow a cat to invade what it perceived to be its territory. Instead, it actively sets about attacking and ultimately expelling the feline, which at first cannot believe the sheer audacity of this small but spirited creature.
… Ever-encroaching urbanisation is just one of the onslaughts natural spaces around the world are facing. The killer tortoise of Port Elizabeth, South Africa as this little fellow has become known is a small but powerful symbol that some things are worth fighting for. Related: Bunny and Kittens – Backyard Wildlife: Turtle – fun with cats – Ageless Turtles |
Buy your own Tomy i-SOBOT Robot ($180)
Related: Open Source for LEGO Mindstorms – Making Robots from Trash – Asimo Robot: Running and Climbing Stairs – Science and Engineering Gadgets and Gifts
Not exactly what I would think of as fun but people seem to love these webcasts on folding shirts. The one shown shows how an engineering folds a t-shirt.
Step by step guide to folding a shirt in 2 seconds in Japanese (40 seconds webcast) in English (2 minutes)
Related: Camera Fashion – Hug Shirt – Now for Something Completely Different
Enjoy. Ok, you might not want to go download this groups other tracks (if you do there aren’t any, by the way) but it is a fun LHC adventure. By Katherine McAlpine and others at CERN.
Related: science is fun – posts about CERN – Brian Cox Particle Physics Webcast – Great Physics Webcast Lectures
We first posted on Yves Rossy’s personal jetpack in 2006. Now he is preparing to fly over the English channel with this jetwings.
When the plane is at 8,000ft, he will fire up the four little jet engines attached to the underside of the wing and then jump out. In the plane, the wingtips are always folded or Yves would not fit through the door. Once in the open air, he will pull a cord and the two spring-loaded ends will snap open to give him a full wing span of just over eight feet.
He will open up his engines, dive for a few seconds to pick up a speed of around 200mph and then level out at around 5,000ft before flying in a straight line at roughly 115mph to England. As long as the wind is not above 10mph in the opposite direction, he should have enough juice to get him to Kent.
There, he will pull his parachute ripcords and drop safely on to Blighty’s fair shores.
Related: photo from Yves Rossy web site – AlienFly RC Mosquito Helicopter – Engineering Quiet, Efficient Planes – Megaflood Created the English Channel