Things of note for the week ending Friday October 9th, 2015.
Well paint me blue and call me Shirley, FTOF is late again. Ah well. Honestly, this week has been – how the kids might call it – ‘Cray Cray’ (or simply ‘Crayfish’ – you know who you are).
Therefore, as I hit the M4 at 13:36 on a Saturday afternoon, with a 4hr drive ahead (another story for another time) I have plenty of time to get this wrapped, shipped and out to you over the next 100 or so miles…
Hurrah and hurrah again.
‘Thanks James!’
‘You’re all good, brah.’
Shall we?
1. WHO OWNS ANTARCTICA?
The idea of ‘ownership’ when it comes to one of Earth’s last great natural wonders makes my skin crawl slightly but still, this is actually quite interesting.
For example:
While no one country “owns†Antarctica, a total of 52 nations do have joint international control over the region. The world’s struggle for a piece of the frozen pie began with the increase in Antarctic expeditions at the start of the 20th century. In 1908, England made the first attempt by laying claim to a significant portion of the mainland and several surrounding islands. In response, several other nations scrambled to secure territories while there was still land left to claim. Those nations included Chile, Argentina, Australia, France, Norway, New Zealand and even Nazi Germany.Â
Fortunately, it got better in the 50s.
2. PIMP MY CARDBOARD RIDE
I love this so hard.
Amsterdam-based artic, Max Siedentopf, just launched his latest project, ‘Slapdash Supercars‘ – and it is brilliant.
The one thing that Max doesn’t mention on his website is whether or not the owners of the above vehicles were willing participants in his upgrade project.
One hopes that the whole thing was done in over one night, with different people coming down to their cars in the morning to discover the amazing upgrades they’d been gifted with.
Can you imagine their faces? 🙂
Via.
3. AR COLOURING BOOKS
Apparently, Disney’s Zurich-based research arm has come up with a new way of turning colouring books pages into AR art (ARt, anyone?) that jumps off the page as you’re actually colouring it in.
Errr… mazing!
LOOK! MIND BOGGLES. CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS WIZARDRY WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD? INCREDIBLE!
PSFK has more.
4. THE MERMAID ECONOMY
This wins the prize for the most out there article of the week. I saw a few of these lovely ladies at SXSW (see below) and, according their manager (sorry), merfolk are big business indeed.
For reals.
As Fast Company explains:
…There’s been an explosion of professional mermaids, buoyed, you might say, by massive popular demand. Today, there are close to 1,000 full-time mermaids and mermen in the United States, according to the estimates of various experts I spoke with in the mer-community. These merfolk spend their days modeling in shimmering tails, performing for audiences in underwater tanks, and delighting children by making surprise appearances at their pool parties.
The whole article takes an in-depth look at the mermaid economy (yes, it’s an actual thing) and tells you exactly how, where, and why this trend is only set to grow and grow.
5. 3D PRINTING WEAPONS
I printed a gun. YES, an actual gun.
Look at how awesome it is:
!!!!!?!??!!!!!!?? RIGHT?!!!
OK, so maybe it’s not an actual gun but it is a gun from my favourite video game of the moment, Destiny.
If you’re wondering how to make your own version then WONDER NO MORE because fortunately for you, I wrote up the whole process earlier this week.
____________
Bonuses this week are as follows.
- I read this when it first published at the end of August and, bizarrely after seeing one of Mo Farah’s stupid TV ads for Quorn, I remember I hadn’t shared it. It is the best thing ever.
- Halloween is coming. If, like me, you take it seriously. These old fashioned costumes are fairly good inspiration.
- After a long drawn out argument with Vodafone over the past month or so, they said sorry by furnishing me with a brand new Xperia Z5 (Spectre Edition). Want to know if it’s any good? Ask me on Twitter or listen to Episode #144 of The Voicemail (available 8pm, Oct 11th).Â
Thanks for bearing with me this week and, all being well, I’ll see you on FRIDAY next.
Big love,
JW.
