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• Self-Ejecting Phone Charger Was Inspired by a Leech

  In Gadgets, Wired Madness

  

  When leeches are full from feeding off the blood of their prey, they simply let go so they can digest, and perhaps smoke a leech-sized cigarette.  The truth is I’m not sure what happens during their actual digestion, but at least it’s good to know that those filthy creatures aren’t total gluttons.  A man named Connor Klein was inspired by leech feedings and thought that maybe the same could be true of a phone charger. [...]

   

• Portraits Grown on Grass

  In Design, Wired Madness

  

  The photos that you see above and below are the work of Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey – the medium is living grass. The pair created the portraits by covering seedling grass with custom-made negatives, which presumably filtered the sunlight to varying degrees allowing the details to be “printed” onto grass. The images on the grass are temporary – over time, as the grass grows and with the negative no longer filtering out the sunlight, [...]

   

• Robotic Butt Sounds Like Darth Vader Violating a Jackhammer

  In Wired Madness

  

  A researcher from Japan’s University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have created what could quite possibly be the first robotic butt to respond to different types of touch. Nobuhiro Takahashi has named the robotic butt “SHIRI”, which means butt in Japanese and have explained that its purpose is to “advance the innovative use of robotic technology and its purpose” and “to raise the argument as to what perceptions will be manifested in the minds of people [...]

   

• Japan’s Kirin Serves up Beer with Frozen Foam

  In Science, Technology, Wired Madness

  

  Japan’s Kirin brewery has developed a novel method for keeping beer colder for longer – its latest beverage, “Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft” comes with frozen foam. According to Kirin, the -5C foam is able to keep a beer cold for up to half an hour. They say that it also gives the beer a “cool and refreshing texture.” So how does it work? The foam is subjected to a process that Kirin has termed “frozen [...]

   

• Physicist Uses Power of Physics to Beat Traffic Ticket

  In Science, Wired Madness

  

  When physicist Dmitri Krioukov was issued with a traffic ticket for running a stop sign that he disagreed with, he chose to argue his point with the power of science. Rather than engage in a fruitless debate with the officer who claimed that he saw him run a stop sign, Krioukov set to work at bamboozling explaining his way out by means of a complex mathematical proof. From the Verge: Krioukov claims that the officer [...]

   

• The Best Walk-in Beer Refrigerator You Will See All Day [Beer Cave]

  In Housewares, Wired Madness

  

  If you have plenty of money and not enough refrigerator space for all of your beer, you might want to check out the BrewCave. This refrigerated monstrosity is constructed from metal-skinned panels with 4″ insulation cores and can store up to 30 cases and four kegs of beer. Cooling comes by way of a 3/4hp refrigeration system that is designed to keep the temperature down to a pleasant 32°F. I remember when I got my [...]

   

• Bacon-themed Coffin Could be Sadly Ironic

  In Wired Madness

  

  We’re talking irony here: real irony, not Alanis Morissette irony – and this bacon themed coffin is a great way to differentiate between the two. Finding a fly in your glass of white wine is unfortunate but it is not ironic. A bacon-themed coffin at a funeral, however, might be – assuming that bacon was one of the things that led to you being dead… and let’s face it, bacon probably had something to do [...]

   

• Listen to Vader Breathe For Ten Whole Hours [video]

  In Geeky, Videos, Wired Madness

  

  If you are in need of some non-intrusive, slightly creepy background noise then you sir – or ma’am are in luck. The YouTube video below features precisely ten hours of Vader breathing. Boring? Perhaps, but it doesn’t distract. Incidentally, it is also the longest YouTube video I have ever come across – until I saw the rest of Murdock129′s collection. [The Awesomer]

   

• Spill-proof Beer is Sadly A Long Way From Reality

  In Videos, Wired Madness

  

  It is a common story, you’ve just bought a round of drinks and some drunken goon bumps into you – knocking beer and whatever else you just bought all over your pants and shoes. Said beverages normally land in the crotchal area, ruining the night for all concerned. One’s options in such situations are limited: channel Frances Begbie and give the drink spiller in question a really bad night; or accept his (it usually is [...]

   

• The Spinning Beachball of Death Has Never Been More Amusing

  In Videos, Wired Madness

  

  When solar entrepreneur Colin Robertson tried to give a speech at TED about crowd-sourcing solar energy – things went hilariously awry. It started with a spinning beachball and ended in pandemonium – thanks to the good people at Improv Everywhere. Lest you think they were being rude, Robertson was in on the act, but he played the hapless presenter role very well.

   

• World’s Smallest Coffee Maker Makes Tiny Cups of Coffee

  In Design, Wired Madness

  

  The tiny coffee pot that you see in the image above is the work of Italian silversmith Pietro Marmo. It tips the scales at 3.9 grams and is not much bigger than a coffee bean. The pot, which is for sale, is capable of brewing a few drops of coffee at a time. Price: About $75 [Yahoo]

   

• Swedes Get Religious About File Sharing

  In Internet, Wired Madness

  

  After years of being rejected by the Swedish Government, The Church of Kopimism has become Sweden’s newest religion. The 3,000 registered members consider the copying of files to be a sacred act and the sharing of information is integral to their belief system. From the Church of Kopimism: Being recognized by the state of Sweden is a large step for all of kopimi. Hopefully, this is one step towards the day when we can live [...]