A war began and ended in China Sunday, staining the streets crimson red. But the thick red liquid that flowed throughout Wanjiang Township wasn't blood, it was tomato juice.
Inspired by the Tomatina Festival held annually in Bunol, Spain, the Chinese held an imitation of the famous tomato fight using about 15 tons of tomatoes.
That's a lot of tomatoes that could've been used for tomato soup, a tasty marinara sauce or even sandwiched between some fresh mozzarella and drenched in balsamic vinegar. Mmmm. Tomatoes.
Still, I've been reassured that the tomatoes used were over-ripe, and really good for nothing else but throwing. But you have to wonder, does getting pelted with a tomato hurt? It sure looks like it.
In the picture above the man doesn't look so happy, in fact he appears to be wincing. He's not the only one that seems to be in pain
Musician Josh Pyke films the video for his new song 'Make You Happy' in a special boat created to the exact specifications of the Maton acoustic guitar that he performs with, at Rozelle Bay on October 9, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. The track will be the second single released from Pyke's second album 'Chimney's Afire' which was released on Saturday. (Photo by Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images)
We love reading about new products and designs from Bombardier, mostly because besides building things like airplanes and subway cars, the privately held, Quebec-based company also builds fun stuff like Rotax karts, Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Bombardier ATVs, Sea-Doo sport boats and Johnson and Evinrude outboard engines.
No wonder, then, that they have produced an exciting answer to the Segway Human Transporter. Like the Segway, Bombardier's Embrio concept--a prototype that may or may not make production--uses gyroscope technology to balance riders but adds a dash of flair absent in the Segway, which we as car nuts find slightly nerdy.
The Embrio concept also uses one less wheel than the Segway and will attract, Bombardier hopes, a younger demographic. The vehicle is designed as a guess at what transportation in the year 2025 might look like.
It is a fascinating idea because it combines the simplicity and alternative-fuel technology of forward-thinking commuting vehicles with the excitement of "recreational" products like ATVs. Indeed, the Embrio could attract people who drive a more fun sort of vehicle, what with its motorcycle-derived styling cues and, like an ATV, the fact that you have to lean in order to turn.
The Embrio is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, a technology that creates power by mixing hydrogen and oxygen, ideally resulting in water as the only exhaust. Carmakers are also developing this technology for automobiles, and General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) stands by its plan to sell hydrogen cars by 2010.
The Embrio also borrows several other advanced technologies from cars, like infrared night vision and an active suspension, which can vary its damping rates based on road conditions. Its riding position resembles that of a motorcycle, and it balances one or more passengers with a network of sensors and gyroscopes. To move the Embrio, you use an accelerator trigger on the left handlebar and a brake trigger on the right.
The vehicle is made of lightweight materials, like aluminum, magnesium and nylon. It weighs only 360 pounds.
Animal sculptures made from rotten river wood are really moo-ving
In case you ever wondered how strong the entire recycling “movement” was going, you really need to have a look at these stunning wood sculptures created by this American designer named Matt Torrens. Astonishing as these animal figures made from wood are, their biggest USP lies in the fact that they are all made from rotten woods collected from the river! Now that really gives the old phrase “figure of imagination” a whole new definition and if I say so myself, really makes a great case for recycling too!
Ford Kuga 20TDCi 4WD
The Ford Kuga is available from 25,500 to 31,215 € €. Price, tab and the full range of equipment. It is available only with a turbo engine of 136 hp and two equipment levels: “Trend” and “Titanium”.
Amazing Works of ‘Garbage Art’: From Pottery Sculpture Parks to Giant Newspaper Portraits
Why waste money and add to the world’s waste by buying art materials when there are so many strange and interesting objects out there to use for design projects instead? From small found objects to entire abandoned houses, the sky is the limit when it comes to the palettes of these amazing trash artists. Their subject matter is about as varied as their material choices, ranging from self-portraiture and crushed can paintings to imitations of Monet’s masterpieces and gigantic sculpture parks.
Tom Deininger is no doubt one of the most creative and versatile trash artists in the world. His collages viewed from a distance seem like they could be made of anything - and they are indeed made out of just about everything he can find. He “majored in women, art and surfing” at college and “learned little about all three” by his own humorous admission. About a decade ago he moved to Rhode Island and started toying with found objects as artistic materials. In addition to creating his junk art Tom also lectures at local schools and colleges and creates canvas paintings.
Nek Chand Saini’s undeniable opus is his 1.7 million square-foot Rock Garden in Chandigarh - much of which he built on his own secretly and in his spare time. For years while working as a building inspector Chand reused found materials to begin constructing a remote complex of courtyards and sculptures out of pottery, concrete and other recycled materials. Since these constructions took place on a conserved plot of state-owned land they were nearly destroyed once discovered. The public came to his support, however, and rather than having his constructions torn down he was given workers and a salary to do his work with the official blessings of the city. His works have since traveled the world.
Tyree Guyton began the Heidelberg Project decades ago with the help of family, friends and neighborhood kids. As they cleaned up the streets of their area they began reusing the refuse they collected to fill the area with art. Deserted houses became massive sculptures and canvases, trees turned into places to hang strange found objects and dead lawns were developed into sculpture pedestals. Despite the destruction of many of these works by the city the project persists in the community. This project has breathed life and color into a city in need of both.
Elizabeth Lundberg gathers objects of a kind and recycles them into artwork that is sometimes serious, sometimes silly (such as a basket made of baseballs … get it? A ballbasket!). By changing the use of objects she encourages us to question their meaning and our relationship to them. Trained at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in mixed media and North Carolina State University in environmental design, Elizabeth has had her trash art featured in shows around the country.
Charles Kaufman makes one kind of art … but he makes it well. His crushed can works involve flattened beer and soda cans which he paints by hand and then mounts individually. Of course, both the painting itself (being hand-done) and the can’s particular shape (being hand-crushed) is entirely unique. Aside from his crushed can works he also paints with a similarly engaging color palette and likewise cartoonish flare.
Chris Jordan’s Running the Numbers series is not so much art made from trash as art representing the amazing impact of garbage and astounding scale of waste on our planet. The collection of portraits each takes on a single subject from office paper to aluminum cans and shows the quantities visually used by different industries or in varying specific circumstances (e.g. the number of plastic cups used on airlines every year). He makes these abstractly large numbers comprehensible by rendering them visual. Of his work, Chris says that by “employing themes such as the near versus the far, and the one versus the many, I hope to raise some questions about the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.”
Gugger Petter has been obsessively creating works of two- and three-dimensional art from ordinary newspaper for decades. She applies lacquers to preserve these otherwise fragile works of art and selections different sections to achieve the colors, blacks and whites for specific areas of each work. She also sometimes paints the newspapers but often leaves them as they are. Her subjects are generally as typical and everyday as her materials - simple portraits of daily life.
A convertible sport bike?It's like having the best of both worlds!
Introducing Rocketshields! The first detachable hardtop canopy/windshield designed and custom fit for the sport bike class.Rocketshields is a patent-pending lightweight fairing attachment that utilizes existing fastening points already installed on the bike straight from the manufacturer. This means NO BRACKETS OR EXTRA HOLES NEEDED!
The canopy you see depicted here has been custom fitted to my 2006 Kawasaki ZX-10R.
What originally started as a remedy to keep the rain off of my face while commuting daily from Ensenada, Mexico to San Diego, has now evolved into a whole new riding experience with results that have far surpassed any of my previous expectations.
The most frequent question I'm asked by people analyzing this never seen before spectacle on wheels is, "What's that for?"After riding with this canopy on for over a month now in all different types of weather and road conditions, I can finally wrap up all of my answers into one word....."Comfort".
With my Rocketshields canopy, I no longer have to wear a full face helmet that squishes my fat cheeks, fogs up when its too cold or too hot, impairs my peripheral vision and hearing, and makes my head smell like a sweaty sock. I now sport a skateboard style motorcycle skid lid without having to wear sunglasses or goggles. Even at high speeds, the turbulence felt and heard is equal to that of driving a car with both windows rolled down.
The back draft created in the cockpit area circulates engine heat creating a warmer riding temperature for me on those misty, cold Baja California nights. While in contrast, the canopy offers shade and deflects oncoming blasts of heat while riding up through Tecate in the middle of a 100 degree summer day.
I can still lay down on my tank and tilt my head all the way back, looking through the top of my eyes if want to. But there's no need to when I can ride in a natural sit-up position whether I'm at a dead stop or going a 150 MPH!(top speedometer reading to date)...I think it'll go faster!
The windshield is wide enough to deflect oncoming elements yet slim enough to maintain 100% mirror visibility. Measuring only 30" from mirror tip to mirror tip, this bike can slice through traffic jams while maintaining a tall profile making it easier for others on the road to see. And trust me, I know they see me because everybody keeps staring.
Feathered wind channels, that taper back down to the spine, provide stability and control by balancing oncoming wind at high speeds and preventing the canopy from wobbling. The curvature and bends add more strength to the canopy at all stress points allowing the use of thinner materials to build it. Thinner is lighter...lighter is faster! The miniature wings that flare out the sides catch water run off and deflect it away from the cockpit area.
Aside from all of the benefits a Rocketshields canopy has to offer while commuting or just running down to the wherever, the greatest feature is the simplicity of how it's attached. I'm only 5 minutes away from turning this comfort commuter into a 180 MPH maniac machine!
I simply remove the 4 nuts that fasten my front mirrors down to the fairing frame and pull the mirrors off. The nose of the canopy has been lined on the underside with felt cloth which protects the plastic fairing from being scratched.
The next step is too easy! The underside of the tail canopy has a bracket built into it identical to the rear seat or race cowl. It's latched and locked into position. I simply use the key to unlock, lift up, and slide forward the tail until it completely comes out. The canopy is off!
Once the canopy is removed, I fasten down my mirrors again, pop in the rear seat or race cowl, and I'm ready to rip! There is absolutely no evidence left on the bike that suggests there was ever a Rocketshields canopy on it.
You're witnessing the dawn of a new era for solo commuting. With rising gas prices, 40 mpg is nice. With the increasing number of automobiles creating traffic jams on city and highway roads during all hours of the day, motorcycles, in general, are not affected by it. Because we can legally split lanes and ride in carpool lanes, we come in 1st place wherever we go. I save myself anywhere from 1 to 2 hours of waiting time just at the Tijuana border crossing when entering the U.S. With the added addition of a canopy/windshield I now can ride more comfortably in adverse weather conditions. Motorcycle season, for me, has been extended! Wouldn't it be nice to have less automobiles on our roadways for more than just the spring and summer seasons? Tired of driving in circles fighting for parking spaces? Not a problem for motorcycles!
If you've made it this far down the page, you might be wondering if the Rocketshields canopy is even for sale. Currently, I'm fabricating an identical mold for the Kawasaki that can be used in a large capacity vacuum forming machine. This type of manufacturing will allow me to produce a large number of canopies out of clear polycarbonate plastic faster and cheaper compared to building them out of fiberglass, installing a polycarbonate windshield, and painting them. With a one piece clear canopy, I can easily mask off a windshield pattern of any design and paint the rest from the underside resulting in a glossy finish on the outside which requires no finish sanding or buffing. Aside from cost and appearance advantages, a one piece canopy will be even lighter in weight and stronger than it already is. Once this process has been perfected, I'm going to choose only one dealership in the United States to resale canopies on the retail market at their own discretion. This means that any brand new manufactured Rocketshields canopy for all years, makes, and models will only be purchased from the one selected dealership for the length of the contract agreed upon. You won't even be able to buy them from me. The selected United States dealership is going to monopolize their market possessing the only sport bike canopy made in the world and profit tremendously off of the free advertisement their business will gain by means of internet, word of mouth, and all of the publicity this canopy is going to receive. People are becoming blind to billboards, media, and junk mail because there's just too much of it out there. Yet billions of dollars are spent every year trying to get people to see a business logo.Pull into any public parking lot with a canopy attached to a sport bike and everybody looks. The curiosity that drives all of us to know what everything is will eventually create a common familiarity with sport bike canopies and the name Rocketshields. And every time the name Rocketshields is mentioned, your business could be the only one mentioned with it as well. Interested dealerships need to contact me soon before you miss out on this opportunity!
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