bookofjoe

Captured Lightning: Frozen Lichtenberg Figures

Bert Hickman of Woodridge, Illinois, explains: "To create our sculptures, we rent 'beam time' on a five-million-volt particle accelerator. As the accelerator injects huge numbers of electrons inside a clear acrylic plastic specimen, a huge electrical charge (typically 1–2.5 million volts) builds inside."

Below, the result of a lightning strike on a flagpole, leaving a 25-foot-diameter Lichtenberg figure on the green of a golf course.

Below, "Lichtenberg figures due to a lightning strike," from a report that appeared in the November 23, 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

For those who wish to delve deeper — I'm talking Project Mohole — there's this page.

[via Telegraph.co.uk and Milena]

Edge of desk (or shelf) clock

21cm W x 13cm H x 7cm D; steel.

£28.95

woodwalk — Limited-Edition Wooden Sneakers

French architect and designer Paul Coudamy created "woodwalk,"

a wooden sneaker in a limited edition of 25, for K-Swiss.

According to interiordesignroom,

"The design was created by computer,

however each of the models was hand-sculpted from wood and numbered."

Animated Post-It Notes

The question I have is, how come it took so long to think these up?

Like many great ideas, it seems so obvious once you see it.

Stuff like this always leads me to muse on whether someone/something somewhere is flipping the 3-D equivalent of these pages to generate "reality."

3 styles: skateboard, plane or motorbike.

£2.

[via Likecool]

American Package Museum

Those

were

the

days.

[via Virginia Moore]

Thanko USB Warm Gloves for Girls

"The perfect tool for the winter, the USB Warm Gloves for Girls 

which feature heat generators built inside."

Removable hood covers fingers.

165cm USB cable included.

¥2,500.

'Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (And How to Take Advantage of It)'

Here's a tip you won't find in William Poundstone's new above-titled book:

You can pay $17.81 for it here , or read his entertaining blog of the same name —

with new entries appearing with increasing frequency, no doubt to drive sales of the book — absolutely free here.

Colonel Mustard's Wife Earrings

"Mustard-colored Czech flower beads with genuine freshwater pearl-and-Swarovski crystal centers hang in pairs from silver-plated earwires."

$19.