A nostalgic compilation by Swarki of the start-up screens and sounds of various gaming consoles from 1977 to the present day.
Author Archives: Chompsky
Hot Wheels
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Behold: the Switch eScrambler – created by Japan-based, Kiwi veteran motorcycle designer and electric hog covert Matthew Waddick and former Yamaha designer Michel Riis.
With its blocky 1970s style and impressive performance (0-100km/h in 3.2 seconds, 150km/h top speed and 150km of range on a full charge) the belt-driven, fully suspended eScrambler is currently testing and due for release in 2022.
The spectacular defence display of the Blanket Octopus, captured during a night dive in the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia. Already iridescent, the female octopus has a huge translucent membrane connecting her dorsal and dorsolateral arms which can be unfurled up to two metres long to threaten potential predators.
The male Blanket Octopus, in stark contrast, has no such warning flag.
Generally, no more than an inch long, he dies immediately after mating.
Which is probably for the best.
Moon Halo
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An otherworldly lunar display captured two weeks ago (in three combined exposures) above Manitoba, Canada – moonlight refracted, reflected and diffused by millions of falling ice crystals. To wit:
The colourful rings are a corona caused by quantum diffraction by small drops of water or ice near the direction of the Moon. Outside of that, a 22-degree halo was created by moonlight refracting through six-sided cylindrical ice crystals. To the sides are moon dogs, caused by light refracting through thin, flat, six-sided ice platelets as they flittered toward the ground. Visible at the top and bottom of the 22-degree halo are upper and lower tangent arcs, created by moonlight refracting through nearly horizontal hexagonal ice cylinders. A few minutes later, from a field just off the road to work, the halo and arcs had disappeared, the sky had returned to normal — with the exception of a single faint moon.
Related: Halo You
(Image: Brent Mckean)
Loggo
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An elaborate sawmill and delivery system created by LEGO Technics machine expert The Brick Factory that reduces ‘logs’ into sawn, quarter-split segments.
Bad Covers
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No, really. All on Amazon.
(From top: ‘Volpusa: A Magical World’ by Sam D; ‘Love Laws’ by Mary Muhammad; ‘The Temptation Of John Haynes’ by Shawn James; ‘Reach For The Moon’ by Tuan Ho; ‘Haunted’ by Maria Savva; ‘The Last Journal Of Robyn Hood – Outlaw’ by David Stuart Ryan; ‘Papi Doesn’t Love Me No More’ by Anna Suarez; ’Submarine Jim’ by J.S. Lome and ‘Ashtar’ by Ashtar Command.)
Hot Wheels
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Behold: the 1981 Toyota G45-S Land Cruiser.
This vehicle, fully restored by Land Cruiser aficionados The FJ Company of Miami, features custom upgrades including a signature bonnet, foglight, winch and 16-inch EvoCorse DAKAR wheels, a completely new interior and a 318bhp supercharged Toyota V6 engine.
Price on application.
Catoon Time
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Star Crash
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Behold: the ancient, spectacular fender-bender of NGC 5128, aka Centaurus A, our closest active galaxy – a mere 11 light years away. To wt:
…the peculiar elliptical galaxy is over 60,000 light-years across. A region spanning about 8,500 light-years, including the galaxy’s center (upper left), is framed in this sharp Hubble Space telescope close-up. Centaurus A is apparently the result of a collision of two otherwise normal galaxies resulting in a violent jumble of star forming regions, massive star clusters, and imposing dark dust lanes. Near the galaxy’s center, left over cosmic debris is steadily being consumed by a central black hole with a billion times the mass of the Sun. As in other active galaxies, that process likely generates the radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray energy radiated by Centaurus A.
(Image: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/ AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration)