Behold: a very nice indeed but not Concours condition 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC.
With its original 300bhp, 4.0l Columbo V12 engine intact but its original Grigio Fumo (grey) exterior resprayed gold after export to the US, it sold at auction last week for just shy of half a million dollars.
Behold: the northern constellation of Cassiopeia wherein a new spot of light has lately appeared. But what is it? To wit:
A nova. Although novas occur frequently throughout the universe, this nova, known as Nova Cas 2021 or V1405 Cas, became so unusually bright in the skies of Earth last month that it was visible to the unaided eye. Nova Cas 2021 first brightened in mid-March but then, unexpectedly, became even brighter in mid-May and remained quite bright for about a week. The nova then faded back to early-May levels, but now is slightly brightening again and remains visible through binoculars. Identified by the arrow, the nova occurred toward the constellation of Cassiopeia, not far from the Bubble Nebula. A nova is typically caused by a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of a white dwarf star that is accreting matter from a binary-star companion — although details of this outburst are currently unknown. Novas don’t destroy the underlying star, and are sometimes seen to recur. The featured image was created from 14 hours of imaging from Detroit, Michigan, USA. Both professional and amateur astronomers will likely continue to monitor Nova Cas 2021 and hypothesize about details of its cause.
(Image: Chuck Ayoub)
The mighty Sir Tom Jones performs for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series yesterday on his 81st birthday.
Tom sings Bob Dylan’s ‘One More Cup of Coffee’, Malvina Reynolds’ folk tune ‘There’s No Hole In My Head’, and composer Bobby Cole’s ‘I’m Getting Old’, which was presented to him at the age of 33 but he only performs now he feels he has sufficient miles on the clock.
Eighty-one.
Rob Cross tweetz:
My restored photo of the 1925 Owencarrow Viaduct Disaster when winds of up to 120 mph derailed carriages of the train off the viaduct. The roof of a carriage was ripped off throwing four people to their deaths.
Behold: a chopped and slammed Mercedes-Benz 300SL by Los Angeles-based restoration specialist John Sarkisyan.
Obvious modifications include a removable roof, carbon fibre front bumper, widened wheel arches and side pipes.
The one-off has not yet been formally released but will likely have a supercharged AMG V6 engine to match the aggressive low slung stance.
You can’t have it. It’s only for looking at.
A multi-award winning short (and playable app) drawn by Michael Frei, coded by Mario von Rickenbach and pleasing to behold if you like your animations episodic and your identical characters tiny.
Behold: Velox – a prototype amphibious robot designed by Pliant Energy Systems of Brooklyn with an all terrain propulsion system inspired by the locomotion of several natural species. To wit:
Velox can use several modes of locomotion found in the animal kingdom using just one pair of “fins”. These fins are best described as four-dimensional objects with a hyperbolic geometry that allows the robot to swim like a ray, crawl like a millipede, jet like a squid, and slide like a snake.
A craft equipped with this system has unprecedented freedom to travel through a range of environments in a single mission. As an underwater vehicle, the robot’s ability to instantly reverse direction and do quick turns make it ideal for task such as coral reef inspection or dragon fish hunting where a craft must rapidly manoeuvre to look around and between objects.
First the dragon fish, then all humans.
The sleep-deprived dusk till dawn experience of a new mother captured in a semi-autobiographical short by Neta Cohen. to wit:
The intense sensations, both physical and mental, of becoming a mother for the first time, coupled with extreme sleep deprivation, made me feel hazy yet overly susceptible, tired yet extremely tense. I was so tuned into the slightest, most subtle movements and sounds, that I could literally feel my home surroundings waking to life around me.
Colum Cronin tweetz:
Contextually appropriate street art. Moss Street/Gloucester Street South, Dublin Artist: @SubsetDublin
