English Russia’s got a series of photos detailing how some of the largest vehicles on the planet, the 10m long, 8m high Tonka-styled mining trucks from Belarusian manufacturer Belaz, known in mining truck circles as “the Komatsu of the Balkans” (I made this up), get shipped from one place to another. The first stage is to break these things down into slightly smaller parts, though still obscenely huge. Cue comically oversized pieces of machinery in unusual positions, now:

The pieces are then transported by train, plane or flatbed truck to their destination, where they are reassembled, Transformers style, into the comically huge vehicles we all know and love/fear/resent for ruining our sense of scale. And the fun isn’t over, apparently: the 118,000kg trucks aren’t exactly morning people:

During the first start-up of an each car, engine makes such an awful noise that the human ear can barely stand it.

More heavy equipment porn at [English Russia]

Also, I think I have the exact same old Dell laptop at home. There’s no way I’d build anything for mine – it deserves to die a slow, painful death…

[MDPub via Lifehacker]

On a related note, it’s exciting to find out there’s another company besides Komatsu that makes trucks this big. Hey, Liebherr, do you have review units? [Break]

I used to consider Twitter rather useless, but this is something that I can definitely use, like the BakerTweet, which should be obligatory in bakeries everywhere. [Current.TV—Thanks Gitemsteve]

Last week I received a furniture order around 11pm. Yeah, it was late—but the drivers had good reason. Earlier that day they fell victim to the infamous Gregson Street RR bridge in Durham NC.

Fortunately, my buffet table and bed frames emerged from the incident unscathed—but I felt for the two dudes driving the truck. I get a lot of furniture from Ecko International and these guys have always been great with deliveries. Sure there are clearance signs, but this is definitely not the first time someone has made this mistake. In fact, the bridge is so notorious for chewing up trucks that it has its own YouTube channel packed with carnage. [Yovo's Bridgecam]

His custom rig is a giant camera made out of the backside of a truck, fitted with a variety of military surplus lenses (one is from a submarine periscope). He parks the vehicle, aiming the rear bumper at his target, and the landscape is projected upside down into the truck/camera. He works inside to take the shot, hanging the film like a giant tapestry to be exposed.

His method is a lot like that of John Chiara (here’s a clip of that artist’s equally awesome large scale photography).

Wouldn’t a large format camera be a great additional to GM 2011 model line? Imagine, A/C, passenger side airbags, XM radio and, oh sure, throw in the huge camera! [Cameratruck]

Seriously, don’t use your laptop when driving! Cut that shit out! And texting isn’t any better either. I don’t want you hitting me because you can’t control your ADD enough to not fiddle with stuff while behind the wheel. [Ellesmere Port Pioneer via Jalopnik]

In 2007, he broke his spine while doing practice jumps for a planned New Years Eve jump. This NYE, he tried again. And while he finished the rotation, he screwed up the landing (as much as you can control the landing in a truck) and ended up rolling down the landing hill.

Give it up, dude. In the end, even if you nail it, it’s not even that impressive for you personally. It’d be more impressive that your team was able to engineer a jump that properly flips you up. Simply driving straight at a crazy contraption and then being willing to be badly hurt over and over again don’t take that much finesse. Listen to the man upstairs, go be an accountant or something.

Yep, about what you expected, eh? Here’s hoping he’s learned a thing or two during those painful months of rehabilitation.