Geek Out

Idiot’s Idiotic Live Grenade Bookend Explodes After Idiot Pulls Pin

Sort of stupid: using WWII grenades as bookends. Really stupid: giving one of those grenades to a neighbour, no questions asked. Extremely stupid: accepting said grenade. Maximum stupid: immediately pulling the pin from that grenade. Bomb squad, come on down!


April 27, 2010

iPad Cases Even A Nazi Communist Cartophile Could Love

Couple of weeks with the iPad and you think: I need a bag for this thing. But modern gadget accessory design is horrid, all foam and nylon, like an extreme sports dildo. You need leather. You need a map case.


February 5, 2010
Software

Travel Back To 1943 And Witness WWII Through Google Earth

Google Earth’s historical imagery feature has a new batch of pictures. You can now witness how some cities looked in the middle of World War II and compare them to the places you may live in today.


December 30, 2009
Cars

Sidecar Made From WWII Fighter Plane, Yamaha Motorbike

Made from a WWII German fighter plane and Yamaha Wild Star motorbike, this sidecar bike looks like a less-colourful Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. [Henrik Toth via LikeCool]


November 19, 2009
Cars

World War 2 Japanese Super-Submarine Found In Hawaii

According to Dr Hans Van Tillburg, “[the I-201 submarine]was nothing like anybody had in the Second World War”. It had a streamlined body and conning tower, retractable guns and three catapult-launched bombers. They just found it in Hawaii.


September 11, 2009
Geek Out

It’s About Time: Britain’s Prime Minister Apologises to Alan Turing

Remember how we told you that there was a petition to ask the British government to apologise for chemically castrating computer science legend Alan Turing during WWII because he was gay? Yeah well, Prime Minister Gordon Brown did today!


September 1, 2009
Geek Out

Thousands Calling For Apology To Founder Of Computer Science

Alan Turing, who is said to be the father of modern computer science, was a WWII code-breaker until he was prosecuted by the British government for having homosexual relations. Thousands have now signed a petition calling for a government apology.


March 25, 2009

Unmanned Warbots of WWI and WWII

Long before Predator drones and PackBots patrolled Iraq and Afghanistan, unmanned systems were used in combat—as far back as WWI and WWII, in fact. Here’s a quick look at the coolest of the old-timey warbots:


December 1, 2008

Calling All Wannabe Dr. Evil’s: Super Secret London Tunnel Lair For Sale

Last Sunday we were writing about amazing underground diving rigs in the heart of New York City. It seems only fair that we jump across the pond this Sunday and write about a mile-long super secret tunnel lair below London that’s currently for sale, don’t you think? Asking price: A cool $US7.4 million. It sounds a bit much for an empty stretch of nothingness deep below the British streets, but wait until you hear about the history. Oh, the history!


June 9, 2008
Gadgets

Bulova Watch Lost at Sea During WW2 Reunited with Owner After 67 Years, Still Ticking

A Royal Navy veteran has been reunited with his watch, 67 years after he lost it during World War II—and, it worked perfectly. In 1941, Teddy Bacon, a lieutenant aboard HMS Repulse, was throwing a line from ship to shore when the gold Bulova watch, bought in the Azores for US$55, slipped off his wrist and into Gibraltar Harbor. The timepiece was never found, until the harbor was dredged, seven decades later.