Having stumbled across his site, linked from a scubaboard forum, I was amazed. Regan has built his own 1/10 sale WORKING replica of the Nautilus from Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Kirk Douglas, James Mason and Peter Lorre. Most people I know would be super satisfied with their own working replica of the coolest submarine EVER — but Regan, no. He’s made replica diving suits and spear guns from the movie and that still isn’t enough — he didn’t just restore a diving helment from the 1954 film he restore and dove a helmet from the film!

It appears Mr. Regan splits his time between California, Hawaii and of course ‘Vulcania’ — the Island where Nemo kept his base. Photos show diving in Hawaii and Nautilus testing in Benicia, CA. He not only shares a chronicle of events and activities dating back to 2003, but even shares plans for his mock-up of the Nemo rifle. How cool!

I love scuba diving. Watching this movie as a kid helped inspire both my love of reading (I remember reading Verne over and over after seeing the film,) diving and photography. This stuff is just awesome. Really, Pat Regan — YOU ROCK.

Vulcania Submarine

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– More cool how to projects

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I’m not sure I get the ins and outs but… Wow!

A mathematical puzzle that baffled the top minds in the esoteric field of symbolic dynamics for nearly four decades has been cracked — by a 63-year-old immigrant who once had to work as a security guard.

Avraham Trahtman, a mathematician who also toiled as a laborer after moving to Israel from Russia, succeeded where dozens failed, solving the elusive “Road Coloring Problem.”

The conjecture essentially assumed it’s possible to create a “universal map” that can direct people to arrive at a certain destination, at the same time, regardless of starting point. Experts say the proposition could have real-life applications in mapping and computer science.

After 38 Years, Israeli Solves Math Code [Chicago Tribune] Thanks Dave Farber

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Mexican soldiers battling a violent drug gang and corrupt local police confiscated a sport utility vehicle decked out with extras worthy of a James Bond movie.

What kind of cool tricks did the drug runners install? Nothing nearly as cool as we’d like — I need a rocket booster, lasers and the Mach 5’s tree trimmers — plus a Spy Hunter oil slick. I guess Mexican drug runners lack the same cash-reserves of say Columbian drug runners.

Following a shootout with the gang, soldiers said they arrested four municipal police and confiscated an armored Jeep Grand Cherokee equipped with a smoke machine and spike sprayer meant to deter pursuers

Oh well! I remember years ago when there was a South African car equipped with flame throwers…

Mexico army confiscates James Bond truck from gang[Reuters.com]

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Seems the young girl was on the bus when calamity struck and she leapt to action…

Marina High School student Amanda Rouse was on a bus with 40 elementary school students Wednesday morning when the driver fell out of her seat after a turn and hit her head.

Rouse jumped up and applied the brakes, bringing the bus to a halt after striking two parked cars. No one was injured.

Awesome work, right? No one was hurt, stopped the bus — ALL GOOD?

But, no. Seems Mme. Rouse was ’skipping school.’ She didn’t feel well and caught a ride home on the bus. Even though the school appears to be sticking by its rules (and I get why,) parental discretion reigns supreme and her Grandmother seems to have it all in perspective.

“She is in trouble with school because she made the wrong decision,” said Rouse’s grandmother, Sally Correll. “But I can’t help but believe that she was where God wanted her to be.”

Great work!

Discipline Despite Calif. Bus Rescue [Breitbart.com]

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Now each of these blogs had written about ye old Batter Blaster several months ago. One, treehugger, over a year ago. I’d seen the name Batter Blaster in 3 places I trusted and none of them had negative connotations. One of them was Dethroner’s own King-in-Chief, Joel.

Boing Boing Gadgets: Joel on the Batter Blaster
Boing Boing: David on the Batter Blaster
TreeHugger: Jasmine on the Batter Blaster

If you read these blog posts, not a single one of them has anything stronger to say than our own Joel “I’m sure it’ll be a big hit.” Each blogger simply shares that the stuff exists — Joel and David provide some anecdotal reason it ought to be good, TreeHugger asks for your opinion. However, I’ve now been “touched” by this brand in 3 blog locations and for some reason left thinking I should buy this product; and I did.

Each of these sources was sharing something they thought looked fun and not offering any concrete guidance — but 2 of the 3 made it sound as if it SHOULD be good. As I generally trust and can rely on them; when I saw the product it registered as a high percentage choice.

High percentage chance to to get bland waffles and pancakes is what it is! This stuff is garbage. If you have ever made your own pancake or waffle batter and know what it looks, smells and tastes like, be prepared for disappointment. I’m a big fan of just taking Bisquick, adding a shot of Grand Mariner and calling it a day. That simple, 3 minute process makes flawless pancakes and waffles that taste fantastic. Trust me, try the Grand Mariner — ignore the aerosol. As you spray your Batter Blaster all over the waffle iron, you’ll notice it isn’t smooth and doesn’t flow nicely from the center out. The batter from the aerosol is fluffy and oozes. It has too much nitrous or whatever they use to pressurize the can in it and rises as it exits the can. This gives you the impression of a fluffy nice waffle or pancake, but as the gas separates from the batter you end up with thin and rubbery.

Yes, folks — after a batter blast I was left with a flacid waffle.

Why is it so popular for bloggers to spotlight things they haven’t tried? Is there some justification that says “I can write a moderately positive piece on some product, sight unseen, so long as I don’t directly endorse it.”? I see this all the time with other products and while none of these 3 blogs told me to go buy the product, I am left feeling like the positive associations created a false recommendation. Its that multiple brand touches associated with something you trust builds affinity ‘thing.’

Am I nuts? Maybe I am just an easily duped American.

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I’ve put the top five from Pop Mech below, which I don’t think they were ranking in order of importance. Some of that stuff makes sense, like being able to patch a radiator hose. That’s the difference between getting stuck in your car in the middle of nowhere and being able to drive it into a shop. Frame a wall, sure. I’ve had to do that before. I could have hired someone to do it, just like most of the “must know skills” that comprise lists like these, but at the time I couldn’t afford a contractor but I could afford some lumber and drywall.

Here, let me skip past this list to keep yapping. I didn’t want to put it at the top of the post but now it’s distracting me.

1. Patch a radiator hose.
2. Protect your computer.
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized.
4. Frame a wall.
5. Retouch digital photos.

Okay, much better.

Anyway, my point is this: Wait, let me tell you about something I was talking about with my pops. We were talking about DIY stuff, specifically how useful it was to know how to do the sort of stuff I write about for a living. His argument was that he could pay somebody to do just about everything he needed done in his life and that they’d probably do a better job than he could do at it. And he’s right. The whole “my time is worth more doing my job well than doing someone else’s poorly” thing.

But my point was that these DIY type of projects and the knowledge gleaned from doing them helps you know where the line between expert and amateur actually is. It helps you not get fleeced by people you have to bring in, or realize what may seem like a big problem is something moderately easy to overcome. Plus it helps you feel a little more competent at modern life; confident that the world has few problems it can throw at you that you can’t figure out.

And I mean, my dad tore out all the electrical wiring in his boat and rewired it to relax, so obviously there are some DIY projects he’s happy to mess with.

Back to that point: These sort of lists are fun and useful, but it seems to imply some more basic set of skills that might be more useful for men. I mean, the core assumption of a list like this is that you can actually do things, but sometimes I wonder how much people who read Popular Mechanics and MAKE and this whole genre are reading it as aspirational pornography. I know I do! I probably have done like two or three of the projects I’ve read about in the last year that I wasn’t specifically doing so I could write an article about them.

Wait, I’m off track again.

Meta-skills! That’s it. Skills that every man should know that will help to learn other skills.

Here’s my stab at it. Feel free to shoot these down:

1. Understanding how to follow directions.
2. Understanding when to ignore directions.
3. Understanding when to ask for help from friends or experts.
4. Understanding when to stop planning or fretting and when to start working.
5. Understanding that the worst that’s going to happen is that you’ll totally fuck it up. And so what?

Seriously, though, Pop Mech: You put capsized boat rescues next to retouching photos? What’s worse, I bet you have a guy on staff who is the “capsized boat rescue guy,” which would make me the “photo retouch guy.” Clearly I need to start Photoshopping more pictures of boats into my staff portraits.

25 Skills Every Man Should Know: Your Ultimate DIY Guide [PopularMechanics.com]

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There is no beer here.

Seriously, do not mess around with me. Where is the beer?

Oh, you’re good.

(Thanks, Chumford!)

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If, by some act of reverse metempsychosis, we took all that was worthy in George Lucas’ imagination and injected it into Jules Verne, this might have resulted a century earlier: the steampunk lightsaber, hand-crafted here by a friend of “CaptainChewbacca” at the Stardestroyer.net forums.

I’ve never really been a gigantic Star Wars fan, but I must say that this creation is very badass and I would happily give it a place on my wall.

Steampunk Lightsaber [Via Gadget Lab]

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Boo Davis is a designer, illustrator and quiltmaker living in Seattle. She spent much of her youth cozied up under her grandmother’s quilt listening to Ozzy. As a grown-up metalhead and design geek, the intersection of cute and evil is what she finds most compelling.

Product Page [Quiltsryche.com]

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The process sounds simply enough: cure; smoke; fry; eat. And you can’t deny that the results look fantastic. That is the Clint Eastwood of bacon, staring you in the eye and daring you to make the first move.

Making Bacon [BSBrewing.com] (Thanks, buddy who sent me this link and then I closed the window and now I can’t find you in Spotlight!) (Update: It was David in an email. All is made clear now. Thanks!)

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Although my Guitar Hero days are numbered as I get ready to move to Rock Band, I have to salute these two great tastes that taste great together: Lego and DIY GH controllers.

Incredible Lego Guitar Hero Controller is Fully Functional [TechEBlog]

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Paradise-Forlov [Livejournal.com]

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These sort of table saws have been around for a while, but beyond knowing they held a mild charge, I didn’t realize how the braking worked. I’ll ask the hard question: What are we supposed to use when we need to pare down hunks of salami? (Answer: Use a lathe to create delicious chair legs.)

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What a party one could throw! Caution tape wound around the bannister. A swinging 20-inch bulldozer pinata swinging from the light fixture. They even sell cups that are shaped like road cones.

What I’m saying is that I want this party for my next birthday. And strippers.

Constuction Party [Celebrate Express]

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Forbidden Lego introduces you to the type of free-style building that LEGO’s master builders do for fun in the back room. Using LEGO bricks in combination with common household materials (from rubber bands and glue to plastic spoons and ping-pong balls) along with some very unorthodox building techniques, you’ll learn to create working models that LEGO would never endorse. Try your hand at a toy gun that shoots LEGO plates, a candy catapult, a high voltage LEGO vehicle, a continuous-fire ping-pong ball launcher, and other useless but incredibly fun inventions.

Just when I was about to give away my NXT set, they pull me back in.

Product Page [NoStarch.com]

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“Diggerland” are theme parks in the UK oriented around playing with construction equipment, using it as faux carnival rides or for its intended purpose, to dig and smash and rend. The ride names give some clue to the experience: “Dippy Ducks,” “Buried Treasure,” “Robot Driving.”

The whole thing sounds like a dumb joke until you think about it, because driving around construction equipment actually would be more fun than most stupid theme park rides.

Rumor has it a Diggerland is coming to the US, but I have a bit of hard time believing they’d be able to get the proper clearances in our litigious society.

Home Page (Warning: Hilariously Obnoxious Theme Song) [Diggerland]

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