In the market for a vintage ray gun?

"The Unnatural Selector", a Ray-Blunderbuss from Dr. Grordbort's will set you back around US$5K. Created by the folks at Weta and built from metal, glass and rare Venusian Worm Oak, this bizarre device comes with a "Raygun Operator's License" designed by Greg Broadmore with your name and photo.

Weta is a film and television effects workshop in Wellington, New Zealand. Best known for their work on 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, Weta Workshop is a five time Academy Award winning company that offers services to all aspects of the creative industry including design, special make-up effects and prosthetics, creatures, armour, weapons, miniatures, prop building, large scale sculpture, display work and costuming.

I tell ya, if they had these things in The Lord of the Rings it wouldn't have taken 3 films to get the job done- it would have been "Keep your finger out of my ring, old man!" ZZZZZzzzzzap!! The End.

Give Herpes to your Friends and Family!

Thats's right- microbes 1,000,000 times their normal size realised in plush form! There's all the classics like: Ebola, Chicken Pox, Mad Cow, The Common Cold and many, many more. Each 5-7 inch plush microbe comes with an instructional card that includes a picture of the real microbe along with information about it in its natural environment. Get E. Coli at ThinkGeek.

Where there's smoke there's.... nevermind.

Electric cigarettes! Of course. These things glow at the end when you inhale and atomise the air turning it into water vapour, dispensing the nicotine. Supposedly a good way to quit and/or get around smoking bans - try explaining it to the bouncer punching you in the head when he thinks you've sparked up in a bar. You'll both have a laugh about it later. Personally, I'm waiting for the doobie version. Brilliant.
You can pick up one of these Milano Cigarettes for around £40 here.

Got an old NES and a toaster lying about?

Introducing the Nintoaster- the single greatest invention since the Nintendo Entertainment System, or indeed the toaster itself! A bold claim I know, but LOOK AT IT! Wacky. I once attempted, as a lad many years ago- full of hope and THC, to make a shoe-phone a la Get Smart but only succeeded in destroying one of my shoes and a very large mobile phone.
Check out Stupidfingers for more pictures, progress shots and a short demonstration video.

Sit Bigdog, sit

Boston Dynamics, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), have created this funny little fellow capable of running at 4 mph and climbing slopes up to 35 degrees carrying a 340lb load.

BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.

There's a bunch of videos of Bigdog on YouTube where you can watch him climbing over rubble, jumping and regaining his footing after slipping on ice and being kicked. I would feel sorry for the thing if it wasn't for that eerie buzzing noise. Enjoy.

Some Assembly Required

1977 Godzilla Toy commercial

Giant Spider Terrorises Liverpool

La Princess, the 50ft mechanical spider sits suspended atop an office building near Lime Street Station. The machine remains dormant until tomorrow at which point it will descend and stalk about the city at speeds of up to 2mph before escaping down the Mersey Tunnel on Sunday. The 37-ton artwork has been billed as the largest and most spectacular piece of street theatre ever staged in the UK and sounds like a hell of a show. Still, if you do venture out from your homes to take a peek, make sure to bring your kids to use as a human shield just in case things turn ugly.
source: dailymail.co.uk