Wonderment Blog

Jay Leno's EcoJet Seeks any Muffler That...Muffles

The EcoJet. No, it's not a economy-sized jet engine aircraft. It's Jay Leno's version of an eco-friendly car. A very, very fast eco-friendly car. Jay Leno's Garage, with the help of Ed Welburn at GM, has built the EcoJet, a sleek ...more

Customization Wonderment

By tenebrism on 11/19/2009

Comments 3 | Views 2,746

Dream Home...ummm...for Trolls and Treehuggers

This low impact woodland home in Wales is the cream of the crop. The woodland home was built entirely of natural materials, and best of all - only took 4 months and $5000 to complete. The design is ingenious, dug into a hillside ...more

Eco-Friendly Wonderment

By tenebrism on 11/18/2009

Comments 2 | Views 4,290

Explaining Super Fast, Super Floaty Maglev(itation) Trains

Maglev trains. Why are they so cool? Well, for starters, they float. The idea of levitating trains have been around since the '60's. The first commercially available levitator was introduce in 1984, Birmingham, England. The ...more

Customization Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/18/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,440

Fierce and Unbridled (Vocal) Thunderstorm

Perpetuum Jazzile: a Slovenian choir that performs both jazz and popular music. Check out the incredible video below. The large group of choir members use their hands to simulate the sound of rain and thunder. The likeness to an actual storm is overwhelming. Rain sounds through clapping, wow.

Other Instruments Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/17/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,692

DIY Private-Knock-Knock-Knock Cipher

The secret hideout - a thing of the past, a childhood luxury, an adult-less adventure. Those were the days. And remember the secret knock? The only way in. You either knew it or you didn't. The only way to keep the kids in and the grown-ups out. Well, Steve Hoefer has come up with a way for adults ...more

Hacks, Mods Wonderment

By tenebrism on 11/18/2009

Comments 1 | Views 1,713

Yooohooo! Homeland Security! Fully Functional (Paper) Shotgun

This is no paper gun like you've ever seen before. Seriously. Tacome1942's homemade paper shotgun is a life-sized, fully functional M870 Remington replica. It would be hard to tell it apart from the real deal, not to mention it ...more

Paper Design Wonderment

By tenebrism on 11/17/2009

Comments 2 | Views 5,000

Beer Launcher Wows Letterman (+ Any Self Respecting Male)

John Cornwell is a God among men. Even Letterman thinks so. As well as every beer drinker. John hacked his mini refrigerator into what he calls the "Beer Launching Fridge": "...A fully automated, remote controlled, catapulting ...more

Hacks, Mods Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/17/2009

Comments 2 | Views 3,049

Engineer The Ultimate Water Balloon Destroyer

John Park from Maker Workshop has brought the medieval trebuchet out of the Middle Ages and into your backyard. This portable slingshot trebuchet isn't made out of giant timbers like in the ole days, but constructed with cheap ...more

Specialized Weapons Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/16/2009

Comments 0 | Views 2,124

24,000 LED Light-Up-My-Dress

Uh-mazing...London based designer team Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz have created a dress embroidered with 24,000 LEDs. From Wired, "'We used the smallest full-color LEDs, flat like paper, andmeasuring only 2 by 2 mm,' said the designers. 'The circuits are extra-thin, flexible ...more

Fashion Design Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/16/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,743

Motorize Your Paper Airplane

Sure, you've folded paper airplanes before. But I bet they don't stay airborne for very long. But they will, thanks to this clever little hack. PopSci designed their eAT-6 "Texan" paper airplane specifically to meet the requirements of their secret ingredient: a motor. Equipped with a small ...more

Remote Control Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/16/2009

Comments 1 | Views 3,004

Japanese Built Mini Fiat Cinque Tank-Tractor

This is no ordinary tractor. Nor is it an ordinary Fiat. Not by a long shot. Japanese ironsmith Kogoro Kurata custom built this bulldozer from an old Fiat 500 body and caterpillar tracks, which can only reach a speed of 3 km/h. It may move at the pace of a snail, but I wouldn't mind using this ...more

Customization Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/15/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,857

Boxwars: Serious Cardboard Anger Management

Forget video games. Go outside. Get some fresh air. Get out a little anger while you're at it. Play Boxwars. Boxwars isn't exactly larping, though it may fall into a similar realm. It all started in 2008 when 3 dudes witnessed a few children innocently smashing each other with cardboard boxes ...more

Acting Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/15/2009

Comments 3 | Views 1,938

Guinness World Record Holder Trumps Deliverance-Style Dueling Banjos

"Dueling Banjos" - we've all heard it, we've all seen it - that famous scene from Deliverance where a young inbred banjo player outplays the guitar with incredible speed and accuracy. However, compared to Todd Taylor, that's ...more

Banjo Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/15/2009

Comments 0 | Views 7,248

Remote Controlled Beer Keg Party-Bot

Plan on throwing a keg party? There's only one thing in the world that can make your party the baddest around… Kegbot. Revision3 has updated the classic beer keg into the ultimate ale dispenser. With its remote controlled tap and motorized wheels, it's the perfect party-beer-bot. This HowTo gives ...more

Beer Wonderment

By tenebrism on 11/14/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,007

1,000 Part Rubik's Cube: $3,550 Petaminx

Move over Rubik's Cube, there's a new puzzle in town. The Petaminx. The beautifully designed and custom built Petaminx has almost 1,000 moving parts. Peta- actually means 1,000,000,000,000,000, although that number could refer to the endless number of solutions. Based on Andrew Cormier's design ...more

Puzzles Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/14/2009

Comments 2 | Views 4,269

World's Best Survivalism HowTo's

You're alone in the wilderness. Stranded. Hungry. Cold. What do you do? Naivety could be your downfall, but you don't need to be an Army Ranger to survive. The five most basic survival skills are fire, shelter, signaling, first aid, and food and water. Learn them. Know them. Live them. Or simply… ...more

Survival Training Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/13/2009

Comments 1 | Views 3,040

Write With Light

LIGHTFAKTOR is a Cologne artists collective experimenting with the "possibilities yielded by bulb (long-term) exposure and painting." The technique employed has been coined "light writing" - Wikipedia's definition: "Light writing is an emerging form of stop motion animation wherein still images ...more

Graffiti & Urban Art Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/13/2009

Comments 0 | Views 3,233

Spy With Google Street View

Need to find some directions? No problem, use Google Maps. Want to find some spy photos of yourself? No problem, use Google Street View. Beginning in 2007, hordes of Google hybrid electric vehicles have stormed the streets, each equipped with multiple cameras attached to a large pole. The cameras ...more

Photography Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/13/2009

Comments 0 | Views 6,567

Why Not Swing Indoors

Who wouldn't love an indoor swing? The upcoming cold winter season is one good reason to build one, but truly, an indoor swing is just plain fun all year round. Luckily Apartment Therapy has posted a How-To on building a simple wooden plank swing. Prefer video instruction? WonderHowTo has several ...more

Construction Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/13/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,412

Garden-in-a-Jar

Terrariums. With fall quickly turning into winter, now's your chance to capture some of that remaining greenery as your very own garden-in-a-jar. I was lucky enough to catch Paula Hayes' terrarium show at Marianne Boesky Gallery in NYC this past summer. Her work is beautiful, not to mention ...more

Gardening Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/12/2009

Comments 1 | Views 1,773