The cardboard bicycle - just the right amount of crazy

Israeli designer Giora Kariv had his mind pretty much blown when he heard about someone who created a cardboard canoe - and then he decided that he was going to make a cardboard bicycle...


The project might well have been scuppered if he'd listened to the engineers he consulted: they told him that it was impossible. But he couldn't let the concept just die in his mind - and his wife said that if he didn't at least try, he'd drive himself mad, then her, then his kids.


Good thing he listened:

"Impossible", huh?

The resulting bike is strong (the video below illustrates how strong), water-resistant, looks like it's made of plastic, and can carry riders up to 220kg (that's 485lbs!). And the production cost is just $9 - the cost to the consumer is estimated at $60-$90 depending on what parts are added on.


Take a look at this awesome bicycle in action:






Thank goodness there are people like this in the world, who are unwilling to give up in the face of being told their plans won't work!

Danceth thou ye Hokey-Pokey?

If thou art feeling jaded in thine efforts at merriment and carousing, mayhap thou couldst try capering hither and yon in ye new dance sensation, Ye Hokey-Pokey.


Knowest thou not ye means by which thou shouldst moveth thine body? Then, cast thine eyes upon ye parchment below, and verily, thou shalt be educated henceforth:

Now, Mark maketh no claim to be an all-encompassing expert on ye rituals and customs of ye British populace. That particular fact notwithstanding, Mark possesseth a suffiency of pedantry enabling him to point out that, in ye land of Ye Bard, ye dance is named Ye Hokey-Cokey.


With that said, ye sonnet above pleaseth both he and his good lady in equal measure!




Thy humble scribes at Sense Deprivation giveth thanks to BoingBoing, who in turn sourced this from Neatorama, who located it at Geeks Are Sexy, who saw it on Shakespeare Tonight's Facebook page.

Gamers: Protect your identity!

One of the almost inevitable downsides of online gaming - and Internet usage in general - is that the more you expose yourself to the Internet, the greater the chance that your information will be compromised. It's not an absolute dead certainty that you'll be at risk, but if you're a fan of popular online multiplayer games, then it's highly likely that there are hackers working on stealing member information.

OK, so he's sat in front of a computer, but you can almost hear that
"tip-toe" music they use in cartoons.

So what you can you do? Well, you'd be doing yourself a massive favor by heading across to GameSpy's article Trust No One: How To Protect Your Personal Info From Leaky Game Companies. Alex Castle's clear, comprehensive guide will arm you with some useful information to ensure that you stand a much better chance of keeping your personal data secret.

Oh, one thing that the article doesn't mention: the recommended password manager, Keepass, is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

(Image source: FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Bend your brain with Perspective

The students of the DigiPen Institute of Technology have a knack for turning out amazing, challenging games. Valve Software's a fan - they hired the creators of Narbacular Drop to turn their game into Portal, and pulled in the makers of Tag to join the dev team for Portal 2... What's more, when students release their projects, DigiPen makes them available as full, free and legal downloads.


Well, browsing through TheCHIVE resulted in coming across Perspective, a mind-blowing puzzler which combines 2D and 3D action. Like The Fourth Wall, another project by DigiPen students*, a click of a button changes the game mechanics. In The Fourth Wall, the screen is frozen to stop the level from scrolling and change it to a wrap-around system... if you don't get my drift, download the game for free and see for yourself. Anyway, in Perspective, a click changes the world from 3D to 2D, and back again...


Can't make a jump across a long pit of lava? Move in 3D until the pit looks small, change to 2D, and just jump across... Here, look, just watch this video and see what I'm blathering about:





As yet, the game isn't available for download, but for goodness' sake, bookmark the game page for when it is! The site presently says Fall 2012, so keep an eye out.


(Thanks to TheCHIVE for highlighting this one!)


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* Both projects, incidentally, have a common link: Logan Fieth.

Teachers Dancing Behind Students

We were linked to this video by our awesome friend jessartisan - the teaching faculty of Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School in Worcester, MA getting down and funky, during what appears to be the filming of a student documentary...

Our favorite is the bald-headed guy with the goatee - he really gets into it! Wish we had teachers like this at our schools when we were the kids' age...

An unusual way to survive the Zombie Apocalypse...

What with increased talk of the Zombie Apocalypse, we were very amused by Doghouse Diaries' take on how to stay safe:

At the very least, there's a video game in this...

The small size of the toilet aperture is a little unnerving, though... Maybe I'm over-thinking this.


Source: Doghouse Diaries
Found at: Nerd Approved

Most awesome marriage proposal EVAR?

The love-struck guy in this video wanted to propose to his girlfriend - which is fair enough. But how to propose in a way she'll remember? How about getting more than SIXTY friends and family members to lip-sync to Bruno Mars' I Think I Wanna Marry You?





Oh, and there's a nice little play on words: Mars' lyrics include "Or is it this dancing juice?" - watch out for what shows up at those moments in the song...


I know one thing: If you're going to put on a production this big, you'd better be damn sure she's gonna say "yes"...


Originally posted at The CHIVE.