In a moral victory for everyone that’s ever seen something and immediately wondered what it’d be like to ride a motorcycle over that something, South African Trials star Brian Capper just got a chance to ride his bike over the 384-foot-tall arch supporting Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Trials bikes share very little with regular motorcycles other than their two-wheels-and-an-engine configuration. To start with there’s no seat; purpose-built competition machines, they’re made to be ridden standing up. Other differences are extreme light weight — think mountain bike — and very, very low gearing.
The sport of trials itself is sort of an arcane take on two-wheeled gymnastics. Competitors tackle a challenging obstacle course either in the woods or in a stadium in which they must navigate a series of climbs, jumps and balance beams under a certain time, with points come off every time they touch a foot down to balance. Riders like Capper are attempting to draw more attention to the sport by taking it out of motorcycling’s footnotes and into extreme stunts like this one. You couldn’t pull of a similar ride on your Harley while wearing assless leather chaps.
Right: Tactical Solutions’ Nightstalker II night vision lens attached to a Nikon D700. It’s used by some US military photographers to take night action shots like the one on the left. It also makes the camera look like an actual weapon.
Using this kind of camera lens is very difficult, since you have to focus manually and setting the exposure is tricky. It’s used by the military, what do you expect?
With expansions planned all the way to 2020, the world’s largest model railroad just opened its latest addition: a 1,600-square-foot model airport, chock full of tiny aircraft support vehicles, hangers, terminals, and passengers. Originally scheduled to open in 2009, it has taken more than six years to complete the $4,440,000+ expansion to Hamburg’s Miniatur Wunderland. The airport includes remote-controlled planes taking, landing and taxiing to terminals and hangers. Plus, there are luggage carts and other support vehicles scurrying about the tarmac. If you’ve ever dabbled in model railroads, I recommend taking the time to watch their entire promo video, and then weep over the vastly inferior setup in your rec room.
When folk start drinking, their aim can get pretty messy. Though there are certain home-remedies for helping those with terrible aim to stay tidy (the old cork in the toilet trick worked a treat when we were at school), one pub in England is taking things to the next level with a video game that is won with perfect aim.
The Exhibit on Friday unveiled a couple of new games for its male patrons. Located in the loos, the video games are controlled by the customer’s stream of urine and test the player’s accuracy. Tapping into customers’ competitive side, there’s also a Twitter leaderboard. The pub is also using the games to boost business as the games are interspersed with ads and offers for special deals.
Captive Media, the company behind the games, says that the urinals in The Exhibit are the first of their kind in the world and claims that they offer a unique opportunity for businesses looking to advertise to young men out socializing, a hard market to reach. The company plans to roll out the product across selected bars from early 2012.
“It’s taken three years of research and development to get to this point,” says Captive Media director Mark Melford. “The reaction to the units so far has been incredible – it’s just so much fun.”
“We already had a huge amount of interest in the units from bars, pubs, exhibition centres and retail outlets across the country and overseas – even though we’ve been trying to keep a lid on it,” says Captive Media cofounder Gordon MacSween.
The carnival doesn’t quite enjoy the same level of prestige it once did. The old-world entertainment now has to vie with a movie industry soaked in computer-generated special effects, on-demand satellite entertainment and a vast expanse of electronic distractions. That doesn’t make some of the stunts performed at the carnival any less amazing, however, and it’s especially true when it comes to the infamous Wall of Death, wherein motorcycle riders ramp up speed and take to a near vertical wall to defy gravity.
Benedict Campbell has just finished a short film on Ken Fox and his family. The Fox Troupe wanders the English countryside with a traveling carnival, where they ride the Wall of Death. Fox himself rides an Indian Scout along the walls of the 26-foot diameter wooden ring. In his 30 years of performing, Fox estimates he’s had around 20 significant falls, and yet he’s still incredibly grateful to be able to live and work with his family on a daily basis. Hit the jump to check out the video for yourself.
Welcome to lessons in vehicle control with Jorian Ponomareff. The motorcycle stunt rider has made a name for himself as a guy who’s capable of pulling off incredible feats of riding, including getting tail-happy with precise, controlled drifts. Ponomareff has released a new video of his talents demonstrating just how well the guy knows his bike, and the clip provides plenty of lessons in two-wheeled manipulation while riffing off of the famous Ken Block gymkhana series. The whole clip is well shot with a soundtrack to match, and we’re completely in awe of Ponomareff’s mountain of skill. We couldn’t help but laugh at the rider’s dissertation on target fixation, as captured above. We won’t spoil the moment for you, but let’s just say that no one’s perfect. Hit the jump to check out the action for yourself.
Ice breaking game in high school is always boring, but well sometimes you get a bunch of creative people to play some nice games. Want some ice breaking game? How about drinking my piss?!? This is the ice breaking and bonding activity between new comers and seniors in Hong Kong University of Technology. Click pass the jump to see more pictahs!
GTA V may be coming around, as we’ve seen the trailer. But today we have video of one of the missions. But wait just a second – this isn’t a video game, it’s real life.
An in-car video camera has captured footage of two unnamed Brazilian police officers going after some bad guys on a remote runway, Cops-style. One officer can be seen firing a machine gun, just before the driver rams the wing of a plane in an effort to prevent it from taking off.
According to the Associated Press, a Brazilian federal police spokesman indicates that the pilot and four others were arrested, but nobody was hurt in the takedown. The video does appear to show plenty of contraband electronics that were seized from the alleged smugglers, however.
I love this art project. It’s called 20Hz and it uses data collected by the CARISMA radio array to turn the solar wind sound into beautiful threedimensional waveforms. Mesmerizing.
SOURCE via Lighthouse
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