Archive for December, 2008
The city I’m talking about is Wuppertal in western Germany. It’s home to Schwebebahn or suspended monorail which was opened in 1901. Its full name is the “Eugen Langen Monorail Suspension Railway” (Einschienige Hängebahn System Eugen Langen). Of course the city doesn’t have a steampunk look now. However, the old pictures of the town tell us a different story.
Here are some numbers and details about the monorail.
The route is 13.3 kilometers (about 8 miles) long, about 12 meters (36 feet) above the surface of the river Wupper between Oberbarmen and Sonnborner Strasse and 8 meters (24 feet) above the streets.
The train consist of 2 cars like trams in Eastern Europe. The cars are 24 meters long and have 4 doors. One carriage can seat 48 and stand approximately 130 passengers. The top speed of the monorail train is 60 km/h (40 mph).
The last 2 photos are of modern Wuppertal.
December 11th, 2008
Check how much before You buy
In today’s rapid consumerist society, consumption comes into question. How durable do we want our devices to be when they become near obsolete in 5 years? The source materials that make up their build often take hundreds of years to break down. An alternative ideology are disposable products made from natural sources. The Natural Year Phone is made of hay, sans screen and soft keys. The hard components get recycled while the hay is um. . . well I wouldn’t smoke it.
December 9th, 2008
Despite the economic crisis, exclusive merchandise will always be in high demand. This beauty, designed by E. Kevin Schöpfer is called the Oculus. The slick and smooth design, the open mouth-like backside combined with the eye-like socket make the Oculus look like a creature of the sea. The yacht is 250 feet long, the ceilings are 12 feet high and it can travel the seas at 25 knots.
Oculus
December 5th, 2008
It always puts a smile on my face when I see such clocks. I enjoy the different and sometimes bizarre designs but when it comes to telling time that’s where the problems start. We are accustomed to round clocks with 3 (sometimes 2) hands.
So this is a time cube but instead of hands it has triangles. The large one is the hour hand the middle one - minutes and the smallest one is for minutes. I think and this is only a guess, that you can tell time by looking at the numbers near the black line. What I like about this clock is that it transform into different shapes for 12 hours.
Time Cube
December 4th, 2008
