Devices and clocks with amazingly intricate mechanisms were the rage a few centuries ago. Today it’s all done with computers and computer graphics. It just ain’t the same.
Singing Bird Pistols
By Uncle Dave Friday July 8, 2011
0
Search
Support the Blog — Buy This Book!
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading. Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!Twitter action
Support the Blog
Put this ad on your blog!
Syndicate
Junk Email Filter
Categories
- Animals
- Art
- Aviation
- Beer
- Business
- cars
- Children
- Column fodder
- computers
- Conspiracy Theory
- Cool Stuff
- Cranky Geeks
- crime
- Dirty Politics
- Disaster Porn
- DIY
- Douchebag
- Dvorak-Horowitz Podcast
- Ecology
- economy
- Endless War
- Extraterrestrial
- Fashion
- FeaturedVideo
- food
- FUD
- Games
- General
- General Douchery
- Global Warming
- government
- Guns
- Health Care
- Hobbies
- Human Rights
- humor
- Immigration
- international
- internet
- Internet Privacy
- Kids
- legal
- Lost Columns Archive
- media
- medical
- military
- Movies
- music
- Nanny State
- NEW WORLD ORDER
- no agenda
- OTR
- Phones
- Photography
- Police State
- Politics
- Racism
- Recipe Nook
- religion
- Research
- Reviews
- Scams
- school
- science
- Security
- Show Biz
- Society
- software
- space
- sports
- strange
- Stupid
- Swamp Gas Sightings
- Taxes
- tech
- Technology
- television
- Terrorism
- The Internet
- travel
- Video
- video games
- War on Drugs
- Whatever happened to..
- Whistling through the Graveyard
- WTF!
Pages
- (Press Release): Comes Versus Microsoft
- A Post of the Infamous “Dvorak” Video
- All Dvorak Uncensored special posting Logos
- An Audit by Another Name: An Insiders Look at Microsoft’s SAM Engagement Program
- Another Slide Show Test — Internal use
- Apple Press Photos Collection circa 1976-1985
- April Fool’s 2008
- April Fool’s 2008 redux
- Archives of Special Reports, Essays and Older Material
- Avis Coupon Codes
- Best of the Videos on Dvorak Uncensored — August 2005
- Best Videos of Dvorak Uncensored Dec. 2006
- Best Videos of Dvorak Uncensored July 2007
- Best Videos of Dvorak Uncensored Nov. 2006
- Best Videos of Dvorak Uncensored Oct. 2006
- Best Videos of Dvorak Uncensored Sept. 2006
- Budget Rental Coupons
- Commercial of the day
- Consolidated List of Video Posting services
- Contact
- Develping a Grading System for Digital Cameras
- Dvorak Uncensored LOGO Redesign Contest
- eHarmony promotional code
- Forbes Knuckles Under to Political Correctness? The Real Story Here.
- Gadget Sites
- GoDaddy promo code
- Gregg on YouTube
- Hi Tech Christmas Gift Ideas from Dvorak Uncensored
- IBM and the Seven Dwarfs — Dwarf Five: GE
- IBM and the Seven Dwarfs — Dwarf Four: Honeywell
- IBM and the Seven Dwarfs — Dwarf One: Burroughs
- IBM and the Seven Dwarfs — Dwarf Seven: NCR
- IBM and the Seven Dwarfs — Dwarf Six: RCA
- IBM and the Seven Dwarfs — Dwarf Three: Control-Data
- IBM and the Seven Dwarfs — Dwarf Two: Sperry-Rand
- Important Wash State Cams
- LifeLock Promo Code
- Mexican Take Over Vids (archive)
- NASDAQ Podium
- No Agenda Mailing List Signup Here
- Oracle CEO Ellison’s Yacht at Tradeshow
- Quiz of the Week Answer…Goebbels, Kind of.
- Real Chicken Fricassee Recipe
- Restaurant Figueira Rubaiyat — Sao Paulo, Brasil
- silverlight test 1
- Slingbox 1
- Squarespace Coupon
- TEST 2 photos
- test of audio player
- test of Brightcove player 2
- Test of photo slide show
- test of stock quote script
- test page reuters
- test photo
- The Fairness Doctrine Page
- The GNU GPL and the American Way
- The RFID Page of Links
- translation test
- Whatever Happened to APL?
- Whatever Happened to Bubble Memory?
- Whatever Happened to CBASIC?
- Whatever Happened to Compact Disc Interactive (aka CDi)?
- Whatever Happened to Context MBA?
- Whatever Happened to Eliza?
- Whatever Happened to IBM’s TopView?
- Whatever Happened to Lotus Jazz?
- Whatever Happened to MSX Computers?
- Whatever Happened to NewWord?
- Whatever Happened to Prolog?
- Whatever Happened to the Apple III?
- Whatever Happened to the Apple Lisa?
- Whatever Happened to the First Personal Computer?
- Whatever Happened to the Gavilan Mobile Computer?
- Whatever Happened to the IBM “Stretch” Computer?
- Whatever Happened to the Intel iAPX432?
- Whatever Happened to the Texas Instruments Home Computer?
- Whatever Happened to Topview?
- Whatever Happened to Wordstar?
- Wolfram Alpha Can Create Nifty Reports
I’ll stick with my 1911 cocked and locked. These “bird guns” would be great conversation pieces between you and the perp after they ROFL.
Seriously, that’s some righteous bling bling.
Thanks Uncle Dave.
Ok–but it “ought” to be able to shoot a bullet. Maybe I’m being too harsh. What would you rather have? A pistol that shoots, a music box in the shape of a pistol, or a cigarette lighter so realistic you might shoot yourself in the face?
Ha, ha.
The phrase “useless bourgeois bullshit” springs to mind. I always admired intricacy in old world clocks and watches because its form combined with function…these are just music boxes that long dead posh bastards used to show off to their friends after they got done raping the house boy.
#3: You must be a blast at parties…
It makes my back hurt just to think of working on such a tiny mechanism, whether to actually build it or just to clean or repair it.
In # 3 jasontheodd said: …done raping the house boy.
What makes you think they were done raping the house person?
Look at Dominique Strauss-Khan.
He wasn’t done raping the maid…
DSK’s problem was that somebody wanted his job and made sure that he got held up in N.Y.C. P.D.Q.
Beautiful but utterly useless. Priced so that only those who are so rich they no longer can count their money but rather have to estimate it can afford it.
Actually that describes a lot of Congress critters and WH scum some of whom started out with rather moderate amounts of money. Wonder how that happened.
#9:
It advances the art / science of intricate things, plus it’s art.
Would you characterize the art of Picasso as useless?
Come on folks. Can’t you just appreciate the creativity, the precision, intricacy,imagination, beauty, and fun? Admire the person capable of creating this. Keep it simple. As Olivia Newton John sang once, “Have you never let someone else be strong?”
pedro
Big deal! I can also flip a bird upwards with my finger.
Yes, we know the height of your intellect and conversational skills.
How’s that donkey thing doing?
Very cool.
ReadyKilowatt,
You are correct, but you only see a part of the picture. That state-of-the-art DLP MEMS device is kith and kin with those pistol-shaped music boxes. Precision machining and metalcraft skills (designing a device on a computer that you couldn’t build with your hands is a recipe for disaster, a computer is a time-saving tool, nothing more) are still needed to conceptualize and design the next generation of tools to create the next generation of product.
Your distain at pure art is dissapointing, you sound too smart to deny that side of creativity. Art drives design as much if not more than technology. As for use and functionality, that iPad and those pistols have the exact same primary function, entertaining the hip well-to-do. As does that LED-driven sub-window color-addressable 3D LCD hanging on the wall with the 2-terabyte DVR and encrypted wireless broadband multimedia pipe.
Enjoy art for what it is, a message to the audience and a demonstration of skill. It inspires as well as demonstrates what man is capable of. The creator of these toys was not only a remarkably skilled artist and craftsman, he was also a great engineer, conceptualist, and designer. For all you know the artist made real guns as well, and I would certainly buy a weapon from a guy capable of crafting this.
The original “Angry Birds”