Bathys Bomb Timer

Been following this project over at Bathys for six months now and am very excited with how it's been turning out. For those of you not familiar with the Bomb Timer, it is inspired by the WWII era console mounted clocks made by Hamilton Watch Company that were used to time bomb runs. They were installed in the turrets of bombers and the hacking movements allowed bombardiers to track the elapsed time between the bomb release and detonation. After WWII many air crewman took these timepieces with them and in many cases crafted straps to transform them into wristwatches.

The updated Bomb Timer seems to be a scaled up and more robust (316L Steel Case) version of Hamilton's original and features an ETA 6947 movement and water resistance of 100 meters. Some versions will feature PVD coating.

Price: $1800 - 2000

Below are photos of the original watches. They are rapidly becoming hard to find on the secondary market.

Michael Gillette: 007 Commemorative Book Covers

For the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth, Penguin UK commissioned artist Michael Gillette to create new covers for a set of centenary edition James Bond hardbacks. I'm still waiting for these to surface up in the US but you can order them from the UK here.

Dazzle Camouflage Battleships

Stumbled upon this little gem of naval camouflage while reading about U-boats in WWI. When the Allied fleet came under constant submarine attacks Dazzle Camouflage was developed early during WWI by Norman Wilkinson when it was found that traditional camouflage failed to conceal ships in all weather conditions. Since at the time most ships were spotted with optical rangefinders, through which the viewer artillery and torpedoes can be targeted, the primary objectives of Dazzle was to visually disrupt and confuse the viewer as to the size, heading and speed of the ship. By using bold clashing patterns that intersected the lines of the ship it became hard to determine what type of ship you were looking at, how fast it was going and even if it was heading towards or away from you.

Because the widespread adoption Dazzle Camouflage also coincided with adoption of convoy grouping tactics there is some debate as to how effective the painting scheme ultimately was as a single variable, with that said it was a huge morale booster for the crews of the ship and also for the civilian population at the time in port and dock cities.

During WWII, with the invention of radar and dive bombers Dazzle became less effective but was still utilized to a certain extent against submarines that still relied on rangefinders.

The images below are from RISD's fleet archives of Dazzle paint schemes, you can view more of the collection here.

Alice for the iPad

She & Him: Volume Two

Perfect spring album that's on heavy rotation on my playlist. Retro pop duo She & Him release their second album and it doesn't disappoint. Catchy adorable happy-sounding sad songs. Download the album from amazon for $4.99 while the deal lasts.

Tron Legacy Trailer

That I've waited 85% of my life for a sequel would give one pause. Hopefully this movie and the soundtrack by Daft Punk makes up for it.

Check out the awesome trailers here.

The 2009 Feltron Annual Report

Nicholas Felton spends much of his time thinking about data, charts and our daily routines. He is the author of several Personal Annual Reports that collate countless measurements into a rich assortment of graphs and maps reflecting the year’s activities. He is the co-founder of Daytum.com, a site for counting and communicating daily data, and frequent designer of information graphics for numerous corporations and publications. His work has been profiled in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Wired and Creative Review.

Check out his latest Personal Annual Report.

Lucha Loco

If you like lucha libre than you'll dig the new book Lucha Loco by Malcolm Venville.

With his collection of over 120 portraits, Malcolm intimately observes the complexity of the Luchadore by capturing both the human element and stage persona of each wrestler, through direct uncluttered photography.

Also check out these nifty wallpapers here at his website.

Axiom: Creative Energy | 2010 Demo Reel

Just updated the new demo reel at Axiom. Seems to be resonating with my coworkers and other folk.

View the HD version here.

Track is "One World Extinguisher" by Prefuse 73.

Kazuki Takamatsu

Some very arresting gauche paintings by Kazuki Takamatsu. Very cool use of grayscale topography.

Check out the rest of his work here.

The Bridge of the USS Enterprise

Just saw Star Trek on Blu Ray. Unbelievably fantastic but one camera move really gave me pause. At one point the camera pans out from the bridge of the USS Enterprise, through the viewscreen/window and over the front bow of the ship. I'm no military strategist, but that would be the last place where you would place the command/nerve center of your starship. Worse still is having a well lit window letting everyone look in. Hopefully for the next movie they can invent some form of CIC. Take advantage of the reboot.