1948 Buick Streamliner by Norman E. Timbs

The 1948 Buick Streamliner by Norman E. Timbs is a muse in the world of classic cars, an automobile from a time when curvy was most desirable in the eyes of men.  Looking at a car like this makes one lament the slim, simple direction human attraction has gone, when the cars and cover girls leave plenty to be desired in the most important aesthetic quality– shape.  This classic Buick Streamliner is in pristine condition, restored by Dave Crouse for the 2010 Concours d’Elegance.  Its original construction took over two years, built with an aluminum body around a steel chassis.  Not only is it unlikely you’ll ever see this beauty on the road, it’s likely that you’ll never see it on the auction block.  A car like this is far too rare, too beautiful that any owner could ever want to pass it up– no matter the price. More images after the break...

 

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Meet the Thermometer Man

Richard T. Porter has earned the nickname “The Thermometer Man” by putting together a collection of around 5,000 thermometer of various shapes and sizes. More images after the break...

The small village of Onset, in Wareham, Massachusetts, may not be among the world’s top travel destination, but Richard T. Porter has been working long and hard to put this settlement on the tourist map. He spent decades putting together his thermometer collection and opened the Porter Thermometer Museum. The founder, curator and educator of this unusual museum has been featured by Ripley’s Believe Ir or Not, and is in the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s largest collection of thermometers.

After serving in the Korean War, Richard T. Porter returned to the US and began teaching junior high school science. He used thermometers to educate his students, and that’s when he fell in love with them. He began collecting them and also took up repairing broken thermometers and even got a reputation for his skill. Throughout the years he fixed old thermometers from as far as New Zealand.

His thermometer collection kept growing, and in 1990, when he lost his daughter to a brain tumor, he decided to build a thermometer museum, after his daughter made him promise he would do something with his collection. Along with his wife, Richard T. Porter traveled to all 50 American states and 20 other countries, on all seven continents, collecting thermometers. The museum was officially opened in 1993, and has earned Onset the title of “thermometer capital of the world”.

The 83-year-old Thermometer Man knows he won’t be around forever, and has already made arrangements to donate his extensive thermometer collection to the National Weather Museum, in Penn State. Most of his collection has already been moved there, but he still keeps a few of his beloved collectibles around, and keeps busy by giving presentations on thermometers and the hazards of mercury, to schools and other organizations.

Next time you’re looking for the most accurate temperature reading in the world, head over to the Thermometer Museum of Onset, and ask the Thermometer Man himself.

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The Apocalyptic Illustrations of Steve McGhee

Steve McGhee is a digital artist who is obsessed with catastrophes. Come on, accept it … we all are. Armageddon, Independence Day, Terminator, The Day After Tomorrow and the recent 2012 all did bumper business at the box office. Steve McGhee through his insane photo manipulation convey his idea of a catastrophe. Mind blowing stuff.

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Homes at Night – Stunning photography by Todd Hido

A stunning series of eerie, low-light photos by photographer Todd Hido called Homes at Night from his book House Hunting. Some of these photos were taken with exposure time as long as 10 minutes because of the extremely low light.
























Sources: Stephen Writz Gallery, NPR, Todd Hido

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The one in a million shot

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Green Energy - The Amazing Solar Tower of Seville

Located in the Andalusian countryside of Southern Spain, near Seville, is a giant 115 meter high concrete tower surrounded by a field of 624 huge mirrors. These mirrors collect the sunlight and focus it at the top of the concrete tower, where it heats water passing through pipes, converting it into steam. This steam drives a series of turbines that produce electricity. Simple, efficient, environment friendly and spectacular!





These 624 parabolic mirrors each having a surface area of 120m² are heliostats, that track the sun throughout the year, precisely focusing the sunlight to the top of the tower at all times. The temperature at the top rises to over 400'C (750'F).




The current capacity of the Solar Tower is 11MW. The plant when completed in 2013, will produce around 300MW – energy enough for 180,000 homes, equivalent to the needs of the city of Seville, and saving 600,000 tonnes of annual carbon dioxide emissions. We urgently need more of these.

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