Quick Search of DRB:
Lijit Search
drb rss about
suggest
advertise
subscribe
rss rss
rss
airplanes | animals | architecture | art | auto | boats | famous | cool ads | funny pics | food | futurism | gadgets | history | japan
military | music | nature | photo | russia | sci-fi | signs | space | sports | steampunk | technology | trains | travel | vintage | weird

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

"Best of Japan" (DRB Series)



Unique material, covering various aspects of life in Japan:


Bladerunner Tokyo (in Large-Format Photography)

The future has begun a long time ago in Tokyo...
Astounding Japanese Highways, Bridges and Interchanges

Farewell Horizontal!
Narrow Buildings in Japan and Around the World
Skinny living can be... fascinating
Japanese Creative Barcodes

Cut out your UPC label and... frame it!
Vending Machines Craze in Japan

Instant Gratification, to the Nth degree!
Japan's Neon Lights

Urban Life in a Neon Forest
Capsule Living

Japan's Capsule Hotels, and more
Super High-Speed Trains

Shinkansen "Bullet Trains" of Japan, and more
Japan's Biggest Floating Crane

Robotics News from Japan

Giant robot takes care of cars

Little-Known Facts About Japan

Seldom Asked Questions
Electric Light Truck Decoration from Japan
Autumn in Japan
Wooden Laptop Designs from Japan
Catalog of Crazy Watches from Japan



Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Labels:


READ LATEST POSTS:


The Great Sperm Race: The Most Extreme Race on Earth

Scaling it up to the size of real human beings...

Biscotti Bits
Mixed Links & Images

Incl. "Fantastic Voyage: Mind-Boggling Medical Animation"

BEST OF THE YEAR
DRB Best of the Year: 2009

Articles to inspire and inform, plus fun!
COMMENTS:

2 Comments:

Anonymous dorothy said...

Japan is small, but creative !

___  
Anonymous Robert said...

The Absolutely Monstrous Machine Found Somewhere in Russia, would most likely have been used for deicing and drying runways.(Because of the aircraft in the background) It's basically a jet engine mounted on a truck and the hot exhaust is directed at the runway surface.

___  

Post a Comment

<< Home


SF ART & BOOK REVIEWS:
Don't miss: The Ultimate Guide to SF&F Writers!
Fiction Reviews: Alastair Reynolds "Chasm City"
Short Fiction Reviews: Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" (with pics)
New Fiction Reviews: The Surreal Office

MORE RECENT POSTS:


Plane Obsessed: More Jet Hotels and Houses

Sweet dreams of blue skies guaranteed


Future Plate Tectonics

Earth's crust moves at a snail's pace... we hope


Hallucinatory Architecture of the Future

Love, Peace, and - Metropolis


Bad, Twisted & Bizarre Toys

Your kid may still like them, but...


Lots of Snow!

Snowed under in the most epic way


Retro Future: To The Stars! - Part 3

Rare, gorgeous futuristic space art from unlikely sources


Weird Festivals & Strange Celebrations

Some just a bit bonkers, some totally nuts


Funny Money: Unusual and Fascinating Currency

Works of art, works of forgery and... hyperinflation


Smile! You're in Politics (Funny Pics, Part 4)

Fighting... Sleeping... Negotiating...


Female Androids' Shapes & Anatomy

Alluring steel-plated companions


Hi-Tech & Low-Tech Bicycle Madness

Including bicycle parking trees and a wild sky lane


Praise to a Common Duck: Airborne Super Creatures

At a cruising altitude of a jet, in a deadly cold and no air...


10 Possible Sources of "Avatar" in Classic Science Fiction

Going beyond the obvious "Dances with..."


Mysterious Non-Egyptians Pyramids

James Gaussman and the Jewelled Pyramid of China


The Eccentric Brilliance of Stan Mott

The craziest vehicle ideas you ever likely to see


When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs

Super Crocs, Boar Crocs, Pancake Crocs...


The Art of Science, the Science of Art

Recreating nature in glass... and more


The Extraordinary World of Ex Libris Art

Mythic, bizarre, fantastic


Outrageously Creative Ads, Issue 12

Unexpected Weirdness & Visual Candy

FULL ARCHIVES (with previews, fast loading):

October-November 2009 -- September 2009 -- August 2009 --
June-July 2009 -- May 2009 -- April 2009 -- March 2009 --
February 2009 -- January 2009 -- December 2008 --
November 2008 -- October 2008 -- September 2008
August 2008 -- July 2008 -- June 2008
May 2008 -- April 2008 -- March 2008
February 2008 -- January 2008 -- Dec, 2007
November 2007 -- October 2007 -- Sept, 2007
August 2007 -- July 2007 -- June 2007
May 2007 -- April 2007 -- March 2007
February 2007 -- January 2007 -- Dec, 2006
November 2006 -- October 2006 -- Link Lattes

CATEGORIES:
airplanes | animals | architecture | art | auto | boats | books | cool ads | funny pics | famous | futurism | food
gadgets | health | history | humour | japan | internet | link latte | military | music | nature | photo | russia | steampunk
sci-fi & fantasy | signs | space | sports | technology | trains | travel | vintage | weird


Discretion Advised! These cartoons contain some extreme animated violence!






Airplanes
Animals
Architecture
Art
Auto
Boats
Computers
Cool Ads
Extreme Weather
Food
Funny Pics
Futurism
Gadgets
History
Humour
Link Latte
Military
Music
Nature
Oops Accidents
Photography
Robots
Science
Science Fiction

Space
Sports
Technology
Trains
Travel
UE Abandoned
Vintage
Weird



Advertise here for your next book promotion!


Avi Abrams
Rachel Abrams
M. Christian
James Golbey
Simon Rose
Paul Schilperoord
Scott Seegert
Constantine vonHoffman
Steve Levenstein

- Join Our Team -
Guidelines






  • Creepy. Nice post!
    Read more

  • all coasters has been manufactured by italian industry Zamperla
    http://www.zamperla.it/

    ciao
    Read more

  • It´s remember me the movie "Chihiro´s travel" from Miyazaki.
    Read more

  • Wow..! Great post, that place must be creepy at night
    ;)
    Read more

  • Okpo Land was very peaceful at night. We went up there at 2am while very drunk. The third picture from the bottom with the swirling lights was taken from the ride as it was rotating, and we could see the city way below.
    Read more

  • FYI,
    I would like to correct
    some mistakes here.

    First of all, the author of this post was not actually supposed
    to go inside. It's forbidden
    to go inside as it will be
    under construction very soon.

    Second, it's not likely abandoned.
    Around the resort, there are gonna
    be new housing area(apartments), and the resort will be transformed
    to bigger park!
    hope this helped u guys understand!


    if you wanna see pictures,
    pls refer to the pictures below.

    http://pds54.cafe.daum.net/image/10/cafe/2008/06/28/17/57/4865fccfe88fe

    http://pds83.cafe.daum.net/image/14/cafe/2008/07/28/15/47/488d6b848cb1f
    Read more

  • Hey Anonymous,

    You obviously have no idea what urban exploring is if you think I made a mistake.

    There were no signs, in Korean or otherwise, forbidding entrance. Nobody stopped us, despite the fact we were crawling around there for several hours and seen by many people.

    Thanks for posting your pictures. If there is anything South Korea needs more of, it's soulless highrises.
    Read more

  • It's great that you guys were able to take pictures of this place, since this place will be gone soon due to the apartment complex construction plan throughout the area. The price of the land in Seoul and its suburban areas including Suwon is considerably expensive because of "supply and demand". (e.g. 1300 ft2 of apartment, not a house, costs minimum $300,000 average and up.-plz google the population density in these areas if interested.) And that's why people would like to utilize this piece of land to build more housing to live.

    By the way, FYI, it's kind of sad and true that Koreans really don't talk to Foreigners because of the language barrier. Don't be surprised!
    Read more

  • Just so everyone's clear:

    -A city of 1 million may be large by western standards, but in Asia it's relatively small, especially when it's a little south of a city of 10 million.
    -A site is abandoned if it has been vacated and is awaiting demolition. The two significantly large neighbourhoods of vacated houses awaiting demolition that are within five minutes of my home are abandoned.
    -Not everyone sees beauty the same way. The Japanese have a word, haikyo, which relates to the hidden beauty found in sites like this. There are hundreds of people all over the world who seek out places like this. Korea is not unique in this way.
    Read more

  • I want that big, green gargoyle! ^_^
    Read more

  • Remember the movie "Big", with T Hanks...the wish machine is somewhere in those parks.
    Read more

  • Anonymous,
    we see the beauty in these places. When we say weird or creepy we really mean cool. :)
    Where are these abandoned neighborhoods you speak of?
    Read more

  • "It´s remember me the movie "Chihiro´s travel" from Miyazaki."

    I believe this film was released in the U.S. as "Spirited Away."
    (Chihiro's Dad mistakes a portal to the spirit world for the entrance to an abandoned amusement park; surreal eerieness ensues).

    Yes, I had the same thought, looking at those pictures.

    This and "Castle in the Sky" by Miyazagi are amazing, and well worth renting; but do not select the English language version: it changes the stories too much. Read subtitles on the original Japanese-soundtracks.
    Read more

  • awesome
    Read more

  • I'm sad to report that the front gate arch has been removed.

    South Korea is filled with large abandoned neighbourhoods. In the near future I'm thinking of putting together a report on them for this site, but for now you can see a ton of photos on my site.
    Read more

  • Too bad you weren't able to get inside the floating restaurant with the windmill. Maybe come back at night and borrow one of the boats to get across. Would suck if the door leading up turned out to be locked.
    Read more

  • Oh, I later got into two of the floating restaurants. The one titled "...and another one" has some pretty cool stuff inside.
    Read more

  • This is the first time I can ever say, on any comments on any web page, "FIRST!"

    I know, I know. It's been done before.
    Read more

  • The Boohbahs aren't weird - they're a British kids' programme!
    Read more

  • man, I'm from Lithuania but that Lithuanian Folk Art cracked me up. I have no idea what is that. And maybe that really is an ancient handjob porn, carved in a tree, LOL.
    Read more

  • I think they're badly placed scissors. See, she has cloth in the other hand.
    Read more

  • Heh! the cupid peeping around the corner would certainly startle the bejesus out of someone if they didn't know it was there. :P
    Read more

  • I love the "Black Hole Office" video but I'm sorry it had an unhappy ending.
    Read more

  • Quite an amazing array of geeky goodness. The tower designs were pretty freaking amazing!
    Read more

  • Re: Japanese Toys Resting

    Ummm, I am not sure, but I think that the toys are possibly for ADULT MEN if you know what I mean. I believe that the Japanese make them in Anime style as well as more human-like form
    Read more

  • chocolate hills are spectacular
    Read more

  • Don't forget about Texas City, Texas, home of two major disasters in 60 years.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster

    April 16, 1947 saw the ignition of 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate loaded on board the french-registered vessel SS Grandcamp. it is considered the worst industrial accident in US history with a death toll of 567.

    58 years later, as insult to injury the BP refinery there exploded do to a running truck.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Refinery_(BP)
    Read more

  • Another huge explosion occured in Siberia, 1982.

    A Soviet gas pipeline system exploded after the CIA modified the firmware in a shipment of pipeline control chips.

    The resulting 3 kiloton (approx) explosion was seen from space.

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1071087/posts
    Read more

  • You also missed the PEPCON disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEPCON_disaster

    The two explosions, measuring 3 and 3.5 on the Richter scale respectively, left a crater 15 feet deep.
    Read more

  • Closer to us, in 2001 (10 days after 9/11), 300 tons of ammonium nitrate ignited in a fertilizer factory in the middle of the Toulouse, France. It was a 100 kiloton blast that killed 30 people, injured 3000 and made 40000 people homeless for several days.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZF

    The factory next door produces rocket fuel and uses phosgen (mustard gas). Miraculously, there were no deadly leaks, or else the death toll would have been between 50 and 100000 deaths.
    Read more

  • A picture of the Fauld, Staffordshire crater can be seen here http://www.gearthhacks.com/dlfile27084/RAF-Fauld-Explosion-near-Tutbury,-Burton-upon-Trent-in-Staffordshire.htm

    Also, regarding the anonymous comment about the Toulouse blast - there is no way 300 tons of ammonium nitrate can produce an equivalent blast of 100 kilotons. One ton of ammonium nitrate does not have the explosive force of 333.3 tons of TNT...
    Read more

  • In 1921 IG Farben (later BASF) used dynamite to break up a mixture of Ammonium Sulphate and Ammonium Nitrate that was stored in a warehouse. This was a process that they had reportedly followed numerous times previously.

    On 21 September they learned empirically that the mixture was explosive. 500 people died.

    A report: http://www.corporate.basf.com/en/ueberuns/profil/geschichte/1902-1924.htm?id=V00-QdITSDCGVbcp0-D

    A picture of the blast damage: http://www.bufata-chemie.de/reader/ig_farben/pics/1-4-3_01_oppau-big.jpg


    DRB is a compulsory daily read. Thanks for the interesting site.

    Andrew J. Winks
    Cape Town, South Africa
    Read more

  • Enschede, Netherlands

    A local firework factory blows up:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks5X0N8M_o8
    Read more

  • When I was a kid I read at Readers Digest about the Mont Blanc explosion and I remember a question. The anchor of the Mont Blanc it was found two milles far.
    Read more

  • I think the biggest non-nuclear explosion ever was the "Tunguska Event"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

    The Tunguska Event, or Tunguska explosion, was a powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Lower Stony) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, at around 7:14 a.m.[1] (0:14 UT, 7:02 a.m. local solar time[2]) on June 30, 1908 (June 17 in the Julian calendar, in use locally at the time).[2]
    Although the cause is the subject of some debate, the explosion was most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres (3–6 miles) above Earth's surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates for the object's size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of metres across.[3]
    Although the meteor or comet burst in the air rather than directly hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact. Estimates of the energy of the blast range from 5 megatons[4] to as high as 30 megatons[5] of TNT, with 10–15 megatons the most likely[5] - roughly equal to the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear explosion set off in late February 1954, about 1,000 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan and about one third the power of the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated.[6] The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometres (830 square miles). It is estimated that the earthquake from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale, which was not yet developed at the time. An explosion of this magnitude is capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.[7] This possibility has helped to spark discussion of asteroid deflection strategies.
    Although the Tunguska event is believed to be the largest impact event on land in Earth's recent history,[8] impacts of similar size in remote ocean areas would have gone unnoticed before the advent of global satellite monitoring in the 1960s and 1970s.
    Read more

  • Januar 12, 1807 a ship loaded with 17 tons of black powder exploded in the cite of Leiden blasting away a great part of the inner citty and killing 150 people.

    animation:
    http://www.infofilm.nl/animaties/kruitramp/kruitramp.html

    dutch wikipedia with some images:
    http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidse_buskruitramp
    Read more

  • How about the even BIGGER explosions of stars? National Geographic has a photo gallery:
    http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/03/cosmic-explosions/cosmic-explosions-photography
    Read more

  • The Fauld crater appears to be more like 200m across, not 3/4 of a mile.

    The depth may have changed, but the crater width would remain unchanged.

    If you look at the detailed google map of the area, it is easy to see the dimensions have "grown" with time....
    Read more

  • You should look up the SS Richard Montgomery, its still loaded with thousands of tons of ammunition from WW2 sunk in the Thames estuary, read that if it goes up it will be the biggest non nuclear detonation, I have fished from a boat next to it a few times, worst fishing spot on the planet I imagine.
    Read more

  • 1800's - fertilizer plant in Opau Germany blew up. Flattened half the town.
    Read more

  • This is also a big explosion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nC0FetkeqA , a fireworks safety test(The tiny thing in the middle is the shipping container).
    Great site you have btw, one of my favourites :).
    Read more

  • Its looking more and more like I don't want to live near harbors nor anywhere having anything to do with bulk fertilizer.
    Read more

  • "..300 tons of ammonium nitrate ignited in a fertilizer factory in the middle of the Toulouse, France. It was a 100 kiloton blast.."

    Just to clarify, 300 tons of ammonium nitrate cannot ever equal 100 kilotons of TNT. For example, the fission weapon "Little Boy" detonated over Hiroshima produced a 13 to 16 kiloton blast. Ammonium Nitrate in a blast prepared slurry also containing nitromethane - not just stored fertilizer - has a TNT equivalency of 1.6, IE: 1 ton ANNM is equal to 1.6 tons of TNT.

    Comparatively, the most common fission nuclear warhead in the US arsenal is the B61 which has a disclosed yield up to 350 kilotons

    Better living through chemistry, eh?

    Ref:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANFO
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_yield
    Read more

  • Thank you everybody for really explosive information... will go into the next part. Fantastic info.
    Read more

  • Ripple Rock--I believe it is supposed to be one of the largest intentional man-made non-nuclear explosions.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_Rock
    Read more

  • For another in humanity's long running attempts at self-immolation see:
    www.reddit.com/r/wikipedia/related/7d98l/the_largest_nonnuclear_explosion
    A tale of Russia executing the largest intentional non-nuclear explosion in our sorry history of blowing things up, intentional or otherwise.
    arrtist
    Read more

  • 1769 The city of Brescia, Italy is devastated when the Church of San Nazaro, near Venice, is struck by lightning. The resulting fire ignites 200,000 lb (90,000 kg) of gunpowder being stored there, causing a massive explosion which destroys 1/6 of the city and kills 3,000 people.
    Read more

  • You forgot the man made explosion in WW1. A whole line of trench was mined and filled with explosives. It obliterated everything. Second four of the sites are still active. (One exploded recently creating football long hole.) I believe this is the battle; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Messines
    Read more

  • I actually saw that digger climb the pole on TV. If I am not mistaken it happened in a German show called "Wetten Das".

    A show in which people claim they can do something or the other (such as climb a pole with a digger) and celebrities wager on whether or not they think it can be done.
    Read more

  • About the "future man" picture: Where exactly is his "tricycle retractable landing gear" supposed to retract..? :)
    Read more

  • I believe the pole climbing excavator was part of an advertising campaign by the company that makes the excavator. But I have no source to back this up so take it with a grain of salt.
    Read more

  • I can't comment on the digger unfortunately (that looks awesome tho, would love to see a vid) but I can say that the second mtn. goat photo is from the following flickr user:

    http://flickr.com/photos/wildphotons/2682928904/
    Read more

  • About the digger - I was wrong. They did the same thing, but at night:

    http://static.rp-online.de/layout/showbilder/19000-u-03.jpg
    Read more

  • It is called the Kinetic Sculpture Race, not the "creative art race." Flatmo's team always takes some award for the art, but usually not for speed, flipper, etc. You should do some research about the race itself... quite an illustrious history.
    Read more

  • Space the final frontier,well maybe,I really love this type os SF art,very cool. Thanks!
    Read more

  • Thanks so much for this post... Brilliant!

    And I hope i get to live to see the day space travel is as common as taking the bus...

    Change we can believe in!
    Read more

  • > Some unnamed planet is getting explored by a spider-like vehicle

    The planet is Mars, and the concept came from Arkadiy & Boris Strugatzkie's book "The land of crimson clouds" (Strana bagrovyh tuch).
    Read more

  • >> I hope i get to live to see the
    >> day space travel is as common as
    >> taking the bus...

    There is a number of problems with that scenario.

    [1] Energy. Going to space is uphill all the way. It takes a significant amount of energy just to put you there. Energy is getting more costly all the time.

    [2] Space. As the name suggests, it's empty. So why go there?

    [3] Planets are a credible destination because they have resources. What they don't have, is habitability. You could mine them, but why live there?

    When you take the bus it costs only a small amount of energy, and wherever you get out you will find air rather than vacuum and cosmic rays. Space travel will *never* resemble this.
    Read more

  • party booper.
    Read more

  • Some people have a hard time separating space fantasy from space reality. I love retro sci-fi art but I know most of it is impractical if not impossible. That breaks the child heart inside me. Space is a really big place and things are a lot farther than they look.
    Read more

  • Load up the Vista Cruiser, kids ... we're headed for Uranus!

    -from digg
    Read more

  • About the Nike Commercial, dude, that's not Walt Disney's style, that's John K! The guy who did Ren and Stimpy! C'mon!
    Read more

  • to the Obama facts:

    Barack means peach in Hungarian :)
    Read more


Send us your topic ideas, site suggestions, rants or sweet unpublished poetry. We love to hear from you.



Misc.:
Compare Prices
Samsung LED TV