We've seen scads of hyperrealistic paintings that trick our minds—but what about brain-befuddling sculptures? Meet Australian hyperrealist sculptor, Ronald "Ron" Mueck, who uses silicone and mixed media to create shockingly lifelike figures.

The colors and proportions are nearly perfect on every piece—but what makes them so uncanny is their massive scale. For example, Mueck's sculptures include a newborn child that takes up an entire room, and an old man the size of a cavernous gallery.

Though Mueck has been on the scene for almost two decades, he's still creating new work. The artist's three brand-new creations, produced especially for the Fondation Cartier, are on exhibition in Paris until September 29, 2013. It's not to be missed, if you happen to be in France. In the meantime, check out a handful of past work Mueck's work below.

Woman With Shopping Bags, 2013.

Photo: Francois Mori/AP

Couple Under an Umbrella, 2013.

Photo: Francois Mori/AP

Young Couple, 2013.

Photo: Francois Mori/AP

Youth, 2009.

Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Drift, 2009.

Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Still Life, 2009.

Photo: Raoul Wega/Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Woman with Sticks, 2008.

Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

A girl, 2006.

Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Spooning Couple, 2005.

Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Two Women, 2005.

Photo: Raoul Wegat/Getty Images

In Bed, 2005

Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Mother And Child, 2002.

Photo: Johannes Simon/Getty Images

Mask II, 2001-2002.

Photo: Raoul Wegat/Getty Images

Untitled (Big Man), 2000.

Photo: Francois Mori/AP

Boy, 2000.

Photo: Polfoto, Morten Overgaard/AP

Dead Dad, 1996-1997.

Photo: Raoul Wegat/Getty Images

Big Baby, 1996.

Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Top photo: Gautier Deblonde/Fondation Cartier

I've always been amazed by wind tunnels. Why? First of all, they're massive structures. Then there's the remarkable contribution they make to science and engineering—without wind tunnels, we likely wouldn't have developed the aerospace technology that put us on the moon. And finally, wind tunnels are often simply gorgeous, dramatic spaces. For proof, see the striking images below, which span almost a full century of wind tunnel testing.

1922. The Variable Density Tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center. It was the world's first variable density wind tunnel that allowed accurate testing with small-scale models.

Photo: NASA

The honeycombed, screened center of this open-circuit air intake for Langley's first wind tunnel insured a steady, non-turbulent flow of air.

Photo: NACA/NASA

1934. Annual aircraft engineering conference group photo in the full-scale wind tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center.

Photo: Library of Congress

A technician prepares to unlatch the door built into the guide vanes of the 16-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center. This tunnel, one of dozens of research facilities at Langley, was built in 1939.

Photo: Bill Taub/NASA

The wind tunnel at the NASA Glenn Research Center, in 1944.

Photo: NASA/Glenn Research Center

Inside the 16-foot supersonic wind tunnel of thPropulsion Wind Tunnel Facility, Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., 1960.

Photo: Phil Tarver/U.S. Air Force

Here's a rare photograph of a large Tu-144 scale model in a wind tunnel. The Soviet supersonic transport aircraft was designed by the Tupolev bureau, and the design was unveiled in 1962.

Photo: Utak és járművek - A Szovjetúnió közlekedése, 1975 (Roads and vehicles - Transportation in the USSR)

Model of supersonic transport in the full-scale wind tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia.

Photo: Library of Congress

The smaller, 10x10 foot wind tunnel test section at NASA's Glenn Research Center, in 1964.

Photo: Paul Riedel/NASA GRC

A Schlieren photograph of an F11F-1 Tiger at Mach 1.4 in the 1-foot by 3-foot wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center, in February 1965.

Photo: NASA

SCIP-3 Model, Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (1251), NASA Langley Research Center, 1975.

Photo: NASA

A BMW R 100 RS motorcycle in the Pininfarina wind tunnel, 1976.

Photo: BMW

A Schleiren photo of a supersonic wind tunnel model of the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber, with its wingtips set in the “up” position.

Photo: The Unwanted Blog

Laser doppler velocimeter test in the 8x6 foot wind tunnel at NASA's Glenn Research Center, 1979.

Photo: NASA GRC

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) engineer observes the testing of a small Space Shuttle orbiter model at 14 Wind Tunnel in 1980.

Photo: NASA

The silhouette of a workman in the 8x6 foot wind tunnel at NASA's Glenn Research Center, 1980.

Photo: NASA GRC

A model hypersonic craft undergoing tests in the 20 Inch Mach 6 Tunnel NASA Langley Research Center, 1986.

Photo: James Schultz/NASA

The 16-foot fairing and turning vanes of the 16-foot transonic wind tunnel of Langley after rehabilitation, in 1990.

Photo: NASA

Langley's 16-foot transonic wind tunnel cone fairing.

Photo: NASA

On September 1, 1993, Skier Picabo Street trained at the USST Wind Tunnel testing facility in Buffalo, New York.

Photo: Mike Powell/Getty Images

F-16XL wind tunnel model in the Unitary and Continuous-Flow Hypersonic Tunnels Building 1251, NASA Langley Research Center, April 29, 1994

Photo: NASA

November 4th, 1997: Graham Bell of England in position on the Jordan wind tunnel at Brackley, Northamptonshire, England.

Photo: Mike Cooper /Allsport/Getty Images

The BMW H2R ("Hydrogen Record Car") in a wind tunnel, in 2004.

Photo: BMW

Speed skier Tracie Max Sachs from USA in the wind tunnel of the Geneva Engineers School in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, March 8, 2007.

Photo: KEYSTONE/Martial Trezzini/AP

United States Olympic luge team member Mark Grimmette is positioned for a wind tunnel test in a new racing suit to be used for the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympics, at the San Diego Air and Space Museum in February 2010, in San Diego.

Photo: Lenny Ignelzi/AP

The world's largest automotive wind tunnel at the General Motors Aerodynamics Laboratory August 4, 2010 in Warren, Michigan. The tunnel features a 43-foot diameter fan.

Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Schlieren testing of the 70-metric-ton configuration of the SLS rocket, designed to carry the Orion spacecraft, in the Trisonic Wind Tunnel at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

Photo: NASA/MSFC

The largest parachute ever built to fly on an extraterrestrial mission—for NASA's Curiosity mission to Mars—inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, 2009.

Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Photo: NASA/Ames Research Center/JPL

Do you miss any important, awesome, less known photo from this collection? Please, post it in the comments!

Of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only one wonder still exists today: the crumbling, gorgeous Great Pyramids of Giza. But there are plenty of other ancient structures that deserve our attention too, from a 2,000-year-old church to a more than 1,000-year-old Buddhist temple that's made out of timber. Even more remarkable? All of these building are still in use. Check out 17 of these tributes to human engineering, below.

The Santa Sophia (also known as Hagia Sophia) in Istanbul, Turkey has been church, mosque and museum since it was completed in 537 AD.

Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

The Pantheon in Rome was built as a temple by Hadrian in 117 AD, and has been in continuous use throughout its history. It is one of the best-preserved of all Roman buildings, now a museum and Roman Catholic church.

Photo: Dark Rome Tours & Walks

The church Santa Sabina in Rome, built in 422 AD, hasn't been changed since it was built, and is still in use by the Catholic Church.

Photo: Agniulka/Wikimedia Commons

Rome's Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo was completed in 139 AD and converted to a fortress around 400 AD. It's still a fortress (and a museum) today.

Photo: davidpc_

The Colosseum once regularly hosted fifty thousand Romans, eager to witness the blood and violence of the legendary gladiators. Because of its ruined state, these days it can only hold a few hundred people on temporary plastic seats for (horribly overpriced) cultural events. Larger concerts and Roman Catholic events are also held outside, using the Colosseum as a dramatic backdrop.

Photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images

The Theatre of Marcellus once was Rome’s largest open-air theatre—built in the last years of the Republic. The building has undergone several modifications over its history, and today, the upper portion serves as apartments.

Photo: Mark Turner

Ponte Fabricio, in Rome, was built in 62 BC. The bridge is almost unchanged, and still serves thousands of Romans today.

Photo: Tomaž Štolfa

This is the Caravan Bridge over the river Meles in Izmir, Turkey. It was built around 850 BC, which makes it more than 2,860 years old—qualifying as the oldest functioning bridge in the world.

Photo: Murat AY/Panoramio

Likewise, the Church of the Nativity (565 AD, Bethlehem, West Bank) is one of the oldest church buildings in the world—today, it still hosts multiple church services every day.

Photo: Nadav Neuhaus/Getty Images

The Proserpina Dam (Merida, Spain) dates from the first or second century AD, and once fed the Roman aqueduct taking water to a nearby city. This ancient Roman gravity dam is still used by local farmers to irrigate crops.

Photo: JMN/Cover/Getty Images

Most of the thousand-year-old temples in Angkor, Cambodia, still serve religious function among the locals.

Photo: Attila Nagy/Gizmodo

The Nanchan Temple is a Buddhist temple near the town of Doucun on Wutaishan, in Shanxi Province, China. It was built in 782 AD, and its Great Buddha Hall is currently China's oldest preserved timber building in existence.

Photo: Zeus1234/Wikimedia Commons

The Basilica of Constantine at Trier, Germany is a Roman palace and basilica that was built at the beginning of the 4th century. Today it's used as church by a congregation within the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland.

Photo: Berthold Werner/Wikimedia Commons

The Acoma Pueblo, also known as "Sky City," is a Native American pueblo located west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Acoma tribal traditions estimate that they have lived in the village for more than two thousand years.

Photo: tunnelarmr

The Mosque of Uqba (670 AD) aka the Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia, is one of the oldest mosques in the world.

Photo: Andrew Watson

The ancient Stonehenge is still a place of religious significance for Neopagan and New Age believers, and particularly for the Neo-druids.

Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The Tower of Hercules is an ancient Roman lighthouse near A Coruña, Galicia, in north-western Spain. The structure is almost 1,900 years old and still in use today.

Photo: Alfonso Maseda

This list is far from complete, and is surely missing a few notable buildings. Don't hesitate to post them in the comments!

You can't always be at the top your game, and Apple is no exception. As we eagerly await today's WWDC reveals, it's fun to remember that for every hit there's a handful of slightly more questionable ideas that just never quite clicked. Here are the seven of weirdest Apple gadgets that just weren't good enough to make it to the finish line.

The Macintosh Surface

This prototype (obviously) wasn't called the "Surface" but instead, "Bashful." An earlier prototype of the Newton, which did eventually make it to market, Bashful would have come with a keyboard and stylus if it ever made off the drawing board.

Image: Hartmut Esslinger

A Dual Screen Workstation

Like the Bashful, this dual-screen setup was another idea being kicked around in the early 80s. Also like the Bashful, it was designed by Hartmut Esslinger, founder of Frogdesign.

Image: Hartmut Esslinger

An Octagon iPhone

One of the many prototypes unearthed during Apple and Samsung's epic patent row, this octagonal iPhone could have been the shape of phones-to-come until Apple opted for that oft-imitated "rectangle with rounded corners."

The MacPhone

Pre-cursor to both the iPhone and the iPad, the Apple Snow White 1 Tablet Mac and the Apple Snow White 3 Macphone (left and right), were in development in '82 and '84. But instead of pushing the weird tablet-phones out to market, Apple turned to the Macintosh, and waited a few decades before coming back.

Image: Hartmut Esslinger

An Angular iPhone 4

Another gem from the Apple vs Samsung lawsuit, this prototype is was labled N90, so chances are it's an iPhone 4 that never was.

A Wrist Computer

An Apple watch isn't a new idea; the Time Band dates back to 1991, when it was published in the Japanese magazine Axis. The image was published as a mere concept that then-CEO John Sculley was touting, so chances are the abomination was never actually prototyped.

Image credit: Zac Davies/Flickr

A Crazy Vertical Monitor

Another Esslinger joint, this setup was entitled "concept 2" and was intended to represent americana, drawing inspiration from things like Studebaker to the Coke bottle. But perhaps most striking is its wildly vertical screen.

Image: Hartmut Esslinger

What is it about humans that make us love–and hate–being lost? Since the time of ancient Greece, we've been figuring out ways to entertain ourselves within extraordinarily confusing structures.

There are dozens of different types of mazes: there are standard mazes, which feature "multi-route" paths; and labyrinths, which only have single routes. Then there are indoor mazes, plain air mazes, hedge mazes, corn mazes and so on. Below, a collection of 23 fascinating examples give us a glimpse into the cultural history of getting lost–on purpose.

The Hampton Court maze, in London, is one of the most famous hedge mazes in the world. It was planted between 1689 and 1695 by George London and Henry Wise.

Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

This aerial view of Top Pearsy's Maize Maze, in the shape of Harry Potter, was shot in July, 2011 in York, England. Farmer Tom Pearcy cut two portraits of Harry Potter into his crop of maize plants. At over 150 feet in diameter, and cut out of over one million living maize plants, the York Maze is the largest Maize Maze in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. And since there are some subtle differences, it's actually the world's largest "spot the difference" puzzle, too.

Photo: Bethany Clarke/Getty Images

The maze at the Teichland amusement park, near Jaenschwalde, Germany, is probably one of the simplest labyrinths in the world: Just turn right at the entrance. The park opened in 2008 and is part of a broader effort by local authorities to make the region, which is blighted by open-pit lignite coal mines, more attractive to tourists.

Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

A girl navigates an ice maze at the fourth Snow and Ice Tourism Fair, held to usher in the Chinese New Year on January 20, 2009, in Xining of Qinghai Province, China.

Photo: China Photos/Getty Images

This "psychedelic" labyrinth was installed five years ago at the Oktoberfest, in Munich, Germany.

Photo: Johannes Simon/Getty Images

The abandoned Bambiland fun park in Pozarevac, Serbia, 2008. Bambiland was a business project of former president Slobodan Milosevic's flamboyant only son Marko. The park was abandoned, then ransacked, by angry citizens after he fled the country in 1999.

Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Likenesses of President Bush and his opponent in the November 2004 general election, John Kerry, are shown carved into a Utah corn field in Pleasant Grove, 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Photo: George Frey/Getty Images

This sprawling, 14-acre corn maze in the shape of an eagle and the words "God Bless America" is seen in September, 2002 near LaSalle, Colorado. The maze, created by farmer Glen Fritzler, has two miles of pathways and 85 decision points on the way to the exit.

Photo: Kevin Moloney/Getty Images

Soldiers and nurses lost in the maze at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, England.

Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images

This aerial view of a ten-acre cornfield maze was shot in 2000, in La Union, New Mexico. The local farmer who built the maze is one of many using tourism as a way to supplement their income. The maze was designed using a GPS system to mark out the trail.

Photo: Joe Raedle/Newsmakers/Getty Images

Children play in the "aMAZEme" labyrinth, built using thousands of books, at the Southbank Centre in London, England. Brazilian artists Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo used 250,000 books to create this maze.

Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

In this 2011 photo provided by the Seattle Sounders FC, the likeness of the Sounder's goalkeeper Kasey Keller is featured in a corn maze designed to look like a soccer field on the Schilter Family Farm in Olympia, Washington.

Photo: Seattle Sounders FC, Rod Mar/AP

An unintended maze of corn grows naturally in the fields in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

Photo: David Goldman/AP

Boston Bruins goaltender and playoff MVP Tim Thomas, hoisting the Stanley Cup above his head, was carved into a twelve-acre cornfield at Sherman Farm in East Conway, New Hampshire. The maze twists and turns for three miles.

Photo: Green Parrot Aerials, Wayne Peabody/AP

An image of American Idol television star David Archuleta, titled "Archuleta 4 President," provides the design for the 13th Annual Cornbelly's Corn Maze and Pumpkin Fest at Thanksgiving Point, 2008, in Lehi, Utah.

Photo: Douglas C. Pizac/AP

An aerial view of the corn maze at Cool Patch Pumpkins, in Dixon, Calif., 2007. At 40 acres, the Guinness Book of World Records has declared it the largest corn maze in the world.

Photo: Matt Cool/AP

A 12-acre cornfield, shaped to resemble a new Utah quarter design, is seen in a photo from 2006 at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. The quarter features two locomotives facing each other, depicting the completion of the trans-American railway.

Photo: Douglas C. Pizac/AP

A Napoleon Dynamite-themed maze, also created at Thanksgiving Point, from 2005. The creation, which also features the words "Utah loves Napoleon," was done in an eight-acre field.

Photo: The Maize, Robb Costello/AP

Former President Ronald Reagan is the basis for this corn maze from 2004, in Layton, Utah. The labyrinth is eight acres in size and has more than three miles of twists and turns.

Photo: Douglas C. Pizac/AP

A visitor in the "Mirror Maze", an installation by Canadian artist Ken Lum at the Documenta 11 art show in Kassel, Germany, in 2002.

Photo: Bernd Kammerer/AP

A corn maze in American Fork, Utah, that depicts two dinosaurs, hails from 2000. The maze was designed by Brett Herbst, a maze designer who created his first maize maze in 1995. Since then, he has designed and built mazes in Hawaii, Rhode Island, Louisiana, and Alberta, Canada.

Photo: The Maize/AP

A maze of cellophane in Annaberg-Buchholz, made by artists Robert Glenn Ross West and Markus Mueller in 2012. More than five miles of transparent plastic film were strung between trees to form a labyrinth—described by the artist as a metaphor for life.

Photo: Uwe Meinhold/dapd/AP

This hedge maze at the Andrassy Castle in Tiszadob, Hungary, which resembles a squid is one of Europe's most beautiful labyrinths.

Photo: Sunion/Wikimedia Commons

Do you miss something important from this list? Post your favourite maze in the comments!

In the 21st century, a significant change is underway in the food industry: farming is moving indoors. The perfect crop field could be inside a windowless building with controlled light, temperature, humidity, air quality and nutrition. It could be in the basement of a Tokyo high-rise, in an old warehouse in Illinois, or even in space. Just look at our collection of awesome indoor farms, where the sun never shines, the rainfall is irrelevant, and the climate is always perfect.

Basil, arugula and microgreens.

A worker checks crops at the FarmedHere indoor vertical farm, in Bedford Park, Illinois, on February 20, 2013. The farm, in an old warehouse, has crops that include basil, arugula and microgreens, sold at grocery stores in Chicago and its suburbs.

Photo: Heather Aitken/AP

Your endive grows in total darkness.

Red endives at the California Vegetable Specialties indoor farm in Rio Vista, California (April 20, 2006). The growing process is long and fragile, with the endives' roots grown outside first and then moved in, where they are left for up to 11 months to grow into mature endives in total darkness.

Photo: Jeff Chiu/AP

Under fluorescent lights.

Toshihiro Sakuma checks the condition of plants under fluorescent lights at a greenhouse built inside a Tokyo building on July 1, 2005.

Photo: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP

Sunless farming.

Fittonia plants are seen as they grow in a special darkened room illuminated by blue and red LEDs at PlantLab, a private research facility, in Den Bosch, central Netherlands, March 28, 2011.

Photo: Peter Dejong/AP

Medical cannabis growing operation.

This facility can be found in Oakland, California. The electricity bill is over $4,000/month.

Photo: Rusty Blazenhoff/Laughing Squid

Illegal cannabis growing operation.

This indoor marijuana farm in California was raided by police.

Photo: Arcata Police Department/AP

Legal cannabis growing operation.

In the Netherlands it was legal to grow hemp for a long time. This is what cultivating the world’s finest indoor marijuana looked like a few years ago.

Photo: World Of Seeds

Japanese indoor greenhouse.

Flowers grow under fluorescent lights in greehouse named "Pasona O2" in the basement of a highrise office building in Tokyo. The new style of greenhouse, built by the human resources service company Pasona Inc. in 2005 at the center of Tokyo's business district, is a facility to train aspiring farmers with high-tech methods involving hydroponics and light-emitting diodes (LED).

Photo: Yohei Yamashita

Rice plants at an indoor paddy field in "Pasona O2". Pasona hopes this greenhouse can help promote the pleasure of agriculture to businessmen and businesswomen, and inspire a new generation of farmers.

Photo: Yohei Yamashita

Tomatoes grown by hydroponics cultivation in "Pasona O2."

Photo: Katsumi Kasahara/Ap

A staff of "Pasona O2" checks vegetables grown under fluorescent lights.

Photo: Katsumi Kasahara/Ap

Hydroponics gardening for the masses.

"The Volksgarden brings simple, clean, and amazingly effective hydroponics gardening to the comforts of your own home," says the company Urban Led Growth. This unit allows to grow up to 80 plants at once. Herbs, vegetables, fruits, and grains can be harvested easily and continuously thanks to the rotating cylinder housing.

Photo: Urban Led Growth

Put an AeroGarden into your kitchen.

This dirt-free indoor garden planter uses aeroponics: vegetables, salad greens, herbs or flowers grow in this pod while being both slightly exposed to air and slightly submerged in the nutrient solution. The AeroGarden has built-in lights and a “Smart Garden” alert button to tell you when your plants need more nutrients or water.

Photo: timmycorkery

An automated, hydroponic, recirculating vertical farming unit.

This is one of the four indoor, climate controlled, automated, hydroponic, recirculating vertical farming units at Green Farms A&M. Green Farms Agronomics & Mycology is located in Valparaiso, Indiana, and was founded in the fall of 2010.

Photo: GreenFarms

Chicago urban garden.

The first "Aeroponic Garden at Any Airport in the World." In 2011, the CDA and HMS Host Corporation collaborated to install a garden in the mezzanine level of the O'Hare Rotunda Building. In this garden, plants' roots are suspended in 26 towers that house over 1,100 planting spots. A nutrient solution is regularly cycled through the towers using pumps so that no water evaporates or is wasted, making the process self-sustaining. No fertilizers or chemicals are used.

Photo: Gkkfea

Astroculture.

A view inside the "Astroculture" plant growth unit, during Space Shuttle mission STS-73, in 1995. Quantum Devices Inc., of Barneveld, Wisconsin, builds the light-emitting diodes used in medical devices and for growing plants, like potatoes, inside the plant growth unit developed for use on the Space Shuttle by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR). The astroculture facility has flown on eight Space Shuttle missions since, including this one in 1995 in which potatoes were grown in space.

Photo: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center

Soybean growth aboard ISS.

Expedition Five crewmember and flight engineer Peggy Whitson displays the progress of soybeans growing in the Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) Experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS), in 2002. The ADVASC experiment was one of the several new experiments and science facilities delivered to the ISS by Expedition Five aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavor STS-111 mission. An agricultural seed company will grow soybeans using the ADVASC hardware, to determine whether soybean plants can produce seeds in a microgravity environment. Secondary objectives include determination of the chemical characteristics of the seed in space and any microgravity impact on the plant growth cycle.

Photo: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center

Top photo: Yellow peppers under blue and red Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights at PlantLab, a private research facility, in Den Bosch, central Netherlands, March 28, 2011. Photo: Peter Dejong/AP

When Ray and Charles Eames’ classic molded side chair was first produced, in 1951, it was one of the first industrially-manufactured plastic chairs on the market. The wonder of technology went on to become a much-loved classic—today, it’s enjoying a renewed popularity thanks to the popularity of Mid-Century modernism.

The side chair may be a classic, but it’s also been customized in a hundred different ways. Even the Eameses themselves tried out dozens of variations, adding different bases, “bikini” covers, and horsehair cushions. And since then, many other artists and designers have tried their hands at making a mark on the side chair—from a knit version to a Federal seal version.

Here are some of the most notable variations:

This is original look, made from fiberglass and marked by a simple four-leg base.

The Side Chair also comes with a couple of different appendages. The one on the left has the Eiffel base, followed by the stacking side base, and then the wooden dowel-leg version.

The Eameses liked to tool with different types of materials for the same side chair design. In 1951, they introduced the light, but strong, wire mesh version.

Revealed in 1952, the Bikini Chair was another Herman Miller-ordained exercise in mixing materials and patterns.

This original set of pink bikini chairs with Eiffel bottoms is also great. Did you ever lust after a thing you sit your butt on so much?

By adding yarn using basic weaving techniques, artist Akira Ishikawa has created her own, softened version of the wire side chair.

With a rocker base and a padded seat, this 1954 design was often given to Herman Miller employees when they became new parents.

Ray and Charles were never shy about remixing their own ideas, either. Here's another official variation, featuring a bikini cover and rocker base.

In 1961, the side chair got a desk to go with a stackable base, for stylish, affordable school seating, sold through Herman Miller.

Some side chairs come with padded seats, like this official option from the 1970s.

BAPE (as in the same BAPE that makes crazy freaking sneakers) made this limited edition camo side chair back in 2009.

This shiny take on the side chair was rehabbed by an unaffiliated designer—looks like it could hang from the ceiling like a disco ball.

New York illustrator Mike Perry custom creates these intricate, hand-drawn side chairs for Outdoorz Gallery.

Last year, the Textile Museum of Canada asked architects, designers, and artists to redesign 40 different side chairs. These are a few of their interpretations.

This is a nice, DIY refurb job on the iconic chair.

You can find quite a few Eames knockoffs on Etsy, too, like this one.

Artist Tania Aguiniga remixed this found chair by adding some black felt.

Herman Miller produced these federal eagle-printed side chairs with Eiffel bottoms in the early 50s. The pair is definitely something for a collector!

Some custom Eames pieces, like this set that has the Beatles' faces on it, have you wondering why some people want to mess with a good thing.

But in spite of all the interpretations of the side chair, Herman Miller is still producing the pure, classic version. And it's also producing its own variations. This year, for the first time, the Side Chair is available in molded wood.

If the music‘s anything to go by, pretty much everyone was on something in the ’60s — and that includes the engineers. BAE Systems has recently dug up some totally batshit-crazy ideas that were seriously being kicked around by its ‘crack’ team of engineers, and they’re both totally ridiculous and dangerously awesome.

The designs were recently unearthed, and have been animated by some people with too much time on their hands to show what the concepts would have been capable of, had government had a spare few billion and an over-zealous rubber stamp. The contrast between the modern animation and the sketches from the people at the time is quite remarkable, as is the quite incredible distance their collective minds were outside the box.

Flying Jeep

Drawing inspiration seemingly from Batman Begins, the British Army came up with the idea of a reconnaissance jeep that could jump over enemy positions, chasms, giant armies of enemy unicorns and the like. The power came from twelve lift fans, whose angle could be adjusted dependant on the situation to give both forwards momentum and vertical lift.

Crazy though it sounds, it wasn’t the most outlandish idea at the time. During WWII, both British and American armies had prototype flying jeep platforms, although both of them looked more like helicopters than normal 4x4s — see the British attempt above. The UK version, catchily nicknamed the Rotabuggy, actually took to the sky at one point, although it was gliding, with the power coming from the Bentley towing it. (Yes, towing a prototype flying jeep behind a Bentley. Can’t innovate, my ass.)

The ’60s version was developed by the BAE team at BAC Warton over the course of a decade, and was worked on in association with the MoD’s R&D team; although the process got to a fairly advanced stage, the project was tragically cancelled owing to projected costs getting too high. In addition, defence spending took a fairly heft hit in the second half of the 20th century, forcing the government to re-evaluate its defence spending priorities — flying jeeps wouldn’t have been much help in the face of the 2nd USSR Shock Army, it was felt.

Fighter Jet Take-Off Platform

You thought the jeep was a bit off-the-wall? Try this, a platform that would take off vertically with a plane on its back, and then allow the fighter to launch and land. This would allow conventional aircraft to operate from forest clearings and areas without a runway, in the same manner as the Harrier, without the need for the jets to be modified (the Harrier wasn’t capable of supersonic flight, as a result of its engines being configured for vertical flight rather than the horizontal cruising-along-bombing-things most planes are designed for).

Again, the Fighter Jet Take-Off Platform wasn’t alone in its world of wackiness. During the whole Cold War thing, both sides poured huge amounts of money into aircraft that could operate from confined spaces, like the fronline of a pan-Europe war or the deck of a small aircraft carrier. Probably the most dangerous and ludicrous was the Ryan X-13, which was just a fighter jet that had enough thrust to hover vertically when it was sitting on its tail. However, it was hilariously unstable, and it’s a bit of a miracle no-one was killed test-flying the two prototypes.

That said, the BAE concept is pretty crazy. Kind of like Thunderbird 2, the BAE thing uses its 56 jet engines (yep, count ‘em — fifty-six!) to lift off vertically, which then allows the fighter on its back to transition into horizontal flight. It can also work as a VTOL transporter, delivering heavy supplies to locations without a runway (kind of like, hmm, the Chinook helicopter). Once again, common sense and budgetary requirements meant this project was stabbed in the heart and lungs sometime in the mid 1960s.

The Hypersonic Aircraft

This is actually my favourite — a reusable space plane, a la Space Shuttle, but where the boosters are also reusable. It works by sandwiching three delta-wing Concord-lookalikes together, creating an unholy jet-engine ménage à trois that had the power to accelerate to five times the speed of sound. Once it was up to speed, the two outside aircraft would break off and glide to ground, leaving the middle craft to be flung into orbit. Oh, and it was called MUSTARD, which is so much classier than Apollo.

Despite the development costs being cited as ’20 to 30 times cheaper’ than the gigantic Saturn rockets that almost got Tom Hanks to the Moon, the government decided not to proceed with the programme, which the developer, Tom Smith, reckons was down to being “too far ahead of its time”.

Inter-City VTOL Transporter

We’ve already seen one inter-city vertical-takeoff craft, and this one is a little tame by comparison. A project from Hawker Siddeley, of Harrier Jump-Jet fame, it was an attempt to make a passenger liner capable of vertical takeoff and landing, in the same vein as the Harrier.

It was deemed too impractical in the end — unlike the Harrier (and like the current F-35 that Britain’s buying for its new carriers), the prototype used lift fans along the side for the vertical lift — the Harrier simply used ‘vectored thrust’, meaning the main engines it used for flight could be re-directed downwards to allow it to hover. Lining the plane with lift fans led to a serious amount of extra weight, which coupled with the extra fuel, made the plane financially impractical and unstable in flight.

More seriously, however, I don’t think there’s any real demand for VTOL passenger planes. VTOL planes can normally carry a smaller payload, owing to the difficulties of lifting off and setting down at a slower speed than a conventional aircraft. Given that commercial airliners are all about carrying the most people and stuff from A to B at the lowest cost, a VTOL passenger carrier doesn’t make any sense, especially considering those lift fans would hardly be quieter than a 747.

That said, big VTOL planes aren’t quite the stuff of fantasy. In an attempt to solve the Iran Hostage Crisis, the Americans developed a plan in 1980 to modify a big-ass C-130 transport plane to be able to land and take off inside a football stadium. To do so, they stuck rockets facing backwards and forwards, to decelerate the plane when landing and to shoot it to take-off speed within a hundred metres.

The plan actually got off the drawing board — several C-130 Hercules were modified successfully, and the plan was only called off when, on one of the final test flights, the pilots fired the slow-me-down rockets a bit early, causing the plane to basically fall out of the sky and the wings to fall off (cut to about 2:00 in the video above for the money shot).

Our newest offspring Gizmodo UK is gobbling up the news in a different timezone, so check them out if you need another Giz fix.

For most of us, lighthouses are synonymous with trips to the shore. But for seafarers, lighthouses have represented a vital symbol of safe passage for centuries. In fact, they go back to 280 BC, when the famed Lighthouse of Alexandria was built—though lighthouses of the ancient world looked more like battlements than the candy-striped variety we know today.

The construction of lighthouses exploded during Age of Discovery, when nations sought out stakes in the New World. In the 18th century, with the invention of the Fresnel lens—which made it possible to see lighthouse lights from many miles away—the modern lighthouse was born. Today, with the advent of GPS, many of these beauties are more tourist attraction than lifeline to the shore—but many of them are still in use. Check out 23 highlights, below.

Madang lighthouse, in Papua New Guinea, was built in 1959 as a memorial to the coast-watchers during World War II.

Photo: Kahunapule Michael Johnson

Cabo Branco Lighthouse in João Pessoa, Brazil, sits at the easternmost inland point of the Americas.

Photo: Federico Builes/Carlos Reis

Enoshima lighthouse, Japan, was renovated in 2003 to include the snazzy lights and observation decks you see here.

Photo: Ken_ichi Kaizuka/Daisuke FUJII

Low Lighthouse, in Burnham-On-Sea, U.K, is one of the smallest lighthouses in the world. It was built in 1832 and is still in use.

Photo: Michael Warren

Kiz Kulezi, in Istanbul, is also known as the Maiden Tower.

Photo: Ibrahim Usta/AP

Cape Hatteras lighthouse, the most recognized U.S. coastal symbol, stands proudly on the Outer Banks of North Carolina—despite being battered by numerous hurricanes. More than a million bricks were used to build it, and it's still the tallest lighthouse in America.

Photo: Ruth Fremson/AP

Sullivan's Island lighthouse is a more modern lighthouse—it lights the way using a lamp capable of producing a massive 28,000,000 candlepower. Compared to other lighthouses, it's futuristic—the facilities inside including air-conditioning and an elevator.

Photo: scpetrel

Moncloa Lighthouse, aka Faro de la Moncloa, in Madrid, is a 330-foot-high transmission tower with an observation deck. It was designed by the architect Salvador Pérez Arroyo and built in 1992.

Photo: Miguel Palacios/Cover/Getty Images

The stark Knarrarós lighthouse was built in 1938—and remarkably, it is the tallest building in southern Iceland (at a towering 86 feet!).

Photo: Seli Oskarsson

Kanchanaphisek lighthouse, on Promthep Cape, Thailand. One of the world's newest lighthouses is this strange-looking, gold-topped specimen in Thailand. It was built in 1996 to honor the reign of king Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Photo: ADwarf/Wikimedia Commons

The Sand Island lighthouse has stood off Alabama's coast since the 1870s. The tower outlasted its namesake island, which washed away years ago. The 131-foot-tall tower is abandoned, cracked and crumbling, but the state of Alabama can't afford to renovate.

Photo: Dave Martin/AP

Gorliz, Spain, Basque Country.

Photo: Keldor88

Middle Bay lighthouse is a hexagonal-shaped lighthouse offshore of Mobile, Alabama, in the center of Mobile Bay. Built in 1885, the middle bay lighthouse is an example of a "screw pile" lighthouse, which are sitting on piles screwed into sea or river beds.

Photo: Carol M. Highsmith/Library Of Congress

Stanislav Range Rear (Adzhiogol) Lighthouse is a vertical lattice hyperboloid structure, serving as an active lighthouse about 19 miles from Kherson, Ukraine. At a height of 211 feet, it is the tallest lighthouse in Ukraine.

Photo: Remembering Letters

Torre de Hércules, or the Tower of Hercules, is an ancient Roman lighthouse on a peninsula near A Coruña, Galicia, in north-western Spain. The lighthouse is almost 1900 years old—it's the oldest Roman lighthouse in use today and one of the three oldest operational lighthouses in the world.

Photo: Alfonso Maseda

Lighthouse at the End of the World, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse (the French name "Les Éclaireurs" means "the Enlighteners" or "the Scouts") is a slightly conically shaped lighthouse standing on the Les Eclaireurs islets, in southern Argentina. Today probably the most photographed lighthouse in South America.

Photo: Mariana Silvia Eliano/Cover/Getty Images

Cape Otway lighthouse, first lit in 1848, is the oldest lighthouse in Australia. These days, you can rent out the space for vacation. Eight ships were wrecked along the coast of Cape Otway, including the first American vessel sunk during World War II.

Photo: Shiny Things

The historic Windward Point Lighthouse that is located within the grounds of the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Made of iron, built in 1903.

Photo: Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images

The lighthouse of Blankenese, Hamburg, Germany.
The remotely controlled, 150 feet tall, red and white striped concrete steel lantern house was built in 1984 and stands in the Elbe River.

Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Huge waves crash aganst the South Gare lighthouse on March 24, 2013 in South Gare, Teesside, England. The lighthouse was built in 1884 and still operates using the original lenses.

Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

The stricken cruise ship Costa Concordia lies grounded a short distance beyond one of the two lighthouses on the coastline at Giglio Porto on January 19, 2012 on the island of Giglio in Italy.

Photo: Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

This lighthouse in Dungeness, Kent, England was built in 1961, in a desolate landscape of wooden houses, a nuclear power station, and several lighthouses.

Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The Lanterna, the ancient and famous lighthouse of Genoa, Italy. Genoa has the largest seaport in Italy, which makes its lighthouse incredibly important. It's 249 feet tall, which makes it the world's second tallest "traditional" lighthouse.

Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

An arial view of the South Solitary Lighthouse on South Solitary Island, in Australia. The now-uninhabited island is only open to the public for nine days in July. And besides a few nights during the Second World War, its light has never gone out.

Photo: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Kõpu lighthouse (Estonian: Kõpu tuletorn) is one of the best known symbols and tourist sights on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa. It is one of the three oldest still-operational lighthouses in the world, having been in continuous use since its completion in 1531!

Photo: Ilme Parik/Geonarva/Wikimedia Commons

An arctic lighthouse in Hraunhafnartangaviti, Iceland.

Photo: floheinstein

Arctowski lighthouse at Arctowski Station is the southernmost lighthouse of the world. The base established in 1977.

Photo: Acaro/Wikimedia Commons

Top photo: Rattray head lighthouse on the north east coast of Scotland, by Grant Glendinning. Images curated by Attila Nagy.

Summer is rearing its sweaty head, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. We can fight back though, and our very own Giz readers have offered up some stellar ideas on how to beat the heat until it slinks off into a corner and leaves us all alone. Time to start building your arsenal.

1. Shaved Ice Machine

Suggested by: strich

My wife bought a sno-cone maker last week. Shaved ice with suggary syrup poured over the top eaten with a little plastic spoon is a pretty nice way to take your mind off the heat and have fun. It works here in Dallas where it's been known to get a little warm in the summer.

Price: $40

2. Beer Shorts

Suggested by: Carl Winans

Price: $37

3. Popsicle Molds with Built-In Straws

Suggested by: Eric Limer

Price: $14

4. Gold Bond Body Powder

Suggested by: Inspectah_Patio and acidraindrops

Extra cooling to keep your balls extra dry during the summer. Or, em, anything else :D

Price: $15 for 24oz.

5. Ludicrously Over-Engineered Underwear

Suggested by: anytakers

Price: $100 (!)

6. Frigidaire Dehumidifier

Suggested by: godnorazi

I can leave my thermostat at 80 and it still feels great in the humid summer with this baby.

Price: $250

7. Waterproof MP3 Player

Suggested by: laurelnev

Price: $28

8. Wool and Synthetic Fabrics

Suggested by: twelvehappymen

Clothing is key. I'm a sweaty dude that walks everywhere in a hot/humid part of the world. I try to banish as much cotton from my wardrobe as possible.

If you can afford it, the modern smartwool/icebreaker/ibex merino stuff is amazing. Much better than any of the high-tech synthetics in my experience. Cotton undershirts get soaked and feel clammy all day if you wear them under a dress shirt. Synthetics that are good at wicking and dry quickly when exposed to air flow, but suck when worn under another layer. And they get stinky. Wool is kinda miraculous, being able to wick, dry quickly when exposed to air and (critically) remain comfortable when completely waterlogged.

My icebreaker wool hoodie is my go-to garment for clammy summer nights when a t-shirt is too light but a sweatshirt is too sweaty. I've got some wool underwear that's pretty nice, too, but even a wool zealot has trouble spending $30 for something that you fart in.

Also, a broad brimmed hat. I call it my Hat of Pragmatism. My son calls it the Explorer Hat. My wife calls it "that thing". Whatever you call it, it makes wandering around in the sun a lot more enjoyable.

Price: ~$30-100

Popsicles. Corndogs. Shish kabaobs. There are, you know, options. But sometimes, imagery just doesn't cut it. Here are eleven ways to put penis on the table.

1) Here's a mold for dick-shaped eggs for breakfast. Doubles as a pancake mold.

2) Hot dogs: already phallic. But put that sausage on naked man on a stick and that it becomes a weiner. (Scrotum included.)

3) Cock-ie cutters so you can make penis cookies. Here's a sugar cookie recipe you could use. And here's a gingerbread cookie recipe you could also use, because we don't discriminate.

4) Penis-shaped pasta, for dick alla vodka. Maybe not alfredo though you SICK FREAK.

5) A penis-shaped cake pan lets you have your dick and eat it too. Any store-bought mix would suffice.

6) And now that you have the penis pan, Penispans.com provides plenty of ways to use it creatively. Phallic palm trees! Elephants with dick noses! Wizards with cock and balls for hats!

7) The penis pan is so handy in the kitchen. It also works as a jello mold.

8) Prefer your dicks in cupcake form? Here's a set of smaller dong molds.

9) Penis lollipops. Veiny penis lollipops you can buy pre-made.

10) Penis jello shots? Sure, there are molds for those too.

11) Need the recipe for this shlong salad crown roast of frankfurters? Here it is. Thanks a lot Weight Watchers!

History can be told in terms of secret passageways, hidden rooms, and obscure tunnels. Wars have been won and lost by them, coup d'états sprung, and entire countries altered thanks to a well-placed nook or crannie. There are also plenty of modern-day uses, as you'll see below—from drug smuggling tunnels in Tijuana to hidden doors that protect your most valuable wines. Check out 20 of the best, below.

Some of the oldest hidden passageways are found in the pyramids of Egypt. Below is the Cheops, the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis. On the right, we see a long tunnel leading upwards to the entrance to the burial chamber.

Photo: Library Of Congress/martin_vmorris

Here's a disguised entrance to a hidden reading room in the National Library in Vienna, Austria.

Photo: Lauren Pressley

The Củ Chi tunnels in Vietnam were used as hiding spots during combat. They also bore communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for guerrilla fighters.

Photo: Jorge Láscar/Jorge Láscar

Another secret room at the former Ford Country Day School, a 30,000-squarefoot Tudor mansion in Los Altos Hills, California.

Photo: Kent Brewster

A hidden passageway leads to this bunker restaurant in Lviv, Ukraine. The restaurant is dedicated to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Photo: Jennifer Boyer/Jennifer Boyer

Here, we see the entrance to an underground Hezbollah warehouse. In 2006, during an IDF operation in the central sector of southern Lebanon, Israeli soldiers found the bunker filled with weaponry and rocket launchers hidden under trees.

Photo: Israel Defense Forces

This 220-yard tunnel, in Tijuana, Mexico, crossed the border beneath the US and Mexico, and was widely used by drug smugglers. Its entrance? The cabinet underneath a bathroom sink inside a warehouse in Tijuana. It was raided in 2012.

Photo: Alejandro Cossio/AP//U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/AP

Plenty of average people want the security and privacy of hidden rooms, too. This billiards room has a secret passageway created by Creative Home Engineering, a company that specializes in custom construction.

Photo: Creative Home Engineering

This bookcase leads to a weapons storage room—it was also designed by CHE.

Photo: Creative Home Engineering

Bookshelves? No, that's a disguised door.

Photo: Creative Home Engineering

The wood paneling makes for a perfect disguise for this hidden door.

Photo: Creative Home Engineering

Is that a stone wall? No, it's a stone door that leads to a (presumably very valuable) wine cellar.

Photo: Creative Home Engineering

This ornate mirror hides a vault.

Photo: Creative Home Engineering

Just another stone wall? No, that's another stone door.

Photo: Creative Home Engineering

These bookshelves swing open to reveal a small, Harry Potter-esque room.

Photo: Creative Home Engineering

Yet another door hidden behind a wood panel.

Photo: Creative Home Engineering

This garage, on the bottom floor of a historic Victorian apartment on Oak Street in San Francisco's Upper Haight district, isn't exactly hidden. But it is very neatly disguised, thanks to a series of bay windows.

Photo: Beausoleil Architects

Inspired by library racks that also use this system, these rolling shelving units expand into workstations.

Photo: Taylor and Miller Architecture

The Hidden Doors company made this hidden door—which leads to a home gym.

Photo: Hidden Doors

Top gif source: Creative Home Engineering

Do you have a favorite secret passage? Show us in the comments!

Batman had one under his mansion outside Gotham. Osama bin Laden was found in one just in Pakistan. Underground lairs are an integral part of pop culture fantasy and real-life current events—but whether they're fake or real, they're always cloaked in intrigue. And frankly, they're cool as hell.

They're also increasingly common. In a Vanity Fair article this month, we learned that in cities where historic preservation is a major issue—like London—more and more homeowners are expanding downward, digging out space under their Victorian homes for "underground recreation centers, golf-simulation rooms, squash courts, bowling alleys, hair salons, ballrooms, and car elevators to the underground garages for their vintage Bentleys."

In other cases, the landscape itself dictates the terms of a lair—for example, in some examples below, you'll see entire buildings carved into the face of boulders and cliffs. And often, an underground space is the perfect place to store sensitive materials—whether it's vintage photos or internet servers.

Below, you'll find a collection of lairs that house everything from luxury homes to public fire brigades.

Villa Vals, a home in Switzerland, was built into a mountainside because the village maintains strict rules about homes that disturb the natural beauty around the Alpine valley.

This is an entire colony of subterranen homes—also in Switzerland.

Pionen Data Center is Sweden's largest ISP, located 100 feet below the ground in Stockholm. It can withstand the impact of a hydrogen bomb.

Image credit: Atlas Obscura

This is an abandoned bunked off the coast of Senegal, just south of Dakar. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, it is known to locals as "la caverne."

Image credit: Atlas Obscura

Should the United States befall a nuclear attack, the government will takeover a fallout shelter in the basement of West Virginia's five star Greenbrier Resort. This bunker was kept secret until 1992.

Image credit: Atlas Obscura

Wolf's Lair was Hitler's secret hideout in the woods Poland. It served as the Eastern European headquarters for Nazi forces.

Image credit: Wikipedia

This was Osama bin Laden's secret compound in Abbottabad.

Image credit: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters

This 10,000 square foot former limestone mine is where Corbis stores all its photos, from the iconic image of Rosa Parks sitting on a bus to a picture of Einstein sticking out of his tongue. The facility is kept at 45 degrees Fahrenheit and 37 percent relative humidity at all times.

This is Norway's Olavsvern Naval Base. Carved into the side of a mountain, the now-inactive military facility has 145,000 square feet of above-ground real estate, and an additional 270,000 square feet of bombproof space inside the mountain.

The Palm Springs Elrod House—and its retractable glass windows— were actually featured in Diamonds are Forever. That's some respectable secret lair street cred right there. It was designed by John Lautner, the architect behind many of LA's most notable homes from the 1960s and 70s.

Believe it or not, this is a super energy efficient fire department built into the Italian Alps.

Live in the Waterwood Estate in Vermillion, Ohio and you pretty much never have to go outside. Seated on a 160 acre plot, it's made up of a bunch of interconnecting glass pods that mask amenities like five kitchens, an indoor pool, and a helipad. Privacy to the max!

To permeate the interior of Point Place in Laguna Beach, California, you enter through a street level hydraulic lift. Then you have to walk through an underground passage way to access the actual house, which is not visible from the road.

The Chulo Canyon Cave House in Bisbee, Arizona is another super private lair. Built into the side of a boulder, it sits on 37 acres of land, which also house a guest house and a standalone library building—which houses a full-on panic room. Jodie Foster would approve.

Just imagine what it would be like if we could generate free energy. No need to worry about pollution, or fuel, or effort, or anything. It's no wonder so many people have tried their hands at building perpetual motion machines. And thanks to the magic of GIFs, none of them ever has to fail.

The sad truth is that thanks to physics—specifically pesky things like friction—none of these perpetual motion attempts will ever be more than clever visual tricks. But in at least GIF form they can go on and on and on, and generate some perpetual joy.

This is one of the most common designs: the overbalanced wheel. Thanks to friction, it doesn't really work. There's a motor in there somewhere.

YouTube

Another variation on the overbalanced wheel

YouTube

The overbalanced wheel is very popular.

YouTube

Very popular.

YouTube

This perpetual water wheel is hiding a secret pump.

YouTube

This one only works if you swing the machine and the camera together.

YouTube

If only it weren't for friction.

YouTube

This beast is wildly efficient, but it stops eventually.

YouTube

American culture unapologetically romanticizes the lives of the first pioneers. Through rose-colored glasses, we see Manifest Destiny as fate, leading our heroic ancestors across a perfectly manicured landscape. In reality, the frontier was a terrifying, dangerous wilderness. And you were only as good as the tools you carried.

Pioneers were responsible for clearing their own land, building their homes, defending themselves, sewing their own clothes, and hunting for their own food. And the devices and tools they brought with them—severely limited by weight and size—were vital lifelines to succeeding in all of those pursuits. So what were they?

An allegorical depiction of "American progress" carries telegraph wire westward. Behind her, settlers follow with stagecoaches, conestoga wagons, and railroads, symbolizing the virtue of taming the western frontier. But in truth, such conveniences took decades to appear.

Painting: George A. Crofutt/Library Of Congress

This was the reality most settlers knew. A family in front of a typical sod house, in 1886, in Nebraska, Custer County. Instead of a plush toy the boy on the right is holding a young bull. Note the ornament high on the facade.

Photo: Solomon D. Butcher/Library Of Congress

Pioneers would make their own clothes, from shearing the wool and spinning it into thread, to actually weaving the fabric, and finally, fashioning it into a garment.

Photo: Frontier Culture Museum

A spinning wheel from the 1820s.

Photo: Frontier Culture Museum

The print below shows two women preparing supper on a small, portable stove—a relative luxury—in front of their tents, in 1866.

Image: James F. Gookins/Library Of Congress

"You need only one soap: Ivory soap," proclaims this ad from 1898, which shows a pioneer washing with a novelty—floating! soap, at his campsite. You can observe other household objects and tools in the background as well.

Image: Strobridge & Co. Lith./Library Of Congress

Frontier utility knives: a butcher knife, a skinning knife, and a small antique paring knife.

Photo: Heritage Auctions

Farm kitchen cutlery and kitchenware.

Photo: Frontier Culture Museum

A grain reaper was a vital piece of agricultural machinery. Invented by Cyrus H. McCormick, of Virginia, in 1831, this contraption still serves as the basis for modern-day grain harvesting machines.

Photo: Frontier Culture Museum

A grain fanner, from the 1850s, would blow air through wheat to separate the chaff—an otherwise time-consuming task.

Photo: Frontier Culture Museum

This illustration from 1899 shows messengers warning settlers of a Native American uprising—but note the hand-operated plow and broad axe in the picture.

Drawing: Reginald Bathurst Birch/Library Of Congress

Water crossings were another major danger, thanks to the crude ferries often used by early settlers. Here, people cross the Red River, in Texas, during a flood in 1874.

Engraving: Robert Hoskins/Library Of Congress

By the late 19th century, families were more established. Here, we see a family standing in front of sod house with a windmill—a fairly high-tech detail—inCoburg, Nebraska in 1884.

Photo: Solomon D. Butcher/Library Of Congress

This apple crusher and cider press was also high-tech, for its time.

Photo: Frontier Culture Museum

Some settlers were lucky enough to have brought cast iron stoves from back east—like this one, from the 1820s.

Photo: Frontier Culture Museum

A carving bench let craftsmen whittle and carve comfortably.

Photo: Frontier Culture Museum

Theft was common, too. This lambskin money vest, from 1853, was designed to (theoretically) protect a settler's valuables. The vest has three rows of button pockets for holding gold and silver coins, the medium of exchange in California.

Photo: Heritage Auctions

And finally, the two ultimate survival tools for the pioneers. First, a colt revolver…

Photo: Heritage Auctions

…and second, a Winchester.

Photo: Heritage Auctions

Our opening image: The "New home" in the far west by W.U. Morgan & Co. Lith, Cleveland, O. This trade card advertising a New Home sewing machine, show a happy family outside of their house, c1881. Source: Solomon D. Butcher/Library Of Congress

Computer viruses are almost as old as personal computers themselves, and their evolution was only hastened by the birth of Internet. And within each code is a story about its author, about the time it was written, and about the state of computing when it terrorized our hard drives.

The following screenshots illustrate the history of viruses in a few delicate code fragments, so enjoy. But this obligatory warning must be here: Please do not try these at home.

Jerusalem, aka Friday 13th, 1987

As one of the first MS-DOS viruses, Jerusalem affected many countries, universities, institutions and companies worldwide, infecting thousands of computers. Jerusalem was merciless: On Friday the 13th, the virus deleted all executed program files on the infected hard drive. Supposedly in the name of AL AH:

Morris (a.k.a. Internet Worm), November 1988

This early Internet worm infected over 6,000 computers in the US, including some of NASA's. The code itself was flawed, accidentally sending millions of copies of itself to different network computers, paralyzing all network resources, causing almost 100 million dollars damage. The fateful words at the end of the code snippet say it all: "Don't know how many..."

Melissa, 1999

"Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus fifty points for using all my letters. Game's over. I'm outta here." David L. Smith, aka "Kwyjibo," the author of this Microsoft Office macro virus, was definitely a Simpsons fan. Melissa was sent through e-mail to different users, and had the ability to multiply on Word and Excel files and to mass-mail itself from Outlook, overloading internet servers.

I Love You, a.k.a. Lovebug/Loveletter Virus, May 2000

A school-aged programmer from Manila who presumably wasn't very engaged in the classroom wrote this infamous bug. His amorous creation spread via email (subject: ILOVEYOU, attachment: LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs, message: "kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me"), and deleted all "jpeg" and "jpg" files in all directories of all disks. Not very romantic.

The Code Red worm, July 2001

This devilish little creation infected tens of thousands of systems that ran Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000 server software, at the dawn of the 21st century. Code Red defaced the attacked webpages with the text "Hacked by Chinese!" It was able to run entirely on memory, leaving no files behind. The damage it caused was estimated at $2 billion.

SQL Slammer, 2003

This virus attacked web servers running a vulnerable version of Microsoft SQL Server, then generated random IP addresses in order to infect other computers. It is incredible how small Slammer was—it could fit in the space of five tweets. Here's the whole code in hexa viewer:

Blaster, aka Lovsan, aka MSBlast, 2003

This virus infected hundreds of thousands of computers through a vulnerability hole in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It opened a dialog window that told users a system shutdown was imminent. The author hid two messages in the code: "I just want to say LOVE YOU SAN!" and "billy gates why do you make this possible? Stop making money and fix your software!!"

Bagle, 2004

This worm spread itself as an email attachment attacking all versions of Microsoft Windows. It was designed to open a backdoor where a remote user could gain control above the infected computer. Remarkably, the author wrote a tiny poem into the code:

Sasser, 2004

Created by 17 year old German student, Sven Jaschan, Sasser attacked Windows 2000 and Windows XP machines by exploiting a vulnerability, as seen below:

MyDooom akai W32.MyDoom@mm, Novarg, Mimail.R, Shimgapi, 2004

Mydoom became the fastest-spreading mass-email worm ever, at the time it surfaced. It slowed down global internet access by a whopping ten percent, and slashed some website access by 50 precent. Its code is not so interesting, however, with its help, one could teach the kids some basic knowledge—such as the alphabet, name of the weekdays, and the months.

Conficker aka Downadup, 2008

Nomen set omen, as the Romans would say: The name of this malware worm comes from the words "Configuration" and the German "Ficker" (yes, it means "Fucker"). And that sums it up: Conficker screwed the configuration settings.

Stuxnet, 2009-2010

Stuxnet (and its evil son, DuQu) is often referred to as the first "cyber super weapon." The virus was a US and Israeli governmental worm designed to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, but unsurprisingly, it accidentally spread beyond its intended targets. Here is a nice snippet from this digital sword:

Flame aka Flamer aka sKyWIper, 2012

This massive, highly sophisticated modular computer malware infected computers running Windows operating system, and attacked systems in Middle Eastern countries—mostly in Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Sudan. Needless to say, it was part of the well-coordinated, ongoing, state-run cyber war, which began with Stuxnet. Flame was heavy weaponry. It was so big, it got loaded into a system in pieces—first, the machine got hit with a six megabyte component, which contained about half-a-dozen other compressed modules inside. Flame stopped operating after its public exposure, because the operators had the ability to send a kill module to it. Here is a tiny piece of Flame:

Top gif: source code of CIH aka Chernobyl, 1998.

This virus infected Windows 95, 98, and ME executable files, overwrote the BIOS, and remained resident in the memory of the machine. It overwrote data on the hard disk of the infected PC, making it inoperable. (via TheDatanet)

Vending machines didn't always just sling soda and smokes. Did you know the automated peddlers have been around for about two thousand years? In fact, the very first vending machine was invented by first-century mathematician Hero of Alexandria to dispense holy water using a series of valves, pulleys, and weights. And they've been stuffed with just about anything you can imagine since.

It wasn't until after the Industrial Revolution that vending machines became a normal sight. The first ones, which sold postcards, appeared in London in the 1880s. Then in 1888, they traveled across the Atlantic to New York City, where machines built by Thomas Adams Gum Company peddled chewing gum on subway platforms.

We've been buying all kinds of things from machines ever since, from whiskey to hot meals to fruits, and all kinds of foods and oddities in between. Here are some of our favorites.

In 1918, when vending machines were still a recent phenomenon, they dispensed pies. Today's vending machines should take a hint.

In that same year, vending machines would give you a manicure.

This 1953 machine was ancestor to the modern Great Wall Super Buffet.

Image credit: Life

In 2013, you can't really imagine a hot meal from a vending machine tasting like anything but warm cardboard, but in 1953? Probably still cardboard, according to this hot meal patron's expression.

Image credit: Life

It's safe to assume that the reason we don't see farm fresh eggs straight from the vending machine is that eggs crack.

Image credit: Central Press

The Book-o-Matic is just as good an idea now as it was when it existed in 1949.

Image credit: Life

Vendo was the company that made all the vending machines, so naturally its lunchroom was stocked with vending machines that sold anything you could want to eat.

Image credit: VintageVending

Some machines were healthier than others, like the 1950 apple shilling Fruit-o-Matic.

Image credit: VintageVending

Flying in 1955 was much riskier and less commonplace. So vending machines for flight insurance were a fine way to capitalize on that.

Image credit: Getty/Carl Iwasaki

It's gone from warm and pleasant seersucker weather to hot as hell outside. It's slogging through air so thick you need a machete and a shower every time you step outside hot. In times like these, you just want to laze in a pool. Specifically, in these positively perfect specimens.

While you're not picky, and you'd probably splash around in any body of water that presented itself, there are some really amazing pools out there, in resorts all over the world. These are some of the most unbelievable:

The Amangiri Resort is located in Canyon Point, Utah, and its pool curves around a giant 165 million-year-old sandstone rock. It looks quite literally like you're swimming in an oasis.

Image credit: Aman Resorts

If you were staying at Uruguay's Playa Vik Jose Ignacio Hotel, why would you even hassle with the beach when you have this unbelievable infinity pool at your disposal?

Image credit: TripAdvisor

The Reethi Rah Resort in the Maldives might have more than 50 pools on the property. But this adults-only lap pool is especially lovely. It's kind of hard to tell where the pool ends and where the ocean begins.

Image credit: Reethi Rah Resort

Orange County's Portabello Estate has bilevel crazy swimming pool action.

Image credit: Portabello Estate

You have to take the elevator all the way to the 57th floor of Singapore's Marina Bay Sands Hotel to get to the amazing rooftop pool. Apparently, it's the highest infinity pool in the world.

Here's what it looks like from the ground:

Images: Marina Bay Sands Hotel

This beauty is the Anatara Golden Triangle pool at Chang Rai Thailand. Bonus: there are also elephants there that you can hang out with.

It's even more idyllic at dusk:

Image credit: TripAdvisor

The Library in Koh Samui, Thailand has a pool unlike any we've ever seen. Nope, it hasn't fallen victim to one of the seven plagues. The water looks like blood thanks to red mosaic tiles.

Image credit: Library

Not all of these cool pools are in hot locations. This bad boy is the water feature of Hotel Villa Honegg in Ennetbuergen, Switzerland.

Image credit: Hotel Villa Honegg

This pool looks like it's on the surface of the moon. It's not. It's at the Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort in Abu Dhabi.

Here it is during the day:

Image credit: TripAdvisor

The Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa is one of only 39 castle hotels in Italy. It also has the country's best pool, overlooking the Gulf of Salerno.

Image credit: KNSTRCT

The Lucala Hotel is in Fiji, so it already has the scenery going for it. But it also has this series of amazing glass-sided pools that feel like human aquariums.

Image credit: KNSTRCT

The Six Senses Yao Noi Resort was once a rubber plantation. Now it's a luxury getaway that commands ridiculous panoramas of Thailand's Phang Nga Bay. Plus, the pool has a slide. Who can argue with that?

Image credit: KNSTRCT

Know of any insane pools that we missed? Let us know below.

Travel was once the epitome of luxury. People dressed in their finest clothes to go to the airport. Ships and planes were things of glamor. In that era, the posters that advertised luxe journeys were just as lovely as the journeys themselves.

The Boston Public Library's Print Department has an extensive collection of these travel posters. Here's what the library's archivists have to say about them:

Railways opened up America and Europe, luxe ocean liners introduced elegance into overseas voyages, and drivers took to the road in record numbers in their new automobiles. By the mid-1940s, new airlines crisscrossed the globe, winging adventure-seekers to far-flung destinations.

Travel agents and ticket offices during this period were festooned with vivid, eye-catching posters, all designed to capture the beauty, excitement and adventure of travel and to promote a world of enticing destinations and new modes of transportation. Individual artists gained fame for their distinctive graphic styles and iconic imagery, and many posters from this era still remain important works of art long after their original advertising purposes have faded.

Fast forward to 2013, and travel is expensive, crowded, and invasive (we're looking at you, handsy TSA pat down). But forget for a minute where things are now and remember what things once were, through the lens of these beautiful, artful travel posters of yore.

Cruises in the early 1900s were the epitome of luxury. Now they're just floating Lord of the Flies barges.

Image credit: Flickr

This 1935 print made Palestine look utterly divine.

Image credit: Flickr

Artist Robert Falcucci created this 1932 advert for a French vacation. It looks like a piece of pop art.

Image credit: Flickr

This early 1900s poster is a reminder that France has an unfair advantage in the beauty, culture, and scenery department.

Image credit: Flickr

This poster depicts jet travel as a heavenly experience—with none of the crappy peanuts and bad service that await you today.

Image credit: LA Public Library

Yes, this poster would have enticed us to go to the 1936 Olympics. If only the whole Nazi thing hadn't been a factor.

Image credit: LA Public Library

This Japanese Public Railways ad still works today.

Image credit: LA Public Library

This captures exactly what you'd imagine the French Riviera to be like in person.

Image credit: LA Public Library

The Switzerland of the South? Artist Harry Kelly's rendering of Tasmania's Lake St. Clair has our attention.

Image credit: Flickr

We don't need much more convincing on the winter in Austria idea.

Image credit: Flickr

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Image credit: Flickr

You can go fast as hell on the Autobahn—as illustrated in this tourism poster by German artist Ludwig Hohlwein.

Image credit: Flickr

Image credit: Flickr

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Artist Dorothy Waugh touts what Ken Burns famously called "America's best idea."

Image credit: Flickr

Artist Edward Vincent Brewer's rendering of Yellowstone.

Image credit: Flickr

Edward Eggleston captures the glamor of Atlantic City.

Image credit: Flickr

Most of the movies made before sound hit the big screen will never be seen by our eyes. According to Martin Scoresese's Film Foundation, half of the films made pre-1950—and more than 90 percent of those made before 1929—are lost forever. And while not all of them are lost, you'll probably never see the films that remain, since they're rarely screened. Their posters remain as last relics of Hollywood's beginnings.

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