A world with ejection seat chairs, airplane piston engine tables, and a mirror bed made of wings, with a big-boobed blonde always by the side, preferably in a stewardess costume and semitransparent yellow lace lingerie. [Motoart via BornRich]

As Virgin Galactic gets ever closer to the start of commercial operations, we are reaching and passing many important and historic milestones. The Virgin MotherShip (VMS) Eve, the first of our amazing, all carbon
composite, high altitude WhiteKnightTwo launch vehicles, is flying superbly. SpaceShipTwo, which will air launch from Eve, is largely constructed and awaiting the start of its own test flight programme later this year.

Rough translation from Brit:

OMFG THAT KICKED ASS! I CAN'T WAIT TO GET INTO THAT THING!

Yes, Sir Richard, I totally share the feeling. Even more because this time there have been no problems at all.

One of the cool things about the rocket is that is controllable and can be shut down safely at any time, allowing SpaceShipTwo to glide down to Earth at any time in case there's any problem. This is obviously one of the biggest concerns for the company: Safety.

The other big thing—other than putting amateur astronauts up there—is being green. They are trying to make the engine as clean as these things could be. The engine will burn for a very short period of time because it will be first lifted by White Knight II, which uses cleaner fuel. In fact, the carbon footprint for "each of its passengers and crew will be about a quarter of that for a return trip from London to New York."

What's so wonderful about Engine Oh G12 is that it's literally ballooned the genre beyond parody. The show has upped the ante of the giant vehicle-assembled robot television so immensely that it's beyond the scope of humorous exaggeration, its components refined to such a point where every individual element is, in itself, too pure to be tainted by sophomoric prop humor.

To fully appreciate this the clip, look beyond the obvious and examine the subtleties of presentation. For instance, two vehicles are there only to serve as covers for the robot's shoes.

Needless you say? Not at all. For the robot's foot alone ascends to Godzillic proportions, constructing a logic in which there is nothing that mechanized god cannot kick over (other than, quite possibly, its own left foot).

I like to think that if Michelangelo had a few hundred more years to work on David, he might resemble the robot in Engine Oh G12. But maybe I'm giving Michelangelo far too much credit. [via Tokyo Mango]

[Corvette Blogger via Jalopnik via DVICE]

Best of all, though there's no hints on pricing and the car is still in prototype stage, it may be available in a limited run as soon as Fall this year. [Gas2.org via New Launches]

Not only could it be used to harvest waste heat from humans, it can be used to harvest heat from regular engines or combustion turbines, and has no moving parts at all. The National Science Foundation has granted Mr. Super Soaker funding, which means that we could soon have stuff attached to siphon off our waste heat. Or be connected to the Matrix by robots. Either/or. [Popular Mechanics via Treehugger]

It's claimed that the truck now houses the largest turbine motor of any land vehicle in the world, with the ability to blow over a full-sized SUV behind it. Note to self: never, under any circumstance, park your car behind a firetruck that can likely fly into space under its own power...unless I can sneak some sweet free leftover minutes from a public meter...then it may be worth the risk. [lifeontop via crave]

Running for up to an hour on a boiling cup of coffee, the engine is said to work even better over cold surfaces, like ice. For $30, you get both a small piece of history and to make the world of paper your bitch. Not a bad deal at all. [product via boingboing]

From the initial concept drawing, it took designer maicoX nine grueling months to complete this bad boy. In the gallery, you can see some selected shots of the acrylic work he had to do in order to get everything working and it is really quite amazing. It features some ingenious little quirks, too, like a key ignition instead of a power button. There are real Harley Davidson motorcycle pieces built in, most notably the chromed out exhaust pipes. The blue-and-red LEDs are probably overkill, but it would be a crime to sequester a work of art like this in a dark room anyway.

Oh, there is a computer inside, too. It won't set any speed records, but it'll still get you where you need to go.

• Motherboard: Abit AW9D-MAX
• HDD: 2x Seagate Barracuda ES 750
• Memory: Corsair DOMINATOR 2 x 1Gig
• Video Card: 2 x XFX7900GT
• Power Supply: Be quiet! Dark Power Pro BQT P6 PRO-600W
• Processor : Intel® Core™2 Duo 2800 E

[Projekt V2 (German) via HardForum]

Not only is it a three-port USB hub, it actually makes engine noises and vibrates up and down. It's very unlikely that you'd want to keep this motorcycle-esque racket going the entire time you're using the hub, but revving up the engine once in a while seems like lots of fun. Your cube mates probably won't agree.

Head over to Akihabara News for a video demonstration.

Product Page (sell starting tomorrow) [GeekStuff4U via Akihabara News]

Hit the jump for a video of the world's biggest Super Soaker in action.

– Louis Ramirez
Jet Turbine Fire Extinguisher [via High T3ch]

Bionic Dolphin [via CNN]

Ms. Dewey [via The Raw Feed]