7 Mind Boggling Musical Instruments You?ve Never Heard Of

Musical Instruments: The Majestic Bellowphone

Source: VICE

Known as the Dr. Seuss of music, Leonard Solomon is the proud creator of the Majestic Bellowphone. While it looks like something that the Grinch might find underneath Whoville's Christmas tree, don't be fooled by its odd appearance. Handcrafted from the likes of train whistles, coat hangers, toasters, bike horns and bits of brass, the Bellowphone can hold a rather decent tune and has tackled everything from Mozart to Brahms.

It doesn't stop there for the cabinetmaker-turned-musician. Solomon has been building his crowning glory, the Oomphalapompatronium, for the last 15 years as a 'sweeter' sister to the Bellowphone. Solomon's symphony of strange sounds has been heard around the world and the mad musician shows no signs of slowing down. As if that wasn't exciting enough, he also juggles occasionally while playing.

Musical Instruments: AK-47 Guitar

Source: Spokeo

"Make music, not war" is the brainchild of César Lopez, an inventor who has dedicated his life to transforming instruments of death into something all together more beautiful—and life restoring. The AK-47 guitar, named the 'Escopetarra', takes its mantle from the Spanish words for shotgun and guitar. Lopez invented the instrument in 2003 as a poignant response to the violence that has long plagued his hometown of Bogotá, Colombia.

Source: Andrew Burton Photography

The Escopetarra is designed to challenge the destructive capabilities of weapons with the generative powers of art, with the Colomobian peace activist saying to his peers that "if the weapon, which was designed to kill, can be changed, then why can't humans change too?" The guitar's symbolic beauty has been recognized by high profile artists from across the world, and was even commissioned for Paul McCartney among others. One of the twelve repurposed AK-47's can now be seen on display at the United Nations Headquarters.

New cool car carries a drone for terrain reconnoissance

New cool car carries a drone for terrain reconnoissance

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This is the Renault KWID, a car that carries a quadcopter drone for terrain reconnoissance tucked inside a little hangar on its rooftop. It may seem like a silly James Bondigh invention, but it actually makes a lot of sense in certain situations.

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The three-seat prototype—presented in New Delhi Motor Show, in India—can deploy the smart drone at the touch of a button. Called Flying Companion, it has an onboard GPS and a camera for terrain, traffic, and obstacle reconnoissance. It has two modes: automatic and manual.

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In automatic mode the drone follows a path using GPS waypoints, as designated by the driver—like an airplane autopilot. The manual mode allows the driver or the co-pilot to control the quadcopter using a built-in tablet panel.

Zipline To School.

In remote village in Colombia kids go to school using a high-altitude zipline.They carry their younger sibs in hemp sacks. The top speed is 38 mi/h (62 km/h). The length of the zipline 1,312 ft (400 m).

Abandoned Fort Zrevev.

This deserted Russian fortress, Fort Zverev, is most likely one of the creepiest places. The cause for it to have such a weird look is because it was used later by Russian army to test the power of Russian option to napalm into the brick houses. Thick brick's vault has been burned all the way through and scene is a quite unreal. The steady stream of melted bricks runs to the basement.

Crocodile Trainer.

How would it feel to be really close to a crocodile? The very thought would drive shivers throughout the body. That really isn't any pleasant thought and nobody would ever like to do that. But come to Costa Rica and you would find trainers who really like this thought. In fact they enjoy training crocodiles. Look at the pictures of a trainer from Costa Rica playing with a crocodile. The best places on the earth to find crocodile trainers are the Amazon basin as well as cities like Costa Rica where there are well behaving crocodile trainers. They need to well behave with crocodiles not to end up in their mouths. Have a look at the pictures of a trainer playing with an adult crocodile. That may not be pleasant to us, but indeed it is quite pleasant to the trainer to spend time with a crocodile. That's another subset of funny people.

Destroyed City By Volcano.

One fateful day a pleasant city nestled beneath a dormant volcano was completely destroyed when the volatile peak rumbled to life.  Sound familiar?  Everyone knows the story of Pompeii in Italy, destroyed in AD 79 by Mount Vesuvius.  But this was the city of Plymouth, Monserrat.  The year: 1995.
The good life along the shores of the Caribbean Sea came to an end on July 18, 1995.  On that fateful day, Soufriere Hills volcano which had lain dormant thoughout recorded history â€" exploded in an eruption of titanic proportions that consumed Plymouth under 12 metres of mud and rendered the southern half of Montserrat uninhabitable.  With that in mind, the pictures really do speak for themselves!
The eruption led more than half the population of Montserrat to flee abroad due to lack of housing and economic disruption.  In 1997, 19 people died after being overtaken by a pyroclastic flow following another eruption.  Since then, the volcano’s activities have been confined to venting ash into the unihabited southern region.  But this occasionally spreads to northern settlements.  Buried cars and houses visible on by their roofs are a common site today amid the ruins of Plymouth
Some images depicts the fateful day in AD 79 when Mount Vesuvius near Pompeii erupted.  The result: an ancient city completely destroyed, buried by more than 60 feet of ash and pumice and lost to civilisation for more than 1,500 years.  Now, after its accidental discovery in 1592, Pompeii has become a world heritage site, excavated by archeologists to reveal many of the treasures of this ancient Roman city.  This photo essay shows Pompeii as it is today, with Vesuvius lurking menacingly in the background

 

Treehouses

HELMETS FROM TIME GONE BY

Space is a Very Weird Place...

Space is a Very Weird Place...

Space. It surrounds out planet, it's bigger than anything else we can imagine, was here a long time before us, and will be long after we've all turned to dust. There are as many fascinating facts about the big black as there are stars in the sky, so let's take a look at a fee particularly interesting ones...