photo courtesy U.S. Army Environmental Command

A company called Holy Smoke from Stockton, Alabama wants to let you turn your dearly departed loved ones into ammunition. For approximately $850, the company will turn 1 pound of cremated remains into 250 shotgun shells, 250 handgun cartridges or 100 rifle cartridges. According to their site the base $850 fee will cover most standard calibers/gauges and loads, though they will also produce specialty calibers and loadings for a nominal fee. Customers can also opt to upgrade the standard plastic ammo box for a display-grade walnut ammunition carrier with an engraved name plate. Since Holy Smoke’s process only uses a portion of the cremated remains, more traditional funeral options are also possible in conjunction with the service.

In a word where you can already have your remains shot into space, turned into a diamond or become part of your own memorial fireworks display, I am honestly surprised no one has come up with this sooner. Especially considering the very strong gun culture in the US and the service’s relatively low-cost, I could actually see this becoming a popular way to memorialize a gun enthusiast. I personally think burial is a waste of space and while I don’t know what I would like done with my remains, I can hardly think of a better way to honor a gun enthusiast than taking their favorite gun to the range or on a hunt and let part of them be involved in the activity. What do you think? Would you like to be turned into memorial ammunition or is there something else you would like done with your remains? Feel free to share in the comments.

Holy Smoke, LLC [via Make]

For at least 29 years a strange radio signal has been broadcast from inside Russia and perplexed shortwave radio enthusiasts. Nicknamed “The Buzzer” by amateur listeners due to the audible buzzes broadcast by the station. The station, which broadcasts on 4625 kHz AM, is thought to be operated by the Russian government, though little is really know about the signal – including where it is broadcast from. Theories about the true nature of the Buzzer range from it being a test signal for radio operators to tune their equipment to it being part of the Soviet Union’s “Dead Hand” nuclear retaliation system. Other theories include that it is used for ionosphere research or that it is a “numbers station” used to communicate with spies around the globe. Adding to the mystery surrounding the Buzzer are a number of voice broadcasts that enthusiast have overheard containing what seem to be coded messages and the stations call sign (which was originally UVB-76 but currently is reported to be 94ZhT). Also an occasional faint conversation in Russian can be heard behind the buzzing which leads those interested in numbers stations to believe that the station’s trademark buzz is being broadcast over an open mic.

While we may never know why The Buzzer buzzes, listening in is as easy as firing up your web browser thanks to a Buzzer enthusiast in Estonia. Simply head over to UVB-76.net and you can listen to a live feed of the signal. [I had to use one of the desync.com sponsored feeds to get any audio, but that may be my computer.] Though if you’d like to try and tune in “old school” and are within UVB-76′s broadcast range (which can reach into the Eastern US), any shortwave receiver should work (they can be purchased on Amazon for around $40 USD and up). Just tune in to 4625 kHz and listen for the buzz.

If you have or pick up a shortwave set and are interested in listening to other “numbers stations” be sure to check out Priyom.org for times and frequencies to tune in.

Inside the Russian Short Wave Radio Enigma [via Boing Boing]

Thanks to the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog the worlds smallest digital camera can be yours for $100 US. Measuring 1 1/8″ x 1″ x 1 1/16″ the 2 megapixel camera stores it’s not so tiny photos and videos on a MicroSD card ranging in size up to 32Gb.

While Hammacher Schlemmer doesn’t provide any sample images taken by the diminutive snapper, you can probably safely assume from its size and price tag that its image quality falls somewhere in the toy digi-cam range. Especially with the proliferation of high quality cell phone cameras, this probably won’t be the next big thing in collecting evidence of ghosts, UFOs, or cryptids, but it’s small size may be a boon to investigators looking to sneak a camera in where it isn’t wanted. In that case the best camera is truly the one in your hand. Even if you aren’t looking to blow the lid off a global conspiracy, The World’s Smallest Camera certainly is an interesting conversation piece and would make an excellent gift (especially for the shutterbug that has everything).

The World’s Smallest Camera [via Gizmodo]