[Alexy Sha] has done this fantastic hack, where he modified a magnetic floating globe to be motorized and spin on a tilted axis. The original globe was simply levitating via a magnet mounted inside.

Why does the Earth spin? Sara H., age 5, New Paltz, New York A globe was the first thing I ever bought with my own money. I was maybe 5 years old, and I was really excited to take it home.

RadioGlobe lets the user tune in over 2000 stations from around the world by spinning a real globe. It works by using two absolute rotary encoders that each have a whopping 1024 positions available.