I have mentioned Demotivational Posters in passing before.
Now the task at hand is finding one that describes how the day went. Our Zen moment, if you will.
- Meetings
- Mistakes
- Persistence
- Potential
10/10/2006
Have you been demotivated at the water cooler?
Nature shakes its money maker
Over the past two weeks there have been several innovative attempts at taping into both solar and wind energies.
For instance, Wired magazine recently covered a company from Italy called KiteGen that uses large sails that are strung hundreds of meters in the air. These airborne kites are automated via computer control and have the potential to generate zounds of watts for few ducats.
Another interesting wind-powered development is the KiteShip, which ties a stadium-sized kite to large ocean liners. While still in the test phases, its designers claim that it could “help cut 20 percent of fuel and emissions from commercial ships.” Be sure to watch the video and coverage from Popular Science.
And while nature has had eons to perfect its ability to collect solar radiation through photosynthesis, there are a couple creative uses humanity has put together this past year. The first is what claims to be the largest solar roof in the world, capable of generating 700,000 kWh. And while that sounds like a big number, one commenter on Digg (!!) helps put that into perspective.
Perhaps the best way to wrap-up this solar frenzy is to simply link to the link-intensive symposium put together by News.com. Note: one interesting story that was published after the symposium involves a remote scientific community in the Amazon rainforest.
See also: Robinson Crusoe never had it so good and Mass drivers and Solar Power Satellites
Music melting pot
What do you get when you mix the lyrics of Will Smith, with the dance moves of Herbie Hancock, and the voice of the Chipmunks?
Newcleus, aka the “PIMPEST 80′S RAP MUSIC VIDEO EVER.”
Built-to-order plastic dolls
I’ve mentioned several future uses for rapid prototypers, including figurines.
Now a company by the name of Fabjectory is using technology from Z Corp to create customized figurines based upon characters from the game Second Life.
One of the cooler attributes is that the color dye is built into the fabrication process as opposed to being painted on afterwards.