Here are some youtube videos, or articles that caught my eye - from the New York Times, Consumer Reports, Popular Science etc.
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Generating electricity from ocean waves with Wells Turbine
The ingenuity of this is a turbine that spins the same direction regardless of air flow direction, a Wells turbine. Not as efficient as a regular turbine, it is however much more mechanically simple, and hence more serviceable to install in remote locations along the seashore.
The Wells Turbine is better explained in this video, which shows the blades are shaped like a sailboat in a crosswind. At 3:13, the single direction of rotation is demonstrated very well with reversing airflow direction.
This video shows some flexible blades of plastic or metal that change shape as the airflow reverses, much like letting the sail out into a broad reach in a crosswind, which increases the efficiency.
Unfortunately, this ingenious project was shut down in 2013 due to lack of interest in funding the idea. https://mobile.offshorewind.biz/2013/03/05/voith-hydro-shuts-down-its-scottish-wave-business/
ToxiCity: life at Agbobloshie, the world's largest e-waste dump in Ghana
-what a horrible existence. Electronic trash from around the world is shipped to Ghana where scavengers pick apart the trash for useful metals, hoping not to get too sick from lead poisoning in the meantime.
NY City Shaped by Steam | Living City | The New York Times
- I had no idea this was the largest municipal steam system in the world by a factor of ten. I've seen the huge public steam pipes in Finland, but New York's are hidden underground.
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Building the world’s most powerful gearbox for wind turbines - the Winergy 8 MW gearbox
I found this docuvertisment interesting. The gearbox for a wind turbine is not scalable, that is, the problems you encounter at bigger sizes can't be conquered by just scaling everything proportionately to the next size.
And in the testing phase, things that are hard to predict are vibration and efficiency.
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Saturday, December 23, 2017
Conjoined Teachers!
-intriguing, unusual, inspiring. Imagine just the simple act of walking, and how much cooperation that takes. Let alone getting to where they've gotten.
Friday, December 22, 2017
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Birth of a New Island
-interesting correlations between both of a new island and life on other planets
An Elevator That Actually Goes Sideways
-interesting elevator that can go up and sideways using linear induction motors.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Robotic Farming of the Future
-a new era of farming. Detecting weeds and eliminating them one by one. Pruning, watering, picking...all by robot.
defrost your windshield with isopropyl alcohol instead
2/3 isopropyl alcohol and 1/3 water in a spray bottle
Monday, December 18, 2017
Bike Riding Robot! Can Cycle, Balance, Steer, and Correct Itself.
Ingenious cycling, balancing robot
Where life began... Maybe
-perhaps life began at the ocean floor's thermal vents, where a proton gradient exists in the sponge-like mineral deposits.
Hotel booking mistakes
Book through the hotel loyalty program
Pay with a credit card
Don't book too early or too late
Kilowatt Wind Turbine And Pole For Under $150 - OpenSourceLowTech.org
Thought you'd like this guy's approach.
How long do you think that bicycle chain drive will work?
Time-lapse of incrementally launched bridge construction
The method is better explained by this tedious animation:
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Friday, December 15, 2017
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Fisker patents car battery with 500 mile range
Fisker acknowledges they've tested a battery that charges in one minute that gives a 500-mile range, contains no liquid, and is cheaper to produce.
Most of our driving is ten miles twice a day, and trickle charging is actually fine for that. Fast charging is most useful for long drives, and you need an extensive infrastructure along interstate highways to make that useful.
It may actually be the trucking industry that makes best use of this technology.
Monday, December 11, 2017
All-Weather Tires Outperform Some Snow Tires | Consumer Reports
I'm quite surprised that Consumer Reports says that these "All weather" tires (NOT "All season") have outperformed some winter tires.
Friday, December 8, 2017
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Revealing how the magic trick "Girl crushed in box" works
Will explained, if you can make it through the extra-cheesy commentary.
Traffic flow measured on 30 different 4-way junctions
I thought you'd be interested in these projected numbers of cars getting through various intersection designs. Have you heard of the diverging diamond interchange, at 3:20 in the video? It crosses lanes of traffic before the intersection to decrease the number of points in the intersection where head-on collisions can occur. Apparently they're starting to build those near Seattle.
Some of the later designs after that in the video are quite elaborate and unusual. It's too bad they don't factor in the construction cost which would be a big impediment to improving congestion.
Tom.
environmental cost of free two-day shipping
Although online shopping probably uses less gas than everyone driving to the mall, this benefit may be negated by "rush" two-day shipping options that force a merchant to send delivery trucks out half full.
He argues that merchants should have a "green" delivery option, where the merchant tries to minimize the number of delivery truck on the road by consolidations shipping.
Monday, December 4, 2017
Dangerous Journey to School down a 2,624 foot Cliff
-incredibly isolated inaccessible village is treacherous to reach
President Trump Expected to Shrink Bears Ears by as Much as 90 Percent
"As one of the most intact and least roaded areas in the contiguous United States, Bears Ears has that rare and arresting quality of deafening silence.
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Saturday, December 2, 2017
Accidental Inventions That Revolutionized Our World
-several of these came about by dropping substances on a hot stove.
-the scariest one is saccharin, where the clumsy chemist had enough lab chemicals on his hands when he came home to eat that his cookies were sweet. Imagine what else he must've ingested.
Marbella, Spain: Unabashed ostentation and excess
-Piers Morgan takes an in-depth look at the history, corruption, risks and rewards of living in a tax haven for the ultra-rich.
Friday, December 1, 2017
The forlorn ‘lorn’ - OxfordWords blog
-pleasant little blog about the word forlorn and it's congeners.
-I love forslug and forswunk.