Fun Time! The Wormhole Actualization Machine!

You want one of these so bad your teeth are grinding right now.

Yes, I too have always wanted a portable wormhole machine. You know, for those quick jaunts to other galaxies or universes to pick up a quart of sprtchztx.

Well, the wait is over! Want to get your own and travel to distant wherevers? Click HERE.

SpaceX Unveils New Dragon V2 Manned Spacecraft

I looks like the true space age is about to begin. Elon Musk's company Space X, has unveiled their brand new Dragon V2 space spacecraft (notice I didn't refer to it as a capsule) designed to haul up to seven passengers to low orbit altitudes. Described as "a true 21st-century spacecraft," the DragonV2 could first unmanned flight is planned for late 2015, and its first crewed flight as soon as mid-2016.

I won't gush here. I'll let you follow the link and discover for yourself.

Oh joy! With this advance can Serenity be far behind?

A look inside

Can These $20,000 Houses Save the American Dream?

Rural Studio, an undergraduate program of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at Auburn University, has been working since 2005 to create affordable housing.

Their plan has been to design a house that could be purchased for $20,000. They found that housing currently at this price (think trailer park) depreciated and they wanted to create homes that would appreciate in value. They chose $20,000 because "it would be the most expensive mortgage a person receiving today's median Social Security check of $758 a month can realistically repay. A $108 monthly mortgage payment is doable if you consider other monthly expenditures."

The work has centered around Hale County, Alabama where 43 percent households living under the poverty line are made up of people living alone.

They are currently developing a two-bedroom 20K House, testing larger and expandable models.

Travel Photo of the Week

Gunnison, Colorado

Bee Collapse Solved

It looks like the folks at Harvard School of Public Heath's Department of Environmental Health have the answer on why our bees are all dying.

In their Bulletin of Insectology #67 the blame is squarely placed on the pesticides we are using. From the paper...

"...sub-lethal exposure of neonicotinoids, imidacloprid or clothianidin, affected the winterization of healthy colonies that subsequently lead to CCD. We found bees in both control and neonicotinoid- treated groups progressed almost identically through the summer and fall seasons and observed no acute morbidity or mortality in either group until the end of winter."

My question is whether this will become just another political football with nothing getting done about it except fundraising for election campaigns.

Lest We Forget

Volet Végétal: A Planter For People With Limited Space

Do you have limited space, but still want to garden? Have a look. This just might be your solution. From the French design studio Barreau&Charbonnet.

Fun Time! Moving On: A Stop-motion Music Video Made With Yarn

by Ainslie Henderson

9-Year Old Boy And His Dad Open A No-Kill Animal Shelter

The shelter, which its founder, nine year old Ken named "Happy Animals Club", currently provides a home for a few dogs who are thriving under the young Filipino boy's care.

Ken's dad and donations from around the world have made this possible. If you would like to donate, you can through PayPal.

If you'd like to see the look of success through kindness, just take a gander below.

Travel Photo of the Week

Sunset in the Srinagar Valley, Kashmir

Brooklyn Grange

A rooftop event at the Brooklyn Grange.

"Brooklyn Grange is the leading rooftop farming and intensive green roofing business in the US. We operate the world’s largest rooftop soil farms, located on two roofs in New York City, and grow over 50,000 lbs of organically-cultivated produce per year."

People are changing their relation to food and where it comes from and Brooklyn Grange is a leading example of this change. Two rooftop gardens with two and a half acres provide over 50,000 pounds of organically-grown vegetables annually. They also run a apiary

Scoffers will say, how can 25 tons of food feed a city like New York or even just Brooklyn? I'd answer that 25 tons would probably feed more than those two buildings worth. Extrapolate.

Exploring The Evolution Of Visual Effects In Film

Film editor Jim Casey pays homage to the great moments that changed visual effects.

Why Relativity Isn't Relative

EXO Emergency Shelter

When disaster strikes, the greatest need is usually shelter. Reaction has a solution.

Fun Time! PancakeBot, A Machine That Draws Pancakes!

So good I included two videos!

Urban/Suburban Millennials Gardening In Green Shift

Is A Wormhole At The Center Of Our Galaxy?

Oh, this is interesting. It seems that there is a strong possibility that instead of  there being a super massive black hole at the center of tour galaxy, there is a wormhole.

Current thinking is that whatever formed at the center of our galaxy about one hundred million years after the Big Bang drew in all the dust and gas to create our galaxy.

But... cosmologists pretty much agree that one hundred million years is not long enough for a black hole to grow so large and there is some talk about it being a wormhole. Right now we don't have the ability to look into the center of the Milky Way and be able to tell a black hole from a wormhole. That may soon change with the new Gravity infrared instrument at the Max Planck Institute.

But if it is a wormhole, don't expect to use it to go anywhere until we've cracked the "faster than light" problem, because the center of the Milky Way is 26,000 light years from Earth.

Here's a link to the Physics arXiv Blog where I found this item.

Travel Photo of the Week

Frozen Niagara Falls, NY

The Evolution Of The Universe In 154 Seconds

FDA Approves The “Luke” Bionic Arm

Dean Kamen's "Luke" arm, which is named for the Star Wars character, has received FDA approval.

The FDA states that "“the first prosthetic arm that can perform multiple, simultaneous powered movements controlled by electrical signals from electromyogram (EMG) electrodes.”

From the Make article I sourced this from.....

"In studies at the Veterans Administration, 90 percent of participants were able to perform complex tasks their previous prosthesis couldn't handle: use keys and locks, prepare food, feed themselves, use zippers, brush and comb hair."

"The DEKA Arm, now in its third generation, is modular and configurable for different levels of amputation. In its maximum configuration, is has 10 powered degrees of freedom including a powered shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand. The hand has six preprogrammed grips that are user-selectable. These grips are Power Grip, Tool Grip, Fine Pinch Open Grip, Fine Pinch Closed Grip, Lateral Pinch Grip, and Chuck Grip. Using a 2.4 GHz wireless interface with a proprietary protocol, a prosthetist can configure the arm system based on how the amputee wants to control the arm."

The article says that although getting the arm to be the same size and weight as a real arm was difficult, getting the hand to behave like a real hand was the biggest hurdle.

Where To Park Your Tiny Home

This is the dilemma: where do I put my tiny home now that I've decided I don't want to be part of the rat race?

Many building codes require that "habitable" structures be at least 1200 square feet (check your local codes, your mileage may vary) and a 200 square foot tiny home doesn't qualify. The website Clothesline Tiny Homes has a great entry on how to do it.

Some considerations.....

Are there minimum square footage requirements for homes? If not, you could possibly build a tiny house on a permanent foundation. 

Are you allowed to park an RV on your property? Without a main permanent dwelling? And are you allowed to live in it full time?

If you are looking for a guest house, office or studio, does your zoning code allow for accessory dwellings? And are there minimum square footage requirements? Do they have to be on a permanent foundation?

Most folks build their tiny home on a trailer platform, because being mobile means they are exempt from building and zoning codes.

Fun Time! The 22 Year Restoration Of A Jaguar Mark I!

Tiny Homes On The Move - Wheels And Water

Lloyd Kahn is one of my favorite authors when it comes to writing about vernacular architecture. I have most of his books, starting with Shelter from 1973.

His last book was about the tiny home movement and the folks making the move from large homes with large mortgages to smaller, more financially manageable abodes.

This one is about tiny homes that are move. I follow Lloyd's blog, so I've seen many of the boats, trailers and other portable housing that he's featured there, many of which are also in this book.

I haven't bought it yet, but I will soon. You can get it at Shelter Online, HERE.

The Quad Micro Bar

This is a nifty spacesaver. Joe Warren has developed this cool fold-out table that becomes a bar. You can have one, two, tree or all four of the stools out, depending on your need.

Here's a link to his company's catalog. Starts at $900 though. But one thing that I've learned is that good design isn't cheap.

Travel Photo of the Week

Santorini Island, Greece

A Papercraft Model Of The Inside Of ‘The Addams Family’ Mansion

Artist Alan Ronay created this beautiful papercraft model of the inside of the mansion from The Addams Family TV series. The miniature, along with models from other TV series, is available for purchase on Ronay’s Etsy store. Only $345. He also has a model of the set from "I Love Lucy" for only $310!

From Laughing Squid.

Detecting Prostate Cancer By Odor

From Gizmag.....

"Finnish researchers have developed an electronic nose capable of sniffing the patient's urine sample to distinguish between prostate cancer and benign disease."

This non-invasive diagnostic method would be so much more convenient than biopsy. For more info, here's a link to the American Journal of Urology abstract.

Nagoro - The Valley Of Dolls

Valley of Dolls from Fritz Schumann on Vimeo.

Fun Time! Official Monty Python Silly Walks Traffic Sign!

Ørje, Norway. Some countries just have a better sense of humor than we do.



From The Improvised Life.

Flip Book Vivarium

Vivarium from Juan Fontanive on Vimeo.

The Most Boring Ad Ever Made?

German manufacturer Leica has created “The Most Boring Ad Ever Made?” featuring 45 minutes of an employee hand polishing a camera to show just how much time they spend creating their new T cameras. The video highlights the camera’s finishing process in real-time, as a narrator attempts to dissuade uninterested parties from watching any further. Over and over, the narrator invites you to stop watching the video if you find it boring. Over and over.

But I couldn't. Mesmerizing.