Discarded Christmas Trees

It's time.

From a Magnum Photo photo essay.

Sun vs. Coal

Electricity from the grid is getting more expensive. Electricity from photovoltaics is getting cheaper. At what point does solar become less expensive than the power coming from our existing grid?

There's a app for that. Or rather a chart. But it's animated!

The nice folks at Energy Self-Reliant States have created an animated chart that shows you when solar will be cheaper that the existing electricity sources in your area, but in the meantime here are some fun facts...

1. The cost of solar decreases by 7% per year.
2. The grid electricity price increases by 2% per year.

Here's a link to the chart.

William O'Brien Jr's Allandale House

Here's a beautiful house. Three connected A-frames, each with a different roof pitch.

Travel Photo of the Week - How The World Fishes

A fisherman arranges a fishing net as his wife paddles their boat in the waters
of the Periyar river on the outskirts of the southern Indian city of Kochi.

10 Best Places to Experience Music

Love live music? Lonely Planet has a list of the 10 best place to experience live music performances. Three of the locations are in the good ol' USA. What's number one? The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Of course.

Flying Robots Build Building

Yep, you heard it right. Here's a swarm of flying robots making a building. Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler have released this video showing semi-autonomous flying robots assembling a structure of foam bricks. Sure, now it's only foam, but just wait untill they have flying robots the size of a car. (finally, flying [robot] cars!)

And we think the building trades are under-employed now.

Happy Christmas

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Here's a wonderful photo essay from Magnum Photos on the tradition of Christmas trees. Happy Christmas Eve!

Chanukah Fun Time!

Make your own dreidel! Makerbot lets you 3-D print your own!

Christmas Fun Time!

Need a last minute present for a do-it-yourselfer musician? Here's a great book on making your own string instruments, Handmade Music Factory. In it you'll get instructions for projects such as a washtub bass, a soup can diddley bow, an electrified stomp box and washboard, a variety of cigar box guitars, an ironing board lap steel guitar, and an upcycled tape deck amplifier.

Get out the tools. Here's some real fun.