Where Can I Get One

Ed sent us a link to this amazing retro-looking gas powered bicycle. It gets 120+ mpg and does 40 mph. [Thanks Ed]

The frame is from a '90s vintage Huffy cruiser I got at a flea market for $25.00. The front fork is a reproduction Schwinn style springer. I fabricated "leaf springs" for the look, but their only function is as fenders. The wheels are from Husky- very heavy duty with thick steel and 11 ga spokes. It has a high quality coatser brake, but it also has calipers front and rear which is what I generally use for braking. The tires are all-white vintage style from Kenda. (From make) 

Pretty cool if you ask me. 

I Like It

Better Gas Mileage

ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2008) — With the high cost of gasoline and diesel fuel impacting costs for automobiles, trucks, buses and the overall economy, a Temple University physics professor has developed a simple device which could dramatically improve fuel efficiency as much as 20 percent.

According to Rongjia Tao, Chair of Temple's Physics Department, the small device consists of an electrically charged tube that can be attached to the fuel line of a car's engine near the fuel injector. With the use of a power supply from the vehicle's battery, the device creates an electric field that thins fuel, or reduces its viscosity, so that smaller droplets are injected into the engine. That leads to more efficient and cleaner combustion than a standard fuel injector, he says. (Full Story at sd)

There are tons of "gas saving" gadgets on the market. Just about all of them do nothing at best and harm your car at worst. That said, I actually understand the priniciple these guys are working from and could see it working. The only question I have is, what about cars that are already efficient? Would this mainly work on older cars or is this something that would help any vehicle? 

Bottle Greenhouse

This "Bottle House" created by artist Jasmine Zimmerman is an open-roofed greenhouse made from hundreds of the plastic drink bottles that we use 70 million of everyday. The project will be exhibited in empty lots, rooftops, parks, and vacant buildings in order to spread the word about recycling and reporposing everyday objects in our environment. Pretty cool design that might just be a bit tricky to keep clean. (via make)

This is kind of neat. I mean, I don't know how effective it is, but it sure is better than throwing bottles in a landfill. 

Food Dehydrator

I have always wanted to make a REAL food dehydrator, but all the plans I have found always start out "make a box..." That lets me out! I don't have the patience to make a box, let alone the skills to make it square, then add racks (also square!!) so I came up with a super easy way to make a container that looks like the commercial dehydrators using stacking trays in a cylindrical shape. It took me less than an hour and cost about 20 dollars. I could have scavenged and cut that in half, as I am sure many of you readers can. Read on! (Full Story at instructables)

I'm not sure if this is genius or insanity. For some reason that just looks like a fire waiting to happen, and on the other hand.  .  . I have a strong desire to start building. 

Build Your Own

Bike Powered Fridge

Pretty sweet. I like it.

(via make)

Relief

As minor inconveniences go, itchy bug bites are the bane of the summer season. The Parent Hacks blog reader Molly offers a tip she learned in the Peace Corps: a dab of the common pain reliever cream Bengay on a bug bite goes a long way towards relieving the itch. What tricks do you have to stop the itch? (From lifehacker)


Personally, bug bites don't bother me that much, but having kids. . . . I will take any hints that help keep the peace.

Streaming NFL

Webcasting has officially made its way to the beer-and-football mainstream thanks to the National Football League, which has announced plans to stream live broadcasts of Sunday night football games this fall. These streams will be the first time the NFL's content is made widely available online, and the news means that the patented Madden "Boom!" will soon be coming to a laptop near you.

Both the NFL and its broadcast partner, NBC, will provide sites dedicated to the webcasts. In addition to the live TV feed that features commentary from Al Michaels and John Madden, both sites will feature a variety of extra content. These include highlight clips, views from multiple cameras, live statistics, and blog content. True fanatics may find the site worth visiting even if they have access to the TV broadcast.(Full Story at arstechnica)

I'm not really an NFL fan, but being an internet only content guy - this is a nice turn of events. I might just find myself watching Sunday night football. (Sorry babe).

Boy Art

(From makezine)

Walkability

Over at walkscore, they will rate how walkable your location is. Depending on how close things, such as a grocery store, are to your abode make it more or less walkable. Incidentally, they say my house is about as un-walkable as it gets.

Health Mapped

If you want to keep abreast of your areas medical situation check out healthmap. It basically allows you to look at where all the disease outbreaks are located and how severe they are. Of course if you are a little "hypo" you may want to just ignore this site.

Who Needs Nerf When You Have Legos

Free 411

This isn't all that new but on the off chance that some of you didn't know:

Book ID

When we walk into the library, the atmosphere is somewhat dreary and cold. Unfortunately, it is not the most inviting of places, we go out of necessity. The library can also be a bit intimidating while we go aisle for aisle looking for the books that we need. Even then, we come upon the section where the book should be located, yet the call tag is someone rubbed off or maybe even the ink has smudged on the paper and we can’t really tell if this is the exact book that we need.

Valeri Madill has created a way to bring color to a once dreary space, a rainbow- if you will -sitting on the shelves housing numerous bland colors of books. With colorful call number labels, we rid the books of taped on labels and the risk of the labels falling off. Each of Madill’s call number labels allow for each section in the library to be color coded, as well as allowing the call number information to be displayed without covering the spine of the book. Each books’ information is displayed on the label for easy scanning by the user and also contains citing information on the label’s side.

With Madill’s design, the library atmosphere is transformed and is more inviting, and the user has much more success in locating the books that they need. This takes organization to an entirely new level. (Full Story at yanko)

Let me tell you, this would have been a huge help in school. Those footnotes and bib pages would have been a lot less hassle.

Wise Words

"Speak the truth, but leave immediately after." — Slovenian proverb

(via futilitycloset)

Mythical Products That Became Real

Remember this stapler? Well, boxvox highlights it and 5 other products that were mythical but then turned real. What mythical product do you wish would find its way into production?

Solar Cell Windows

ScienceDaily (July 11, 2008) — Imagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of. MIT engineers report a new approach to harnessing the sun's energy that could allow just that.

The work, reported in the July 11 issue of Science, involves the creation of a novel "solar concentrator." "Light is collected over a large area [like a window] and gathered, or concentrated, at the edges," explains Marc A. Baldo, leader of the work and the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.

As a result, rather than covering a roof with expensive solar cells (the semiconductor devices that transform sunlight into electricity), the cells only need to be around the edges of a flat glass panel. In addition, the focused light increases the electrical power obtained from each solar cell "by a factor of over 40," Baldo says. (Full Story at sd)

Great idea, when can I buy some?

Searching Wiki

Ever get frustrated trying to find an answer to a question? Well Powerset has decided to make it a bit easier on you by allowing you to search in question form. The results allows you to browse through Wikipedia articles in order to find what you want. Check it out here.

Pit Stopping Your Bicycle

Trek is marketing a new concept. They want to look into putting vending machines with bike parts on the streets. In some ways this doesn't seem very plausible, but on the other hand if you've ever been caught miles away from home with a flat (and without and extra tube) you would probably wonder why someone hasn't done this before. (via treehugger)