Timmy the ToothI'm sorry for the drool;
Welcome to King Arthur Flour’s Year of the Bundt! We’re celebrating this classic American dessert with a variety of recipes throughout the year, and this cake is perfect for all of you chocolate-lovers: Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake. Who doesn’t like chocolate cake? Raise your hand. OK, I don’t see too many of you out […]
The post Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake appeared first on Flourish - King Arthur Flour.
Timmy the ToothSUZY...
You need that robot carrier for shopping. NO BAGS.
They can’t quite measure up to R2D2, but a new array of consumer robots offer all sorts of practical advantages, including companionship, soothing babies back to sleep, playing with pets, folding laundry and making the perfect latte. All 12 of these robot home companions have passed the concept stage into fully-operational products, and many of them are already up for sale.
From the same company who gave us the Vespa scooter comes Gita, a cargo bot that’ll carry your stuff for you, follow you ask you walk, stop when you do, slow down when necessary and even keep up if you start running. You could use it to haul groceries home from the neighborhood market, deliver packages or as a travel aide; a display screen lets you know when the battery is getting low. One thing that’s not clear is how it manages stairs.
Recently renamed ‘Loomo,’ the Segway ‘Advanced Personal Robot’ is a cross between a robot companion and a functional scooter, capable of recognizing individuals and following them until it’s needed. It’s able to stay in balance while carrying loads, and its microphones listen for voice commands. Sensors keep it from bumping into objects and help it map your home and other surroundings so it can navigate itself. It’s currently still in development.
This 20-inch-tall, 14-pound personal companion robot chirps, blinks and ‘smiles’ in response to your attention, and it’s able to recognize specific people, understand context and surroundings, play music, read books, project video, tell you the weather and perform other useful everyday tasks. The Kuri bot responds to verbal commands and can also be controlled and maintained through a smartphone app.
This little bot may not have as much personality as the Kuri, but it’s got some seriously useful functions if you’re the kind of homeowner and/or pet owner who wants to keep a close eye on things while you’re gone. The Rolling Bot by LG is part security system, part pet toy, part smart home gadget with a built-in camera and the capability to roll itself through your home, turning lights on and off, sending you video footage, or entertaining your dogs and cats with dancing and lasers. You can control it through your phone to talk to your pets through it, too.
Instead of raining death and destruction, these 13 drones deliver defibrillators and piping hot pizza, save drowning victims, mix the perfect cocktails, clean ocean pollution and even take your ...
If you think humans in creative professions aren't in danger of someday being replaced by robots, which ostensibly don't possess the ability to produce real art, you're going to want to watch ...
If you think today's robots look closer to toasters, vacuum cleaners, or other appliances, then you better sit down. Have you wondered why we don't have robots like Number Six, Data, C-3PO, or ...
Timmy the ToothPressure cooker red
Timmy the ToothSo true
You are standing alone in an open field. Trump is in the White House, and you’ve come here to scream. There is a path heading east.
>scream
About what?
>scream about Trump being President.
Your screams are lost in the vast expanse of tall grass and sky around you. It is unsatisfying.
>walk east
You are in a forest. It is unseasonably warm for winter. Trump once tweeted that global warming was a hoax created by the Chinese. The path turns north.
>walk north
You cannot walk. You are too mad about Trump denying global warming.
>scream about Trump putting a gag order on the EPA
Your screams are muffled by the forest, but you do feel a little less angry.
>walk north
You come to a clearing. There is a well. The path leads north.
>inspect well
It is a humble well. Its stone walls are three feet high and five feet in diameter. Peering over the ledge, the well looks to be very deep. The cool air inside is refreshing.
>scream into well
What do you scream?
>IMPEACH TRUMP
Leaning over the well, the cool, wet stones feel good on your hands.
You scream:
IMPEACH TRUMP
The well echoes:
IMPEACH TRUMP
IMPEACH TRump
ch trump
rump
That was a good scream! And the echo makes you feel less alone. You’re feeling better already.
Your phone buzzes.
>inspect phone
It’s a New York Times alert:
TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER BARRING CITIZENS OF 7 MUSLIM COUNTRIES FROM ENTERING THE UNITED STATES
>scream into the well about Trump’s xenophobic, anti-Muslim and illegal order
You have a good 30 second scream, and the well echoes your sentiments on the unconstitutional nature of his action. This feels amazing. The well totally gets you.
>walk north
Why leave when screaming into the well about Trump feels so good?
>scream into the well about Trump
Pick something specific to scream out. There’s certainly enough to choose from.
>scream into the well about Trump moving forward with building a wall between Mexico
You scream. The well echoes back that Mexico will never reimburse the cost and wonders why Republicans are so willing to pay for an ineffectual wall but not a social safety net.
Yes, this is the best you’ve felt since election night! The well is your friend.
Unfortunately all this screaming is making your head flush and hot. If you want to continue screaming, you’ll have to find a way to cool off.
The air inside the well feels nice.
>lean further into the well
Leaning deeper into the well, the cold, damp air refreshes you, and the smell reminds you of a family vacation to Carlsbad Caverns. A national park! Trump silenced the National Park Service’s Twitter account because they truthfully reported that his inaugural crowd was smaller than Obama’s. Trump is a small, petty man.
Your anger rises.
>scream into the well that Trump is a malignant narcissist unfit for the office of President of the United States
You scream and the well adds that Trump might very well start a war over a personal insult. You couldn’t have said it better yourself.
Unfortunately you’ve reached an equilibrium where the relief gained by screaming about Trump is entirely lost by the heat generated from screaming about Trump. To continue screaming, you’ll have to find a way to cool off more.
Sweat from your feverish brow begins dripping into your eyes. It stings like Hillary’s loss.
>wipe eyes
What a cool reprieve! Your hands have been kept cold by well’s stones. The well has everything you need. At this point, you’ve leaned so far into the well that you could easily press your face against its cool interior wall.
>press face against inside of the well
The wall’s coolness feels wonderful against your face. Normally the stone’s thin coating of slime would bother you, but this is not normal. Nothing about Trump’s presidency is normal.
>scream into the well that Trump appointing white nationalist Steve Bannon as his Chief Strategist and placing him on the National Security Council is not normal
“THIS IS NOT NORMAL!” you scream into the wall of the well you’re folded over.
It is a good scream but something is missing. There is no echo! Yelling this close to the wall must be bad for acoustics. Facing outward would fix the problem.
>turn head outward
You cannot turn your head far enough. If only you could speak out of both sides of your mouth like that spineless Paul Ryan. You’ll have to turn more than your head.
>turn body
You rotate your body ever so carefully. As you spin, your forward bow slowly becomes a backbend, until you… oops.
Y
O
U
F
A
L
L
I
N
The tumble lasts just long enough for you to realize that 2016 wasn’t so bad. You’d give anything to go back to 2016.
SPLASH!
The water at the bottom of the well is very cold. And seemingly bottomless.
You begin to sink.
>grab the well’s wall
The wall is too smooth and slippery to hold on to. Like Trump’s lies.
You are still sinking.
>tread water
You stop sinking. But you will get tired sooner or later.
Perhaps you should have called your representatives instead of screaming into a well?
>use phone
Who should you call?
>call 911
Are you sure you don’t want to call your representatives?
>call 911
Good point. You must get out of the well in order to scream into the well about Trump.
Unfortunately water damage has broken your phone.
>scream for help
No one comes.
You are sinking again.
>tread water
What’s the point with Trump as president?
>scream about Trump
The well echoes along, giving your resistance a second wind.
You are still sinking.
>tread water
You stop sinking. For now.
>scream for help
Your screams attract a curious deer.
>scream for the deer to get help
The deer no more understands what you are asking for than it understands that Trump is president. The deer just looks at you with the impassive serenity of Mike Pence.
>scream that Pence is a religious lunatic who believes in conversion therapy
The well agrees, but the deer bounds off.
You are sinking again.
>tread water
You stop sinking but this is getting harder.
>scream for help
The well also screams for help. It feels patronizing.
>scream for the well to knock it off
The well tells you to knock it off. Why is the well doing this to you?
>scream for help
You can’t. All breathe must be conserved for treading water.
You are sinking again.
>tread water
Your legs ache and your lungs Feel the Bern. He would have won!
You are sinking again.
>tread water
You can’t. You are too tired. As you slip beneath the water, at least you did all you could to scream about Trump into a well.
CONGRATULATIONS, you have won Screaming About Trump Into a Well!
Timmy the ToothThis would be super easy to make in the OnePot and would save probably 15 minutes on the overall cook time.
Timmy the ToothWe need this more than ever.
You’re hurrying along the sidewalk on the way to work, running late and not in the greatest mood, when you see a sign in the adjacent field that simply reads “PLEASE WAIT HERE, YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL MEET YOU SHORTLY.” How does that affect your day? Little moments like these can bring some much-needed levity to the world around us, especially in dark times.
Impeccably produced, often enticing you to push a button or take a card, these guerrilla installations look pretty legit until you stop to read what they say. They’re easy to miss, if you’re hustling too quickly and tuning out your surroundings – but if you take a moment to notice them, they might just make you smile.
Artist Michael Pederson (aka Miguel Marquez Outside) creates these little interventions and puts them up all over his home city. Sometimes they’re site-specific, referring to things that can be found in the local environment, like a hole in the curb or a sidewalk that ends abruptly.
The personal space cards would actually be pretty handy, and who wouldn’t be tempted by a time travel pay phone? Check out more of Pederson’s work at his tumblr and Instagram.
It’s all too easy to get stuck in a routine, walking through the city on autopilot without even noticing what’s around you. Urban guerrilla street artists seek to shake things up, force you ...
How much more welcoming would a city environment seem if it were filled with friendly creatures? German artist Timm Schneider is filling Weisbaden with very strange beings that are not only ...
Everyday objects and imperfections in the urban surfaces of Paris become part of strange and unexpected scenes as French artist Levalet incorporates them into life-sized street art. A bull head ...
Timmy the ToothI like that Marca found a way to sneak stupid celebrity body-shaming gossip into my football news feed. Bueno trabajo, Marca.
Timmy the ToothWTF
The strange glowing figures in these images are so complex, you might think they’re screenshots from a digital animation, or created in Photoshop – but there’s no computer-based trickery here. Just the same long exposure techniques light artists have been using for decades to create and capture ethereal compositions, albeit applied in an unusually creative manner.
Hannu Huhtamo’s bizarre shapes glow against twilight landscapes and abandoned interiors, often looking somewhere between a plant and an alien insect. They sprout up in snowy fields, appear from inside giant teacups at theme parks or take shape in darkened living rooms.
A musician by training and hobbyist photographer, the Finnish artist first experimented with lighting techniques when taking promotional photos for a death metal band and deciding he wanted a long-exposure pentagram made with the flame of a lighter. Years later, when he met light artist Janne Parviainen and got a look at his work, Huhtamo decided to revisit the technique from a new angle.
All of his work is created ‘SOOC’ or straight out of the camera, and he uses no special light equipment other than El-Wire (electroluminescent wire) and modified LED flash lights. “Darkness is my canvas and the light is my brush,” he says in this behind-the-scenes video produced by Great Big Story.
Most light photographers focus on making a shape in the foreground in a matter of seconds, then setting it against a dark static backdrop - this artist often animates every inch of the ...
Words, ghostly forms and streaks of ethereal light take shape when photographers move a light source around in a frame while taking a long-exposure image. Variously known as light art, light ...
Strange undulating patterns of colored lights seem to slink across the surface of water like living entities in this captivating series of images by Ontario-based photographer Stephen Orlando. In ...
Timmy the Toothnailed the landing
1916: Grow up to be an arctic explorer
1966: Grow up to be an astronaut
2017: Grow up to be a freelancer who works from a coffee shop
1817: Rain from heaven and an abundant harvest
1917: Calm seas and a safe voyage
2017: Flip this water bottle and nail the landing
1917: Ace war correspondent for the New York Times
1967: Civil Rights Movement photographer for LIFE Magazine
2017: Social media manager for Wendy’s
1863: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
1961: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
2017: “Jackie Evancho’s album sales have skyrocketed after announcing her inauguration performance. Some people just don’t understand the ‘Movement.’”
Timmy the ToothDamn!
The East Coast Greenway is already a third of the way to completion, and when finished will stretch from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Florida, passing through 16 states and 25 cities along the way.
Developed by the non-profit East Coast Greenway Alliance, the aim is to provide a continuous and ever-changing set of views and experiences to travelers on foot or in non-motorized vehicles.
Its creators note that the “route has been chosen to provide the traveler with an ever-changing, interesting and scenic landscape, whether urban, suburban, small town, industrial or rural,” accessible to cyclists, walkers, joggers and runners. Along the way, the Greenway also syncs up with public transportation at key spots, allowing easy access and egress for people seeking to pursue one stretch of it or another.
“It’s about seeing America at the right speed, where you can take in all of the culture around you. And you don’t have a windshield between yourself and the community.” While the project has been in the works for years, new funding and permissions gained in the last year have propelled it forward more quickly, helping its facilitators connect the dots along the nearly 3,000-mile route.
For the 25th anniversary of its fall, this Berlin Wall installation project will illuminate the historical divide between East and West, temporarily recreating the infamous border with balloons ...
It can be hard to explain to someone from Europe or elsewhere just how vast and variegated the United States really is, but this short epic photo series is a great start. It depicts a series of ...
Charged during the day and lighting up at night, this beautiful bicycle trail outside the town of Lidzbark Warmiski is designed to improve safety for riders out after dark. Luminescent ...
From Jamie Vardy’s triumph to Big Sam’s setback, our resident cartoonist reviews a year to savour for Welsh Leicester City fans. You can find David’s archive of cartoons here and he’s also got a book out. Order it here
Continue reading...
People all over the world dedicate their lives to helping the less fortunate. They give a voice to the voiceless and hope to the hopeless. Their sacrifice inspires me. That’s why, this holiday season, I’m gift-wrapping luxury automobiles.
You’re probably sitting at home in your cable-knit cardigan next to a crackling fire — the type that could heat unsafe drinking water to a satisfactory level of sanitation — thinking about what you might get the misses for Christmas. But the same old diamond jewelry, mined on the backs of African children, doesn’t have the same, shall we say, peak-of-civilization extravagance your queen deserves. She needs a new Lexus. And I’m here to gift-wrap it for her.
Tiffany’s has a little blue box in which to hide blood-money diamonds. Hermes has an orange box in which to hide crocodile skin handbags. A comically large red ribbon affixed with some double-sided tape to the roof of your new sedan is the extra touch this gift needs to really make it pop.
Just be sure and keep the ribbon on for much longer than you would with a normal gift-wrapped item. That way the neighbors will know the car was a gift and not the result of a well-discussed plan between consenting adults who jointly manage the affairs of a household. What are you, schoolteachers?
Remember, it’s the thought that counts, especially for someone who doesn’t have to worry where her next meal is coming from — unlike the 15.8 million children in America who go to bed hungry every night. Besides, I don’t mind doing it. You know why? Because I get it. I. Get. It. I understand that going from Point A to Point B isn’t enough. What are you doing, migrating south due to seasonal drought and failed crops?
Time was you’d buy a car for basic transportation. But thanks to unrelenting advertising, planned obsolescence, and a bottomless dissatisfaction with your life — a life the 3 billion people who live on less than $2.50 a day would consider downright opulent — those dull, pragmatic days are a thing of the past.
I’m happy to gift-wrap this luxury sedan. You know why? Because you haven’t shaved in a few days and you’re oddly tan for this time of year — not unlike the exposed skin of migrant workers who pick blueberries for your morning smoothie — and that is a look that screams Money! How rugged and rich!
Gift-wrapping luxury motor coaches is why I get up in the morning. Other people have their calling. I have mine. It’s how I make a difference in this cruel, dark world.
Powered by solar energy and mounted to the backs of sheep, 360-degree cameras are mapping out the Faroe Islands for Google Street View. Since Google was initially reluctant to send cars to the archipelago, locals took it upon themselves to get their own interactive images out into the world, raising awareness of the region’s uniquely beautiful landscapes. In the end, they not only attracted Google’s interest but managed to spawn a creative DIY approach to mapping rugged environments.
Sheep View 360 got its start when resident Durita Dahl Andreassen first strapped a camera to a sheep, let the animal roam free around the island then uploading the results to Google. “I gently placed a 360-degree camera powered by a solar panel on the back of a sheep that would take photographs as the animal freely grazed the open hillsides,” explains Andreassen.
“Photos are then transmitted back to my mobile phone so that I can upload them to Google Street View myself, finally putting the Faroes on the map in a very unique way!” Indeed, some of the shots and perspectives would be unlikely or impossible for vehicles or even humans, taken as they are from the tops of roofs and sides of mountains.
This endeavor and an associated petition eventually did get Google’s attention, but by the time they showed up with vehicles the self-mapping system was well underway with sheep, bikers, backpackers, ships and even a wheelbarrow playing parts.
Ultimately, folks from the Faroe Islands have made it a bit of an interactive game — anyone who wants to can come borrow a camera and start mapping the parts not yet uploaded to Google. This presents an interesting challenge for those who want to take it on: can you as a tourist cameraman visit the places most people and cars don’t go to or can’t reach?
“The Faroe Islands have some of the most beautiful roads in the world. It is impossible to describe what it feels like driving through the green valleys and up the mountains, or alongside the ocean, surrounded by steep drops and tall cliffs. It’s an experience like no other.”
With so much focus on Google Street View privacy issues, many people have missed a whole subset of non-controversial but much more strange Street View images. Accidental recombinations and ...
Street View has mapped much more than roads in its, but sending a lone urban explorer through the haunting multistory ruins of a remote island may be one of their riskiest geographic ventures ...
If you thought the grainy satellite images of naked sunbathers from Google Earth were a borderline invasion of privacy, Google Street View takes things to a whole new level. This remarkable ...
Timmy the ToothThese are so cool.
Has doodling ever been more creative than this? While most people wouldn’t give a second’s thought to the shape an everyday object’s shadow casts upon adjacent surfaces, artist Vincent Bal looks at them and sees the beginnings of a character or scene. It might be a phone charger, a fallen leaf, a drinking glass or a Christmas ornament, but in its shadow, Bal sees far more than the object itself.
Each of Bal’s quick and clever illustrations is a testament to the creativity of an artist’s brain. Calling his work ‘shadowology,’ Bal plays around with silhouettes and light sources to find inspiration for sketches most people would never dream up. It takes the game of finding shapes in the clouds and applies an artist’s hand to the process, embellishing the shapes into something more.
Calling himself a ‘filmmaker and doodler and procrastinator from Belgium’, Bal shares his work on his popular Instagram account and sells prints on Etsy.
A children's book with an interactive twist, Motion Silhouette engages readers through pop-up pieces that require lighting to animate shadow pictures on each page. The idea ...
In an urban environment, it seems that nearly everything is fleeting. Nothing - not even the tall buildings or long-standing sidewalks - is immune to change. Urban art that aims to make the most ...
Creatures large and small seem to have eaten their way out of the confinement of everyday items like rolling pins, axes, pianos and chairs in the hands of Montreal-based artist Maskull Lasserre. ...
Timmy the ToothAtom and Humber
We all love Alexis, and here at Arseblog News we love dogs because dogs are the best.
Alexis has dogs, and he loves his dogs, and that makes us love Alexis even more. Here is talking to the official website about how much he loves his dogs.
Dogs are so great.
Here’s my dog responding when I make a sort of a howling sound. Feel free to share your own dog clips and pics in the comments, make this the doggiest post ever.
Timmy the ToothThe difference between me and you? I make this look goood.
Like some ancient megalith, an imposing windowless structure in Manhattan may be even more sinister than it appears. The AT&T Long Lines Building at 33 Thomas Street was built for machines, designed to house long-distance phone lines in the 1970s, but reports now suggest it has been used by the National Security Agency as a listening post in the heart of America’s financial capital. Welcome to the home of Project X, both a supposed name of the place (also known as Titanpointe) and title of a short film about it by Henrik Moltke and Laura Poitras.
Aside from its everyday functions, the 29-story, bunker-like building was constructed to house over 1,000 people in a nuclear attack (with its own food, water and generators) — what better place, really, to conceal government agents for indefinite periods of time? The building is located toward the southern tip of Manhattan, just a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. Its proximity to offices and meeting places of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and World Bank also make it an ideal location from which to spy on such organizations.
According to reports, NSA and FBI employees and contractors working in the building were given tips on how to avoid standing out when entering and exiting the structure. They were told what clothes to wear and cars to rent to remain inconspicuous.
Edward Snowden was a major source for the associated links now bringing this all to light. Apparently, there is no direct evidence that government agencies used the actual AT&T equipment on site — it may have just been an ideal staging space for their own technologies and operations. There is, however, a major “gateway switch” on site (routing international calls) which has led some to suspect there may be more to the story. So far, of course, the NSA has declined to comment.
“This is yet more proof that our communications service providers have become, whether willingly or unwillingly, an arm of the surveillance state,” says Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “The NSA is presumably operating under authorities that enable it to target foreigners, but the fact that it is so deeply embedded in our domestic communications infrastructure should tip people off that the effects of this kind of surveillance cannot be neatly limited to non-Americans.”
Mobile robotic surveillance devices are nothing new - you can purchase remote-controlled ones online, and the government has been developing spy gadgets that get smaller, faster and harder to spot ...
A master of Modernism whose architectural legacy includes a range of monumental concrete structures around the world, Marcel Breuer remains divisive among Brutalism’s admirers and detractors ...
Philadelphia native Andrew Evans takes pictures that give a new perspective on the processes of urban deconstruction, showing before, during and after images of once-proud civic ...
Timmy the ToothNo, he's fucking awful.
But more to the point: if you come from another country and take someone's job, you have to be god damn good, better than the local.
Timmy the ToothHoly shit.. not a single mention of Arsenal? He must support Arsenal as his second club.
Think you’ve seen it all when it comes to ideas for saving space in small houses and apartments? Beijing’s B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio is here to prove you wrong in the most delightful way, with a series of transforming elements and incredibly clever layouts in two tiny ‘hutong’ alley houses. Working with lots as small as 258 square feet that are squashed between existing buildings, the architects managed to produce functional, comfortable, private residences full of natural daylight and enough space for multi-generational families.
Both homes butt up against other structures, making it impossible to incorporate windows into the design. B.L.U.E. added skylights to both, utilizing open-plan lofted layouts inside to encourage a bright and cheerful atmosphere. The first home is on a narrow L-shaped lot and features a cool glass-filled rear wall that opens all the way up to the courtyard.
Inside, beds and children’s play areas are lofted above a pale wooden built-in full of sliding elements, fold-down tables, transforming stairs, beds that instantly double in size, retractible walls and a modest-sized table that expands to seat six diners.
The second house is even smaller, with a nearly-identical arrangement of skylights and cabinet-packed walls revealing an array of unexpected features when opened. Extra countertops and work surfaces pop out of the wall facing the galley kitchen, and storage space stretches from the floor to the ceiling.
Beneath the lofted bedrooms for the owners and their kids, a third bedroom area doubles as an extra dining space. Remove the mattress to reveal a pop-up table and cushioned bench seating that you climb into like a retro conversation pit, or lay it back down and pull down the blinds for privacy. A second table folds down from the adjacent wall in seconds, with storage cubes doubling as stools.
From the pictures, it looks like there are even more built-in elements that aren’t demonstrated in GIF form, like a mysterious hatch in the dining room floor. The whole setup is clean, modern and uncluttered enough for a minimalist’s sensibilities despite so many people living in such a small space – an inspiration for all the tricks and hacks we’re going to have to come up with to boost housing density in cities with burgeoning populations.
Making the most of a tiny apartment is all about smart use of space, organization and multi-purpose furniture. Here are 24 examples of clever small-space hacks that pack in a ton of function ...
When living in a small space, every inch counts - so multifunctional furniture that can adapt and change is a top priority. A coffee table needs to be more than a coffee table, possibly rising to ...
Murphy beds and small table surfaces aren't the only interior elements that can pop out of walls or freestanding cabinets to offer extra function when it's needed. Entire kitchens, living rooms, ...
Timmy the ToothOh Spain...
Timmy the ToothThis is why you get title insurance.
A Pierce County, Wash., couple has learned their backyard is going on the public auction block next week.
Timmy the ToothPretty cool.
Iconic for its role in the counterculture movement of the 1960s, the Volkswagen Bus has seen many an amateur transformation into campers over the decades since, and now it’s gone solar electric. An Oregon couple decided to put their own spin on the classic DIY project by fusing the original aesthetics of a 1973 VW van with electric vehicle batteries and photovoltaic panels mounted to the roof, creating a modest but highly functional recreational vehicle for their family trips.
Brett Belen, an engineer who spent years working on solar electric vehicles before taking on the project, wanted a highway-friendly camper with a large roof surface to pack on the largest possible solar array. He mounted four 305-watt LG panels to a pop-up frame that tilts up to 40 degrees, taking in lots of sunlight on the road while flat and then positioned toward the morning sun when open and parked for the night.
The space beneath the open panel provides extra elbow room inside the van for Brett, his wife Kira and their two children. This works almost exactly like Volkswagen-produced camper vans, with the sides enclosed by waterproof tent material. A rear window allows them to look out onto the scenery of their chosen camping spot, while the inside is equipped with folding tables and storage space for gear.
The battery bank consists of 12 Trojan T-1275 lead-acid batteries in a custom battery box tucked beneath a bench seat in the back, providing a range of up to 50 miles per charge. While other battery types could provide more power, Brett emphasizes that he wanted to stick to materials that the average person can afford. It’s not top of the line, but the setup is still enough to take the Belens on a 1400-mile trip of the West Coast. Learn more about the specifics at the family’s website.
Solar power projects go truly off-the-grid in mobile applications that range from practical if goofy solar panel-equipped Ray Bans to donkeys that stroll around with photovoltaics mounted to ...
Elon Musk is attacking the question of energy storage and consumption at home, first with electric cars, then with home batteries and now the final piece of the puzzle: solar panels people will ...
With batteries running low, your eye roams the room for a place to plug in, but then you remember: you brought your own power supply - all you need now is a window. Portable, easy and green, this ...
Timmy the ToothScary
Timmy the ToothLet's not forget that Sarah Palin is tipped to be the new secretary of the VA.
The dastardly elites will surely have much to fear from this band of outsiders.
Timmy the ToothI kind of like these ideas. Though they do remind me of that episode of Black Mirror.
Well, here’s one way to get some exercise and simultaneously enjoy views of a beautiful city without getting rained on or dealing with traffic. Gliding along the surface of the Seine in Paris, past such landmarks as the Notre Dame Cathedral, ‘The Paris Navigating Gym’ gets most of its power from the humans operating the stationary bicycles inside. Supplemented by rooftop solar panels, the boat is designed to be a mobile exercise facility and relaxing tour of the city all at once, separated from the noise and chaos of the streets.
Architect Carlo Ratti collaborated with fitness manufacturing company Technogym, non-profit Terreform ONE and urban generation institute URBEM to develop the project. Director of the MIT Senseable City Lab, which describes itself as ‘urban imagination and social innovation through design & science,’ Ratti aims to explore the potential of power generation through the movement of human bodies.
The boat itself is pretty cool, accommodating up to 45 people on the bikes and other fitness equipment made by Technogym. As they work out, they can keep track of how much energy they’re producing as well as their fitness progress. An inverter converts the pedal power into utility grade electricity, powering the electronic elements of the equipment and propelling the boat. Excess energy is fed into the grid.
The design of the boat is based on that of Bateaux Mouches, ferry boats for tourists that have dotted the Seine for nearly a century. The panoramic glass facades looking out onto the water sure beat the views of parking lots and televisions at most local gyms.
Soon, you'll be able to charge your iPhone at strategic locations around New York City - but you'll have to put in a little leg work. The Charge Cycle is a stationary bike equipped with an iPhone ...
Using air flow and solar energy, this ingenious device creates up to 16 ounces (a half-liter) per hour of drinkable water via condensation as you ride, quenching your thirst just when and where ...
With space increasingly at a premium in cities around the world, bodies of water - and the structures that span them - are becoming host to all sorts of unexpected functions. This concept by ...
Timmy the ToothI thought the first photo looked like Trump just said "Hey Mitt, I've got a joke for you: do you have any naked pictures of your wife? DO YOU WANT SOME???"
Timmy the ToothThey ran out of fuel...
The crash of the Brazilians’ plane claimed a 22-year-old striker who was about to become a father and spared a team-mate who missed the flight through injury
The players from Chapecoense were heading for a match that would surely mark the pinnacle of their club’s history so far: the first leg of the final in South America’s Copa Sudamericana – the continent’s second most prominent club competition.
Related: Tragedy strikes Chapecoense, serial overachievers dubbed a ‘Brazilian Leicester’
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