Pow Wow exists to promote collaborative creativity between the arts, environmental and community sectors and promote sustainable living. They also produce the eco arts directory for artists producing environmental art.
Technorati tag: art
The Rocket Racing League is the “NASCAR of the future” according to its creator. In much the same way as Second World War fighters became air racers, this is where today’s fighter pilots expect to end up when they’re replaced by UAVs.
Technorati tag: Rocket
I’ve acquired a few small Fords in the last week, all in 1:76th scale. First up is the Corgi Trackside Ford Transit which I found in the model shop on Saturday. It comes with a ticket declaring it to be number 3406 of 4000, which makes me think twice about doing anything to it. However, I also bought a tub of the MIG Productions Standard Rust pigment and this seems like a perfect candidate for rusting and weathering.
Next up are the Ford Model Y and Pop from John Day. They’re cast whitemetal kits intended for model railways, but my plans are to customise them. The bodies are clean with minor flash around the windows and mould lines on the lower edges that will only need a little cleaning up. The close up shots make the surface look pitted, but this will disappear with a coat of primer and a bit of buffing. Sprayed with car paint and with a few details picked out, these would look good on a 30-40s (Y) or 50s (Pop) layout.
Interior detail is minimal and the underbodies are a bit plain. The Y has a driver figure but, well, he looks like the elephant man. For my customs I’m going to try to build new chassis for them and fit new seats, steering wheels etc. but for their intended use these are minor quibbles.
I’d recommend these models for the period railway modeller. How they’ll suit my slightly mad hot-rodding plans remains to be seen.
You can get a list of John Day’s products by sending a stamped addressed envelope to John Day, 104 St. Peter’s Close, Moreton-on-Lugg, Hereford, HR4 8DW. Mention that you read about him on spinneyhead.co.uk/Scale
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Small Scale Customs, 1:76th
Quiet Revolution wind turbines are vertical and rather gorgeous to look at. Virtually silent and vibration free, they are ideally suited to both urban sites and exposed locations, they can also become billboards using LEDs embedded in the blades. The first installation is due for later this year, on a roundabout.
via Treehugger
Technorati tag: Wind Power
I don’t think the Sex Toy design list had a requirement for the device to be environmentally friendly. Treehugger has a post on greening your bedroom exploits and, considering the horrible chemicals some sex toys can leach– particularly in contact with lipids and the like- you know it makes sense to save up for that glass dildo.
Technorati tag: Sex Toy, phthalates
I fancy having a go at making my own micro wind turbine. Perhaps one of the projects at this site will be suitable.via TreehuggerTechnorati tag: Wind Power
RCV engines, developed by a British company, offer two-stroke power with four-stroke efficiency and cleanliness for engines up to 250cc. They are also well suited to alternative fuels such as kerosene and bio-fuels. Widespread adoption of the technology could take the edge off increased demand for scooters and small motorbikes in China and India and make suburban mowers and leaf blowers cleaner.
Technorati tag: Rotating Cylinder Valve
Let’s face it, it’s impossible to believe anything GW Bush says. He goes on about the US’ addiction to petrol and touts ethanol from grass as a possible saviour, but doesn’t have the guts to suggest that Americans walk to the shops or buy more economic cars.
Related The Times on Brazil’s ethanol economy.
The BBC remembers the public information fiolms of years gone by, starting with Jimmy Saville urging us to “Clunk, Click every trip”.
Technorati tag: Nostalgia
My current employers keep launching environmental initiatives. These micro wind turbines are the first of a bunch atop their building on Portland Street. They generate 1kW each, save about a ton of carbon dioxide a year and will have paid for themselves in four or five years.
All of the taller buildings in the city should have a copse of wind turbines, I think.
Make your own news report with the raw footage from BSN.
Technorati tag: Wind Power, Manchester
Before and during the invasion of Iraq the US forces fed the world’s press through a dedicated section of their command centre in Qatar. As local Arab news service Al Jazeera negotiated the politics of the newsroom two documentary film makers recorded their war.
Three people get the lion’s share of our attention- an earnest young US press officer, a large, jovial and very sharp former BBC reporter and a professorly interviewer/ interpreter. We keep coming back to them after digressions into the worlds of other correspondents and media advisers.
The media centre was intended to control the news, something the likes of Fox were willing to participate but non-US media disliked. Al Jazeera in particular came in for condemnation for their failure to play along and insistence on showing footage of the dead and wounded. Every channel had its “war reel” of footage shown on the hour. Al Jazeera’s had the requisite footage of tanks, planes and US military might, but rounded it out with injured children and dead bodies.
The villain of the piece is Donald Rumsfeld. Looking like a barely animated corpse he keeps popping up to remind us that Al Jazeera is a tool of Iraqi propaganda. To counter point this, Comical Ali appears to tell us that Al Jazeera is a tool of American propaganda. Other compare and contrast moments include the Al Jazeera reporter being told he should be more objective about Iraqi casualties whilst the press corps is practically ordered to break out the yellow ribbons for Private Jessica Lynch.
Toward the end the press officer has a haunted look, like he’s realised that the whole world doesn’t think like the US and he might have been selling the wrong product. The professor wants to send his children to school in America so they can opt in to the cultural imperialism rather than being victims of it. And a hard rain comes to cleanse the press centre as everyone is leaving.
It would be interesting to see an equivalent documentary concentrating on the correspondents of Fox or some other Western news agency. But I doubt they would be as honest.
Technorati tag: Al Jazeera, DVD
I shouldn’t be so surprised.
On a list of acceptable proofs of identity for a job application- a current shotgun or firearm licence. (a police warrant card is also considered valid, which leads me to wonder how many police officers are moonlighting.)
Using household items to scratch-build spaceships, Part One and Part Two.
via BoingBoing
Technorati tag: Scale Models, Spaceship, Scratch-build, Kitbash