[Simple Inventions] Cheap lighting, fridge and air conditioning for the poor

1. A simple invention using bottles of water with bleach to light shacks/huts for the poor.




2. Clay pot cooler (no ice!)



Globe Aware is cataloguing small-scale "Green" projects for use in the local communities in which we operate. These simple videos, along with other training materials, will be used in coming up with project ideas!


3. Air conditioning using the invention above for cooler water (not ice cubes unfortunately)





Some practical applications:

1. In India...



2. In the Sudan...

Innovation is easy if we put our minds to it.

In sports the top athlete of today can beat the top athlete of 10-20 years ago with ease (for example; how often world records are broken in sports proves the increasing skill of the modern athlete). To be in the lead, in science or wealth, innovation is the key. Currently the US ranks...

Check out this 'replicator'

This new (and incredible) device reminds me of a replicator from Star Trek with a bit of 'teleporter' type functionality (i.e. scan an item miles away and recreate/replicate at home). Of course, it's alot safer (in my opinion) than actual teleportation as you don't destroy anything before recreating it...

"Teleportation involves dematerializing an object at one point, and sending the details of that object's precise atomic configuration to another location, where it will be reconstructed."

Th

e Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Here is an article on one of the recent teleportation developments:

"Physics and magic aren't often mistaken, but increasingly, physicists themselves seem to be trying to change that. Last year, a team at the University of California, Berkeley, announced that it had developed materials that could lead to an invisibility cloak. Last month, a group of researchers at Harvard University and the National Institutes of Health reported that it had accomplished something not unlike levitation, causing a microscopic sphere of gold to rise above a glass surface. Now, according to a paper published in the Jan. 23 issue of Science, a team of scientists from the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) at the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan has joined the fun. The current bit of legerdemain? Teleportation."

Ancient and old tech ignored in favor of inefficient new tech

New Exxon Mobil Film For Lithium Ion Car Batteries

This discovery is not consistent with conspiracy theories about how oil companies are holding back discoveries of substitutes. Though I'm confident dedicated conspiracists can reconcile this announcement with their beliefs. Anyway, ExxonMobil claims a discovery by their researchers will make lithium ion batteries usable in cars.

IMPORTANT: A conspiracy theory is by definition a THEORY. If you can prove a 'conspiracy theory' then it ceases to be a theory and becomes a fact.

Article Perspective # 1 

The all-electric automobile is not a new idea: in 1900, a quarter of the cars produced in the United States ran on batteries alone. But when Henry Ford debuted his cheap, gas-powered Model T in 1908, oil quickly became the industry standard. Shai Agassi , 40, a former president at software giant SAP, thinks...


Article Perspective # 2

Why did GM crush the EV1??

The NiMH EV1 had an EPA certified range of 140 miles on a charge; none of the EV1 lessees complained about the range. So if the customer wants the car, despite what someone else says, why not sell it to them?


When GM crushed the EV1, it drove away its own customers, who went to Toyota. Toyota was happy to take our money and sell us the Toyota RAV4-EV, last sold in Nov., 2002. If there was no "liability" issue for Toyota, GM did not have that excuse either.


Far from a shortage of electric, being able to buy a plug-in car would actually help the utility grid. The EV1 charges slowly, at night, when there is too much electric; and the money you save NOT buying gasoline will more than pay for your rooftop solar PV system. This isn't fantasy, it's FACT; hundreds of Toyota RAV4-EV drivers put solar on their roof and now drive for free, free of pollution and free of cost since the money they saved paid it off years ago. But you can't do this unless you can buy a plug-in car, none are offered for sale by the Auto Alliance


The EV1 came in two "flavors": one using advanced NiMH batteries, and the other using cheaper lead-acid batteries. With PSB EV-EC1260 lead batteries, this EV1 had a range over 100 miles on a charge. The cost of this off-the-shelf battery pack is no more than $4,800. The rest of the EV1 is just electronics and bent metal. As for Nickel, it's entirely recyclable; after the Nickel battery wears out, perhaps 200,000 miles, the only expense is melting it down and "reforming" it into a new battery, using all the old metals and components.

Notice one very important thing in the following video - the new electric cars are not only super expensive they don't even have the 140 mile range that the old technology had(see above). I say we scrap the new stuff and bring out the old.

From FOX NEWS: The Gas Alternative: All-Electric Cars - May 28, 2011- 4:10
'OTR' Gas Prices Special: Greta looks at all-electrical cars as a way to combat rising fuel costs

Some ancient technology for a new age

Some materials have been around so long, and seem to have appeared on the world scene so suddenly, that you have to be open to the possibility that they may have been cultivated and used a long time ago (i.e. before recorded history). In particular I'm talking about that plant that got a bad name because of a slander campaign by an ancient american logging company.

Here is a little about hemp (the marijuana plant) from a textile type website:

The first use of hemp fibre dates well back into the mists of time and is one of the first plants known to have been cultivated. About 10,000 years ago, hemp industries appeared simultaneously in China and Eurasia for the production of a textile fibre. One of the oldest known relics of human industry is a trace of hemp fabric from about 8000BC in the “Cradle of Civilisation” at Catal Huyuk (Ancient Mesopotamia).

Hemp has played a vital role for humanity for many thousands of years, supplying the worlds strongest natural fibre, used for rope, clothing, sail cloth, and many other uses including being a vital food source - the seed oil is very high in the nutritionally valuable omega 3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).

The United States of America’s founding fathers were strong advocates of a hemp-based economy for their new country. In fact, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were hemp farmers. In 1871 Thomas Jefferson said, “Hemp is of first necessity to commerce and marine”. In other words, to the wealth and protection of the country, today few people realise that hemp was once so vital to world commerce.

The first two drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper, as were most of the books of the time. The first Levi’s were constructed of recycled hemp sailcloth for the California '49ers with steel rivets so that the pockets would not rip when filled with gold. Many famous artists such as Van Gogh also painted some of their greatest works on hemp canvas.

Industrial hemp is cultivated to minimize the THC.

A pretty good article on hemp/marijuana and its uses is located here. The following are a few random extracts:

One important potential use for hemp is the production of paper. From 75 to 90 percent of all paper in the world was made with hemp fiber until 1883: the Gutenberg bible (15th century), Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (19th century) and just about everything in between was printed on hemp paper.
An acre of hemp produces 4.1 times as much paper as an acre of trees. Hemp can also be harvested every year while trees take 20 years or more to grow to harvest. Since hemp builds topsoil, it can be grown on the same acre of land year after year. Many acres of forest could be saved by industrial cultivation of hemp for paper alone.
Practical, inexpensive fire-resistant construction material, with excellent thermal and sound-insulating qualities, can be made by heating and compressing plant fibers to create strong construction paneling. This paneling could replace dry wall and plywood. Hemp is a logical choice for such a purpose. C&S Specialty Builder's Supply near Eugene, Oregon, in conjunction with Washington State University, has demonstrated the superior strength flexibility and economy of hemp composite building materials compared to wood fiber - even in the production of beams.
On another front, using hemp as a biomass fuel could eliminate our dependence on imported fossil fuels. A study completed in the early l990s at the University of Hawaii found that biomass gasification could meet 90 percent of that state's energy needs. Biomass can be converted into virtually every form of energy used, including methanol to power automobiles. Since methanol is a cleaner fuel than petro-based fuels, this would lead to reduced auto emissions.
According to the UNICEF report State of the World's Children, a child dies every 2.3 seconds as a result of malnutrition. According to the Institute for Food and Development Policy, twenty million children die of malnutrition every year. These numbers are staggering, and are on the rise. Here again, hemp can come to the rescue.
When hemp is grown for seed, half the weight of the mature, harvested female plant is seed! Hemp is also a hearty plant that flourishes in almost all climates and in marginal soils. This means it could be grown in poor countries to provide food where it is most needed. Australians survived two prolonged famines in the 19th century using almost nothing except hemp seeds for protein and hemp leaves for roughage.
No other single plant source can compare with the nutritional value of hemp seeds. Both the complete protein and essential oils contained in hemp seeds are in ideal ratios for human nutrition.
Hemp is a disease-resistant weed and grows easily compared to other crops. Food crops are disrupted by drought but hemp actually helps soils alleviate droughts. It sets the standard in retaining topsoil and re-foliating arid land. 
Hemp can also be used for the production of cloth spun from its fiber. Hemp cloth is softer, warmer, more water absorbent, stronger and more durable than cotton. The well-known clothing manufacturer Patagonia has found that hemp has eight times the tensile strength and has four times the durability of cotton. 
The possibilities represented by hemp cultivation are tantalizing: reduce or eliminate deforestation, free us from dependence on fossil fuel and their damaging by-products, and provide a positive impact on chronic world hunger.

You have seen what damage a tornado or hurricane can do to a house made of wood (well, in the States they use a sort of light wood mix of something or the other - it is so light that if you walk through one of their mass produced houses you can feel wooden boards in the house creek and walls shake with your footsteps). Most houses are built to be cost effective and then insurance is expected to cover expected statistical damages in times of good weather or bad weather (a cycle which tends to go up and down, [see the graphs/actuary tables]).

Hemp/low THC marijuana, is easy AND fast to grow.

The best part is you can make a plastic lighter and stronger than steel. If you made a properly secured house of proper building materials, a tree hitting the house will simply fall down after hitting it. And depending of the level of strength of the house, most tornados and hurricanes will have no effect.

Here is some old technology developed by Ford:



And here is a modern reinvention of some ancient technology:




We can literally makes houses, cars and planes made of weed! Imagine how much cheaper it would be to be able to grow our cars and planes. Plus, there may even be a way to replace every metal in an object, such as a plane, so electrical storms won't be able to affect the circuitry or the lives of the pilots/passengers.[not too sure on this, a bit behind on my plant and quatum tech science] - [Note - 27 May '11 - In any new tech you have to keep in mind that electricity and magnetism can do both, cause damage to aircraft and passengers, and so both must be blocked - and they have to be considered together as electricity can create magnetism and magnetism can create electricity]

This isn't just for people with arable farmland.

Hemp is literally a weed.

That means it grows like a weed as well.

So the amount of work that would be needed for a productive crop would be less than that needed for crops that are NOT weeds.

How to easily create arable land for hemp:

The Future of Space Flight

We have all seen the amazing video footage being streamed from outer space, such as the space walk with the earth spinning in the background...




The methods that we are using to reach space are derived from ideas that are over a century old:

"Tsiolkovsky not only solved theoretically such age-old questions as how to escape from the Earth’s atmosphere and gravitational field, but he also described several rockets. The first, conceived in 1903, was to be powered by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen—a very modern propellant combination . . . [Tsiolkovsky] made another discovery—the multistage rocket, which he called the ‘rocket train.’ Actually, this concept was not as new as Tsiolkovsky, who discovered it independently, thought; firework makers had used the principle for at least 200 years. But Tsiolkovsky was the first to analyze the idea in a sophisticated manner. The multistage technique, he concluded, was the only feasible means by which a space vehicle could attain the velocity necessary to escape from the Earth’s gravitational hold" (Von Braun & Ordway, History of Rocketry and Space Travel [1975] 42).


We have planes that can fly at over 60 miles above the ground.

Point to ponder: Could we be reaching a level of technology where we will soon be able to attain spaceflight without expensive rockets? Then every nation, and even individuals who can afford small space flight planes, will be able to visit the moon and beyond. Attach an award to appropriate discoveries and we can have individual level advanced space flight in the next 2 years.

Introduction 1: The Scientific Method

The scientific method arose from a need to find out if our common sense beliefs were true. 

If you don't investigate into something (at levels that may even go beyond the technology of your time) then you can end up with some ideas about the world which may seem silly to us now but were common sense back then.

For centuries, people based their beliefs on their interpretations of what they saw going on in the world around them without testing their ideas to determine the validity of these theories — in other words, they didn’t use the scientific method to arrive at answers to their questions. Rather, their conclusions were based on untested observations. 

Among these ideas, since at least the time of Aristotle (4th Century BC), people (including scientists) believed that simple living organisms could come into being by spontaneous generation. This was the idea that non-living objects can give rise to living organisms. It was common “knowledge” that simple organisms like worms, beetles, frogs, amd salamanders could come from dust, mud, etc., and food left out, quickly “swarmed” with life.

Point to ponder: How many common sense beliefs could we have today that our children (or children's children) will laugh at and call us stupid for?

Here is an introduction to the scientific method:

1. Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena. 

2. Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena. In physics, the hypothesis often takes the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation. 

3. Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations. 

4. Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.

If the experiments bear out the hypothesis it may come to be regarded as a theory or law of nature (more on the concepts of hypothesis, model, theory and law below). If the experiments do not bear out the hypothesis, it must be rejected or modified. What is key in the description of the scientific method just given is the predictive power (the ability to get more out of the theory than you put in; see Barrow, 1991) of the hypothesis or theory, as tested by experiment. It is often said in science that theories can never be proved, only disproved. There is always the possibility that a new observation or a new experiment will conflict with a long-standing theory.