This replacement shower head illuminates the water according to water temperature. I guess this might be useful; it's a curious effect at least. The illuminating LEDs are powered by the water flow and don't require batteries.
With the current state of drought in Melbourne, there's a lot of interest in ways of saving water around the house.
For example, this image shows trends in the use of the terms 'Peak Oil' and 'Climate Change' over the last 4 years (see live trends here). It shows how the UN Climate Change Report caused a major peak on Feb 2, 2007, but interest in Peak Oil appears to have tailored off. There seems to be far more interest in both topics from Australia and New Zealand that the US.The Coalition will significantly enhance the ability of each group to achieve its purpose through a combined membership of over 60 000 in contact with a quarter of a million bike riders across Australia.
It will establish agreement about bike riding issues; present common positions to government, community and business; develop shared intellectual property and develop shared ventures and initiatives.
Suggestions for issues the Coalition could address are invited!
When: Thursday 13th September, 2007
Time: 6:15pm for a 6:30pm start
Where: Saint Michael’s Building, next to 120 Collins St. Disabled access. (click here for a map)
Costs: $10 for ATA members (ATA couples $15). Non-members welcome $15.
Refreshments provided
RSVP essential as seats are limited. Contact Wendy Clarke on ph:(03) 9631 5407 or email: wendy@ata.org.au
This report investigates the feasibility of small-scale, grid-connected wind turbines for urban Melbourne, outlines the findings of the research and highlights the issues which may face the emerging market.
Speakers include:
Here's an amusing improvement to the Workplace Relations media saturation campaign spotted on a Flinders St tramstop...
You can create your own charts, e.g. I've used the tool here to compare per capita CO2 emissions of various countries with similar income levels.
The design team are doing “performances” of their work in Miami, Tokyo and other cities.
In Feb 2007, the Western Australian Sustainable Energy Development Office awarded Graeme Attey a $34,000 grant to develop a modular axis wind turbine system suitable for individual houses and other buildings in urban areas. It will involve the development to commercial stage if testing of an existing prototype proves successful.
Library Books is a small Mac OS X application that puts a listing of books you've currently borrowed or reserved up in the Menubar. You can subscribe to multiple libraries, receive notification of overdue books and access the online library catalogues.
New technologies have always presented challenges to users. Here's a YouTube sketch of medieval help desk support for one of those new fangled 'books'.
The non-physical keys of the Apple iPhone offer fantastic advantages of standard phone keys, but some think this may be the greatest weak point of the device. The early reviews do suggest it will take users several days to adjust, but in the end this should not be an issue.Intriguing YouTube movie of apparently aimless doodling on a wall.
Here's someone who's fitted a Mac Mini into an old SE30 case
Lots of gratuitous pictures of track bikes* mainly for Julian.The new Australian law banning telemarketers from ringing telephone numbers on the national "Do Not Call" register is now in force.
Registration at https://www.donotcall.gov.au/ This is fairly easy, but it takes a month or so to come into effect. Note that charities, religious organisations, political parties and candidates and social and market researchers are still permitted to ring telephone numbers listed on the register.
Note: Choice running a campaign to have these exemptions removed.
The emoticon for "smile" in most western cultures is this :). In Japan, however, emoticons tend to emphasize the eyes, such as the happy face (^_^) and the sad face (;_;).
You might think that's just because the traditions evolved separately, but emotion researcher Masaki Yuki doesn't buy it. He argues that the difference in Japanese emoticons is related to cultural differences. [Cognitive Daily]It might sound strange to people who think of the Amish as 19th century holdovers, but that's an oversimplification. Instead, after considering the impact to their values and way of life, Amish communities decide communally whether to adopt new technologies. [Wired]
