Re-inventing the Wheel

If you’ve never explored the Thingiverse, perhaps the best place to start is with the wheel. This is very highly customizable wheel in the way of an OpenSCAD file with 46 parameters that provides a limitless set of combinations and wheel designs. In addition to the spoke options you see here, ou can select tread designs, … Read more

3D Printing – The First Snort is Free

It’s been selling all of us overpriced ink and toner for decades now, while basically giving its printers away. It plans to do the same thing with 3D printers by making them compatible only with proprietary spools and filaments. HP recently told the press that it has already developed a special polymer that its 3D … Read more

Making the Case for Open Source

No one makes a better case for open source hardware and software than the manufacturer of a high-priced, high-end CNC mill like the Mori Seiki NV5000 A/40. Even if you own the machine outright, if you move it at all, a GPS and gyro sensor package in the machine will automatically shut it down and … Read more

As Tiny Houses Go, Try Whimsical.

Move over C.S. Lewis. You’ve got competition now J.R.R Tolkien. This tiny home studio is one truly inspirational abode for the aspirational writer. Heck, even I could churn out readable stuff from a home like this! The builder describes it as a Whimsical Day Use Shop, Potting Shed or Hideout. But, they must have never … Read more

The Most Insidious Symbioses

The United States is the world’s largest grower and consumer of genetically-modified (GM) foods. As of 2010, the United States had 66.8 million hectares of GM crops planted, covering 16.5 percent of our total agricultural area. Because GM foods are made with proteins from organisms that weren’t previously part of the food chain, GM foods … Read more

Ag-gag — When the Law is an Ass

North Dakota, Montana and Kansas were the first to embark on what is known as Ag Gag back in 1990-91. Three more states elected to impair the First Amendment in 2012 when Iowa, Utah, and Missouri lost their independence to big-agri. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Mercy for Animals, The American Society … Read more

HVDC — High Voltage Direct Current

The company that commissioned the world’s first 800 kilovolt UHVDC systems, the longest overhead HVDC link to go into commercial operation, and the world’s longest underwater and underground HVDC links, is now writing the next chapter in the evolution of this technology. ABB has successfully designed and developed a hybrid DC breaker after years of … Read more

Tiny Home – Japanese Style

A teacher built a tiny house in the forest. Brian Schulz recently completed his forest house in the Oregon Woods. He built the home himself, and the design and concept of it were inspired by the traditional Japanese Minka homes, which are built using local materials and steeply sloped roofs to create affordable, open structures. … Read more