Completely New Means of Generating Electricity

In this device, the humidity-driven flexing of a spore-covered piece of latex rubber (right) drives the movement of a magnet, which produces electricity. A device built on similar principles could function as a humidity-driven electrical generator. Image Credit: Xi Chen/Columbia University
In this device, the humidity-driven flexing of a spore-covered piece of latex rubber (right) drives the movement of a magnet, which produces electricity. A device built on similar principles could function as a humidity-driven electrical generator.
Image Credit: Xi Chen/Columbia University

A new means of generating electricity, one that utilizes bacteria to harness the energy of evaporating water, has been created by researchers from the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.

The method could potentially be used to capture the energy released by ponds, harbors, and other bodies of water when the Sun warms them (causing evaporation), according to the researchers.

The newly created prototype generators work by harnessing the movement of a sheet of rubber that’s coated on one side with bacterial spores. As the sheet dries out, it bends, and as the humidity rises, it straightens out — the energy of these movements is then captured and used to drive a generator.

A soil bacterium called Bacillus subtilis wrinkles as it dries out like a grape becoming a raisin, forming a tough, dormant spore. Unlike raisins, which cannot re-form into grapes, spores can take on water and almost immediately restore themselves to their original shape.

Simply increasing the humidity from that of a dry, sunny day to a humid, misty one enabled the flexible, spore-coated plank to generate 1000 times as much force as human muscle, and at least 10 times as much as other materials engineers currently use to build actuators.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

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When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!




New Life for Nitinol

Nickel titanium, also known as nitinol, is a metal alloy of nickel and titanium, where the two elements are present in roughly equal atomic percentages.

Nitinol alloys exhibit two closely related and unique properties: shape memory and superelasticity (also called pseudoelasticity). Shape memory is the ability of nitinol to undergo deformation at one temperature, then recover its original, undeformed shape upon heating above its “transformation temperature”. Superelasticity occurs at a narrow temperature range just above its transformation temperature; in this case, no heating is necessary to cause the undeformed shape to recover, and the material exhibits enormous elasticity, some 10-30 times that of ordinary metal.

Commercialized nitinol in the form of Flexinol® Actuator Wire can flex and contract when a specific amount of heat or current is applied to it and is made specifically for linear actuators to replace small motors or solenoids thanks to shape memory and a change between the wires weaker, low temperature form (martensitic) and its stronger, high temperature form (austenite).

When the Flexinol® is in its martensitic form, it can be formed and bent into different shapes. However, when an electrical current of ~200mA is applied to the wire, or is heated to ~100C it reverts to austenite form and recovers its previous shape with great force. Additionally, you can anneal it at ~500C (use an industrial furnace or simply a lighter) to whatever shape you would want, next once that current or heat is applied it will return to that new shape.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!




As Tiny Houses Go, Try Whimsical.

CuteTinyHouse

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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 met a card-carrying member of the tiny house movement. I know plenty of tree huggers, like myself, that could make this work as a primary residence. This particular model is from a line of Storybook Homes. BC Custom Homes offers the following description:

The exterior finish is predominately stucco, often rough troweled, and frequently with half-timbering. Exteriors also feature rubble stone, crazed brick, or clinker brick; all-stone, all-brick, and all-wood construction are sometimes used. Turrets with conical roofs are a common feature, as are faux dovecotes. Walls can be sloped or curving, hand made or organic looking; wing walls are not uncommon.

Rooflines are usually curved in some way—swaybacked, sagged, concave, undulating or sharply pointed; gables are usually jerkinhead or very sharply pointed; eaves are often rolled; use of catslides is common. Roofs are commonly finished with wooden shingles, wooden shakes, or slate laid down in a seawave or other intentionally irregular pattern; though the original materials have frequently been replaced over time, the irregular pattern is sometimes imitated in the more modern material.
Round-topped or batten, often with a speakeasy – doors are frequently set in an arched frame lined with stone; when a turret is present, the building’s front door typically opens into this. Windows are usually wood-framed with leaded or wavy glass installed; figural insets of stained glass are not uncommon. Wrought iron door hinges, handles, knockers, and locksets are common, as are other wrought iron embellishments.

Most Storybook Homes are fairly small and are based upon a fanciful interpretation of medieval European homes, or traditional English cottage style. Larger storybook homes are often constructed to appear as though built up gradually over time, one addition at a time, or built primarily out of stone with battlements and turrets to resemble a castle.
As befits their faux-rural heritage, many storybook homes are surrounded by trees and shrubbery. The greenery can conceal many homes from the casual observer, and reflect the ‘cottage in the woods’ setting of many homes in storybooks.

― Bob Kalk

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

“The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” and so it is today for many of his followers. Despite all the warnings about the snares laid by moneylenders, despite the fact that gage mort is literally translated as a pledge to give up one’s life, millions have lost their homes through mortgage exploits, and their quality of life through the service of debt.

Find Out How to Get Your Life Back!




The Vesper Casa

Another example of Pure Salvage Living from Tiny Texas Houses. The Vesper Casa has a balcony and many repurposed amenities . Take the video tour and spark your imagine.




HVDC — High Voltage Direct Current

HVDC+valve+hallThe 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 research, functional testing, and simulation in the R&D laboratories. This breaker is a breakthrough that solves a technical challenge that has been unresolved for over a hundred years and was perhaps one of the main influencers in the ‘war of currents‘ outcome. The ‘hybrid’ breaker combines mechanical and power electronics switching that enables it to interrupt power flows equivalent to the output of a nuclear power station within 5 milliseconds – that’s as fast as a honey bee takes per flap of its wing – and more than 30 times faster than the reaction time of an Olympic 100-meter medalist to react to the starter’s gun!

The challenge was to do it ‘ultra-fast’ with minimal operational losses and this has been achieved by combining advanced ultrafast mechanical actuators with ABB’s inhouse semiconductor IGBT valve technologies or power electronics.

The new breaker is a ‘game changer’. It removes a significant stumbling block in the development of HVDC transmission grids. These grids will enable interconnection and load balancing between HVDC power superhighways integrating renewables and transporting bulk power across long distances with minimal losses. DC grids will enable sharing of resources like lines and converter stations that provides reliability and redundancy in a power network in an economically viable manner with minimal losses. It will enable the transmission system to maintain power flow even if there is a fault on one of the lines.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!




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. For his house, Schulz used salvaged materials, along with those sourced from within 10 miles of his new home.

The finished tiny house is a 14-by-16-foot home, which coexists perfectly with its woodland surroundings. It cost only $11,000 to build, which was mostly spent on concrete, shakes and insulation. Schulz, who teaches traditional wood kayak building for a living, completed the house in about a year and a half, working in his spare time.

Schulz salvaged a lot of the wood he used to build the house from the bay while kayaking, which he then milled on-site by himself. For the corner posts he repurposed blowdown trees from a friend’s forest. Inside the house, the kitchen counters were milled from a fallen tree he’d collected and kept for 8 years, while the stair railing is made from alder poles that were cut from beside the house.

There are three tables in the house, which were all cut from cedar found on the beach and made in 2 hours. The flooring was made from low-grade reject fir, and using various bits of scrap wood for the trimmings. The house also has several large windows, which Shultz purchased for $40 from the local dump.

The home is also fitted with several traditional Japanese lanterns made from paper that was handmade only 7 miles from his home. Using only recycled or repurposed materials to build his home was about more than just saving money for Schultz. The Minka tradition that inspired him to build the home holds that by turning a log from beside the house into the house itself gives the house certain mystical qualities. But Schultz thinks that even if this is not something you believe, the search for local materials from which to build the home nevertheless connects a person more deeply to the world around them.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

“The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” and so it is today for many of his followers. Despite all the warnings about the snares laid by moneylenders, despite the fact that gage mort is literally translated as a pledge to give up one’s life, millions have lost their homes through mortgage exploits, and their quality of life through the service of debt.

Find Out How to Get Your Life Back!

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A Place of Warmth for a Continuously Productive Garden

walipiniAn affordable and effective alternative to glass greenhouses is the walipini (an Aymara Indian word for a “place of warmth”). Also known as an underground or pit greenhouse, it was first developed over 20 years ago for the cold mountainous regions of South America, this method allows growers to maintain a productive garden year-round, even in the coldest of climates.

A walipini combines the principles of passive solar heating with that of an earth-sheltered building. It utilizes nature’s resources to provide a warm, stable, well-lit environment for year-round vegetable production. Locating the growing area 6’- 8’ underground and capturing and storing daytime solar radiation are the most important principles in building a successful Walipini.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!




Shedding Retardant Forces

Thomas Jefferson said it best.

We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

Today we should be asking,

  • What is the regimen?
  • What motivates it?
  • What will our future be like if the regimen has its way with us?

A regimen is a regulated system of rule and control imposed by a regime. In Jefferson’s day, the incumbent regime was aligned with forces that established and maintained the institution of slavery. Jefferson, himself a slave owner, was also a force for change, an advocate for the emancipation of slaves. He was well ahead of his time, for that particular form of slavery wound have to wait upon the Lincoln administration to effect positive change.
The actual chains of slavery were readily apparent to the progressives of Lincoln’s time and place. Today, in backwards nations, such slavery still exists. In modern states, the illusion of freedom masks the sophistries of those who would enslave the masses. These regimes conduct convincing campaignes targeting the most persuadable among us. Aligning one’s-self with powerful interests is seen by many as the safe course.
2008 clearly demonstrated to the cognizant, that unbridled self-interest invariably destroys even that which it seeks to maintain. This has been proven, throughout history, as the most self-serving eliminate all threats to their positions of dominance and prominence. The barbarous ancestors Jefferson spoke of lacked compassion. Their modus-operandi was one of unmitigated selfishness.
The  contrast between the mammon serving and the humanity serving is clearly illustrated through the disruprive influence of altruism. When Jesus overturned the money tables in the temple courts, those who had entrenched themselves behind political, financial, and ecclesiastical power began to plot his death. The character assassination of Jesus persists, even today, within factions that are threatened by the values he represents.
The enslaving practices of those who organize themselves for the exploitation of other human beings are highly prevalent. The wage slave is allowed to maintain the illusion of freedom. When such an individual begins to taste true liberty, there is a melavolent force ready to apply a variety of innovation retardants, thereby extinguishing any spark of creativity that might serve to emancipate us from our undersized coats.
With such powerful forces arrayed against them, natural farmers have a tough row to hoe. Unsuspecting planters are inundated with seed for plants that go sterile and can only be fed with fertilizers provided by the same seller. In the United States, no provision is made in the food labeling system for identifying non genetically modified food products
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is impotent when it comes to exercising regulatory authority over those large agri-business concerns that own and operate a great number of politicians. Incoherent statements such as: “There is no material difference between genetically engineered foods and their natural counterparts.” The inclusion of genes from other species in every single cell in the genetically modified organism doesn’t amount to a “material difference” in their way of thinking.
Now the agency will not allow producers, on their own initiative, to label foods as non-genetically engineered. To appease their Agribusiness masters, the FDA will not make an issue of whether or not any particular food is fit for human consumprion. The fact that it contains genes from other species is not a factor to be considered. The fact that such organisms grow at an greatly increased rate doesn’t matter.  The fact that these foods haven’t been tested on the public doesn’t matter. The fact that they haven’t been independently tested doesn’t matter.
Thomas Jefferson also said:

If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.

At the nexus of the co-dependency relationship between the food and pharmaceutical industries is the FDA. Alzheimers, auto-immune disease, coronary artery disease, diabeties,  obeisity, strokes and a variety of other ailments have all increased under the reign of this, severly compromised, if not worthless, federal administration.
Benjamin Rush, another prophetic signator to the Declaration of Independence, put it this way:

Unless we put medical freedom into the consitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship.

Indeed, the disease care industry has done precisely that, just as surely as integrity challenged politicians have allowed financial services interests to masquerade as the health care industry. From the beginning, financiers have only been interested in providing services that can be meted out or metered.
In 1892, Nikola Tesla said:

Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe. Throughout space there is energy.

Tesla was a man who died broke and alone alhough his lifetime body of work was highly valued. Upon his death on January 7th, 1943, the U.S. government moved into his lab and apartment confiscating all of his scientific research. This was the closing scene  that began with attacks by J.P. Morgan and other “captains of industry.” To this day little, if any, of Tesla’s research has been made public, Freedom of Information Act notwithstanding.
Let’s take a look at what Nikola Tesla has actually given to the world.
1. Alternating Current — The war between the vision of Edison and the vision of Tesla, for how electricity would be produced and distributed, is better known as the GE-Westinghouse feud of 1893.  It was the culmination of over a decade of shady business deals, stolen ideas, and patent suppression that Edison and his moneyed interests wielded over Tesla and his inventions. Despite all the money, deception and political prostitution, Tesla’s system provides power generation and distribution to North America.
2. Light — Tesla developed and used florescent bulbs in his lab some 40 years before industry “invented” them. At the World’s Fair, Tesla took glass tubes and bent them into famous scientists’ names, in effect creating the first neon signs. However, it is his Tesla Coil that might be the most impressive, and controversial. The Tesla Coil is certainly something that big industry would have liked to suppress: the concept that the Earth itself is a magnet that can generate electricity (electromagnetism) utilizing frequencies as a transmitter. All that is needed on the other end is the receiver — much like a radio.
3. X-rays — Electromagnetic and ionizing radiation was heavily researched in the late 1800s, but Tesla researched the entire gamut. This was a transformative invention of which Tesla played a central role. X-rays, like so many of Tesla’s contributions, stemmed from his belief that everything we need to understand the universe is virtually around us at all times, but we need to use our minds to develop real-world devices to augment our innate perception of existence.
4. Radio — Guglielmo Marconi was initially credited, and most believe him to be the inventor of radio to this day. However, the Supreme Court overturned Marconi’s patent in 1943, when it was proven that Tesla invented the radio years previous to Marconi. Radio signals are just another frequency that needs a transmitter and receiver, which Tesla also demonstrated in 1893 during a presentation before The National Electric Light Association. In 1897 Tesla applied for two patents US 645576, and US 649621. In 1904, however, The U.S. Patent Office reversed its decision, awarding Marconi a patent for the invention of radio, possibly influenced by Marconi’s financial backers in the States, who included Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie. This also allowed the U.S. government (among others) to avoid having to pay the royalties that were being claimed by Tesla.
5. Remote Control — This invention was a natural outcropping of radio. Patent No. 613809 was the first remote controlled model boat, demonstrated in 1898. Utilizing several large batteries; radio signals controlled switches, which then energized the boat’s propeller, rudder, and scaled-down running lights. While this exact technology was not widely used for some time, we now can see the power that was appropriated by the military in its pursuit of remote controlled war. Radio controlled tanks were introduced by the Germans in WWII, and developments in this realm have since slid quickly away from the direction of human freedom.
6. Electric Motor — Tesla’s invention of the electric motor has finally been popularized by a car brandishing his name. Tesla’s invention of a motor with rotating magnetic fields could have freed mankind much sooner from the stranglehold of Big Oil. However, his invention in 1930 succumbed to the economic crisis and the world war that followed. Nevertheless, this invention has fundamentally changed the landscape of what we now take for granted: industrial fans, household applicances, water pumps, machine tools, power tools, disk drives, electric wristwatches and compressors.
7. Robotics — Tesla’s scientific mind led him to the idea that all living beings are merely driven by external impulses. He stated: “I have by every thought and act of mine, demonstrated, and does so daily, to my absolute satisfaction that I am an automaton endowed with power of movement, which merely responds to external stimuli.” Thus, the concept of the robot was born. However, an element of the human remained present, as Tesla asserted that these human replicas should have limitations — namely growth and propagation. His visions for a future filled with intelligent cars, robotic human companions, and the use of sensors, and autonomous systems are detailed in a must-read entry in the Serbian Journal of Electrical Engineering, 2006.
8. Laser — Tesla’s invention of the laser may be one of the best examples of the good and evil bound up together within the mind of man. Lasers have transformed surgical applications in an undeniably beneficial way, and they have given rise to much of our current digital media. From Reagan’s “Star Wars” laser defense system to today’s Orwellian “non-lethal” weapons’ arsenal, which includes laser rifles and directed energy “death rays,” there is great potential for development in both directions.
9 and 10. Wireless Communications and Limitless Free Energy — These two are inextricably linked, as they were the last straw for the power elite — what good is energy if it can’t be metered and controlled? Free? Never. J.P. Morgan backed Tesla with $150,000 to build a tower that would use the natural frequencies of our universe to transmit data, including a wide range of information communicated through images, voice messages, and text. This represented the world’s first wireless communications, but it also meant that aside from the cost of the tower itself, the universe was filled with free energy that could be utilized to form a world wide web connecting all people in all places, as well as allow people to harness the free energy around them. Essentially, the 0’s and 1’s of the universe are embedded in the fabric of existence for each of us to access as needed. Nikola Tesla was dedicated to empowering the individual to receive and transmit this data virtually free of charge.
Tesla had perhaps thousands of other ideas and inventions that remain unreleased. A look at his hundreds of patents shows a glimpse of the scope he intended to offer. The release of Nikola Tesla’s technical and scientific research — specifically his research into harnessing electricity from the ionosphere at a facility called Wardenclyffe — is a necessary step toward true freedom of information. Add your voice by sharing this information with as many people as possible.
Consider the Source

Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!




Mushroom Insulation

This insulation proceeded to literally grow in place inside the wall cavities, which already contained all the wiring and plumbing. In this way, the insulation actually glued together the pine boards used to build the framework of the house.

This insulation process works because mycelium, or Mushroom Insulation grows into wood forms in just a few days, and creates an airtight seal in the process. It takes another month for this type of insulation to dry, and the resulting wall is airtight and structurally very strong. This type of insulation can save a lot of money, and give the house where it was used a great thermal performance, since it represents one continuous insulated wall assembly. This type of natural insulation board has a Class A fire rating (ASTM E84) without the use of any fire retardant chemicals. The insulation also has very low VOCs (ASTM E1333), and competitive R-values, which will not decrease over time, as is the case with standard insulation.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

“The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” and so it is today for many of his followers. Despite all the warnings about the snares laid by moneylenders, despite the fact that gage mort is literally translated as a pledge to give up one’s life, millions have lost their homes through mortgage exploits, and their quality of life through the service of debt.

Find Out How to Get Your Life Back!




Control Biodiversity — Control the Future of Food and Bio-fuels

Because of the insidious way in which it works, it has been sold as a relatively benign replacement for the devastating earlier dioxin-based herbicides. But a barrage of experimental data has now shown glyphosate and the GMO foods incorporating it to pose serious dangers to health.

Compounding the risk is the toxicity of “inert” ingredients used to make glyphosate more potent. Researchers have found, for example, that the surfactant POEA can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. But these risks have been conveniently ignored.

The widespread use of GMO foods and glyphosate herbicides helps explain the anomaly that the US spends over twice as much per capita on healthcare as the average developed country, yet it is rated far down the scale of the world’s healthiest populations. The World Health Organization has ranked the US LAST out of 17 developed nations for overall health.

Sixty to seventy percent of the foods in US supermarkets are now genetically modified. By contrast, in at least 26 other countries—including Switzerland, Australia, Austria, China, India, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, Mexico and Russia—GMOs are totally or partially banned; and significant restrictions on GMOs exist in about sixty other countries.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!