Proposals would turn highways into wind farms
From engadget.com
TweetClogged highways and frustratingly waiting while your gas needle plummets to empty usually doesn’t conjure up thoughts of green, but it seems like these very roads could become the source of a lot more energy. Several recent student designs have proposed that major roadways be retrofitted with various forms of wind energy collection devices, ranging from overhead turbines that collect energy from quickly-moving cars below to barrier panels (pictured after the jump) that harness the wind from closely passing vehicles moving in opposite directions. Ideally, the wind energy could then be sent back out to the grid to power nearby communities, light-rail transportation systems, or even intelligent billboards. Of course, most of these ideas are still in the research phase, and even if proven feasible, we can’t imagine the up-front costs (or inconveniences of installing these things) to be minor, but we’re sure that government subsidies should be able to to lend a helping hand.
OWC’s Mercury Elite-AL Pro “Quad Interface” 1TB external drive
From engadget.com
TweetWe’re pretty impressed by OWC’s “gotta plug ‘em all” collection of ports on this new external drive, the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro, which features a “Quad Interface” and 1TB of 7200RPM storage in a Mac-friendly enclosure. The drive can handle FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 and eSATA, and OWC is claiming speeds up to 80MB per second on FireWire and 150MB/s on eSATA, thanks to the Oxford 924 chipset. The $600 pricetag is a wee bit steep, but OWC is nice enough to include FireWire, USB and eSATA cables in the box, along with various backup softwares for Mac and Windows. We’re getting a little tired of the Mac Pro-style cheese grater look, but you can find 1TB drives with a whole lot more ugly, that’s for sure, so we won’t complain too much. The drive should be available now, in capacities on down to 250GB if you’re not quite ready to make the 1TB plunge.
Orlando’s Sky Writer
From orlandosentinel.com:
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You’d think that it would be easy to get a few words from a man who regularly communicates to perhaps thousands each weekend by leaving air-borne messages in the sky above Orlando-area theme parks.
But pilot Jerry Stevens didn’t want to say much recently when contacted by the Theme Park Rangers. He said he didn’t want to distract attention from the skywriting messages about Christianity that he routinely delivers high overhead.
Link to read complete article…Â
The worlds top 50 tourist attractions
From smh.com.au:
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The top 10
1. Times Square, New York
2. Memorial, Washington D.C.
3. Disney World, Orlando
4. Trafalgar Square, London
5. Disneyland, Los Angeles
6. Niagara Falls, Canada/USA
7. Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco
8. Disney Resort, Tokyo
9. Notre Dame, Paris
10. Disneyland, ParisThe Sydney Opera House has been named by Forbes Traveler website as one of the top 50 visited tourist attractions in the world. The Sydney icon came in at No. 38 with more than four million annual visitors and is the only attraction in the southern hemisphere listed.
Thirteen countries are represented in the list with the US home to 20 of the locations, followed by France and Britain with seven each.
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2007 MTV Movie Award Nominations
From darkhorizons.com:
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With five potential wins, the ancient Spartan epic “300″ tops the list of nominees for the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. The first Pirates of the Caribbean sequel came in second with four noms.
The pair, along with “Blades of Glory,” “Borat” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” will compete for the best movie award at the June 3rd ceremony in Universal City.
Heres a complete list of this years nominees:
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