Sustainability & Autos

There is not one true road to using less resources. Many car designers and manufacturers have focused their efforts on creating electric or gas-electric solutions to using less petrol in day to day usage. These efforts are not the only direction. Toyota built a 200 million dollar factory just to produce batteries. Mazda has taken a different tact. They put their efforts into making a better gas engine and a lighter space frame for the car. Here is an article reviewing the subject.

Accessiblilty

I read, a lot. Presently most of what I read is posted online. Here is one blog post about someone that toured a center for the vision impaired. In this case there was not only a design philosophy to inform the design, the design was critical to helping the vision impaired people navigate the space and use the facilities. If more builders and architects spent this much care in their work, the world would be a better place. Attention to detail can easily make the difference to a usable pleasant space and one that detracts from the experience.

Like Wind Power

I been following www.selsam.com for several years. I like the idea of a gearless wind turbine. You can go to this website and vote for the idea.

Summer Reading

I've started reading this book.

It is an attempt to correct over seventy years of mis-characterization of the religiosity of our first president of the United States under the Constitution.

After reading a few chapters, it is very clearly documented that George Washington attended an Anglican Church as a Christian.

725 pages of text and over 100 pages of appendixes.

New Bike

Check out this article about a new bike.

10 point program of Communism - from wikipedia

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

Communism is not going away. There still are many proponents of these ten points. Let us not forget where the enactment of the points by governments led.

I saw this on Gizmodo last year

Now it looks like the combo toilet sink has become a real product. While it does not comply with ADA standards, it will have its place in the water closets of the future.