Neat Stuff on the Internet

Descriptive Quote from Designer Today:

“DesignerToday is a free online graphic design magazine. Here you will find hundreds of graphic design and related tutorials, hundreds of design software and hardware reviews as well as the latest in industry news. You will find just about everything you can imagine related to graphic design here on DesignerToday.”

All I can say is I bookmarked this site several times. What a great site—Well worth MANY visits.

http://www.designertoday.com/

The hyperphysics sites indicates that “.... HyperPhysics is an exploration environment for concepts in physics which employs concept maps and other linking strategies to facilitate smooth navigation. ....The entire environment is interconnected with thousands of links, reminiscent of a neural network ….

The rationale for such concept maps is to provide a visual survey of conceptually connected material, and it is hoped that they will provide some answers to the question “where do I go from here?”

What a great job this site is!

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hph.html#hph

Also check their Hypermath at: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hmat.html#hmath

One of the first commercial demontration of a super efficient air conditioning system is taking place a Mt. Saint Vincent Scool in NW Denver. So far, this new product shows an outstanding saving for cooling (80.2 percent less power than convential A/C.) This is not a typo and the product delivers what is promised. Coolerado will have residential Units are ready for a rollout within the next few month—The commercial units are already available.

This will be a giantic contribution to the enviroment due to the collective future savings in energy needed for cooling and, needless to say, will take reduce pollutants.

For informaion, visit: http://www.coolerado.com/Products/Products.htm

Place hungry people inside an MRI and feed them different food items from tasty to no-so-tasty to find out what is happening to the human brain.

Spectroscopynow.com pointed to research results obtained by British Scientist at the University of Oxford which indicated that: “Fatty mixtures fired up an extra brain region called the cingulate cortex, which is tickled by other pleasurable experiences such as a caress, a perfumed scent or winning money.”

No wonder I fall prey to french fries!

For more info: http://www.spectroscopynow.com/Spy/basehtml/SpyH/1,1181,9-1-1-0-0-news_detail-0-3205,00.html

The following site offers a bounty of energy savings tips—Hundreds of them.
http://energy.saving.nu/tips/general.shtml

And that’s just for the general energy savings. In addition to this, they have a compilation of energy saving tips in the following categories.

I am impressed!

East Carolina University (Greenville, NC) Glassblowing Services Web site a tutorial on how to work with glass. The emphasis is how to make laboratory equipment but the subject is fascinating and well worth your perusal. Check: http://www.ecu.edu/chem/glassblowing/

I found a very interesting piece of information on AOJ Outdoor Tips at http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Departments/Tips/vactip25.html

If you read carefuly, the author is saying that this trick performs even better on fish than the vacuum counter machine sold on infomercials. No expensive appliance is needed.

Check out their tip archive at: http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Departments/Tips/tips.html

According to this site, color therapy is the fastest growing spa treatment in the United States. In addition, they said: “Science is now confirming that different colors interact with the endocrine system of the body to stimulate or inhibit hormonal production. Hormones directly affect our physical, emotional, and mental states. In fact, color travels through the eyes directly to the brain’s hypothalamus to affect the various functions within the body ….”

http://www.kaliszincolor.com/color-therapy.htm

Builders Without Borders is an international network of ecological builders working together for a sustainable future. This organization has an Excellent collection of links on:

Natural Building,
Solar Energy,
Permaculture,
and Strawbale Construction.

http://builderswithoutborders.org/links/index.htm

Want to see the current sun spots or inquired about the latest space weather including solar wind?

The SOHO site has it all. Thanks to Marguerite Herff for pointhing this site.

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

Would you build a house with papier mache? Take some shredded paper and mix in some portland cement, some water, some local sand, mix lots of air with it and end up with a viable construction material. Some call it papercrete. The entrained air swells the material by 50%

What are the advantages?

and most of all … 4) It is inexpensive.

As far as longevity is concerned, you need not worry a block of this stuff is estimated to have lifespan of 2000 years f(or what they call “Castle Blocks.” )

Get more information at:

http://www.fiberfoamconcrete.com/

Wild Inventions You Can Build for Pennies

http://www.atarimagazines.com/v6n2/Inventions.html

Simple Magnetometer Design You Can Build at Home in about 10 Minutes .

http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/magnet.htm

ATA specialises in its distributing its extensive, independent, knowledge about sustainable building, water reuse, renewable energy, energy conservation and renewable fuels, and is keen to share this knowledge.

http://www.ata.org.au

Don’t buy anything until you have checked the best deals and current rebates on this site:

http://morestuff4less.com

Bagelhole.org is a site designed to “... Increase Awareness about low tech sustainability.” What a great site! It is an information gold mine; a site that will have a definite impact on a lot of us who are concerned of the sustainability of the human race.

http://www.bagelhole.org

Yes, the title is not a typo. Frankly, I never expected this development. Who would had thought that concrete would transmit light. Actually, it is not the concrete which transmits light but is an array of parallel optical fibers which run between the inside and outside surfaces without degrading the strength of the concrete.

It is not perfect but this new concrete, to be released by the inventor later this year, is bound to have some profound effects on new uses for concrete.

http://optics.org/articles/news/10/3/10/1

What is the lightest and lowest-density solid known?

Aerogel is the lightest and lowest-density solid known to exist to date. It is really a mixture of glass and quarts and a ethanol. So waht? well it is a WONDERFUL material. It is one of the best known insulator. transparent and blue in color. New technological advance should soon permit clear/transparent aerogel.

Follow the first link below to find out how the stuff is made.

http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~aerogel/aboutaerogel.html

More interesting links on Aerogel:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/help/tutorials/housefuture.htm
http://www.mkt-intl.com/aerogels/index.html

This site, http://wings.interfree.it/html/main.html, provides many different plans for small portable stove. Very interesting—and useful.

Here are a few HOW-TO projects available on this site: ...

How To Build Your Own Hand Pump.
Building your own generator (on the cheap).
Solar Chimney Dehydrator
Solar Water Distiller.
Sawdust Firing Pottery Oven.
Emergency Grain Mill.

... and many more

Plus much more on survival. Neat stuff!

http://www.i4at.org/surv/