As an engineer, I find the beautifully made Segway very catchy as both a design piece and as a fine piece of engineering. Well this engineer has built his own model, for about $2K. It isn't as pretty as the Segway, nor quite as user friendly, but as a functional examination it does a great job.
His company also looks mildly interesting, but it has a great list of robotics links.
Fly By Wire - "The world's fastest ride!"
I've got to get my butt down to New Zealand....not only to bungee jump (again), but to ride "Fly By Wire".
Imagine this: Large cable suspended across a huge canyon. Attached to the middle of the cable is another one, hanging down with a 13 foot rocket sled on the end. You (said victim) lies on the sled and powers up it's engine to fly around the canyon at 100mph and up to 3 Gs. You're in control of the sled as you whiz around the canyon doing arcs and dives.....Awesome!
Check out the videos and the great media review.
Space-Age Garages That Save Space
This is a great idea that's taken far too long to come to the US - especially in cramped places like Manhattan. I've parked my car in one two many tight garages with bad attendants and lines of cars, etc....
Yahoo! News - Computer Makers Sued Over Hard-Drive Size Claims
Hehe....someone finally is suing over something that's obvious to us geeks out there. ie 20GB drives can only hold 18GB and 150GB drives can only hold 140GB. (approximately)
Call them on the carpet about their decimal and binary conversions....
Art Watch - September 7, 2003 - MP3s Are Not the Devil - The Ornery American
This sums up most of my views nicely....I'm glad this guy is a great author! Can't wait to read part two next week....
Absinthe: Catching the Green Fairy
So the EU has relegalized absinthe....the favorite drink of yesteryear also known as the Green Fairy to the French (la fee verte). Don't drink too much though....Van Gogh did and we all know what happened to his ear.
Article includes links to suppliers and a rating of a few samples.
Bottoms up!
Some suppliers:
England OKs recreational marijuana - The Washington Times: United Press International
I'm very interested to hear what the DEA, ONDCP, and John Ashcroft have to say about this. I think it's great news for the world to have yet another major country express the failure of the drug war and expose the marijuana lies that are propagated by our government.
Don't forget that Canada is following the same suit....and Drug Czar Walters has just gone after them.
Just added: on Sept. 4, 2003 a judge in British Columbia has dismissed a case stating there is no law prohibiting simple possession of marijuana.