Thanks to the gloomy financial crisis, recycling our old clothes might just be the ultimate fashion trend of 2011.

But, if you’re sick of rummaging through your wardrobe, you may want to try this…

Scottish Designer of the Year nominee, Judy Clark has designed a dress made of used car parts.

Read the full article here.

The more than 5,000 km (3,100 mile) journey of the “Wind Explorer” was the first major test for the prototype car, which its German inventors hoped would show that the technology already exists to power cars with renewable energy even through tough trips like this one.

“It is the first ‘road worthy’ wind-generated car that can travel these distances, and definitely the first kite-propelled car to drive on the roads anywhere in the world,” said Dirk Gion, who with Stefan Simmerer built the vehicle.

“We wanted to show that if you build a light-weight electric efficient car, they are ready today.”

The open, vaguely racer-style car has a carbon-fiber body and bicycle tires and was powered primarily by a lithium ion battery that was recharged at night by a mobile wind turbine, although a kite similar to a parasail was used at times instead.

While the car weighs only 80 kg (177 lb) without the batteries, even with the batteries loaded it totals only around 200 kg — still far below the weight of an average car. It can reach speeds of over 90 km per hour.

During the journey, which ended in Sydney on Monday, Gion and Simmerer hit temperatures of 50 C to 60 C (122 F to 140 F) as they crossed the Nullarbor Plains, raising concerns that the batteries would overheat.

Their comfort also suffered at times due to the fact that the car sits only 15 cm (6 inches) off the road, Gion said.

“The hot air was coming into the car almost burning our skin, then three days later we had 7 degrees (45 F) and we were freezing,” he added.

Winds occasionally failed, forcing the pair to plug the car into the power grid at campsites and launderettes along the way to recharge. They ultimately ran 2,480 km on wind power, 480 km on kite power, and 2,100 km on electricity.

“The component of electricity powered from the grid cost about $10 Australian for the whole trip,” Gion said, adding that while the car still isn’t ready for practical use he has great expectations for the future.

Love this idea and hope to hear much more of this type of technology in the future.

Yuck!

Two bright orange vehicles, equipped with laser scanners and cameras that work in concert to detect and help avoid obstacles, are to brave the traffic of Moscow, the summer heat of Siberia and the bitter cold of the Gobi desert before the planned arrival in Shanghai at the end of October.

“What we are trying to do is stress our systems and see if they can work in a real environment, with real weather, real traffic and crazy people who cross the road in front of you and a vehicle that cuts you off,” said project leader Alberto Broggi.

The road trip consists of two pairs of vehicles, each with a driven lead van followed by a driverless vehicle occupied by two technicians, whose job is to fix glitches and take over the wheel in case of an emergency.

The driverless vehicle takes cues from the lead van, but will have to respond to any ordinary obstacles or dangers. The two pairs alternate stretches along the route to China.

“We will definitely need some help by humans. It is not possible to have 100 percent driverless. This is why I call it a test, not a demonstration,” Broggi said.  One of the environmental advantages of no human drivers is that they won’t throw trash out the windows!!

Inside the processing plant, just past a cardboard box full of tiny, plastic pieces from shredded milk jugs, four guys pulled the wrapping off black rubber gloves that Marines use to handle chemicals.

Other workers eventually will operate the machines that grind the gloves, and similar boots, into rubber mulch used on playgrounds and on a path that circles the corporation’s career development center, which sits nearby on the same four acres.

Outside, a man used white paint to touch up a wooden fence that surrounds the center. Another man worked alone on a farm behind the building, preparing to plant more corn. Afterward, he went to eat in the cafeteria, where men in white chef hats prepare fresh food while participating in a culinary arts program. Several others took college classes in a computer lab at the center.  Sounds like a bunch of care-free adult students, not a bunch of prison inmates

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called a press conference Monday to publicly denounce the environment for blatantly refusing to pull its weight in mankind’s ongoing efforts at ecological conservation.

“For 40 years, we have worked tirelessly to ensure the health and safety of our natural environment,” a visibly angered EPA administrator Lisa Jackson told reporters. “But this can only work when it’s a give-and-take. If the environment won’t even meet us halfway by regenerating a rain forest or two, or pumping out some clean air and water every once in a while, then what’s the point of us trying?”

Added Jackson, “I’m as committed to saving the earth as anyone, but for crying out loud, when is the earth going to hold up its end of the bargain?”

Read the rest

I think this one is just too silly to ever fool anyone – 5/10

Freewheelz (2000) Esquire magazine introduced its readers to an exciting new company called Freewheelz in an article titled “There Are No Free Wheels.” Freewheelz apparently planned to provide drivers with free cars. In exchange, the lucky drivers had to agree both to the placement of large advertisements on the outside of the vehicle and to the streaming of advertisements on the radio inside the car. Prospective drivers also had to submit to a screening process, which required them to submit stool samples and notarized video-store-rental receipts. The article was actually a satire of the much-touted “new economy” spawned by the internet. Attentive readers would have caught on to the joke if they had noticed that Freewheelz’s official rollout on the web was slated to occur on April 1. However, readers who did not notice this barraged the offices of Esquire magazine with phone calls, demanding to know how they could sign up to drive a Stayfresh minivan.

This one is actually kind of funny and maybe a bit believable, many folks these days still think they can get something for nothing – 8/10