“There are modes of learning and thinking that at the moment are only available from actual books. There is a kind of deep-dive, meditative reading that’s almost impossible to do on a screen. Without books, students are more likely to do the grazing or quick reading that screens enable, rather than be by themselves with the author’s ideas.” Read: Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books (via). See (and print…) also this 75-page essay: “Hamlet’s Blackberry: why paper is eternal“.
Can Cars
More pictures and plans at Sandy’s Can Cars (via Ikkaro). Related: 26 paper models of vintage cars.
Cycle Chics
September 1, 2009 by Filed Under: Bikes, Pedal power, Travel
Fast cars are considered sexy, but we disagree – try to show off your legs when you are driving a sports car or an SUV. More pictures of biking boys and (especially) girls at Copenhagen Cycle Chic. Their motto: “Style over speed”.
1920s Off-Road Vehicles
August 31, 2009 by Filed Under: Cars, Obsolete technology, Tractors, Travel
Click on the image to view the pictures in high resolution. Source: Mémoires et compte rendu des traveaux de la société des ingénieurs civils, Vol.113, 1924.
How Far Back?
August 31, 2009 by Filed Under: History, Quotes, Steampunk, Technology
On the appeal of steampunk:
“Compared with an earlier and more thoroughly handcrafted era, a return to the late 1800s or early 1900s does not mean having to give up all the most basic modern conveniences. Most of these, including indoor plumbing, electric lighting and even air conditioning, had been invented and put into use by this time—in the main by the privileged, but then it is their lives (and not those of common men and women) that are the stuff of historical fantasy. Travel no longer meant riding in cramped stagecoaches over dirt roads or wind-and wave-tossed sailing vessels, but in luxurious automobiles
and handsomely appointed cabins aboard trains and steamships.”
Via Clockworker.
Wind-Powered Knitting Machine
August 31, 2009 by Filed Under: Random, Wind Power, Windmills
Finally, a real-world use for small windmills: the wind-powered knitting machine.
