The Hase Klimax has won the Eurobike 2010 award. The Klimax is a recumbent trike with a foldable fairing and electric assist. Beats any electric city car in terms of efficiency.
Tricycle with Foldable Fairing
Guerilla Farming
“We’ve long gardened in two raised beds in the parkway in front our house (the parkway being the space between the sidewalk and the street). This is officially city property, though we are responsible for maintaining it. It gets great morning light, so it’s a valuable growing space. It’s also fun to garden out in public, so we can talk to our neighbors and get all the fresh gossip, and show little kids what food looks when its growing. The drawback to a public garden, of course, is that it is defenseless.” Read. Via Dinosaurs & Robots.
Wooden Stave Pipes
“This book is intended to furnish general information regarding the construction, the advantages and the use of our wooden stave pipe”. “Wooden stave pipes“, Redwood Manufacturers Company, 1911. Via Arquitectura y Madera. Wooden pipes were (and occasionally still are) used for domestic water supply, irrigation, sewer systems and hydraulic power stations. Summary below the fold.
Where no one would believe someone could live
“Der ingen skulle tru at nokon kunne bu” is a documentary about Jenny Endresen, an American woman who started a new, extremely low-tech life in an inhospitable part of Norway. It’s not my idea of a low-tech life (I would dress differently, for one thing) but there are some interesting things to see and to hear. Voiceover and questions are in Norwegian, but the woman answers in English. Hat tip to Cristiano Sandels Navarro.
Ferraris of Ancient Egypt
Even at speeds of about 25 miles per hour on Egypt’s irregular soil,
King Tut’s chariots were efficient and pleasant to ride. Read. Via Atlas Obscura Blog.
Chronological and Thematic Database on the History of Information and Media
From Cave Paintings to the Internet is “designed to help you follow the development of information and media, and attitudes about them, from the beginning of records to the present. Containing annotated references to discoveries, developments of a social, scientific, theoretical or technological nature, as well as references to physical books, documents, artifacts, art works, and to websites and other digital media, it arranges, both chronologically and thematically, selected historical examples and recent developments of the methods used to record, distribute, exchange, organize, store, and search information. The database is designed to allow you to approach the topics in a wide variety of ways.”
Illustration: coptic bookbinding.