Vinylon: North Korea's best invention.
Wait, North Korea? North Korea invented something?
Vinylon is a textile for clothing made from (drumroll please...) (spoilers!) (you'll never believe this...) limestone and coal.
It's falling into disuse because it's itchy and hard to color. Regular clothing from China and Russia have been coming in.
"Throne" looks like it is trying to reinvent the porta-potty/public restroom.
"Throne provides a modern and clean solution to outdoor venues, events, parks, municipalities and transit, whether you need one or a network of one hundred."
"Thrones require no connection to water, sewer or power. They can be dropped-off, picked-up, and moved around (almost) as easily as a porta-potty."
"Thrones send notifications to a central dashboard when maintenance issues, abnormal occupancy or servicing needs occur."
"Realtime user feedback provides cleanliness ratings to inform service operations and promotes accountability by connecting identity to each use."
In the video it looks like you can't enter without a smartphone, and the system has the ability to block users who abuse the system. So it looks like it keeps track of each individual person.
"Throne's germ-conscious design delights users with a touchless experience from entry to exit."
"Thrones incorporate solar power and grey water recycling to enable a full day of normal use without requiring connections to infrastructure."
Hmm, wonder how that "grey water recycling" works.
"A flushing toilet and robust ventilation make Thrones feel (and smell) like a nice indoor plumbed bathroom."
"Throne offers holistic servicing plans that take the burden of cleaning, pumping and maintenance off your staff."
"Our ADA model exceeds Federal ADA standards and comes with a compliant ramp that can be configured as needed."
Meet Throne: A smart, sparkling clean bathroom that can be placed anywhere
FlowState: The FPV Drone Documentary. FPV as in "first-person view". The out-of-body experience of being in a state of 'flow', one with your drone. Blow the video up to full screen and crank up the resolution... unless you're prone to motion sickness. Jaw-dropping footage of stunts in 3 dimensions around "bandos" (abandoned buildings), skyscrapers, parking garages, other urban structures, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, other natural scenery, skateboarders, mountain bikers, skiers, snowboarders, base jumpers, wing suit jumpers, etc, drift cars, and more. Delves into the hobbyist culture behind FPV. Shows drone racing. Explores the the worry that FAA "RemoteID" laws may bring an end to the hobby. Introduces you to all the key players in the FPV community, which is a smaller and more tight-knit community than you may have thought.
FlowState: The FPV Drone Documentary (Full Film Official Release) - Joshua Bardwell
"Furno bets that super-efficient, modular kilns will turn the cement industry upside down."
"Calcium containing minerals, usually from limestone, are sent through the kiln, where they're heated to more than 1,110 degrees F (600 degrees C)."
"Raw materials enter one end of the kiln, which lies horizontally, and are pushed past an intense flame to the other end, where they emerge as clinker."
"Kilns today are not very efficient. A study of one in China showed that only about 30% of the heat in the kiln powered the calcination reaction; the rest was lost."
"Furno's kiln, on the other hand, is far more efficient, reducing emissions from fossil fuels by 70% or more. It accomplishes that by turning the kiln vertical, filling it with ingredients that are ground to prescribed dimensions, and then seeping through it a combustive gas (natural gas, biogas or hydrogen) and setting it ablaze."
"Chinese-developed nuclear battery has a 50-year lifespan -- Betavolt BV100 built with Nickel-63 isotope and diamond semiconductor material."
"This 15 x 15 x 5mm battery delivers 100 microwatts at 3 volts. The company says multiple BV100 batteries can be used together in series or parallel depending on device requirements."
"The new BV100 is claimed to be a disruptive product on two counts. Firstly, a safe miniature atomic battery with 50 years of maintenance-free stamina is a breakthrough. Secondly, Betavolt claims it is the only company in the world with the technology to dope large-size diamond semiconductor materials, as used by the BV100."
Wow, I didn't even know diamond semiconductors were a thing.
"Betavolt says its atomic battery is very different from similarly described power cells developed by the US and USSR in the 1960s. It says that the old nuclear batteries were large, dangerous, hot, and expensive products. For example, some old-tech atomic batteries used Plutonium as the radioactive power source. Meanwhile, the Betavolt BV100 is claimed to be safe for consumers and won't leak radiation even if subjected to gunshots or puncture."
A self-balancing monorail was invented in 1910. Obviously not the future. But I just learned it exists. The self-balancing system works using gyroscopes. It turned out not to be cost-effective because it had to be installed on every car in a train.
#calculating #machines #inventions
SEPTEMBER 20, 2023
In 1623, scholar Wilhelm Schickard invented an adding machine with gears and with cylinders that carried the multiplication table. It was the first calculating machine. On September 20, 1623, Schickard first mentioned his machine in a letter to his astronomer friend, Johannes Kepler.
Nikola Tesla is commonly said to be the man who ‘electrified the world.’ But honestly, Tesla did more than just electrify the world. He is the man who envisioned the future and what our planet should look like before anyone else.
His ideas and projects were incomparable to anything over a hundred years ago, and many argue that still today, we have still not caught up with all of Tesla’s ideas.
He was a futuristic mind that invented over one hundred years ago, the foundation of today’s technology.
Have you ever wondered about Tesla and what would have happened if the genius never existed?
It is questionable where our technology would be today.
In fact, if Tesla had not invented and patented everything he did one hundred years ago, today we would not have: Radio, Television, AC electricity, X-Rays, Radar, Microwaves, the Tesla Coil, Radio controlled devices, robotics, and hundreds of other things that make up today’s way of life.
Before anyone else, Nikola Tesla envisioned the world where mankind has access to limitless and free energy.
The download button is down at the end of the article.
#NikolaTesla #genius #patents #inventions #technology #energy
The great purpling. Streetlights turning purple. Not really enough to call a Purple Reign, I don't think -- just a small percentage in each city. The culprit is LEDs. By combining red, green, and blue, you can make white. By replacing red and green with yellow, you can get white with only 2 LEDs. Replace the yellow with a phosphor coating that makes yellow from blue light, and you get white with only a blue LED. But if manufacturing defects allow for the phosphor coating to malfunction after installation, you get blue streetlights. Well, apparently the wavelength chosen for this LED is short enough to be perceived as purple.
It's not Halloween, it's not because your football team wears purple, it's not a conspiracy, and it's not the city trying to change how "romantic" your city feels and ending up with something weird. It's not intentional.
The weird, worrisome mystery behind America's plague of purple streetlights
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En 1887, un article de journal rêvait des villes phosphorescentes du XXe siècle, dont les façades des maisons éclaireraient la nuit.
https://www.france-pittoresque.com/spip.php?article6460
#Histoire #Inventions #Utopie #Projet #Sciences
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A la fin du XIXe siècle, alors que les nouvelles bicyclettes faisaient fureur, un modèle adapté à la neige et à la glace arriva d’Amérique pour émerveiller l’Europe.
https://www.france-pittoresque.com/spip.php?article5654
#Histoire #Inventions #Transports #Amélioration #Progrès
Vintage inventions. Desk Beds, 1913. Stroller equipped with a radio, 1921. Car with shovel for pedestrians, 1924. Anti-distraction helmet, 1925. Portable and Extendable Bridge for emergencies, 1926. A turntable linked to a film projector, 1929. Laryngaphone (phone that uses vibrations from the vocal cords only to reduce noise), 1929. Wooden bathing suits, 1929. Breast Washer, 1930. Rocket-Propelled Bicycles, 1931. Amphibious Bicycle, 1932. Electrically heated vest for the traffic police, 1932. Piano for people confined to bedrest, 1935. Clap Skate (skate with movable heel plate),1936. Glasses for reading in bed, 1936. Window Baby Cages, 1937. Revolver camera, (Colt 38 with a small camera that automatically takes a picture when you pull the trigger), 1938. Ski-sailing, 1938. Wireless faxed newspaper, 1938. Snowstorm Mask, 1939. Cigarette Case to Keep Track, 1940. See-Through Boats, 1941. Soup-Cooling Spoons, 1948. Adhesive Bras, 1949. Pipe For Two, 1949. Suntan-Lotion Dispenser, 1949. Bald-Head Polishers, 1950. Dashboard Coffeemakers, 1950. Monopod Seats, 1953. Rainy Day Cigarette Holder, 1954. Automatic Tip Requesters, 1955. Comfort Lawn Mowers (lawn mower with a 5-foot-diameter plastic sphere in which the rider sits on an air-foam-cushioned seat), 1957. Nuclear Bomb Shelters, 1958. We might need some of these now. Glow-in-the-Dark Tires, 1961. Sunbathing foldable reflector, 1961. Anti-Bandit Bag, 1963. Cat Meow Machine, 1963. Sunning Chairs, 1964. The Snogometer, 1965. Spaghetti Spinners, 1968. Jetpacks, 1969. Vibrating Bras, 1971. Don't know the year for the bicycle for the whole family with the built-in sewing machine for the mother.
By way of commentary: As a "futurist" I focus on inventions because inventions change the world in a permanent way. Once something has been invented and people find it useful, it gets adopted all around the world and the world is a different place than it was before in some fundamental way. Other aspects of life may go in cycles; there may be economic cycles, population cycles, political cycles, or follow some other pattern, but an invention will change the whole world in one direction and it'll never go back. Furthermore, an invention, once adopted, will often be continuously improved, so later versions will be a lot different from the original, and will ofter become building blocks for later inventions, resulting in potentially an exponential proliferation of inventions. For example, the internal combustion engine was invented in 1876, but it doesn't appear on the list of inventions above because it's so much a part of our lives that we hardly think about it. There were many prior inventions, going all the way back to the 1790s, that went into the invention of the internal combustion engine, and since 1876, there have been a lot of improvements. It's also become a building block for later inventions, not just on obvious variations of the car, such as the motorbike or bus, but airplane engines and lawmowers and jet skis and so on. I recently read about drones in Ukraine built in Iran that use a moped engine, and apparently they're cheap and effective weapons.
Key to this process of invention, though, is experimentation, and not all the experiments pan out, in fact most of them don't. So people take the inventions that exist and experiment with those to come up with new inventions, and some of those succeed and become continuously improved and building blocks for more inventions, such that in retrospect, we can look back at the failed inventions of previous eras and laugh because from the vantage point of today, it's probably obvious why they failed. But of course, of the things that are being invented now, we don't know what's going to turn out to be successful and what isn't. You don't get to know until after you run the experiments and invent the inventions.
Bizarre and interesting vintage inventions from the past, 1920s-1970s - Rare Historical Photos
The story of Roland is one of the most expansive and influential in the world of #music #technology. This feature length #documentary sets out to tell it through their #iconic #inventions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcbpRMZIQ8g
#synth #synthesizer #synthétiseur #musique #histoire
"Carbon-negative precast concrete" has been invented. "Their system uses CO2 gas which mineralises as carbonate during the curing process, eliminating the need for energy-intensive Portland cement as a binder."
"The method is compatible with the current manufacturing processes of concrete. It can be used for manufacturing all precast concrete elements and products."
Finnish researchers win award for carbon-negative precast concrete
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Les premiers timbres-poste furent inventés par l’Anglais sir Rowland Hill en 1837.
https://www.france-pittoresque.com/spip.php?article13776
#Histoire #Courrier #XIXesiècle #Inventions
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Le véhicule précurseur du tank des armées modernes a été inventé par le roi achéménide Cyrus le Grand au VIe siècle av. JC.
https://www.france-pittoresque.com/spip.php?article15410
#Inventions #Véhicule #Armes #Guerre #Perses
