Guest Article: 100 Smart & Surprising Uses for Simple Drug Store Items

100 Smart & Surprising Uses for Simple Drug Store Items

Persons in nursing school or other medical training school, probably have access to lots of advanced medical care items. But did you know that there are many different uses for even the simplest of drug store items? Rubbing alcohol, q tips, nail polish remover, and other simple drug store items have lots of different applications, around the house and beyond.
Cleaning
Keep your home clean and fresh with these drug store products.

1. Keep your windows frost free: Make a solution with 1/2 a cup of rubbing alcohol and 1 liter of water, then wash your windows with it to keep frost away.
2. Deodorize your refrigerator with vanilla extract: Soak a cotton ball with vanilla extract and place it in your fridge.
3. Get rid of fruit flies: Kill fruit flies by misting them with rubbing alcohol.
4. Clean counters and tabletops with hydrogen peroxide: Spray hydrogen peroxide on your tables and counter tops, or just add it to your dishrag.
5. Apply polish to small crevices using q tips: Polish your silver with a q tip.
6. Fight mildew: Soak cotton balls in bleach, place them in hard to clean spots, and leave them there to zap the stains.
7. Add hydrogen peroxide to your dishwasher: Prevent spreading colds and other diseases by adding 2 ounces of hydrogen peroxide to your dishwasher.
8. Spruce up china: Clean spots off of your china with nail polish remover-but test a small inconspicuous spot first.
9. Fade tea stains: Apply diluted lemon juice to cloth with a q tip.
10. Clean bathroom tiles: Mix epsom salt and dish detergent to mix bathroom tiles.
11. Rinse your wooden cutting board in hydrogen peroxide: Kill salmonella and other bacteria with hydrogen peroxide.
12. Dissolve melted plastic: Get melted plastic off of appliances by using nail polish remover.
13. Remove price stickers: Get price stickers off with the help of rubbing alcohol.
14. Clean your toilet with antacid: Drop antacid tablets in your toilet bowl and dissolve them for 20 minutes before cleaning.
15. Remove yellowing from lace: Keep your lace curtains and tablecloths bright by soaking them in a sink with cold water and 2 cups of hydrogen peroxide for about an hour.
16. Sanitize your cell phone: Wipe down your cell phone with rubbing alcohol.
17. Remove dust: Get dust off of old frames, statues, and more with q tips.
18. Get stains out of vases: Clean stains out of vases by dropping an antacid tablet in the water, then wiping.
19. Clean CDs and DVDs with rubbing alcohol: Wipe discs down with a small amount of rubbing alcohol.
20. Whiten whites with hydrogen peroxide: Add a cup of hydrogen peroxide to your laundry to get whiter whites, and pour directly on soiled spots.
21. Clean electronic devices: Use a q tip in rubbing alcohol to clean electronic devices.
22. Disinfect your bathroom: Mix 50/50 water and hydrogen peroxide to disinfect your bathroom without harming your septic system.
23. Remove scorch marks: Use nail polish remover on marks left from overcooked bagged popcorn.
24. Remove ink stains: Soak ink stains in rubbing alcohol before washing.
25. Get stickers off of glass: Nail polish remover is good for getting stickers off of glass.
26. Shine up bathroom fixtures: Pour rubbing alcohol onto bathroom fixtures to make them sparkle and kill germs.
27. Clean your computer mouse: Get dirt and grime off of your computer mouse's ball using rubbing alcohol.
28. Clean jewelry with q tips: Using q tips and jewelry cleaner, you can get into small spaces.
29. Get ink stains off: Nail polish can remove ink stains from skin, walls, and more.
30. Erase permanent markers: Rubbing alcohol can remove permanent markers from most surfaces.
31. Kill bacteria on fruits and vegetables: Rinse fruits and vegetables with hydrogen peroxide and cold water to kill e. coli and more.
32. Clean your CD player lens: Clean the lens of your CD player using rubbing alcohol on a q tip.
33. Remove paint from windows: Nail polish remover can get paint off of windows.

Car
Put epsom salt and rubbing alcohol to use in your car.

34. Dissolve windshield frost: Spray rubbing alcohol on your windshield to dissolve frost.
35. Regenerate your car battery: Give life to your car battery with epsom salt.

Health & Beauty
You can improve your eyelashes, remove hairspray from mirrors, and more using simple items from the drug store.

36. Clean up self tanner: A q tip can clean up self tanner from your cuticles, elbows, and backs of your knees.
37. Control blemishes: Use witch hazel to reduce inflammation on pimples.
38. Grow your eyelashes: Put Vaseline on your eyelashes before bed to grow them longer and thicker over time.
39. Get hair spray off of mirrors: Wipe down your mirror with rubbing alcohol to get residue off.
40. De-oil your hair: Soak up excess oil from your hair with epsom salt.
41. Remove foot odor: Soak your feet in epsom salt to get rid of foot odor.
42. Protect rubber gloves: Put cotton balls under your nails to protect them and your rubber gloves from puncture.
43. Soften hard skin: Coat feet, elbows, and cuticles with Vaseline to soften them.
44. Get hairspray out: Remove hairspray from your hair using a hairspray solution.
45. Get odors off your hands: With rubbing alcohol, you can remove harsh odors from your hands.
46. Remove excess nail polish: Dab a q tip in nail polish remover to remove excess nail polish.
47. Massage with rubbing alcohol: Use rubbing alcohol instead of massage oil-it is cooling, but warms up quickly.
48. Volumize your hair: A deep conditioner and epsom salt can volumize your hair.
49. Zap zits: Clear up your acne by dabbing hydrogen peroxide onto your zits a few times a day.
50. Keep emergency perfume on q tips: Spray perfume on q tips and store them in a plastic bag, then apply them to pressure points when you need them.
51. Stop facial redness: Hemorrhoid cream can be used to clear up facial redness.
52. Bring out your highlights: Spraying 50/50 hydrogen peroxide and water in your hair after a shower can bring out your natural light highlights.
53. Treat a cold sore: Hemorrhoid cream can help treat cold sores, just be careful not to put it where you'll lick your lips.
54. Fix makeup smudges: Dip a q tip in makeup remover or moisturizer to remove smudges.
55. Get gum out of your hair: Work gum out of your hair with Vaseline.
56. Shrink under-eye bags: Witch hazel can tighten up skin and reduce bagginess.
57. Treat cellulite: Tighten and shrink tissue using hemorrhoid cream.
58. Remove ear wax buildup: Flush out your waxy buildup using hydrogen peroxide.
59. Heal bruises: Dab on witch hazel a few times a day to fade bruises.
60. Conceal hair roots: Run a q tip with matching eyeshadow over your roots.
61. Prevent hair dye stains: Keep hair dye from staining your skin by putting Vaseline along your hairline.
62. Soothe and prevent razor burn: Apply witch hazel to help irritated hair follicles.
63. Soak your toothbrushes in hydrogen peroxide: Kill germs on your toothbrush by soaking them in hydrogen peroxide.
64. Whiten your nails: Mix baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, and swab it over fingernails with a q tip.
65. Kill foot fungus: Mix 50/50 water and hydrogen peroxide on your feet every night and let them dry to kill foot fungus.
66. Control unruly brows: Cover a q tip in Vaseline and run it over your eyebrow hairs.

Garden
Put hydrogen peroxide and more to work in your garden.

67. Control mold and mildew in the greenhouse: Spray hydrogen peroxide in your greenhouse to control mold and mildew.
68. Fertilize with epsom salt: Epsom salt can be used as a houseplant fertilizer.
69. Keep rabbits at bay: Soak cotton balls in white distilled vinegar, place them in a 35mm film container, poke a hole in the top, and place it in the garden.
70. Add hydrogen peroxide to plant water: Give your plants extra oxygen by adding hydrogen peroxide.
71. Use hydrogen peroxide as a fertilizer: Spray hydrogen peroxide on foliage or add it to plant water.
72. Help sick plants with hydrogen peroxide: Nurse sick plants back to health by adding hydrogen peroxide to their water and spraying it on their leaves.
73. Prevent slugs: Keep slugs from entering by sprinkling epsom salts.
74. Prevent tree infection: Spray hydrogen peroxide on tree cuts to prevent infection.

Home Improvement & Decor
These are some useful tips for putting drug store items to work in your home.

75. Touch up with q tips: Apply touch up paint to walls and cabinets with q tips.
76. Unclog a drain: Use antacid to unclog drains.
77. Strip finish details with q tips: Get to details, cracks, and crevices when stripping furniture by using q tips.
78. Light candle wicks: Light hard to reach candle wicks by dipping one end of a q tip in rubbing alcohol and lighting it.
79. Scent a room with a cotton ball in your vacuum: Saturate a cotton ball with a fragrance, put it in your vacuum cleaner bag, and it will release the scent as you vacuum.

Clothing
Clean and fix your clothes with these drug store solutions.

80. Lubricate sticky zippers: Dip q tips in olive oil and run them along zippers for lubrication.
81. Get scuff marks off: Nail polish remover can get scuff marks off of patent leather shoes.
82. Wipe down leather shoes: Prevent your leather shoes from pinching by rubbing them down with alcohol.

Baby & Kids
Use these drug store items for your baby and children.

83. Clean little baby parts: Warm water and q tips can be used to clean your baby's ear, between toes, and more.
84. Soothe diaper rash: Apply witch hazel to heal your baby's diaper rash.
85. Stop diaper rash: Create a barrier and heal diaper rash with Vaseline.
86. Sling shot with cotton balls: Play indoors sling shots with cotton balls.
87. Clean your newborn's umbilical cord: Until your newborn's cord stump falls off, clean it with rubbing alcohol on a q tip.

Arts & Crafts
Have fun with these drug store art projects.

88. Q tips make great small paintbrushes: Give your children kid sized paintbrushes by using q tips, and enjoy easy cleanup.
89. Remove dried glue: Get dried hot glue off with rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs.
90. Apply glue with q tips: Apply glue to models with a q tip, and use the clean size to remove excess.
91. Remove sticky substances: You can get sticky substances off of your hands with rubbing alcohol.
92. Apply face paint: Use a q tip to apply face paint when playing dress up.
93. Carve designs with q tips: Add finishing touches to sculptures with q tips.

Jewelry
Clean and protect your jewelry with these smart ideas.

94. Remove scratches from watches: Rub nail polish remover on the face of your watch to get scratches out.
95. Protect jewelry: Cushion breakable jewelry by spreading out cotton balls.
96. Soak in antacid: Soak your jewelry in water and antacid tablets for a great shine.
97. Remove stuck rings: Vaseline can be used to remove stuck rings.

Miscellaneous
These are even more bright ideas from the drugstore.

98. Dilute correction fluid: Get the goop out of correction fluid by using nail polish remover.
99. Remove dog ticks: Apply rubbing alcohol to ticks before pulling out to make it loosen its grip.
100. Stop superglue: Unstick superglue with the help of nail polish remover.

This article was written and provided by Nursing Schools.net

Halo Interceptor Multi-Functional Vehicle w/Attachments

The Halo Intersceptor is a concept vehicular hub, which begins as a sports car. With attachments, the Halo can be converted to a helicopter, a catamaran speedboat, or a jet aircraft. Conceivably a submarine attachment could be designed as easily as the cat speedboat or jet flyer.

Each attachment must be carefully maintained and stored until needed. Of course the attachments could be stored in different locations of maximum anticipated need. Attachments could even be shipped by boat or rail to the next location of use -- or you could have multiple attachments ready at several locations if you have the budget for it.
H/T Brian Wang

Al Fin operatives prefer a single vehicle which is self-modifiable without attachments, to serve multiple functions. But it is easy to imagine larger organisations such as the US military incorporating a HumVee hubbed multi-functional vehicle that can act as either helicopter or hovercraft, besides its basic land function.

Submersible Seastead with Human-Powered Commute

GizmagSome seastead will be unable to move out of the way of large storms due to their design. If such a seastead were able to safely submerge to a safe depth below the wind and waves, it could solve the problem of storms without the need for a large and expensive floating breakwater.

The Sub-Biosphere is able to float on the surface as a floating seastead, or to submerge to become an underwater habitat. This bi-functionality would serve well for marine research.

By building modules that could separate and either float or submerge as individual components, the Sub-Biosphere could allow for significant exchange between similar seasteads, and provide for flexible changes in size and population.

For underwater movement between modules, submerged seasteads, or seafloor habitats, the Scubster pedal-powered wet sub provides both exercise and undersea mobility.

All of this subsea activity is merely prelude to the coming of Homo Submarinari -- a new subspecies of human which will be able to live virtually its entire life underwater. With gene-engineered gills and partially webbed hands and feet, healthy permanent subsea communities of Homo Submarinari would provide a close watch on the health of the oceans, along with permanent surface seasteads.

Escaping the Apocalypse In Style

When everything falls apart at once, you do not have time to transfer from one type of escape vehicle to another. You need a vehicle that can move quickly out of the danger zone, and covertly past those who might want to appropriate your assets, or do you personal harm.

The U-010 Undersea Yacht is designed to travel submerged or on the surface, depending upon the needs of the moment. Surface travel is by diesel. Simple controls allow you to switch to electric power for undersea movement.

Luxurious fittings allow you to forget that the world is falling apart around you. Just pack plenty of provisions and fuel so that you can get where you are going.

More photos

Via Impactlab

The Multitasking Brain: A Next Level Trait?

Human brains can consciously focus on only one task at a time. But unconsciously, the human brain is working on a multitude of tasks. New research from INSERM in Paris suggests that the two hemispheres can function independently and simultaneously -- even in normal, whole-brain persons -- and the results of both hemisphere's processes can become conscious, with motivation.

Scientists at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris wondered what happens when a person is asked to do two jobs at once. To find out, they used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor the brain activity of 16 male and 16 female volunteers, all aged 19 to 32, and all right-handed, as they simultaneously performed two related tasks. The volunteers were offered a monetary reward that reduced if they made errors.

The tasks were to match upper case letters and to match lower case letters, switching back and forth between the two tasks. Rewards for each task were calculated separately and depended on the numbers matched without error. The researchers, neuroscientists Sylvain Charron and Etienne Koechlin, found that when the volunteers tackled only one task, both halves of the medial frontal cortex worked on it, but when they tackled both tasks simultaneously, the left side of the frontal cortex corresponded to one of the tasks and the right side corresponded to the other, with the two sides working independently. Results improved as the monetary reward increased, and there was no significant difference in the results of the men and women volunteers. _Physorg

Notice that conscious awareness was switching back and forth between the two hemisphere's ongoing tasks.

The big surprise was that there was no significant difference between men's and women's performance. Generally, women are thought to be better multi-taskers due to the thicker corpus callosum connecting the two hemisphere's in a woman's brain.

This is not the same thing as simultaneous awareness of multiple complex phenomena, since awareness in the experiment was switched back and forth between tasks. In order to achieve a multiple awareness without attention switching, it would be necessary to incorporate multiple phenomena into a single awareness -- as sub-components. That would be analogous to the "chunking" of discrete items into compound items for improved recall.

The research suggests that the brain can only track two independent tasks simultaneously, since it possesses only two hemispheres.

Unconscious monitoring of multiple phenomena takes place constantly -- sleeping or waking. The unconscious mind switches between monitoring tasks based upon the relative salience of the monitored phenomena, and upon the receptive state (unconscious motivation) of the brain at any given time.

Next level humans will train to improve their capacity for multi-tasking, beginning before adolescence and continuing throughout their lives. An expanded awareness is only one of the distinguishing characteristics of next level humans, but an important one in terms of survival within the potentially hazardous environments which next levels will frequent.

Telescoping Wing Rear-Ducted Skybike

This 3-wheel streamlined motorbike can sprout wings and fly. Designed for the road and for the sky, the Skybike can fly to 10,000 feet in cabin comfort complete with heating and cooling.

In prototype development at Swift Engineering in San Clemente, California, the SkyBike is designed to reach speeds of 80 mph over land or over 130 mph through the air. Standard features of the SkyBike will include flexible electronic instrument main panel that changes automatically from ground to flight, dual ground/air lighting system, navigation radio, ELT (emergency location transmitter) and not forgetting the comfort factor, leather seating for two plus 50 pounds luggage capacity.

Getting off the Ground

If you’re not a pilot you’ll still be able to buy an MMV, but the flight controls and wing lock will require a physical and electronic key that is granted only once proof of appropriate pilot license is shown. A better option for those without a pilot’s license might be the factory-built, ground only AeroBike.

There isn’t any word on pricing or availability for these flying motorcycles, but Samson Motorworks hopes to have ground versions available in early 2010. _Gizmag

Photogallery

Rear props or ducted fans work well for flight, and for airboats (or amphibious flyers), iceskimmers, and hovercraft. The SkyBike switches to a conventional transmission for wheeled ground travel. Should you wish to design submersible functionality into your multifunctional vehicle, you will need yet a different propulsion system.

No one said an all-purpose vehicle would be easy.

Twin 710 hp 47' Catamaran Code X Yacht

The 47′ 7” catamaran comes with a hybrid engine that can either give you a thumping 710hp by twin Ilmor Formula 1 engines to propel the yacht at a speed in excess of 80 knots or a more leisurely 9 knots using its twin electric motors. The battery pack has the capability to run continuously for two hours and can be recharged using the on-board solar panels for additional leisure. _Ecofriend

Very few production water craft can do 80 knots -- particularly through ocean swell. This power catamaran yacht is obviously made for bursts of speed, but it can also troll for days on end using its twin electric motors powered by PV solar panels.

From Swiss company Code X based in Meggen on Lake Lucerne
More

Regular readers already know my complaint: Although it has a modern look to it, the yacht cannot fly and it cannot run submerged like a submarine. Too many designers of toys for rich boys neglect to incorporate rich multifunctionality in their design. They seem to think if it looks cool, makes a loud vrooooom!!, and incorporates a few trendy "green" features, that everyone will oooh and aaaah over their creation.

Wake up, bozos. Time to stop designing expensive toys for the 80s and 90s that only do one or two things, and time to start thinking like 21st century engineers living in the real world. 21st century adventurers want to be able to go just about anywhere without changing vehicles frequently.

Terrafugia Transition Flies

Image SourceBrian Wang provides a good update of the Terrafugia Transition flying car. Brian's article includes a good assortment of photos of the winged wonder. It does look extremely cute pulled up to the pumps at the gas station.

The versatile vehicle has made its first flight test at Plattsburgh (NY) International Airport, and is taking orders with deposits of $10,000 for the $194,000 multifunctional vehicle.

If Terrafugia can succeed at this venture, expect other versions of the Transition to be developed, including one that lands on either water or land. People want the freedom to go almost everywhere. They are willing to pay for that freedom.

Terrafugia Transition: Virgin Flight in 1 Month

The Terrafugia Transition flying automobile is scheduled for initial flight testing in February of this year -- next month.

Carl Dietrich, who runs the Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, said: “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle.”...The Transition...is powered by the same 100bhp engine on the ground and in the air.

Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of 115mph. Up to now, however, it has been tested only on roads at up to 90mph.

Dietrich said he had already received 40 orders, despite an expected retail price of $200,000 (£132,000). _Times

This design has a good chance of being successful. The wing folding and unfolding will need to be foolproof, and driving visibility cannot be obstructed by airfoils. The engine must be of highest quality and highly reliable.

Al Fin's requirements for a full function vehicle remain the same: it must be able to fly above the weather, cruise on a water surface, travel submerged like a submarine, move swiftly over highways or all off-road terrain. It should be able to land on either water or firmer surfaces including sand, salt flat, snow, and ice. And the vehicle should provide for comfortable overnighting in virtually any climate. Is that really asking for so much?

Inflatable Wing Version of Flying Car

Take a careful look at the basic design of the Parajet "flying car." Only minor modifications would be necessary to allow the vehicle to skim across the surface of a lake, river, or snowfield. The rear propeller design already serves for all manner of craft, such as airboats, hovercraft, and ultralight flying craft.

In fly mode, the the Skycar will take off at 35 mph from any airstrip longer than 650 feet. It will hit a top speed of 68 mph and a cruising altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 feet and a max altitude of 15,000 feet -- though we don't know who's be brave enough to venture so high, given that hypoxia and altitude sickness become an issue at 10,000 feet if you aren't in a pressurized cabin. Range is 185 miles.

Flip the car to drive mode, which takes three minutes, and you're looking at a rear-wheel-drive vehicle the company says will do zero to 60 in 4.5 seconds and top out at 100 mph. _Wired

More versatile wing technology should accompany advances in nanotech materials engineering. We already have "paper" that is stronger than steel (in some dimensions). It becomes easy to imagine an inflatable wing made of nano-materials that is stronger than current wing designs--while being adaptable to changing flight conditions.The above Milner Motors AirCar is another candidate for the first reliable, affordable, flying car. The AirCar design is imaginative and photogenic, but no one knows how reliable it will be or whether it can live up to its ambitious flight specs. But notice the duel rear fan thruster design, which could potentially be adapted to other modes of transport for the same vehicle.

A time may come when you will want to make a quick getaway without being stuck behind miles of stalled freeway traffic. Imagine the sense of freedom, to be able to fly to the bugout location of your chapter of the Society for Creative Apocalyptology©, high above the madding crowds.

Flying Cars Forming Up At Starting Line

Under the radar, the flying car is finally on the taxiway, preparing for takeoff. From Terrafugia's folding wing Transition to Pal-V's gyrocopter, to DARPA's PAVT, engineers are zeroing in on technologies that are reliable enough, inexpensive enough, simple enough, and safe enough for average citizen pilots to fly.

Darpa says its Cessna-sized combo vehicle should be able to cruise at 60 mph on land, and 150 mph in the air. It should be able to stay aloft for two hours on a tank of fuel. "The challenge," the agency says, "is to define the major components of such a vehicle that would be suitable for military scouting and personnel transport missions, yet are small enough, inexpensive enough, and easy enough to operate that it can be widely used."

To make the flying car work, Darpa believes, makers will have to use "morphing wings" to ease the transition from road to sky; "optimized disk loading" propulsion, "for the combined fly/drive mission"; and strong flight control software. Darpa isn't making an enormous commitment to the flying car, just yet. This is a project aimed at small business; contracts of this type are typically under a million dollars per year. But maybe, with a small Pentagon push, the flying car dream could finally clear the ground. _Wired

Yes, people are getting tired of the hype over flying cars--since nothing ever seems to come of them. And that is exactly the moment when breakthroughs happen, when they are least expected. Breakthroughs cannot be scheduled by a publicist, politician, or journalist.

The mere existence of a safe, affordable, reliable flying car is one thing. But what would it really mean for society at large? Think about it.

More on DARPA Submersible Airplane

Here are the main challenges identified by DARPA:

DARPA identifies five technical challenges. First is the diametrically opposed weight requirements between an aircraft that needs to be light to fly and a submarine than needs to be heavy to submerge. DARPA believes it should be possible to meet these requirements by controlling lift and volume - potentially by generating downforce on the wing and flooding spaces in the airframe to submerge.

The second challenge is to design a shape that works in air and water despite the difference in density. Here the key is that flows are similar in both fluids if something called the Reynolds Number (Re) is the same. DARPA believes it is possible to design a platform that operates at the same Re, airborne and submerged, but at radically different speeds: 100-400kt in air and 5-18kt in water.

Challenge three is structural - aircraft are pressure vessels with thin skins; submarines have thick skins to withstand crushing loads: the forces are applied in opposite directions. But DARPA believes this problem is dramatically reduced by limiting operating depth to the minimum required to avoid perturbing the surface.

Fourth is wing location. Traditionally seaplane wings are placed high to avoid the waves and shield the engines. Lowering the wing increases ground effect while sea-skimming. But the wing needs to be below the water to generate the downforce required to submerge. DARPA sees a range of possibilities ranging from two separate wings, one for air and one for water, to a single morphing wing able to change its height, area and airfoil.

The final (?) challenge is the powerplant, which must work submerged as well as airborne. Aircraft engines are light; submarine powerplants are heavy. One option is a single engine with air-independent and air-breathing modes. Another is dual powerplants, one breathing air and one running off batteries, fuel cells or DARPA's Aluminum Combustor. The agency believes the shallow depth required will allow use of a snorkel to provide air to the engine when submerged._AviationWeek_via_Wired

These are engineering challenges which may well require advances in materials science for their optimal solutions.

It is one think for DARPA to commission such vehicles for top secret, covert operations. It is quite another for Airstream or Winnebago to build them as RVs for the general public. At this time, I am willing to compromise and substitute a "surface effect" flier for a true aircraft, as long as the machine can go submerged for days at a time, and travel over the surfaces of roads, water, snow, mud, ice, rough ground, etc.

In an Obamanation, we will want to retain the freedom of travel in the fullest sense possible. Excessive limitations are for primitive and between levels humans, Obama zombies. We strive for something better.

Fly Over Water, Ice, Mud, Sand, Snow, Grass.....

These amphibious vehicles allow you to hover over any flat surface, including water, ice, snow, sand, mud, grass._HovPod

The HovPod is a powerful and versatile multi-terrain vehicle capable of carrying 3 adults. If equipped with special outriggers it could even travel over treacherous glaciers and sea ice.

Powered by a 120 HP 4 stroke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke Weber engine which offers greater performance and range, the SPX 120 hovers at a height of 9-inches over any flat surface, including water, ice, snow, sand, mud or grass and can reach speeds approaching 50mph on water. It's also buoyant enough to take over a ton in weight before water ingresses into the hull, making it suitable for commercial, patrol and rescue use. _Gizmag

It should be easily trailerable, for transport anywhere the fun or the job may be.

The hovercraft concept is ripe for innovations. Innovations in the HovPod models--including a built-in buoyancy composite layer--make it much more functional under a wider array of circumstances. The addition of an airfoil--perhaps an inflatable airfoil--would further widen the range of applications possible for the craft. In my opinion, development on this type of craft is just beginning.

Drivable Airplane: Carl Dietrich's Terrafugia

Carl Dietrich's company Terrafugia has come a long way since the last time Al Fin took a look at the "flying car" project.

Between now and late July, the 10 employees of angel-funded startup Terrafugia will be spending “a lot of long days, nights, and weekends” in that shop, says CEO and founder Carl Dietrich. That’s because they want to show off their concept vehicle at AirVenture—the world’s largest aviation festival, held annually in Oshkosh, WI—and there’s a lot of work to finish first.

...And the work won’t end after Oshkosh. Terrafugia wants to deliver the first Transition to a customer by the end of 2009 and go into large-scale production by 2012. If you were just building a new type of plane or a new type of car, that schedule would be ambitious enough. But the Transition is both—and if, as the company intends, pilots are to land the vehicle on an airport runway, fold up the wings, and tool right out onto public highways, then this hybrid-of-a-different-color will have to meet federal standards for both aviation safety and highway safety.

...In other words, there are a thousand practical obstacles to achieving the flying-car dreams Deitrich says he’s had since he decided to become an aerospace engineer at the age of 8—-to say nothing of actually making a bit of money along the way. “The old joke is that the best way to make a small fortune in aviation is to start with a large one,” says Dietrich. But while he admits that building a plane that you can also drive “sounds off the wall,” he says “there is a real business case for investing in its success. I’m personally invested, as are a lot of the people here. I don’t see any way we’re not going to get this done.”

Terrafugia CEO Carl DietrichThere’s plenty of reason to take Dietrich seriously. The 30-year-old earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT, and was awarded the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize in 2006 in recognition of his groundbreaking designs, including a desktop-sized fusion reactor, a pumpless rocket engine, and a blast-safe pick for removing land mines. Dietrich put the prize money into Terrafugia, which he co-founded with fellow MIT aero-astro grads Samuel Schweighart and Anna Mracek (now his wife) and two former MBA students from MIT’s Sloan School. Their plan to manufacture a road-ready airplane was the runner-up in the business venture category of the 2006 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition—winning the company a $10,000 check that still hangs on the wall of Terrafugia’s “prototype development facility,” a modest space formerly used to manufacture garage doors. __Much more at Xconomy

Dietrich and company have chosen a very tough business--the flying airplane/drivable car combination. A lot of people have spend many decades of their lives pursuing the same quest, only to find themselves unable to deliver on the promise.

Dietrich hopes to take advantage of 2004 FAA rule changes that created a new category of small aircraft called the "special light sport aircraft (S-LSA)."

In a nutshell, if a company can manufacture a plane that weighs less than 1,320 pounds, carries no more than two people, and flies no faster than 138 miles per hour, it can get the craft qualified as an S-LSA, meaning that owners need only a sport pilot certificate to fly it. Getting a sport pilot certificate involves only about half as much flight training as qualifying for private pilot certificate, the license previously required for most general aviation flyers.

...The nifty thing about the Transition, of course, is that it’s designed to change from a plane into an automobile in about thirty seconds—meaning pilots will be able to drive right off the tarmac and onto the roadway without even having to get out. (The half-hour process of manually refitting the Aerocar for roadway driving was part of what killed Moulton Taylor’s dream, according to Dietrich.) At the flip of a switch, the Transition’s wings will fold up and the license plates will rotate into view. The vehicle’s engine, manufactured by Rotax, has a continuously variable transmission and a dual shaft that can power either the rear propeller during flight or a pair of front wheels on the road (top speed: 80 miles per hour).

...The idea of a flying car that could lift drivers out of traffic jams will probably remain a standing joke—a monument to an antique brand of technological enthusiasm. But a drivable airplane is a different proposition. And it’s probably safe to say that Terrafugia has assembled more brainpower, and more MIT degrees, around that proposition than any previous organization. “I think this is a fantastic opportunity—not just from a business perspective and a career perspective, but to work on something where we could make history,” says Dietrich. “I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.”

The customers are there, the expertise in design and manufacturing are there. The investment funding is there and more is on the way. The largest barrier that Dietrich and Terrafugia face is the federal government, and its army of bureaucrats armed with truckloads of bureaucratic regulations. Only the stoutest hearts would brave such a battle.

When you look at how few there are who are willing to take up such challenges--in comparison to the many who forsake challenge in favour of security--you may begin to understand what 2 or 3 generations of dumbed down government schools and popular culture have done to the population base of North America. When you add the burden of university faculties who too often inculcate students into a brain-bound political correctness--rather than initiating them into the marvel of human initiative, drive, creation, and productivity--you understand more of the comprehensive nature of the problem. It is not just big bureaucracies, malignant litigation, and high taxes that drag North American initiative and economies down. It is the whole drone-creating system that has enmeshed entire generations.

Carl Dietrich is fortunately one of those--like Burt Rutan, Dean Kamen, Ray Kurzweil, and a few others--who is putting his own ingenuity and initiative up against the smothering effect of big bureaucracy. Good luck to Dietrich and company!

H/T Peswiki

Staircase Library

For those who are intelligent enough to understand the value of books--even in the age of electronic media--there is always the problem of where to put all your books. This is one solution, for the multi-story home. But I like the image more for the ideas it brings to mind than for its particular solution to a problem. via gadgetdna

Amphibious "Sealegs" Boat

This boat will do over 60 mph in the water. The bad news is it only does about 6 mph on land. This amphibious vehicle is optimised for boating.

The Aquada from Gibbs pictured below is pretty fast on land or in the water, but is obviously not as functional for boating as the Sealegs in the video above.
A designer must make compromises when designing a multi-purpose vehicle. Vehicles designed to function as airplanes, boats, and automobiles are particularly difficult, due to the multiple constraints introduced by each of the three functions. As I have mentioned multiple times, my ideal vehicle would be legal and handle well on the highway (and off-road), travel swiftly and smoothly on or below the water's surface (down to 300 meters), and fly above 20,000 ft altitude with a range of 1500 miles. I would also like enough room to sleep comfortably in the vehicle. (but not while personally piloting the "plane."

With today's materials and propulsion technologies, such a vehicle is impossible. With a timely assist from nano-materials and molecular assemblers, along with advanced propulsion technologies, the vehicle could be both light enough and strong enough to fill all those roles.

Scalding Hot Ice from the Z Machine

The Z Machine at Sandia is a multipurpose machine whose main purpose is to maintain the reliability of the US nuclear deterrent. But the machine can do many things, including testing methods of nuclear fusion, and using strong magnetic fields to super-compress matter.

Sandia’s huge Z machine, which generates termperatures hotter than the sun, has turned water to ice in nanoseconds.

However, don’t expect anything commercial just yet: the ice is hotter than the boiling point of water.

“The three phases of water as we know them — cold ice, room temperature liquid, and hot vapor — are actually only a small part of water’s repertory of states,” says Sandia researcher Daniel Dolan. “Compressing water customarily heats it. But under extreme compression, it is easier for dense water to enter its solid phase [ice] than maintain the more energetic liquid phase [water].”
Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) laboratory.

In the Z experiment, the volume of water shrank abruptly and discontinuously, consistent with the formation of almost every known form of ice except the ordinary kind, which expands. (One might wonder why this ice shrank instead of expanding, given the common experience of frozen water expanding to wreck garden hoses left out over winter. The answer is that only “ordinary” ice expands when water freezes. There are at least 11 other known forms of ice occurring at a variety of temperatures and pressures.)

“This work,” says Dolan, “is a basic science study that helps us understand materials at extreme conditions.”

But it has potential practical value. The work, which appears online March 11 in Nature Physics, was undertaken partly because phase diagrams that predict water’s state at different temperatures and pressures are not always correct — a fact worrisome to experimentalists working at extreme conditions, as well as those having to work at distances where direct measurement is impractical.

Source

The multifunctional Z machine never fails to amaze me. This type of basic research produces information that can be very useful in the future.