bamboo magic

Bamboo laptop case.

How many things can you make with bamboo? Lots, according to AfriGadget.

Lekuama Ketuafor is the proprietor of Bamboo Magic, a one-man cottage industry he’s started to supplement his work as a teacher.Using a set of simple hand tools, glue, varnish, skill and loads of patience, Lekuama finds ways of using bamboo—a ubiquitous, low-cost, renewable material—in ways many people have never imagined.

off the rails

While I think futuristic visions of transport systems are unlikely to solve our current challenges, it's always good to dream. Here's a concept I haven't seen before, courtesy of Dimitar Kyosev:

In this innovation the track is actually carried by the train. The Tubular Rail concept developed from the observation of the relationship between the balance point of a beam at rest on two points. The inventor noted when sliding a pencil off the edge of a desk, given a uniform weight distribution, the pencil - or any beam - could be pushed to almost 50% of its length before tilting would occur. Reversing the orientation of the wheel and the rail is truly unique. By placing the wheel (or roller) permanently on a fixed structure and the rail on the now strengthened car, the car itself bridges the space between the rollers. Tubular Rail Technology uses the principle of the cantilever beam - a projection anchored at one end. Since the car is moving within- and is held by - the support rings (stanchions), the effect is to create a cantilever beam. The beam is fixed in its vertical orientation but mobile in its horizontal orientation. Therefore this rolling cylinder is constantly shifting from a cantilever beam on the ends to a post and beam (in its middle) and then back again. That allows drastic reduction of construction costs.