Big Boom Blog » sustainable transportation

The Airstream Dream in America

boomer — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:34:49 +0000

I was helping a friend move the other day and while unloading the storage space I noticed this beauty sitting in the back of the lot that we were working in. To me, The Airstream represents the American dream that almost became a reality.

Spirit of the Airstream

For almost a decade the Airstream captured the hearts and adventuresome spirits of so many in this country. One trip after another (from the storage space to the Uhaul) I kept thinking how ironic it is that I was loading up a Uhaul to drive across town to unload the Uhaul into a house about 3-4 times the size as this box on wheels. The Airstream has just a little bit more space than an average Uhaul although from the inside it seems exponentially more inviting and welcoming than a Uhaul interior.

Why the Airstream

What is it that draws us towards something like the Airstream but not the Uhaul? For me, it’s the bullet like design and porthole style windows that give it that space aged look. I hope to one day own one of these beauties myself but until then I’ll continue to dream and imagine myself cruising up the east coast with a much better drag coefficient than a Uhaul truck.

Prototypes, Ingenuity, and Medical Advances

boomer — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:41:00 +0000

This week I’ll share a few advances in technology that I’ve run across recently. The first project however isn’t really an advancement but simply ingenuity at it’s best. I’ve always been a bit of a hands on tinkerer and lately I find that my web work dominates the majority of my time. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to get back into electric dune buggies and useless yard sculpture, but until then…stories like these keep me hooked.

Pictures from space for under $150.00

A group of MIT students wanted to see how cheaply they could launch a balloon into space to take pictures of our atmosphere. For under 150 bucks they turned a beer cooler, camera and prepaid cell phone with GPS into a mini Hubble telescope. Check out the full story Here and a list of what they used to do it Here.

Mecha from the garage

Carlos Owens is a 31 year old army mechanic that built an 18 foot tall mecha monster. It uses 27 hydraulic pistons to walk, bend, and move it’s arms and hands. Check out the full article Here.

Racing the sun

A solar powered plane called “solar impulse” is set to circumvent the earth without using a single drop of oil. The plane will fly 45 miles per hour and take three weeks to complete one full circle around the planet. Check out the full story Here.

A two wheeled robot balanced drink

The final advancement for this article is a robot that has only two wheels. It uses gyroscopes similar to the Segway. The inventor is working on an automated version with proximity sensors and voice control so that it could take commands from a human from rooms away. Full article Here

Stimulus Green Car

boomer — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:57:56 +0000