Dean Kamen on the interesting way they score the FIRST robotics competition – “We work really hard to ‘ambivalence-scale’ our competition, as we call it. We create a competition where there’s a lot of luck added to it. The rounds are only 2 minutes long; the scoring system isn’t particularly fair. It favors, throughout each…more
“I scarcely spoke at all for two years. I couldn’t be completely free of words, but my wife had to talk to people for me. I didn’t want to say anything, make any sounds, until I was pretty sure what those sounds meant and why I wanted to use them.” – R. Buckminster Fuller, explaining…more
A fascinating biography of Buckminster Fuller. I didn’t know about his self-imposed isolation, a la Thoreau: “Fuller moved his wife, Anne, and infant daughter, Allegra, to a one-room apartment in a Chicago slum, withdrew completely from all friends and social contact, and vowed not to speak again until he really knew what he thought. And…more
Fun gallery of wild Dutch bike designs at the Designhuis exhibition. My favorites: the Giant Downtown, with integrated handlebar lock; a bike you <a href=”http://www.core77.com/gallery/BICYCLE%20EXHIBITION%202008/59.asp?currentimagenumber=44¤tphotoid=8284&albumid=69&contextid=1’>steer by shifting your bodyweight; a system that connects two bikes to make a 4-wheeled vehicle; a dinky little recumbent trike; a slick carbon recumbent; a rowing-action pullcord drivetrain; and an…more