Ask Yahoo! answers that question in this week’s entry. Truth is, the US did adopt the metric system, quite a while back, but not as a replacement for the British measurements. A few decades ago, the government even tried to put metric units on traffic signs, but gave up after receiving numerous complaints. So, we’re still what’s called a “soft metric” country. Here’s the link to the full explanation.
From gas guzzler to green extreme
Professor Andrew Frank from the University of California at Davis developed a hybrid SUV that can get about 100 miles per gallon – or so the article says. It does this because it’s a plug-in hybrid. It recharges its batteries from an outlet at night. This is indeed really cool, but what I’d like to know is how much electricity it consumes. I’m not sure that the fuel savings offset the cost in electricity, so if we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, is it worth it? Here’s the link to the article.
Addition: just stumbled onto this related article, also at CNET News, which talks about the upcoming “100 miles per gallon” cars. Problem is, there’s a cost of $10-12K to convert a hybrid car to a plug-in hybrid, and again, the cost of electricity used to charge it up seems to be sidestepped.
Yet another addition: just came across this video from the Maker Faire, also at CNET News, where the fellow who gets interviewed mentioned you can take an ’04-’06 Prius and convert it for under $3K. One caveat: you’ll need the help of an engineer or electrician who’s comfortable working with high voltages. Cool!
Robot runs over water
Assistant professor Metin Sitti at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh developed a little robot that can run over water. The professor looked to nature for his inspiration, in particular to the basilisk lizard, which creates little air pockets as it slaps the water with its feet. He created both two-legged and four-legged robotic lizards that can scurry across the water surface at .8 m/sec (that’s almost 3 feet per second). Pretty cool! Here’s the link to the Discovery News article.
Women applaud no-men, pink-striped metro cars
In Brazil, women have finally gotten their wish: pink-striped, women-only metro cars. Apparently, there’s a lot of groping and feeling going on in Brazil (shame on you, fellow men!) and it’s so bad they lobbied for women-only cars. Now they’ve got them. The article mentions how women themselves will police the cars, to make sure no men get aboard. They can call on police if needed to evict unruly men. Here’s the link to the article.
m.Lee Prints
Today’s Blog of Note from Blogger is m.Lee Prints. Marissa – that’s the artist’s name – focuses almost exclusively on woodcut printmaking, and the results are beautiful! Have a look at her site, you’ll like it!
Raoul Pop 