What better way to become green that to get the most popular and least polluting mode of personal transport and having it made out of what else, cardboard. Yep, cardboard, that stuff that is used for all types of packaging for mostly all the stuff we buy. From cellphones, TV’s and other consumer electronics, they all come in cardboard boxes. It is not only cheap and extremely recyclable, it is also light and quite strong (well if you don’t drive it in the rain that is, kidding it is waterproof and will not break-up in the rain). It also addresses the most plaguing problem with respect to bikes which is theft. In the UK alone, thousands of bikes are stolen each and every year and the statistics keep rising.
Some bicycles are indeed expensive with all the aftermarket upgrades and rare alloys that they now come in. From carbon fiber to tungsten and titanium parts, they are all vandalized or stolen even when chained to a lamppost. The cardboard bike is also cheap at $30.00 and when they reach the end of their life (which is still miserably short at 3 months) they can be disposed of easily without worry of pollution or contamination of the environment. The cardboard parts are simply re-made into other cardboard products then re-injected into the cycle once again. The cardboard used by the inventor was used to make pallets or crates and was rated to carry 2,500lbs(but he does agree that a stronger version for heavier people might be needed). The cardboard bike is still in the prototype stage and any commercial product would still have to undergo further testing and testing for it to go into full-scale production.
Duct Tape – For repairs on Earth and Beyond….
Duct tape has been the all-around versatile tool that has been in toolboxes for many years, since they were invented in the 1920’s by who else but the adhesive pioneers at 3M a division of Johnson and Johnson. Duct tape if you don’t already know is again a product that was designed for military uses and was intended to keep moisture out of ammunition cases which if allowed to get wet can mean the difference between life and death(originally called duck tape due to the material it was made of, cotton duck). The original material was colored green (the favorite of the military) where the mother of all invention, improvisation had soldiers finding all kind of uses for the humble “duck tape” from repairing their jeeps, boats and all other stuff they had to get working or face the enemy. The current version we all know as duct tape was a re-name done when the advent of air-conditioning systems had them used for sealing joints and fixing insulation in duct work, hence the name “Duct Tape”.
From MacGyver to the space shuttle (yep, they used it to repair a leak and way back in the Apollo 13 failed moon landing) all creative thinkers always found a use for good old duct tape. Imagine being in space with no atmosphere and breathing only oxygen you bring with you and then your ship springs a leak, duct tape is the answer(well along with some pieces of cloth and rags actually). From ammunition savers to life savers, they have been used in all kind of applications that the world is truly a better place. That’s to old American engineering and thinking we all used to love.
Of Airports and Laptops
The battle has long been raging since that fateful day when security became the scourge of all travelers may it be for business or pleasure. Business travelers hate to have to go through the good ole’ laptop bag they just spent half an hour packing cramming all those cables, power adapters, gadgets and gizmos into one neat package only to take them out once again as they go through airport security tangling the mess into something resembling a jungle landscape. Not anymore, according to the Washington Post with luggage manufacturers taking up the call talking to airport security experts on advice to come up with airport security friendly baggage that has all the gadgets and gizmos lined up neatly you won’t have to take them out of their short-lived places in your laptop bag.
Laptops and most other electronic gadgets and gizmos have to go through security equipment such as x-ray machines that have been finding it hard to see through all the cluttered wires and stuff crammed into laptop bags airport authorities had no choice but to require people to take them out so they can be scanned properly. Why all the fuss, laptops are sizable enough to conceal explosives and other banned electronic goods onto airplane. Imagine a laptop battery made out of C-4 plastic explosive with all the required electronics and control stuff built into a simulated battery (which is one of the most likely suspect part of a laptop) now that would cause quite a bang.
There never seems to be any cease to the amount of delays that we all have to go through each and every time we have to get onto a plane that is complicated more by the several gadgets and gizmos we lug around in our bags that may soon even need to have to be inspected electronically for contraband (pirated music and other copyrighted stuff), thank GOD that still has to go through deliberations or we may have to contend with a few more hours of delay as they not only scan through you, your luggage and other effects but check each and every gadget or gizmos for copyright violations