Kurt Starnes

"Poor transmission efficiencies and safety concerns have plagued attempts at wireless power transfer, but a handful of start-ups - and some big names, like Sony and Intel - are having another go at making it work. The last few years have seen promising demonstrations of cellphones, laptops and TVs being powered wirelessly. Are we on our way to waving goodbye to wires once and for all?" - Kurt Starnes

"By all reports, both vessels in this year’s 33rd staging of the America’s Cup (racing began in 1851, making it the world’s oldest active sports trophy) are capable of sailing two to three times faster than the wind, so fast in fact that “they make their own wind,” said Bryon Anderson, a physicist at Kent State University and a longtime sailor." - Kurt Starnes

"SenseCam takes pictures at VGA resolution (640x480 pixels) and stores them as compressed .jpg files on internal flash memory. We currently fit 1Gb of flash memory, which can typically store over 30,000 images. Most users seem happy with the relatively low-resolution images, suggesting that the time-lapse, first-person-viewpoint sequences represent a useful media type that exists somewhere between still images and video. It also points to the fact that these are used as memory supports rather than rich media. Along with the images, SenseCam also stores a log file, which records other sensor data along with their timestamps. Additional user data, such as time-stamped GPS traces, may be used in conjunction with the SenseCam data via time-correlation." - Kurt Starnes

"The problem: 5 recessed incandescent lighting fixtures each with a 65 watt bulb for a total draw of 325 watts. My kids leave the hallway lights on constantly as it is the most trafficked area of the house. The solution: swap in LED recessed lighting fixtures at 12 watts each for a total draw of 60 watts" - Kurt Starnes

"Heidi Cody's American Alphabet, 2000. Edition of 6 + 1 A.P. 2 of 6 editions reserved as whole sets. Aluminum light boxes with Lambda Duratrans prints, 28" x 28" x 10". First shown at Roebling Hall gallery, later 4 times in whole, and 9 times in smaller parts. American Alphabet has been purchased by S.E.I. Investments/ the West Collection, by Gannett/USA Today, and other collectors." - Kurt Starnes

via @supersallyryan - Kurt Starnes

Darn, it didn't load all of the letter images. :-( - Kurt Starnes

"Beer could provide a substantial amount of silicon in the Western diet, said researchers from the University of California, Davis, who published their study in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture." - Kurt Starnes

"Nicknamed “snowpocalypse” and “snowmageddon,” an exceptionally severe winter storm dropped several feet of snow around the Washington, DC area in early February 2010. Crashed and abandoned cars littered roads as airlines canceled hundreds of flights. Even the DC Metro underground train system stopped functioning in places. Authorities urged residents to stay indoors, but hundreds of thousands lost electricity. The Washington Post reported that the snow-induced standstill might last until midweek, but also listed organized snowball fights throughout the region." - Kurt Starnes