02 July 2009

Happy anniversary, T.G.I.M.B.O.E.J.

T.G.I.M.B.O.E.J. stands for The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronic Junk, and it's celebrating its first anniversary this week. Do think of it as partly a social experiment, but more so a free-range parcel service-based electronics grab bag that circulates among hardware hackers who are eager to discover useful, cool, old, or even rare treasures from the world of circuits old and new. According to their own description:

[It] is a progressive lending library of electronic components. An internet meme in physical form halfway between P2P zip-archive sharing and a flea market. It arrives full of wonderful (and possibly useless) components, but you will surely find some treasures to keep. You will be inspired look through your own piles, such as they are, and find more mysterious components that clearly need to be donated to the box before it is passed on again.

If you're a tinkerer, a smart hardware geek, a fab-lab fan or aspiring aeronaut who wants to put that dusty old pile of circuit boards, switches, magnets, transistors, transformers, LCDs, CRTs and LEDs to a greater use (and perhaps find some interesting or useful new treasures to fiddle with), T.G.I.M.B.O.E.J. has a useful wiki that will tell you how you can get started.

Posted by Matthew Trost | Permalink

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22 October 2008

Nature vs. humans (and what I'm doing about it): Paul MacCready on TED.com

In 1998, aircraft designer Paul MacCready shares his vision of an earth out of balance, and talks about the steps he's taking in his own work to help solve it -- by building amazing solar airplanes, superefficient gliders and an electric car. It's a stirring vision of how all of us, no matter what our profession, can help make change. Listen for MacCready's rule to live by: "I spend about 15 percent of my time trying to save the world." (And watch for the aircraft demos soaring over the heads of a roomful of TEDsters.) (Recorded February 1998 in Monterey, California. Duration: 22:48.)

Watch Paul MacCready's 1998 talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 300+ TEDTalks -- including more demos.

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01 October 2007

Gossamer Condor: The Movie

Paul MacCready's first try for the Kremer Prize for human-powered flight, in 1976, was his Gossamer Condor, a Mylar-covered aircraft powered by a very, very tenacious bicyclist.

Filmmaker Ben Shedd followed MacCready's team as they designed and built this elegant plane. Shedd's resulting documentary, The Flight of the Gossamer Condor, won an Academy Award in 1978. Now, on the 30th anniversary of the prize-winning flight, the film has been remastered and released on DVD. In 1979, the LA Times called this film "uplifting, cheering and amusing." On its re-release this year, Joe Morgenstern at the Wall Street Journal writes: "its essential brilliance lies in the inventiveness of MacCready and his team, in their eagerness to learn from successive failures, and in the broad-winged Condor itself, a thing of fragile beauty but a timeless monument to the man who made the dream a reality."

Another impetus for re-releasing the film: It's set to become part of Project Lead the Way's curriculum for high school engineering students -- so MacCready's creativity and passion can inspire another generation of young engineers, builders, makers and flyers.

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27 September 2007

Flying on solar wings: Paul MacCready on TED.com

Paul MacCready -- aircraft designer, environmentalist, and lifelong lover of flight -- talks about his long career. After his record-breaking work on human-powered aircraft in the 1970s, with the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross, MacCready's attention turned to addressing a problem he calls "Nature vs. Humans." The result: a pioneering electric car, refined alternative energy sources, and (bringing his enthusiasms full circle) a breathtaking solar plane. (Recorded February 2003 in Monterey, California. Duration: 21:32.)

Watch Paul MacCready's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.

Read more about Paul MacCready on TED.com.

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