Someone is going to Hell for this…

I’m just sayin’…

This Guy Is Cool

This was sent around on one of the shop manager lists I’m on – very, very cool.

His name is Theo Jansen – he calls these things “kinetic sculptures” – if you look around on YouTube you can find a few different versions of his strandbeest (www.strandbeest.com)

The Air Car

src=\”http://morphosis7.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/1185392805-hr-294.jpg\”

One of the students here at school sent me these videos – with all the brouhaha over hybrids, I\’m even more intrigued by this:

Of course, I can\’t help but see that the car seems underpowered for an American market – top speed of 110 Km/H? Yes, that\’s 70 MPH (plenty fast and still safe) but I know it\’ll raise eyebrows among consumers.

The bigger question, for me, is the safety issue. First, with an aluminum body and frame I worry if I\’m T-boned by somebody driving a Ford Expedition (18+ feet long, 5800+ lbs) – will I survive? Second, in an accident like that, what happens to the compressed air tanks? I see they\’re made of carbon fiber which means no shrapnel, but…

For more information: www.theaircar.com

In contrast to the Expedition, the Air Car (Minicat model) weighs in at 1,212 pounds and is just over 8\’6\” long. So three of them would be just a bit longer than an Expedition, and still not weight as much.