A Moving Day for SuperForest!

Good Morning SuperForest!

As the morning progresses you might notice that SuperForest looks a bit different today.
That's because we are now hosting our own site on our own server space!

AND we've redesigned things to make searching for your favorite SuperForest posts easy! Want to read all of the posts by a single SuperForester? Just click their name.

Yay!

So we must say a fond "Aloha" to Blogger, which has worked so beautifully for us, as we say "Hello" to Wordpress.

In addition to the increased ease of use, hosting our own site also allows us to grow in some exciting new ways. Now, we can have our own wiki, our own chat rooms, our own social networking site.

In short SuperForest is shaping up. If you like your content elevating, your discussions thought provoking, and your DIY info so tantalizingly informative, well, you know where to go...

SuperForest.org!

We sincerely hope you enjoy the redesign and the increased usability.

Love to All,

Team SuperForest



(top image courtesy of humorpix.com)

Upcoming Deliciousness!

Good Morning SuperForest!

We've got a lot of fun things coming up in the week to come:

SuperForester Jackson is heading down the Washington D.C. to cover the inauguration of someone named Barrock Owbamma (or something like that..)

The SuperForest blog is going to be moving from blogger to wordpress. (More on that later...)

SuperForester Jordan will be finishing up his series of posts from this years Consumer Electronics Show. (Here are parts one and two.)

New SuperForest Comics! (Here are some older ones: Cell Phones, Youtuber, Hare Removal, Ticklish.)

Thrilling new tales of sustainable adventuring!

Save-A-Seed growth and wonderful developments! 30 blogs and counting!...

So, if you like your content elevating, your discussions tantalizing, and your DIY extra informative, read SuperForest every day.

Better yet, set SuperForest as your homepage!

Have an excellent day.

Yay!

(excellent top image via flickr user katarina 2353)

Standard Solar on Extreme Makeover

Good Morning SuperForest!

We just got an email from our friends at Standard Solar. We met the Standard Solar crew last year, in Washington D.C. for the congratulatory rally for the D.O.E.

As it turns out, Standard Solar has been tapped to install a solar array on some lucky ducks house in the Sunday PM showing of Extreme Makeover.

Here's a great little photo gallery of some of the projects that Standard Solar has carried out recently:


Find more photos like this on PickensPlan


And a fun little film:



Nice!

Here's their press release:

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition This Sunday
Tune into your ABC affiliate this Sunday night, January 18, at 8pm EST and you should see one of the first-ever green dimensions of a home built by Ty Pennington and his crew on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. On extremely short notice back in November, Extreme Makeover selected Standard Solar to design and install a pole-mounted, 2.76 kilowatt array of solar panels for the rebuilt Drumm family home in Quincy Township, Pennsylvania. As with other Extreme Makeovers, the story Ty tells and the home they build will hit home and warm the heart."

So, if you've got a TV and are in the mood for some uplifting content, check out Standard Solar on Extreme Home Makeover this Sunday.

Congratulations both the Standard Solar for the recognition of their skills, and to Extreme Home Makeover for helping a lucky family get off of the grid.

(Anyone in the NY area have a TV? Can I come over and watch? I'll bring potstickers.)

Love to All,

Jackson


(top picky via inhabitat)

CES: Green Gadgets Part 2

A question: disposable batteries. Do we really need them?

I remember a childhood full of Costco-sized packs of batteries of all shapes and sizes. Batteries for cameras, toys, flashlights, remote controls. Batteries for emergencies. For the comfort that portable power brings. Batteries tossed casually into the trash. To spread their toxins and outlive us, like cockroaches or Wall-E.

But today we have lithium (still toxic) batteries, rechargeable batteries, LED flashlights that can be powered by hand-crank. The only conventional batteries I would still use would be for the remote control of the TV I don't have. But I think the answer to my question above is yes, most people still use disposable batteries. A necessary evil if you will. Well now there's a solution...

2) Green Batteries: For the first time ever at the 2009 CES convention, two companies unveiled the first ever Eco-friendly bats.

First up is Enviromax batteries from Fuji. As far as I'm aware these are the first ever, eco-friendly consumer batteries. What that means is they are made in eco-responsible factories in Japan, without the toxic materials like Mercury, Cadmium, or PVC found in most conventional batteries, and are packaged in recyclable materials. Add to that the fact that they last as long as regular batteries and are priced competitively... and you have a simple revolution in power! And they should soon be in stores everywhere and near you!

There's no reason to ever buy any other (toxic) brand of battery, ever again. Unless of course that brand is Aqua Power Systems No Po Po (non pollution power battery).

The No Po Po does everything Fuji's Enviromax does and then takes the innovation one step further. These batteries too are eco-friendly, safely disposed of in the trash when done, and are powered by WATER. Or soda. Coffee. Even Urine.

How does that work you ask? In truth, I don't really know, but after seeing, lord I do believe! Water is injected into a small tube in the batteries middle, or you can simply drop the battery in a cup and then dry it off. Plug it into a low-powered device like a clock, or small flashlight... and voila! Power. When it runs down, you can even recharge the battery with fresh fluid (though battery life and power decreases with each usage). It's pretty amazing technology, the catch of course being for now it can only power low wattage devices. But Aqua Power Systems out of China is right now using the same tech to build a 110 w battery that will be capable of powering an entire house for over 24 hours... on water.

The No Po Po is currently only available in Japan, but will be hitting our shores very soon. Exciting stuff!

Build Yourself a Sparkleball!

Got a few leftover plastic cups, a string of Christmas lights and some patience?

Make a Sparkleball!

Here's how, courtesy of sparkleball.com.

So sayeth the mysteriously unnamed creator of the Sparkleball site:

"I finally taught myself how to make Sparkleballs and now have made dozens. I've had Sparkleball-Making Parties. I made Sparkleballs for a bar in San Diego. Friends say I should start a business or charge for the instructions.

But every Christmas when I hang up my original Sparkleball and plug it in, I'm reminded of that dark Texas night and how it's those little detours we take in life that give us the most joy. And I reaffirm the fact that if I, an egghead serious negativizer, can get this much pleasure from something so simple, maybe I need to give it away. This website lets me do that.

Just call me the Missionary of Sparkleballs."

Oooh ooh! Me first!: "You are the Missionary of Sparkleballs!"

Wonderful! Saw it on notcot.

Wingsuit Base Jumping Video

Seems so uplifting.


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Saw it on boingboing.

Coalition of the Thrilling - The Seedling Sprouts!

Good Afternoon SuperForest!

This monday, three days ago, we put out a call to our readers and fellow bloggers to join us in a little uh... exercise? No, exercise isn't this fun... Thought game? No, this has real world results...

Adventure!

That's it, adventure!

We asked our fellow bloggers to join the Save-A-Seed Coalition, a group with two simple goals, talk about the Millennium Seed Bank and the Save-A-Seed Coalition, and link to both.

The goal is to get as many people as possible to learn about and link to the Millennium Seed Bank and each other.

Anyone can join, all you must do is post and link.

We figure that it will appeal to people to think: If you can't save the forest, you can save one seed.

And that is all we're hoping to do: save one seed.

Let us spread our net-roots wide, save one seed, and then see if we can't save two.

But just one for now.

Right?

So, we put out the word on Monday and now the Save-A-Seed Coalition is beginning to take form:

SuperForester Jesse was kind enough to mention the Millennium Seed Bank and the SASC on the Maroon 5 blog, which helped considerably.

SuperForester Cliff joined Save-A-Seed and mentioned the MSB on three of his blogs:



SuperForester Maaja joined and posted:



As did SuperForester Laurie:



And SuperForester Neal:



And SuperForester Sonja:



As did SuperForester Shawna:




Not even a week old and already the Save-A-Seed Coalition is twenty blogs strong, with more than thirty bloggers pitching in and more to come.

SuperForester Christine and myself will be working tomorrow night on a series of splashy logos for members to proudly display on their sites, should they choose.

Join the SASC!

All you've got to do is post about the Millennium Seed Bank:
http://www.superforest.org/2008/12/millenium-seed-bank-is-in-trouble-what.html

And the existence of the SASC:
http://www.superforest.org/2009/01/coalition-of-thrilling-save-seed.html

Thank you to all of those who have contributed their time and energy. We'll save that seed yet.

Love to All,

Jackson and Team SuperForest

SuperForest Slang: Consent Pranking

Hello All,

I was just thinking about Socialtaire and the way it adds an interesting spin to the concept of pranking. In my youth, pranking was what I lived for, but too often the pranking got out of hand and feelings were hurt, or eggs were needlessly tossed.

So the idea of a game based around a form of "Consent Pranking" in which the pranked party agrees to be pranked (i.e. Mountain Catted) in the hunt for lulz, is a very interesting new twist.

And because the name of the game is to get your opponent to laugh, the better the prank, the higher the chance for sincere peals of endless laughter following the reveal.

Interesting.

I hereby challenge any comer to a game of Socialtaire.
My headshot is ready, my wacom stylus is poised, and P'shop is running.

Who wants a taste?

I trust you completely.

Love,
Jackson

Ask SuperForest: SuperForester Frank Needs a Carbon Fiber Tank!

Good Morning SuperForest!

We just got in a question from SuperForester Frank, who writes:

"(Dear SuperForest,)

Where can I obtain carbon fibre bottles as on Jem Stansfield's bike? Please
see attached photo.

-Frank"

(This appears to be Frank himself astride his own homebrew compressed air motorbike.)

Dear Frank!

What a marvelous question!
We had nearly forgotten about good ol' Jem Stansfield and his miraculous air-bike. Thank you for jostling the memory.

Firstly, where can you get the tanks?

Here are some we've found:

New: Remote Medical
Used: A bunch on ebay

We think ebay should have you covered and provide a significant discount, however, it's not everyday that you purchase what is essentially a potential explosive, especially one that is lovingly cradled between your legs.

Maybe you wanna go with the full warranty on this item and scrimp on everything else. Think of the future.

And what of Mr. Stansfield? What of his wonderful vehicle?



As you can see, Jem is up to a great number of compressed-air-related shennanigans, (and how many folks can one say that about?)

Jem is using his powerful intellect for more than just vehicle design, he's also working on ways to feed and cook for large numbers of people using only the sun.



So, as you can see Jem's become a bit of a TV star. Good for him, because he's a massive celebrity to us here at SuperForest.

Here's is Jem's "Planet Mechanics" show site.

Good luck to you, Jem Stansfield, wherever you are and whatever you're up to.

And thank you to Frank, for his thought provoking question.

Got a question you need answerin'?

Ask SuperForest.

Worldometers.info

Worldometers.info has a running tally of the numbers behind our lives.

Check it out, here. Fascinating.

Thanks to Carla for the tip! (lulz)

Socialtaire: "We do it for the lulz"

This image is none other than SuperForester Spoon. As you can see, Spoon has been Mountain Catted, (or MC'd.) This is because Spoon is playing Socialtaire.

This is how you play Socialtaire:

Socialtaire
"We do it for the lulz"

Instructions: The object of the game is to your opponent laugh so hard they cry.

Set up: Socialtaire is played via instant messaging conversation between two or more individuals.

Playing the game: In order to commence the game properly and officially, a three part process must occur:

1 .) The Challenge:
One player types, "I challenge you to a game of socialtaire!"
Player two responds with one of two possible answers... "Affirmative!" or, to player one's dismay "negative" (a "negative" response is not recommended, the object of the game is to make the other person cry but it is important to emphasize that the tears should flow as a result of laughter or pure bliss rather than as a result of rejection or hurt feelings.)

2.) The Pledge:
Both players look each other straight in the eye and establish a state of trust.

Player One: "I trust you completely"
Player Two: "I trust you completely"

3.) Initiation:
Formal initiation of socialtaire begins when both players simultaneously type:"Game ON!"

Now both players are ready to swap headshots of themselves for the other player to deface.
Both players get to work by quickly resizing/editing the pictures in a way that is both creative and funny. The challenge is in adding the "Mountain Cat-Element."

The more hilariously one can incorporate MC's into an image, the higher the chance of lulz. Lulz is laughter.

Once the Mountain Catting has been completed, players post the altered photographs on facebook, flickr, or email them to each other.

Upon receiving the exchanged photograph, the fun begins, the laughter erupts, and if lucky, tears well up.

The round ends when one player states "Your lulz are far too supreme for me."

Point Distribution:
After any given round, the lulz are tallied and each player awards his or her opponent a reasonable amount of lulz, feeling free to liberally apply hidden bonus multipliers and the like.

Here is the point conversion chart:

1,000,000 lulz = 1 frog.
10 frogs = The Universe is Yours.

(The image that started it all.)

Upon receiving 10 frogs, you will have reached nirvana, a place free from fear, doubt and pain. You will become a being of pure light, radiating love to every molecule in the universe.

It is a highly lulzy game.

Enjoy.

Here is the Socialtaire Flickr set.

If you'd like to join in the fun, send you images of your Mountain Catted friends to superforestnyc(at)gmail(dot)com.

Anti-Love Potion Number Nine?

John Tierney has a very interesting article up over at nytimes.com about love potions. Yes, very real love potions. For voles, that is.

Even more interesting are the anti-love potions being developed to help protect you (the voles) from the love potions.

Says Dr. Larry Young, a scientist developing this technology at Emory University:

“It would be completely unethical to give the drug to someone else,” he said, “but if you’re in a marriage and want to maintain that relationship, you might take a little booster shot yourself every now and then. Even now it’s not such a far-out possibility that you could use drugs in conjunction with marital therapy.”

Here's Dr. Larry's full article on vole amour.

Can we just call this one? Are we all wizards and witches now?

Love potions for prairie dogs? Segways? iPhones? The internet?

We're all like, love potion makin', telepathic, livin' forever with stem cells and organ printing, communo-love-wizards.

Tell me I'm wrong.
No, text me: you'43 wr0n9!
No, no, email me: you're wrong!

I'm not wrong. Humans are awesome.

Coalition of the Thrilling!: The Save-A-Seed Coalition (Part One)

Good Morning SuperForest!

As you can see from our little "fund-o-meter" down on the right, we have now raised more than $1,100 toward preserving a single plant species via the Millennium Seed Bank.

This is wonderful news!

So, thinks we, how to best raise the remaining amount?
Better than that, how to spread the Save-A-Seed meme across the blogosphere and internet in the hopes of raising further awareness and funds?

Our question is this: Can the blogosphere save the world, one cause at a time?

Here is how we're gonna try to find out:

We are hereby setting out on an Attention Generation Excercise! One whose sole goal is to tell people about the Millennium Seed Bank.

Right now, there are 37 people who follow SuperForest. Of those 37, 30 are bloggers. Those 30 bloggers have 49 blogs among them.

If you add in the members of Team SuperForest, you've got over 40 bloggers with approximately 50 blogs between them. So what can you do with 50 blogs?

We're hoping to unite them!

Today, the thirty bloggers who follow SF received the following email or comment on their sites:

"Dear (fellow blogger),

We would like to invite you to join us in a little adventure.

As you may well know, we've started an awareness and fund-raising campaign for the Millennium Seed Bank. In our opinion, the MSB is performing an invaluable service by preserving plant species, all for the incredibly low price of approx. $3000.00 per species. Compared to trying to save a piece of land, or an animal species, 3000 smackers is an absolute bargain.

We think their work will benefit all of humanity and is as far as we can tell, controversy free.

We happily invite you to join us in forming the Save-A-Seed Coalition.

The SASC will be an informal organization of volunteer bloggers with two goals: Tell people about the Millennium Seed Bank. And, tell more people about the Millennium Seed Bank.

We figure that the best way to raise awareness, (and hopefully funds,) for the MSB is by telling as many folks as possible, generating as much interest as we can...

Here is our plan for how we accomplish that:

We here at SuperForest will write a post about the idea of creating the Save-A-Seed Coalition and our plan to reach out to you.
If you decide to join in the fun, you write a post about being asked to join the SASC and whether or not you'll join.

If you join, we write a post about who has joined and we link to you. You write a post about joining up, and you link to us!

(See where this is going?)

Between the 37 folks who follow SF and us, we have over 50 blogs.
With 50 blogs writing about and linking to the Millennium Seed Bank, the Save-A-Seed project and one anothers blogs, we've all of a sudden created a very powerful informational and communication entity.

A sympathetic coalition of bloggers, flexing the blogosphere's infant muscles to help a needy organization sounds like just the sort of elevating content that people are hungry for, and we can all share in the fun!

Our immediate goal is to save one seed, (i.e. raise $3,000 for the MSB.) We are one third of the way there. Our plan is to raise this amount, send them a check, and immediately set to work on saving a second seed.

Micro-donations, collected across the vastness of the internet, could provide the lifeblood for the Millennium Seed Bank, and we hope that this little action will help that come to pass.

And as an added bonus, we all get to "meet" one another and get to know each other and each others work as we work for a worthy cause.

What say you? Will you join us?

With love and respect,

Jackson, Niki, Andrew, Alex, Taylor,
Jaell, Julius, April, Jordan, Iman, Carla, & Spoon

a.k.a Team SuperForest"

Joining the Save-A-Seed Coalition doesn't mean you have to donate money, or raise money, or ever deal with money... To join, you merely have to mention that the SASC exists and link to it.

I repeat: No need to donate, only post and link.

Enough folks mention, enough folks link, and the Millennium Seed Bank is as good as covered. That's what we're hoping.

As of now, four of the 30 has replied back in the positive. Thank you to SuperForester Sonja over at SilverJewelry, SuperForester Jenn over at Chucka Stone Designs, SuperForester Lindsay from lindsayisobsessed, and SuperForester Mimi from Everyday is a Saturday!

When enough bloggers get on board, then we can all write posts about the MSB at once, link to each other AND work up a press release about the whole thing thus far. Fun, right?

Let's work together and see if we can improve our environment.
Here's to exploration!

Love to All,

Team SuperForest

If you would like to join the SASC, or Team SuperForest, click here.

SuperForester Chris Presents: A Beginner's Guide to Circuit Bending!

Dear SuperForest,

My name is Chris!

Granted, this isn't my first appearance in SFHQ (I'm already rolling in some cool acronyms! Just kidding.), but I figured an introduction would be nice. I, like many, stumbled on this website while sifting through a new favorite musician's blog, and I was hooked. I think within a week I had read close to every post. I was attracted to the immense style, positivity and kind vibes. SuperForest became a safe haven of the internet!

To be honest, I feel extremely out of my league with such an awesome crew to begin with. I am a rookie! Everyone starts somewhere, and needless to say SF is an extremely welcoming environment. One that I'm so excited to write, share, and explore with such cool people in.

And with that, I'd like to share a little story:

My friend, SuperForester Matthew, and I have recently gotten ourselves into circuit bending.

From Wikipedia:

"Circuit bending is the creative, short-circuiting of electronic devices such as low voltage, battery-powered guitar effects, children's toys and small digital synthesizers to create new musical or visual instruments and sound generators. Emphasizing spontaneity and randomness, the techniques of circuit bending have been commonly associated with noise music, though many more conventional contemporary musicians and musical groups have been known to experiment with "bent" instruments. Circuit bending usually involves dismantling the machine and adding components such as switches and potentiometers that alter the circuit."

And that's just what we did. We picked up an old child's keyboard from the Goodwill store (any DIYer's heaven) for six dollars. We took a walk to a local electronics wholesale shop and bought anything we could think of. The two women working there thought our complete lack of basic electronics knowledge was "cute." It probably was.

We walked back home, set up a small workshop in Matthew's room, complete with an open window and an air cleaner/fan (you don't want to breathe in solder smoke!), dismantled the keyboard, touched terminal to terminal with alligator clips until we found desir able sound-altering effects, soldered components like toggle switches, potentiometers, and even 1/4 inch stereo cables for electric instruments into these points. A guitar sounds awful through a toy circuit, believe me.

All in all, we had a super fun afternoon. We never realized how accessible a "hobby" could be. All it took was walking around town and a desire to have fun.

Here's a video we took. If you can get over the TERRIBLE quality and the home movie style, I bet you can see how much we were enjoying it. And how much you can too.



With love,
Chris


(Jackson here... Amazing post, Chris!
I got all excited about circuit bending and found these cool videos on youtube:





Furby sounds forlorn. Cheer up, Furby.

Also! Just found this gallery of mp3 examples of circuit bending via makezine.

First 3-D Fly-Through of a Supernova Remnant

Ever wanted to see what a 3-D flight through a star that exploded around 330 years ago looks like? Well now you can.

The combined technologies of three of NASA’s observatories have provided us with this little beauty.

Her name is Cassiopeia A, and a turquoise dot in the middle of the orb is the only remnant of this now dead star. The outer shell represents the rest of the scattered remains. 3-D imaging technology has now provided astronomers and dreamers a fantastic trip through the supernova remnant. Take a look!

The universe is awesome…awe some!

(Read about it on National Geographic. Image found here.)

Best. Gift. Ever. = Titanium Halligan Bar

Good Morning SuperForest!

We've posted about Halligan bars and their utter gift supremacy before, but nothing could prepare my bloggy self for the sheer joyous thrill that rang through my spine when first I hefted my very own new Halligan bar!

My dear brother, SuperForester Will, saw fit in his infinite generosity and wisdom to provide me with the best zombie-fightin', door-smashing, get me the heck into/outta here tool in the world.

In high tensile strength titanium, no less.

Less than half the weight of steel!
Will NEVER rust!
Electrical conductivity = 1/6th of steel!
Heat conductivity = 1/8th of steel!

5.25 pounds of pure, unadulterated awesomeness! The kind of awesomeness one can hand down to countless heirs. That's "heirloom quality" awesomeness!

And the bestest part? It has eyelets for a strap!!!

Swoon!

This year, give someone you love the gift that will never wear out, and can be used to escape from countless zombies: a titanium Halligan bar.

I swear, it just purred at me.

Nothing says "dapper gent" like a titanium smashing tool.

Will ordered mine from the fine people at Tico Titanium Inc. in good ol' Michigan.

A special thanks to my brother, who is the best brother in the history of siblings.

First Jet Flight Powered by Algae

Well, I just heard some great news.

Continental Airlines just completed its first test flight with a Boeing 737 that was partially powered by biofuel made from algae! The flight was the first test done so by a US commercial carrier.



Props to Continental!

One of the planes' two engines consisted of a 50-50 mix of biofuel and aircraft fuel.

"The flight from Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport completed a circuit over the Gulf of Mexico, and pilots carried out a series of tests at 38,000ft (11.6km), including a mid-flight engine shutdown.

'The airplane performed perfectly,' test pilot Rich Jankowski told the Houston Chronicle newspaper.

'There were no problems. It was textbook.'"

Textbook baby!

The best part about the test is that the biofuel used is a "drop-in fuel", meaning that there is no modification required for the aircraft to use it. The use of algae is fast becoming the future for biofuel: it grows extremely fast, does not compete with food crops, and is better for the enviroment.

All that is left is to make algae commercially competitive.

Check out the full BBC article here.

To get your algae fix, click here.

Translucent Concrete is So Hot Right Now!

We can now make concrete that light can pass through, and is 30 percent lighter than traditional concrete.



Just think of the many incredible uses for translucent concrete!
Translucent buildings. Translucent roadways. Clear bridges.

Fun.

I need a seven letter word for AWESOME!

The lovely Ukrainian city of Lvov holds what can be argued as the world's most amazing crossword puzzle. Take a look!

This piece of work is around 30 meters (100 feet) tall and is located on the side of one of their residential buildings. But that's not all! The questions corresponding to this crossword are located all over the city (fountains, park benches, etc.). And then, when one has finished adventuring around the city and writing down their answers...

they can check those answers and watch them light up in the evening! Fun!

(Found it here through designboom)

How To Speak Binary!

Got a minute and a half and want to learn how to say "Please forgive my species" in computer speak?



"01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100111 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110011 01110000 01100101 01100011 01101001 01100101 01110011"

Have pity on us! We will happily shine your metal widgets!

Huge thanks to youtuber MathCrazyTutoring.