Living cement: scientists turn bacteria-infused cement into energy-storing supercapacitors

In short, a group of Danish researchers found a way to infuse bacteria into cement, so that the bacteria can be "fed" electricity and that can be stored in the cement kind of like a battery. 

The applications would be that anything made of cement - your home, a roadway, whatever - could store energy at a low cost. And then that energy could be extracted and used. 

And all this without having to extract metals from the earth. 

https://bce.au.dk/en/currently/news/show/artikel/living-cement-scientists-turn-bacteria-infused-cement-into-energy-storing-supercapacitors

Disneyland's new plan to get everyone off their phones

This story mildly amused me. Disney wants people's heads out of their phones so they can interact with loved ones who are with them, and enjoy the moment. 

And of course the plan is to change nothing about how technology must be used. But rather to try and employ *more technology* 

Their aim is to make the use of whichever brand of connected glasses so you can look up. While watching something else and not paying any attention to those around you. 

But you can look like you are!

Such weird times we live in. 

https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/disneyland-new-plan-get-everyone-off-phones-21212611.php

Final Skating penguins

 Ultimately, after a few hours (or so) of cutting and gluing, I was done. And they look pretty good!

I fixed a few parts that broke, but otherwise it was just a matter of re-covering them.  

Sometime later, I may update them in a more detailed way. 

Stay tuned.

Skating Penguins

A few years ago, I worked on some skating penguins. You can read about my DIY approach here:

https://bitchindave.blogspot.com/2019/01/diy-penguin-decorations.html

I pulled them out for this holiday season and … well … they looked pretty ratty. 

My papier maiche had completely worn off. They looked terrible. 

I decided they needed an upgrade. I had a few ideas, and saw some videos that had some creative ideas. 

But, I pulled these guys out just after Halloween, and updating them with more sophistication was going to take time. 

So I came up with a very simple plan B. Something I could make work in a short amount of time and which would cost very little. 

I went to Walmart and bought 3 plastic table covers, one each of orange, white, and black. And I purchased some wood glue because it should work with the plastic. 

And I set about cleaning these guys and recovering them. 

I will also note that originally I had 4 penguins. There was another one that turned out bigger than I had planned and he looked like he was slipping on the ice. His arms stuck out far … and after a couple of uses, he started to really deteriorate and I had no good place to store him. 

So I sadly dismantled that one and moved on having just 3. I potentially could re-make him later. But for now, I’m happy with these. 

Ford CEO says he has 5,000 open mechanic jobs with 6-figure salaries from the shortage of manually skilled workers: ‘We are in trouble in our country’

Quite the perspective. Very many skilled manual labor jobs remain unfilled.  

As Farley notes "we are in trouble in our country."  

The idea of bringing manufacturing back requires that people step in to various jobs in  the industry. 

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-ceo-says-5-000-164653112.html

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now home to dozens of species - Earth.com

The "great pacific garbage patch" has become part of the ecosystem, with its own unique attributes and its now home to several species of marine life. 

That's just wild…

https://www.earth.com/news/great-pacific-garbage-patch-so-large-that-dozens-of-species-call-it-home/

Walt Disney Imagineering Brings ‘Frozen’ Olaf Robotic Character to Life | The Walt Disney Company

Imagineers have developed a fully autonomous robot that has a shell that looks like Olaf from frozen. 

You can read more about the technology involved in the attached article. But man, what a cool technology leap forward. 

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/olaf-robotic-character/