Good Fact

Open Source Translation from Lingro

- Adam Clare

lingro
Boing Boing has a post on Lingro, which is a new tool that makes any word on a webpage clickable and translatable. It can also help you learn a langauge!

Find out more about Lingro.

“It works with English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Polish (with more on the way) and if you find a missing word, you can add a definition.

“Our goal is to make the coolest language learning tools, build community, and build open content dictionaries that anyone (even our competitors) can use in their projects (licensed under the FDL and Creative Commons licenses).”

SkySails Start Sailing to Save Fuel

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

skysailFootball field sized sails are finally hitting the waves, last year we mentioned SkySails initiative to sell their sails to large tanker fleets. December will see the first ship equipped with the extra-large sails head out on its maiden voyage.

The SkySails system consists of a towing kite with rope, a launch and recovery system and a control system for the whole operation. The control system acts like the autopitot systems on an aircraft, the company says. Autopilot software sends and receives data about the sail etc to make sure the sail is set at its optimal position.

The company also says it provides an optional weather routing system so that ships can sail into optimal wind conditions.The kites typically fly at about 1,000 feet above sea level, thereby tapping winds that can be almost 50% stronger than at the surface.

Vinegar to Solve all Problems

- Adam Clare 16 Comments

Vinegar is one powerful cleaning agent, and one that can be sued for almost anything it seems. People ought to use vinegar instead of all those freaky chemical based cleaning solvents.

Here’s a list of the powers of vinegar:

– Clean the microwave by boiling a 50/50 mixture of water and vinegar until it steams up. Wipe clean.

– Add vinegar to a hand-pump compressed-air sprayer to kill weeds and grass growing in crevices in a patio and walkways.

– Make any dried bean dish less gassy or stinky by adding 1/4 cup vinegar to the soaking water.

– Make catsup and other condiments last longer when the bottle is almost empty by adding a little vinegar and shaking.

– Spread a cloth soaked in vinegar over a price tag you want to remove and leave overnight.

– Get rid of fruit flies by setting out a small dish of vinegar—it will attract and drown them.

Don’t Make Your Bed

- Adam Clare

To protect your health, it’s best not to make your bed.

Research suggests that while an unmade bed may look scruffy it is also unappealing to house dust mites thought to cause asthma and other allergies.

A Kingston University study discovered the bugs cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed.

The average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites.

The Hexayurt Project

- Adam Clare

The Hexayurt Project is looking to house more people more efficiently. This simple housing design maybe able to help the world’s poor.

The Hexayurt is a prize-winning shelter you can build yourself for about $200 (cache). Suitable raw materials include common building materials (insulation boards,) hexacomb cardboard and plastic. You cut six 4′ x 8′ panels in half diagonally to make the roof, and use six more whole panels to form the walls. It takes about two hours. The design (cache) is in the public domain.

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