Is this a solar car ... or a UFO?

Some drivers thought the latter was a sure bet ... and reported it to police!

But it was just Canadian Marcelo da Luz striking his own blow for a solar powered, carbon free future.

Filed under: electric car, ufo, and police

Will the world heat up like a furnace or cool down like an icebox? Scientists are divided, and recently there has been more doubt on this issue than ever.

But it's reassuring that in places where the climate is warming, birds and people are adopting to the new conditions. A University of Oxford stufy, for example, showed that some birds are laying eggs earlier to take advantage of the earlier emergence of caterpillars.

In Iceland, meterologist Tómas Jóhannesson says “It’s not surprising that the warming effects of climate change can be beneficial for a cold country like Iceland".

I think that's true of the United States as well. Most of the US could use warmer winters.

Filed under: winter, iceland, global warming, and energy

So what are they like, the available electric cars? WhatCar magazine decided to do a group test, between a Fiat, a NICE Mega City, a G-Whiz and a Smart.

The Fiat wast most car-like and had the best range, but blew a fuse or two on the way and was by far the most expensive at 30,000 pounds, or almost $60,000. Top speed is a nearly civilized 75mph.

The Smart was easily the best built, garnering very good crash ratings, had the second best range (but that's only 71 miles) and reaches a top speed of 60 mph.

The other cars made those figures look good.

A video of the test is at the link. The testers clearly looked forward to the more advanced American products, the Tesla Roadster and the Chevy Volt. Either car would make those look laughable, but unfortunately the Tesla's production line seems to have stalled, and the Volt won't be ready for another two years yet.

Filed under: smart, g-wiz, nice mega city, fiat doblo, electric cars, test, and tesla

License agreements, those annoying blocks of text that go on forever, and that you have to agree to in order to use the software you've purchased or downloaded, are a staple of modern life.

So how many people read them? One developer decided to find out, by offering "consideration" to anyone who read the agreement. After 3,000 downloads of the software, someone finally emailed the special address in the agreement.

He was promptly mailed a check for $1,000.

I assume the offer is now closed :-(.

Click on the link for the full story about license agreements and the nasty things you've probably agreed to

Filed under: software, licensing, and agreements

An interesting, if environmentally sound, way to build your dream Viking ship: Construct it out of 15 million recycled ice-cream sticks, collected from 5000 school children!

“If you can dream it you can do it … I want to teach children that anything is possible,” the creator said.

I'm just amazed what a pretty ship he made out of the sticks!

Filed under: ice cream, boat, and ship

We covered the Rube Goldberg machine contest to make a hamburger earlier and now we have a winner!

Click on the link to see a video of the winner in action.

(Via Slashdot).

Filed under: rube goldberg, device, and burger

You have to see this one to believe it ... courtesy of Gizmodo, pictures of Google's new Zurich headquarters, where a demented imagination and a near unlimited budget make the world's coolest ... and strangest ... offices.

Filed under: google, offices, and cubicle