Candles made from Oranges

You can make a candle from an orange!  You basically hollow out a half an orange, wrap a match in some thread, stick in in the orange, fill with oil and light.

Here are step by step instructions:

http://www.snowhiteblog.com/candles-oranges/

Pretty cool!

New Home Designs for Maximum Safety

I saw this blog post on Neatorama recently and I think some of these ideas are great!  I especially love the one with the pool moat.  I wonder if we'll see any builders use any of these designs in the future.

You can check them out here: 

http://www.neatorama.com/2010/07/06/the-enemy-at-the-door/

:)

Powerful Wind Turbines

There's a new type of wind turbine that rotates horizontally, which is supposed to be able to generate twice the power as traditional turbines.  They're called Aerogenerator X Vertical Axis Wind Turbines, and are expected to be completed by 2014.

You can click here to watch the video:
http://gizmodo.com/5599241/the-most-powerful-wind-turbine-doesnt-look-like-any-wind-turbine-youve-seen-before

Aerogenerator X Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Elliptical Bike

I saw this and thought it was pretty cool.  It's called the ElliptiGO 8S and it's the world's first elliptical bike.   Here's a video, so you can see how cool it is.  The best part is that it "provides a low-impact alternative to outdoor running that maintains the core running experience without the damage to the body."  Looks fun!

 Check out www.elliptigo.com for more info.

Panera's Pay What You Can Restaurant

Panera has been running a non profit restaurant in MO that runs on the honor system.  And it's working!

Customers are told to pay what they can afford.  I find it intriguing that people can manage to behave themselves enough to make this happen.

Panera is not the first to do this.  A place called One World Salt Lake City has been running their restaurant on the honor system since 2003.

You can read the full article here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37213165/from/38357994

[photo: sfgate.com]

Eco-Friendly House

Check out this cool looking house.  It's called a Global Model Earthship.  It has solar panels, solar hot water, skylights, walls made of earth and recycled tires.  You can get a small 800 sq foot one all the way up to a three bedroom 1500 sq foot model.

It's a little strange looking but I love the fact that it's made with recycled material and the amount of light is fantastic.

You can read more about it here: http://earthship.com/buildings/global

Chicken Cribs

This seems like a super easy way to keep chickens without needing a lot of room.  They do look kind of small for multiple chickens, but even if you were to make them a tad bigger, they still wouldn't take up much space.

These pens, or cribs, are predator proof, easy to assemble, and ideal for urban settings.  Each one can house 2 to 3 chickens.  The handles on the side make it easy to move around the yard.  Here's the full article:

http://www.coolhunting.com/design/chicken-cribs.php

♪ Meet George Jetson ♪

A flying car!  How cool.  I could get places so much faster with this machine.  It goes 115 mph in the air.  I'd be able to see my friends that live all over the country any time!  Since it's so lightweight and tiny, it's classified as a light sport aircraft, which means in order to get a license, you'd only need 20 hours of flying time with a professional.  I could do that.  It has electric folding wings, so you can just fold them up when you want to drive on standard roads.  

Anyone want to donate $194,000 so I can get one?

Click on the link to read the full article and see more pictures: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/7860966/Terrafugia-Transition-flying-car-gets-go-ahead-from-US-air-authorities.html

Bladeless Fan

I saw this today and I am intrigued.  A bladeless fan?  In addition to being safer (for pets or kids), it's also supposed to be more efficient.  And I like that there are no blades to clean.  I've seen some reviews that say it's not worth the cost, but I still think it looks pretty cool.

*For some reason, no matter what I set the height and width to, this movie wants to expand beyond the borders of my blog.  So if you can't see it all, here's the direct link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A3IM06xgr0

Seedbombs

This is a very cool idea to encourage gardening and green spaces in urban areas.

"This nifty urban guerilla gardening project involves the duo retrofitting old quarter candy machines inherited by Karlsrud into homemade seedbomb — little balls of red clay, compost, and seeds — dispensaries. The goal? To help spruce up in-need-of-green communities around L.A. with indigenous plants."

http://www.mnn.com/your-home/around-the-house/blogs/seedbombs-away