Even the Dark Side takes a break every now and then, and Darth Vader's choice of getaway is Hawai'i! Jill Ulander caught a series of photographs of the Dark Lord kicking back on the Big Island. Link -via Buzzfeed

After two decades of research into alternative energy, engineer Lonnie Johnson has developed an energy-producing device called the JTEC, which could double our current efficiency in converting solar power into electricity. The concept has scientists, research centers, and the US Air Force excited about its potential. One scientist called the JTEC “a very clever way to extract energy from a heat engine … It’s incredibly elegant.” Here's a partial explanation of how it works:

Johnson’s latest JTEC prototype, which looks like a desktop model for a next-generation moonshine still, features two fuel-cell-like stacks, or chambers, filled with hydrogen gas and connected by steel tubes with round pressure gauges. Where a steam engine uses the heat generated by burning coal to create steam pressure and move mechanical elements, the JTEC uses heat (from the sun, for instance) to expand hydrogen atoms in one stack. The expanding atoms, each made up of a proton and an electron, split apart, and the freed electrons travel through an external circuit as electric current, charging a battery or performing some other useful work. Meanwhile the positively charged protons, also known as ions, squeeze through a specially designed proton-exchange membrane (one of the JTEC elements borrowed from fuel cells) and combine with the electrons on the other side, reconstituting the hydrogen, which is compressed and pumped back into the hot stack. As long as heat is supplied, the cycle continues indefinitely.

Besides efficiency, the advantages of such a machine are durability, as it has no moving parts, and the absence of polluting waste products. Lonnie Johnson already made a name for himself as the inventor of the Super Soaker. His biography (included in the article) is almost as fascinating as his latest invention. Link -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Ben Baker/Redux)

Remember, remember the fifth of November... Oh yes, this is Guy Fawkes Day! In the 400 years that have passed since the Gunpowder Plot, a lot of the historical details of the story have become garbled in popular culture, and many people don't know the story at all. But Guy Fawkes is not the only English folk hero. Oh you know King Arthur and Robin Hood, but have you ever heard the story of Jan Tregeagle?

Aside from having a hilariously awesome name, Jan Tregeagle was definitely a magistrate in the 17th century who was so much of a jerk that stories circulated claiming he made a pact with the devil.  And murdered his wife.  And that he supposedly rose to power by stealing an estate from an orphan.

Geekosystem has his story, as well as those of nine other folk heroes from English history. Link

This weekend, the USA "falls back". Daylight Saving Time (DST) ends at 2AM on Sunday, meaning we will set out clocks back one hour. Your local custom may vary. Here are some things I recently learned about Daylight Saving Time.  

1. New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson proposed the idea of shifting clocks in summer in 1895, so he could spend more time collecting bugs after his day job at the post office. New Zealand did not adopt his idea until 1927, after Hudson had retired from the postal service.  

2. London resident William Willett independently came up with the same idea in 1907. He published a pamphlet outlining the idea. He died in 1915 before his plan was implemented.

3. Germany became the first European country to try DST in April of 1916, in order to conserve energy during wartime. Germany's allies quickly followed. England tried it in May of that year. The US first tried DST in 1918, but dropped it after two years. Except for a federal mandate during World War II, DST was optional among the states until 1966, after which states must legally opt out if they choose.

4. The only states in the US that do not observe DST are Arizona and Hawaii (and several tropical territories). Arizona found that any savings in lighting costs were more than offset by the extra cost of air conditioning for that evening daylight hour. The Navaho reservation in Arizona does observe DST, while the Hopi reservation contained inside the Navaho reservation does not. Hawaii follows the lead of many tropical areas that do not benefit from DST as the amount of daylight doesn't vary much near the equator.

5. Antarctica has 24 time zones. However, since the continent also has continuous daylight in the southern summer and continuous dark in the winter, research stations keep the same time as their home countries, in order to co-ordinate work, communication, and shipping schedules.

(YouTube link)

Dad wants to remind you that Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend. These guys don't sing all that well, but they care. By the way, do you need anything from CostCo?

Flickr user Make Way for Cupcakes made cupcakes topped with cupcakes! The secret is that the little cupcake on top is a miniature Reece's Cup with frosting. Link to photo. Link to instructions. -via The Daily What

In the early 1970s, millions of Americans bought and wore metal bracelets inscribed with the name of one American who was missing in action or a POW in Vietnam. Those bracelets were the project of Carol Bates Brown, who was a student at what is now Cal State Northridge and a member of the conservative student group Voices in Vital America (VIVA).

Brown became national chairwoman of the bracelet campaign for VIVA and worked six days a week, from morning to midnight. "My mother would find me asleep in my bed covered with checks and bank deposit slips," she said. She eventually dropped out of school.

"There was something about a specific name being on them," said Brown, 62, who went on to work on POW/MIA issues for the nonprofit National League of Families and later for the Pentagon. "People made a personal connection — 'I'm watching out for this guy.'"

The plight of the POWs gave people a way to separate their feelings toward policymakers from their feelings toward those who fought in the war — a shift in public attitude still evident today. Whatever people think of U.S. policy on Iraq and Afghanistan, support for the troops remains strong.

Over the years, many who wore the bracelets got in touch with "their" POW if they returned from the war, or their survivors. The L.A. Times talked with several veterans who were contacted and the civilians who sought them out. Some have stayed in touch for many years. Link -via Fark

(Image credit: Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times)

PS: The POW whose bracelet I wore has never been found.

The current tallest wooden building in the world is nine stories. The planned LifeCycle Tower will be 30 stories tall! The totally green project in Dornbirn, Austria is a project of the CREE (Creative Renewable Energy and Efficiency) Group.

Materials used to build the structure would include reinforced concrete (for the foundation), composite slab (wood/concrete), and timber wood.  The floor will be made of a hybrid glulam (glued-laminated) beams and reinforced concrete.  The building would include photovoltaic panels on the outer facade to generate electricity along with a "green wall" (aka "vertical garden").  The building will further protect the environment and public health through use of local resources, reduced routes of transport, use of sustainable materials, and significantly improved CO2 balance.  Highly pre-fabricated construction will further reduce air pollution as well as construction site waste.  In accordance with Passivhaus standards, construction of the LifeCylce Tower will reduce carbon emissions by 90% when compared to conventional construction.

The LifeCycle Tower will have plenty of other environment features, which you can read about at InventorSpot. Link

The Zodiac Killer claimed to have murdered 37 people. The killings, which paralyzed Californians with fear for years, began in 1968, and soon after mysterious letters were sent to news outlets, many featuring cryptograms.

From this point on, the killer started communicating via letters and greetings cards. Each of these messages was concluded with the crossed-circle design pictured above. Later it became known as the Zodiac signature. These letters as well as some coded messages were sent by the killer to different, well-known newspapers, including the San Francisco Examiner and the Vallejo Times Herald.

Many of these notes still haven't been decoded, and the murders have yet to be solved. See the coded messages at Environmental Graffiti. Link

GETTING GOOSED

The events of January 15, 2009, gave new meaning to the fear of flying. At 3:27PM, a flock of Canada geese struck an outbound plane leaving LaGuardia, blowing out both engines and sending the aircraft plummeting to the ground. The incident made a hero of Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who safely piloted the plane into the Hudson River, but it also made Canada geese out to be small, feathered suicide bombers.

The truth is, Canada geese populations in the United States have skyrocketed since 1960. Today, America is home to more than 4 million of the birds. Why the sudden spike in numbers? The geese thrive on trash. Landfills and estuaries provide them with so much food they can live in one place year-round, instead of migrating. And because there's lot of garbage surrounding New York's airports, many geese call the Big Apple home. During the past two years, there have been more than 200 instances of Canada geese flocks colliding with airplanes that were landing or taking off near JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark.

Following the "Miracle on the Hudson", state and federal authorities have worked to deter the birds from nearby flight paths. They even enlisted the help of wildlife biologists, who've tried all sorts of tricks. They've cut the grass near the runways to undesirable lengths and played goose distress calls over the airport loudspeakers. More aggressively, they've trapped geese by the hundreds and euthanized them. So far, the geese have not counterattacked. Not yet.

(Image credit: Flickr user Alanna@VanIsle)

MIKE THE HEADLESS CHICKEN

When a Colorado farmer named Lloyd Olsen botched the decapitation of his rooster in 1945, he didn't realize he'd given birth to a legend. For the next 18 months, Mike the Headless Chicken ran around with his head cut off. Operating with only one ear and most of his brain stem, Mike made the best of the situation. Before long, he was earning his owner thousands of dollars a month touring as a sideshow. The rooster's only real handicap was that he didn't have a mouth, so he had to be fed through an eyedropper directly into his neck. Sadly, while being fed one night, Mike choked to death. His legacy lives on, however. In his hometown of Fruita, Colorado, "Mike's Festival" is held every third weekend in May. Events in his honor include the "Run Like a Chicken with Your Head Cut Off" 5K and a "Pin the Head on the Chicken" contest.

(Image Source: Mike the Headless Chicken)

DUCK, DUCK, SHUTTLECOCK

In 2006, professional badminton players noticed something strange. Their shuttlecocks, which routinely whiz around the courts at speeds of 150 mph, weren't moving so fast. The phenomenon was especially strange because the process of making a shuttlecock is highly controlled. Each feather in a premium shuttlecock is hand-selected from the left wing of a goose, and each goose can supply only two quality feathers, at most!

So what caused the change? The avian flu. When geese began transmitting the disease, Chinese manufacturers switched to using duck feathers. Luckily, our fine feathered friends have been on the mend, returning smiles to the faces of badminton players everywhere.

__________________________

The above article by David Goldenberg is reprinted with permission from the Scatterbrained section of the November-December 2010 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Be sure to visit mental_floss' entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!

News.com.au got schooled in the ways of Star Trek fandom when they posted an article containing errors about the Trek universe. Today they printed an apology with corrections.

News.com.au apologises unreservedly for the error.

There was no intention whatsoever to suggest Captain Kirk may have commanded the Galaxy Class Starships Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E.

Any damage to the Star Trek brand incurred by the use of the term "hyperspace" is regretful.

No malice was intended and a correction to the original article will be made.

We also agree that Patrick Stewart is a handsome man, a sentiment expressed by several readers.

The kicker is that, intentionally or not, there are at least nine errors in the apology. http://www.news.com.au/technology/were-sorry-for-claiming-captain-kirk-was-in-command-of-captain-picards-starship/story-e6frfro0-1225947119042 -via Metafilter

Every week, y'all get mighty creative on us for the Fill in the Bubble Frenzy with boy genius Mal and his talking dog Chad! Fill in the empty speech bubble and win any T-shirt available in the NeatoShop -take a look around, pick one out and tell us what shirt you’d like with your submission in the comments. If you don't specify a t-shirt with your entry, you forfeit the prize. Enter as many times as you like (text only, please), but leave only one entry per comment. Even if you have no idea what he's saying, check out the other entries! Also check out Mal and Chad’s comic strip adventures by Stephen McCranie at malandchad.com.

Update: Congratulations to winner tyson, who said, "If you elbow me off, I'm just going to come after you on that rhino." That's good enough to win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop!

(YouTube link)

This guy made a Mecha {wiki} costume for Halloween and spared no expense.

Sheet metal, aircraft aluminum, and other parts: $600.
Rivets, bolts, hardware: $250.
Tool purchases/rentals: $200.
Spraypaint: $90.
Truck rental to carry costume: $210.
Hours: 250+.
Looking like you could take down a tank: priceless.

It's a good thing he rented a truck. That's a lot of weight to walk home in, considering he couldn't fit through a bus door. -via reddit

Chris Roth served on a jury for a civil case that lasted for seven days. The case was interesting (involving a stripper), but seven days in a jury box is still a long time. Jurors were given notebooks to jot down important things, so Roth drew pictures. Lots of them, which you can see at his blog. Link

(YouTube link)

This Lego Star Wars animation tells a version of the original trilogy in which Jar-Jar Binks messes everything up. -via Boing Boing

An 18-month-old boy in Paris fell out of a sixth-story apartment window Monday afternoon. He bounced off a canopy over a ground-floor cafe and into the arms of a doctor who was passing by!

The man who caught the boy was walking by with his wife and son, who spotted the boy falling.

Another witness told Le Figaro that the doctor positioned himself by the awning and caught the boy in his arms after he bounced off it.

The witness, Francois, said the boy cried a bit at first but quickly calmed down.

The doctor, identified as Philippe Benseniot by France Info, said it was pure luck.

"I was there at the right time," he told France Info.

The child was taken to a hospital but was found to be uninjured. Link -via Fortean Times