metajunk » Sean Fallon

Ninite Helps You Upgrade To Windows 7 By Installing Up To 58 Great Apps At Once [Software]

Sean Fallon — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:40:00 +0000

Simply put, the Ninite installer is one of the easiest ways to get many of your favorite apps loaded up after that fresh Windows 7 upgrade.

It allows you to bulk install up to 58 popular Windows apps without having to sit there and click through those annoying pop up questions. Obviously, you want to keep the install time down—because things can go downhill while you wait. [Ninite via Lifehacker]

Stunning Shanghai Corporate Pavilion Made From Used CD Cases [Architecture]

Sean Fallon — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0000

With the Shanghai World Expo 2010 fast approaching, architects are jumping in on the "Better City, Better Life" theme with concepts like this Shanghai Corporate Pavilion. The plans include many green features, including a structure made from recycled CD cases.

Technological Detail and Environmental Protection

1. Solar Energy System

The Shanghai Corporate Pavilion features a 1600m2 solar heat-collecting tube on the roof. These solar tube can collect solar energy to produce hot water up to 95°C. Ultra-low temperature power generation techology, a novel way to generate electricity through solar power. The power generated using this technology can be used for both the exposition and for every day.

2. Recycled Plastic materials
Shanghai produces nearly 30 million of waste CDs every year, and only 25% of them are reclaimed and recycled. If these CDs were reclaimed and washed, they could be used to produce polycarbonate granules and manufacture more polycarbonate plastic products. The external facade materials of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion will use polycarbonate transparent plastic tubes to create its dreamlike appearance. After the Expo, also plastic tubes can be easily recycled to reduce social wastage.

3. Water/mist System

For the Shanghai Corporate pavilion, rainwater will be collected and recycled. After such treatment as sedimentation, filtration and storage, rainwater can be used for daily purposes at the pavilion and for the "mist" in particular. The mist can lower the temperature, purify the air and create a comfortable climate in pavilion. The spray can also be used to form various patterns under ceiling of entrance hall and make the overall appearance of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion fresh and elegant.

[Arch Daily via Inhabitat via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Butter Smeared On Giant Bridge To Prevent Suicides and Traffic Jams [Taste Test]

Sean Fallon — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:20:00 +0000

Butter. It's tasty and it just happens to be an ideal lubricant for suicide hotspots like giant steel bridges.

Take this bridge in Guangzhou China for example:

Government officials in Guangzhou in south east China ordered workers to smear butter on all of the climbable surfaces of the 1,000 foot long steel bridge.

Government spokesman Shiu Liang said: "We tried employing guards at both ends but that didn't work - and we put up special fences and notices asking people not to commit suicide here. None of it worked - and so now we have put butter over the bridge and it has worked very well. Nobody can get up there and anybody who tries either falls"

Apparently, they were fed up with traffic jams caused by motorists slowing down to watch people jump (or threaten to jump) to their deaths. Mmm...suicide butter jam. [Metro]

Taste Test is our weeklong tribute to the leaps that occur when technology meets cuisine, spanning everything from the historic breakthroughs that made food tastier and safer to the Earl-Grey-friendly replicators we impatiently await in the future.