The recent oil spills in Singapore and the disaster at the Gulf of Mexico have brought many inconveniences, and worst of all, damages to the environment. While our government has acted very efficiently to clean up the situation pronto, this cannot be said for the mess that BP has created on the other side of the world. I was reading reports on the BP oil spill when I come across an interesting nugget of information. Apparently during the Cosco Busan oil spill between San Francisco and Oakland, California in November 2007, tightly woven hair mats were used to soak up the oil that was washed ashore. These mats are then sprinkled with oyster mushroom spores that takes about 12 weeks to grow; breaks down the oil; and turn the hair mats into non-toxic composts!
Read more about the how it is done here.
Ok, how many of you out there have tried to “guesstimate” your packed luggage’s weight by placing it on the weighing scale at home? Well, I did. If you have tried it, you probably know it is not very easy (and smart), especially if you have a big luggage blocking the view of the scale’s screen. Well, I found this cool item online – a luggage tag that doubles up as a weighing machine for your luggage. All you have to do is to secure the tag to your luggage, switch it on, lift it up for 5 seconds and the weight of the luggage appears. Smart eh!
A true story – In 1981, a young engineer in a watchmaker company dropped his precious watch given to him by his father. It broke into pieces and he was devastated, but it also inspired him to come up with a watch that is unbreakable. As it was an “unofficial” project, the men’s toilet in his office became his makeshift laboratory. He would drop his prototypes out of the toilet window to test which one would survive the fall unscathed. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful until one day he noticed a girl playing with a ball in the park. That set him thinking, and he imagined the ball to contain a floating watch engine. That’s where he had his eureka moment and how the G-Shock is born. It took another 2 years before the floating module configuration is perfected. Since then, over 60 million watches have been sold in nearly 100 countries.
This story of Kikuo Ibe, the young engineer and founding father of G-Shock, teaches us a thing or two. First, creative solutions may not be right under your nose, but by straying away from your usual habits or thinking, it may lead you to the answer that you are seeking for. Second, the path to innovation, more often than not is something that is not achieved in a day or a week. With the idea formulated, passion and determination is also pertinent in ensuring that whatever project you are doing turns to reality. That truly is the road to innovation. Click here to read the interview he did with The New Paper.
The answer is yes, if you are residing in the EU. The Internet Eyes, based in the UK, offers a cash amount of £1000 to viewers who spot a crime happening while watching commercial CCTV cameras. Based on a point accumulation system, the CCTV videos are streamed to computers of viewers who subscribed to the live feed. They then send a SMS to the owner of the CCTV when a crime is spotted, and obtain points that allow them the opportunity to get rewarded with up to £1000. Read more here.
