Scooter Forum

Gräslig scooter

Förr var du tvungen att så, vattna och klippa ditt gräs men med konstgräsets intåg har saker och ting förenklats en aning. Nya användningsområden dyker också upp, här ser vi en scooter som klätts i just konstgräs.

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Gräset är grönare på en scooter... eller samlar det månne smuts?
Foto: Motoblog.it

Snyggt, praktiskt, roligt? Vad tycker du? Gör din röst hörd! Det här är en ytterst viktig fråga.

Text: Johan Weimer

Russian Snow Scooter

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(http://www.scooterforum.se/pic/snow-scooter.jpg)

The Russians have a lot of snow covered terrain and it looks like they have a lot of time to tinker. There's a whole page of homemade Russian snowmobiles with all sorts of interesting contraptions, including this snow scooter. Sort of looks like a mini-Kettenkrad, doesn't it? No details other than what you can gather from the photos but it's a pretty nifty cold weather ride.

If you check out the page you'll find lots of other machines with motorcycle engines and skis making use of the materials at hand. Although these are very cool, I'm glad we're past winter and into spring. Maybe when the cold weather returns we can look at these for inspiration.

Neighborhood watching with the Swinglet CAM high resolution flying camera
By Paul Ridden
12:18 November 9, 2010

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With the help of the Swinglet CAM you can create your very own local aerial map a la Google Maps, or monitor wildlife distribution in a given area, or maybe just get a feel for what's going on in the neighborhood. The small, unmanned aerial vehicle can take off and land on its own and its integrated camera will snap high resolution images along a predetermined flightpath or as directed by remote control.

Swiss sensor manufacturer senseFly sees the Swinglet CAM high resolution aerial photography drone being useful for such things as traffic monitoring, security applications, mapping, crop monitoring and wildlife watching. It comes packed in a suitably-sized case, has a wingspan of 80cm (31.4 inches) and weighs 500g (17.6 ounces). Its Li-polymer battery will power the UAV for 30 minutes which is said to give it an operational range of up to 20km (12.4 miles) and a top speed of 30-50kph (up to 30mph).

Once unpacked from the case, the onboard brushless electric motor is activated with a few shakes of the device. The drone can be programmed to follow a pre-determined flight path based on up to 20 GPS coordinates, but also comes with a remote control. So long as the device stays within range (up to 2km/1.2 miles), it is also possible to alter a pre-programmed flight plan while it's in the air, but there's no live photo feed so operators will have to wait for it to land before being able to get at the images.

As for the images, they're automatically snapped with an integrated 12 megapixel camera. The Swinglet CAM package also contains a radio modem, battery and charger. Operators will need to load the included "e-mo-tion" software onto a suitable notebook, but there's also a version which includes a semi-rugged notebook ground station.

Pricing information is available on request from senseFly but we wouldn't expect the Swinglet CAM UAV to be available at the cheaper end of the scale.

The company has produced a video to show what its product is capable of:

Now you see me (no you don't): The tiny chameleon from Madagascar that's no bigger than a human fingernail,

Barely an inch long from nose to tail, it’s hardly surprising that this tiny animal is rarely spotted.

For this miniscule chameleon is so small that it can sit on a human thumbnail with room to spare.

The miniature creature, from the Brookesia genus, was spotted on an expedition in Amber Mountain Park, Madagascar, by British wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas.

Mr Burrard-Lucas and his brother Matt had just settled down for lunch during when their eagle-eyed guide spotted the creature.

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Tiny: The delicate-looking creature is one of the world's smallest chameleons - and can sit on a human thumbnail with room to spare

The Brookesia chameleon was camouflaged in the leaf litter, but stayed still as they took a photograph.

Mr Burrard-Lucas, 27, from London, said: ‘It was really amazing to see. It was so tiny it would have been absolutely impossible to find by ourselves, but fortunately our local guide Antonio knew where to look.

‘We were just having our lunch when he spotted it camouflaged under a pile of leaves.

‘They play dead when they sense danger, so we could pick it up very carefully and put it on the end of Matt's thumbnail.

‘This one is a fully-grown adult, so you can imagine how small the babies are.’

Madagascar is famous for its tiny creatures, which have evolved that way because of the island’s unique ecosystem.

Although it has a large landmass, it is divided into many small ecosystems, making it difficult for a large species, and large predators, to thrive there.

‘We were there as part of a four week trip, to photograph as much of Madagascar's unique wildlife as possible, so we were thrilled to see this little creature,’ Mr Burrard-Lucas said.

‘But I'd advise anyone wanting to spot them to take their glasses - otherwise they might not see them at all.’

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Pygmy: It is so small it doesn't even need to change colour to help hide from its enemies

Brookesia chameleons may not be as vibrant as their colour-changing larger cousins, but are still skilled in the art of camouflage.

Found in the wild living amongst fallen leaf litter on rainforest floors, they are able to cheat predators by disguising themselves as dead leaves.

Remarkably, its tongue is longer than its entire body, allowing it to feed on a variety of tiny insects from small crickets to moths, spiders and even locusts.

But the little chameleon has a threatened conservation status, after being subject to illegal harvesting for the pet trade and loss of habitat.

Anthropologists and paleontologists have always been fascinated by Madagascar's animals.

Madagascar has more unique species of animals than any location except Australia, which is 13 times larger. The island's population includes 70 kinds of lemurs found nowhere else and about 90 percent of the other mammals, amphibians and reptiles are unique to its 226,656 square miles.

The island is located in the Indian Ocean roughly 300 miles east of Africa over the Mozambique Channel and is otherwise isolated from significant land masses.

Its isolation and varied terrain make it a living laboratory for scientists studying evolution and the impact of geography on the evolutionary process.

Scientists believe that creatures on the island were cut off after a land bridge disappeared or that he first animals arrived there on a form of natural rafts that were blown out to sea.

For more photographs visit: http://www.burrard-lucas.com/madagascar (http://www.burrard-lucas.com/madagascar)