Green Options » Camera

Voyage to the Center of the United States: Love, Theft and Theory

Caroline Savery — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:33:06 +0000

Dearest Sustainablog!

Thank you for welcoming me back after an extended hiatus travelling our great American countryside. Burned out from the stresses of the Sust Enable project, my partner Scott and I took off for the great wilds of U.S. National Parks in early August. I haven’t written a blog since, as my adventures swept me far from the reaches of the Internet, for the most part. Now I am back in Pittsburgh, not living sustainably, yet still reeling from the life lessons reaped from the past four months.

I anticipated having a slew of breathtaking photographs to offer you, alongside commentary from the trip in which I reflected on our often-severed connection with nature, and the deep wisdom such a connection provides. Instead, one night while we camped in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, our video and digital camera were stolen from the glovebox of Scott’s car. In the middle of a peaceful campsite, in which the sense of goodwill invoked a dozen campers to leave their car doors unlocked that night, a band of thiefs took advantage, slipped in after dark, and robbed a handful of people… not only of material possessions, but of their precious trip memories.

I wept inconsolably when I learned that the camera which held our trip photographs had been taken from us. I cared little for the money-cost of these items, but I couldn’t stop hurting from the void that the thief left in me–having robbed me of the potential for life-long memories.

Memories surely live on in one’s mind… but as an avid student of the sciences, psychology easily reminds me that minds distort experiences. I was hoping to use the photographs from our trip as a guideline for revisiting the feelings and sights that this wonderful trip stirred in me. That hope is gone now, exchanged for a fleeting handful of cash to another.

And so, in the middle of my meditations on how the entire human race might be unified if we each and all had the opportunity to pause in the arms of nature’s bounty… I was sharply reminded with a single malicious act… that we have much further to go before then.

Cool Tech of the Week: Cordless 3D Sensor

Michelle Bennett — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:22:12 +0000

It looks like a child’s toy from the 70s, but this new high-tech camera can record more than a simple Polaroid. It can create a 3D image of almost anything, and you can take it almost anywhere.

Developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena, Germany, the Kolibri CORDLESS is the size of a shoe box and it weighs a little over 2 lbs. No cables required, you just point and click. Several seconds later a detailed 3D image will appear on a laptop. From there you can analyze and use the digital model.

Random Green Stuff: GasFindir Camera

Juergen Horn — Wed, 09 May 2007 12:56:58 +0000

It's a good thing that I can't afford this camera. It'd probably be fine here in Ireland, but just imagine using it in NYC or any other big city.

You can now buy a camera that can detect greenhouse gases. Infrared-imaging company FLIR Systems recently revealed the GasfindIR-LW, a thermal imaging camera that can detect sulfur hexalfouride SF6 and 20 other environmentally perilous gasses. If you ever wanted to hunt down acetylchloride; allyl flouride; or Freons 11, 12, 112, 113, or 114, the GasfindIR-LW is just the device you need.

Continue reading: Crave Cnet

Random Good Stuff

Editor's note: If I remember correctly, sulfur hexafluoride was my high school chemistry teacher's favorite prank (other than dribbling a bowling ball in the classroom). It does the opposite of helium when you inhale it; your voice gets very deep and scary. Not that he wasn't scary anyway…