I Art You

This weeks theme with one notable exception is tropical islands…fake tropical islands that is. Man made islands anchored in Dubai or man made islands floating around the world, even made man islands in blimp hangers. Weird? You bet, tomorrows hottest travel destination? Maybe.

1) Tropical Islands is a theme park in Germany. Built in a massive former blimp hanger the waterpark style resort recreates a tropical atmosphere complete with tropical beaches, waters and vegitation. You can even camp out overnight in the park. [Source]

2) While on the topic of blimps, the current owner of a blimp company offering sight seeing tours of San Fransisco is one of the former directors of the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California. [Source]

3) Back to islands, a British architecture firm has planned an artifical ice board for Dubai. [Source]

4) If there take on the man made island does not do it for you maybe on of these 15 floating islands will. [Source]

5) And last but not least Wireds 100 geeky places to take your kids this summer. [Source]

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are hard at work on revolutionary research that could prove to be one of the most significant scientific discovery’s of all time. The plan is to ignite a thermonuclear reaction that would burn as hot as the sun. It would not only be the first man made star, but would also prove that fusion using lasers is possible. This would pave the way for future advancements in fusion technology that could eventually meet the entire worlds energy needs. Forget the industrial revolution, imagine a world with limitless cheap electricity. One immediately thinks of electric trains and cars, cheap electrolysis would ensure plentiful drinking water for people and plants, but the really amazing things would come from innovations we can hardly dream of with our current fossil fuel mentality.

The amazing thing is that the location of what could prove to be one of the worlds most significant scientific discovery’s of all time still offers tours on Tuesdays. For every other day of the week there is a visitors center outside the laboratory’s grounds.

Todays Tech Travel Bonus: Japanese Highways, including one that goes straight through a sky scraper! Source And the Wright-Patterson Airforce Museum [Source]

In homage to Silicon Valleys massive impact on the American/the worlds lifestyle, culture, and economy the Computer History Museum was constructed in California. Although the history of computing is longer then most people think, computers are still relatively knew in a historical sense. That said, no one would argue the impact they had had on humanity and the promising lifestyle and prosperous future they will bring us.

A recent addition to the Computer History Museum was a million dollar replica of Charles Babbage’s difference engine, donated my former Microsfoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold. Although you may not be able to match this donation the museum welcomes all contributions, but a word of warning, it already has enough mass produced consumer PC’s but rare software and manuals as well as historic pieces are always welcome.