Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Solar, 17, Bla Bla Bla


Sometimes there are stories that you can't help but wonder are planted in the media for some strange ritual purpose we're not meant to understand. This is one of them.

MIT students have created a solar cooker out of yak-wool canvas panels stretched over bamboo ribs and faced with reflective Mylar. Designed for rural Himalayan villages with help from students at Qinghai Normal University in Tibet, the lightweight unit seen above could cost as little as $17. An attachment for the system -- a metal coil -- can be added for home heating for $26 more. The idea was one of the winners of the MIT IDEAS competition and has garnered interest from local manufacturers.

Did that device really only cost 17 dollars to make? Why is there a big, glowing 17 on the photo? Was that photo really taken at 5:43 AM? It seems awful bright for that time of day. Or is it because 5x43=215 and 2+15=17?

You see this kind of thing a few thousand times or so and you really start to wonder.