http://bill.thomlex.com en http://bill.thomlex.com/node/301 <p><img class="imgleft" src="http://sss.stanford.edu/images/content/ray_kurzweil_2.jpg" alt="" /> This coming Saturday (May 13, 2006), there will be a Summit on the <a href="/node/160">Singularity</a> at Stanford University. If you&#39;re in the neighborhood, you want to be there. Everybody who&#39;s anybody on the subject will be there, including Ray Kurzweil, Eric Drexler, Douglas R. Hofstadter, Steve Jurvetson, and others. </p> <p> Ray Kurzweil writes</p> <p><em>The coming merger of human and machine intelligence will mark the next stage in the evolution of life. Based on models of technology development that I&#39;ve used to forecast technological change successfully for more than 25 years, I believe computers will pass the Turing Test by 2029, and by the 2040s our civilization will be billions of times more intelligent. The implications for all aspects of human existence of this &quot;singularity&quot; are profound; but until now, few have begun to consider what may be the most important event in their lifetimes. I&#39;m pleased to invite you to an exploration of the future awaiting us.</em></p> <p><a href="http://sss.stanford.edu/">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/301#comment Singularity Sat, 06 May 2006 21:09:46 -0700 bill 301 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/298 <p><img class="imgright" src="http://www.transtopia.org/awaken.gif" alt="" /> Michael Anissimov wrote this great article on Transhumanism. If you&#39;re not familiar with the concept, it is that the technology all around us is our next evolutionary step. Today, we think of computers and technologies as things around us, but they&#39;ll soon be part of us, and then replace us, much as we replaced cave men. We&#39;re building our own grandchildren.</p> <p>Mr. Anissimov makes the observation that</p> <p><em>Politicians and laypeople everywhere are beginning to get the picture - it matters less what you say than what technology you have at your disposal. This is why presidential speeches are peppered with mentions of the importance of alternative energy and the dangers of nuclear proliferation. Good technology improves the lives of millions and bad technology has the potential to murder millions. Social ideas are merely a footnote.</em></p> <p><a href="/node/160">Here</a>&#39;a a post I did on the Singularity; a related concept. It&#39;s interesting how much acceptance the ideas have achieved recently especially among young people. It&#39;s still considered crazy by some, but a decade ago, you were hard-pressed to find anyone who would even listen to the concept. </p> <p><a href="http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/?p=76">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/298#comment Brain Computer Interface Future Nanotechnology Transhumanism Thu, 04 May 2006 16:45:58 -0700 bill 298 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/297 <p><img class="imgleft" src="http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/october12/gifs/stanleyfinish_web.JPG" alt="" /> The Department of Defense&#39;s research arm, the Defense Advance Research Project Agency (DARPA), has announced their latest challenge: build a robotic car that can traverse through urban settings for 60 miles in 6 hours. The challenge is designed to encourage research for the development of autonomous ground vehicles for use on the battlefield.</p> <p>In the 2005 challenge, several cars successfully drove autonomously 175 miles through the Mojave desert. This year, the challenge is to drive through city environments, including understanding street signals, and merging into traffic safely.</p> <p>This picture shows last year&#39;s winner, Stanford University&#39;s VW Toureg vehicle, named &quot;Stanley&quot;. </p> <p><a href="http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/index.asp">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/297#comment Car Robot Wed, 03 May 2006 13:43:37 -0700 bill 297 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/294 <p><img class="imgright" src="/files/pictures/basc-front-sm.jpg" border="0" alt="" title="Front of BASC-1" /><br /> For your amusement, I present my sixth grade science fair project. This would be from 1976. This gadget will add two binary numbers together. (You can also subtract by making one of the numbers negative). I called it BASC-1 (Binary Adding/Subtracting Calculator). In this picture, you can see it adding 75 + 103 = 178 (1001011 + 1100111 = 10110010). The thing was built in a box I got from a surplus store that was used to view microfilm. (for you young-uns, back before the internet, they used to keep archive documents (like old newspapers at the library) on little pieces of film called microfilm, and you'd use a viewer to project it onto a computer monitor sized screen). BASC is built onto the transluscent projection screen.</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div> <p><img class="imgright" src="/files/pictures/basc-inside-sm.jpg" border="0" alt="" title="BASC-1 Inside" /><br /> Perhaps the coolest thing about this is that it's built completely from switches, wires, light bulbs and batteries. There are no chips, transistors or other electronic components. Here you can see the inside. Each of the switches is a quad-pole double-throw switch. The ones column added two digits together and was relatively simple, but each of the other columns had to also add a third carry digit, and was a bit trickier. Although once I figured out one adder, all of the others were the same. The wooden block on the left side is where the lights are; I used that and drilled a hole for each light to give it the clean circle you see in the picture above.</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div> <p><img class="imgright" src="/files/pictures/bill-basc-sm.jpg" border="0" alt="" title="Bill Working on BASC-1" /> And here is your humble narrator, trusty soldering iron in hand. Gotta dig those glasses.</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div> <p><img class="imgright" src="/files/pictures/basc-schematic.jpg" border="0" alt="" title="Front of BASC-1" /> And here, (since a few have actually requested it), is the schematic for the adder with carry. The C+1+X line is actually a clever trick. If you ran the line through the second set of switches, you'd need a fifth switch to make things work.</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/294#comment Technology Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:00:09 -0700 bill 294 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/293 <p><img class="imgleft" src="http://cq.cx/pics/verichip-doing-demod.png" alt="" /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rfid">RFID</a> is coming in a big way. If you aren&#39;t familiar with the term, RFID is a way to mark objects by applying a &quot;tag&quot; to them and identifing them using radio technology. The tags contain a unique identification number, and a reader can send them a signal that will cause them to transmit that id back to the reader. This technology is already used extensively by libraries (in each book), and as electronic access cards in many corporations. <p>RFID is growing in popularity quickly. Both Walmart and the Department of Defense have mandated that all of their vendors tag their merchandise with an RFID tag. Many other segments of society are moving towards using this technology.</p> <p>The problem is that there are large security holes in various areas. If you have a card key to access your building at work, a stranger can stand beside you, and with special equipment can read your card without you knowing. They can then go to your office and play back your cards id to gain access to the building. New cars use similar technology instead of traditional keys, and similar problems exist.</p> <p>Another problem is that some RFID tags can be reprogrammed with new IDs. On this website, Jonathan Westhues discusses cloning equipment built and techniques he&#39;s discovered.</p> <p><a href="http://cq.cx/verichip.pl">Link </a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/293#comment RFID Security Sun, 30 Apr 2006 17:35:56 -0700 bill 293 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/292 <p><img class="imgright" src="http://pixelito.reference.be/pic_1.jpg" alt="" /><br /> <h1></h1> <p> Alexander Van de Rostyne built <em>Pixelito</em>, a 6.9 gram remote-control helicopter. Pixelito is fully functional, with 4 channels of control via infra red. It has no servos and no swashplate. The swashplate is the mechanism that allows the spinning blades to be tilted forward or back or side to side, allowing the pilot to control where the helicopter goes. (link from <a href="http://stocktrader.stumbleupon.com" target="_blank">Stocktrader</a>).</p> <p><a href="http://pixelito.reference.be">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/292#comment Flight Robot Science Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:27:17 -0700 bill 292 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/291 <p><img class="imgleft" src="http://www.quoke.com/full/Warren5.jpg" alt="" /> <p>Another shameless plug for Bill&#39;s art. This one&#39;s called <em>Warren 5</em>. I made it shortly after the great <a rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Zevon">Warren Zevon</a> passed away, though frankly I don&#39;t see any connection. </p> <p><a href="http://www.quoke.com/single.php?id=82">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/291#comment Art Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:33:23 -0700 bill 291 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/290 <p><img class="imgright" src="http://images.livescience.com/images/060428_speedy_robot_01.jpg" alt="" /> Runbot is a two-legged robot that walks. fast. It&#39;s one foot tall and moves 3.5 leg-lengths per second, which is twice as fast as it&#39;s closest competitor, Spring Flamingo (developed at MIT). If Runbot were a human, it would be walking 10 feet per second. Runbot was developed at the University of Gottingen, the University of Glasgow and the University of Stirling in Scotland.</p> <p><a href="http://www.livescience.com/technology/060428_speedy_robot.html">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/290#comment Technology Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:16:46 -0700 bill 290 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/283 <p><img class="imgleft" src="/files/pictures/alex_balloon.jpg" alt="" /> Quaketronics is two brothers who make an inexpensive ($99) rig for shooting your own high-speed photographs. I met them at the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://makezine.com/faire/">Maker&#39;s Faire</a> this last weekend (which was extremely cool, btw). This picture is of my son Alex popping a balloon.</p> <p><a href="http://www.quaketronics.com/">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/283#comment Humor Technology Art Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:39:54 -0700 bill 283 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/282 <p><img src="http://gg.bu.edu/people/faculty/dasgupta_images/genome.jpg" class="imgright" /></p> <h1><a href="http://www.nslij-genetics.org/seq/">Completely Sequenced Genomes</a></h1> <p>Table of genomes which have been completely sequenced. This is updated regularly and is well-organized. Has lots of cool, relevant links.</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/282#comment Genome Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:11:30 -0700 bill 282 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/279 <p><img class="imgleft" src="http://www.earthquakerose.com/images/pattern1.jpg" alt="" /> This image in sand was made by a hanging pendulum that shook during a 6.8 earthquake which shook for half a minute. </p> <p><a href="http://www.earthquakerose.com/">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/279#comment Geology Art Sat, 22 Apr 2006 19:56:26 -0700 bill 279 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/58 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://gadgets.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/26369_robosnakegfgfgfgfgf.jpg" alt="" /> <p> Professor Howie Choset of Carnegie Mellon University and his team have built this robotic snake.</p> <p>More advanced versions could crawl through collapsed buildings to locate survivors. The remote-controlled machines are designed to carry cameras and electronic sensors. The current version is already capable of climbing up and around pipes.</p> <p><a href="http://gadgets.qj.net/Snake-Robots-to-the-Rescue/pg/49/aid/26369">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/58#comment Robot Thu, 20 Apr 2006 13:30:00 -0700 bill 58 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/59 <p> <img class="imgleft" src="http://hackedgadgets.com/wp-content/ChairRadio_05.jpg" alt="" /> Raffaello D&#39;Andrea built this robotic chair that falls completely apart (the legs and back detach and fall away), then crawls around and puts itself back together. Go to the link and check out the video. Not to be confused with the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL4dU4RC9nA&amp;search=robotic%20chair">walking chair</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/04/19/the-robotic-chair/">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/59#comment Chair Robot Art Wed, 19 Apr 2006 09:25:00 -0700 bill 59 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/60 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://www.zullophoto.com/Images/G_01948.jpg" alt="" /> The picture, taken near Ajo, Arizona is a multiple exposure, each shot taken ten days apart, at 8:30 AM for a year. The sun&#39;s seasonal shift forms this figure 8, known as the <em>analemma</em>. Because of this effect, sundials can run ahead of clock time by as much as 16 mins 33 secs or fall behind by as much as 14 mins 6 secs.</p> <p><a href="http://www.zullophoto.com/1948.html">Link</a> <p> When I saw this picture, it reminded me of an elderly gentleman named L. Gordon Plummer. He was retired, but volunteered time to come into my sixth grade class and teach us physics once per week. He&#39;d teach us interesting things like basic concepts in relativity and quantum mechanics, or about hyper-cubes (four-dimensional objects). He invented a sundial that is always correct, by incorporating an analemma-shaped object into the design. It&#39;s still standing (I think) in Balboa Park in San Diego. I&#39;m sure he&#39;s passed on long ago now. He was an interesting person, one that made an impact on me.</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/60#comment Astronomy Nature Science Art Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:17:00 -0700 bill 60 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/61 <p> <img class="imgleft" src="http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/culture/ancestry.gif" alt="" /> Fascinating collection of maps of the United States, showing per county races, religions, income, politics, etc. from various sources, especially the U.S. Census data. This graph shows racial ancestery.</p> <p><a href="http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/geo/courses/geo200/HomePage.html">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/61#comment Statistics United States Tue, 18 Apr 2006 12:02:00 -0700 bill 61 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/62 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://gadgets.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/23517_Wristwatches.jpg" alt="" /> Wristwatch sales are on the decline amongst young people. What&#39;s the purpose, when every cell phone and MP3 player tells the time? Even Fossil, the top brand for teens, acknowledged an 18.6% decline in wholesale U.S. sales of its namesake brand.</p> <p><a href="http://ktla.trb.com/news/la-fi-watch16apr16,0,795247.story?coll=ktla-news-1">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/62#comment Future Time Wristwatch Sun, 16 Apr 2006 22:45:00 -0700 bill 62 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/63 <p> <img class="imgleft" src="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/images/content/146433main_pos_rocket_scheme1_lgweb.gif" alt="" /> Anti-matter is the strongest fuel known. To send humans to Mars would require tons of chemical fuel, where if anti-matter were used, just tens of milligrams of the stuff would be required. That&#39;s about 1/100th the weight of an M&amp;M. The three big challenges are producing it, containing it during flight, and controlling the production of dangerous gamma rays during it&#39;s usage.</p> <p><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2006/antimatter_spaceship.html">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/63#comment Future Space Travel Sat, 15 Apr 2006 22:01:00 -0700 bill 63 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/64 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://www.quoke.com/full_su/Globes2.jpg" alt="" /> Another shameless plug for Bill&#39;s art. This one is called <em>Globes 2<em>.</em></em></p> <p><a href="http://www.quoke.com/single.php?id=44">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/64#comment Art Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:01:00 -0700 bill 64 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/65 <p> <img class="imgleft" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2006/04/060412224500.jpg" alt="" /> Gary J. Gorbsky of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, has found a way to reverse the process of cell division. This discovery shows that events in the cell cycle which have long been assumed to be irreversible, may be. The discovery could have an important impact on the treatment of cancer, birth defects and other diseases.</p> <p><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060412224500.htm">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/65#comment Biology Cell Wed, 12 Apr 2006 22:58:00 -0700 bill 65 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/66 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2006/04/060412203521.jpg" alt="" /> Last year, chemists were able to build a car from a single-molecule. Now, chemists at Rice University have built the first motorized version of their nanocar.</p> <p>The nanocar is powered by light. Its motor is a molecular framework that was developed by Ben L. Feringa and was modified so that it would attach in-line with the nanocar&#39;s chassis. When light strikes the motor, it rotates in one direction, pushing the car along like a paddlewheel.</p> <p><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060412203521.htm">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/66#comment Car Future Nanotechnology Wed, 12 Apr 2006 22:50:00 -0700 bill 66 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/68 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/etch1.jpg" alt="" /> Bummer! I saw <a href="http://www.gvetchedintime.com/Personal/aboutpersonal/aboutpersonal.htm">George&#39;s Vlosich III</a>&#39;s amazing Etch-A-Sketch art on several blogs and was planning to make a robot to control an Etch-A-Sketch. I&#39;d even spent some time thinking about the drawing algorithm. Looks like Scott Ferguson is way ahead of me and has already done this. His setup is very clean, and allows control of Etch-A-Sketch&#39;s of different sizes.</p> <p><a href="http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/04/computer_controlled_cnc_etchas.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/68#comment Robot Toy Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:40:00 -0700 bill 68 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/67 <p> <img class="imgleft" src="http://static.flickr.com/38/83474993_0217046bf4.jpg?v=0" alt="" /> Joel Cooper created these masks, each from a single sheet of paper. The technique is called an &quot;origami tessellation&quot;, because the original intent of it was to create tessellations, i.e. interlocking polygons and such. Very impressive.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/origamijoel/sets/72057594101727438/">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/67#comment Art Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:27:00 -0700 bill 67 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/69 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://www.babsoninsight.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/18ce60ef1099451b32bff5b2a5e0dea1/graphic/medical_test_tube_with_dna_strand_200x250.jpg" alt="" /> How to extract DNA (and RNA) from anything living using household materials.</p> <p><a href="http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/units/activities/extraction/index.cfm">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/69#comment DNA Technology Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:08:00 -0700 bill 69 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/70 <p> <img class="imgleft" src="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060410/gallery/flybot_zoom.jpg" alt="" /> The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology has developed an ultralight robotic aircraft that mimics the navigational abilities of a fly. The plane is completely autonomous, weighs 10 grams and has a 14 inch wingspan. It is designed to fly indoors, which is difficult because of the many potential obstacles. It can fly around a room completely unassisted for nearly five minutes.</p> <p> The plane contains low-resolution &quot;eyes&quot;, a tiny gyroscope and an onboard computer.</p> <p><a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060410/flybot_tec.html">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/70#comment Flight Robot Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:22:00 -0700 bill 70 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/71 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://nuwen.net/polyimag/epcot.jpg" alt="" /> Make various polyhedra from paper.</p> <p><a href="http://nuwen.net/poly.html">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/71#comment Origami Polyhedra Tue, 11 Apr 2006 10:26:00 -0700 bill 71 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/72 <p> <img class="imgleft" src="http://i14.ebayimg.com/04/i/06/be/56/ae_3.JPG" alt="" /> 19th century vampire killing kit. The 20 pound box contains a wooden hammer, four stakes, a prayer book, a crucifix, a knife and eight bottles containing holy soil, holy water, anointing oil, holy incense, garlic, red serum, blue serum and secret potion. Believed to be made by a romanian monk from Transylvania between 1870 and 1890.</p> <p><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&amp;item=7404949042&amp;indexURL=0&amp;photoDisplayType=2">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/72#comment Vampire Mon, 10 Apr 2006 10:42:00 -0700 bill 72 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/73 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://www.mini-minty.com/images/minty_red.jpg" alt="" /> Build your own MP3 player that fits inside an Altoids gum tin. Charges its internal battery over USB and mounts itself as a drive, runs for 12+ hours on a full charge and looks very cool. Full instructions here, including schematic (they&#39;ll post source code soon), or they can build it for you.</p> <p><a href="http://www.mini-minty.com/">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/73#comment Music Technology Sat, 08 Apr 2006 16:11:00 -0700 bill 73 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/74 <p> <img class="imgleft" src="http://www.roche.com/pages/downloads/photosel/041123cd/Photo-Selection-Images/9.jpg" alt="" /> Scientists at Oregon State University have proposed that supposedly-stable DNA bases can be pushed into a &quot;dark state&quot; where they are highly vulnerable to damage from ultraviolet radiation. The idea challenges some of the most basic concepts of modern biochemistry.</p> <p> Only tangentially-related, but I&#39;ve wondered about this conceptually: when playing chess, part of a winning strategy is to play conservatively when you&#39;re ahead, and make wild, risk-taking moves when you&#39;re behind. The same strategy applies in other aspects of life, for instance, a large corporation will plod slowly but surely, while a startup must be nimble and take creative risks. I&#39;ve wondered if a similar strategy wouldn&#39;t be valuable in biology: when things are going good, take steps to prevent random genetic change, and when things are not going good, encourage it.</p> <p><a href="http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2006/Apr06/darkstate.html">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/74#comment DNA Science Sat, 08 Apr 2006 15:53:00 -0700 bill 74 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/75 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://www.quoke.com/full_su/Bleak.jpg" alt="" /> Yet another shameless plug for Bill&#39;s art. This one&#39;s called <em>Bleak</em>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.quoke.com/single.php?id=98">Link</a> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/75#comment Technology Sat, 08 Apr 2006 12:02:00 -0700 bill 75 at http://bill.thomlex.com http://bill.thomlex.com/node/77 <p> <img class="imgright" src="http://affordaplane.com/000_0009.jpg" alt="" /> If you have $7,000 and 250 hours, you can build your own airplane. The Affordaplane has a wingspan of 27.5 feet, can cruise at 60 to 65 mph and can carry a pilot up to 250 pounds and 6&#39;3&quot;. Plans can be had for $24.95.</p> <p><a href="http://www.affordaplane.com/">Link</a></p> http://bill.thomlex.com/node/77#comment Flight Fri, 07 Apr 2006 09:59:00 -0700 bill 77 at http://bill.thomlex.com