magickcanoe.com Blog

These are just a couple of items that might be of interest and seemed worth sharing.

* Whether or not you’re interested in wind power, this story from My heart’s in Accra blog is so upbeat, that I think just about everyone will enjoy reading it. It’s about William Kamkwamba and his windmill that was constructed from what literally amounts to found objects. If you have a good net connection, be sure to watch the video in this post on William’s blog. What an innovative young man. Wow!

* Awhile ago, I stumbled across this super page entitled How I built an electricity producing wind turbine. It was written by Michael Davis, who also has a neat page on his amateur telescope making creations. The wind turbine page contains a ton of photos and quite detailed instructions — but it takes awhile to load if you have a slow net connection (like I used to have until two days ago!!!).

Both of these pages illustrate how bright, innovative people can usually figure out how to make something useful out of whatever is at hand. As I grew up with a father who was always making things out of odds and ends, I very much enjoy reading about similar people and their projects. Around 1998, my dad became very interested in wind power as well as heat exchangers, but unfortunately he became ill and died in early 1999, so none of his ideas were realized. I continue to be interested in the technology and would like to do some experimenting of my own, so both of the above examples are something of an inspiration.

Tags: wind power, wind turbines