Designing cruise ships today to meet the
wants, needs, and desires of future generations
Futurist Thomas Frey: Having just returned from a holiday cruise on the Mexican Riviera, I became intrigued with the prospects for this behemoth industry, and the long-term implications of designing ships today that mesh well with the changing attitudes and fickle interests of traveling consumers many years in the future. (Photos)
Continue reading… “The Future of the Cruise Industry”
WAM-V
The odd but very “G” new thinking behind this odd styled water craft called the WAM-V or Wave Adaptive Modular Vessels. This spider looking vessel has many “G” features, some of the coolest ones we think are that the entire thing packs into a shipping container, uses very little fuel, runs shallow, and can be configured for many different uses. This isn’t your one function vessel, it can reconfigured in a very short time to take on a new mission. To use re-thinking tech to be smart is what “G” is all about. (pics)
Continue reading… “WAM-V: A Flexible and Adapatable Spider Ship”
Plastic bottles in boat form
The Plastiki is a ship made from plastic bottles. It was built from this frequently wasted product in order to promote recycling. Last March it left California, heading for Australia. Today, it docked in Sydney, completing a 8,000-mile voyage. The captain, David de Rothschild, described the journey:
De Rothschild, 31, said the idea for the journey came to him after he read a United Nations report in 2006 that said pollution — and particularly plastic waste — was seriously threatening the world’s oceans…
Continue reading… “The Plastiki, A Ship Made from Plastic Bottles, Crosses the Pacific”
Are close encounters worth having?
Genius physicist Stephen Hawking thinks that it’s likely that there’s intelligent life in the universe beyond our solar system. And he advises that we should avoid contact with aliens:
Such scenes are speculative, but Hawking uses them to lead on to a serious point: that a few life forms could be intelligent and pose a threat. Hawking believes that contact with such a species could be devastating for humanity.
Continue reading… “Stephen Hawking: Avoid Contact With Aliens”
The Queen Elizabeth 2 was supposed to become a floating hotel in Dubai.
Dubai is reportedly preparing to sell a host of assets, including one of the world’s best known cruise ships, as the emirate’s investment arm looks to restructure a mountain of debt.
The Queen Elizabeth II, or QE2, is rumored to be one of the assets that Dubai’s state-run private equity firm, Istithmar World, is planning to sell. An Istithmar spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Continue reading… “Dubai Making Plans to Sell the Queen Elizabeth 2”
A fresh ferry concept.
A Japanese shipbuilding company named IHI Marine United is developing a ship that can be powered entirely by rechargeable lithium batteries. It will be able to travel 80 km while carrying 800 passengers:
Its Zero Emission Electric Propulsion Ship will use batteries that can be recharged at charging stations in ports it visits. The plug-in ship powered by lithium-ion batteries would run without a diesel engine, thus cutting its carbon dioxide or nitrogen oxide emissions to zero.
Continue reading… “A Ferry Powered Completely by Rechargeable Batteries”
Oasis of the Seas
The world’s largest cruise liner, the Oasis of the Seas, has set sail for Miami from the Finnish shipyard where it was built. (Pics)
Continue reading… “‘Oasis of the Seas’: World’s Largest Cruise Ship Sets Sail”
If you can’t afford to buy your own tropical island paradise, why not build your own? That is exactly what Richie Sowa did back in 1998, from over a quarter-million plastic bottles. His Spiral Island, destroyed years later by a hurricane, sported a two-story house, solar oven, self-composting toilet and multiple beaches. Better yet, he has started building another one! His ultimate goal? To build the island bigger and bigger and finally float out to sea, traveling the world from the comfort of his own private paradise. (Pics) (Video)
Continue reading… “250,000 Recycled Floating Bottles Used To (Re)Build Mexican Island Paradise”
Pirates who attacked a ship off the coast of Somalia got more than they bargained for when it turned out to be a naval vessel – from an international force against piracy, Nato said. The pirates apparently mistook the FGS Spessart for a commercial merchant ship when they targeted it in the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen. Continue reading… “Pirates Attack NATO Ship”
A new form of carbon ribbon that’s ultra-flexible and super-strong could become the infrastructure for the first working space elevator. Such a structure would usher in a new era in easy space travel.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6VjM2zrLkk[/youtube]
Might the Volitan presage a new generation of lightweight, fully sustainable boats? It certainly sounds good on paper: the futuristic vessel would use solid sails – equipped with double layer solar cell panels – to harness both wind and solar energy and would have an incredibly light, stiff body structure, courtesy of its carbon fiber and epoxy resin composite-made shell and carbon-foam core lamination. Its body would also have an epoxy primer coat and ultraviolet resistant coating.
Continue reading… “Volitan: A Solar/Wind Powered Concept Boat”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.