The Tech Wars: Shade and Sun Power at the Same Time

The war between the rain umbrellas and sun umbrellas has gotten a big tilt toward solar with the energy harvesting Powerbrella. The developer's idea is for these to be set up at hotels, coffee shops, etc., and have then converts sunlight into electricity to charge laptops, mobile phones, iPods and other portable devices--at the same time, presumably, as they are providing shade. But, maybe, they won't electrocute you when it starts raining, too.

Read much more than you might want to know about zonarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, and SKYShades®, who will sell a Powerbrella to you, at the Skyshades website.

Using Microbes To Stretch the Metaphor a Bit Too Far

OK, we like protection, we like umbrellas to protect us, we like the metaphor of the "umbrella"...but this "UMBRELLA" project has gone a step too far. According to a report from the JuraForum, researchers at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena have developed the "UMBRELLA" project for remediating soils containing heavy metals with a recipe based on on the kind of contamination and the conditions on the site. So where does "UMBRELLA" come from? From: "Using MicroBes for the REgulation of heavy metaL mobiLity at ecosystem and landscape scAle" -- I guess that works better than ""Using Microbes for the Regulation of Heavy Meta Mobility at Ecosystem and Landscape Scale" (UMRHMMELS), but not by much!

North Koreans Plant Umbrellas to Protect Traffic Wardens

According to a Korean Central News Agency report picked up in bemused tone by the New York Times, the country’s leader, Kim Jong-il, has taken a personal interest in the well-being of these traffic wardens, ensuring that they are equipped with, among other things, “unique platforms under umbrellas” to shield them from the elements.

According to KCNA, the women who direct traffic were “moved by the warm affection shown for them by General Secretary Kim Jong-il, who saw to it that the platforms with umbrellas are being set up.”

KCNA adds that the new giant umbrellas of Pyongyang have been attracting a lot of attention and comment from North Koreans who, according to the news agency, “say it can be seen only in the country led by Kim Jong-il.”

Addendum: Reuters has Dear Leader opening an umbrella boom with his own umbrella holder, too!

Yikes: Leave that Umbrella Pole Alone

Sorry news today . . . a (now, former) BBC television presenter who went to the dark side of the umbrella--the pole. Supposedly one can see in this CCTV that he has actual possession of the pole, possession he denied at trial for using that pole as a weapon to hurt a teenager. So, instead of benefiting from the protection that umbrellas offer, he will be spending two years in jail, time to think and remember that the lonely umbrella pole is only satisfied when used to hold up an umbrella.