Boy invents speed bump that powers street lights

A British schoolboy has won a competition to have his energy-saving invention debated at the climate change summit in Copenhagen this weekend. The 15-year-old has devised a way of powering street lights using speed bumps, and his idea has already won support from Dragons' Den investor Deborah Meaden. Shuffling from foot to foot, clutching his model prototype perhaps a little too tightly, Robert Appleton has his eyes fixed on the floor. He is about to present his idea to one of Britain's most famous "green" investors, Deborah Meaden, and admits he is "a bit nervous". 'Powerbump' The TV "dragon" is just metres away behind a heavy wooden door inside London's plush Charlotte Street Hotel, but Robert is determined to put on a brace face. He said: "I'm really looking forward to showing her this and I think it's a really good opportunity for me". He has even swapped his school uniform for a suit, and slips into the room with his head held high. The GCSE student, from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, first came up with his so-called Powerbump invention at a climate camp for young people in Sonderborg, Denmark in August. More than 500 teenagers from around the world were asked to brainstorm ideas for greener energy. His group devised a new system to power street lamps, channelling energy from cars driving over special speed bumps rather than connecting them to the national electricity grid. The idea is that each car pushes down a button on the tarmac to trigger a turbine underground. When the turbine spins, it generates power that can be stored in a battery. 'Political backing' That power can be used to light the lamps on pavements, and Robert believes just one car could generate enough energy to power a light bulb for around nine hours. Robert dismisses climate change sceptics who believe humans are not responsible for global warming and say we should not be concerned about the future. "I think it's important to save energy and resources, because we, as the younger generation, are the ones that are going to be affected by today's generation and the decisions they make," he said. "It's up to us to be more passionate because we are going to be the ones who see the results." So has he managed to convince Deborah Meaden to back his idea? Emerging from her conference room "den" in the hotel, he has a smile on his face. Apparently Deborah is not nearly as scary as she might appear on TV, and when we meet the multi-millionaire investor later on, she is beaming too. She said: "I think the idea is absolutely bang on. We have got an issue with energy and we have got an issue with climate change. It's in our lifetime... "For the first time ever we've got a situation where it actually makes good business sense to tackle the environmental issues. This sits absolutely at the heart of that... this could be a huge, huge market." She advises Robert to make sure no-one else is producing any similar systems, to start contacting businesses such as car parks and toll bridges who might be interested in buying Powerbumps, and to get further advice from engineers. But would she consider investing in his idea once he has worked on the details? "Absolutely," she says. While Robert and his school friends work on their business plan, there is a chance the Powerbump might also get political backing this weekend. The blueprint is being handed over to United Nations officials in Copenhagen, in a ceremony at the Bright Green business fair this weekend. Robert says: "We think the system could be used in cities around the world. It could be fitted every time a new speed bump is built." And if his business venture does not work out? "I want a career in politics," he says. (my view)-The government's will NOT allow this:( as it will not make money for them,they rather kill us all then saving us all

I am about to

What is the point-things we can do without

Unicycles--As its name suggests, a unicycle is similar to a bicycle but it only has one wheel. The effects of removing a wheel are all negative. Balancing on a unicycle requires much more effort and leads to a much greater likelihood of falling off. Taking away a wheel is also much slower. The maximum speed reached on a unicycle is approximately 35 km/h (22 mph), while Chris Hoy has reached speeds of 70 km/h (40 mph) on his bicycle. Capital letters-- We all know that capital letters indicate the start of each sentence. But why do we need to mark the start of a sentence when the humble full stop has already marked the end? The limited use of capital letters in text speak or in casual emails indicates that capitals are a superfluity to the language, rather than a necessity. In fact, the majority of writing systems - including Georgian, Arabic, Hebrew and Chinese - do not have an upper and lower case system. Denton railway station-- As dead as a station in the Australian outback, the unstaffed railway station in Denton, Manchester has got to be Britain's most redundant railway stop. One train per week stops at Denton on Saturday mornings. But be warned: Denton is a request stop, so it may be necessary to flag the train down using your arms. To make matters worse, there are no return tickets to Denton - the weekly service runs only in one direction. You can leave, but you won't be coming back again in a hurry. The word inflammable-- The in- prefix of inflammable means 'into', rather than 'not', leaving us with two words -- flammable and inflammable -- with exactly the same meaning. But not only is the word inflammable needless, it is also dangerous. When labelling commercial and industrial products, 'flammable' is considered to be the safer choice because of the potentially disastrous consequences of misinterpreting 'inflammable'. To add to the confusion, the word most frequently used to convey the opposite meaning to flammable is nonflammable, but noninflammable also exists. Ties-- Ties once served a sociological purpose: archaeological evidence in China suggests that the ancient elite hung fabric around their necks as a means of marking their elevated status. But now that mankind has invented other ways of exhibiting wealth - the Ferrari parked in the driveway, or the penthouse in Park Lane - ties no longer serve such a function. So dangling coloured material from around the neck does what, exactly? The pointlessness of the tie is perhaps beaten only by that sixteenth-century folly: the neck ruff. At their most extreme, starched ruffs could reach a foot or more in diameter and had to be propped by specially made wires. Fortunately, they fell out of fashion as quickly as they entered it. Male nipples-- Beating off stiff competition from underarm hair and wisdom teeth, male nipples sit proudly at the top of our most useless body parts list. We know why men have nipples, but that doesn't negate the fact that they serve no practical purpose - they do not, ordinarily, produce milk. All the varieties of pasta shapes-- Various shapes of pasta have different flavours, textures, cooking times, and each must be used in the appropriate context. Obviously, it's important to get the right pasta for the right sauce. After all, lasagne wouldn't be lasagne if it weren't for those thin layers of baked pasta nestled between the sauce and cheese. However, is there really any point to lasagnette (a narrower version of lasagne) or lasagnotte (a longer version of lasagna)? Or does the average person really care whether they're eating penne rigate (penne with ridged sides), penne lisce (penne with smooth sides), penne zita (penne with a slightly wider hole), or pennette (penne that is slightly shorter and thinner)? I would hazard a guess at no. Gay And Lesbian-- Your not born gay,nor do you have a gay gene,its a choice to be gay,no matter how much the gay community debates that these genes are real or that"we do not have a choice"we DO,we know animals in the animal kingdom go gay for the fact that they want to have sex but we humans have evolved enough to think of the consequences,HIV,AIDs and other STDs,infecting others,unable to reproduce(unable to have kids)plus other factors,its natural law that we reproduce,gay people turn their backs on this basic rule plus adopting babies and kids has shown to destroy that childs choice whether to be gay or not,they grow up thinking that being gay is normal,gays SHOULD be banned from adopting Spam-- The chances of someone responding to spam is approximately one in 12.5 million. It may be extremely cheap to market a product by sending out junk e-mails, but surely such an enormous failure rate should deter even the most persistent person... Please?

Jackson family launch their own reality TV show

Members of the Jackson family have been celebrating the launch of their new reality TV show, ''The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty'' in Los Angeles. The mini-series stars the four remaining members of The Jackson Five in six one-hour episodes. Producers say the show took two years to make. Filming started before Michael Jackson died but includes events relating to his death. (my view)-Your fucking kidding me!

Boys 'stamped on deer for laughs'

Three youths killed a two-day-old fawn in Dorset by stamping on it "for a laugh", a court has heard.A man walking his dog in Upton Country Park says he saw the incident Two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old caught the female baby deer as it waited for its mother in Upton Country Park, on 10 June. Poole Youth Court heard the teenagers were "egging" each other on. The teenagers, from Poole, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all deny intentionally killing a deer while on land without consent. They also deny an alternative charge of beating a wild mammal with intent to cause unnecessary suffering. A post-mortem examination showed the fawn suffered several skull fractures, a severed spine and a fractured right leg. The teenagers were arrested on 15 June after a police appeal attracted international interest and officers were tipped-off with their names, the court heard. Prosecuting, Paul Griffin said that one boy swung it by its leg and another karate chopped its head before all three "stomped" it to death. Reading extracts from their police interviews, he said: "(one of the 17-year-olds) said 'For a laugh break its leg'. "The deer was moving, it was trying to escape. Then they all decided to kill it. "He admitted that he and (the other 17-year-old) were laughing because 'we thought we were having fun'. "He accepted he had stomped on the fawn's ribs because he thought it would be fun." The teenager told police: "I got carried away and was stupid. I thought it would be a laugh." The court heard that the youngest defendant told police he only nudged the fawn once with his foot and did not laugh like the others. One of the older boys told police the fawn was already injured and they were putting it out of its misery, the court was told. 'Karate chopped' Dog walker Keith Arthurs, 52, was so distressed by what he saw he no longer goes to the park. He told the court: "When I first saw the three youths in the field, I decided then this didn't seem right, that's when I decided to phone 999. "While I was on the phone to the services one of them karate chopped the young fawn across its nose. "It was still in the other youth's hands. His hands were stretched in front of him. Quite clearly he had an expression on his face of an enjoyment-type expression." The trial continues. (my view)-This is so sick and the kids of today show no respect.......EVER!that words escape me....I'm so shocked!