io9: fan

Fan Community Gets Its Own Answer to Post Secret

Lauren Davis — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:00:00 PDT

Fandom Secrets is based on the popular cathartic art project Post Secret, but the secrets revealed on these digital postcards involve writing fan fiction, lusting after Nathan Fillion, and Doctor Who. [Fandom Secrets via Warren Ellis]

Humpback Whales Teach Humans to Build Better Wind Turbines

Michael Reilly — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:37:03 PDT

Whales have given us a reliable source of energy for centuries: oil for our lamps, wax for our candles, and of course margarine. All that's required to harvest these lovely fuels is wholesale slaughter of the harmless creatures, and that's starting to go out of fashion, mostly because the whales were starting to go out of existence. But Frank Fish and fellow engineers at WhalePower have a come up with new way of harnessing energy from whales: designing wind turbines that mimic the contours of the pectoral fins of humpback whales. Doing so has made for blades that are quieter, more efficient, and operate reliably at low wind speeds.

At first blush, a humpback's fins looks like a pretty shoddy design for an airfoil — its leading edge is knobby and gnarled-looking. But the knobs actually reduce drag over the fin, allowing it to provide lift like an airplane wing only better because it works at lower speeds and higher angles to the wind.

Fish has shown that humpback designed fan blades lower power consumption by up to 20 percent on industrial fans. Now he's running tests on an experimental wind farm in Canada to see how much more power he can generate using wind turbines with fin-shaped blades.

Source: WhalePower via Discovery News

Iron Man Fan Film Looks Good To Go

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:00:04 PST

We've already told you about five fan films that blew us away. With more Iron Man on the horizon, a reader (thanks Clive!) has let us know about this fan film featuring the other Man of Steel that looks pretty snazzy. It not only includes Ms. Marvel, the Black Widow, Nick Fury, and a decidedly non-Asian, curly-headed Mandarin, but it doesn't relegate Pepper Potts to her traditional "Oh, Tony!" role.

David Guivant is an aspiring production artist by day, and a fan filmaholic by night. What's more impressive is that he made this trailer for a fictional Iron Man television series using Apple's iMovie software and Adobe Photoshop for the 2D special effects that look like they were rendered in 3D. It's been a two year labor of love for the resident of New Caledonia (a tiny island between New Zealand and Australia) which really showcases the power of doing it yourself.

Now, if these characters only had some actual lines... we'd think he might be onto something.