Are U.S. innovators losing their competitive edge?
Interesting stories and challenges for Makers and inventors in the USA – “When James E. West was 8 years old, he propped himself on his bed’s brass footboard one afternoon and stretched to plug the cord of a radio he had repaired into a ceiling outlet. It was one of his first experiments. West’s hand sealed to the light socket as 120 volts of electricity shimmied through his body, freezing him in place until his brother knocked him from the footboard and onto the floor. Like more storied inventors who preceded him, he was quickly hooked on the juice–even as he lay shivering from that first encounter…” Link.
More soap box derby action – “A lot has changed since the first Soap Box Derby in 1934. More girls are racing, wind-tunnel technology and computer modeling are the norm, and the cars are made mainly of plastic from easy-to-build kits…Over the last decade, Soap Box Derby racing has come barreling back thanks to a blend of tenacity, adaptation, renewed interest from national sponsors – including Nascar – and a yearning for nostalgia.” [
Here’s a Flickr photo set of a working raft made out of 120 2 liter soda bottles. The bottles are held together with duct tape and strapped to some wood. Thanks Bentheo! 
For those of you who have Pocket PC, specifically the iPAQ – here’s a good how to on mounting your iPAQ in the car with washing line pegs in the ventilation outlet. I’ve seen versions of these sell for $30+ and this looks like it will work better. 
This is a custom 1957 Nash Metropolitan that’s been Saskatchewan-ized for the snow! The wheels have been replaced with sleds and snowmobile tracks to power it along. Uses a 700cc, Yamaha triple, the insides look really rugged and solid – and of course, it’s a convertible! [
Overview of how a Maker solved his audio problem in his new car “iPod your Subaru Outback’s Closed Audio System – For some incredibly stupid reason, Subaru has shipped its popular Outback for the past two years with completely closed audio systems making it near impossible to use them with the immensely popular iPod. Here’s a clean, affordable solution for iPodding your closed Subaru’s audio system.” [