Google Announces Project 10^100 Winners

Kilrah_il writes with news that Google has selected winners for Project 10^100, a contest to find the best ideas to change the world. Among the winners is the Khan Academy, which we've discussed previously. Google is "providing $2 million to support the creation of more courses and to enable the Khan Academy to translate their core library into the world’s most widely spoken languages." The other winning projects are: FIRST, an organization fostering math and science education through team competition; Public.Resource.Org, a government transparency effort focused on online access to public documents; Shweeb, a silly-looking method of human-powered urban transit; and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, a center aimed at promoting graduate-level math and science education in Africa.

Re:Interesting Ideas

[reverseengineer]

The Shweeb FAQ [shweeb.com] addresses this question, and the answer is hilarious:

But what if someone refuses to pedal or goes really slowly?

Impact-cushioning buffers at each end of the pods allow faster pods to run into slower pods and form a Shweeb 'peloton'. This increases aerodynamic efficiency and, unlike a bicycle peloton, the power produced by those behind can contribute to the overall power of the group, thereby increasing speed and efficiency and removing the need to overtake. Should the rider in front refuse to pedal, the extra effort required by the rider(s) behind is minimal due to the low rolling resistance and single aero-pressure point of the peloton.

These ideas will save humanity

[GPLDAN]

I've submitted my ideas in order of excellence:


1. Cowboy Neal breeds with Britney Spears, embryo placed on next Voyager spacecraft
2. Duke Nukem Forever gets released on the iPhone
3. Cached copies of goatse.cx for all mankind
4. Raze Hope College to get rid of the world riff-raff
5. Rename the GPL,the GNU Pubic License, just for the Lulz.

Re:FIRST

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong. I've participated in FIRST since its inception at my high school two years ago, and the only thing that's "forced" on you is the goal to build the best damn robot you can while being polite and helpful to other teams at the meets. The teams are not required to use Labview, as there have been code libraries developed for both Java and C++ in the past. Last year in fact, we had a program in Java developed in part with another team and we were helped by several other teams at the meet who helped us optimize our code (at the time, we had no full-time Java programmers which kinda stunk). And the objective is not to get people hooked on National Instruments; in my limited experience it's been to inspire high schoolers to be both polite and professional, two concepts that are generally not fostered in high schoolers these days. FIRST isn't about some corporate scheme to brainwash high schoolers into thinking National Instruments are the only thing out there to use (which, after even a year of participating you'd realize that some hardware given to you will be the absolute least of your issues at a meet), it's about...well, I'd suggest you read their mission statement:

"Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership."

I mean, come on. At a bare minimum it's a noble cause, and that's before the years that they've been doing this for. FIRST works, not as a way to get kids hooked on National Instruments, but as a way to expose high schoolers to not only a very high level of electronics, engineering, and teamwork that wouldn't be seen until they actually got full time jobs and worked on projects.

Re:Interesting Ideas

[IndustrialComplex]

Every 100 pods send an 'autonomous' with a simple electric motor. It clears the track and can serve to 'circulate' and expedite any backup.

You won't need a passing lane. And as for lazy commuters, take a look at the DC metro. There are enough people in a hurry that if you are lounging on the left of the escalator you will get yelled at to 'stand on the right'. And there are definately enough people in a hurry that they would gladly push anyone in front of them on these Schweeb things.

That said, every 100 have one go through at the max speed of 25 km/hr. It would be a very small cost (A 30 Watt electric motor) would basically guarantee a minimum speed and 'push out' any slackers.