Mazda RX-8 and the Wankel rotary engine

The Mazda RX-8 looks fantastic. The styling is in Mazda's new house style, which I do like although I'm still unsure about the rear lightbanks. The technology is very intreguing however; Mazda believe they've cracked it this time with their new RENESIS rotary engine. What this has to do with toys I'm not sure. I dunno if this is a CG version of a real (or soon-to-be-real) toy, but Mazda have an animation of their fantastic RX-8 as an Autobot Transformer.

Although it is great- does anyone know why?

Getting back on track, they also have a very interesting couple of sites on the history of the Wankel rotary engine and the problems faced in making it work. I've also included a Howstuffworks listing for the Wankel rotary.

• Mazda RX-8
  
• Transformers RX-8
  
• Mazda: History of the rotary engine
  
• Mazda RX-8: Application of the rotary engine
  
• Howstuffworks: Wankel Rotary engine
  

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Nature Photos

George took me to learn me some culture this weekend, and en route we took in some fantastic photography at the Natural History Museum. These were:

• Yann Arthus-Bertrand The photographer of Earth from Above, a touching and insightful viewpoint. This was one of my favourites.


• Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2003 Amazing. The effort these people go to to get the right shot is beyond compare. Read some of the side texts. This was a favourite of this set.

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MS Bob

You know Clipit, the annoying paperclip that guides you through writing a letter in MS Office? It wasn't Microsoft's first attempt at a partonising hand-holding guide. MS Bob was there first.

• Bob in use
  
• A look at the GUI
  
• MS Bob - Overview
  

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