Steelers Super Bowl Win a Win for Economy?
Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have won Super Bowl XLII, will the U.S. economy start picking back up? According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Wall Street has never had a losing year whenever the six-time Super Bowl champs played in the big game.

The Steelers have competed in seven Super Bowls since 1975, losing only once. The stocks have also outperformed when a team appeared in the Super Bowl for the first time. Last weekend's Super Bowl game was the first for the Arizona Cardinals.

Steel Business Briefing conducted its own research on the big game and found that "raw steel production has declined in three of the six Steeler Super Bowl years (1975, 1979 and 1980); increased in two years (1976 and 2006), and was virtually flat in one year, 1996 — the Steelers' only Super Bowl loss.

While the Steelers' Super Bowl dominance may provide guidance for fantasy football picks, using this trend-analysis for real-world stock picks may not be completely sound.

Pedaling Across the Atlantic
Instead of buying a red-hot sports car, Ted Ciamillo, a machinist by training and an inventor by trade, is marking his 40th birthday by completing his mini submarine and pedaling across the Atlantic Ocean. Modeled after dolphin flukes, the personal submarine called Lunocet (see image at right) will enable Ciamillo to convert 15 percent of his energy into thrust. An unaided human can convert about 3 percent and those with fins, 10 percent. (Photo via New Scientist)

Ciamillo powers the 15-ft., 2-ton sub by pedaling in a recumbent-bike position. He anticipates traveling up to 6 mph, 6 feet below the surface and breathing through a special snorkel or scuba system for deeper dives.

Dubbed the Subhuman Project, Ciamillo will pedal approximately 2,300 miles from Cape Verde off the Western coast of Africa to Barbados in the Caribbean, surfacing only at night to sleep in a tent erected on top of the sub. A support boat will trail him at a distance. He estimates the trip will take around 50 days.

DIY Mini Light Show
Create an amazing light show using two ball bearings welded together, some colored micro lights and a smooth surface. As demonstrated in the video below, you spin the balls on a smooth surface — a concave mirror is suggested to be best — and blow on one side of the hurricane balls to keep them spinning. Shine the colored lights on them for various effects. The balls reportedly attain speeds of up to 12,000 rpm.

Build a Miniature V-8 Engine
Craftsman Steve Huck started out by building a miniature emulation of a Chevy 350 V8 engine that was powered by compressed air rather than an internal combustion system. It ran on 65 PSI of compressed air for 38 seconds.

Now Huck is working on a four-cylinder, four-cycle mini engine that will have an internal combustion and coolant circulation system. Follow along HERE, where you also can get tips, instructions and additional links to other Web sites for building your own mini engine.

Falling Stock Charts Make Beautiful Music
Using Microsoft Corp.'s music composition software Songsmith, Johannes Kreidler compiled these melodies derived from stock charts.

Toodles!