Gyros

So there I was...watching the Today Show a couple mornings ago where they were showing a new one wheeled motorcycle going on the market soon.  The way this thing stays up is with the use of gyros.  This is the same technology that was pioneered by Dean Kamen when inventing the Segway several years ago.  Why does this factoid find itself in my blog?  Three reasons.  One...I think gyros are one of the coolest underused phenomenons of physics that I know of.   Two...They've started putting gyros in the bilges of boats under the brand name Seakeeper that can cut the rocking of a boat dramatically, even with no forward movement.
Three...Dean Kamen owns an island just off the coast of Groton, Connecticut that I used to boat  around for years when I had a mooring in the neighboring town of Noank.  The name of the island is North Dumpling and is actually part of New York though closer to Connecticut.  Years ago, during the elder Bush administration, Mr. Kamen wanted to put a wind turbine on his island to generate some energy from the winds, especially from the west, funneling down Long Island Sound.  New York would not allow this to happen for a variety of reasons.  After many legal battles, Kamen said that his island would secede from the U.S. if an agreement could not be reached.  He was friends with Bush and though I don't know about the legalities, there was some sort of agreement reached involving a non-aggression pact.  Whether legal or just a ruse, there is now a wind turbine on the island.  Kamen, in all his wit, is called Lord Dumpling and printed money for the island called dumplings.  Boating by the island you can see his navy consisting of an amphibious vehicle that can go on land and sea along with a replication of Stonehenge that Kamen says is to sacrifice the lawyers.  For the President's assistance, Kamen outlawed broccoli since Bush hated the vegetable.  It was always fun to take guests for a cruise around North Dumpling and watch their reaction as the story was told.  Thanks Dean for your work with gyros and your wonderful sense of humor.