From the "Kids are Good for Work" file. Reader Brian C. (OK, the bossman) pointed out this WTF paragraph in a story about uber-green home design. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is exhibiting just such a home, which features "a bicycle in the children's bedroom [that] must be pedaled for 30 minutes to charge a battery to power video games." You can see this ? God, I hope you can even ride it ? at the museum from now until Jan. 9.

The manifestations of this torture device are all delightful: Older brothers forcing younger siblings to chug away for marathon sessions of MGS4 ? "Keep going Billy! We have another 36 minutes left in this cutscene!" Timers going off and mad dashes back to the bike to supply enough juice and preserve your Lego Indiana Jones gamesave. A bike/Wii Fit combo regimen. Can you imagine being the kid who lives in the Al Gore house? "Hey, Owen got Soulcalibur IV, let's go over and create Striker and Blade from Bad Dudes ... Oh wait, I don't want to ride that fucking bike."

The story says the machine was assembled from parts you can buy at electronics store. I did some googling and found this (sans bike), and I wonder if it's the same.

Any electrical engineers in the house? How much gameplay would you get out of charging up a battery like this for 30 minutes?

Going Green a Growing Trend Among Homeowners [AP on CNN.com]
Smart Home: Green + Wired [Museum of Science and Industry]