three kings 2009

Two-thousand and nine years ago to the very day, their highnesses Casper, Melchior and Balthasar famously gave away gold, frankincense and much derided myrhh to the newborn. To be honest, an ointment is probably the most suitable of the three for a baby. Despite the stick Balthasar got at the time, the messiah shouldn't be growing up vain or addicted to joss sticks.

In religous circles, the gifts are generally looked upon for their prophetic qualities. Here are some prophecies for the coming age.


Gold [metal, kingship]



Honda have re-invented the wheel with this fantastic new unicycle. It's actually one of a number of robotic exoskletons made available to the public last year. Cyberdyne, last seen in the Terminator films, produced a full body exoskeleton. It measures electrical muscle activity and uses this to amplify a person's strength by up to 10 times. Cyberdyne claim that, once fully developed the suit will be used in supporting and rehabilitating paralysis, assisting in heavy labour and at disaster sites, and eventually in going back to the present and wiping out Sarah Conners.


Frankincense [drug, priestship]

Concrete, saviour of the architect, scourge of the environment, salt of the folk, is set to become environmentally friendly thanks to carbon-loving cement. The new cement, developed by NovaCem, is based on magnesium-silicates rather than portland limestone and absorbs CO2 as it hardens, up to 0.6 tonnes per tonne made. Rather than contributing 5% of global CO2 emissions, cement would actually produce a carbon sink. We would be living in the trees again.


Myrrh [oil, death]


The Sawfish™, is an underwater harvester. It unlocks a lost landscape of forest valleys, submerged by dams and reservoirs. As many as 300 million trees are thought to be lying under lakes around the world. A bountiful resource, which the Sawfish™ will begin to yield one by one, firing them up to the surface as they obey a new gravity.