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CoolI found the one with the abandoned waterslide especially poignant, I guess because Olivia and I spent many fun hours at various (indoor!) water parks around here last winter, and seeing one abandoned made me realize I won't always be able to do that.
All I ever found was a couple of rocks and some bits of cast iron. This guy went digging around in his back yard and found an entire abandoned Nazi bunker. I haven't gone through the whole site yet, but it looks as if the man may very well have stumbled on a right nice treasure in his own yard.
In a kind of reverse geocache, scientists have come up with a way to quickly locate an earthquake by tracking the locations of IP addresses on a major earthquake watch site. It even seems to provide at least some information on areas that got hit so bad they don't have electricity or internet access.
Who would've thought that would be possible back in 1996?
It's taken a helluva long time to complete, but it seems a massive archive of WWII Nazi documents is finally being mined for information. From the article:
The gray metal shelves and cabinets contain 16 miles (25 kilometers) of transport lists, camp registries, medical records, forced labor files and death certificates of some 17.5 million people subjected to Nazi persecutions.
It'll take lifetimes to pry out everything the archive can give, but it definitely seems like a project worth doing.
A Greek company has come out with a paint-on product that substantially reduces the IR signature of anything underneath. If the company's claims are to be believed, they've got another product that'll do the same for radar cross-sections. I wonder if it'd be any good at defeating laser speed guns?
I thought the pictures I glanced at today that had a waterfall pouring from the Brooklyn Bridge were photoshopped. I'm sure you will all be surprised that I was wrong. It happens so infrequently!
Bacteria-diesel seems to be on its way to becoming the darling of the science press. Now people are openly discussing introduction dates (2010 and 2011 seem to be the favorites). Here's to hoping the product lives up to the hype.
Abstracting the federal budget into a poster definitely sounds like a neat idea to me, I just wish they made their example a bit larger. Then again, considering they're out to sell the things, maybe it's for the best. A poster you can stare at for hours, that gets refreshed once a year. Not too shabby!
Annie gets a no-prize Ellen can't have for bringing us this top 10 list of new species discovered this year. Fans of Terry Pratchett's The Last Continent will be little surprised to find out most of the new Australian species found are viciously venomous.
It's not (necessarily) the cereals in this retrospective of kid's cereals that's fun for me. It's the toys. I swear, I remember just about every single one. Even (especially!) the Nautilus. You had to put weird pills in it to make it work!
155mm Howitzers. Deadly, and cool. Seems to me the trick is not pulling the trigger, the trick is keeping the camera shake down. But WTF do I know?
Ron gets a beautiful yet obscure no-prize for bringing us news that what is widely considered one of the most beautiful sports cars from the 1950s is available again in sophisticated kit form.
Which, of course, you've never heard of. Because you're a philistine with totally screwed up priorities.
Damion gets a no-prize he can captain a starship with for bringing us the absolutely ultimate in gaming workstation setups. I particularly like the clamshell adjustment. Hey, you think if I stuck a cat sticker somewhere on it???
Ron gets the coveted Mountain Goat No-Prize for bringing us news of the ELSORV, the army's for real off road vehicle. Considering the Humvee's reputation for best-of-class off roading, I can only think this thing must be able to climb trees or something. Just how nasty are those freaking Afghan mountains?!?
Leave it to BMW to come up with a car who's body hearkens back to the days of SPADS, Camels, and Triplanes. Will we ever see anything even remotely like this on a production car? Oh hell who knows? I just like the whole concept of a morphing car!
Anti-submarine aircraft get away with being fat, slow, and clumsy because their prey can't shoot back. Leave it to the Germans to come up with what would appear to be the first workable solution to that problem. Having a missile pop out of the water and head straight for you while you're in a hover 50 feet off the water holding up 1000 feet of cable and a dipped sonar would seem a pretty good way to increase the ol' pucker factor, donchaknow?
Looks like Alfa's Mini-killer, the MiTo (mee-too), will be heading our way for 2010. The rumored price target seems to be in the mid-20s, which, if true, makes it a darned tempting idea for me. The Cruiser's getting a little long in the tooth as a daily commuter, and since Ellen's been looking at Minis for awhile, well, maybe this will be a much nicer storm than we had yesterday, sort of thing. :)
This month marks the Intel x86 architecture's 30th birthday. What started out in 1978 with the 8086 has, with time, money, and innovation, ended up the de-facto standard for desktop computing. Considering the radically different environment at the time, it's remarkable the instruction set has survived. The article goes into at least some of the reasons why.
Problem: In public-transit-friendly Germany, seniors affected with Alzheimer's can end up half way across the country before anyone knows they're gone.
Solution: Decoys.
This probably wouldn't work well in the US, because our public transit systems aren't as strong or extensive. But it is a thought.
Mark gets a no-prize Renaissance Italian scientists will want to use to drop various objects from for bringing us news that the leaning tower of Pisa has been stabilized. For now, at any rate, and for the next 300 years, according to the engineers in charge.
Which is all well and good, but to me the lesser-known leaning towers of Bologna are much more interesting. Statics: there's a reason why it's a required course for engineers, ya know?
What with the Northeast's reputation for meddlesome property activism, I'm rather surprised this guy's neighbors didn't object more strenuously to his building a castle on his property. Here in good ol' Northern VA, our anti-development professionals would by now have tied him down with six or seven lawsuits, complete with dramatic "granny showing up with a noose around her neck and her mouth taped shut" appearances at zoning board meetings.
Well, actually, probably not. Like most rich American communities, it's not ostentatious construction by a like-minded (and usually, but not always) like-raced fellow gentry owner that is treated so dramatically here in NVA. Rather, it's the housing for all the brown people who service said demesnes which undergo draconian scrutiny. We Must Not Have the Wrong People Moving Next Door to Our Mansion, that sort of thing.
Using freshly sampled material from ten Viking skeletons from around AD 1,000, from a non-Christian burial site on the Danish island of Funen, Dissing and colleagues showed that it is indeed possible to retrieve authentic DNA from ancient humans
Consumer Reports has posted their first impressions of 'Wii fit'. In a nutshell: entry level fitness. Definitely better than nothing, but not particularly challenging if you're already reasonably athletic. They've even got video!
Annie gets an ancient no-prize for bringing us news that the Vatican has opened the largest pagan tomb found under St. Peter's for public tours. Recently restored, the second-century mausoleum is considered one of the best-preserved examples of stucco sculpture to survive antiquity.
Wearable motorcycle, anyone? And I thought the regular ones were deathtraps...
Finally, a contest worth winning:
Ask most people where the best beer in the world comes from, and they'll probably say Germany or England. More worldly folks might mention Belgium.But ask a beer aficionado these days, and odds are you'll get an answer that might surprise you – the good old U.S.A.
Woot!
While this business report on Alfa's re-entry into the North American market is understandably biased toward Canada, a bit of reading-between-the-lines seems to indicate there's a very good likelihood of an Alfa plant being built in the US. I wonder if they'll need a .net software engineer with a 20 year history of involvement with their marque?
The folks over at Ares have dug up some reports on new widgets from DARPA being deployed in the field. I think the radar that lets people look through walls sounds the neatest. Robocop lives!
Another day, another English eccentric with a trebuchet. Joshua gets a no-prize he'll have to go way long to catch for bringing us UK goofiness at its best.
I'm just about certain I've seen this guy around, I just can't quite place where.
Slashdot link up news that after a painstaking recovery process, data from one of Columbia's hard drives was retrieved and used to complete a physics experiment performed on the doomed space ship. Considering what the thing looked like when the lab got it, it's amazing they found anything at all.
While I'm sure armchair historians will have a bit of fun with this colorful language map of Europe, I think it may emphasize the differences a bit too much. From my readings, the map shouldn't be this jigsaw puzzle of different colors. Instead, it should be more like a series of colored gels, overlapping each other around the edges in diffuse but notable bands.
Robert H. gets a really noisy no-prize for bringing us this video of the demolition of NASA's Launch Complex 40. It does sorta seem to fall over like a monstrous slinky, eh?
Were it me taking a voyage anywhere near the pirate-infested waters near Somalia, this would be a damned comforting thing to see. Just bring the bass boat a little closer, Hajji, I only want to spend one shell on you today.
Look, it definitely seems to me it would suck ass to have a volcano go off in your general vicinity. But man oh man, does it make for one hullva picture. Wait for the download, (I think) it's worth it.
Owners of Xbox 360s should be happy to hear Microsoft has finally come clean about supporting the victor of the hi-def wars. It definitely was just a matter of time, but it's nice to find out just what that time is.
Jeff gets a no-prize with a lightsaber hidden in it for bringing us yet another example of George Lucas's marketing brilliance. There's even a video!
The only problem I'd have is Olivia would adopt it and take it to school.
While essentially unfinished, this video segment does provide more detail on that algae process that produces biofuel. It still sounds extremely promising. If they can somehow hook up with that guy building those biofuel stills, it'll blow the lid off the whole system.
Something like this is inevitable as long as gas prices stay high in the US. As a nation, we're legendary for simply not tolerating it, and unlike the last time around the technology, incentives, and most importantly the free capital are available for someone... hell anyone... to come up with an alternative. So I'll make a prediction: barring any truly cataclysmic event*, $1 pump fuel by 2013 is not just possible, it's inevitable. Let's meet back here in five years and if I'm wrong, I'm buying.
Via Instapundit.
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* Aliens landing, some hajji nutball finally lighting a nuke off in downtown DC, Jesus himself walking across the Hudson, dogs and cats sleeping together, that sort of thing.
The Navy's first radically new ship design in more than fifty years has finally reached the water. Let's hope the shake-down and development go more smoothly than the development and construction.
Journalism, being the penultimate "too much time on your hands" career, can sometimes generate the darnedest things. Like finding out what happens if a (pseudo) ten year-old boy sends notes to a variety of celebrities, both nefarious and otherwise. Surprisingly, I can provide some verification for the authenticity of the Clarence Thomas letter. There's a guy in our office who has a letter from Mr. Thomas on his wall, and it's composed in exactly the same way.
Turns out that I, too, am a Rocketing Rabbit. Well, I was once. When I'm sober, at least.
Reminds me a lot of that old WKRP in Cincinnati episode. Hmm? Oh get off my lawn... you either remember it, or you're too young to remember it.
Via Siflay.
Friend Damion sent us this board link to his new PC case-mod project. It's not quite done, but far enough along to see how it'll turn out: lots of detail, industrial-grade parts, and enough rivets, nuts, and bolts to screw together another Titanic. Way neat!
Looks like the army is getting ready to field some nifty toys:
The NLOS-M, which is technologically about three years behind the NLOS-C, is equally high-tech. It fires the same 120 mm projectiles as other large-caliber mortar launchers, but it does so with a fully automated, breech-loading system. Traditionally, guys had to stand up in an open vehicle, hold a 36-lb munition up until the “Fire” order was given, drop the munition and then get the hell out of the way. Obviously lots of opportunity for injury. In the case of the NLOS-M, mounted on the same chassis as the NLOS-C, soldiers sit protected in the vehicle and auto-launch the mortars using an advanced software system and touch-screen computers. The mortar is also an MRSI (multi-round, simultaneous-impact) system, with the capability to launch 16 rounds in the first minute and 8 rounds per minute thereafter. The first prototype of the NLOS-M will roll out in 2011 and be fielded in 2014.
MRSI is seriously cool. The computer calculates a bunch of different trajectories and then fires a sequence of shells. Each one follows a different ballistic track to ensure all the rounds land at the exact same time. Think of a shotgun, but with mortar shells instead of pellets.
P. J. O'Rourke got to spend 24 hours on U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt recently, which earned him a cover on the latest issue of Weekly Standard. He's come a long way from writing about the Mexican badlands for Car and Driver, eh?
Another team of researchers has announced another technique for producing biofuel from cellulose. This bunch is also promising $1/gallon production, if they can get the efficiency up. With the price of fuel so high, one would think they wouldn't need to boost efficiency too much for the process to be profitable.
This is, what, the second or third announcement of this sort we've seen in the past year? It may be a tough target, but if enough guns are shooting it's bound to get hit eventually. Anything that gets us closer to putting Achmed and his merry band of jihadists closer to a bread line is fine by me.
Pat gets a no-prize she can stick to her refrigerator door for bringing us this remarkable video of an elephant painting a portrait. According to Snopes, it's not quite as miraculous as it would at first seem. But then again, isn't everything?
Now this is an Alfa I could afford. If they'd only bring the dratted thing over, that is. Definitely nicer looking than a Mini!
It would appear military grade powered armor is much closer than ever before to becoming a reality. As noted in the article, the biggest problem is (and as far as I know always has been) a power supply with enough juice to make the device useful without weighing more than it can carry.
Scientists have created an innovative "omni-directional treadmill" which promises to allow people to actually walk the streets of ancient Pompeii. Ancient Pompeii as it existed before Vesuvius buried it like a cat in its box, that is. Coming to an amusement park near you!
Alfa appears to be on-course for a limited debut in the US market this summer. This article states Fiat is looking to build a factory "in North America." Previously the place mentioned most often was Mexico, so if true it would appear that a) the weak dollar is again working in our favor and b) Americans may end up "stealing jobs" from Mexicans. Everyone wins!
Half-scale Tiger tank replica, anyone? Now that's a paint ball tank if I ever did see one. Coming to a WWII reenactor near you!
Well, ok, not actually mai ahem... mine. Mine is a lot smaller and sparser, filled mostly with an old Italian sports car. But it is mine! :)
Annie gets a no-prize that'll double as a machine shop for bringing us these fine examples of manly fortresses.
I know lots of naturalists. By what I've seen and read, I'm not particularly interested in meeting environmentalists.
I dunno though... a remote that looks like an anime turtle and actually asks to learn tasks might just bring me closer to my inheritance if I were to give one to my mom. Olivia'd just want to take it upstairs and play with it in her room. Meh. Give me a giant black monolith with a zillion buttons, all the same size shape and color. Real men don't need assistance!
At least until their mothers need to watch TV while baby sitting.
Go Toshiba!
I wonder if they had to pay them scale? Strapping cameras to elephants for safe, up-close candid shots is all well and good, but did they really tie that big thing to the poor beast's tusk? Those must be some pretty laid-back pachyderms!
Those who originally read this forty year-old account of what life would be like in 2008 would get a mixed bag from the reality. Big TVs, remote shopping, and a near-cashless economy are definitely found, but where's my 250 mph car? It always seems the coolest predictions are the ones least likely to come true.
Fans of all things Apple Computer may find this in-depth article about how the company ticks today of interest. It would appear from the article not much has changed since I first read in the early 90s about how no-one at the Cupertino offices had the guts to get on an elevator alone with with Steve Jobs. It will be quite interesting to see what happens to the company when they finally carry him out the door, feet first of course.
No, really: a seeing eye horse. As in "don't cross the street woman or you'll get pasted. Ok go" seeing-eye assistance.
No, Ellen, you can't have one.
Tivo has released a new version of its desktop software. There's a whole lot of extra content Tivo provides that we don't use, mostly because it's agonizingly slow to load. "Spreading it out" to the PC may help solve the problem. Besides, loading content back and forth sounds like it might be handy.
The things single guys do with their spare time, I tell ya. Why Damion doesn't have one of these on his door I'll never know.
The remains of HMAS Sydney, a light cruiser who's loss in WWII represents the largest single loss-of-life incident in the history of the Australian navy, have been found. Sited more than a mile deep, it's not expected to become a target for scavengers, but the Australian government is already taking steps to protect the site. Pictures via remote vehicle are expected as early as Wednesday.
It would appear there's a little bit of good, and a little bit of bad, news about the upcoming Battlebots show. The good? No more wedge fights, and more destruction. The bad? We don't get to see it until maybe November.
A long-lost British destroyer was recently found during exercises in Norway. HMS Hunter was sunk by the Germans during the first Battle of Narvik in 1940.
Everyone's favorite straight-talking Brit is at it again, ranting oh-so-deliciously about Europe's infatuation with appeasing those who would destroy them. Even better were the comments from the "so-left-they-can't-even-turn-right-on-a-street" message board I picked it up from. The easiest way of judging the effectiveness of someone from the right is how shrill the left gets trying to counter them. This guy's got them shrieking like turkeys getting tossed in a wood chipper.
A nerve-tapping neck band has been developed which promises the ability to have seemingly telepathic chats. The main focus right now seems to be on voice-free cell phone calls, but there must be many more applications.
General Electric has demonstrated the world's first "roll-to-roll" OLED display manufacturing system. OLED is the technology which promises things like computer displays you can roll up and put in a tube.
Everyone's favorite robotic destructo-fest is coming back to TV. I spent many a late night watching these things go at each other after Ellen had rolled her eyes and gone to bed. It'll be interesting to see if Olivia thinks they're neat.
Mike J. gets a no-prize that'll help him search for Sarah Conner for bringing us the latest tech Israel is using to facilitate Hajji meeting up with his 72 virgins.
No, really, umbrellas in space:
The demand for high-speed, non-line-of-sight mobile communications - with the military tagging along behind the commercial market - has led to the "outing" of a fascinating set of technologies that were long confined to the world of black programs.
...
The challenge is to furl [a signal] antenna into the tight confines of a launch vehicle's payload fairing and have it open, with 100 per cent reliability, into exactly the right shape, and the video shows how it is done. These are large antennas - as the video notes, the most complex hoop-type structures are needed only when the antenna is more than 18 m (60 feet) in diameter. Harris' facilities can handle 30 m (100 foot) antennas.
I think it's always fun to hear about stuff nobody was ever supposed to hear about, even if it's decades after the fact.
Even though a lot of it is puerile, I still couldn't stop scrolling through picturesofwalls.com. At its best, there's definitely a zen-like quality of surprised contemplation. The street-level walls of Pompeii are covered with stuff just exactly like this, proving we really haven't changed all that damned much.
For whatever reason, I especially liked this one. And the jazz one. But you probably already knew that.
I still think like most things, the Earth looks prettiest at night. Be sure to scroll down and examine the captions to understand what all the different colors mean. And check out the two Koreas for an example of what an exclusive focus on "social justice" actually ends up achieving.
While perhaps not the coolest science toy ever, Phun certainly looks like an interesting sort of art/3D physics program. I'm pretty sure I'm not smart enough to play with it, though.
Sometimes "Top n" lists are lame, but not always, especially when they detail some of the most spectacular ancient cave art ever found. From reading books and seeing some documentaries, the ancient artists utilized the shapes of the cavern walls themselves to enhance their creations, giving them an even greater "presence" than you get from seeing them in pictures.
Not to mention the fact that, when they were composed, the artist was painting in near complete darkness, and likely couldn't see the entire composition at one time.
Another year, another TED conference with insanely cool technologies on view. This year, an early notice comes from slashdot about Microsoft's upcoming "world wide telescope", an internet-connected system which promises views of the universe which utilize all the latest and best telescope pictures available. Go for the cool video, stay (for a moment) to browse the "MICROSOFT BAD!!! OPEN SOURCE GOOD!!! BILL GATES DIF!!!" ranting in the comments. Sometimes folks (and corporations) just can't get a break.
For Sale: the ultimate in war souvenirs. Yours for only 100k euros. Whattabahgain!
Fits in purse, blows bad guys away. What's not to love? There's self defense, and then there's self defense.
Of course, in most places the second a cop found one of these on you it'd be a short trip to a jail cell and a damned long series of court cases to get it back. Yeah, it's wrong, but them's the breaks.
Mark gets a no prize that, if a cop asks him about it, he must reply "yes sir I do sir and I'm keeping my hands on this steering wheel until you tell me what to do" for bringing us the ultimate in fashionable self-defense.
Amber gets a six-million dollar no-prize for bringing us the story of the bionic turtle. The potential for cheesy 70s TV in-jokes alone is worth the price of admission.
Classic video game fans with a do-it-yourself bent should find Project MAME of interest. Back when the ROMs were a little easier to come by, I spent several weeks going through various classic video games with a joy known only to those who've had to cut a day short because of a lack of quarters. Having it all in a cabinet would be just that much better.
It appears that Viking women dressed rather differently before they converted to Christianity:
"It's easy to imagine that the Christian church had certain reservations about clothing that accentuated the breasts in this way and, what's more, exposed the under shift in front," Larsson said. "It's also possible that this clothing was associated with pre-Christian rituals and was therefore forbidden" once Christianity became established.
Of course, considering the climate, it may also be likely they gave it up because Sweden is frikkin cold! But that's just me.
What a difference 20 years of technology makes! People want to be prosperous via wealth. What markets provide is prosperity through discounts. It's taken almost all of history for people who understand the truth of the latter to beat into submission the former. The fact that people still praise Castro and take Democrats seriously shows how much still is to be done.
To avoid bar fouls, know the rules!
Mark gets a no-prize that will wobble into walls and apologize to potted plants for bringing us this oh-so-important list.
Alfa Romeo has unveiled the convertible version of its 8C supercar. I still can't have one, but they are awfully pretty to look at!
Lots of folks have sent us video of the recent satellite shoot-down, so no-prizes to all! Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.
Those who took the HD-DVD plunge may be interested to find out it's possible to convert an HD-DVD disk to Blu-Ray. Possible, but not simple and definitely not particularly cheep at the moment. Hopefully by the time this sort of thing becomes a real issue for people the prices of all the devices will have dropped.
The famous "Amber Room" from the Czar's palace in St. Petersburg may have been found. Then again, from the article it could be just as likely that a press release was found on a slow news day, and not much else. We'll see...
Ron gets an enormous, obsolete no-prize for bringing us yet another guy trying to make money off an abandoned missile silo. If that doesn't count as beating swords into plowshares, I'm not sure what does.
Damion gets a no-prize that simply shouldn't exist for bringing us the Civette, a Honda Civic-Chevy Corvette hybrid.
No, really!
A microwave can melt a hole in a beer bottle. Who knew? And give that guy a blue ribbon for "nastiest microwave insides" while you're at it. Microwaving beer bottles is probably all I'd do with that one!
I, for one, welcome our new short disco-dancing overlords. I can remember when it was really amazing that Honda had created a walking robot. It was huge and moved very slowly. Now we've got dancing kiddie-sized robots. And yet I still have to badger my kid into getting me a beer. I think it's well past time to commercialize these products!
Please choose regular or super. You have fifteen seconds to comply. Yet another automotive innovation the ol' Spider will happily ignore.
Thomas Sowell's got a new one out! Those of you who want a clear, concise, and interesting summary of how economics really works should definitely consider it. Those who want to know where the F--- I get all these idiotic, wrong-headed ideas should most likely stay away. Disillusionment is, after all, something I try to avoid with people who mistake watching TV news for actual learning.
No, not you, the other one.
There, but for the grace of God and six million free bucks, go I:
While the KSS is technically an 8.8-channel audio system, it uses a lot more than eight speakers and eight subwoofers. Kipnis felt that a lone center speaker sounded a tad undernourished compared with the eight Snell THX Cinema & Music Reference towers, so he opted for three Snell LCR-2800 center-channel speakers. The original contingent of eight subs sounded "really good" but, unfortunately, didn't deliver the full earth-moving-under-your-feet effect he wanted. So, he wound up with 16 18-inch Snell subs! To balance the other frequency extreme, and for the ultimate in transient speed and transparency, the Snell speakers' treble has been augmented with MuRata ES103A super tweeters.
Meh. Gives me a goal on which to spend my child's inheritance.
An intrepid group of Chinese has set up a telescope on a high plateau in Antarctica. Advantages: unparalleled atmospheric stability, absolute darkness with no conceivable threat of urban light polution. Disadvantages: Dude, it's Antarctica! They had to shlep it all across the world's most inhospitable desert on sleds.
So raise a glass, and here's to hoping that damned frozen bit of optics discovers something amazing.
With blade lengths over 400 feet, I do not doubt the E-126 wind turbine is the largest in the world. I wonder how tall the tower itself is? I couldn't spot a citation.
Now if we can just convince ol' Teddy it won't ruin his fishing off the Vineyard...
NASA is working with the Discovery Channel to produce a miniseries. The hook? This time the footage will be in HD, which as far as I know is the first time said footage will be generally available in this format.
Well, they may never take the place of powder, but damn, railguns sure do look good when they're fired. Like Glenn, I got nothing on what seems to be some sort of plasma trail behind the round. Maybe at those speeds it just burns the air?
Via Instapundit.
Update: AvWeek watched it live.
Mike P. gets a digitized no-prize for bringing us this look at how digital movie wizards make their magic. It would seem that what once took weeks to shoot, involved dozens or even hundreds of extras, and cost millions of dollars can now be done by four guys in costumes in a day or two.
Oh, and do be sure to mute the sound. Nobody needs that much techno in the morning.
Ron gets a no-prize everyone will want for their next football party for bringing us this timely look at just how far NFL obsessions can go. Tastefulness: NOT YOURS.
Pioneer debuted two new technologies at this year's CES: an "infinite contrast" display, and an ultralight/ultrathin display. The former displays images with no idle luminance*, while the latter is, well, this.
At 9mm thick and 41 lbs, the second one sure does seem sexy. At this time no price or date for a production product, which usually means "expensive." Still, barring exceptional circumstances, we'll be in the market for a "ya, srsly" new TV around Christmas time. Maybe by then we'll know if one of these could be in our future?
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* Imagine a TV image of a flower on a black table. Turn the lights off. On this display, all you'll then see is the flower.
Looks like F-1 is going to jump into hybrids in a big way. Considering the open way they're handling it, it may change F-1 from the esoteric exotica it's been lately to something it was in the past: a place to test high-performance equipment which could one day actually end up in a passenger car.
And what's not to love about a 450 hp 50 mpg Alfa Spider?
The world's most powerful rail gun has been delivered to the US Navy. At 32 megajoules, it's fully half as powerful as what the Navy thinks would be needed to become a combat system, but it's still a step in that direction. Considering the size, weight, and needs of the system, I'd be surprised if a destroyer could actually field one. Could this be the weapon that revives the concept of a battleship?
Ron gets a holy no-prize for letting us know there's a patron saint for computers, users, programmers, and the internet. Considering how much I'm struggling with .net's Ajax toolkit right now, I need all the help I can get!
It appears the jetpack patents have changed hands again. I remember seeing these things on TV as a kid in the 70s, and as I recall the thing was invented in the mid-60s. Forty years later, it seems nobody's managed to increase the range significantly. Will the jet powered version pan out? Well, microjets have definitely made progress in the intervening years, but I can't recall any with the required performance. Jet packs: the transportation of the future, now and forever!
Engineers are using technology more commonly found in cellphones to help amputees walk again. Personally, I think they should fit a speaker on them that makes that "rwah-rwah-rwah*" sound if they try to walk slowly.
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* Anyone? Anyone? Gah. It's a reference. Google "Steve Austin" ferchrissake. Geeze. Kids these days...
I've heard of pie-in-the-sky plans before, but this is ridiculous:
The whale-shaped airship, developed with French national aerospace research body ONERA, will be able to accommodate 40 guests and have a range of 5,000 km.
Definitely going to file that one under "believe it when I see it."
Ron gets a no-prize that'll go through a box of bullets at an alarming rate for bringing us news of a .22 caliber rim-fire minigun. While cheap to fire and comparatively lightweight, I can't help but think the ATF has had a lengthy, mind-numbingly bureaucratic discussion with this guy. Can't have the plebes building their own automatic weapons, eh?
Slashdot and Fark linked up news that NASA is interested in creating an online role playing game. Which is all well and good, but since I seem to be one of exactly six people who have never once played World of Warcraft, I simply have no idea why "Koreans will be first to Mars" is funny. I got lots of nothing on that one, but I saw it in both places, so I guess I'll laugh uncomfortably, assuming it's some sort of weird inside joke.
For once, I have a feeling I don't need to get out more.
While a double-action motorized gatling-style rubber band gun is ipso facto on my "want" list, it seems to be an awful lot of work for a few seconds of "fire-at-will." Maybe if they invented an autoloader for it?
A fiddly toy in which I actually find a fault? Could this mean I'm growing up at last?
Mark gets a no-prize with azimuth and elevation for bringing us this simple yet surprisingly fun "artillery" game. I think it's that great whistle at the end that makes it work.
While rather short on description, this collection of urban color photographs from the 40s, 50s, and 60s was still pretty interesting. It seems a lot less like history when it looks as if the photo was taken just last week.
Fans of the deep blue should find this TED presentation on recent ocean dives fun. Now you see the octopus, now you don't!
The Netherlands are betting the future of warships isn't in massive carriers, but rather extremely capable amphibious support ships. Europe's Achilles heel of projecting power has always been its ability to transport and support its troops significant distances from its borders. This may represent a major step toward solving that problem.
A group of German historians are claiming to have once and for all solved the mystery of who, exactly, is portrayed in DaVinci's Mona Lisa. This time around, the solution is a merchant's wife long considered a sort of "second-runner-up" on the list of potential candidates.
In my own life, "ergonomic" keyboards are literally a pain. I do, however, think some of the flat ones are pretty interesting. The laser-projected system is especially interesting (if it works), because it opens up a whole new avenue in user interface design. As the sole system designer for a seething cat herd of little old ladies and social work majors, anything that gives me more UI options is a Good Thing.
Jeff gets a no-prize hidden in the back of a roll-top desk* for bringing us news of a WWI "retro blog". I've always found such histories very powerful... the people are there, the detail is extreme, and they don't know how it all ends. This puts quite a different spin on the subject than you'd get with a historian in a library.
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* No-prize to the first person to figure out the reference.
It would appear that, after an insanely long time, a manufacturer has come up with a wireless solution for audiophile speaker systems. What? People actually think it's unreasonable to have miles of wiring skirting their floors and ceilings to get sound where it needs to go?
In all seriousness, this would be a big "get" if it were to appear at (eventually) sane prices. When I wired my rig up, I actually put the surrounds too close to the listening area. It'd be nice if I only needed to reposition the speakers themselves to correct the problem, instead of pulling a whole set of new wires*.
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* Because I did not make the original run 2 inches too short. I was conserving wire! My story, sticking to it, etc.
Three-foot-wide computer monitor, anyone? I sincerely want one, but I also sincerely don't want to know what they'll cost. Ah well, something else to spend my lottery money on, I suppose.
Instapundit linked up two articles providing details on the first production TVs based on OLED technology. Family circumstances prevented us from upgrading our long-suffering CRT TV last year. Maybe that'll prove to be a good thing. If nothing else, these new sets should create even more downward price pressure on sets using existing technologies. A win all around!
Looks like pretty much everyone is into playing the Wii:
The gadget-loving Queen has become HOOKED on Prince William's new Nintendo Wii games console.William's girlfriend Kate Middleton bought him the £200 gift for Christmas - but he now has to share it with his grandma.
We've been looking semi-seriously for one for awhile now, and have found it's not the playing that's the tough part, it's the buying. Oh, I know, it's not that hard to pick one up if you really want to, but we have much more important things to plan against a big expense. This one's mostly just an impulse, which is thwarted by all the rest of you Wii-nuts grabbing them before they're out of the crate. Stop it! :)
I'm not at all sure just exactly what a black light, florescent paint, and a MiG-21 have to do with laser tag, but it sure does look interesting. A few beers, some naked chicks, and hell you're talking a party!
Leave it to the Japanese to invent a robotic snow plow that scoops up snow in the front, and "poops" out neat ice bricks from the back. Clears your street and provides building materials for Eskimos. What's not to love?
Friend Mahmood links up seven basic tips for shopping in the East. At first glance, it sure seems to be much more trouble than it's worth. Inveterate shoppers in the peanut gallery may disagree. Still, I'll try to keep it all in mind, should we ever make our way there some day.
Update: Linkee now workee.
Behold the "ZUI". Those who think the digital revolution has run its course aren't paying attention.
This particular demonstration is nearly a year old. The Wikipedia entries don't seem to be much more recent. I wonder how far along they've gotten since?
What I want to know is, how does a "retired naturalist" afford something like this? A less charitable part of me thinks, "naturalists know all sorts of nooks and crannies in which to grow certain very profitable grasses." But that's just my terribly unfunny speculation. Sort of thing.
Road and Track has the first (that I've seen anyway) road test of the new 8C Competizione, And Yeah, They Find it to be Good. Costs nearly as much as my house, so it better be. Still, it's nice to see the flagship model living up to its promise.
It would seem a kind of "NFL late season math" sort of thing will end up helping Alfa Romeo get at a state-of-the-art rear wheel drive platform. Since we here in the US have yet to see "bolt one" of any sort of Alfa, I'm not sure if this is a big deal or not. Still, if it gets us Alfisti closer to a true RWD platform, I'll consider it a plus.
Thing is, if I really were able to buy something like this, I'd probably still spend most of my time running into walls. But it'd look so good when I did!
It would appear Toshiba wins the prize as the first company to produce one of those "fission in a box" devices for commercial use. Yet another device which, if it pans out, would go a very long way toward ending our dependence on foreign oil.
Scientists have announced the development of a lithium-ion battery technology which could extend charge capacity to beyond 20 hours. The secret? Silicon "nano wires" which are able to absorb a large amount of lithium ions without pulverizing. While there is no word on when such devices might see the inside of a laptop, the processes are "well understood" and the inventors are already shopping their patents around to venture capitalists and existing battery manufacturers.
Update: According to (what I presume to be) informed comments on Slashdot, if this technology pans out it could result in electric cars than run more than 1000 miles on a single charge. In other words, this could well be the invention which cuts us loose from foreign oil dependency, turning the Islamofacists into the sand fleas they most richly deserve to be, and hastening one Mr. Chavez's appointment to "hang out" at the village square.
If it pans out, of course.
Audiophiles will be pleased to hear Apple is considering adding a "lossless" section of their iTunes store. I've never been impressed with the quality of on-line downloads. To me, they have a very strong background "ringing buzz" that makes it sound like the music's being played through a bell. Because of that, for my own listening purposes, I've never taken downloads seriously as a way to listen to music. If they ever actually do implement a lossless codec format for downloading, I'll most likely change my mind.
Fans of vintage video games should find this comprehensive history of the Vectrex of interest. I lusted after one when it came out, but it was too expensive to buy on my allowance. Ellen's dad picked one up soon after they came out, and she has many fond memories of the system.
