Eclectic junk from the four corners of the ‘Net. And pictures too!
Have an urge to light your living room in a manner that would be fitting for the 1890’s? The Rejuvenation store offers reproduction lightbulbs and fixtures from pretty much any time in American history – well, as far back as the electric light goes.
I think I’m going to order a free catalog and dream about a time when I can actualy use these in my own home (funny how landlords get upset when you start renovating the place).
As the ISS slowly grows in size the astronauts that crew it are going to have work loads even greater than they have now. Because of budget problems the seven man crew was cut two three men and sometimes only two.
Small semi autonomous devices like this could prove to be a valuable aid in getting tasks done faster and with less stress on the crew while on EVA. So far NASA has concentrated on little robots that are inside the crew space and zip around with little fans. This will be able to be extra ‘eyes’ for the ground controllers so they can get a better view on how things look on the surface of the station or even a docked shuttle. Anything that can keep a manned EVA off the schedule is a good thing, space is a dangerous place!
However, I have seen how a device that is supposed to save you time and make life easier can do just the opposite. My PDA (Viewsonic V36) has cause an untold amount of annoyance and stress when I try to get it to do something that is clearly SHOULD be able to do but can’t. This would be ActiveSync with my XP laptop. But I digress, as long as these are over seen by a ground station and causes no additional work load on the crew, everything should be ok.
The little guys are quite amazing, below is a short list of technology that it will have onboard:
Technology innovations include rechargeable xenon gas propulsion, a rechargeable lithium ion battery, custom avionics based on the PowerPC 740/750 microprocessor, “camera-on-a-chip” imagers with video compression, micro electromechanical system gyroscopes, precise relative GPS navigation, digital radio frequency communications, micro-patch antennas, digital instrumentation networking and compact mechanical packaging.
NASA’s New ‘Nanosatellite’ Systems
(It was also seen on MAKE a little while ago.)
A chance meeting with storm chasers in Aberdeen, SD.
On the way back to Sioux Falls, I ran into a group of storm chasers filling up on gas and donuts at the local Gas Stop. Among the cool doppler equipped vehicles was a strange MadMax type vehicle appearently equipped for storm chasing. I saw this on the news a few nights ago, and the guy that built and drives it claims it is tornado proof…..yeah, I’d like to see the tests 😉
Here are a few pics I snapped as I stood around gawking like a local that just saw a two headed cow being beamed up by aliens.
(Why are we so fascinated by weather!?)
It’s not often you see a simulacra of an Old One. Could this be a sign? Forebearing of doom and utter horror at the insanity that will befall anyone that should gaze on an Elders image? A message that they shall return to once again destroy Outer Gods. the Maybe it means he should switch to Shredded Wheat…
Why Have a Lesser Eviil For Breakfast?
I remember reading about the failure of the first solar sail tests, I hope this one will be better.
I find it amazing that somthing that was a concept only found in science fiction books is now being tested for real.
The keys to Cosmos 1’s innovative propulsion system are its eight triangular sails, made from highly reflective, 50-foot-tall Mylar sheets. Mylar is the material commonly used for novelty helium-filled balloons. Once the sails are unfurled in orbit at an altitude of about 500 miles, photons streaming away from the sun will bounce off them, giving the spacecraft a little push as they go. Though these tiny pushes won’t amount to much at first, they are expected to add up over time, propelling Cosmos 1 faster and faster. With each day that passes, the spacecraft is expected to gain another 100 mph in speed. Eventually, it will be able to fight Earth’s gravitational pull and move into a higher orbit
Cosmos 1 set to test Solar Sail
I love blimps. I think that lighter than air vehicles will come around again as a popular mode of transportation. I have long thought that trips between say San Francisco and New York would be very popular. Imagine what a trip up the west coast to Alaska would be like. Now thats a cruse I’d like to be on.
Yes I know, I writing all this while posting a story about a blimp crash. I’m doing to because it proves that the blimps, while not impervious, are very safe. there were no deaths on the ground and the crew was able to walk away under their own power. How many commercial and private air crashes have a happy ending like this?
I’m not going to count military crashes, many of those are fatal but in most the air crew can bail out – everyone else have to ride the tin can to the ground.
One of my dreams in life is to take a blimp tour of the Grand Canyon. To silently drift down the canyon at the break of dawn would be bliss.
The Goodyear blimp Stars & Stripes crashed Thursday night, amidst a spectacular summer lightning storm, into a Coral Springs storage building. The two pilots walked away from the blimp after the crash unharmed, and no injuries were reported on the ground
Goodyear blimp crashes in north Broward
Photo gallery: Blimp crash
If you want to learn more about blimps try these: Goodyear Blimp Homepage, How Blimps Work, Airships After WWII , and The Lighter-Than-Air Society