Submission + - Generating Cooking Gas from Cows (ashoka.org)
Anonymous writes: "Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow Joseph Adelegan (Nigeria) is developing a commercially viable product that converts cow excrement into cooking gas."
School Uniform To Block Cell Phone Emissions 153
Foehg writes "ForeignPolicy.com reports, 'A Belarusian textile company has developed a special school uniform that protects kids from electromagnetic radiation emanating from their cellphones. The uniform features a dedicated pocket that can store the phone and make it safe for those who wear it.'" Now someone has to create an oven mitt that can protect you from the harmful radiation given off by your microwave oven.
Submission + - Cell Phone (Accidentally) Turns On Stove (gothamist.com)
RevWaldo writes: "From Gothamist: A Brooklyn man can't sleep at night knowing that the bizarre inter-gadget relationship between his Sony Erickson PDA and his Maytag Magic Chef stove might leave him burned. Last Monday Andrei Melnikov discovered that his cellphone was turning on his stove when he got a call in the kitchen. The phone had been on the kitchen counter when it rang, and as he answered it and walked away, he recalls hearing a faint beep. Minutes later, he smelled smoke, and discovered that some plastic cookware left in the oven was on fire. The incoming call had somehow turned the broiler on high, a phenomenon which Melnikov demonstrated for his landlord and 1010WINS. They believe this is the first time this has happened in the three years since Melnikov has owned the stove and the phone, but since neither device is talking, nobody really knows how long this hot affair's been going on. Melnikov and his girlfriend have put a stop to it by unplugging the oven, and they're afraid to plug it back in because of their pet chinchillas. Maytag is sending someone to "fix" the problem, but will the lonely old Maytag man really have the heart to stand in the way of such fiery passion?"
Comment Re:Hmmm (Score 1) 260
Yes, you can disable this. The point of the message going around, at least the way I interpreted it, is that you should be aware if this and go disable it. It wasn't meant as an alarmist message to get people all up in arms.
Submission + - Microsoft makes Feynman Lectures Available free
Pepebuho writes: "Microsoft has made available the full Feynman lectures on their Microsoft Research site for free
http://research.microsoft.com/tuva
On the other hand, you need to install Silverlight in order to watch them.
News from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286732-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5"
Submission + - The Asteroid Steins unveils its secrets (spacefellowship.com)
Matt_dk writes: "Last September, the European Rosetta probe sent back pictures immortalizing a rare asteroid called Steins. Now, after in-depth analysis of data collected during the flyby, the small rocky body is starting to unveil its secrets. Steins is a rocky body gravitating like many others between Mars and Jupiter, but what sets it apart is its composition. "Of the 100,000 bodies in the asteroid belt, only 20 are like Steins," says Gaudon."
Submission + - Gravity well "parking lots" in space
krou writes: Via McClatchy newspapers: "[Lagrange points are] unusual locations where gravity loses its pull and a spaceship can loiter, rather like a marble at the bottom of a cup, without using a lot of fuel. Three of them are 930,000 miles outside Earth's orbit. One is between the Earth and the sun, and another is hidden on the far side of the sun. A pair of U.S. unmanned scientific satellites will pass through two of these sites this fall. NASA may eventually park a permanent space weather station at one of them."
Submission + - Six men endure 105-day Mars flight simulator (yahoo.com)
drunken_boxer777 writes:
[S]ix men emerged from a metal hatch after 105 days of isolation in a mock spacecraft, still smiling after testing the stresses that space travelers may face on the journey to Mars. They had no television or Internet and their only link to the outside world was communications with the experiment's controllers — who also monitored them via TV cameras — and an internal e-mail system. Communications with the outside world had 20-minute delays to imitate a real space flight.
Comment Re:Just wait! (Score 1) 111
You guys obviously didn't understand what I was getting at. Your euphemism for a bad thing could also be used to describe some other good thing (successful landing). I don't want my good landings lumped in with your crashes.
In order for this to work, you need to come up with some phrase like "very rough landing." Yes, it still includes a list of not so bad occurrences, but it's a lot less encompassing.
Mr. Anonymous Trolling Coward, I indeed have a very healthy number of close friends. You really should go find some better spies to stalk me.
In order for this to work, you need to come up with some phrase like "very rough landing." Yes, it still includes a list of not so bad occurrences, but it's a lot less encompassing.
Mr. Anonymous Trolling Coward, I indeed have a very healthy number of close friends. You really should go find some better spies to stalk me.
Comment Re:SkyLab II: ISS Strikes Back (Score 2, Informative) 111
Boosting it out of Earth orbit is much more expensive than doing a retro-burn to allow it to fall back to Earth. Do leave orbit, you have to give it enough energy to reach escape velocity. To have it fall back to Earth, just a "small" nudge to slow down and come back down.
Comment Interest? (Score 4, Insightful) 111
What about the accrued interest on the fine? I also wonder, if they had not dropped the fine, could there have been some sort of arrest warrant, and who would've been the one to arrest?
Comment Re:Just wait! (Score 1) 111
Except that terrestrial parking is waaay too broad. The space shuttle also does terrestrial parking (Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury too, if you're talking about terrestrial as in Earth, not land). In fact, I do terrestrial parking everyday. How else am I going to get out of my car?
Comment Re:Next stop... (Score 4, Interesting) 554
Actually, the fuel spent would be the same (if not more) because it had to be spent to get the spacecraft components and fuel up to that altitude. The same spacecraft mass is still going to the same place, so the same amount of energy is being expended. It could actually be more because these components are being brought up in other launch vehicles, thus fuel is being spent on the carrier craft as well.
What this does help with, though, is reliability and redundancy. Instead of throwing all your eggs in one launch vehicle basket, you're going up to GEO in bits in and pieces, so if one of the launches fails, you don't loose the whole thing. This same idea is the main concept for the F6 fractionated spacecraft program.
What this does help with, though, is reliability and redundancy. Instead of throwing all your eggs in one launch vehicle basket, you're going up to GEO in bits in and pieces, so if one of the launches fails, you don't loose the whole thing. This same idea is the main concept for the F6 fractionated spacecraft program.
Comment Re:Do we really need GPS to track mileage ? (Score 1) 891
Actually, I'm thinking RFID tags.
Also, since you obviously don't believe in the industry's miniaturization, I believe Gordon Moore would like to speak with you.
Also, since you obviously don't believe in the industry's miniaturization, I believe Gordon Moore would like to speak with you.
Comment Re:Do we really need GPS to track mileage ? (Score 1) 891
Like the great-grandparent said, no system's perfect. For me, given the choice between paying for private road usage vs. having the government spy on me, I think paying for something I shouldn't have to pay for is worth keeping my privacy.
I guess different people just have different priorities...
I guess different people just have different priorities...
