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Sci-Fi

Submission + - Man Uses Wings and Engines to Fly Like a Bird

Adam9 writes: "Yves Rossy has built a contraption allowing him to fly through the air [Coral Cache] similar to a bird. From the article: 'Back in 2003 Rossy, now a commercial airliner captain, began his Flying Man project, when he strapped a pair of stubby wings to his back and leapt out of a plane, swooping eight miles in freefall for the loss of just 1000ft in altitude. Strapping on the contraption, which is made of various metals, fibreglass, Kevlar and carbon fibre, Rossy climbs into the small aircraft which is to launch him into his flight. At an altitude of some 7750ft, he leaps out, just like a skydiver. But unlike a skydiver, he does not plummet to the Alps below. There is just enough lift generated by the 10ft aerofoil strapped to his back to negate the effects of gravity. At first, after the wings are unfolded electrically, he becomes a glider then, when the four kerosene-powered engines are turned on, he becomes a jetplane.'"
Power

Submission + - Physicists Promise Wireless Power

StrongGlad writes: The tangle of cables and plugs needed to recharge today's electronic gadgets could soon be a thing of the past. Researchers at MIT have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power wirelessly to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players. In a nutshell, their solution entails installing special "non-radiative" antennae with identical resonant frequencies on both the power transmitter and the receiving device. Any energy not diverted into a gadget or appliance is simply reabsorbed. The system currently under development is designed to operate at distances of 3 to 5 meters, but the researchers claim that it could be adapted to factory-scale applications, or miniaturized for use in the "microscopic world."
Censorship

Submission + - Why did China finally unblock Wikipedia?

fuzheado writes: "
November 9, 2006 saw the complete unblocking of Wikipedia in China, resulting in a four-fold increase in new user registrations. Though it is still subject to URL- and page-level keyword blocking, the vast majority of the site is freely accessible.

Why was it finally unblocked? In the end, I believe consensus among the Chinese authorities determined the benefits of Wikipedia far outweigh the risks, and signals an understanding of the benefits of a read-write Wikipedia.

The complete argument goes like this: With Wikipedia blocked, China suffers because its ranks of knowledge workers cannot access the top reference site in the world, and the world suffers from not having China's expertise and input in Wikipedia. This is Wikipedia as the ultimate implementation of "read-write" culture, and provides both an economic and cultural incentive for China to open participation to Chinese netizens.

And in the end, if you think about it, doesn't it make complete sense that the People's Republic of China would embrace the people's encyclopedia of Wikipedia?
"

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