10247748
submission
doug141 writes:
The Jetpack is constructed from carbon fiber composite, has a dry weight of 250 lbs (excluding safety equipment) and measures 5 ft high x 5.5 ft wide x 5 ft long. It's driven by a 2.0 L V4 2 stroke engine rated at 200 hp (150 kw), can reach 8000 ft (estimated) and each of the two 1.7 ft wide rotors is made from carbon / Kevlar composite. At $86,000 it is pitched at the level of a high-end car. As sales and production volume increase they expect this to drop to the price of a mid-range car. A 10% deposit buys you a production slot for 12 months hence; progress payments are made during manufacture with final payment due on delivery.
9639396
submission
doug141 writes:
How many times have you violated copyright in the last 12 months?
0
1-9
10-99
100-999
1000 or more
6866702
submission
doug141 writes:
The new book Superfreakenomics
(Levitt & Dubner) discusses two geoengineering concepts from
Intellectual Ventures
that are incredibly cheap compared to their impact:
The first
system, still under computer testing, uses simple buoys, placed
in the seasonally warm ocean waters that breed hurricanes, powered by
wave action, to slowly pump the warm water down about 100 feet to the
much colder water. The resulting very-slightly cooler surface water
would reduce the intensity of hurricanes (eliminating them is equally
possible, but not desired). At $1 billion the system would cost far
less than the damage caused by a single hurricane season.
The second
system offers to cool the planet for only $250 million. The world
output of sulfur dioxide (volcanoes, humans, sea spray, other
sources) is 200 million tons, but it's all in the troposphere. In
1991, the heavily studied Mt. Pinatubo eruption sent some sulfur
dioxide into the stratosphere and cooled the world. Modeling shows a
mere 100,000 tons per year of SO2, which is a garden-hose-like 34
gallons per minute, and one twentieth of one percent of the world
troposphere emissions, would reverse arctic warming and reduce
northern hemisphere warming. If the system is shut off the
stratosphere would return to normal in a couple of years, just as
it did after the Pinatubo eruption, so the
whatcouldpossiblygowrong argument is weak. Several delivery systems
could work such as a long chain of hoses, pumps and balloons, or a
tall lightweight chimney held by weather balloons.
The book also brings to light two
interesting facts about global warming:
1) Eating locally grown food over mass
produced food actually increases greenhouse emissions, because only
11 percent of of food emissions are transportation related (and
delivery from producer to retailer is only 4%). A full 80% of food
related emissions are from production, and big farms are far more
efficient than small farms.
2) The world's cows, sheep and other
cud-chewers are responsible for 50% more greenhouse gas than the
entire transportation sector, due to methane being 25 times
more potent than CO2. Forgoing beef for one day a week is better than
switching to a hybrid vehicle.
5561497
submission
doug141 writes:
The four-star Crowne Plaza near Venice mistakenly offered rooms for 1 cent. 1,400 room nights were booked and will be honored. The hotel stands to lose $129,000.
3359519
submission
doug141 writes:
Two clocks
this accurate, if placed on adjacent tables with a 1 centimeter
height difference, would get out of sync due to general relativity
alone. Also, they can be used to determine if our universe's fine
structure constant has, in fact, been constant.
3359419
submission
doug141 writes:
Asteroid 1999 RQ36, that had initially
been deemed harmless, has turned out to have a 1
in 1400 chance of hitting Earth in 160 years. There's far less time available to deflect it
off course, with the window between 2060 and 2080. With an estimated
diameter of 560 meters, 1999 RQ36 is more than twice the size of the
better-known asteroid Apophis. Both are large enough to unleash
devastating tsunamis if they were to smash into the ocean.
3359329
submission
doug141 writes:
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is among 13 celebrities who will compete on the ABC series' eighth season that begins March 9.
3221585
submission
doug141 writes:
Lessons learned in video games may transcend computers, PlayStations and Wiis. New research suggests that virtual worlds sway real-life choices. Twenty-two volunteers who played a cycling game learned to associate one team's jersey with a good flavored drink and another team's jersey with a bad flavored drink. Days later, 3/4 of the subjects avoided the same jersey in a real-world test. Marketers and lawyers will take note.
372015
submission
doug141 writes:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/09/eveningnews/main3481918.shtml
NASA spends between $400,000 and $1.3 million on a party AT EVERY LAUNCH, according to CBS. Select personnel are treated to 5 days at a 4 star hotel. This year alone, they've spent $4 million on parties. NASA asked for, and was given, $1 billion more from the Senate this year. NASA proponents argue it makes more sense to give money to talented, productive people in exchange for scientific knowledge, than spend in on unproductive people in the form of straight welfare.
170371
submission
doug141 writes:
And now for something completely different, a large corporation is calling for a second group to rein in their free speech and "discontinue current and future funding to all the groups listed" on the corporation's blacklist. The blacklist scorns one organization for the outlandish suggestion that "actions must not be predicated on speculative images of an apocalyptic vision of life in the near future."
The corporation intolerant of well spoken opposing views, and calling for the censorship of such heretics through loss of funding, is Greenpeace. Their target, who is not calling for censorship, is Exxon.
164993
submission
doug141 writes:
A British scientist has shown that wearing a bicycle helmet actually exposes cyclists to further risk. Drivers passed an average of 8.5 cm (3 1/3 inches) closer with the helmet than without. The researcher was struck by both a bus and a truck in the course of the experiment. Will bicycle helmet laws suffer a backlash? How much should legislators weigh science?
147871
submission
doug141 writes:
An Illinois student was arrested for writing a violent essay. He was charged with disorderly conduct for submitting an essay to a creative writing class featuring himself committing mass murder and necrophilia. Is this a positive step towards court-mandated counseling for a man on the edge, a chilling restriction of speech, or both?
84794
submission
doug141 writes:
Any time a sheriff's deputy turns off a stun gun's safety, a tiny camera will roll. The black and white camera can record up to 1 1/2 hours of footage with sound, and can record in daylight, low light and no light. That footage can be downloaded into a computer and burned onto a computer disc for viewing.
75510
submission
doug141 writes:
Four families have sued News Corp. and its MySpace social-networking site after their underage daughters were sexually abused by adults they met on the site.
"In our view, MySpace waited entirely too long to attempt to institute meaningful security measures that effectively increase the safety of their underage users," said a plaintiff's lawyer.
The lawyers who filed the latest lawsuits said the plaintiffs include a 15-year-old girl from Texas who was lured to a meeting, drugged and assaulted in 2006 by an adult MySpace user, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence in Texas after pleading guilty to sexual assault.The others are a 15-year-old girl from Pennsylvania, a 14-year-old from upstate New York and two South Carolina sisters, ages 14 and 15. Last June, the mother of a 14-year-old who says she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old user sued MySpace and News Corp., seeking $30 million in damages. That lawsuit, pending in a Texas state court, claims the 19-year-old lied about being a senior in high school to gain her trust and phone number.
57216
submission
doug141 writes:
Liberal and progressive Christian groups say a new computer game in which players must either convert or kill non-Christians is the wrong gift to give this holiday season and that Wal-Mart, a major video game retailer, should yank it off its shelves.
Players can choose to join the Antichrist's team, but of course they can never win on [his] side. The enemy team includes fictional rock stars and folks with Muslim-sounding names, while the righteous include gospel singers, missionaries, healers and medics.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2 006/12/12/MNG8TMU1KQ1.DTL
