Florida Does Not Like The New Space Policy

Posted on by

And now Gov. Charlie Crist blasts Obama's NASA policy, Orlando Sentinel

"While it is great that the President is reaching out to those astronauts working on the International Space Station today, phone calls do not make up for the President's disappointing decision to end NASA's Constellation program. By cutting this program, President Obama is putting an end to significant investment in moon exploration and costing Florida's Space Coast thousands of jobs."

Kosmas to Attend Florida Statewide Space Industry Summit

"Congresswoman Kosmas has worked tirelessly to support the space industry in Florida. She recently responded to the President's FY 2011 budget proposal calling his plan for NASA "simply unacceptable."

Bill Nelson: Manned space program isn't dead yet, Florida Today

"I think they made two tactical mistakes that gave everybody the wrong impression," the Florida Democrat said. "The first one is that the president didn't set what the goal is, and everybody knows the goal and that's to go to Mars."

Industrious Robot Scans Onion, Sculpts Onion [Robots]

Posted on by

There's a saying that a watched pot never boils. You could also say that a watched plant never grows—unless it's being watched by a laser-wielding, 3D plastic sculpture-printing, growth-tracking megarobot.

David Bowen's "Growth Modeling Device" uses a circular rig to scan an onion once a day with a laser, then employing a "fuse deposition modeler" to generate a plastic sculpture of that scan. When the model is done, a conveyor belt burps into action, moving the recreated onion out of the way and making room for the next day's piece.

What you end up with is a visual record of the onion's growth over the course of a few weeks—with no tears involved!

David Bowen has all sorts of other neat kinetic sculpture works up on his site. [David Bowen via Boing Boing]


Peak Oil is Closer than You Think

Posted on by

Like other environmental issues, peak oil is not an issue we can ignore.  Are you ready for peak oil?  You probably aren’t,  because our entire social and economic structure is totally reliant on cheap, abundant oil and gas.  Cheap abundant oil is about to end.   Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East are not sticking their heads in the sand about it because they can’t — too much of their economy has depended on oil.  They are now “diversifying” and getting ready in other ways for the inevitability of peak oil.   “The push for cleaner technology is pivotal for the oil rich kingdom.” This is why it’s not strange that countries in the Middle East — like Iran — would want to use nuclear power.  Peak oil is going to hit the entire world, not just the countries who use the most of it, so every country on earth will need to find alternatives to fossil fuels for power.

More from the AP– JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — A top Saudi energy official expressed serious concern Monday that world oil demand could peak in the next decade and said his country was preparing for that eventuality by diversifying its economic base.

Mohammed al-Sabban, lead climate talks negotiator, said the country with the world’s largest proven reserves of conventional crude is working to become the top exporter of energy, including alternative forms such as solar power.

. . . .  Al-Sabban said the potential that world oil demand had peaked, or would peak soon, was an “alarm that we need to take more seriously” as Saudi charts a course for greater economic diversification.

“We cannot stay put and say ‘well, this is something that will happen anyway,” al-Sabban said at the Jeddah Economic Forum. The “world cannot wait for us before we are forced to adapt to the reality of lower and lower oil revenues,” he added later.

Some experts have argued that demand for oil, the chief export for Saudi Arabia and the vast majority of other Gulf Arab nations, has already peaked. Others say consumption will plateau soon, particularly in developed nations that are pushing for greater reliance on renewable energy sources. . . . .   Al-Sabban said that along with investing in education and economic diversification, Saudi must ensure that it become the top energy exporter, including in solar power, to keep moving forward.

The country recently launched its first solar-powered desalination plant and al-Sabban said oil giant Saudi Aramco was working on a pilot project to inject carbon emissions back into wells to help boost output. The carbon sequestration project, which he said would be operational by 2012, was a sign of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to environmentally sound energy development.”

And Bloomberg News reported on Monday that a Saudi oil adviser called declining oil demand in developed nations a serious “alarm”that should push Saudi Arabia to diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil exports.”

<p style="padding-left: [...]

The NAC Makes A Big Step Towards Transparency

Posted on by

Keith's note: You can watch the NASA Advisory Council's Subcommittee on Education and Public Outreach meeting today live via USTREAMTV here between 10 am and 4 pm EST.

After all the abuse I heap on the agency, I am glad to see that NASA is finally getting the message. Eventually, all NAC meetings - including all NAC subcommittee meetings - need to be made available to the public like this - live and interactive. Right now these meetings are only witnessed by one or two dozen people. The presentations often take a long time to get online - if ever. Transcripts or recordings are never posted. All that emerges are meeting summaries than can take months to produce - and when they do, are bland and devoid of any meaningful content. Hardly what anyone would call "transparent". Murky at best.

Microscope Camera Software (Moticam and Leica)

Posted on by

I am looking for software to view and capture images from 2 microscope cameras - a Moticam 2000 and a Leica DFC 400. I don't have the original software that came with the devices.

Can you recommend a good, free, software package to simply view and capture images from both these systems?

Wind Turbines Create Their Own Clouds [Energy]

Posted on by

It's hard to believe they noticed this one in England, but apparently wind turbine farms have the ability to create their own fog. The phenomenon has been observed by Mike Page, a retiree flying on board his Cessna 150:

The creation of the mist depends on the wind speed and the temperature of the sea and the air at the time.

The spinning blades whip moisture up into the air like giant egg mixers and sometimes these low cloud formations are made. A close up blade of one of the turbines shows a swirl of mist created around the blades as cooler air is mixed with warmer air. It definitely occurs several times a year, sometimes gathering upwind of the turbines and sometimes downwind depending on the conditions.

The strange thing is that you will see this mist around the turbines while it is a bright clear day on the beach just a couple of miles away.

It is a fascinating example of how wind farms create their own micro-climate. It is the same as any geographical feature affecting the weather.

[Daily Mail]


GoBandit HD Tracks Your Extreme Sporting With GPS [Cameras]

Posted on by

If you don't quite think you have what it takes to GoPro, now you have another option: GoBandit. This waterproof, GPS-enabled videocam can capture your finest moments in HD and then overlay the footage with location, speed, and altitude data.

In addition to capturing 720p video, you can set the GoBandit to take 5 megapixel snapshots every 2 or 5 seconds. All these extreme memories are recorded onto 2GB of internal memory, expandable by an SDHC card.

The GoBandit's most attractive feature, though, is its ability to augment your video with information on your activity—so when you tell your friend, "I swear I was flying down that hill at 35 MPH," you'll have some hard evidence to back it up.

The GoBandit is currently available for preorder in the UK for $470, though apparently the bandits are hoping to hit a $389 pricepoint when the camera comes stateside. [GoBandit via Engadget]


Revolving Platform Update

Posted on by

Hi all. Here is as promised an update on the revolving platform. thank you again to all the help and input you guys gave. I will post some more photos of the complete platform in action on stage when time comes. Feel free to ask questions.Still busy sorting out small snags one being how to get it to

Investigate Apple’s Chinese Supply Chain, Get Assaulted [Apple]

Posted on by

Apple's corporate headquarters, PR megamachine and primary customer base are in the US. Their products, on the other hand, come directly from Chinese hardware manufacturers. Like Apple, they're good at keeping secrets. Unlike Apple, they're sometimes violent about it.

In writing an exposé on Apple's supply chain, Reuters' reporters fleshed out what we already know: There's an immense pressure on companies under contract with Apple not to leak any information about forthcoming products; said companies have shady labor histories; working for one of these companies frankly sounds terrifying.

We touched on these problems when Foxconn was accused of driving an employee to suicide over an iPhone prototype leak last year, but at the time, our picture of Foxconn was patched together from a pile of second and third-hand reports, conflicting local news stories, and PR spin. To date, there hasn't been a better illustration of the problem than this

Tipped by a worker outside the Longhua complex that a nearby Foxconn plant was manufacturing parts for Apple too, our correspondent hopped in a taxi for a visit to the facility in Guanlan, which makes products for a range of companies.

As he stood on the public road taking photos of the front gate and security checkpoint, a guard shouted. The reporter continued snapping photos before jumping into a waiting taxi. The guard blocked the vehicle and ordered the driver to stop, threatening to strip him of his taxi license.

The correspondent got out and insisted he was within his rights as he was on the main road. The guard grabbed his arm. A second guard ran over, and with a crowd of Foxconn workers watching, they tried dragging him into the factory.

The reporter asked to be let go. When that didn't happen, he jerked himself free and started walking off. The older guard kicked him in the leg, while the second threatened to hit him again if he moved. A few minutes later, a Foxconn security car came along but the reporter refused to board it. He called the police instead.

After the authorities arrived and mediated, the guards apologized and the matter was settled. The reporter left without filing a complaint, though the police gave him the option of doing so.

"You're free to do what you want," the policeman explained, "But this is Foxconn and they have a special status here. Please understand."

So, let's get this straight: If you, a reporter, take pictures of the outside of a Foxconn factory, you can dragged, kicked, threatened, and reminded of how ominously "special" Foxconn's relationship with Apple makes them. (PS: Omigod, have you heard about the new iPad!?)

For Apple, this could mean two things: That they long ago entered into business with a company that's predisposed to violent enforcement of security policy; or that their extreme demands for secrecy, and extreme value to Foxconn, have driven the company to become this way.

In neither situation can you call Apple the culprit. In both, though, they're at the very least silently complicit. [Reuters via Business Insider]


Surface science goes inorganic

Posted on by

A collaboration between researchers at Northwestern University's Center for Catalysis and scientists at Oxford University has produced a new approach for understanding surfaces, particularly metal oxide surfaces, widely used in industry as supports for catalysts.