Minimum Pipe Piece for Welding

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I have flange WNRF 1'' , shall be welded with fittings (elbow & equal tee), practically you cannot weld the flange directly to the fitting, so what is the minium pipe piece to be welded between the flange & the fitting?

Touchscreen Apple iMac In New 22-inch Size Rumored [Apple]

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A brief report on the often ill-informed Digitimes quotes the Chinese Commercial Times paper as suggesting Apple may be readying a 22-inch touchscreen iMac.

This has largely come about thanks to rumors originating from Quanta and Sinket Photronic, the latter of which will be supposedly supplying Apple with the touchscreen displays. If this rumor bears any fruit, it's bad news to anyone who splashed out on a Troll Touch touchscreen iMac. [Digitimes]



Panasonic’s G2 and S2 Plasmas Have Impressive Contrast Ratios, Dubious Brown Colorway [Home Cinema]

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On sale from next month in Japan and the rest of the globe at a later date, Panasonic's G2 plasmas offer several choices—42, 46 and 50-inches, and black, silver or a dashing brown color options.

The series has the new Black Panel technology for 20 per cent greater image quality (in comparison to the G1), and with a supposed contrast ratio of 5,000,000 : 1. The 42-inch set will be 220,000 Yen ($2,424) when it goes on sale next month.

Along with the G2s, Panasonic's also let rip with the S2 series, which comes in 42 and 46-inch sizes. There's nothing much special about these panels that have a 2,000,000: 1 contrast ratio, apart from a 10 per cent less energy consumption. The 42-inch set will cost 190,000 Yen ($2,093). [Akihabara News]



New modality of force microscopy advances non-destructive subsurface characterization techniques

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In characterizing materials, especially live biological specimen such as cells, it is important not only to be able to explore the surface but also any subsurface structures and properties - without damaging or destroying the sample and for hard and soft materials alike. For example, many synthesized nanoparticles can readily get inside a cell. Therefore studying the cell surface, while useful, can provide little or no knowledge about the particles hidden in the interior of the cell. Another example is the detection of nanoscale defects in nanofabricated structures such as those made by electron beam lithography; or the detection of embedded cracks and voids in nanocomposite materials. Researchers have now shown that an atomic force microscope can obtain a range of surface and subsurface information by making use of the nonlinear nanomechanical coupling between the probe and the sample.

Unreleased Apple Newton Tablets Bic and Cadillac Dug Up [Apple]

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More dusty Newton prototypes have emerged from the archives as everyone's busy drycleaning their favorite black turtlenecks in preparation of Apple's tablet announcement. The Bic and Cadillac hit the FCC but never quite made it to shelves, apparently.

The various photos were uploaded to Flickr by users Sonnyhung and Jimabeles, who says that he saw the prototypes at a "mobile computing development group" at Coke (no idea if he means Coca-Cola, or another company), saying that:

"Apple was more or less searching for a reason to build the tablet and never did find a market. I have no idea how many exist. I only know of one other and it is in a computer museum in California."

Jimabeles claims the Bic had two PCMIA card slots, a retractable I/O door, removable battery, infrared, microphone and speaker, along with an ARM 610 20MHz processor. It never made it past the FCC doors, but as the tablet world is busy undergoing some major changes, it's fascinating to look back at the models that Apple didn't actually launch. [Jimabeles Flickr and Sonnyhung Flickr via NowhereElse]

Bic Newton prototype:

Cadillac Newton prototype:



Martin Luther King Quote

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An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

Meet Your Breakfast Companions Of The Future: Robots Who Feed You [Robots]

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I haven't had breakfast yet, so these breakfast robots from Korea are looking all the more attractive. KIST has developed two 'bots which can operate a microwave, serving tea with toast and carrying it to the hungry person.

In the video below, Mahru-Z (the boy robot with two legs, who took two years to create) carries a cup of something hot from the microwave, which he opens, picks the toast up from the toaster, and places them both in a basket. That's when his ladyfriend Mahru-M comes in, who's equipped with a nice round wheely bottom. She picks up the basket, and serves it to the human member of their breakfast party.

KIST is hoping to develop Mahru-Z and Mahru-M to the point where they can aid families in household tasks, including washing the dishes and preparing food. Just make them a little faster so the toast is actually still warm when it reaches me, and I'm sold. [MT News via PlasticPals]



Announcing people.openNASA

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Ever since I started at NASA, my colleagues and I have lamented how little information is available via our agency-wide employee directory. The information is practical– email, phone, employer, etc.– but we often remark how great it would be if we could extend that information with more detailed, timely, and even personal content. Information about who you are, what you work on, tags and skills, or side projects, would help us connect in more meaningful ways. It would let us not just find people we already know about, but search for people based on specific properties, and learn more about colleagues we are collaborating with.

Last month, spurred into action by Sunlight Labs’ Great American Hackathon, we wanted to show that transparency isn’t just something the public consumes from government, it’s something the government provides, too. After all, “the government” is just you and me, right?

The three pillars of the Open Government Directive (as discussed here previously) are transparency, participation, and collaboration. Collaboration (or lack thereof) is something that directly affects our ability to do our jobs every day.

As a result, Nick, Robbie and I are happy to announce the availability of people.openNASA. people is a new interface for finding and learning about your colleagues and collaborators at NASA. It is an extension to the x500 system currently available at people.nasa.gov. people.openNASA automatically includes all the information provided by x500, and exposes a number of additional fields which you can fill out to tell people more about yourself and your projects (all fields are optional).

We think people is cool because it builds a superset of the existing, public, NASA contact directory. Almost anyone you can find with people.nasa.gov, you can find with this new interface. Anyone with a NASA email address can edit their own profile (after validating their identity via email). You can add a bio, details and links about your main project, social media links, previous and side projects, and of course tags and skills. You can also customize your primary name, email and phone number. No more phone calls to your old office!

And finally, we’re using a service called Gravatar to pull in a profile picture associated with your NASA email address. Once you set a gravatar, not only will it show up in people, it will show up anytime you use your NASA email on a Gravatar-enabled service online to comment or post. It’s great to put a face with a name. And if you’re not comfortable with that, again, all these field are optional.

Right now you can search by name, tag, or skills, and we’ll be adding new features as you request them on our feedback page. Please try searching for yourself, and customizing your profile. We’re looking for suggestions, so let us know what you think!



Fault Responsible for Haiti Quake Slices Island’s Topography

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Port-au-Prince, Haiti
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred on January 12, 2010, at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with major impact to the region and its citizens.
› Full image and caption

The fault responsible for the Jan. 12 magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti is visible in images created using NASA radar topography data acquired in 2000.

This perspective view of the pre-earthquake topography of the area, created using data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission that flew aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in February 2000, clearly shows the Enriquillo fault that is apparently responsible for the earthquake. The fault is visible as a prominent linear landform that forms a sharp diagonal line at the center of the image. The city of Port-au-Prince is immediately to the left (north) at the mountain front and shoreline.

Elevations in the image are color coded from dark green at low elevations to white at high elevations, and the topography is shaded with illumination from the left. The topography in this image is exaggerated by a factor of two.

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JPL Scientist Honored by President Obama With Early Career Award

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JPL Oceanographer Josh Willis (center) receives the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren (left) and NASA Associate Administrator Lori Garver (right
JPL Oceanographer Josh Willis (center) receives the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren (left) and NASA Associate Administrator Lori Garver (right) Jan. 13 in Washington, D.C. › Enlarge image

JPL oceanographer Josh Willis was honored by President Obama at the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 13, as a recipient of this year's Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. It recognizes researchers whose early career accomplishments show the greatest promise for strengthening America's leadership in science and technology and contributing to the awarding agencies' missions.

John Holdren, President Obama's science advisor and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, presented the award to Willis at a ceremony at the Department of Commerce in Washington, along with NASA Associate Administrator Lori Garver. Willis was among 100 scientists and engineers selected for this year's award from among nine federal departments and agencies.

Following the ceremony, the recipients met with President Obama at the White House. President Obama said, "You have been selected for this honor not only because of your innovative research, but also for your demonstrated commitment to community service and public outreach. Your achievements as scientists, engineers, and engaged citizens are exemplary, and the value of your work is amplified by the inspiration you provide to others."

A researcher in JPL's Ocean Circulation Group, Willis uses data collected by satellites and at sea to study the impact of global warming on the ocean. His studies of ocean warming and sea level rise have been widely used by colleagues around the world and were cited in the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That report shared the 2007 Nobel Peace prize with Vice President Al Gore. Willis frequently lectures to the public and works with students to educate them about climate change issues and human impacts on global warming.

Willis holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and mathematics from the University of Houston; a master of science degree in physics from the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla, Calif.; and a doctorate in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. He joined JPL in 2004. His previous honors include JPL's Charles K. Witham Environmental Stewardship Award.

More information is online at: http://www.ostp.gov/galleries/press_release_files/PECASE%20OSTP%20Press%20Release2%20revised.pdf and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-108 .

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Land Ho! Huygens Plunged to Titan Surface 5 Years Ago

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Artist concept showing the descent and landing of HuygensThe Huygens probe parachuted down to the surface of Saturn's haze-shrouded moon Titan exactly five years ago on Jan. 14, 2005, providing data that scientists on NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn are still building upon today.

"Huygens has gathered critical on-the-scene data on the atmosphere and surface of Titan, providing valuable groundtruth to Cassini's ongoing investigations," said Bob Pappalardo, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Huygens probe, built and managed by the European Space Agency, was bolted to Cassini and rode along during its nearly seven-year journey to Saturn. Huygens' descent marked mankind's first and only attempt to land a probe on another world in the outer solar system.

Huygens transmitted data for more than four hours, as it plunged through Titan's hazy atmosphere and landed near a region now known as Adiri. Atmospheric density measurements from Huygens have helped engineers refine calculations for how low Cassini can fly through the moon's thick atmosphere.

Huygens captured the most attention for providing the first view from inside Titan's atmosphere and on its surface. The pictures of drainage channels and pebble-sized ice blocks surprised scientists with the extent of the moon's similarity to Earth. They showed evidence of erosion from methane and ethane rain.

"It was eerie," said Jonathan Lunine, an interdisciplinary Cassini scientist at the University of Rome, Tor Vergata, and University of Arizona, Tucson, and was with the Huygens camera team five years ago as they combed through the images coming down. "We saw bright hills above a dark plain, a weird combination of light and dark. It was like seeing a landscape out of Dante."

Combining these images with detections of methane and other gasses emanating from the surface, scientists came to believe Titan had a hydrologic cycle similar to Earth's, though Titan's cycle depends on methane and ethane rather than water. Titan is the only other body in the solar system other than Earth believed to have an active hydrologic cycle.

Huygens also gave scientists an opportunity to make electric field measurements from the atmosphere and surface, revealing a signature consistent with a water-and-ammonia ocean under an icy crust.

While the Huygens probe itself remains inactive on the Titan surface, insights inspired by the probe continue and ESA has convened a conference this week to extend the discussion, said Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Huygens Project Scientist for ESA.

"Huygens was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime mission," he said. "But we still have a lot to learn and I hope it will provide guidance for future missions to Titan."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. Huygens data was sent to NASA's Cassini spacecraft, and was recorded and relayed to Earth by NASA's Deep Space Network. JPL also manages the Deep Space Network.

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