Vespa South Africa calls this four-seater a "family car." Apparently South African families don't pack much for road trips?
Not to mention how silly it sounds for an angry father to threaten to "turn this Vespa around this instant!" No, the stretch Vespa should clearly be marketed to its rightful clientele: roving gangs of urbanites who don't mind making wide right turns. [Likecool]
Quick! Someone call Ray Comfort!
Yup. It’s Jesus in a banana peel. The article has all the usual nonsense, so I’ll spare you the details. But my favorite part is where the banana owner says, "It definitely wasn’t that way when I bought it from [the store]…. ".
<sarcasm>Yes, because once you buy a banana and bring it home, it stays exactly the same forever.</sarcasm>
Sigh. I’ve had bananas go bad on the way home from the store. Bananas are the least stable fruit ever. I bet ten minutes after that picture was taken it looked more like the pareidolia in the kitchen sink.
I suppose there will never come a day when the mainstream media will have an article with a picture like this with the headline, "Random pattern in object appears to look vaguely face-like; owner makes no claim of divinity". That would certainly be news to me!
Tip o’ the polyphenoloxidase to Mauro Mello, Jr.
The A5/1 privacy algorithm, a code which is used to protect the privacy of about 80 percent of all mobile calls worldwide, has been deciphered and made public. It remains to be seen whether it's time to panic just yet.
The algorithm in question has been used to encrypt GSM calls since 1988, but this past week, at the Chaos Communication Congress, a four-day computer hackers' conference, an encryption specialist by the name of Karsten Nohl disclosed how he and about 24 other people cracked the code. He also revealed that the resulting two terabyte "code book" which is "a vast log of binary codes that could theoretically be used to decipher GSM phone calls" is available on various BitTorrent websites.
Whether you should begin to worry about this news depends on whom you listen to. The telephone companies are proclaiming that the A5/1 algorithm, a 64-bit binary code, will soon be phased out for its successor, the 128-bit A5/3 algorithm, and that even just a simple modification to the existing code would be enough to thwart any attempts to intercept calls.
Some security experts on the other hand are saying that the "hardware and software needed for digital surveillance were available free as an open-source product" and that this new development could "reduce the time to break a GSM call from weeks to hours."
Either way, it doesn't seem like it's time to shout about yet another breach of privacy just yet, so let's go back to focusing on crotch pat downs once again. [NY Times]
Photo by Taberna de Ingrid
My first iMac arrived with a jaundiced screen, so Apple sent me a replacement. After unpacking, it took only moments for me to diagnose the system as being flawed in the exact same manner. Yes friends, I'm two for two!
Just like my first 27-inch iMac, the screen is inflicted with the yellow screen issue, a color reproduction failure that moves from cool on top to warm on the bottom. Receiving two faulty products in a row is making it hard to believe that this issue isn't every bit as common as the Apple message boards would make it seem.
I'll admit, this iMac's screen isn't nearly as bad as my first's. The warm color gradient is subtler and more localized to the center. But the naked eye can see it, especially on a big, white webpage. And there's absolutely no reason that a consumer should be paying $2000+ ($2200 in my case) on any product that's anything but perfect.
Personally speaking, this setback means I'll have gone a month after dropping a few grand from my bank account without anything to show for it. A normal person might settle with product flaw, worn down by packing, shipping and customer service. The most sane would probably just file for a return.
I have a lot of respect for this "most sane" category.
Me? I basically mail back review products for a living, and the joy of this new toy has long been spoiled. So I'm going to do my damndest to bankrupt Apple with return shipping. I will send back these iMacs as many times as it takes for them to build one correctly. And every single time that they screw it up, I'm going to air their dirty laundry here. Feel free to read it or don't. It's my opinion that Apple's cyclical production issues can't be swept under the rug any longer.
You see, I received a lot of email after my initial problem post. About 80% of it was thanking me for bringing the issue to light. But about 20% suggested that this was somehow MY fault, you know, for not waiting for Apple to work out the kinks in a new line before purchasing it. As an educated consumer, I should have known that the first X% of Apple purchasers always get screwed by manufacturing problems, and my bad fortune was the result of a sort of consumer Darwinism.
I was simply unfit to buy the "ultimate iMac" with "the ultimate display."
Because that makes sense—Apple's lack of QA is my fault. Their inability to supply a functional screen—the centerpiece of this whole freaking product—is something I should have anticipated. Seriously, can you imagine if they built anything more crucial? Airbags? Plane engines? Condoms? The world would never turn a blind eye.
Apple, it's this simple: Get your shit together.
1. Openly acknowledge the issue.
2. Apologize (mock sincerity is fine if the public doesn't notice).
3. Fix the problem, which I'm betting is the LCD itself.
4. If you can't fix the problem, then just test for it at the factory. (It takes about 2 seconds.)
5. If the computer has a yellow screen, don't ship it out.
In fact, I don't even expect steps 1 or 2. If you just did 3-5, nobody would have even cared in the first place.
When do you use Arc Flash suits?
A very recent Martian crater. Click for a larger version (~100k). Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Pretty new anyways. The crater is pretty small being only 18 feet (5.5 meters) across. This little crater was formed between January 2006 and May 2008.
The crater was found because this area has been imaged earlier with the Themis instrument and no spot was present. Then more recently the CTX camera was being used to survey the Martian surface, the CTX is used because it has lower resolution and therefore more area can be covered to look for changes. When the same area was imaged and the photos compared a dark spot was noted.
Since the CTX instrument could only detect the spot but not resolve it because the crater is about the size of a single pixel, the HiRise instrument was used to take a hi resolution image of the spot. The spot of course turned out to be the crater and the dark area around it.
Click the image for more of the area around the crater. A larger version of the image can be found at the HiRise site.
A couple was stuck in the untamed winter wilderness of eastern Oregon for three days after following their evil SUV's GPS navigator's directions. They were saved by a do-gooder GPS in their phone.
The couple got trapped in the snow for three days in the Winema-Fremont National Forest after their SUV's navigator told them to follow Forest Service Road 28—35 miles down the remote road, they got stuck in a foot-and-a-half of snow. They would've frozen to death, except they had packed a bunch of winter clothes.
On the third day, the "atmospheric conditions" changed enough that their cellphone's GPS was able to put out a tiny signal that led 911 dispatchers to the couple's location.
And that's why you should still learn to navigate using the stars. [Yahoo]
A fossil dwarf whale, first discovered in Australia over 70 years ago, had an unusual feeding habit. The whale sucked up mud pies in order to feast on sea bed critters, according to a new study. The fossil whale, thought to be between 25 and 28 million years old, hints that mud sucking might have been a precursor to the filter feeding used by today’s baleen whales [National Geographic News]. Modern filter feeders use what’s called baleen—tiny hair-like structures—to filter their prey from the seawater. The most famous, and the largest, baleen species is the blue whale, and the ancient dwarf whale may be a distant relative, say the researchers.
Oddly, the dwarf whale also had teeth, which the researchers speculate were used to chomp on bulky prey that their tongue and facial muscles slurped off the sea floor. Modern whales with baleen plates eat tiny prey such as krill and are distinct from toothed whales, which include beaked whales and orcas (aka killer whales). The ancient whale, Mammalodon colliveri, had a total body length of about 3m. But it appears to have been a bizarre evolutionary “splinter group” from the evolutionary lineage which later led to the 30m-long blue whale [BBC News]. Researchers say the dwarf whale most likely evolved from much larger ancestors and adds evidence to the theory that proto-baleen whales diversified into many experimental body forms, say the researchers, who published their work in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Related Content:
80beats: Oil and Gas Exploration Forces Whales to Speak Up
80beats: Whales Had Legs Until 40 Million Years Ago, Fossils Show
80beats: Primitive Proto-Whales May Have Clambered Ashore to Give Birth
Image: Carl Buell
I received an unusual email from, of all people, the Nobel Prize website editor! He was notifying me that the Nobel Prize folks have started a new series of videos where people get a chance to ask questions of Nobel laureates, who will then answer them on YouTube. Pretty cool, and something I heartily approve of. I love it when people get more contact with scientists, especially ones who are doing research that qualifies them for the Nobel!
They started the series off with astronomer John Mather, the Principal Investigator for the James Webb Space Telescope, who won the prize for his work with COBE, the Cosmic Background Explorer. I worked on that project very briefly, and over the next few years had the pleasure of working with John, who is just about as nice as he can be.
Here’s an example of one of the questions — what happened before the Big Bang — with John’s answer:
There are quite a few more, too. If you have an account on YouTube, you can subscribe to the Nobel channel and find out when they will do the next laureate Q&A, too. Very cool.
hi; everyone
my name is hasan from turkey do you tell me how to calculate airflow inside a pipe ı have been workıng compressor company thanks a lot
What with crooks who post status updates while on the lam and snap self-portraits with stolen iPhones, it seems incompetent criminals find technology irresistible. Our latest tale of blundering criminality involves a Bronx man who is quite adept at stealing electronics, but a bit confused about how they work, according to the New York Post:
Jeremiah Gilliam, 22, was caught after playing a stolen game console online — allowing cops in Pelham, where it was stolen, to trace the IP address to his grandmother’s address, cops said.
There, detectives found dozens of video games, laptops, and GPS devices believed to have been stolen from as many as 200 car break-ins and several home burglaries in Westchester County.
While Jeremiah was online gaming away with a stolen Xbox, the console’s owner, a kid, noticed his system was online while playing on another Xbox. He told his parents, who then called the police.
Related Content:
Discoblog: A New Facebook Game: Taunting the Cops When They Can’t Catch You
Discoblog: iPhone Thievery 101: Don’t Send Pics of Yourself to the Rightful Owner
Discoblog: Stole a Piece of the Internets? Prepare to Be Arrested.
Image: flickr / benjamin-nagel
Vanessa Woods is not only one of my dearest friends, she’s also an extremely gifted writer. Currently at Duke University, she studies the cognitive development of chimpanzees and bonobos at sanctuaries in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Next June, Vanessa’s latest book, Bonobo Handshake, will be published–and I can’t wait…
Check out this video and read the description below:
Bonobo Handshake
In 2005, Vanessa Woods accepted a marriage proposal from a man she barely knew and agreed to join him on a research trip to the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. Settling in at a bonobo sanctuary in Congo’s capital, Vanessa and her fiancé entered the world of a rare ape with whom we share 98.7% of our DNA. Vanessa soon discovered that bonobos live in a peaceful society in which females are in charge, war is nonexistent, and sex is as common and friendly as a handshake.
A fascinating memoir of hope and adventure, Bonobo Handshake traces Vanessa’s self-discovery as she finds herself falling deeply in love with her husband, the apes, and her new surroundings. Courageous and extraordinary, Almost French meets The Poisonwood Bible in this true story of revelation and transformation in a fragile corner of Africa.
how to calculate magnet power
Here are a couple of photos from my last trip to Cayo Costa State Park.
I am trying to find a way to recondition cutters that we use in production. We have about 70 people right now and growing. Everyone has there own cutters "mostly this style" and at $50-60 a pop we cant just buy new ones every time they get dull so we have been grinding them in-house.
We have tr
Chalk up another unexpected consequence of pumping too much carbon dioxide into the air: According to a new study, the excess CO2 that ends up in seawater is gradually making the oceans noisier.
The changing chemistry of the ocean is one of the major impacts of CO2 emissions. The dissolved gas is changing the pH of the water by making it more acidic, which makes life harder for corals and marine critters with calcium carbonate shells that are corroded by the acidic water. But the new study, published in Nature Geoscience, found that changing the pH of the oceans also reduces the levels of chemicals that absorb sound, like magnesium sulphate and boric acid.
Low-frequency sound in the ocean is produced by natural phenomena such as rain, waves and marine life, and by human activities such as sonar systems, shipping and construction. The sound is absorbed mainly through the viscosity of the water and the presence of certain dissolved chemicals…. But the concentration of chemicals that absorb sound in the oceans has declined as a result of ocean acidification [AFP]. The study found that sound absorption could fall by some 60 percent in high latitudes and deep waters by 2100.
The pH change is only affecting sounds in the lower frequency range, and it’s not yet clear how that will impact marine mammals like dolphins and whales that use acoustics to find food and mates. Says study coauthor Richard Zeebe: “If the noise level increases, it can distract species,” he said. “If they’re trying to identify certain sounds in the ocean important for them for reproduction, feeding or something, and if the background noise is increasing, it could essentially cover certain sounds they depend on. This is a possibility” [Honolulu Star-Bulletin].
Related Content:
80beats: Prepare for a Lobster-Full Future: Acidic Oceans Could Help Some Critters
80beats: Ocean Acidification: Worse Than the Big Problem We Thought It Was
80beats: Oil and Gas Exploration Forces Whales to Speak Up
80beats: Sonar Damage to Dolphins’ Hearing Is Akin to the “Rock-Concert Effect”
80beats: Cacophony in the Oceans May Confuse Whales and Drown Out Their Songs
Image: flickr / jurvetson
Posted by David McRee at BlogtheBeach.com
can I join cables made of PVC and XLPE ( of same cross section, say 300 mmsq Aluminum) ? Old cable is of PVC and new one is XLPE. Both cables are armoured. Service voltage is 415VAC. If service voltage is 3.3 KV any additionel precautions are required?
Thanks
In the wake of the recent massive snowfall along the U.S. East Coast, we bring you a few wintry links today. First, there's the circa 1926 photo of a Model T snowmobile, which was spotted among the National Postal Museum's collection on Flickr. Next, there's the video of the Armstead Snow Motors c
Good day.
I wonder if some of you people could direct me to some free sources of IEC publications
Happens that I am interested in develop a electric vehicle , and need some IEC regulations with relevance to it. Have not enough coin to pay for those.
And I am wr
