How the Internet Works
June 19th, 2016Via: Ars Technica:
Have you ever thought about how that cat picture actually gets from a server in Oregon to your PC in London? We’re not simply talking about the wonders of TCP/IP or pervasive Wi-Fi hotspots, though those are vitally important as well. No, we’re talking about the big infrastructure: the huge submarine cables, the vast landing sites and data centres with their massively redundant power systems, and the elephantine, labyrinthine last-mile networks that actually hook billions of us to the Internet.
And perhaps even more importantly, as our reliance on omnipresent connectivity continues to blossom, our connected device numbers swell, and our thirst for bandwidth knows no bounds, how do we keep the Internet running? How do Verizon or Virgin reliably get 100 million bytes of data to your house every second, all day every day?
Well, we’re going to tell you over the next 7,000 words.
U.S. Orders Drones with Radiation Detectors Designed for Nuclear Emergencies
June 19th, 2016Via: Las Vegas Review Journal:
Nuclear emergency responders are being trained to fly the drones and assess radioactive plumes under such scenarios as what occurred in the earthquake-triggered reactor meltdowns during the 2011 disaster at Fukushima, Japan.
Brazil’s Rio State Declares Financial Disaster Before Olympics
June 17th, 2016Via: AP:
The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro state has declared a state of financial disaster so he has more leeway to manage the state’s scarce resources less than two months Brazil hosts the Olympic Games.
Francisco Dornelles announced the decision on Friday. It will allow Rio’s state government to change its budgetary priorities without disrespecting Brazil’s fiscal laws.
The move will let Dornelles adopt exceptional measures to pay costs related to the Games as the state grapples with the country’s economic recession.
The 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 5-21.
Dornelles’ office said in a statement that the decision was made because a dip in revenues from taxes and oil royalties was “stopping the state of Rio de Janeiro from honoring its commitment to the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
NASA Unveils Plans for Electric-Powered Plane
June 17th, 2016Via: New York Times:
A new experimental airplane being built by NASA could help push electric-powered aviation from a technical curiosity and pipe dream into something that might become commercially viable for small aircraft.
At a conference on Friday of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Washington, Charles F. Bolden Jr., the NASA administrator, announced plans for an all-electric airplane designated as X-57, part of the agency’s efforts to make aviation more efficient and less of a polluter.
“The X-57 will take the first giant step in opening a new era of aviation,” Mr. Bolden declared.
The steps taken by NASA will not translate into all-electric cross-country jetliners. But the agency hopes the technology can be incorporated into smaller, general aviation and commuter aircraft some years from now.
The X-57 will look more like a Cessna, unlike some of NASA’s earlier sleek, futuristic X-planes. Its cruising speed might hit 175 miles per hour. Its wings, however, will be unique — far skinnier than usual and embedded with 14 motors.
“The problem with traditional aircraft design is you have to size the wings so that you have safe takeoff and landing speeds, and so the wing tends to end up bigger than you need for cruise flight,” said Sean Clarke, co-principal investigator for the project at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif.
For the X-57, the NASA researchers are designing narrower wings that are efficient during cruise flight, powered by two 60-kilowatt electric motors at the wingtips that spin five-foot-wide propellers.
For takeoff and landing, 12 smaller 9-kilowatt motors powering two-foot-wide propellers will kick in to blow extra air over the skinny wings to generate the necessary lift. In flight, the smaller propellers are folded away.
NASA has already purchased the Italian-designed Tecnam P2006T twin-engine four-seat aircraft that it will transform into the X-57. In the first step, NASA will replace the gasoline-powered motors with electric ones, aiming for takeoff in about a year. Swapping out the wing will take another one to two years, Mr. Clarke estimated.
Switzerland: Gotthard Base Tunnel Ritual
June 16th, 2016Wow! You might want to bookmark this one.
Via: Independent:
Switzerland has opened up the world’s biggest railway tunnel, 17 years and £8bn after it committed to break the record.
It held a celebration for the completion of the 35-mile Gotthard Base Tunnel, which runs through the Alps. Crowds gathered to celebrate the tunnel’s record-breaking completion in an event that was used to praise the achievements of Europe amid fears of nationalism and increasing distrust of other countries.
European leaders, Angela Merkel, Matteo Renzi and François Hollande joined Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann for a ride in first class through the tunnel.
“The new tunnel fits into the European railway freight corridor, which links Rotterdam and Genoa” – key ports in the Netherlands and Italy, said Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann. “Aside from saving time, more merchandise can be carried through the Alps.”
Angela Merkel said it was a “wonderful feeling” to be on the train. Though “more than 2,000 metres of rocks” were above, she said she felt a “feeling of security, because I believe in the security of the Swiss civil engineers.” She congratulated the punctual Swiss and noted how costs were kept within targets.
British MP Murdered
June 16th, 2016Fascinating: Poll Reveals 10-Point Swing Towards Brexit With A Week To Go
And then…
Cue lone nut.
I’ll be very surprised if the Brexit is allowed to happen. My guess is that anything and everything would be done to prevent it.
Via: Guardian:
The grieving husband of Jo Cox, the Labour MP shot and stabbed to death, has called on people to fight “the hatred that killed her” as detectives investigated whether her killing was politically motivated.
The 41-year-old mother of two young children was the victim of a daylight attack outside her West Yorkshire constituency surgery by a man who, according to two witnesses, shouted “Britain first” during the assault.
The first killing of a serving MP since Irish Republicans murdered Ian Gow in 1990 stunned Westminster on Thursday and led to the suspension of campaigning for next week’s EU referendum until Saturday. Cox had taken part in a high-profile event on Wednesday supporting the remain campaign on the river Thames.
Police arrested a 52-year-old man, named locally as Thomas Mair, who was described as using an “old-fashioned” gun and a knife in the attack, shortly before 1pm. Eyewitnesses said Cox’s attacker approached her outside the public library in Birstall when she left her constituency surgery with her aides. In a tussle, he shot her up to three times and stabbed her repeatedly.
The former charity worker and MP for Batley and Spen was declared dead at 1.48pm by a doctor working with a paramedic crew attending to her injuries.
Wal-Mart Experimenting With Robotic Shopping Cart for Stores
June 16th, 2016Alternate headline: Americans Too Obese to Push Their Chinese Crap Around Walmart and Out to Their Cars.
Via: Bloomberg:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is working with a robotics company to develop a shopping cart that helps customers find items on their lists and saves them from pushing a heavy cart through a sprawling store and parking lot, according to a person familiar with the matter.
New Robot Picks Individual Items from Warehouse Shelves
June 15th, 2016Via: MIT Technology Review:
A German firm called Magazino believes it has built a better warehouse robot: the Toru. Unlike the robots used in Amazon warehouses that help locate items for shipping by moving entire shelves, Toru robots can pick up individual items.
“The [Amazon] approach saves a lot of human work spent on walking around, but there is still the need for a human worker to eventually pick the item off the shelf,” explains Magazino CEO and cofounder Frederik Brantner (see “Inside Amazon’s Warehouse, Human-Robot Symbiosis”).
Toru robots are particularly advantageous for orders that involve several items, Brantner says. For a four-item order, for instance, the Amazon robot might have to bring four shelves to the shipping station and then take those shelves back, for a total of eight trips. Toru can go to each of the four shelves one after the other and deliver them all to the shipping station in one trip. And there are no shelves to return.
FBI Says Utility Pole Surveillance Cam Locations Must Be Kept Secret
June 15th, 2016Via: Ars Technica:
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has successfully convinced a federal judge to block the disclosure of where the bureau has attached surveillance cams on Seattle utility poles. The decision Monday stopping Seattle City Light from divulging the information was expected, as claims of national security tend to trump the public’s right to know.
San Antonio Man Patents Stirling Engine Range Extender for Electric Cars
June 15th, 2016My guess is that this is the last time we’ll hear about it.
Via: KHOU:
We’ve heard rumors for years about engines capable of getting 100 miles to a gallon of fuel, but the reality is much closer than you might think. Josh “Mac” MacDowell says he not only has the engine, he has come up with an idea, strong enough the U.S. patent office has given him a patent for it. MacDowell is using a Stirling engine, coupled with thermopile technology to make it possible to drive a Hybrid electric car and never have to stop to charge it.
The Stirling engine was actually invented 200 years ago, in 1816. The engine is driven by the exchange of hot and cold air, much like nature drives a thunderstorm. The Stirling engine is capable of using roughly 50% of the energy it produces. An internal combustion engine, like the ones in our vehicles, uses about 14%.
MacDowell’s idea is so solid, Texas A & M University is completely behind him on the project. Dr. Mirley Balasubramanya, Professor & Dean College of Arts & Sciences, and Interim Chair of the Department of Sciences & Mathematics at A & M says when MacDowell showed him his theory and calculations he thought“this is a wonderful idea and why didn’t someone else think of this. MacDowell says for the same reason the Wright brothers didn’t book on Eastern Airlines…because someone had to do it first.
MacDowell obtained a Stirling engine from NASA. The space agency experimented with one in several vehicles during the late 70’s & early 80’s and got roughly 54 miles per gallon in a Dodge pickup. But gas At that time was about $1.00 a gallon, so there just wasn’t a need or desire to pursue the project. Where MacDowell has hit the nail square on the head is with his patent for using it in a Hybrid electric vehicle.
Within 6 months, MacDowell says he will have the Stirling engine he has in a Ford F-150 and will get at least 58 miles per gallon. He also has redesigned the Stirling engine to look more like a small four cylinder engine. This will allow him to put the engine in a smaller SUV, with an electric powerplant and achieve at least 100 miles per gallon. MacDowell is so confident he can do that, he is planning on putting the hybrid set up in that SUV, then starting on the east coast and driving to California. He is confident he can make that trip on less than 40 gallons of fuel.
