The Dead Sea is getting a bounce.
The Dead Sea is getting a bounce.
Year: 2012
The radiation released from the Fukushima nuclear power meltdown in Japan last year will cause almost no cases of cancer according to two separate reports.
The radiation released from the Fukushima nuclear power meltdown in Japan last year will cause almost no cases of cancer according to two separate reports.
This story is almost a week old. I missed it initially because Nature buried the results, headlining the story in the most boring way possible: “Fukushima’s doses tallied”.
These results however illustrate again the success of the engineering at the nuclear power plant. Certainly they did things wrong, and certainly there were engineering failures there. Nonetheless, the safety features allowed them to contain the power plant even after it experienced the most powerful earthquake in recorded history followed by the most powerful tsunami in a thousand years.
SpaceX has gotten its first contract, with Intelsat, for its not-yet-built Falcon Heavy rocket.
The competition heats up: SpaceX has gotten its first contract, with Intelsat, for its not-yet-built Falcon Heavy rocket.
The Falcon Heavy when completed will be the most powerful rocket since the Saturn 5. If SpaceX can get it funded through commercial contracts, it will end forever the need for government subsidies in the aerospace industry. Government as a customer will still exist, of course, but it will no longer be in charge.
The BBC used a fictional UN logo from a video game instead of the real UN logo during a news broadcast.
Modern journalism: The BBC used a fictional UN logo from a video game instead of the real UN logo during a news broadcast.
Kazakhstan is blocking three upcoming Russian satellite launches from its spaceport in Baikonur because of a dispute over where rocket debris will fall.
Kazakhstan is blocking three upcoming Russian satellite launches from its spaceport in Baikonur because of a dispute over where rocket debris will fall.
I suspect that Russia is now even more enthused over completing its new spaceport in Vostochny.
In related news, a Russian analysis of the consequences of the Dragon docking at ISS. The article also notes some potential changes in the Russian space effort.
Here’s a bit more information on the Excalibur Almaz proposal to launch commercial tourist flights to the Moon using refurbished Soviet-era space stations and capsules.
Here’s a bit more information on the Excalibur Almaz proposal to launch commercial tourist flights to the Moon using refurbished Soviet-era space stations and capsules.
Computer researchers have found that the microprocessor used by the U.S. military but made in China contains secret remote access capability.
You can’t make this stuff up: Computer researchers have found that the microprocessor used by the U.S. military but made in China contains secret remote access capability.
The unnamed chip, which the researchers claim is widely used in military and industrial applications, is “wide open to intellectual property theft, fraud and reverse engineering of the design to allow the introduction of a backdoor or Trojan”, they said. … The “bug” is in the actual chip itself, rather than the firmware installed on the devices that use it. This means there is no way to fix it than to replace the chip altogether.
How stupid can our government be to buy microprocessors from the Chinese, a country that is definitely not our friend? Pretty stupid, it appears.
This ain’t good: The most common college grade is an “A”.
This ain’t good: The most common college grade is an “A”.
In other words, we no longer have any idea if anyone is learning anything in college.
The world’s smallest V-12 engine
An evening pause: Watch the assembly of the world’s smallest v-12 engine. Though the titles are in Spanish, it is quite clear what is going on. And the thing works!
A Japanese dentist has invented a self-stirring cookpot that also saves energy.
A Japanese dentist has invented a self-stirring cookpot that also saves energy. Video below the fold.
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An angry mob set fire to the headquarters of one of the Egyptian presidential candidates today.
Islamic democracy: An angry mob set fire to the headquarters of one of the Egyptian presidential candidates today.
A failed public works project — from the year 1350 AD
Yesterday my wife Diane and I took my 94-year-old mother on a sightseeing trip to see the Casa Grande ruins southeast of Phoenix, “the largest known structure left of the Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert.”
This four story high structure was built around 1350 AD from bricks made of concrete-like caliche mud, with the floors and roofs supported by beams of pine, fir, and juniper brought from as far away as fifty miles. (The rooflike structure above the ruins was built by the National Park Service in order to protect it from rain.)
Though impressive, I must admit I’ve seen far more impressive American Indian ruins elsewhere. Casa Grande, which means “Great House” in Spanish, suffered as a tourist attraction from two faults:
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