tingilinde

omg - someone finally did it!! (or not)

Human flight - a Dutch guy amplifies his own muscles with about 2 kW ..

 

amazing!!

Of course it might be an elaborate fake video, but a back of the envelope shows a couple of kilowatts will work with about 80kg and a 20 m² of wing area. It is the right ballpark. Making an ornithopter work is not an easy task, but is not impossible.

 

The video isn't terribly convincing, but the dream is strong.

 

update - this appears to be an elaborate fake..

 

still maybe it will inspire the real thing with a workable design and at least I was able to daydream a bit

 

 

is the train late?

In Germany you can get recent as well as real time information 

why you want to pay for phone apps

..  rather than use the "free" ad supported variety

a blimp-based starshade

Really remarkable this works....

snip

This spring NASA plans to test its first starshade—a disk-shaped screen that blocks light from the atmosphere to give astronomers a better view of distant planets. The only problem: To work, it’ll need to be lifted thousands of feet in the air and hover there for hours. How do you do that? You get yourself a blimp, of course. OK, actually a zeppelin. A really big one. Dubbed Eureka, the 246-foot zeppelin NT, which sports carbon-fiber struts and a nonflammable helium canopy, is longer than a Boeing 747. But despite its size, the airship is far more maneuverable than regular blimps thanks to a four-propeller vectoring system controlled by a joystick. That means the Eureka can change directions on a dime along any axis—and stay in place for up to two days. “Planet-hunting with a zeppelin? I never would have believed it,” says Webster Cash, lead scientist on the starshade experiment. “But this is the fastest way to learn with low cost.”

...

 

 

if you want a new ipad with a cell connection ...

... and you travel.  It looks like the Verizon flavor may be the way to go if you favor Verizon in the US for LTE or are neutral.

My choice was "neither" ... WiFi only here.

tal retraction

I have enormous respect for Ira Glass and This American Life -  here is the retraction of the Apple/Chinese labor show.  Listening is more interesting than reading the transcript.  

Also this New Yorker piece by Evan Osnnos that gets at the complexity of the situation.  What is clear is Mike Daisey has serious issues with the truth.  Additionally are issues with the level of consumption many of us have and the uneven distribution of money and resources in the world...

preventive measures

Adolescent obesity has been on a dramatic increase in the US for a few decades and is something of a ticking time bomb for the nation's healthcare system as well as those who are likely to be obese adults

The CDC has recommendations for schools as well as a high level overview with specific recommendations.  But even simple changes are difficult to implement and many well meaning people see parts of these campaigns as attacks on the individuals rather than the condition and others claim the costs are too high.

Adult obesity has rocketed to something over a third of the population in America with about two thirds being at least overweight.  Data from about a decade ago, when the US was "just" at 30%, shows the competition.  Our healthcare system has numerous problems, but how much is self inflicted?   I've seen some encouraging information that suggests the rate of obesity increase in the US is now declining - obesity itself is still increasing, but at a slower rate.  Very minor progress.

the photoshop diet

no restrictions on what you eat