Mystery Aircraft Over Texas
Includes two *exceedingly* poor-rez photos of an aircraft at some altitude (more complete photos at the link):
Looks like a flying wing aircraft of some size.
Mar 272014
Mar 272014
Woman gets new 3D-printed skull
Doctors in the Netherlands have replaced a 22-year-old woman’s skull with a plastic one made using a 3D printer.
It took doctors at the University Medical Center Utrecht 23 hours to perform the surgery.
It looks like they didn’t so much replace the womans skull as replace the “dome’ of her skull (didn’t replace her facebone). She had a condition that caused her skull to thicken; the skull thickened *inwards* by about 5 cm, compressing her brain and causing all manner of havoc including eyesight trouble. Reportedly, her eyesight has successfully returned.
[youtube IXcz3OdHSHk]
Perhaps irrelevantly, perhaps disturbingly or perhaps excitingly, the replacement skull is made out of crystal clear transparent plastic. Supervillains of tomorrow, take notice!
Mar 272014
“SDI High Tech High Ground”
A video on the Strategic Defense Initiative, circa late 1990/early 1991.
[youtube yDCzpAuWM1w]
Mar 272014
According to THIS, out of 10,885 peer reviewed scientific papers published in 2013 on the subject of “climate change” a grand total of two came down on the side of human activity not being involved to some degree or another.
Is the compiler biased? Was the methodology flawed? Was the sample selection incomplete? Possibly. But come on… 2 out of 10,885? This must be one hell of a conspiracy.
And face it: even if “man made global warming” is purely fictitious, it is *still* worth playing along with. Turning the US in the world manufacturing powerhouse for small (neighborhood/village-sized), medium (city-sized) and large (state/region-sized) nuclear reactors (I’m a fan of thorium, but I’m not a fanatic about it), along with technologies to strain fissionables directly out of seawater, would not only enrich the US, it would impoverish the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Putin’s Russia and Venezuela, reducing their influence on the world – and the future – to nil.
Mar 272014
A fairly disturbing article about how pseudoscientific nonsense is becoming accepted practice in many medical centers:
A disturbing example of quackademic medicine at an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center
Can we as a society really point and laugh at people freaking out about “mubobobo” when we have University cancer treatment centers offering newage like reiki and reflexology? We have become so “tolerant of diverse cultures” that we don’t seem to be able to say ” no, sorry, that’s *wrong*” to utter anti-scientific nonsense.
Mar 262014
Found on ebay:
Keith Ferris Original Oil Painting Ryan Firebee II Aviation Art
Asking price: $1,795.00. A bit rich for my blood. But fortunately, the listing comes with a pretty good photo of the piece:
I took the liberty of perspective-correcting, cropping and fade-correcting it. Please to enjoy:
Mar 262014
First ring system around asteroid: Chariklo found to have two rings
The centaur asteroid (i.e. a class of asteroid with characteristics similar to comets) Chariklo orbits between Saturn and Uranus. It has a diameter of around 255 kilometers… and two rings, discovered recently as they occulted a distant star. The inner ring is seven kilometers wide, and 391 kilometers from the center of Charilko; the second ring is three kilometers wide and 405 kilometers from the center. The rings appear to be made of water ice.
[youtube nfh_jVEzveE]
With planets like Saturn, rings are most likely formed when a moon drifts too close. Passing within the Roche limit, tides simply pull the moon apart. But the gravitational tides form Charilko are almost certainly far too meager; these rings were probably formed from impact debris, either something hitting the asteroid and throwing up a spray, or smashing into small moons orbiting the asteroid. The rings are sharp-edged, which suggests shepherd satellites.
[youtube oAmWaL5Dsxg]
Mar 262014
Well, not exactly, but still…
Utah to welcome marijuana for limited medical use
Specifically, a marijuana extract used to relieve the seizures of epileptic children has been allowed to be brought into the state. No growing marijuana in Utah allowed.
Given that Utah has State Liquor Stores, I’d expect this state to be just about the last to legalize any form of pot. But there is also a recognizable strain of libertarianism in state politics.
Mar 262014
This is kinda neat:
Why The U.S. Built A Giant Sound Stage In The California Desert
A large building at Naval Air Warfare Center China Lake was built in the early ’90’s as a means of testing missile guidance systems. In the Missile Engagement Simulation Arena, full-size aircraft mockups are suspended and maneuvered as marionettes for the benefit of missile sensors.
[youtube 2luHrpYDNc8]
Mar 262014
Ye Olde Internet is slightly lighting up with the news of an art installation at the David Zwirner art gallery in New York City. What we have here is an animatronic “fembot” that dances and talks. At one level… big whoop. Animatronic figures have been around for decades. Note that this particular figure is connected to a pole in “her” belly that runs into the wall; power, control and probably physical support are run through the pole to undefined but quite possibly sizable machinery on the other side. So this isn’t a stand-alone robot. And of course, this being a New York art Project, it can’t be something just interesting and attractive, it also has to be weird and, well, icky. The scantily-clad fembot is covered in “dirt marks,” wears as “witch mask,” is equipped with facial recognition abilities so that it’s dead eyes will follow you, and it speaks in the artists distinctly male voice. Bleah.
[youtube 3ivaQf1jns0]
However, there are some aspects to this which do seem particularly impressive… specifically, the arms and hands. Their movements appear very realistic… very fluid and humanlike. If some work was done to cover up the clearly mechanical joints (especially the shoulder), they might be indistinguishable from real human. If only a really good connection to the human brain could be workedup, arms like these might be really… errr… handy for amputees.
The important work on this was apparently done by Spectral Motion, a Hollywood special effects monster-maker (Hellboy 2, for example).