Now that the Cassini space probe is doing death-defying dives past the Saturnian ring system, it’s getting some close-up views of the dinky lil’ moon that inhabit the rings . One such moon (within the Enke gap) is Pan, which exhibits a very unusual feature… it’s own little ring system. In the case of Pan, the rings are accreted directly onto the surface, forming a pronounced equatorial ridge running all the way around the little (34.4×31.4×20.8 km) world. The rings are far thinner than most people understand… perhaps just a few meters. So unless the moon tumbles – and it appears that Pan does not – the moon will scoop up bits of dust on a single thin plane.
Pan is not alone… the moon Atlas shows the same structure.
There are photos that will ruin your mood and, if you’re at all like me, make you want to set up a second reward. The first rewards is $5000 for anyone who can provide tips that lead to an arrest. But I kinda want a second reward set up for *after* the suspect is found, arrested, tried and convicted.
Chances are good that this was done by a kid. If so, I expect to see family members yammering on about “he’s a good kid” or some such factually indefensible rubbish. Whether perpetrated by a kid or an adult, though, society doesn’t need him among us. If someone can provide a good, valid reason why a jail term followed by deportation to Somalia isn’t a proper response for such behavior, I’d like to read it.
The Humane Society of Northern Utah is paying the vet bills. As of the news report, it was far from clear that Sage the cat would survive. I certainly hope he does… partially just on general principles, partially because this cat, after being tortured and broken and blinded, managed to find his way home and crawl in through the dog door.
… here are two Thunderf00t videos discussing recent projects that have consumed lots of money but which were based on bad science, bad math and bad engineering.
The self-filling water bottle remains a stumper to me. The basic idea is quite simple: a solar powered dehumidifier. Not exactly staggeringly new technology. Yet, the math behind the concept is available and accessible for anyone to do… and the math shows that the idea is *monumentally* impractical. And still people shovel truckloads of cash at these efforts.
A brief snowstorm blew by evening before last just before sundown, passing over Thatcher before heading straight for Tremonton. Snagged some fair photos of it. The panoramas here are reduced to 10% full size.
Bell has unveiled a very sci-fi mockup of a “concept helicopter.” It features some unusual things:
A hybrid propulsion system
Variable geometry rotor tips
Lots and lots of glass
Only a single pilots seat
No physical control.
It’s that last one that’ll probably cause the most consternation. The pilot is meant to wear augmented reality goggles/visor/glasses/whatever; this will place data screens in front of him in an arrangement the pilot prefers. Control will still be manual, but the choppers onboard AI will presumably be able to track the pilots hands as he manipulates phantom controls.
Sure, it sounds cool, but two issues immediately present themselves:
1: Computer goes goofy. Malware, hacking, power surge, EMP, whatever… this thing seems like a deathtrap if the computer goes down.
2: Phantom controls that exist solely in the computers imagination and the pilots visor… sure, that sounds cool, and is certainly a common enough trope in sci-fi. Witness anytime Tony Stark wants to design anything, for instance. But in reality, your hands and arms get tired. You actually rest on the steering wheel or the yoke or the collective. Additionally, pilots really like to get direct feedback, which seems as yet beyond the ability to reproduce virtually. More, with every bump or jolt, the pilots hands will flail around. In a conventional helicopter, the pilots hands will be constrained by the controls they are gripping. In this one… nothing.
I would suggest a compromise: a set of *basic* physical instruments. Just what the pilot needs to safely fly the chopper. And I’d damn sure stick with physical controls. But… keep the augmented reality for the *secondary* instruments. Navigation, radio, air conditioning, whisper mode, thermal vision, fire rearward missiles… that can be via virtual reality. Instrument panels that are called up with a voice command, and recede when not in use.
Last evening while out photographing a snowstorm that blew by (panoramas to follow), I happened to see a jetliner heading towards the moon. I got the standard lens swapped out for the telephoto lens just in time to not quite catch the jetliner not quite crossing in front of the moon. Pretty sure it’s a 787. Anybody recognize the livery?
Buttons is by far my friendliest cat. Friendliest cat I’ve ever known, in fact. Part of his friendliness is expressed in his sleep preference… right next to my head, purring like a machine. He’d sleep *on* my head if he though he could.
One of the more unusual things he does, though, is to sleep “hand in hand” with me. *Many’s* the time I’ve woken up to find him sleeping next to me with a paw outstretched, resting on my palm. Of course the circumstances of this are such that it doesn’t exactly lend itself to photography… as soon as I move he withdraws the paw. So that explains the craptacular quality of these cameraphone shots taken a few days ago.
I have n particularly good explanation for why he does that apart from “he does it because he wants to.”
Some time back I took possession of a mess of aerospace documents. Tucked in among them was a black and white glossy photo showing a Douglas DC-8 with just a hint of a structural issue…
This is somewhat akin to the NASA Tech Report Server. Search for software, get results. However, the software falls into a range of categories, such as:
Open Source
U.S. Government Purpose Release
U.S. Release only
General Public Release
U.S and Foreign Release
A few you can “Download Now”, but from what I’ve seen with most you must “Request Now.”
Couldn’t find that warp core operating system I’ve been looking for. Must be behind the firewall.
