Author: Chris Barrus

747 firefighting tanker

747firetankerImpressive film and video footage of a Boeing 747 that has been converted into a firefighting tanker plane. I can’t help but notice this paragraph in the listed capabilities:

The aircraft’s exceptional drop capabilities, loiter time and size make it an ideal tool to perform challenging homeland security missions, able to neutralize chemical attacks on military installments or major population centers, and help control large, environmentally disastrous oil spills.

So they just want some of those blank checks Homeland Security has been getting, but pictures like this are still unsettling. The promotional video is a classic bit of promo video cliche.

The voices really ARE inside your head

hypersonic-beamI’ve mentioned these kinds of stories before – the latest mad scientist device that can beam advertising, propaganda, etc. as a beam of sound to a hapless citizen. Only the tech is far enough along that you can schedule an appointment and have it demonstrated to you. From International Robotics’ propaganda:

International Robotics is proud to demonstrate the impossible by remotely transmitting tightly focused sound waves, aimed specifically at any object, sculpture, wall, ceiling, floor and other surfaces, including one or more people. The Hypersonic Sound Waves travel silently through space, up to 300 feet away, then convert into an instant sound source whatever surface they impact. Amazingly, if you aim this magical device at a person, their head will become a speaker, and they will hear your message “inside” their head.

 

More X-rated Giant Squid news

There’s enough of these stories for a separate “squid sex” category. This one from Germany:

The giant squid is not especially choosy when it comes to sex and will mate blind without checking if the object of its affections is male or female, a German researcher said.
…
“Until now, it was thought males injected themselves with sperm by accident during mating. But that is definitely not the case here: the sperm was clearly injected by another giant squid.”

There is another possibility that cannot be totally excluded, Miske added, which is that the infusion of sperm happened during group sex.

Right now, giant squid may be having group sex in the ocean – and you’re swimming in it!

[via Fred]

Russian retro supercar

volga_coupeThere’s not much to Soviet-era automobiles. There’s the oddball Trabant from East Germany and a handful of Russian builders, but none of them really built anything that stood out to be something other than “generic sedan in old background photo.” Volgas were fashionable (Yuri Gagarin drove one!), but the company never really designed and built anything outside of basic utilitarian sedans. And c’mon, if James Bond gets to drive a Aston Martin do you really think that a stylish KGB agent would want to drive a box?This “what if” was answered by Russian custom car manufacturer A:Level who took a BMW 850csi and created a new body based on the 1957 Volga. The end result is the Volga V12 Coupe which is the coolest looking car I’ve seen in years. There’s only one and A:Level refuses to make any more, but it’s making the rounds of the European auto show circuit. Car And Driver magazine has the complete rundown.

Excel-ing through life

Anil Dash asks:

Most of the people I know are geeks, and some large number of geeks are obsessive to one degree or another. (This can be verified by anyone who’s ever mumbled “Asperger’s…” under their breath while watching me arrange my Windows desktop.)

Perhaps the ultimate example of this sort of dorkiness is the fact that almost every one of my friends has, at one point or another, made at least one Excel spreadsheet to document some arcane aspect of their lives. The number of consecutive sunny days, the types and prices of the cups of coffee they drink, or just straightforward charts about their boss’s mood. There’s no end to the ways one can misuse desktop applications in one’s personal life.
…
Thus, it’s time for a bit of market research. Have you ever made a spreadsheet for your personal life? Talked to your kids using PowerPoint? Share your geekiness, and maybe it’ll justify the creation of an exciting new community of dorks.

As much as I would like to hop from one foot to another and whistle idly, I have to confirm that yes I’ve documented part of my life in Excel. To be precise, I calculated mileage and the total amount of money I spent on gasoline on my big 1994 “loop the USA” road trip to see the remaining states I hadn’t yet been to. For the record my trip looked like this:

Place Odometer Cost Miles Gallons Used M.P.G. Day # Date
Starting 3175 1 16-Mar-1994
29 Palms, CA 3481 $12.60 306 10.08 30.36 1 16-Mar-1994
Flagstaff, AZ 3829 $13.25 348 11.73 29.67 2 17-Mar-1994
Santa Fe, NM 4225 $12.25 396 11.14 35.55 2 17-Mar-1994
Trinidad, CO 4492 $9.50 267 7.99 33.42 3 18-Mar-1994
Elmwood, OK 4785 $10.00 293 9.70 30.21 3 18-Mar-1994
Eureka Springs, AR 5223 $13.01 438 12.52 34.98 4 19-Mar-1994
Lakeland, TN 5568 $12.10 345 11.64 29.64 4 19-Mar-1994
I-81/I-40 jct., TN 6015 $12.50 447 12.51 35.73 5 20-Mar-1994
Wheaton, MD 6491 $14.00 476 12.91 36.87 6 21-Mar-1994
Tuckerton, NJ 6731 $8.50 240 8.68 27.65 6 21-Mar-1994
Boston, MA 7098 $15.50 367 12.93 28.38 7 22-Mar-1994
Rumford, ME 7333 $8.00 235 7.85 29.94 8 23-Mar-1994
Keene, NH 7671 $10.50 338 10.70 31.59 9 24-Mar-1994
Ithaca, NY 8039 $13.50 368 12.50 29.44 11 26-Mar-1994
Sandusky County, OH 8447 $14.00 408 11.67 34.96 11 26-Mar-1994
Williams County, OH 8820 $13.00 373 12.63 29.53 13 28-Mar-1994
Marshall, MI 9205 $13.00 385 12.75 30.20 14 29-Mar-1994
Oak Park, IL 9535 $14.00 330 12.29 26.85 16 31-Mar-1994
St. Paul, MN 9982 $15.00 447 13.64 32.77 17 1-Apr-1994
Fargo, ND 10269 $12.50 287 10.60 27.08 17 1-Apr-1994
Minot, ND 10610 $13.00 341 11.82 28.85 18 2-Apr-1994
Glasgow, MT 10888 $11.50 278 9.90 28.08 18 2-Apr-1994
Shelby, MT 11160 $11.50 272 8.99 30.26 18 2-Apr-1994
Kalispell, MT 11396 $10.00 236 8.48 27.83 18 2-Apr-1994
Moses Lake, WA 11755 $14.50 359 12.09 29.69 19 3-Apr-1994
Salem, OR 12182 $15.60 427 12.38 34.49 20 4-Apr-1994
Yreka, CA 12464 $12.00 282 10.00 28.20 20 4-Apr-1994
Berkeley, CA 12832 $12.25 368 10.47 35.15 21 5-Apr-1994
Totals $347.06 9657 310.59 30.98

This was all done in a rented 1994 Buick Skylark.

Kraftwerk in Seattle

Just got back home after flying up to the northwest to crawl around Portland and Seattle to consume mass quantities of coffee, records, and food, culminating in the Kraftwerk show at the Paramount in Seattle. For a music genre that demands constant rejection of the “same old stuff”, Kraftwerk in 2004 really hasn’t changed much in twenty years. Presumably the software on their otherwise featureless laptops has been updated, but their show is even more retro-futuristic with all the Tron-level graphics intact and the robots once again dusted off. I haven’t ever seen them before, but I imagine it’s like going on an old, beloved Disneyland ride: there might be a fresh coat of paint and some minor adjustments here and there, but you expect a certain amount of familiarity to remain. The show was terrific, and I’d go see it again without thinking twice. Sort of like racing out of the exit and running back in line to get on the ride again?

The defining moment of the show came during the break in between encores when the cheering audience held up their lighted cell phones in lieu of cigarette lighters. Totally classic.