Monthly Archives: April 2013

Is Virgin Galactic ready for powered flight?

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“SpaceShipTwo (SS2) performed a 10.8-minute glide flight April 12 in the skies above the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, the second such flight in as many weeks. This flight was distinguished by a ‘cold flow’ test of the SS2′s propulsion system, where nitrous oxide flowed through the rocket engine and out the nozzle, creating a distinctive contrail. ‘As well as providing further qualifying evidence that the rocket system is flight ready, the test also provided a stunning spectacle due to the oxidizer contrail and for the first time gave a taste of what SpaceShipTwo will look like as it powers to space,’ Virgin Galactic noted in a statement.”

http://www.newspacejournal.com/2013/04/13/is-virgin-galactic-ready-for-powered-flight/

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New space race: Putin unveils $50 billion drive for Russian supremacy

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“President Vladimir Putin on Friday unveiled a new $50 billion drive for Russia to preserve its status as a top space power, including the construction of a brand new cosmodrome from where humans will fly to space by the end of the decade.  Fifty-two years to the day since Yuri Gagarin became the Soviet Union’s greatest hero by making the first human flight into space, Putin inspected the new Vostochny (Eastern) cosmodrome Russia is building in the Amur region of the Far East.  Putin said that Russia hoped to have the first launches from Vostochny in 2015 and the first manned launches in 2018.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/12/new-space-race-putin-unveils-50-billion-drive-for-russian-supremacy/

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Scientists create ‘superbrain’ by connecting thoughts of two rats

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“Scientists on Thursday said they had enabled a rat to help a fellow rodent while the animals were a continent apart but connected through brain electrodes.  With electrodes imbedded in its cortex, a rat in a research institute in Natal, Brazil sent signals via the Internet to a counterpart at a university lab in Durham, North Carolina, helping the second animal to get a reward.  The exploit opens up the prospect of linking brains among animals to create an ‘organic computer,’ said Brazilian neurobiologist Miguel Nicolelis.  It also helps the quest to empower patients stricken with paralysis or locked-in syndrome, he said.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/28/scientists-create-superbrain-by-connecting-thoughts-of-two-rats/

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Veterinary School the Latest Bad Deal in Higher Ed

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thelrcblog-5002

“When I was in college, the conventional wisdom among students was that veterinary school was even harder to get into than medical school. Presumably this was because there were fewer veterinary schools than there are medical schools. I don’t know if that’s even true, but that’s what we thought, and it was therefore assumed that veterinary grads were rare and that vets would always make a good living.  No one even mentioned, back then, the massive debt loads that could be involved.  Well, it turns out that demand for vets is falling, and that many vets nevertheless have six-figure debt loads while the starting salary is down to $45,500.”

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/132876.html

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Venezuela inmates open jailhouse nightclub

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“Venezuelan inmates have opened their own nightclub and hosted friends and family at an inaugural bash complete with strippers and a light and sound show, a newspaper reported Saturday.  The so-called ‘Yacht Club’ at a prison on Margarita Island in the Caribbean boasts ‘professional sound, spectacular lights, air conditioning, strippers, bad girls and all the toys,’ the inmates wrote in an invitation to their opening night gig, according to the El Universel newspaper.  The party was attended by friends and relatives of the detainees, who publicized it through messages on social media, the newspaper reported.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/30/venezuela-inmates-open-jailhouse-nightclub/

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Samaritans in Taiwan turn plastic junk into items for the needy

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“At the station operated by Taiwan’s largest charity group Tzu Chi Foundation, hundreds of volunteers help sort and recycle plastic waste along with used glass bottles and electronic appliances.  Tzu Chi runs 5,400 recycling stations across Taiwan with the help of more than 76,000 volunteers and has distributed more than 460,000 blankets made from plastic bottles since 2007 for relief use at home and abroad.  For the volunteers in charge of crushing the plastic bottles, who are from two nearby nursing homes for the mentally ill, the recycling work has also become part of their therapy.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/01/samaritans-in-taiwan-turn-plastic-junk-into-items-for-the-needy/

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Entrepreneur Works With Coke’s Distribution to Deliver Medicine to Remote African Villages

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“In the 1980s, entrepreneur Simon Barry was an aid worker in remote villages in Zambia, and he became aware of how easy it was to grab a Coke nearly every place he went, but he also noticed how many basic necessities were missing. Barry got the idea to somehow use Coca-Cola’s distributing success to deliver lifesaving supplies to the countries most in need. Unfortunately, the idea did not become a reality until about five years ago, with the help of Facebook and the Internet.  The joint efforts resulted in a test program, called ColaLife. The program gets medical aid to Zambia using the extra space in Coke crates.”

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/entrepreneur-works-coke-distribution-deliver-medicine-remote-african-175039535.html

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Peru’s engineers ‘make’ their own drinkable water in response to shortages outside of Lima

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“The fresh, pure water on offer along a busy road in this dusty town some 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Lima, has been extracted, as if by magic, from the humid air.  Within the enormous, raised, double-paneled billboard inviting all takers is concealed a tube, wires and mechanical equipment that draws the water from the air and purifies it.  Inhabitants from far and wide who flock here toting liter bottles and buckets say this purified water is a wonderful alternative to the stagnant well water that used to be the only water source for many in this town.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/27/perus-engineers-make-their-own-drinkable-water-in-response-to-shortages-outside-of-lima/

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Artificial Leaf Generates 100 Watts of Power from Dirty Water

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“This development all of a sudden makes it practical to bring this solution to places like Africa, where power is undependable. Each one of these artificial leaves is capable of producing 100 watts of power, enough to keep the lights on at night, and a few more will keep a small refrigerator running. In the first world, putting these at the waste water outflows on houses can help with a household’s power needs and ease up on the grid.  We’re still a few years away from seeing this as a viable solution on large scales, but hey, but the time the artificial leaf does hit the market, you should be able to run 15 light bulbs from a single plate. Isn’t that something?”

http://www.technologytell.com/hometech/95319/artificial-leaf-power-from-water/

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U.S. Regulations Require Use of Biofuel That Doesn’t Exist

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“What is really crazy is that the law caps the amount of ethanol allowed at around 15 billion gallons. The law requires refiners to blend advanced cellulosic biofuels, despite that they are not being commercially produced.  Up until this year, the requirement has been relatively minimal ~500 million gallons, but by 2017 the amount reaches 5 billion gallons. The US produces about 3 – 3.5 billion bushels of soybeans annually.  A bushel of beans yields 11lbs of oil, and a gallon of biodiesel weighs ~7.3 lbs. Therefore even if we devoted all of the soybeans produced (3.015 bb) in the 2012/13 season it would only amount to 4.5 billion gallons. Where is all this biofuel going to come from?”

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/03/regulations-require-use-of-biofuel-that.html

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