Archive
Water drop at 10.000 fps
These 10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy
Friday, 27 April 2012 07:32
‘A chart we found on Reddit.com today shows that most products we buy are controlled by just a few companies. It’s called “The Illusion of Choice.”
Ever wonder why you can’t get a Coke at Taco Bell? It’s because Yum! Brands was created as a spin-off of Pepsi–and has a lifetime contract with the soda-maker.’
Read more: These 10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy
Neurons in Bird Brains Encode Earth’s Magnetic Field, Giving Pigeons Reliable Internal GPS
By Rebecca Boyle at http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-04/neurons-bird-brains-encode-earths-magnetic-field-giving-pigeons-reliable-internal-gps
Health Blogger Threatened with Jail Time for Advocating Paleo Diet that Cured His Diabetes
Friday, 27 April 2012 06:22
‘Internet free speech is under assault in America, and a dangerous new trend has surfaced that threatens to throw nutritional bloggers in jail for advocating healthy diets on their blogs or websites. As you read this, a blogger who wrote about using the Paleo diet to overcome diabetes is being threatened with jail time in North Carolina, where the state Board of Dietetics / Nutrition claims his nutritional advocacy is equivalent to the crime of “practicing nutrition without a license.”‘
NASA Invests In Satellites That Beam Power Down to Earth
By Rebecca Boyle Posted 04.11.2012 at 4:05 pm
As spaceborne energy-harvesting schemes go, this one seems faintly possible — an array of curved mirrors directing sunlight toward solar cells, their energy production microwaved down to Earth. It’s so realistic, actually, that NASA is providing funding for a proof-of-concept study.
A former NASA engineer named John Mankins, now with a company called Artemis Innovation Management Solutions, detailed his plans at a NASA innovation conference recently. The concept is called called Solar Power Satellite via Arbitrarily Large PHased Array (SPS-ALPHA), and it would harvest solar energy from a perch in high Earth orbit.
It would consist of a modular array of movable thin-film mirrors, which could be taken into space using current cargo ships and assembled piece by piece. This would be less expensive than building a gigantic array and launching it. These curved mirrors would redirect sunlight toward an internal collection of photovoltaic panels, and the solar energy would be converted into microwaves. Then the Earth-facing portion, or the bottom of the margarita glass in the image at top, would transmit low-frequency, low-intensity waves toward Earth. At the receiving end, power plants would convert the microwave energy into electricity, adding it to the power grid.
It’s not as comprehensive — nor potentially destructive — as building a Dyson sphere around the Earth, but it’s sort of along the same lines, building a space-based system that can harness solar radiation and somehow beam it back to the planet. Mankins’ design is inspired by nature, according to an account of his presentation over at Space.com. It does sort of look like a flower.
His project, first announced last fall, is part of NASA’s NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts project, under the Office of the Chief Technologist. A one-year study is ongoing.
[via PhysOrg]
New Study Finds Vast Galactic Network, No Sign of Dark Matter
By Rebecca Boyle Posted 04.25.2012 at 12:37 pm
Is dark matter in danger? A few days after scientists said there’s no dark matter near our sun, a team of researchers in Germany now says there’s no dark matter in our galactic neighborhood. The team found a vast structure of globular clusters and satellite galaxies surrounding the Milky Way in a smooth, evenly distributed pattern. Most models of galactic distribution and evolution require the gravitational effects of dark matter, but in this model, it doesn’t seem to exist.
Fukushima: A Nuclear War without a War: The Unspoken Crisis of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation
Thursday, 26 April 2012 06:14
‘The World is at a critical crossroads. The Fukushima disaster in Japan has brought to the forefront the dangers of Worldwide nuclear radiation.
The crisis in Japan has been described as “a nuclear war without a war”. In the words of renowned novelist Haruki Murakami: “This time no one dropped a bomb on us … We set the stage, we committed the crime with our own hands, we are destroying our own lands, and we are destroying our own lives.”
Nuclear radiation –which threatens life on planet earth– is not front page news in comparison to the most insignificant issues of public concern, including the local level crime scene or the tabloid gossip reports on Hollywood celebrities.’
NASA’s Building of the Future: a Model for Tomorrow’s Moonbases
by:Charlie Jane Anders at http://io9.com/5904872/nasas-building-of-the-future-a-model-for-tomorrows-moonbases?tag=space
Check out this gorgeous cutting-edge building, which NASA just opened in Moffett Field, CA and won the coveted Platinum LEED certification.
Ames Research Center director Pete Worden described the Sustainability Center as “the first Moon building on the planet Earth,” because of all the insane technology that’s been deployed here. A water recycling system, similar to what’s on the Space Station, will cut water use by 90 percent. The building uses geothermal wells for heating and cooling, and opening and closing windows to adapt to changing weather conditions. And solar panels and fuel cells power the building and other buildings at Ames. [Mountain View Voice]
The Shame of Nations: A New Record is Set for Spending on War
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 07:06
‘On April 17, 2012, as millions of Americans were filing their income tax returns, the highly-respected Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its latest study of world military spending. In case Americans were wondering where most of their tax money — and the tax money of other nations — went in the previous year, the answer from SIPRI was clear: to war and preparations for war.
World military spending reached a recworldord $1,738 billion in 2011 — an increase of $138 billion over the previous year. The United States accounted for 41 percent of that, or $711 billion.’
Read more: The Shame of Nations: A New Record is Set for Spending on War
Lincolnshire UK – Say Hello To Your Corporate Police
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 09:33
‘Police staff throughout the county of Lincolnshire are now proudly wearing the logo of their corporate bosses, as Government cutbacks force the privatization of the nation’s peacekeepers.
G4S, a controversial multi-national security corporation has now virtually taken over all civilian positions in the region, including front counter staff at police stations, control room operators, custodians at local holding cells, and even inquiry officers.
In total 550 employees who previously worked for Lincolnshire Police Authority are now considered private sector workers, essentially accountable only to company policy, with 200 or so already sporting the G4S stamp.’
Read more: Lincolnshire UK – Say Hello To Your Corporate Police
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