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7/30/08

COMPUTERS OF THE FUTURE !







See these pens ?

They are mini-computers.
They are barely larger than a regular ball point pen.
In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists are ahead with Bluetooth technology.
See the forthcoming computers you will carry in your pocket
This pen instrument produces both the monitor and the keyboard on flat surfaces from where you can just carry out the normal computer operations you do now at a desk.

A COMPLETE BEDROOM SET IN A BOX !






Everything is more convenient when delivered in an all-inclusive box.

The “Casulo” is a neatly packed box with an entire bedroom suite ready to go.

No tools needed and minor assembly required for this worthy design.

The use of styrofoam packing materials has been completely eliminated making this (unofficially) a “Green” product by design.

7/29/08

MARRIAGE !


A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does

7/28/08

Huge Tunguska Explosion Remains Mysterious 100 years later


By Charles Q. Choi /Space.com

A full century after the mysterious Tunguska explosion in Siberia leveled an area nearly the size of Tokyo, debate continues over what caused it.
Many questions remain as to what crashed into the Earth from above -- how big it was and what it was made of. Some question whether it even came from space at all, or whether it erupted from the ground instead.
And there is always speculation that it was caused by a UFO or famed inventor Nikola Tesla's "death ray."
Death from above?
The explosion near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River on June 30, 1908, flattened some 500,000 acres (2,000 square kilometers) of Siberian forest. Scientists calculated the Tunguska explosion could have been roughly as strong as 10 megatons to 20 megatons of TNT -- 1,000 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The longstanding theory regarding the cause of the event is a cosmic impact from an asteroid or comet. In the last decade, researchers have conjectured the event was triggered by an asteroid exploding in Earth's atmosphere and measuring roughly 100 feet wide (30 meters) and 617,300 tons (560,000 metric tons) in mass -- more than 10 times that of the Titanic.
But recent supercomputer simulations suggest the asteroid that caused the extensive damage was much smaller.
Specifically, physicist Mark Boslough at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., and his colleagues say it would have been a factor of three or four times smaller in mass and perhaps 65 feet (20 meters) in diameter. As the asteroid exploded as it ran into Earth's atmosphere, Boslough and colleagues calculate it would have generated a supersonic jet of expanding superheated gas. This fireball would have caused blast waves that were stronger at the surface than previously thought.
However ...
At the same time, prior estimates may have overstated the devastation the event caused.
The forest back then was unhealthy, according to foresters, so it would not have taken as much energy to blow down such trees. In addition, the winds from the explosion would naturally get amplified above ridgelines, making the explosion seem more powerful than it actually was. What researchers had thought to be an explosion between 10 and 20 megatons was more likely only 3 to 5 megatons, Boslough said.
As to whether the impact was similar to a stony, carbonaceous asteroid or a comet, "while the community has pretty much accepted the view that it was a carbonaceous asteroid, I'm not sure it's a slam dunk," Boslough said. "The main argument against it being a comet is statistical. There are a lot more small Earth-crossing asteroids than comets at least by a couple orders of magnitude. While it's unlikely to be a comet, I'm not convinced it's physically impossible."
Discovering the size and makeup of whatever hit at Tunguska could shed light on how often such a devastating impact might take place, explained NASA Ames Research Center planetary scientist and astrobiologist David Morrison.
"As interesting though Tunguska is, I'm more interested in the next Tunguska," Morrison told SPACE.com. "We know small objects are far more numerous than large ones out there, so we want to see how much damage they might be able to do."
Death from below?
Instead of a cause from above, in the last decade some researchers have suggested the Tunguska explosion actually came from below. Astrophysicist Wolfgang Kundt at the University of Bonn in Germany and others have suggested that an eruption of natural gas from kimberlite, a kind of volcanic rock best known for sometimes holding diamonds, could be to blame.
"It would have come from the molten earth, some 3,000 kilometers deep (1,864 miles)," Kundt said. "The natural gas would be stored as a fluid that deep, and when it reaches the surface it would become a gas and expand by a factor of thousand in volume, for a huge explosion."
For support, he cited the pattern the trees fell in, as well as chemical anomalies.
Even stranger ideas
Wilder theories have been bandied about over the years regarding what caused the Tunguska explosion, including:
A UFO crash. Struck by the similarity of Tunguska and Hiroshima decades later, a science fiction writer named Alexander Kazantsev wrote a story in which the Tunguska blast was the exploding nuclear power plant of a spaceship from Mars. A few Russian scientists took up the cause and claimed to find various bits of evidence -- never substantiated -- for a civilized alien explanation.
The annihilation of a chunk of antimatter from space. This does not account for mineral debris the explosion left behind.
A black hole zipping through Earth. This also does not account for mineral debris the explosion left behind, and there was no subsequent explosion as such a black hole, having tunneled through the Earth, would have shot back out through the surface of the Atlantic.
A Nikola Tesla "death ray." The man who pioneered radio and modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems was often seen as a mad scientist. One story alleges he test-fired a death ray on the evening of June 30, 1908, and once he found out about the Tunguska event, he dismantled the weapon, deeming it too dangerous to remain in existence.
All the speculation concerning Tunguska is to be expected, Boslough said.
"Lots of theories are going to pop up -- it's like a crime scene, and everyone wants to have a hand in solving the mystery," he commented. "It's fun to speculate."
Video Newsreel: Tunguska Meteor Mystery
Gallery: Earth's Meteor Craters
Video: Exploding Space Rocks

Brunette Meets Genie !


A brunette is walking through the country, when she finds a bottle. She rubs it and, you guessed it, a genie appears.
The genie says: "You are allowed three wishes, But, I must warn you, anything you get, all the blondes in the world get twice as much."
The woman says, "Okay. Give me a nice house."
The genie replies, "You now have one nice house and all the blondes in the world have two."
Then the lady says, "Give me a gorgeous man."
The genie replies, "You now have one gorgeous man, while all the blondes have two."
The lady says, "For my last wish, Genie, see that stick over there?
Beat me half to death with it." !!!

The 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower



By Dr. Tony PhillipsHuntsville AL (SPX)

The 2008 Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th and it should be a good show.

"The time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, August 12th," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
"There should be plenty of meteors--perhaps one or two every minute."
The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is far away, currently located beyond the orbit of Uranus, a trail of debris from the comet stretches all the way back to Earth. Crossing the trail in August, Earth will be pelted by specks of comet dust hitting the atmosphere at 132,000 mph.
At that speed, even a flimsy speck of dust makes a vivid streak of light when it disintegrates--a meteor! Because, Swift-Tuttle's meteors streak out of the constellation Perseus, they are called "Perseids."
(Note: In the narrative that follows, all times are local. For instance, 9:00 pm means 9:00 pm in your time zone, where you live. )
Serious meteor hunters will begin their watch early, on Monday evening, August 11th, around 9 pm when Perseus first rises in the northeast.
This is the time to look for Perseid Earthgrazers--meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond.
"Earthgrazers are long, slow and colorful; they are among the most beautiful of meteors," says Cooke. He cautions that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile.
A warm summer night. Bright meteors skipping overhead. And the peak is yet to come. What could be better?
The answer lies halfway up the southern sky: Jupiter and the gibbous Moon converge on August 11th and 12th for a close encounter in the constellation Sagittarius: sky map. It's a grand sight visible even from light-polluted cities.
For a while the beautiful Moon will interfere with the Perseids, lunar glare wiping out all but the brightest meteors. Yin-yang.
The situation reverses itself at 2 am on Tuesday morning, August 12th, when the Moon sets and leaves behind a dark sky for the Perseids.

The shower will surge into the darkness, peppering the sky with dozens and perhaps hundreds of meteors until dawn.
For maximum effect, "get away from city lights," Cooke advises. The brightest Perseids can be seen from cities, he allows, but the greater flurry of faint, delicate meteors is visible only from the countryside. (Scouts, this is a good time to go camping.)
The Perseids are coming. Enjoy the show!
/ Space Daily

7/27/08

FLEXIBIN : Elegant Trash Bin !







It seems like those words just don’t belong together.

When can anything that holds trash be elegant? Well, when Li Jianye designs one it can.

Let me introduce you to my new friend Flexibin.

This little Flexibin was designed for someone like me, who has a pile of plastic grocery store bags piled up in a box in the Laundry room.

Now, those pesky little plastic bags can be put to good use with Flexibin.

With its flexible wire frame, the bin can hold any size plastic bag, thus transforming itself into and elegant and very functional waste bin.

Ok Li Jianye, let me know when they are available - I need one for each room in my house.
Designer: Li Jianye

7/25/08

MP3 player controlled by eyes !


Seems that scientists are working on other methods to control items around us without using our hands.

The tongue-controlled wheelchair, a mind-controlled wheelchair, and now, an eye-controlled MP3 player.

It will need to function with a custom-made pair of headphones that feature powerful microchips (surely weak ones aren't up to the job?) to do the job.

All you need to do is roll your eyes upwards or downwards and the volume level will change accordingly, while a couple of quick eye jerks to the right or left will forward or go back a track. Do you think touch-based controls will soon die out (buttons, touch screen displays, etc) as such developments come about, or are buttons here to stay for good?

DROPPA , the most beautiful way to drink !





DROPPA is a carafe designed to bridge the gap between form, function, and space.

It expands the feeling of liquidity out of an object that looks like a water droplet frozen just at the moment of impact.

It’s organic and extremely architectural.

The top of the drop is actually the cup by where you invert the stem to pour water into.


7/22/08

Canova Dual Touch Screen Laptop



Canova Dual Touch Screen Laptop - The Italian Shout For 2010

The design is more than 4 years old.
The Italian company (V12 Designs) has devised a new version of the ‘Canova’ which is a dual LCD laptop.
Why you need two screens ? I don’t know, but considering they’re both touchscreens (with a mic for voice command) , I bet you’ll have a lot of fun with it.
Enough talk, they say this model will hit the market by 2010, so hold your horses !

7/21/08

Broody Squid carry their eggs in their arms !




NewScientist.com news service
Shaoni Bhattachar

A broody species of squid has been found to carry thousands of its eggs under its many arms.

It is the first species of squid known to look after its clutch.
Usually squids simply drop their eggs on the sea floor and leave them to survive on their own, although some species of octopus are known to guard their clutch.

But scientists captured on film the parental care lavished by Gonatus onyx on its eggs.
Biologist Brad Seibel, now at the University of Rhode Island, US, suspected that Gonatus onyx might do more than most for its offspring when in 1995 he and colleagues dredged up both an adult and a separate egg sac in the same net while probing the seas.
A year later, he captured another adult and many baby squids in the same net, which led him and colleagues to hypothesise that the squid might be brooding its eggs until hatching.

“But without direct observations, there were many that were sceptical,” he told New Scientist.
Working with Bruce Robison and Steven Haddock at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, US, Seibel has now captured images of the protective parent by delving to depths of 2500 metres in a submersible.
You can view a video of the squid hatching its young by clicking here (mpg format, 6MB).

7/20/08

Renewable Clothing by Fernando Brizio






By placing colored felt-tip pens in the pockets of the dress its appearance changes over time. within an hour - to one and a half hours the colored ink bleeds into the fabric and creates a one-off designfor each occasion.
The owner can then clean the dress and color it in a different way for each time they wear it.


Fernando Brízio was born in angola, 1968.

He obtained his college degree in equipment design in 1996, at the fine arts faculty of Lisbon where he is based.

Since 1999 , he has been developing several product design projects.

He is professor and head of design at : esad.cr (caldas da rainha, School of Art and Design) and visiting lecturer at : ecal (Lausanne).

In 2005, he was a curator for the (s*cool ibérica) project.

He has participated in several conferences and juries, and his work has been exhibited and published internationally.