We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
Carl Sagan
ROTFLMAO … TNSTAAFL
As depicted in the image above, parents know very little when it comes to their children and texting. In order to help better understand your children, please refer to the following information about texting:
Texting has become the main source of communication for teenagers between the ages of 12 and 23. In fact, the United States Census Bureau plans to change the official language of the United States from English to Texting within the next few years. For the parents who are unaware of what texting is, it can be thought of as writing someone a hand written letter, and then making that letter really really tiny and putting it inside your cellphone to send to others. Please note though, if you make a mistake, do not use white-out as you would on an actual letter.
Studies have shown that nearly 38% of teenagers text so frequently that they have lost…
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http://i.imgur.com/TX9dbK6.jpg
Please don’t try this at home … It’s fake. Watch the video
This is follow-up functionality to water-proofing provided by last year’s iOS 7 release.
My how time flies. One year ago today I entered the modern age. It’s been a good year. Still using my iPhone 5s to maintain this blog, organize my life, get my news and information, taking lots of pictures, watching videos, listening to music.
Siri is by turns amazingly helpful, surprising, and frustratingly stupid. Somewhere along the line I got a tiny crescent moon shaped crack in the upper left corner outside of the screen. My son dropped his and the damage is worse but the phone is still usable. Mrs uses her iPhone continuously to play her music collection. Her gold 5s is pristine.
What you see above is (was) my old phone. Your basic 5+? year old bog standard Samsung flip-phone as issued by Verizon. I have been a Verizon customer since it was GTE back in the ’90s. In fact my first product was a pager, not a phone (but I digress).
Anyway, remember back a few posts ago when I said that YOKS (Ye Olde Kid Sister) got me the first generation iPad for father’s day out of pity because the all time geek did not have an iPhone?
Yesterday #2 son and I got up at 7 AM and drove over to the new Verizon store on the edge of town. I had stopped by the previous evening to confirm that they would have the iPhone 5s in stock. We got into the short line (# 0010) and waited the half hour until they opened at 8 AM. We each…
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The Tim Cook Interview Part 1
12-September-2014
“There are products we are working on that no one knows about. Yes. That haven’t been rumored about yet. Yes.”
(alt-txt)
Old people used to write obnoxious thinkpieces about how people these days always wear watches and are slaves to the clock, but now they’ve switched to writing thinkpieces about how kids these days don’t appreciate the benefits of an old-fashioned watch. My position is: The word ‘thinkpiece’ sounds like a word made up by someone who didn’t know about the word ‘brain’.
(The above just showed up on the login screen of my Chase iPhone app)
Unless you have been living under a rock … a rock without internet, cell phone, TV, cable, satellite or radio access … you know that Apple announced the Apple WATCH today. What you may not have seen are the videos. WATCH is a thing of beauty which mere words cannot do justice.
Clicking the image below (or the link below it) will take you to the official Apple site. WATCH the videos
http://www.apple.com/watch/films/
iWANT
Yesterday’s Google News search on Apple had a Barron’s article on Apple’s suppliers. Apparently you can read the whole article through the Google link, but a direct link asks you to subscribe. Go figure.
The basis of the article is that these stocks could get pummeled if Apple disappoints on September 9. That may or may not come to pass, bit if you want to invest in companies riding Apple’s coat tails consider these:
GTAT – GT Advanced Technologies
Manufacturer of Transparent Aluminum
SWKS – Skyworks Solutions
Wireless handset chip supplier
INVN – InvenSense
Motion processing, MEMS gyroscope, and motion processing technologies for consumer electronics
RFMD – RF Micro Devices
Manufacturer of RF (Radio Frequency) integrated circuits
AVGO – Avago Technologies
Provides an extensive range of analog, mixed-signal and optoelectronic components
OVTI – OmniVision Technologies
Manufacturer of proprietary image sensing and state-of-the-art CMOS process technologies
STM– STMicroelectronics
Produces a diverse range of devices, ranging from single transistors to microprocessors
NXPI – NXP Semiconductors
Creating solutions that enable secure connections for a smarter world
MU – Micron Technology
Best known for producing many forms of semiconductor devices including DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, and SSDs.
The article also referenced the WordPress site RE/CODE as a source.
Via Twitter
I was fortunate to travel to Norway (Stavanger) on business several times in the early 2000s. It is an extremely beautiful country. I wish I could afford to live there. I was also fortunate to know a native Norwegian whom I had previously worked with in the States. He was kind enough to take me on a day trip to the Norwegian country side. I was amazed that most of the back roads are effectively one lane wide, as can be seen in the video.
See also SUPERCHARGER
… on MARS
Via USA Today and YouTube
The SpaceX three engine F9R development rocket exploded during a test today at the McGregor, Texas test facility.
In a post on Twitter, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said: “Three engine F9R Dev1 vehicle auto-terminated during test flight. No injuries or near injuries. Rockets are tricky”
Related
This video predates Dragon V2, but the basic concepts remain the same.
Crew capability was the very reason SpaceX was founded, so we will do whatever it takes to make this happen. – Elon Musk
Related:
It’s the first five metres that count …
Boeing’s answer to the SpaceX Dragon V2 (although technically unveiled first).
The next space race will be commercial.
Copyright © 2014 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
All people, places, and events are fictional … except when they aren’t.
• • •
In the distant past, a forgotten shepherd stares up at the sky, studying the bright red dot that drifts night to night among the background of stars.
MaW3
Do I look like a gamer? Look here. (Don’t answer that)
Ok, so I suck at First Person Shooters. Number 2 son calls me “the turret”.
But I do like head-to-head Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. My friend and I used to enjoy playing each other on Command and Conquer Red Alert for iPad. That is, until we discovered MaW3. Without a doubt the best military RTS game, bar none, is Machines at War 3 by ISOTOPE 244.
Available for iOS, Mac, and Windows on the iPhone and iPad App Store, Mac App Store, Steam, and directly from ISOTOPE 244.
I can’t say enough positive about this game. Don’t take my word for it. Read the review links at ISOTOPE 244. This is one amazing and phenomenal game. James Bryant has accomplished a tour de force. It is elegant, masterful, and flawless. It even plays well on a iPhone 5s.
If you like the RTS genre, please – please, check out MaW3.
And now back to skirmish mode … (Roger that Sir! Reinforcements, we need reinforcements. A ha ha ha ha, taste my laser! Oh the humanity.)
Yet More Transparent Aluminum News
From last year …
I’m surprised that Apple doesn’t just buy them outright and be done with it.
Transparent Aluminum
I first told you about Transparent Aluminum* here.
I have talked about it several times since.
GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has the technology to make thin, very thin sheets of it.
Apple has a large plant in Arizona where GTAT is making Transparent Aluminum for them by the ton (literally).
Last February 2014
* in case you have forgotten transparent aluminum is sapphire, Al2O3
The creation of the Apollo AL7 Pressure Garment is one of the great American stories of the past forty-plus years. […] NASA turned the creation of the spacesuit into a competition (largely dominated by military contractors)—and it was assumed a military contractor would win the day.
Instead, pitted against the military-industrial complex, Playtex created the 21-layer spacesuit, each layer distinct yet interrelated in function to the rest of the whole—a masterly combination of elegance, complexity, and form. […] Traditional engineering firms could not figure out how to meet all the mission requirements and create a functioning suit that would keep the Apollo astronauts alive. The seamstresses at Playtex, with their years of experience fashioning girdles and bras, could, and did.
It was the same materials. It was bras in space. It was literally the same materials that were used in the bra-making process. The straps from bras were reused to hold the thing into shape and the Nylon fabric that a bra-cup is made of was used to give strength to the Latex so that it didn’t expand under air pressure. Then the Latex itself was the same, as they say it started out as exactly the same Latex as went into the girdles […]
… call 303-499-7111
(Inspired by Jim Stafford)
SpaceX Soft Lands Falcon 9 Rocket First Stage
Following last week’s successful launch of six ORBCOMM satellites, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage reentered Earth’s atmosphere and soft landed in the Atlantic Ocean. This test confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able to consistently reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity.
After landing, the vehicle tipped sideways as planned to its final water safing state in a nearly horizontal position. The water impact caused loss of hull integrity, but we received all the necessary data to achieve a successful landing on a future flight. Going forward, we are taking steps to minimize the build up of ice and spots on the camera housing in order to gather improved video on future launches.
At this point, we are highly confident of being able to land successfully on a floating launch pad or back at the launch site and refly the rocket with no required refurbishment. However, our next couple launches are for very high velocity geostationary satellite missions, which don’t allow enough residual propellant for landing. In the longer term, missions like that will fly on Falcon Heavy, but until then Falcon 9 will need to fly in expendable mode.
We will attempt our next water landing on flight 13 of Falcon 9, but with a low probability of success. Flights 14 and 15 will attempt to land on a solid surface with an improved probability of success.
This message was sent from SpaceX to […]. It was sent from: […], SpaceX, 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, CA 90250. For more information on SpaceX, please visit http://www.spacex.com
Interested in the history of space travel?
Tired of the same old tunes, news, or talk radio during your drive time commute?
Want to expand your knowledge of the most exciting (and fearful) decades in the history of humanity?
Then the Space Rocket History podcasts are for you.
I discovered them on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app. I listen to Mike’s 20 minute podcasts to and from work. I thought that I knew all there was to know about the early history of space flight – boy was I ever wrong. Mike has done his research. Of course Mike has the advantage of having access to post-Soviet information that I never had as a kid growing up.
As you can see the iTunes reviews are 5 stars! I am one of those 5-star reviewers.
Related posts
Not to be confused with Cowboy Bebop
Found on Facebook …
So, yesterday I was using my work expenses app to submit some expenses, as one does. And I’m trying to take a picture of a receipt, but it’s blurry. So I start tapping on the receipt to get it to focus, but nothing is happening. And that’s when I realize …. I should probably be tapping on the picture of the receipt on my screen instead of the physical receipt on my desk.
This is one of the YouTube videos linked to by my Brunton Hydrogen Reactor post. I thought it was worth posting separately.
You must watch it.
It’s a HYDROGEN REACTOR … c’mon!
In case you missed my link in https://contrafactual.com/2014/07/13/brunton-hydrogen-reactor
Totally Sci-Fi. The Brunton Hydrogen Reactor is my latest gadget, and it is really cool.
The Hydrogen Reactor is a reactor that converts hydrogen and air into electricity and vapor. It’s all a bit hocus pocus, and since I’m not a scientist, I really can’t explain it in bigger detail.
In the package you get a reactor and 2 hydrogen cores. Each hydrogen core contains 4.500 mah which is equivalent to 3 iPhone charges. I’ve researched this fact very carefully, because some sites claim it to be 9.000 mah. My phone and Brunton tells them wrong. The core is made of solid metal that binds the molecules. It’s NOT nuclear, so there is nothing to be afraid of.
You screw the core in, hear a funny little *puff*, wait for the blue light, and then you connect your device. It’s quit easy and straight forward. You can boost the output if you…
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This high-science device combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity on-the-move and under any condition. Simply lock the Hydrocore fuel into the Hydrogen Reactor™ to power USB devices like smartphones, tablet computers, UV water purifiers, rechargeable lights, portable game consoles, GPS transceivers and more.
Remember when fuel cells cost millions of dollars, could only be afforded by NASA, and were powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that was known to explode? Of course not, you weren’t born yet. Well maybe you were since the Space Shuttle used them.
Click the image below to read the entire article at Green Car Reports.
Quotes from the article:
The Silicon Valley electric carmaker is poised to become a leading employer of veterans, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Tesla now has more than 6,000 employees, of whom 300 are veterans. A further 600 veterans are “in the hiring pipeline,” according to the company.
Tesla […] has made Veterans Day a company-wide paid holiday.
Read the entire article at Green Car Reports.
Did I mention that Elon Musk is my hero?
Despite my joke that that I like my coffee the way I like my women …
From The Loop
As reported by Reuters
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in a 2013 speech at Auburn University described people with disabilities “in a struggle to have their human dignity acknowledged.” He said, “They’re frequently left in the shadows of technological advancements that are a source of empowerment and attainment for others.”
And now … the rest of the story
What Tim Cook continued to say, but Reuters left out
“… left in the shadows of technological advancements that are a source of empowerment and attainment for others, but Apple’s engineers push back against this unacceptable reality, they go to extraordinary lengths to make our products accessible to people with various disabilities from blindness and deafness to various muscular disorders. I receive hundreds of e-mails from customers every day, and I read them all. Last week I received one from a single mom with a three year old autistic son who was completely non-verbal, and after receiving an iPad, for the first time in his life, he had found his voice. I receive scores of these incredible stories from around the world and I never tire of reading them.” “We design our products to surprise and delight everyone who uses them, and we never, ever analyze the return on investment. We do it because it is just and right, and that is what respect for human dignity requires, and its a part of Apple I’m especially proud of.”
The Loop takes Reuters to task with strong words for the surgical removal of the rest of (and key part of) the story.
I applaud Tim Cook and his team at Apple for their vision and accomplishments.
Late last year I had the epiphany that industrial sapphire was in fact the Transparent Aluminum presaged in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
The first sample has escaped into the wild.
Tell me again why UBS and Canaccord Genuity just downgraded GT Advanced Technologies (NASDAQ:GTAT)???
From The Register
Touching anywhere above will take you to the full article.
One Martian year, 687 Earth days – Happy Birthday Curiosity!
Meanwhile at another location on Mars …
F9R 1000m Fin Flight | Onboard Cam and Wide Shot
From the YouTube details section:
Jun 19, 2014
Video of Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) during a 1000m test flight at our rocket development facility in McGregor, TX. This flight was our first test of a set of steerable fins that provide control of the rocket during the fly back portion of return. The fins deploy approximately a minute and 15 seconds into the flight, and return to their original position just prior to landing. The F9R testing program is the next step towards reusability following completion of the Grasshopper program last year. Early flights of F9R will take off with legs fixed in the down position, however we will soon transition to liftoff with legs stowed against the side of the rocket with leg extension just before landing. Future test flights of F9R at our New Mexico facility will include higher altitudes, allow us to prove unpowered guidance and to prove out landing cases that are more flight-like.
See also
UPDATE
Technical problems scrub SpaceX launch attempt
An issue with pressures in the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage propellant tanks resulted in a scrub today. […] awaiting confirmation on timing of the next launch attempt, possibly within 24 hours.
Source http://www.floridatoday.com/
😦
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Screen shots from email (the links don’t work, but touching either of the images will take you to the webcast sight).
My hero 🙂
Elon Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. In these two companies, products manufactured have never been proposed before. For SpaceX (USA), the company is able to sell a rocket launch for satellites for 12000 dollars / kg as cost for Ariane 5 (Europa) is 23000 dollars / kg and for Proton (Russia), 18000 dollars / kg.
As ILIAD for French Telecommunication, SpaceX is completely redefine the market of space rocket launch. He obliges restructuring Safran (Ariane) into Airbus group in June 2014.
Elon Musk is also the CEO of Telsa, a company selling only electric cars in USA! Elon Musk is a serial creator, as he was the creator of Paypal sold to Ebay in the 2000’s years.
“If a company depends on its patents is that it does not innovate or when it does not innovate fast enough.” It is with these words Elon Musk justifies his…
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The Register is reporting that Elon Musk expects to have space-farers on Mars within the next twelve years. Only when the “interplanetary mission gets underway” does he expect to “float [SpaceX] on Earth-bound stock exchanges.”
Read the full story at The Register.
Previously posted videos
In case you missed them … or just want to watch them again.
I feel like a kid again.
Elon Musk is my hero.
By the same folks who brought you James Bond’s PPK …
Walther® Mach Tac 1 Machete
Solves problems “chop chop”
Wicked Walther® Mach Tac 1 Machete.
Human-powered weed wacker with killer looks! Here’s a “hedge trimmer” that never runs out of gas. Take the battle to undergrowth with a vengeance. This name-brand Walther® wonder is ready.
Razor-sharp 440 stainless steel 15 3/4″l. blade
Guthook design on spine of blade
Contoured synthetic grip
Modern, hybrid blade design for effective slashing
Protective nylon sheath.
Blade is 3/16″ thick. Machete is 21 2/3″l. overall. Weighs 1 lb., 1 oz.
Available at sportsmansguide.com
Contrafactual 