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Post by mandene on Sept 17, 2016 4:42:23 GMT -5
How would you like to have a wind turbine in your backyard?
I know.. I know... you would refuse to have that standard horrensously big, noisy, conventional wind turbine. But what if I told you that there's a new type of wind turbine, called "Wind Tree" that would fit? Wind Tree uses tiny silent blades called Aeroleaves to generate elctricity from light breezes (wind speeds as low as 7km/h) regardless of the wind direction. Paris is currently installing these tree-shaped wind turbines. They can provide enough power to supply 15 street lamps or one electrical car for 1,360km over the course of a year! The picture shows the Wind Tree and Jérôme Michaud-Larivière of New Wind with an Aeroleaf. And there's a movie showing the result: For more look here: www.alternative-energy-news.info/tree-shaped-wind-turbines-paris/If you know French (which I don't) you can check this stuff too: www.youtube.com/user/NewwindTV/featuredwww.newwind.fr/Arbre-vent_31.htmlSpara
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Post by lucid on Sept 19, 2016 10:06:27 GMT -5
First posted this in 2012 but thought I'd toss it into this thread. Video of Curiosity's descent to Mars. Worthy of note: there was no such video taken. A series of hi-def photos were taken as the craft descended. This is the 21st century version of a flipbook of those images. I got moose bumps "Ultra-resolution, smooth-motion, detail-enhanced, color-corrected, interpolated from the original 4 frames per second to 30 frames per second. This video plays real-time at the speed that Curiosity descended"
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Post by mandene on Oct 3, 2016 7:52:50 GMT -5
If you like cats, big and small, I have some videos for you that wonder if the big cats are anything like the house cats. 1) Do they like catnip?
Part 1:
Part 2:
2) Do they like boxes?
3) How about toilet paper?
4) Lazer Pointer?
5) Do they purr as well?
So... how similar to house cats are they?
Enjoy! SparaSpara
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Post by mandene on Nov 10, 2016 11:06:47 GMT -5
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Post by maeglhachel on Nov 10, 2016 13:50:09 GMT -5
The EmDrive (Electromagnetic Propulsion Drive) generates thrust though microwave photons that are enclosed in a conical chamber with reflective, metal walls. The microwave photons zigzag and bounce between the slanted sides and obtain the highest velocity at the widest end of the cone. This generates high pressure against that end, thus propelling the engine in that direction and generating thrust at the pointy end. I'll believe that when somebody gets a nobel prize for it, sorry A photon obtains the highest velocity and generates variances of air pressure in that conical shape, supposedly filled with a gas because in a vacuum it just couldn't work, which does anything else but but make that gas swirl around in that cone? And what factor of the constant speed of light is the _highest velocity_ that photon obtains, again?
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Post by mandene on Nov 10, 2016 15:01:47 GMT -5
The EmDrive (Electromagnetic Propulsion Drive) generates thrust though microwave photons that are enclosed in a conical chamber with reflective, metal walls. The microwave photons zigzag and bounce between the slanted sides and obtain the highest velocity at the widest end of the cone. This generates high pressure against that end, thus propelling the engine in that direction and generating thrust at the pointy end. I'll believe that when somebody gets a nobel prize for it, sorry A photon obtains the highest velocity and generates variances of air pressure in that conical shape, supposedly filled with a gas because in a vacuum it just couldn't work, which does anything else but but make that gas swirl around in that cone? And what factor of the constant speed of light is the _highest velocity_ that photon obtains, again? In contrast to Mechanical Waves, which require the presence of a material medium in order to transport their energy from one location to another, the Electromagnetic Waves require none and can travel through vacuum. Light, that you have used here in "speed of light" comment, is an example of Electromagnetic Wave (also photons), and as we know it, light travels through space, which while isn't vacuum, is very close to it. And tests have been made that show that light can travel through vacuum. Inside the cone, if unobstructed, the Electromagnetic Wave could move at a speed of 3.00 x 108 m/s (usually shown as c). When it hits the side of the cone, it follows the rhythm of absorption and reemission of the wave energy by the atoms in the material. When an atom is hit by the wave, it absorbs that energy, which causes the electrons within the atom to vibrate. After a moment of the vibration, the electrons cause a new electromagnetic wave with the same frequency as the first electromagnetic wave. But the speed of the photon is obstructed. While early tests have not been done in vacuum, thus producing a lot of theories what else has been happening, the latest tests (specifically by NASA and I think some German Scientist at Dresden University has also made tests in vacuum. The German's test results are interesting according to him, but he can't neither refute nor confirm the claims of the EmDrive but he intends to independently assess possible side-effects in the measurements methods used so far.
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Post by maeglhachel on Nov 11, 2016 8:49:12 GMT -5
I'll believe that when somebody gets a nobel prize for it, sorry A photon obtains the highest velocity and generates variances of air pressure in that conical shape, supposedly filled with a gas because in a vacuum it just couldn't work, which does anything else but but make that gas swirl around in that cone? And what factor of the constant speed of light is the _highest velocity_ that photon obtains, again? In contrast to Mechanical Waves, which require the presence of a material medium in order to transport their energy from one location to another, the Electromagnetic Waves require none and can travel through vacuum. Light, that you have used here in "speed of light" comment, is an example of Electromagnetic Wave (also photons), and as we know it, light travels through space, which while isn't vacuum, is very close to it. And tests have been made that show that light can travel through vacuum. [...] Inside the cone, if unobstructed, the Electromagnetic Wave could move at a speed of 3.00 x 108 m/s (usually shown as c). When it hits the side of the cone, it follows the rhythm of absorption and reemission of the wave energy by the atoms in the material. When an atom is hit by the wave, it absorbs that energy, which causes the electrons within the atom to vibrate. After a moment of the vibration, the electrons cause a new electromagnetic wave with the same frequency as the first electromagnetic wave. But the speed of the photon is obstructed. [...] While early tests have not been done in vacuum, thus producing a lot of theories what else has been happening, the latest tests (specifically by NASA and I think some German Scientist at Dresden University has also made tests in vacuum. The German's test results are interesting according to him, but he can't neither refute nor confirm the claims of the EmDrive but he intends to independently assess possible side-effects in the measurements methods used so far. Ok, there goes my attempt at brevity. I obviously suck at it I am in no place to claim to be able to prove or disprove the thing can work. Heck, I'm not even a physicist. All physics I know go back to school physics and what more generally consumable works I've read from the likes of Hawking or Feynman. Hence, I said I'll believe it when there's been a nobel prize for it. Not because I claim it cannot be true, but because by then I assume a decent number of scientists to have checked their results _and_ because I totally suppose it would be worth a nobel prize, if it is true. -- That being said, here's why I'm sceptical (and if there's a physicist in the house, feel free to correct me where I'm talking rubbish): I was scratching my head about how the exerting pressure part was supposed to work. If they are talking about radiation pressure, it needs to be converted into kinetic energy somehow to move anything around. So, how is that going to happen? 1. Maybe the photons pressing against the lower end of the cone?!? 2. Or maybe the variation of speed creating some kind of area of high air pressure in maybe a gas inside the cone, like through some kind of Bernoulli effect, (which is why I brought up vacuum.) If the cone-shaped, perfect enclosure of perfect mirrors, which reflect light 100% of the times (or maybe near 100% is enough, which is challenging enough to manufacture) is filled with vacuum, there _is_ no variation of speed. The photon bounces around at constant speed of light forever (if our mirrors are perfect dielectric mirrors.) With little stops in between, while the photon is being "absorbed" and reemitted by the mirror. If your mirrors are less than perfect, they will absorb the photon at some point and you'll have to put in new energy to get a new one. There is no gas to create zones of high or low pressure in, either, so it only leaves #1, only ... it doesn't work. Because photons have no mass. Any bouncer knows mass helps when you're trying to transmit kinetic energy. Photons not just having little mass but _none_ cannot directly transmit kinetic energy by bouncing into something like a ball bounces against a wall. Yes, light _can_ transmit kinetic energy, indirectly. Light can hit some opaque piece of matter, and if it's the right wavelength for the colour of the material, it will be absorbed and converted into heat (which is a kind of kinetic energy.) Only it doesn't happen in the optic medium possibly filling the cone, nor on the mirrors, because they are supposed to reflect the photon. And if it _did_ happen, the photon would be gone and not available for continuing to bounce around the cone. (photo-effect IIRC) A lightwave travelling through space also has a magnetic field. That can accelerate charged particles like an electron, to the point where the electron is separated from its atom and the atom is ionized. Only, that's not very practical for a drive, either. I was just listening a fascinating interview, the other day, with a guy who's working on replacing common ion accelerators used for cancer therapy with laser-driven ones to make them much, much smaller and more mobile, so you cannot just have them in large clinics. They shoot a laser at a few square micrometers of metal foil, punch out electrons and the ions at the back of the foil follow. Only, you need highly energetic photons like roentgen or gamma radiation. To move around a few cubic micrometers of matter, they put gigawatts of power into the laser. If it didn't just work in very brief bursts but emitted continuously, all the power plants in Germany combined wouldn't suffice to drive a single one. That hardly seems like an effective way to drive a spaceship. Oh ... and by the way, it punches holes in metal It would eventually ionize our precious mirrors, if they aren't perfectly perfect. The vibrating electrons bit is, I assume, a simplification and visualization of stimulated emission. The incoming photon hits the atom and if the photon has the right amount of energy, it stimulates the electron to move to a quantum state of higher energy and is consumed in the process. At some later point the electron goes back to its normal state and emits a photon with the energy freed in the process in the same direction as the original. The new photon has the same energy as the old. And contrary to what the visual image of something vibrating may suggest, the atom isn't moved in space by the process, at all. So #1 (the photon moving the spaceship around by hitting the mirrors) just doesn't seem to be possible, without some new fundamental discovery ... worth a nobel prize What about #2? What if there is no vacuum? You _could_ have a variation of speed (although I believe it's just from a macroscopic perspective ... more a matter of all the little breaks while the photon is consumed and reemitted and still travelling at constant speed between all the interactions with matter. So when you measure speed between poings 10 feet apart you'll see a decrease in speed, but not because the photon gets slower, but because all the little stops it makes in between, but I might be wrong.) But can you have a kind of Bernoulli effect from light moving through air? I don't think that'd work, either. A photon isn't a wing of a plane moving through the air, because ... it doesn't have mass. So, back to square one: It cannot move our gas atoms around, directly. Can it ionize the gas atoms and move them around by its magnetic field? If it's possible, at all (which I'm uncertain of), it would be an extremely rare occurence in an optical medium. And also, every occurence would take energy from the photon which you would have to feed back, constantly. Stimulated emission doesn't move anything around. And even if there were difference in air pressure, wouldn't you just get wind in your cone, rather than the cone moving anywhere? None of this seems to be adding up to a consistent explanation to me, but I'm looking forward to getting this explained
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Post by smacrasmacrasmacra on Nov 16, 2016 2:21:30 GMT -5
One of my favorite youtube channels is AvE, in which a Canadian engineer does shop talking stuff and takes stuff apart. Wicked fun.
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Post by smacrasmacrasmacra on Dec 12, 2016 18:32:36 GMT -5
Audible representation to it is kind of entrancing. You can see as well as hear it being sorted.
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Post by lucid on Dec 12, 2016 21:28:37 GMT -5
Oh man...I remember doing those in programming class...but the pac-man sounds were coming from the guy next to me, not my sort algorithms. And the cop siren sounds were...well nevermind about that.
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Post by Fluffy the Mad on Jan 16, 2017 14:45:28 GMT -5
This stuff is too cool.
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Post by smacrasmacrasmacra on Jan 17, 2017 3:04:44 GMT -5
Does that guy in the video have elf ears?!?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2017 3:19:09 GMT -5
Does that guy in the video have elf ears?!? Joe Flanigan has pointy ears too and he's hot.
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Post by Fluffy the Mad on Jan 17, 2017 9:43:28 GMT -5
Does that guy in the video have elf ears?!? I wouldn't hold being an elf against someone. At least unless they asked nicely. <3
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Post by smacrasmacrasmacra on Jan 18, 2017 19:30:31 GMT -5
To quote my friend, Ben: "This is an automatic camera mounted on an autonomous ship taking a beautifully framed shot of an autonomous rocket coming back after tossing ten satellites into space. The robots even take better pictures. "
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Post by maeglhachel on Feb 2, 2017 11:51:53 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 0:22:32 GMT -5
If he can have Elf ears does that mean i can have a half-orc... ....... ..... foot?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 0:23:44 GMT -5
Cuz you know what they say about big feet, right? Right? My joke is funny...LAUGH!!!
😤😭
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Post by Grimnir Gurnison on Feb 11, 2017 14:27:01 GMT -5
Just saw this and was wondering why this guy keeps messaging the virtual assistant updates on going home. LinkAt the very end of the video I kept expecting a horror movie to appear and the AI to go on a murderous rampage.
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Post by lucid on Feb 21, 2017 17:07:32 GMT -5
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Post by smacrasmacrasmacra on Feb 23, 2017 7:27:22 GMT -5
40 Light Years Away!!!Rocky planets in a stable star's Goldilock's zone and right over the cosmological fence from us. Nice.
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Post by Orchid on Apr 3, 2017 10:05:30 GMT -5
This is some really cool validation and examples of the positive effects of being a gamer.
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Post by lucid on Apr 13, 2017 13:48:42 GMT -5
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Post by lucid on Apr 27, 2017 13:45:48 GMT -5
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Post by smacrasmacrasmacra on Apr 29, 2017 0:48:55 GMT -5
Wow, that's nuts. I suppose it might be possible that a smaller, isolated group got over and wandered around until they succumbed to the harsh realities of stone age livin'. Then the big rush came much later. Maybe?
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Post by lucid on Apr 29, 2017 8:44:18 GMT -5
Wow, that's nuts. I suppose it might be possible that a smaller, isolated group got over and wandered around until they succumbed to the harsh realities of stone age livin'. Then the big rush came much later. Maybe? The crazy to me is...that's before we left Africa So either our notions of migration are DEAD wrong, or this is another species of homo...that far back there were still neanderthals, Denisovians, filthy hobbitses, even homo erectus was still banging rocks together. I'm starting to reconsider my notions of Sasquatch now...
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Post by smacrasmacrasmacra on Apr 29, 2017 8:55:33 GMT -5
We're not the only tool using primates. Our back catalogue's got some discontinued models that almost assuredly did stuff to stuff with a different stuff. Yeah, prolly one of them.
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Post by mandene on Apr 29, 2017 8:56:14 GMT -5
Wow, that's nuts. I suppose it might be possible that a smaller, isolated group got over and wandered around until they succumbed to the harsh realities of stone age livin'. Then the big rush came much later. Maybe? The crazy to me is...that's before we left Africa So either our notions of migration are DEAD wrong, or this is another species of homo...that far back there were still neanderthals, Denisovians, hobbitses, even homo erectus was still banging rocks together. I'm starting to reconsider my notions of Sasquatch now... They mention this in the articles. We either are way off on the ideas when Homo Sapiens Sapiens (us) came to be, or it's some other type of humans that wandered off to the America's. Which is sensational in itself. Just as a mind boggler - museums and other places that keep archeological findings have a lot of material that they just stuff in shelves somewhere, because the findings don't fit our view of the world. It's easier to bury things and never talk about them then question the integrity of our world view or that of our ancestors' just 1-3 generations ago.
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Post by mandene on Apr 29, 2017 9:01:01 GMT -5
We're not the only tool using primates. Our back catalogue's got some discontinued models that almost assuredly did stuff to stuff with a different stuff. Yeah, prolly one of them. Chimps and other apes (and monkeys) are easy examples. Also recent NG had article about animals and tools. It was fun.
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Post by smacrasmacrasmacra on Apr 29, 2017 9:10:05 GMT -5
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