New type of solar structure cools buildings in full sunlight | phys.org, new technology based on nano tech material that tunes reflective / radiative properties of a surface, so efficient that its as effective as air conditioning powered by a similar sized PV panel. But this passive tech does not need to face the sun, radiating the heat back to space through the narrow band of frequencies that provide a window through our atmosphere.
Interesting article in the HuffPost by Roger Pilon (vice president for legal affairs at the Cato Institute and director of Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies,) discussing the libertarian view on gay marriage. But on a more general note, this quote really struck home as a fundamental point we need to think about when discussing the gov’t doing this, that or the other:
In truth, principled equal protection starts at precisely the other end, not with government’s power but with the individual’s right — with the idea that we’re all equally free. And it continues by recognizing that because government belongs to all of us, it must treat us all equally — unless there is some serious, compelling reason to do otherwise, to draw distinctions among us. That gets the presumptions and the burdens right.
Just because it’s beautiful.
The Virtues of Stubbornness: Mules at War
Lance Cpl. Tyler Langford, anti-tank missileman, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, leads his pack mule during a hike at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center Bridgeport, Calif., Oct. 13, 2012. Langford used skills he learned in the Animal Packers Course, taught four times a year at MCMWTC. The 16-day course teaches Marines how to use animals in the region they find themselves in as a logistical tool to transport weapons, ammunition, food, supplies or wounded Marines through terrain that tactical vehicles cannot reach. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ali Azimi
Why DARPA has been working BigDog and other legged support robots, problem is that robots don’t eat grass, and can’t be grown on a farm.
Your first e-vehicle could be an e-bike, I was thinking this very thought watching some guy in full gold wing touring togs whining along on his bright metallic red red scooter. The monocoque bodied eBike with 0-60 times as good as a good sedan and space for modest shopping would be an ideal 2nd / 3rd vehicle, useful 80 to 90% of the time.
Gyro stabilization makes the vehicle practical, if reliable enough.
Wired and others have been nattering about the Chinese carrier, it’s nascent flight wing, how crappy the hardware is, how hard the job is, etc, etc. working to defuse the China threat they think is being blown up by the Pentagon and congressional hawks.
Look at the two pictures above, the time from first flight to rational threat back ‘in the day’ was a few years, the big gun guys were laughing the whole time. That Fighter struggling off the Lianoning is a threat today if need be, and you do not have to impress an admiral to be able to sink his fleet. No it’s no realistic threat today but don’t make the mistake of equating little with none, the US capability with the capability required to be a threat, or today with forever. The US CVN capability is essentially static or downtrend, China is on the edge of asymptotic rise, with a century and millions of man years of prior experience across the world to pull up on. As other articles in have discussed, what really is a CV in the 21st century? So how long could it be till a Chinese CV threat is more than a wild card? Not long is my estimate.
The J-2X engine before installation at the Stennis Space Center. Credit: NASA/SSC
Cool tech at NASA cutting manufacturing time from 9 months to 9 days. This is for the STS Senatorial(pork) Transportation System that I’ve no love for but proving tech like this is one of the ways that government R&D tax dollars provide broad value since success is not squirreled away as a trade secret.
Wired, Danger Room piece on after the aircraft carrier.
The Montford Point landing platform is essentially a cut down supertanker ( the predecessors of today’s Ultra Large Crude-oil Carriers, ULCC) which can ballast down and ‘lean’ so hovercraft can come aboard in open sea. One option is to similarly use this type of craft or similarly modified commercial hulls as cheap almost disposable carriers as needed. A sub divided double hull tanker is very hard to sink and the hull plates are sufficient to keep out small arms and splinters. Plus armoring and fire fighting kits are available and cheap today. The ‘fighting’ bit’ would essentially be a mod kit (a skin) that can be updated, moved around, even stored ready for war, the hull could be almost any commercial large bulk carrier. Heck large container ships are very fast today as are some RoRos, so you don’t even lose much strategic deployment speed.
Image: Don DeBold/Flickr
Apparently cliff swallows are selecting for car avoidance, at Wired.com. It would be good if squirrels, chipmunks and raccoons would either get quicker or smarter as well.
This World and Others 