Author Topic: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...  (Read 7930 times)

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Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #135 on: June 28, 2013, 10:01:03 am »
World's Roundest Object!

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Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #136 on: June 28, 2013, 10:02:14 am »
Fascinating....

Never heard of this until today.


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Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #137 on: June 28, 2013, 10:23:06 am »
This is one of the most amazing technologies I've ever seen.

This is not easy to watch. Simply incredible and dare I say a miracle.


Quote
In 2009, Andrew Johnson, 35, was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease. Last November, and again in February, he underwent a procedure, during which surgeons implanted a device in his brain that controls his tremors. Today, you'd never guess he suffers from Parkinson's – but watch what happens when he turns his new implant off.

Johnson flips the switch on his device at the 2:00 mark, but for the full effect you'll want to watch from the beginning. When his hands and head are at rest, you're witnessing the stunning effects of a procedure known as deep brain stimulation (DBS). The surgery involves the implantation of a brain pacemaker. Like the artifical pacemaker you might find attached to someone's heart, a brain pacemaker is used to generate electrical impulses, only instead of targeting heart muscles it targets specific regions of the brain. In patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, DBS is used to treat motor symptoms when other forms of therapy fail.

As Johnson points out on his blog, DBS is not a miracle cure – it's an FDA-approved surgical procedure that's been cleared for the treatment of Parkinson's disease for over a decade now. That being said, Johnson has responded to the treatment extraordinarily well, as you can clearly see in the video.

Johnson writes about the his decision to make the video, on his blog:
I made this video today as I was curious about what would happen when I turned my neuro-stimulator off. I am flying to Sydney tomorrow for a conference and didn’t want to be blind-sided if the screening device turned my DBS implant off (which has been known to happen). I hadn’t turned it off before, so this was quite the experience.

Man's Parkinson's disease symptoms vanish with the push of a button

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Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #138 on: July 01, 2013, 12:53:40 pm »
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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #139 on: July 01, 2013, 05:22:00 pm »
What does lava on ice look like...

Quote
It's difficult for geologists to witness the flow of lava on snow- and ice-covered volcanos, so researchers with the Syracuse University Lava Project decided to create their own simulation, melting 300 kg of lava and pouring it over ice to watch the effects.

Sculptor Bob Wysocki and geologist Jeff Karson collaborate on the Lava Project, melting basaltic lava to produce natural-scale lava flows in a variety of conditions. Because the remoteness of snow- and ice-covered volcano peaks make those peaks difficult to observe, observations like those from the Lava Project have been valuable in gaining insight into the interactions between lava and snow. Wysocki and Karson are two of the co-authors on a paper about these interactions, which appears in a recent issue of Geology. One of their findings, which you can see in the video, focuses on the formation of lava bubbles by steam from vaporization of the underlying ice.

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Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #140 on: July 18, 2013, 10:02:02 am »
ATLAS: Probably the Most Advanced Humanoid Yet, Definitely Terrifying

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As impressed by we all were by Petman, DARPA and Boston Dynamics' remarkably agile and nimble humanoid, it's about to get upstaged by the company's latest and greatest robot creation: ATLAS. Designed to compete in DARPA's upcoming Robotics Challenge, we actually already got a glimpse of ATLAS' impressive skills back when it was just a prototype, but as it nears completion we're now seeing just how damn impressive it really is.

Not only does it keep its balance and remain standing after being hit by a 20-pound wrecking ball, ATLAS also tackles a treadmill with ease, staying on two feet while two-by-fours and other obstacles are tossed in its path. Is it time to be really impressed, or really scared?

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Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #141 on: August 02, 2013, 06:16:48 am »
Well, this is cool

An amazing new product by RustOLeum

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Chiprocks1

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #142 on: August 02, 2013, 08:14:43 pm »
Duuuuuuuuude, that's trippy!
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Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #143 on: August 13, 2013, 07:01:56 am »
I've actually been waiting for this reveal, since's it's been the internet buzz for a couple of weeks. Quite fascinating.

Elon Musk Explains the Hyperloop, the Solar-Powered High-Speed Future of Inter-City Transportation

Quote

By Ashlee Vance
August 12, 2013

Almost a year after Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Motors (TSLA) and SpaceX, first floated the idea of a superfast mode of transportation, he has finally revealed the details: a solar-powered, city-to-city elevated transit system that could take passengers and cars from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. In typical Musk fashion, the Hyperloop, as he calls it, immediately poses a challenge to the status quo—in this case, California’s $70 billion high-speed train that has been knocked by Musk and others as too expensive, too slow, and too impractical.

In Musk’s vision, the Hyperloop would transport people via aluminum pods enclosed inside of steel tubes. He describes the design as looking like a shotgun with the tubes running side by side for most of the journey and closing the loop at either end. These tubes would be mounted on columns 50 to 100 yards apart, and the pods inside would travel up to 800 miles per hour. Some of this Musk has hinted at before; he now adds that pods could ferry cars as well as people. “You just drive on, and the pod departs,” Musk told Bloomberg Businessweek in his first interview about the Hyperloop.



Musk published a blog post detailing the Hyperloop on Monday. He also held a press call to go over the details.

Musk has built his entrepreneurial career attacking businesses he deems inefficient or uninspiring. He co-founded PayPal in a bid to shake up the banking industry, then used the fortune he made selling the startup to eBay (EBAY) to fund equally ambitious efforts in transportation. Tesla Motors, for example, has created the highest-performing, highest-rated all-electric car and a complementary network of charging stations scattered around North America. Meanwhile, SpaceX competes against entire nations in the market to send up satellites and resupply the International Space Station.

In the case of the Hyperloop, Musk started focusing on public transportation after he grew disenchanted with the plans for California’s high-speed rail system. Construction on the highly political, $70 billion project is meant to begin in earnest this year, with plans to link cities from San Diego to Sacramento by 2029. “You have to look at what they say it will cost vs. the actual final costs, and I think it’s safe to say you’re talking about a $100 billion-plus train,” Musk says, adding that the train is too slow and a horrendous land rights mess.

Musk thinks the Hyperloop would avoid many of the land issues because it’s elevated. The tubes would, for the most part, follow I-5, the dreary but direct freeway between L.A. and San Francisco. Farmers would not have swaths of their land blocked by train tracks but could instead access their land between the columns. Musk figures the Hyperloop could be built for $6 billion with people-only pods, or $10 billion for the larger pods capable of holding people and cars. All together, his alternative would be four times as fast as California’s proposed train, at one-10th the cost. Tickets, Musk says, would be “much cheaper” than a plane ride.

As for safety? Musk has heard of it. “There’s an emergency brake,” he says. “Generally, though, the safe distance between the pods would be about 5 miles, so you could have about 70 pods between Los Angeles and San Francisco that leave every 30 seconds. It’s like getting a ride on Space Mountain at Disneyland.” Musk imagines that riding on the Hyperloop would be quite pleasant. “It would have less lateral acceleration—which is what tends to make people feel motion sick—than a subway ride, as the pod banks against the tube like an airplane,” he says. “Unlike an airplane, it is not subject to turbulence, so there are no sudden movements. It would feel supersmooth.”

The Hyperloop was designed to link cities less than 1,000 miles apart that have high amounts of traffic between them, Musk says. Under 1,000 miles, the Hyperloop could have a nice edge over planes, which need a lot of time to take off and land. “It makes sense for things like L.A. to San Francisco, New York to D.C., New York to Boston,” Musk says. “Over 1,000 miles, the tube cost starts to become prohibitive, and you don’t want tubes every which way. You don’t want to live in Tube Land.” Right?
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Chiprocks1

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #144 on: August 13, 2013, 07:43:00 am »
800 Miles An Hour In A Tube? 'Hyperloop' Makes It Possible

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2MBnAMLzdo&list=PLp2e7UfInEgmB-5r4rtQOEsq-H-mNmQhk&index=28


Damn you Mac! I was gonna post this first!!
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Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #145 on: August 13, 2013, 09:30:35 am »
Great minds, eh.

I just love this. The right person, the right minds. Hell ya, bring on innovation. I especially like the open source perspective. Yep, he is way to busy, but let's get minds thinking positively in the right direction.
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Chiprocks1

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #146 on: August 13, 2013, 09:38:21 am »
One thing I'm unclear on though. Is this a one shot ride from LA to SF? Or are they going to have stops along the way? Whether it's no stops or multiple stops. how are people really going to be able to deal with the G-Force of 800 miles per hour for that long (30 minutes) of a time. You will have to exempt the elderly, people with heart issues, babies and kids. It's going to be a very small percentage of people that would be allowed to do this physically. And of course there is the matter of ticket cost. But that is a long way off and really doesn't need to be addressed. But the health aspect is definitely something they are going to have to look at if this will become feasible.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2013, 09:41:16 am by Chiprocks1 »
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Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #147 on: August 13, 2013, 09:53:22 am »
Reading the extract, it appears this is City to City... like a ocean cruise. No stops in between.

There are safety issues lined out but not to the health issues you've described. There is pressurization. I'm not sure the pod would be any different than a plane.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2013, 02:48:30 pm by Mac »
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Chiprocks1

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #148 on: August 13, 2013, 09:59:01 am »
I'm all for this personally as I would hit a bunch of places in the US that I've always wanted to go to. But the health issues are a concern though. As Ana said, I wouldn't want to be one of the first to test this out.
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Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Mac

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Re: Cool Techie Geeky Stuff...
« Reply #149 on: August 13, 2013, 02:48:12 pm »
Well, if there was an accident, you would never know it or feel a thing  ;)
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