Roberto Ortiz RobertoOrtiz Location: Washington DC, USA Language(s):
Spanish Member Since: May 2002 Last Updated: 29 November 2008 Portfolio Views: 100603 Chosen as Favorite: 46
December 30, 2006.05:21 FOR REAL: Man Flying like a bird at 5,000ft
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"For as these amazing pictures show, Rossy, 45, has managed to come as close as it is possible to get to the feeling of being truly like a bird.
Back in 2003 Rossy, now a commercial airliner captain, began his Flying Man project, when he strapped a pair of stubby wings to his back and leapt out of a plane, swooping eight miles in freefall for the loss of just 1000ft in altitude.
Strapping on the contraption, which is made of various metals, fibreglass, Kevlar and carbon fibre, Rossy climbs into the small aircraft which is to launch him into his flight.
" http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...in_page_id=1965
December 27, 2006.00:51 FOR REAL: The Zeppelin Plane Hybrid (Aeroscraft)
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"The revolutionary concept of the partially buoyant craft is a rigid hull structure, the latest Aeros proprietary technologies - Full Authority Direct Organic Lift Control (FADOLC), dynamic buoyancy management system - allowing to unload without rebalasting, innovative structure design, and low speed control capability have resulted in generation of the fourth type of air vehicle. The exceptional features of Aeroscraft, such as vertical takeoff and landing capability, capability to hover for extended periods of time, independence from airport facilities, all weather operations and superb safety characteristics demonstrate its unique place in the market."
December 24, 2006.20:25 FOR REAL: The Underwater Hotel!
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"The first Poseidon Undersea Resort will be based on a private island in Fiji that has an existing resort, airstrip and infrastructure. The 225 acre island is surrounded by a 5000 acre lagoon that is 90 feet deep and has 200 feet of visibility in a protected environment. The setting is truly remarkable. The resort will have 48 luxury beach-front bungalows of 1500 square feet, each with private plunge pools. Other amenities include a nine-hole executive golf course, tennis courts, two fabulous spas, one with underwater treatment rooms; a health club, three restaurants, two bars, a marina, dive center, water sports pavilion and submarine base.
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December 22, 2006.19:41 SCIENCE: Giant dinosaur bones found in Spain
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"The fossil bones of what may have been Europe's largest animal ever, a new type of dinosaur, have been discovered in Spain. Discovery of the sauropod, estimated to have weighed between 40 and 48 tons, is reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
Named Turiasaurus riodevensis, the animal lived in the Teruel area of what is now Spain in the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago."
December 20, 2006.13:48 FOR REAL: The Universal Translator
Scientists have labored since at least the 1960s to build a machine that can perform real-time translation.
This device has been particularly elusive when it comes to translating between English and complex languages such as Arabic and Mandarin Chinese.
"You're talking about (languages) where everything is different - the words, the structure, even spelling and punctuation," says David Nahamoo, chief technical officer for IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. "This is difficult stuff here."
December 20, 2006.02:55 SCIENCE: The Farm of the Future
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"CULEBRA, Puerto Rico, Dec. 19, 2006— It is 6:30 in the morning on the Caribbean Sea, and Brian O'Hanlon is heading out to his farm. As he gets ready to go to work, it becomes clear that O'Hanlon is not a traditional farmer. O'Hanlon's gear include a wet suit and tanks. His farm sits far below the ocean surface. It is a fish farm. And what he is pioneering undersea may be nothing less than the farm of the future.
"They don't really understand it at first," says O'Hanlon, as he explains people's reaction when they discover that he runs a fish farm. "You have to explain, 'Well, we have cages out in the ocean,' and they think we're catching fish. We say, 'No we're producing fish in captivity.'" "
December 18, 2006.17:52 FINE ART: 18th-century Goya to be exhibited for first time
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"MADRID (AFP) - A portrait by Spain's Francisco Goya, painted in 1783 but never shown in public will be exhibited this spring in Saragossa following minor restoration at the Prado Museum in Madrid.
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"Portrait of Luis Maria de Borbon and Vallabriga," depicting a young child, was painted when Goya, born in 1746, was 37 years old. He died in 1828.
The painting was recently acquired by public authorities in the region of Aragon in northeastern Spain for ten million euros (13 million dollars) from a branch of the royal Spanish family that had held the work for 223 years.
The child depicted is the six-year-old nephew of King Charles III, and the work was executed soon after Goya began painting for the Spanish royal court. Goya did a similar portrait of the child's sister, la Comtesse de Chinchon, which today hangs in the National Gallery in Washington
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December 15, 2006.19:04 FOR REAL: Glass Bridge over Grand Canyon
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" It's 10-feet wide and extends 70-feet from where it's anchored to the rock. It has a deck made of tempered glass.
That's a description of a new $30 million structure being built in the Grand Canyon that's expected to draw thousands.
9NEWS Consumer Reporter Mark Koebrich learned about the Hualapai Indian Tribe's "Glass Walkway," a structure that will be suspended over the edge of the canyon some 4,000 feet above the Colorado River.
It will be higher than any of the world's tallest free-standing skyscrapers. The walk way is horseshoe shaped, and its glass bottom will allow you to look straight down between to the canyon floor. Nothing like it has ever been attempted before."
December 15, 2006.16:00 SPACE: Space tourist's computer skills could prove handy
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"The next tourist on the International Space Station could prove to be very useful.
Charles Simonyi, one of the inventors of Microsoft's Word program, is preparing to travel to the station just as NASA stopped sending the orbiting laboratory Word documents out of fear of transmitting computer viruses.
"We're not getting any (Word documents) on e-mail or in the daily summary," station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria grumbled Wednesday. He asked for an update on "where we are with this - I don't know if I can say it, but I will - virus situation."
Astronaut Terry Virts in Mission Control promised to send a memo to Lopez-Alegria, "but not via Word document attachment."
Simonyi will probably be too late to trouble- shoot this particular problem, as he is not scheduled to arrive at the station until April. However, the multiple laptops aboard the station need constant maintenance and updating if he's inclined to help once he floats on board.
December 14, 2006.15:07 SCIENCE: Mammals may have flown before birds
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"During the age of dinosaurs, tiny squirrel-like creatures climbed trees and jumped into the darkness. Then they spread their limbs and glided away — the first known mammals to take to the air, a new report says.
The species is revealed by a fossil find in northeastern China, which pushes the known history of mammalian gliding or flying back by more than 75 million years.
The creature may have even beaten birds into the air."
December 13, 2006.02:20 FOR REAL: Video on glasses lens
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"In today's on-the-go world, people want their entertainment and information to move with them - whether they're watching their favorite TV show on the beach or viewing a downloaded movie while commuting on a train or bus.
That's why trendy mobile phones and ipods with video features are big sellers throughout the US. But the problem with most of portable digital gadgets on the market is that you have to squint to see the picture. Unless you want to lug around a laptop, peering into a tiny screen on an ipod, cell phone, or even one of the new palm-sized portable video recorders (PVR) may get the job done, but they're no match for the full large-screen viewing experience.
"
December 11, 2006.15:43 SPACE: Telescope Spots Solar Tsunami
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"A major flare on the Sun earlier this week generated what scientists are calling a solar tsunami.
The tsunami-like shock wave, formally called a Moreton wave, rolled across the hot surface, destroying two visible filaments of cool gas on opposite sides of the visible face of the Sun.
December 08, 2006.17:07 FOR REAL: Concept cars in big auto show in L.A.
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"The Los Angeles Auto Show, which runs from December 1-10, kicks off the auto show season in grand style, and nothing says “wow” like that perennial favorite, the concept car. From the classic 1938 Harley Earl-designed Buick “Y” Job to Acura’s 2007 future-luxe Advanced Sedan Concept, the major automotive manufactures have been producing concepts that not only raise public consciousness about a brand, but also gives a generation of future car designers something to dream about during math class. At this year’s show, Honda, Acura, Ford, Mazda, Volkswagen and Hyundai all debuted new concepts, and like Los Angeles, the “City of Glitz”, all seven models really shine
“Concept vehicles give us the chance to stretch our design ability and take more risk and experiment with new design aesthetics to determine what will resonate with customers and the press,” says Joel Piaskowski, chief designer, Hyundai California Design Center. “It’s a great and not so expensive way to create more brand awareness while “testing the waters” to see what could be relevant in the future.”"
December 07, 2006.15:06 SCIENCE: Original Edison lightbulbs to go on the auction block
Not a fan of Edison, since he screwed Tesla and Georges Méliès.
Anyway...
Quote:
"A box containing 23 lightbulbs used at the 1890 court case where Thomas Edison defended his patent for the invention is to be auctioned later this month and is expected to fetch up to 300,000 pounds ($600,000).
Christie's auctioneers said the bulbs disappeared after the tussle over U.S. patent number 223,898, but were discovered by chance in 2002 in the attic of a house in the United States in their original wooden case complete with the original key.
December 06, 2006.15:34 Space: WATER FOUND ON MARS?
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"Dramatic new photographs of Mars have revealed the possible existence of water on its surface.
The images - released for the first time on Wednesday by the US space agency NASA - were taken earlier this year in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the Red Planet.
Experts have long believed water was to be found on Mars, which is subject to extreme weather conditions. This latest discovery may provide vital proof there was life on Mars and that it is possible for man to land on its arid and rocky surface. "
December 06, 2006.15:29 SPACE: NASA telescope sees black hole gulping remote star
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"A giant black hole displaying horrifying table manners has been caught in the act of guzzling a star in a galaxy 4 billion light-years away, scientists using an orbiting NASA telescope said on Tuesday.
For the past two years, scientists have monitored the dramatic events as the star, residing in a galaxy in the Bootes constellation, was ripped apart by the black hole.
Scientists used NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, an orbiting telescope sensitive to two bands of ultraviolet wave lengths, to detect an ultraviolet flare coming from the center of a remote elliptical galaxy.
December 05, 2006.17:51 FOR REAL: The return of the sailing ship
BREMEN, Germany (Reuters) -- Putting a harness on ocean winds, a German shipping company plans to unfurl a giant high-tech kite over a cargo ship next year to boost the vessel's propulsion and to conserve fuel.
The "SkySail", a 160 square-meter kite tethered to a mast, has successfully undergone years of trial runs and Bremen shipowner Beluga Shipping believes it will help its vessels cut fuel use by 15 to 20 percent.
The "MV Beluga SkySails", now being built and fitted with a paraglider-shaped sail and a "smart" central steerage unit, will make its maiden voyage in early 2007.
"I got the idea on a sail boat a few years ago," Stephan Wrage, inventor and founder of SkySails GmbH & Co. KG, told Reuters. "I love flying kites and found sailing rather slow. I thought the enormous power in kites could somehow be utilised."
The technology he has developed is a throwback to an earlier age of maritime travel when ships relied solely on wind. But it also addresses a key concern of the modern age: Climate change.
Backers of "SkySail" call it a "green" project -- by cutting fuel use it could help reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
December 05, 2006.13:58 FOR REAL: Auto-park systems arrive
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"Lexus has begun advertising a system that parallel parks its flagship 2007 LS 460 sedan, and already the auto-parking feature is being eyed as the auto world's next hot item.
German electronics and lighting company Hella has developed a self-park system that's simpler and less expensive than the Lexus setup. Hella says it has sold the system to a European car company that plans to introduce it on 2009 models. Hella won't name the company, which will have final say on the price."
December 05, 2006.02:28 SPACE: NASA: 'LUNAR OUTPOST' BY 2024...
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"NASA announced Monday it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts return to the moon.
It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010.
After consulting more than 1,000 experts from 14 different countries, NASA decided on what deputy NASA chief Shana Dale called a "fundamental lunar approach" that is sharply different from its previous moon missions in nearly everything but the shape of the ship going there. "
December 01, 2006.13:24 SCIENCE: New findings on Ancient greek calculator
Quote:
"The "Anti-kythera Mechanism," an ancient Greek astronomical calculator dating to about 100 B.C., possessed a technical sophistication centuries ahead of its time, an international research team reports.
"The actual design is superb, almost jaw-dropping," says study leader Mike Edmunds of the United Kingdom's Cardiff University. The mechanism is now at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
Badly corroded and shattered and an object of fascination for scholars since its recovery in 1902 from a Roman shipwreck, the device "stands as a witness to the extraordinary technological potential of ancient Greece," the study concludes.
