Cybernetics

Ever wonder what the world is gonna look like when we get to that futuristic state of developing robots? Well this is it! Brought to you by Worth1000, the future is in robotics.

(Had to post this reminded me of Adult Swim's TV show directed by Seth Green.)

When Jaws Attack

Yet again I surf the wave of the internet on you guessed it, Plime! ^^ Found this survival info on what not to do in the case of a shark (jaws ;P ) attack.Which by the way should you choose to read this, you'll find the literary style very funny. Cole Gamble is a very captivating journalist.

Scenario:

For whatever reason--plane crash, riptide, sailing misadventure, a bad case of Ocean Fury--you find yourself in the middle of the sea with nothing but miles of water around you. And, to your horror, here comes that heavy string music and a circling fin slicing through the water.

Luckily, from multiple websites and news stories about shark survival you remember the Shark's Achilles Heel: Punches to the face. Specifically, the tender nose area. You wind up to belt that fishy bastard in the schnoz, and make your testicles proud.

The Result:

First let's look at a shark. Can you find his nose? Yep, it's that incredibly narrow point in front that drops precipitously into a slimy, downward sloping ramp right into his 5,000,000-toothed mouth.

Take into account the fact that you're bobbing around in the water like a buoy full of meat, facing off against a lightning-quick predator with several million years of practice in eating things that punch it in the nose, and you'll see that chances are your fist will just deflect down into that aforementioned gaping hole of teeth like Boba Fett into a Sarlacc Pit. Now if your plan to defeat the shark is too feed yourself to him until he grows tired of the taste of you, you're off to a great start.

But experts say that even if you hit the shark-nose punching lottery, you won't have scared him off, just dazed him, giving you a minute or so tops. Now, if this particular shark is suffering from ADD, then great: You're in the clear now. He's off to chase a shiny thing or update his twitter feed 82 times an hour. But if not, all you've done is managed to piss the shark off and give him a minute to ponder how revenge is a dish best served in a blood-filled bag resembling you.

balloon+duct tape= Space Exploration

So I was skimming Plime and I found this interesting story about a man who took a camera, attached it to a balloon with duck-tape and put NASA (aka: National Aeronautics Space Administration) to shame.

It all sounds very Heath Robinson but a digital camera, a GPS device, some duct tape and a balloon were all that was needed to take some breathtaking pictures of Earth that had NASA calling.

Robert Harrison, 38, used a collection of cheap parts costing £500 to create a balloon-mounted camera that can travel up to 21.7 miles (35km) above the surface of the Earth. The result is a series of pictures taken from a height that only a rocket or weather balloon can reach. Mr Harrison, an IT director from Highburton, West Yorkshire, has launched 12 high-altitude balloons (HABs) since 2008.

The hobby began when he tried taking aerial photos of his house using a remote control helicopter. The experiment failed and Mr Harrison began to research the possibility of using a meteorological balloon to carry a camera. The resulting photographs, which he published online, were so impressive that NASA has been in touch.

“A guy phoned up who worked for NASA who was interested in how we took the pictures,” Mr Harrison told The Times. “He wanted to know how the hell we did it. He thought we used a rocket. They said it would have cost them millions of dollars.”

The contraption comprises an ordinary Canon camera mounted on a weather balloon. Using free software downloaded from the internet, Mr Harrison reprogrammed the camera to wake up every five minutes and take eight photographs and a video before switching off for a rest.

A GPS tracker enabled him to follow the balloon’s progress to an accuracy of 10 meters (33ft) and to retrieve it upon its return to Earth. Both the camera and the GPS device are wrapped in loft insulation, which traps the heat given off by the devices and allows them to function in -60C (-76F) temperatures high in the Earth’s atmosphere.

At ground level the helium balloon has a diameter of one meter. As it rises, the air pressure drops and the balloon expands to a diameter of up to 20 meters. Eventually, it pops and the camera carried back down to earth by a small parachute.

Launching the balloon requires permission from the Civil Aviation Authority so Mr Harrison usually travels to one of two approved sites in Cambridge.

Describing his first successful launch, Mr Harrison said: “We were sat in a local pub at the time and I was gobsmacked when I got the images. Seeing the highest pictures was amazing — that’s a lifetime achievement.”

The UK Met Office sends up similar balloons every day to measure a range of weather conditions but Mr Harrison holds the record for the highest HAB flight at 22 miles (35km). He is working on his third model, which has a rotating-lens camera and a rear fixed-lens camera, as well as pressure, temperature and humidity sensors.