How NASA Recovers Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters

After they’re done getting a space shuttle into the upper atmosphere, the solid rocket boosters drop off and fall into the ocean. They’re recovered by the NASA vesselsLiberty Star and Freedom Star and refurbished for additional use. This video shows how it’s done. It’s rather long, so let me point out some highlights…

Continue reading… “How NASA Recovers Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters”

The Last Sword Maker in Taiwan

Maria Popova of BrainPickings has posted an excellent article about 7 micro-documentaries about occupations and crafts that are fast becoming obsolete. From being a shoe black to working the film projector to making glass signs, these are the stories of people who are the last of their kinds.

This one above is the story of Taiwan’s last sword maker…

Continue reading… “The Last Sword Maker in Taiwan”

In The Race For More Spectrum, AT&T Is Acquiring T-Mobile For $39 Billion

T-Mobile is getting swallowed up by AT&T. Is this a good thing?

As anyone who has read a tech blog in the past few years will know, AT&T has been under attack for not being able to match the network capacity of larger rival Verizon. And when they won the majority of the bids for the open spectrum in 2008, Verizon also had a clear path to the future. Now AT&T is taking another path: buying T-Mobile…

Continue reading… “In The Race For More Spectrum, AT&T Is Acquiring T-Mobile For $39 Billion”

Tragedy in Japan May Be Most Globally Disruptive Natural Disaster in Modern Times

Japanese earthquake

An elderly woman cries  in the devastated town of Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture.

There are events in history that sear themselves into the world’s collective imagination, and enter the realm where myth meets heartbreaking reality.

 

Continue reading… “Tragedy in Japan May Be Most Globally Disruptive Natural Disaster in Modern Times”

Heart Rate Monitor Integrated Into Under Armour Sport Shirt

electronic-sensor-clothing-underarmour

Under Armour

Heart rate and sports monitors appear just about everywhere–in standalone devices, in watches, in bras, in shoes, in GPS devices–so why not just build them right into shirts. Many heart rate monitors need to be strapped to the chest anyway, so a heart-rate shirt seems like a logical conclusion. (video)

 

Continue reading… “Heart Rate Monitor Integrated Into Under Armour Sport Shirt”

Survey: 40% of Children in the UK Sexting

sexting

“The proportion of young children ‘sexting’ is shocking.”

A survey has found that there is an increase in the number of children in UK taking pornographic images of themselves and swapping them with friends via text messages or the internet. Of the children surveyed , 40% of 11 to 14-year-olds admitted to having used their mobile phones or computer to send pictures of themselves or receive naked or topless images of friends.

 

Continue reading… “Survey: 40% of Children in the UK Sexting”

World’s Largest Source of Spam Email Shut Down By Microsoft and U.S. Marshals

spam

The scale of the shut down is unprecedented.

The world’s most prolific source of spam emails has been shut down in a series of coordinated raids by Microsoft and US federal authorities.  The Rustock botnet, an international network of virus-infected computers, had for years generated billions of emails per day, promoting unlicensed online pharmacies and cut-price impotence pills.

Red Bull Augmented Racing Game Lets You Build Tracks With Red Bull Cans

Red Bull Can Racing

Sure, it may all just be an elaborate scheme to get you to buy more Red Bull, but it is a fairly ingenious scheme. In addition to a plethora of in-game advertising, the new Red Bull racing game for iOS devices also has an augmented reality component that lets you build tracks simply by lining up actual cans of Red Bull on the floor — at least twelve of them for a complete track, and only Red Bull will do, apparently…

Continue reading… “Red Bull Augmented Racing Game Lets You Build Tracks With Red Bull Cans”

Hardwood Floors & Basketball Courts Recycled into Skateboards

glide-skateboards23

Glide on your new ride.

Watching basketball, do you ever wonder what happens to the wood flooring when the court has to be replaced? Well, in the case of the court at Virginia State University, the maple planks once played on by the Trojans were recycled, and in an unusual way: they’ve been remade into skateboards…

Continue reading… “Hardwood Floors & Basketball Courts Recycled into Skateboards”