Saran999
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Posts posted by Saran999
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Seems a poor remake of the movie Escape Plan! Thanks for sharing this, Cheers
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There’s a new player in the bustling world of “commercial space,” although the “space” part is a matter of definition.
A Tucson, Arizona-based start-up plans to use a helium balloon to lift big-ticket customers in a pressurized capsule to around 98,000 feet. That’s a journey to the edge of space, if not into space as traditionally defined.
This artist's rendering shows the tourist capsule (inset) planned by World View Enterprises that would be carried by balloon to an altitude of 98,000 feet, from where passengers, paying $75,000, could see the Earth's curvature below and the black of space above.
The passengers would ascend for 1½ hours before spending two hours admiring the world from on high. Then the capsule would be disconnected from the balloon and begin a free fall, but a parafoil above the capsule would become increasingly effective in the thickening air and the capsule would glide to the surface, landing on skids.
Price point: $75,000. The eight passengers on board would presumably come from the same customer pool that feeds high-end luxury vacations, such as round the world golf tours.
“The sky’s going to be completely black. You’ll be able to see the curvature of the Earth,”said Jane Poynter, co-founder of Paragon Space Development Corp., which has lined up investors for the new venture, World View Enterprises.
More than just hot air: This artist's rendering released Tuesday by World View Enterprises shows its capsule to be lifted by a high-altitude balloon to around 98,000 feet
It hopes to begin the balloon flights in three years.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday that, for purposes of regulation, the capsule will be treated as a space vehicle because it will be built to operate in outer space.“The FAA will not address the more difficult question of whether Paragon’s proposed altitude of 30 km (98,400 feet) constitutes outer space,”it stated.
The venture’s website promises a “truly transformative human experience.” The company said Tuesday it will offer
“spectacular human flight into near space, unlike any other suborbital spaceflight experience being offered today, allowing passengers to remain aloft for hours at a comparably affordable price.”
There’s no distinct boundary between the atmosphere and space. Rather, the atmosphere steadily thins with altitude. On tourism trips, the World View balloon would rise to about 98,000 feet.
One commonly referenced boundary of space is the Karman Line. That’s at 100 km (328,000 feet) and is roughly the altitude above which aerodynamic flight is impossible, even in theory.
But in the minds of the people behind World View, they’re getting into space tourism.“In essence, we’re a spacecraft. In fact, we’re a spacecraft,”said Paragon co-founder Taber MacCallum.
Poynter and MacCallum are well known in the entrepreneurial space community. In the early 1990s they spent two years as “bionauts,” sealed inside Biosphere II, a massive, greenhouselike structure in the Arizona desert. Their company, Paragon, has had contracts with NASA for life-support technology.https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZCAnLxRvNNc
Toy Robot in Space! - HD balloon flight to 95,000ft. The highlights of the entire space flight from the music video for 'Edgar' by Lucky Elephant, this was published in 2010, but you can have a look at what you will experience with the ticket you may buy for your own space flight.
The field of commercial space has been growing in recent years. Virgin Galactic, backed by billionaire businessman and adventurer Richard Branson, hopes to carry passengers on suborbital flights in 2014. It will use a rocket-powered vehicle called SpaceShipTwo, still in testing, that is designed to reach altitudes above the Karman Line. The company has sold nearly 650 tickets in advance. The ticket price recently jumped to $250,000 a seat, up from $200,000.
“Three years ago or so, it became clear that there’s a space tourism industry. It seems to be bigger than Branson’s personality,”World View’s MacCallum said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9VXUTXroxIM
A clip from You Have Been Warned/Outrageous Acts Of Science 'Homemade Heroes' episode on Discovery Channel (UK+International) and Science Channel (US), explaining the science behind filming in near-space using a helium filled weather balloon.
Paragon also is working with billionaire Dennis Tito on his Inspiration Mars plan — a 500-day mission that, if technically feasible, would send two astronauts on a flyby of Mars during a rare alignment of the planets five years from now.
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They are called in jargon script-kiddies and they really don't know the implications and consequences of what they do. There is an automated exploit maker, they download it, they use it... and they go to jail. This is the actual situation. The pity is that there is no added knowledge on what they are doing, nor added studies or research from their part.
And this was an 11 year old boy. I've seen a documentary on Anonymous non-organization that shows how a 30 something person goes to jail with the same DDOS automated exploit tool, used against Scientology.
About the defacing part of the accuse... well, I wish really to know more...
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That's really interesting mate! Self healing coat... I suppose nano tech something is there... I remember some article in the past about this possibility and here's a video that show something interesting about it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YQBfhmg7dyQ
and then, there is a video about a discovery made by a scientific team in US on the same subject but with applications more oriented to electronic circuits and devices, and you can watch it here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wgLd8kWmPMI
Thanks for sharing this HM, this is a most interesting subject and I really wish to have the possibility to play with those new materials. Cheers
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EnosimaniA ...
Pathological belief that one has sinned ....
How I hate this! And it's so true... I've seen it so many time in my life... but let's not get too personal
AbA garment of camel or goat hair; camel or goat-hair fabric
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Yes, this is a REAL commercial and product!
Hat's off to the ad campaign!
and the girl that's just fantastic! 
Poo~Pourri Toilet Deodorizers
Some say the secret to a happy relationship is separate bathrooms, but those people have never tried Poo~Pourri, the classy, sassy, ultra effective way to leave the bathroom smelling better than you found it. Our award winning before-you-go toilet sprays come in several different sizes and scents. Go ahead...join thousands of happy customers who've tried Poo~Pourri for fun and keep using it because it really works!
How it Works
When you spray Poo~Pourri into the bowl before-you-go, our proprietary formula creates a protective barrier on the water's surface. This barrier is designed to trap unpleasant bathroom odors beneath the surface and keep them out of the air. All you'll smell is a refreshing bouquet of essential oils!https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZKLnhuzh9uY
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When everybody on earth was dead and waiting to enter Heaven, God appeared
and said, "I want the men to make two lines: One line for the men who were
true heads of their household, and the other line for the men who were
dominated by their women. I want all the women to report to St. Peter."
Soon, the women were gone, and there were two lines of men. The line of the
men who were dominated by their wives was 100 miles long, and in the line
of men who truly were heads of their household, there was only one man.
God said to the long line, "You men should be ashamed of yourselves; I
created you to be the head of your household! You have been disobedient and
have not fulfilled your purpose! Of all of you, only one obeyed. Learn
from him."
God turned to the one man, "How did you manage to be the only one in this
line?"
The man replied, "My wife told me to stand here." -
Very short thread about some of the best shots ever published, IMO.
Have a look and enjoy...
http://www.rense.com/general96/shots.html
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Story reported by a British guy who was stopped and asked to give a breathalyzer test.
The British guy lives near Le Bugue in the Dordogne and at the time he was stopped he was as pis*ed as a fart...
The gendarme signals to him to wind down the window then asks him if he has been drinking, and with a slurring speech the British guy replies:
'Yes, this morning I was at my (hic)..daughter's wedding, and as I don't like church much I went to the cafe opposite and had several beers.' 'Then during the wedding banquet I seem to remember downing three great bottles of wine; (hic)... a corbieres, a Minervois and (hic)...a Faugeres.' 'Then to finish off during the celebrations.... and (hic) during the evening ...me and my mate downed two bottles of Johnny Walker's black label.'Getting impatient the gendarme warns him:
'Do you understand I'm a policeman and have stopped you for an alcohol test'?The Brit, with a grin on his face, replies:
'Do you understand that I'm British, like my car, which is right-hand-drive, and that my wife is actually sitting in the other seat, which is the one behind the steering wheel?'-
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Let's see what you have got!
Some time ago, a really dear friend of mine in this community asked me to share my animated gif collection... Duh! I don't have much, I replied... in fact, internet it's my hard drive...
But then I was thinking, and (for the Diablo III fans) even if this hurts me a lot, I've kept thinking... and I've thought... what about our own animated gif repository, where each member may come in, take what he wants, and post his own animated gif's?
So, just like the thread Motivational Posters thread, let's start our own repository where all the funny, and less funny but interesting, or just lame or... you choose (but don't post obscenities as it's against our rules) will be posted and treasured forever and ever and ever and ever and ever...
this is a borderline to me... toward obscenities...
...have I already said that I love cats? and the little thing that is flying among my signature... it's a cat, not a bear! now it's cuddling... but may become like those...
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CNET's Daniel Terdiman has spun a spooky Nancy Drew adventure about trying to uncover the origins of a "big and mysterious" thing "rising from a floating barge at the end of Treasure Island" that has "Google's fingerprints" all over it.
Treasure Island is a former Navy base located in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. Terdiman couldn't get a look inside the structure, "which stands about four stories high and was made with a series of modern cargo containers." But after a lot of detective work, he concludes its most likely a floating data center. Google even patented the idea for one in 2009.
That's less exciting than the story itself, which includes plenty of photos and paragraphs like this:
When I met someone working in a section of Hangar 3 that's separate from the main part of the building and inquired what building it was, the man asked who I was looking for. I answered "Google," and without hesitating he said I needed to go to a main entrance a bit further down the side of the structure. That entrance was manned by a security guard and had two cameras mounted above the entryway. A security supervisor turned me away when I asked to visit Google or talk to Tim Brandon. Upon returning to Hangar 3 a couple of days later with a CNET photographer, we were watched closely by two people, including one with a big set of binoculars. -
In those tense days, where big IT giants are colliding in a just warming up war
http://www.cyberphoenix.org/forum/topic/214097-here%E2%80%99s-how-apple-assaulted-microsoft-at-its-ipad-air-event-%E2%80%94-in-3-crushing-quotes/
http://www.cyberphoenix.org/forum/topic/214099-microsoft-fires-back-at-apple-iwork-is-%E2%80%98watered-down%E2%80%99-and-the-ipad-isn%E2%80%99t-a-%E2%80%98work%E2%80%99-machine/
What is your position in all this commotion? And, better, what is your favorite OS choice?
Let us know about in our poll...
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Apple’s full-frontal assault on Microsoft yesterday didn’t go unnoticed by the folks in Redmond.
During its iPad event yesterday, Apple went out of its way to not only attack devices like the Surface but also go after the company’s approach to operating system upgrades and productivity software.
Today, Microsoft is striking back, and it’s taking the very same direct approach that Apple did. In a post on the official Microsoft blog, communications VP Frank Shaw railed back against Apple, which he argues has extended its reality distortion field beyond Cupertino.
Defense 1: Unlike the iPad, the Surface is a work machine
While Apple CEO Tim Cook might argue that hybrid devices like the Surface are a sign that its competitors are confused, Shaw says the Surface’s hybrid approach is actually its biggest strength.
“The Surface is single, simple, affordable device that helps you both lean in and kick back,”he writes.
Translation: When Microsoft gave the Surface both a touchscreen and a physical keyboard, it wasn’t because the company was confused — it was because Microsoft knew exactly what people wanted in tablets and was responding to that.
In other words, the Surface is meant to be for work and play. Apple, Shaw argues, can’t say the same thing for the iPad.Defense 2: Microsoft understands productivity (better than Apple does)
This, Shaw points out, taps into another one of Microsoft’s traditional strengths: As the history of Windows and Office shows, Microsoft understands productivity better than just about anyone else. (Or so it claims.)“We created the personal computing revolution by giving people around the world a low-cost, powerful, easy-to-use device that helped them accomplish an unbelievable array of tasks,”he writes.
Microsoft, it seems, is drawing the line in the sand: While Apple’s tablets may be good for burning time, Microsoft’s approach the tablets make them better for both burning time and actually getting work done.
Defense 3: Apple’s approach to productivity software is ‘watered down’
Shaw, also uses his post to take a few shots back at Apple’s iWork productivity suite, which he says is “watered down” compared to Office. (Presumably, this is also how Microsoft justifies charging $99 a year for a subscription to Office 365. You get what you pay for, right?)
More, Shaw also downplays the significance of Apple’s decision to make iWork free, a move he says wasn’t surprising or significant because not many people were using iWork to begin with.
“So, when I see Apple drop the price of their struggling, lightweight productivity apps, I don’t see a shot across our bow, I see an attempt to play catch up,”he writes.
Ouch.
Overall, a few things should be clear from the above:
- Apple’s comments yesterday clearly touched a nerve at Microsoft, which is still struggling to catch up with tablets despite throwing lots of money at it.
- Shaw’s argument that the iPad “isn’t a productivity machine” ignores the fact that, for a lot of people, it is a productivity machine. No amount of spin can change that It’s also telling that Shaw didn’t respond to Apple’s move to make Mavericks, the latest version of OS X completely free.
- Why? Because this is an area where Microsoft really doesn’t have much to say. Software upgrades are a big part of its business, while for Apple they’re quickly becoming just one check box in the feature set for Mac owners.
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Google has been posting a bunch of “Google Ideas” discussions to YouTube this week. One that went live today discusses smartphones and their role in making law enforcement “smarter.”
It’s only seventeen minutes long, so it won’t take too much of your time.
“Commanders are isolated from their officers in the field, and civilian oversight is further removed still,”Google says in the description.
“How can the recent spread of smartphones be used to bridge gaps in accountability and ultimately trust?”Robert Muggah, Research Director at Igarape Institute and Vanessa Coimbra, Pacification Police Units, Military Police of Rio de Janeiro attempt to answer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KJ0im58A35w
More of the talks are available at the Google Ideas YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleIdeas?feature=watch
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This week, eBay announced the launch of some new personalization and curation features for the eBay Marketplace, and that it is expanding its efforts in local commerce, including the extension of its eBay Now delivery service into 25 new markets by the end of the year.
It has been about a year since eBay unveiled its Pinterest-like feed design, which it rolled out to users in February. Now, eBay is continuing in the Pinterest/Etsy-esque direction, launching five new specific features: Collections, Curators, Follow, Profiles and eBay Today.
Collections are described as groups of products that have ben handpicked by “expert curators, buyers and sellers.” Curators are “top trendsetters across a variety of interest areas, who create beautiful collections on eBy to help you easily connect you with items you’ll love.’
At least they didn’t say “tastemakers.”
The Follow feature lets eBay users personalize their feeds by following collections, curators or regular eBay users, as well as specific interests. The Profile is pretty basic. It applies to both buyers and sellers, and lets you share info about yourself, the collections you’ve created, your interests, and the people you follow.
Finally, eBay Today is a new page aimed at helping users discover “the very best collections of items” on eBay, selected by the company’s Chief Curator and Editorial Director Michael Phillips Moskowitz.
eBay has 200 curators including: Alexandra Cousteau, Andrea Linett, Ashley Avignon, Benjamin Clymer, Billy Farrell, Brian Walton, Cecilia Dean , Chris Benz, Chrissie Miller, Darcy Miller, Eddie Borgo, Graham Hill, Janie Bryant, Jauretsi, Jen Atkin, Jeremiah Brent, Jon Rose, Justin Bell, Kelly Oxford, Lucy Sykes, Pharrell Williams, Richard Rawlings, Ryan Block, Solange Knowles, Tenzin Wild, Todd Selby, Veronica Belmont, and Zem Joaquin.
eBay tells sellers,“This new experience puts great new tools in your hands for driving sales and developing loyal, repeat customers. You can use the new collections, following, and eBay profile to transform moments of inspiration into purchases of your great inventory. We’ll also be introducing new features and an exciting new look for your eBay Store. From bigger, bolder listing images to new ways to spotlight inventory and share on social media, subscribers will soon have even more tools available to them to turn browsers into buyers. All sellers will have this option by the end of January 2014! ”I have to say, the discussion out there around these features from what I seen has basically consisted of tumbleweeds. One reader, however (commenting on this very article) makes an interesting point, saying,
“The new Follow/Social Trending features on eBay are the silliest and most useless things to happen to date. Stop trying to make the web site something that it is not. eBay does not equal Facebook, Twitter, etc.”
Is eBay in fact trying to be something that it’s not? Must everything consist of social/follow features? Frankly, I personally don’t have a lot of use for them on a site like eBay, but perhaps a substantial amount of people do. It will be interesting to see how the enormous eBay community engages with these features over time. Will sellers really see a significant difference?
The local stuff, on the other hand, may just turn out to be huge for businesses and consumers alike. We’re talking rapid delivery of products, and it’s only the very early days of this roll-out.
eBay Now was first introduced a year ago. It lets shoppers have products from local stores delivered to them in an hour or less. As mentioned, it’s expanding into 25 new markets. It goes live in Chicago on Tuesday, and then in Dallas later this year. This will be followed by unspecified international markets, including London early next year.
eBay also plans to offer eBay Now same-day delivery for local goods on eBay.com in cities that have the service. eBay will also release scheduled delivery for eBay Now so that customers can buy something and pick an appropriate time to have it delivered to them.
In addition to that, eBay is letting shoppers order online and pick up products at local stores. This particular feature is live immediately for Toys ‘R’ Us and Best Buy, and will be for other retailers in the near future.
Finally, the company announced that it has acquired Shutl, a marketplace that utilizes a network of couriers to deliver local goods on the same day. The pick-up should help eBay its expansion efforts for eBay Now.
“The world is changing, with the lines between online and offline commerce blurring and the expectations of buyers and sellers rising rapidly,” said Devin Wenig, president of eBay Marketplaces. “With eBay’s latest steps, we are bringing together the best of what people need from a shopping experience – speed and convenience – with things people love about shopping, like discovery and inspiration.”
“eBay is a technology company; we understand that retailers, brands and sellers of all sizes need a new set of solutions to deliver the kinds of experiences consumers expect in today’s environment,” he said. “We’re making fundamental changes to our business that put us in a position to be the right partner for merchants and the best place for people to shop – anytime, anywhere and on any device.”-
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Perhaps, you get insurance and black market... twice the revenues that you can normally get. And this is what normally happens here in EU. In fact, are the insurance companies that prescribes the GPS security locator on every truck. And if you don't comply, you don't get insurance...
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NASA has smashed its record for transmitting data to and from the moon. Now, it boasts a frankly amazing 622Mbps transfer speed to the rock that circles our little planet.
The Agency is able to achieve that using lasers—instead of radio waves—to transmit data between its ground station in New Mexico and a spacecraft that's orbiting the moon, 239,000 miles away. Part of the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration, the agency was also able to upload error-free data to the LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) spacecraft at a rate of 20Mbps.
It beats previous attempts to send data through space using similar techniques, in particular one earlier this year which saw NASA beam the Mona Lisa into space at a rather paltry 300 bits per second. The new success of the LLCD marks a major milestone in space communications: NASA has previously relied on radio frequency data links, but they're not able to carry the quantities of data that the agency will require in the future.
So, while the LLC is currently a proof of concept, it's hoped it will see real service soon."We are encouraged by the results of the demonstration to this point, and we are confident we are on the right path to introduce this new capability into operational service soon,"explained Badri Younes, NASA's deputy associate administrator for space communications and navigation. And frankly, when internet on the moon is faster than some home connections, you know the future had arrived.
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This week, we learned that NASA can beam data to the moon — at a frankly astounding 622Mbps — using a high powered laser. Sounds like cutting edge modern tech? Perhaps. But it also sounds like the best weapon from the best scene of the best James Bond movie ever made: Goldfinger.
Auric Goldfinger is the gold-obsessed megalomaniac with a plan to take the world's precious metals market hostage. James Bond gets in the way, so Goldfinger puts him in the way of his newest destruction device:You are looking at an industrial laser which emits an extraordinary light, not to be found in nature. It can project a spot on the moon — or at closer range, cut through solid metal. I will show you.I don't need to tell you what happens next. You've memorized it, and the first half-dozen or so times you saw it, it made you squirm in your chair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DoQwKe0lggw
To me, this is the pinnacle of Bond bad guy moments. Goldfinger isn't making a tangential threat, a promise to harm England or the world or the only woman James Bond ever loved. This is pure visceral terror. And while this high tech torture device comes with all the right space-age buzzwords (lasers! the moon!), it's not so far outside the realm of reality. Given the audacious endeavors of later Bond villains, a rich businessman procuring an industrial laser to fillet his enemies seems downright plausible.
Tonight, fix yourself a drink (you know exactly which one) and settle in for a night of dashing and debonair world-saving. And hope nobody at NASA hatches an evil plan involving that laser. -
Time travel has always been the thing we associate with the future. But we keep reaching the future, only to find that time travel still eludes us. What's holding us back? Nothing, it turns out.
Okay, traveling through time at the same speed as everyone else is kind of ... commonplace. But compared to the enormously complex things you'd have to do to break the chains holding us temporally together, living your life at normal pace sounds a lot easier. And hey, you can still tell people you're a time traveler!https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FflcA85zcOM
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You're a different person online compared to your real life. It's okay. You don't have to irrationally like cats just because you're obsessed with cat videos. You don't have to literally poke the people you poked on Facebook. You don't have to like or follow or tag or comment or stalk celebrities like you do on the Internet. Because if you did that in real life, you'd be a total creep. BuzzFeed Video imagined 7 things that'd be super creepy to do in real life, even though you do them on the Internet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ziQFFh5jznI
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This is something very common in EU, and I'm really surprised that there where no GPS locating systems in the truck. The only thing that arise in my mind is that US it's new to this sort of robberies, and seems that until truck owners and companies don't acknowledge this behavior will be an easy hunting for all the thugs that are used to and that are immigrated in US
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And for the ones that don't want to do a google search, or add-on search, to find it, here it is...
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/lightbeam/
Thanks for the heads-up, Great post! Cheers
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I've never though about that... very clever! And now, they will ban the 3D printers... and supplies... nice
My Halloween Costume: Peter Pan
in The Fun & Laughs Section
Posted · Report reply
Is he truly the winner? Where the human mind has gone? Horrible, at least.... Thanks for sharing this obscenity @freak it's always good to know where human evolution is guiding us all. I only hope that this will be a dead-end though... Cheers