Tilting at windmills for a better tomorrow.
This looks like fun (though I cringe for that poor suspension). Indestructible, those things. Remember being fascinated as a kid by the fact that VWs were sealed on the bottom and could float, as long as the door seals held.
The monetary value of minerals is generally predicated on how rarely they occur in the natural world (though this value is sometimes faked; diamond companies sit on large stockpiles to artificially inflate rarity in the marketplace). But expand your definition of “natural world” to include the universe, and the formula gets turned upside down. The value of the platinum, iron, nickel and cobalt deposits in an asteroid could top $20 trillion. Cambridge Conference (halfway down page):
John Lewis, who co-directs the Space Engineering Research Center at the University of Arizona at Tucson, studied one C-type asteroid, a 2-km-wide NEO called Amun. He concluded that the monetary value of Amun’s platinum group metals (pgms)-platinum, iridium, osmium, palladium, and so on-is more than US $6 trillion. Amun’s iron and nickel might be worth something on the order of $8 trillion. Add another $6 trillion for Amun’s cobalt deposits, and the asteroid’s value totals a spectacular $20 trillion! … Some M-types, like the unassumingly named 1986 DA, are mountain-sized blends of iron, nickel, and cobalt — in other words, naturally occurring stainless steel. In all, roughly 2000 NEOs [near-earth objects] about the size of 1986 DA are known to exist, with as many as 50 more being discovered each year.
Was thinking today with a cow orker that at those prices, it would probably make financial sense to crash an asteroid into [name your city]. Sell the asteroid, pay back the city for damages, and pocket the diff. But don’t do it too often, or you’ll drive down the price of platinum!
New Scientist: 13 Things That Do Not Make Sense. Summary collection of observable phenomena for which real scientists have no clear explanation. The placebo effect, the horizon problem, Viking’s methane, dark energy:
IT IS one of the most famous, and most embarrassing, problems in physics. In 1998, astronomers discovered that the universe is expanding at ever faster speeds. It’s an effect still searching for a cause – until then, everyone thought the universe’s expansion was slowing down after the big bang. “Theorists are still floundering around, looking for a sensible explanation,” says cosmologist Katherine Freese of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “We’re all hoping that upcoming observations of supernovae, of clusters of galaxies and so on will give us more clues.”
Reason #114 why working at Google would be a gas. Employees band resources to put in a bulk order for 1/8 ton of Silly Putty.
Naturally, we were all curious to see what 250 pounds of Silly Putty would look like, so before distributing the stuff, we put it all in a single pile to see. Huge mistake.
Thanks Jim Strickland
How much new information is created each year? According to a 2003 study by UC Berkeley’s School of Information Management, the world produced five exabytes (one quintillion bytes) of content in 2002 — the same amount of data poot forth by all of humanity between 25,000 B.C. and A.D. 2000. “Five exabytes of information is equivalent in size to the information contained in 37,000 new libraries the size of the Library of Congress…”
Me: “Cheggidout, Chappelle is wearing a Haile Selassie shirt!”
Amy: “Honey, I think that’s Fred Sanford.”
Dolphins have been used for decades by the military for underwater/undercover operations, but who knew that some of them were equipped with dart guns? Or that several dozen such-equipped dolphins could be missing since the recent flooding in the Gulf? From The Guardian UK:
Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts who have studied the US navy’s cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying ‘toxic dart’ guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet’s smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.
The housing market explosion has, apparently, trickled down to the once-ignored playhouse market. Started talking recently about building a playhouse for Miles. Amy started searching online for inspiration and her jaw dropped through her desk. $123,000 for a treehouse, anyone? Last I checked, you can still put a family of four in a real house for that much in parts of the country.
One’s heart goes out to these overprivileged children, living without hot running water and with a barely functional mail delivery system, toiling from cello lesson to polo practice, struggling to make mortgage.
Granted, these playhouses are gorgeous, and gave us a ton of ideas. Daniels Woodland Monkey Mansions are somewhat less absurdly priced, but still off the charts.
Walking through the courtyard, a student sits at a laptop, gazing into the screen, rocking softly side to side, eyes half-closed. “It looks like you’re composing,” I said, thinking he looked graceful, peaceful, like a sonata. “I am,” he replied. I glanced at his screen, and he pointed to the grey “Compose” button on the Yahoo! Mail interface.
Mortality meets technology: Caught a few minutes Wed. night of the emergency landing of the JetBlue airliner with twisted landing gear. Discovered this morning that those nifty TV screens in the back of every JetBlue seat came in extra-handy for the passengers, as a means to watch their own imminent deaths on live TV. Glued to the set for the stunning conclusion of TV’s ultimate reality suspense drama. Trying to imagine whether I would have watched if I had been on the plane. It would be hard not to, but like to hope I’d put my mind somewhere more introspective in such a moment. Can only imagine that the spectacle contributed to on-board emotional frenzy.