Dark side of the moon

Around 7:30 a.m. this morning, NASA launched two pieces of equipment into a crater within a permanent shadow on the moon's southern surface.

The first, a rocket, was expected to hit the moon with enough force to kick up more than 250 metric tons of dust.

The second, a satellite packed with spectrometers, near-infrared cameras, a visible camera and a visible radiometer, followed the rocket collecting data on the debris it passed through.

NASA hopes the data collected today will show whether or not H20 still exists in or on the moon.

The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)   cost the American taxpayers around $79 million.  But given the scientific implications of discovering water on the moon is well worth this space bargain.

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It's a Bird! It's a Plane!...NO!...It's a retired Swiss figher pilot with wings!

As Yves Rossy let go of a small airplane 6,600 feet up, a slew of reporters, photographers, and general spectators sat and stood in a cascade of relative silence.

You see, Rossy has no ordinary parachute controlling his "fall"

He also has a wing-shaped jet-pack strapped to his back ,with four turbines designed by a German company, JetCat, allowing Rossy the unique man-airborne ability to propel himself up.

Just over a year ago, Rossy propelled himself with a single device across the English channel.  Rossy jetted across the 22 mile burn in 9 minutes and 32 seconds.  At the time it was his longest flight.

For those of you that remember the 1990s film the Rocketeer, you can picture just what Rossy can do up there.

However, control and stability are not as simple as the movie may have portrayed.  As a man born for the skies, Rossy has flown aircraft for decades, as well as being an avid sky diver.  His natural instinct in the air is derived from his sky diving, as he controls his flight path with delicate and precise movement and coordination of his hands and feet.

Check out this video of the Swiss "Jet Man."

His wing is made out of fiberglass, which aside from low weight also allows for flexibility against fluctuation in air pressure.  This gives the wing a more feasible stability during flight, allowing Rossy to focus more on his physical movements.

The four turbines at full capacity push out 194 pounds of thrust, which is a calculation that relates 1 pound of matter being held up against the constant force of gravity.

Armed with 3.5 gallons of fuel, the 121 pound fully geared pack only gives Rossy a few minutes of gravitational rebellion

But with bigger jets, come bigger problems.

Each jet is sheathed in Kevlar in case of an explosion.

Rossy has also developed a cutaway harness made out of seatbelts.  This allows him to easily drop the wing (which has a parachute of its own) in case of a spin, which has happened to Rossy dozens of times.

His suit is flame-retardant, his boots have incredibly reinforced heels, and his helmet is equipped with an audible altimeter.

Although this wing has allowed Rossy lift, he plans to develop a larger delta shaped pack with larger thrusters, which would look something like this...

 

Imagination Land Succeeds!..again

So I'm up in the newsroom.  Discussing the latest additions to the 09 AP Style Guide with members of the Daily Titan staff.

As you may have learned in class, or about journalism in general, a vigorous battle between writer and copy editor occurs every time an article goes to print.

As the writer portrays the story and its' players, the copy editor "corrects" the faults in AP style.

Guide in hand, bible as its referred, this brave tactician of AP commitment peruses each character of the article guaranteeing a flawless product, as best they can.

For even the best of copy editors miss a few.

As we lamented on the tediousness and attention that must be taken to produce such a perfection, epiphany struck!...and hard.

Behold!  The latest creation of a faux brilliant mind!  I give you the AP style error scanning pen, coming to a media near you...maybe, hopefully, eventually?

"Dude, you're going to Dell."

Imagine yourself, hurt and in desperate need of medical attention.  As the ambulance arrives to the scene of your accident, you notice a familiar symbol littering the electrical medical equipment used by the EMTs.

Then you ask yourself...but doesn't Dell make computers?

Dell Inc. recently acquired Perot Systems Corp, breaking out from the computer-manufacture industry into the health-care industry.

Perot Systems is another econo-child of former U.S. Presidential Candidate H. Ross Perot. However, Perot Systems does not make most medical equipment used in the medical field, but does offers hardware and software solutions to health-care professionals.

Some of Perot's clients are: the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, along with hospitals, private-practice physicians, and insurance companies.

Despite the sheer divide between computer production and health-care, Dell plans to offer highly technological services to the ailing medical profession.  Such services will include, electronic health records, system integration, and application development.

Since many hospitals across the United States have begun to phase out paper, Dell has placed itself into a profitable position after a year of slumped sales.  With this latest merger, we can expect the Texas-based computer giant to provide the same volume of service through Perot Systems as we've seen through their computer sales.

With a hand in all computing needs, Dell now has the in-house potential to offer customers, whether consumers or industries, the computers (or servers), software, and services required for their health.

Tech Trix

Ever sitting at home at your computer wishing your cell phone got reception at that moment?  Sucks doesn't?  How might you feel knowing now that connectivity was inches away?

Monitors are wonderful devices that aside from projecting images processed by your computer or laptop, also project their electromagnetic activity.  Whether its a CRT (the big box) or a liquid crystal display (LCD flat screen) even a plasma screen if you're loaded at the bank, this works.

Essentially it works as a signal booster since it produces such an excess volume of power when you have it on.

So the next time you need some signal gently place it on your monitor.  If you're on the go but with a laptop, prop it out and dial!  It works, I'm doing it right now.

Super Computers are a temporal myth.

In 1994 my father and I went to Staples and purchased the greatest thing any 20th century house-hold could have.  We got our first computer, a Compaq Pesario.

Though, it didn't have Windows, 95 would come out a year later, it did have the ability to run games, so I was content.

But at that time though, the computer was no better than my Nintendo.  Both had 8-megabytes of RAM, or temporary memory used for programs and the internet was not yet in the mainstream.

Today, just 15 years later much has changed!  My latest computer, a high-performance manufactured PC from a small LA company, I bought just a few months ago has 8-gigabytes of RAM.  From the 1994 computer, that's 1000 times more RAM power, wow right?

Well no.  You see, I have gone through this same childish fascination countless times since 1994.  Every 6 months the computer world receives the next great leap in computer technology.  And every 3 months we hear about whats coming next.  When I got a laptop about 2 years ago, it came with 2-gigs of RAM, and that was about the fastest they got at that time, look where we find ourselves now.

Essentially, all that wonderful time computer people spend making the greatest computer they can, is akin to having the newest cellphone every time one comes out, its completely not necessary.  The difference between the old Pesario and my current computer is vast, 15 years to be exact.  But the different between a Pesario of today and my high-end computer?  Not too much.

For the industry is constantly changing.  So this computer I write to you on now, will be out of date shortly.  Given the $1,300 I spent on it, I don't plan on buying a new one in the near future.  But I did spend the time putting together through their website, a computer that will last me a good 8 years.  Bold statement I know, but proper cleaning of the case (cleaning out dust) and maintenance of the operating system will keep this baby running strong well into her adolescences.

For those of you, who like having shiny new things, yet don't fully understand the technology behind them, allow me to don this piece of advice on you.  Don't worry about getting the best computer or laptop on the market every time you're ready to buy a new one, go 2 or 3 computers down the line and save yourself some money.

Despite the love I have for my 8-gigs of RAM, they aren't necessary, and 6 can run just as fast.  But I use this machine for much more than email, web browsing, and "light" video gaming.  I run this like a pack mule through the Sahara, I need the power and I notice the incredibly minute differences between 6-gigs and 8-gigs.  But remember, the hardware manufactures of computer parts count in nano-seconds, so what's the difference between 1 or 2 of those?

New Home Fire Sprinkler Design Takes James Dyson Award

If you've heard the name Dyson recently, you probably heard about a vacuum.  That's because inventor James Dyson took the vacuum world by storm with his cost-effective and interestingly designed home vacuums.

Since then Dyson started the James Dyson Foundation.  This organization inspires inventors around the world to get to it.  With some added incentive, the foundation also holds an annual competition.

This year's James Dyson Award went to Yusuf Muhammad and Paul Thomas for their "Automist" home fire-suppression system.

 

The system was designed to use the house's waterline to produce a large volume of mist, in an effort to better starve the fire of oxygen by drowning it out.

As you may know, most home sprinkler systems shoot water out much like a garden hose, attempting to put as much water in the air as possible.  Although it works, there is always room for improvement.

The Automist system offers that improvement.  Rather than throwing water at the fire, the Automist system envelopes the fire through putting more moisture into the room.

This technology has worked to great success in factories and ships.  Thanks to Muhammad and Thomas, we may have it in our homes as well.