Armadillo Aerospace – Rocket Tug-O-War

September 13th, 2009

Some context… What do you think NASA would do if it wanted to test the effects of wind gusts on one of its rockets? How much do you think they’d spend designing, planning, and testing the test system? For better or worse this is why space will ultimately be concurred not by government programs, but by private enterprises (granted for the a lot of the private endeavors are being funded by NASA and friends.)

“We wanted to get a feel for how the vehicle would react to sudden changes in wind speeds as it moved upward. The only thing we could think of to induce a similar force was to attach a really long cable to one of the legs and have someone pull on it during a hover.”

via Armadillo Aerospace – News Archive.

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(original video)

US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive – Telegraph

June 19th, 2009

‘Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic “shrink to survive” proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.’

via US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive – Telegraph.

see also this /. post

Pretty interesting story about how vast potions of formerly prime land within cities are being razed in order to return them to nature and reduce the drain on government (and related) serivces. Having been to Detroit (only for a short weekend) I was amazed at how run down and empty large portions of the area/city seemed to be. Its understandable how downsizing it looked at as a failure, it’s just not a part of progress as we’ve come to know it. However, in the case of many rust-belt cities we’ve already “lost” they are ghosts of their former prosperous selves and the only way to move forward is to shrink them down to a manageable size.

SET Energy » US bike sales higher than car sales in 2009

May 27th, 2009

“During the first quarter of 2009, more bicycles were sold in the US than cars and trucks. While the Great Recession is hurting bike sales, they didn’t fall as fast as automobiles. Around 2.6 million bicycle purchases were made, compared to ~2.5 million cars and trucks that left our nation’s lots.”

via SET Energy » Blog Archive » US bike sales higher than car sales in 2009.

Pretty cool, though it would be interesting to know what percentage of the bikes sold are being used as a mode of transportation, not just for kids/playing.

The Associated Press: Obama changes office name, pushes Web work

May 12th, 2009

“Coupled with that, Obama read a 33-page report with comments from his pre-presidency Web site, letting him know his supporters’ single top priority for the new administration: changing the nation’s policy banning marijuana.”

via The Associated Press: Obama changes office name, pushes Web work.

You have to wonder how seriously Obama will take that request. I have a hard time imagining he’d would take action on it given that I’ve never heard him publically speak about it, but who knows. It’s pretty interesting that it was the most frequently mentioned request/comment. Also interesting that pot supporting people feel free enough to speak up on the record in favor of legalization. I’d imagine at least part of the reason it is the number one request is internet demographics, people who are internet savvy and motivated enough to visit Obama’s pre-election site happen to coincide with the pro-pot segment. At least I have a hard time seeing the greater population careing one way or another.

The Associated Press: EPA: ethanol crops displaces climate-friendly ones

May 5th, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says that corn ethanol — as made today — has a worse impact on climate than gasoline when land use changes are considered.

via The Associated Press: EPA: ethanol crops displaces climate-friendly ones.

Hey Ya

April 17th, 2009
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Surprisingly good acoustic version by “Ted”

Streetsblog » Streetfilms: Curitiba, the Cradle of Bus Rapid Transit

April 1st, 2009

Streetfilms: Curitiba, the Cradle of Bus Rapid Transit

by Elizabeth Press on April 1, 2009

“Curitiba, Brazil first adopted its Master Plan in 1968. Since then, it has become a city well known for inventive urban planning and affordable (to the user and the city) public transportation.

Curitiba’s Bus Rapid Transit system is the source of inspiration for many other cities including the TransMilenio in Bogotá, Colombia, Metrovia in Guayaquil, Ecuador, as well as the Orange Line of Los Angeles.”

Streetsblog » Streetfilms: Curitiba, the Cradle of Bus Rapid Transit.

An interesting short video about public transit in Curitiba, Brazil. 75% of it’s citizens travel by bus to work everyday. 1% of Phionex, AZ, a similar sized US city gets to work via public transit. For comparison 32% of San Francisco residents take transit to get to work, probably 2nd only to NYC.  Check out “Transportation in San Francisco” for other interesting SF public transit facts & demographics.

The Map Scroll: The Housing Bubble, Mapped

March 8th, 2009

“Two maps, one from 2000 and the other from 2007, show the share of Americans taking on huge new debt to buy a home increasing dramatically across the country”

The Map Scroll: The Housing Bubble, Mapped

A greate visual that gives a good idea how bad the mortage situation really was/is. The number of counties with over 4% of people getting a home loan for a houses over 4x their income went from only a handful, to substantial portions of the east coast and western US. There’s also a large pocket in eastern TN, northern GA, and western NC and SC.

The Map Scroll: Income and the 2008 US Election

March 7th, 2009

“You wouldn’t know this if you followed the mainstream media depiction of politics as an essentially cultural battle rather than an economic one, but it turns out that people mostly vote their economic interest:”

The Map Scroll: Income and the 2008 US Election

Pretty interesting, if not unexpected, post about voting tendencies and income. Having grown up in a economically impoverished small town in rural Kentucky I’ve always felt that too many issues are attributed to race rather than economic standing. While its true that violence and to some degree crime is less of a threat there, education, job opportunities, healthcare, housing, and many other standard of living measures are just as bad or worse than inner cities which garner more attention, though admittedly that makes little difference.

Music That Makes You Dumb? | BeatCrave – Music Blog, MP3 Downloads, Videos, News, Giveaways

March 4th, 2009

correlation of music preferences and sat scores

“study relating music preferences with SAT scores. While SAT scores are criticized for not accurately determining intelligence, the results show that the “smartest” students’ favorite musician is Beethoven, with an average SAT score of 1371, and at the other end of the spectrum is Lil’ Wayne, with an average score of 889.” Music That Makes You Dumb? | BeatCrave – Music Blog, MP3 Downloads, Videos, News, Giveaways

Probably shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, but interesting/great graph regardless. What does it mean if you like both Lil’ Wayne and Beethoven?