The FN Black Box:
detects/discriminates/counts shots
measures burst rates and burst lengths
records firing sequences
detects stoppages due to failures to cycleThe armorer can therefore anticipate necessary maintenance actions and consult all previous maintenance operations when and as required.
Interesting. The same concept is often applied to industrial machines.
Still digging Droid. Now, it’s even cheaper at $150.
Also, via insty, comes the iPhone v. Droid smackdown.
I’ve never had an iPhone though I have played with a few. So, I can’t really say one is better than the other in terms of the interface. But Droid has a few key tangible things that I like better:
It can run multiple apps.
I can change the battery.
Comes w 16gb SD card.
And Verizon, unlike AT&T, doesn’t suck.
Past Droid posts here.
Droid and how awesome it is. Here’s some helpful links:
Android forums is a handy resource. Particularly, this thread.
I just discovered that Droid is also a phone.
Droid didn’t come with a detailed manual or how to. But you can download one here.
1 – I’ve decided to upgrade the memory. What chip does the EeePC clamshell take?
2- Microsoft is pimping Windows 7 for netbooks. Anyone try this?
A review of Verizon’s Droid, a gizmo to compete with the iPhone. If it weren’t for AT&T, I’d have an iPhone. Now, I may not even get one.
Build your own fireball shooter. Because who hasn’t wanted to shoot fireballs?
And while you’re at it, make an atlatl. You know, for when you’re out of fireballs.
I ordered me an EeePC and it should be here tomorrow. Ten plus hours of battery life, real portable. Should be a handy blogging tool.
And I want to gamble with Dennis Overbye
A couple of physicists have theorized (and I am not making this up) that the universe really doesn’t want us smashing up protons in a collider. Seems that they think the universe finds this act abhorrent to nature and so God or time-travelers are trying to stop us from doing that. Because it could kill us all. Such an action could create the Higgs boson, which using my own highly technical physics terms may be either a big ass thing (which it might not be since it’s apparently going to be small) or one of those mathematical concepts that can kill us all. And we know how much I hate those. Anyway, either God or time travelers may be thwarting our attempts at this and I think it’s amusing when physicists talk about God and time travelers.
And the author of the article, Dennis Overbye, writes:
Dr. Nielsen and Dr. Ninomiya have proposed a kind of test: that CERN engage in a game of chance, a “card-drawing” exercise using perhaps a random-number generator, in order to discern bad luck from the future. If the outcome was sufficiently unlikely, say drawing the one spade in a deck with 100 million hearts, the machine would either not run at all, or only at low energies unlikely to find the Higgs.
Sure, it’s crazy, and CERN should not and is not about to mortgage its investment to a coin toss.
He calls odds of 99,999,999:1 a coin flip? I want to gamble with this guy.
Long story that I won’t get into but I’m firing Dishnetwork. They suck and I hate them. I’ve had four DVRs in six months and they’ve all gone Tango Uniform. And every time, we lose all our programming. And every time, we have to set it all back up. Be kinda nice if they had a back up function.
That said, I’m looking at TeeVee options. Charter has decent cable and on demand things. We used to have Directv but dumped them once they dumped TiVo. I’ve even been pondering getting one of those Windows Media Center PCs. Anyone have any experience with the Media Center set up? And experience with Charter? And does Directv do TiVo again?
I’d appreciate any input.
update: Looks like TiVo and Directv kissed and made up.
My wife’s new laptop has an HDMI out. So, last night as an experiment, we watched a movie from Netflix streamed to our TeeVee. Quality was good and I was quite impressed. I’ve noticed that our Bluray player has an ethernet port on the back and I can hook it directly to Al Gore’s Internets and get Netflix directly, without having to hook the PC up to the TeeVee. Now, my internet modem and wifi gizmos are located elsewhere in the house. So, I’d like to figure out a way to hook the disc player (this Samsung) up to the internet. But my modem is on the other side of the house. Suggestions?
I guess I could move the modem to the TeeVee and get wireless for my desktop computer. But that would probably cause me networked printers to not work.
What’s a good light weight anti-virus program? Use Norton at the office and it sucks. Like all Norton products, it’s bloatware. It bogs down the system all the time. At home, I have AVG Free. It has, apparently, turned into spamware itself, always installing its tool bar in my web browser.
What do you use?
Good question: Why would disappointment in one’s country inspire increased loyalty?
A first person shooter (half life) played with a real firearm.
I’ve often wondered why no one has come up with an IPSC or IDPA game for the Wii.
Pandora free internet radio. Never thought much about internet radio because I don’t usually listen to music while at a computer. But Pandora has an application for my Blackberry. And I have one of those wireless transmitters for the car stereo. So, I can listen to personalized, commercial free radio in my car. I’m still trying to figure out how they make money, though.
Apparently, guns cause aggression. As measured in ounces of hot sauce. Or something.
A while back I said to someone I know that works at Microsoft (not saying who, to protect the innocent) that they should release a version of Internet Exploder that has built in adware/spyware/spam protection that, by default, blocks Google ads. Then, they launch their own web ad program. Well, you see where this is going. Anyway, they may someday wish they had taken that advice since Google is getting in on the operating system game.
Also, Google Voice looks to be pretty cool.
So, you find out that we’re going to send an unmanned vehicle to the moon. And you think that it’s pretty cool. And the reason we’d do that is probably because we can. Turns out, it’s so we can launch the first volley in our war on known extraterrestrial civilizations on the moon
In response to a police officer shooting another plain-clothes police officer in NY (of course, in NY if you have a gun you’re a criminal or cop),Robb notes a solution in search of a problem:
One idea involves the use of radio frequency tags that would allow officers to pinpoint where other cops are in the city, Browne said. Another involves tags that would work gun-to-gun and use an infrared sensor: When a weapon is pulled from an officer’s holster it would trigger a signal that would be sent to the gun of a nearby officer. The signal may be seen or heard.
Using technology to solve problems that are better solved through other means tends to create more problems. There is no magic switch or button for every thing.
Boys who carry a particular variation of the gene Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), sometimes called the “warrior gene,” are more likely not only to join gangs but also to be among the most violent members and to use weapons, according to a new study from The Florida State University that is the first to confirm an MAOA link specifically to gangs and guns.
Findings apply only to males. Girls with the same variant of the MAOA gene seem resistant to its potentially violent effects on gang membership and weapon use.
I find the tie in to guns odd as opposed to weapons in general. I imagine that using a weapon is part of being in a gang as a tool of being a gangster as opposed to a gene dictating gun ownership over, say, a stick.
Scientists say they found the missing link. Obviously, it was put there 6,000 years ago by God.
The LA Fertility Institute is offering designer babies:
A US clinic has sparked controversy by offering would-be parents the chance to select traits like the eye and hair colour of their offspring.
Via Chuck, who says Gay people, Your days are numbered.
What say you?
I know I’ve linked to video Boston Dynamics’ quadrupedal BigDog robot before but it keeps showing up. And that thing still gives me the willies.
You had me at M = e7.06×10-17t – 10.8
Rocket surgeon Sarah explains why and she has math.
Note: The French theme today was not planned but sometimes it happens.
Well, kinda. I guess:
No one is galaxy-hopping, or even beaming people around, but for the first time, information has been teleported between two separate atoms across a distance of a meter — about a yard.
The Mrs. family has some old slides. We’d like to convert them to digital photos. They have this gizmo to do that at Amazon. Anyone every try it?
Six discoveries science cannot explain.
Stupid science.
Oh, and I seem to recall a TeeVee show that said the Baghdad batteries were probably used to gold plate things.
We here at SayUncle would like to welcome our friends from the ATF to the 1990s:
Instead of filling out the required ATF paperwork by hand, gun buyers and dealers will now be able to complete what officials say is a fail-safe electronic version of the document, known as Form 4473.
Speaking at a gun shop in Upper Marlboro where he announced the change, acting ATF Director Michael J. Sullivan said the new option would cut down on illegible answers and incomplete answers — the most common causes of violations.
In other news, is this an admission that all those supposedly willful violations they used to shut down federal firearms license holders weren’t, err, actually willful?
Update: More from David who wonders if this is the same software that ATF was accused of stealing.
You apparently can polish a turd. The actually made a couple of high-gloss and highly unsanitary spheres from poo.
Can’t find video, though. Probably be here soon.
Marko notes that since he no longer has a TeeVee, he’s suffering a near-complete pop culture disconnect. Tam is in the same boat.
I have recently became disconnected from pop culture for a very different reason. I got TiVo. See, now I only watch what I want, when I want to watch it, and without commercials. I’m not exposed to what’s hot. Generally, I have no idea what movies are out (this week is the exception in that I know Madagascar 2 is out because the kids at Junior’s school are into that). I generally have no idea who any of the people are that are mentioned in the Yahoo! entertainment blurb that pops up on the home page. I have no idea who the people on the cover of any magazine at the supermarket are. Marko suffered a disconnect from getting disconnected. I suffered the disconnect by upgrading technology.
I don’t miss it. Most TeeVee sucks. I watch very few shows. A list would include Mythbusters, Battlestar Galactica, Family Guy, The Daily Show (occasionally), My Name Is Earl, Mail Call, Southpark and The Simpsons. That’s really it, except the occasional sporting/poker event. Southpark and The Simpsons are probably coming off the list because lately they suck. Now, I also manage to watch a whole lot of Blues Clues, Spongebob, Dora, Diego, Back at the Barnyard, and Fairly Odd Parents as a function of having kids. But they’re not exactly piping pop culture into the house. Of course, I’ve mentioned before Junior’s utter shock at the discovery of commercials.
Another interesting trend is that, once again because of technology, I can’t name a Top 40 song. No idea. But, then, I’ve never been a big Top 40 guy either. I download my music and pick only what I want to listen to.
I guess you can disconnect or plug in more heavily and become disconnected from pop culture.
Michael Silence asks Any reason to keep a phone line at home?
Ya know, I still have one. Initially, it was for two reasons. We have a fax machine and a fancy alarm system. Now, the fax machine can be replaced with a wide variety of software or online services. The one we can’t seem to find an online replacement for is the alarm system. It communicates with our service, police, and fire all through the land line. Were it not for that, I would not have a home phone. That’s $70 month could be spent on ammo!
Speaking of Joe, I don’t know that I’ve ever mentioned he created Modern Ballistics, the world’s most sophisticated small arms exterior ballistics program for the personal computer.
So, scientists are looking to flip the switch on the big ass doohickie that will kill us all. Or not. Depends who you talk to, someone educated or someone thumping a holy book. Supposedly, this will simulate the universe at the approximate time of the Horrendous Space Kablooey. And don’t even get me started on The Universe.
In equally scary but also equally kinda cool news, scientists are on the verge of creating life. And I, for one, welcome our new protocells built from fatty molecules overlords.
See you tomorrow. . . maybe.
My brief review. You can download it here.
The good: It’s fast, clean and neat.
It also lets you use the hotkeys in wordpress (i.e., alt+A for hyperlink) this never worked in Firefox.
The bad (or Firefox ruined me): I want it to open items from a bookmark in a new tab. It doesn’t do that.
I also like to store my bookmarks in folders and opening all items in a folder at once. Can’t do that with Chrome, that I’ve found.
When you close the last tab, it closes the application. Not a fan.
I wish new tabs would be opened at the end and not behind the current tab.
Other: Not tried downloading yet so I dunno if it has a download manager or not.
Update: Also cool that I can resize text boxes in the browser. I do wish it would remember the size and keep it the same when I come back to the site.
Looking for an application to view and edit MS Office documents. There’s a lot of them and they’re spendy. Before buying one, I thought I’d get opinions on what you folks recommend.
Interesting video on what life on the Web will be like 10 years from now. Two big disappointments:
I looks like the future will hold more Macs
And I was kinda hoping for the glove/headset/eye goggles gizmo that Keanu Reeves had in Johnny Mnemonic.
A while back, I pondered the iPhone. As cool as it was and as much fun as I had playing with them, I just can’t bring myself to switch to AT&T. And, honestly, I was apprehensive about Apple products because, err, they’re made by Apple.
I opted for the Crackberry Curve.
Update: Another case against the iPhone.
Not really worth much in the soft squishy sciences (which aren’t really sciences at all).
Via some random clickity that started with this post from R. Neal, I discovered that my subdivision now is part of Google’s street views. Creepy. However, they still show a cow pasture where my house is on their satellite view.
I’d like to thank R. Neal for linking to this PDF creator. This has saved me so much time standing in front of a damn scanner. The only issue I have with it is that it won’t do multiple worksheets in Excel and you have to do each worksheet separately.
My LG is on it’s last legs. I’m eligible for a new phone with my provider (Verizon). Should I just go ahead and get me and the Mrs. iPhones?
Note: I swore I’d never have an iPhone but Chris changed my mind from Hell No to Hmmm, maybe.
How’s AT&T service in East TN?
Update: In a bit of irony, it seems AT&T’s webpage only supports Internet Exploder. Yes, AT&T sole provider of Apple’s iPhone will only let you use a Microsoft product to check service.
It’s a sad day when you cannot trust a religious man like Al.
Cool but scary at the same time. With video.
Technology: Stop it before it kills someone!!!
Relax everybody, miniature black holes will not kill us all.
Glenn Reynolds mentioned the Aptera. About three weeks ago, I saw on Pellissippi Parkway a three wheeled futuristic looking car. It was bright red. I thought it was odd and I was curious. I went home and some combination of googling three-wheeled vehicles lead me to believe it was an Aptera. The vehicle I saw sat two in the front. Anyway, turns out Aptera only has prototypes in Cali and all Aptera’s are white. So, obviously, what I saw was not an Aptera. Anyone know of a similar looking vehicle? Or, better yet, any of you seen a similar car around Knoxville/Blount County?
There is one thing gun lovers won’t understand. It is very simple. The word that sums it up is: Technology.
Really? Have you seen some of the gun stuff today? Like red dot sights, guns that shoot around corners, etc. Seems we understand it fine.
And:
You can go on and on ad nauseam about mental health, drugs, depression, revenge, etc. But when push comes to shove, if there were no guns on this planet (and I mean all guns ) military, civilian — all) how would they respond to their dilemma?
Like they did before guns brought us civilization: pure brute force.
At GBR2, Sebastian said of Joe Huffman: I’m glad he’s one of the good guys.
Things like this are why.
The Pentagon plans on shooting down a spy satellite before it hits earth. If they need a 50 caliber sniper rifle capable of shooting down satellites, I think Josh Sugarmann can get it for them.
Via KAG.
Today, for the first time since I can remember, there is absolutely nothing in the Outlook inbox. That’s a good thing.
“One of the great things about being governor is you get to take taxes away and later give it back and people are happy,” Bredesen said. “Is this a great job or what?”
Actually, we’re not happy. And that may be one of the dumbest things a politico has ever said. But it’s also likely the truth. If there’s one thing about politicians, it’s that they’re fairly brazen about spending your money.
State Rep. Doug Overbey (R-Maryville) announced today his intention to seek the Republican nomination for the State Senate – 8th District, now held by Sen. Raymond Finney.
Finney’s been a bit of an embarrassment, what with his legislation to get the state to study God’s existence.
So, in my truck I got one of those mirrors that automatically gets a few shades darker whenever your dumb ass forgets to dim the brights when you come up on my tail. However, I noticed yesterday it didn’t work when the Sun was blazing away behind me on the drive. Anyone know how these things work?
Just curious.
Update: That was fast. Answer in comments.
So, why haven’t they passed a law saying cancer must be cured by next year? I mean, since they have no issue legislating pipe dreams.
From DAMIT, we learn that staring at boobs ten minutes per day will increase a man’s lifespan. I think the scientists got their marching orders wrong.
Alrighty, then.
Tipping point. We getting close to the point of no return. We’re all going to die.
The UN has just released a “major report”. The fourth Global Environmental Outlook since 1997. It contains dire warnings. It seems there are too many people on Planet Earth. We are actually killing the Planet.
Now before you consider the source and scoff, know this, 388 experts and scientists describe this as “the final wake-up call to the international community.”
“Life would be easier if we didn’t have the kind of population growth rates that we have at the moment,” Steiner said. “But to force people to stop having children would be a simplistic answer. The more realistic, ethical and practical issue is to accelerate human well-being and make more rational use of the resources we have on this planet.”
What does that mean? It means that the 388 scientists theorize that you eat too much, require too much land, too much energy, and too many resources. So stop having children, eating meat, and driving your fat ass around in that SUV, you damn Planet killer.
All kidding aside, is there a purpose to this continual fear mongering from the United Nations? An endgame so to speak.
Could it be a World Wide tax administered by the United Nations?
Atlanta has only 81 days of water left. If you were to say they had it coming for their suburban sprawl from Hell, you would be overlooking another reason, the Government of course.
The water supply for Atlanta is Lake Lanier. Every single day millions of gallons of Georgia water are pumped to Florida to keep water brackish for oysters and shrimp.
Whose bright idea was this? The Government of course.
Now people in Florida are telling people in Georgia they can’t build so many homes because of the water shortage. Guess where the people of Georgia plan to get some water from? Just guess. The friendly people of Tennessee of course. We have a nice big river and they want us to share. Even the Government is thinking what a swell idea this is.
Can the Government do anything else to screw up your life? Of course. You see we have this Global Warming crisis and if we don’t do something about it the Earth will be destroyed. So what is the Governments bright idea. Ethanol. Grow corn and make ethanol to cut down on foreign oil. More jobs, better national security, and were saving the Planet people. Could it get any better?
Actually, this is the single most stupid idea from the Government yet. Even dumber than changing the date for Daylights saving time.
One gallon of ethanol requires 1,700 gallons of water according to Cornell ecology professor David Pimentel. Do you think the Government should have thought of that?
In Mexico there are food riots because of corn shortages. Corn is a basic food staple in Mexico. Food prices worldwide are rising because of a shortage of corn for food. Remember the good old days when we just ate corn, instead of putting it in our gas tank?
Are we seeing the “law of unintended consequences” yet?
Want to do something to help? Boycott ethanol. You be saving the Planet. And a whole lot of water. And that’s a good thing.
Because Windows XP and any random printer are retarded when working together, here’s a handy tip for when you print job gets hung and you can’t purge it:
Go to Control Panel
Choose Admistrative tools
Choose Services
scroll to Print spooler and double click
stopThis will close spooler compleatly.
Ok back out and then go back to same page and click start
Spooler comes back to life empty!!
All spelling errors property of the original author.
All have consumed the Ethanol kool-aid. Not good. The only positive thing about Thompson’s new position is at least he recognizes national security as part of the equation. I wish someone which teach these guys about entropy. Corn based Ethanol doesn’t help anyone. Expect for those ADM folks. And maybe some Tennessee folks.
Adam Kleinheider of Volunteer Voters gave a little link love on an idea I first presented on KnoxViews.
Maybe this can help some gunnys in protecting 2nd Amendment Rights?
From today’s NiT post that Adam linked on VV.:
See through frogs. You know, so you don’t have to dissect them. Sometimes, scientists kinda scare me.
CALL Gov’s Sac number (916-445-2841)
Press 1 – for English
Press 2 – for Voice your opinion on Assembly Bills
Press 1 – for Micro Stamping Bill (AB1471)
Press 2 to OPPOSE the gun control bill.Via RuffRidr, who says:
You don’t have to speak to anyone. This takes 20 seconds. That’s it! I repeat, you do not need to speak to anyone
In other news, there’s now an automated system to support or oppose legislation?
You just knew this would happen. The United States had the “Mother of All Bombs”, the MOAB. But now the Russians have developed the FOAB, the “Father of All Bombs.”
Once again we have a mineshaft gap.
This is one seriously big bomb. Kills everything within three miles and causes deafness within four miles.
Some neighbors of ours held a garage sale. They told us about it and asked if we wanted to sell any thing. We had some junk in the basement that we wanted to get rid of so I loaded up the truck and took it over.
On sale day, about half way through the day, the police show up. They inform my neighbor that there is a fee and permit required to have a garage sale. And you’re limited to two sales per year (my neighbor was in no trouble of violating that one). Officer friendly let just told him to remember that next time. No harm, no foul. I did some research (i.e., talked to some people who would know) to find out why the limit; why there’s a fee; and why there’s a form to fill out. Turns out, it’s a law that has been on the books for a long time but it was never enforced. Until Ebay. Seems a lot of folks run Ebay based businesses out of their homes. Whenever stuff wasn’t selling on Ebay, they’d have garage sales. And, apparently, people started complaining that certain other people were having garage sales every couple of weeks and were basically operating a trafficked business from their homes. And these sales caused traffic problems and, generally, made life hard on their fellow subdivision denizens.
Anyway, the garage sale was a success. So much so that the Mrs. wants to have one in our yard because we’ve found all sorts of other stuff that, at one time, we absolutely had to have but we now no longer need. Like my robot (looks like this). So, being the law-abiding sorts we are, she wants to pay the fee and get the permit. She called. Turns out, there is no fee. But there is an application and it is designed just to ensure you limit your sales to two per year.
Also, she was googling up yard sales and fees and Maryville and her first result was Les Jones. Small internet.
The future of bullet proof vests and home insulation may be “frozen smoke”, also know as Aerogel. It is 98% air. The Brick Brigade Team, a group of eight 11 year olds, has more.
A MIRACLE material for the 21st century could protect your home against bomb blasts, mop up oil spillages and even help man to fly to Mars.
Aerogel, one of the world’s lightest solids, can withstand a direct blast of 1kg of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 1,300C.
Scientists are working to discover new applications for the substance, ranging from the next generation of tennis rackets to super-insulated space suits for a manned mission to Mars.
The company has successfully converted a Mini into an electric vehicle (EV) with four direct-drive wheels, each with an electronic hub motor of 160 break-horse-power. This combined 640 bhp allows for an acceleration of 0-60mph in 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 150 mph (240 kph).
A small 250cc petrol engine charges the car’s battery while the car is being driven. In this mode it will run for up to 900 miles before needing to re-fuel, while in pure EV mode it will run for 200 miles. Previous electric models barely managed 60 mph (100kph) and had a range of less than 100 miles.
Part 3 in the three-part series is excellent reading. The punch line:
There are no good guys in this story. Misguided and incompetent regulation combined with utilities that found ways to game the system resulted in what had been the best communication system in the world becoming just so-so, though very profitable. We as consumers were consistently sold ideas that were impractical only to have those be replaced later by less-ambitious technologies that, in turn, were still under-delivered. Congress set mandates then provided little or no oversight. The FCC was (and probably still is) managed for the benefit of the companies and their lobbyists, not for you and me. And the upshot is that I could move to Japan and pay $14 per month for 100-megabit-per-second Internet service but I can’t do that here and will probably never be able to.
In case you haven’t been reading Crigley’s blog (and you should be), Part 1 and Part 2.
Remember the Hydrogen economy? We all had a good laugh with that one. The idea you could run your car on seawater, what a fantasy.
Until now. Like most great inventions this was an accident discovered when a former broadcast executive tried to discover a cure for cancer.
Meet John Kanzius.
Heh: Apparently, weather satellites measured a million zillion google times more tropical storms in the Atlantic in 2006 than they did in 1901.
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
Uncle Pays the Bills
blog advertising is good for you
You are currently browsing the archives for the Science and Technology category.
Powered by
WordPress
Theme provided by Robb Allen
1.307 seconds.