Ultimate Proof That 6 Wheels Are Cooler Than 4.
Category: Now for something completely different
Study: Sound improves detection of electric cars for pedestrians.
Duhhhh.
Louder vehicle = easier to hear coming at you.
Electric vehicles are quiet enough to create a safety concern, particularly for visually impaired pedestrians, even with artificial sounds implemented, a study presented Tuesday during the Acoustical Society of America meeting in Seattle found.
In the analysis, in which participants were asked to push a button upon hearing an approaching electric vehicle on an adjacent roadway, none of the tested vehicles achieved a 100% detection rate, the data showed.
However, artificial sounds added to the vehicles improved detection ranges — or the distance at which they could be heard — and all of those tested exceeded current National Highway Transportation Safety Administration minimum standards, the researchers said……………….
Commentariat states;
I WANT ONE THAT MAKES THE JETSONS-CAR BLEEBLE NOISE
Ask and ye shall receive…………………………..
Just remember, American kids are kind, but German kids are kinder.
That is all.
We now return you our regular programming.
As the Black Bear is at the top end of the food chain, hunting them can be a ‘reciprocal’ event
Missouri’s first black bear hunting season begins Monday
MISSOURI (KY3) – Four-hundred people will be allowed to participate in Missouri’s first black bear hunting season, which officially begins Monday.
The black bear hunting season runs from Monday, Oct. 18 to Wednesday, Oct. 27, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The approved regulations limit bear hunting to only Missouri residents and restrict it to designated areas of southern Missouri. Conservation agents will limit hunters to one bear, and hunters may not use dogs to assist.
The Missouri Conservation Commission gave final approval of MDC’s season framework, permit and harvest quotas, and other related regulations for hunting black bears in Missouri at its March 26 open meeting.
Officials say the bear population in Missouri has been growing. Conservation agents now estimate there are 600 to 1,000 black bears in the state.
“Being able to add this iconic species to the long list of hunting opportunities for Missourians is a testament to the decades of bear research and management by MDC staff,” said MDC Director Sara Parker Pauley. “A limited annual hunting season will help manage the growing number of black bears in the state.”
“A bear-hunting season in our state will provide opportunities for Missourians to participate in the sustainable harvest of this valuable wildlife species,” said MDC Bear Biologist Laura Conlee. “As our black bear population continues to grow, a highly regulated hunting season will be an essential part of population management into the future. The timing and length of the season, allowed hunting methods, and a limited permit allocation coupled with a limited harvest quota will ensure a sustainable harvest of our growing bear population.”
MDC proposed a limited and highly regulated black-bear hunting season following several years of public comment, including informational open houses in 2019 and a public-input process throughout 2020.
The selected hunters are allowed to participate any time from half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset during the 10-day hunting season.
For more information on the state’s first black bear hunt, CLICK HERE.
Wendy’s reformulates its French fries
Culinary leaders from the Dublin, Ohio-based burger chain said the process of reformulating the skin-on fries was a months-long journey.
The new French fry was designed to retain heat and crispness for between 15 and 30 minutes to accommodate the brand’s growth in drive-thru, carry-out and other off-premises sales channels, said John Li, Wendy’s vice president of culinary innovation.
“They are cut above, literally,” said Emily Kessler, Wendy’s senior specialist for culinary and innovation, in a Zoom press conference Thursday. “And that’s because these not-exactly-square French fries are by design.
“One side is built with a thicker side, and it’s built for heat retention, while the other side is thinner and that’s really to enhance crispiness because we know our customers want hot and crispy fries every time,” Kessler said.
The company last overhauled its fries in November 2010 when it moved to skin-on potatoes.
Commercial space clean-up service could be ready in 2024:
A space junk removal truck could start picking up dead satellites in 2024.
Japan-headquartered space services company Astroscale, which recently launched its ELSA-d space debris removal demonstrator, might be ready to start cleaning up the mess in Earth’s orbit by 2024.
The company, which has offices in the U.K., U.S., Israel and Singapore, has signed a $3.5 million deal with would-be megaconstellation operator OneWeb to work together on advancing debris-removal technology. OneWeb currently operates over 180 satellites in a constellation meant to reach about 650 satellites, but has asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve over 6,300 satellites in its “Phase Two” strategy. OneWeb is partially owned by the British government.
Plans of companies such as OneWeb, SpaceX and Amazon to launch constellations of thousands of satellites cause serious concerns in the global space flight community as the already cluttered orbital environment is at risk of becoming overcrowded. Satellite operators already report a growing number of situations when two satellites come close to colliding. OneWeb’s cooperation with Astroscale might help attenuate some of the concerns.
“This partnership with OneWeb demonstrates their commitment to space sustainability and is the next step towards maturing our technologies to develop a full-service debris removal offering by 2024,” John Auburn, managing director of Astroscale U.K. and group chief commercial officer said in a statement.
The new service targets constellation operators and is called ELSA-M. The program would enable the removal of multiple retired satellites in a single mission, thus reducing cost for the client, the company said in the statement. The orbital junk collector would push each satellite into the atmosphere to burn up, then return for the next defunct piece.
“This funding will help us evolve key rendezvous and proximity operations technologies and capabilities beyond ELSA-d towards an end-of-life servicing offering for a range of constellation customers,” Jason Forshaw, Astroscale’s head of future business, Europe, said in the statement. “In parallel to this project, we’re developing our next generation docking plate (DP), which is fitted to clients before launch, and is designed to enable a servicer to grapple the client. We are encouraging constellation customers to fit DPs to future-proof their satellites in case of need for removal due to failure, or at end of life, or to provide future in-orbit servicing.”
Astroscale’s ELSA-d demonstration mission, currently in low Earth orbit, will carry out a series of rendezvous and close proximity debris capture and release manoeuvres this summer. The results of the test campaign will inform further work on the ELSA-M program, Astroscale said.
The funding is part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) program called Sunrise, developing flexible reprogrammable communication satellites.
Europe unveils plans to bring ‘GPS’ and Skype to the moon with satellites.
SSTL and Telespazio lead two European consortia tasked with developing concepts of a lunar navigation and telecommunication constellation. (Image credit: ESA)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has kicked off the development of a future satellite constellation that will orbit the moon and provide navigation and telecommunication services to lunar explorers.
If all goes according to plan, the new system could be in place in the late 2020s, only a few years after the expected landing of NASA’s crewed Artemis 3 mission near the lunar south pole.
ESA believes that Earth’s celestial companion is set to become a busy destination in the coming years, with commercial companies and nations from across the world all wanting a slice of the “eighth continent.” The new constellation, called Moonlight, will make it easier and cheaper for a fledgling lunar economy to blossom, ESA officials suggested in a news conference on Thursday (May 20).
“Having a navigation and telecommunication network to relay what we learn on the moon back to Earth will be key for sustainability of future missions,” Elodie Viau, ESA’s director of telecommunications and integrated applications, said in the news conference. “You can imagine astronomers setting up observatories on the far side of the moon. And as we have all now become accustomed to virtual meetings, who knows? We could be doing Skype on the moon.”
He wasn’t just interested in Edison’s medicine.
Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today
The eccentric inventor is known for dabbling with electricity, but his Tesla valve is impressing scientists anew.
Inventor Nikola Tesla has long been recognized for a body of work that ranges from brilliant (AC electricity) to baffling (an “earthquake machine“?). Scientists have studied one of his lesser-known inventions in new detail, and they think they may have found new uses for it in the modern world.
Tesla’s macrofluidic valve — often just called the Tesla valve — is a sort of odd-shaped conduit for fluids in which a main channel is interspersed with a series of diverting teardrop-shaped loops. The loops are oriented in such a way that fluids easily flow through in one direction, but when reversed, the flow is almost totally blocked.
And, oh are they yummy. Those farm raised domestic versions pale in comparison.
Hunting: All things considered, the wild turkey truly is a magnificent bird
Calling wild turkeys dull-witted, unattractive or just a simple nuisance is underestimating a nuanced and somewhat complicated creature.
Appearances can be sometimes be deceiving. Scratching under a backyard bird feeder or dusting in a dirt driveway, the wild turkey may seem like little more than a very overgrown chicken. Pecking at his reflection in your chrome bumper or menacing pets and children, Old Tom might make you consider him dull-witted and a nuisance. Before you judge this book by its feathery cover, however, it would be wise to know a little more about this remarkable bird.
Its nearly naked head and neck might seem some unfortunate joke played by its designers, especially when compared to the resplendent red and green of the gaudy ring-necked pheasant, or even the subtle camouflage and crest of the ruffed grouse. Rather than a glamorous game bird, it more closely resembles the carrion-eating vulture that corrupted its name.
However, everything in nature has a purpose. When in relaxed mode, the tom’s head and face are the pale blue-gray of an almost clear sky above a thin veil of overcast, and its neck an earthy brick red. When excited by a rival or potential mate, the male turkey shows his colors, pumping blood to the exposed flesh until its head becomes a bright white, its face a deep azure and its neck a rich crimson. Perhaps that is why Ben Franklin allegedly petitioned to make the wild turkey our national bird.
And literally on the other side of the world.
Maori Party fears over new gun laws
There are fears that proposed new gun laws aiming to curb gang violence will affect Māori with only loose connections to gangs.
Offences that could lead to a firearms prohibition order included participating in an organised crime group or gang, and serious firearms or violence offences.
The Green Party welcomed the legislation in general but warns police may seek bans for people that they simply consider gang associates.
Police Minister Poto Williams says she hadn’t received advice on what a firearms prohibition order would specifically mean for Māori.
“We haven’t had specific information with that regard. But what we’re dealing with are the most serious offenders … who would do us harm,” Williams says.
But a public consultation document says Māori would likely be over-represented in those subjected to firearms prohibition orders.
In the emptiness of space, Voyager I detects plasma ‘hum’
ITHACA, N.Y. – Voyager 1 – one of two sibling NASA spacecraft launched 44 years ago and now the most distant human-made object in space – still works and zooms toward infinity.
The craft has long since zipped past the edge of the solar system through the heliopause – the solar system’s border with interstellar space – into the interstellar medium. Now, its instruments have detected the constant drone of interstellar gas (plasma waves), according to Cornell University-led research published in Nature Astronomy.
Examining data slowly sent back from more than 14 billion miles away, Stella Koch Ocker, a Cornell doctoral student in astronomy, has uncovered the emission. “It’s very faint and monotone, because it is in a narrow frequency bandwidth,” Ocker said. “We’re detecting the faint, persistent hum of interstellar gas.”
This work allows scientists to understand how the interstellar medium interacts with the solar wind, Ocker said, and how the protective bubble of the solar system’s heliosphere is shaped and modified by the interstellar environment.
Launched in September 1977, the Voyager 1 spacecraft flew by Jupiter in 1979 and then Saturn in late 1980. Travelling at about 38,000 mph, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause in August 2012.
After entering interstellar space, the spacecraft’s Plasma Wave System detected perturbations in the gas. But, in between those eruptions – caused by our own roiling sun – researchers have uncovered a steady, persistent signature produced by the tenuous near-vacuum of space.
“The interstellar medium is like a quiet or gentle rain,” said senior author James Cordes, the George Feldstein Professor of Astronomy. “In the case of a solar outburst, it’s like detecting a lightning burst in a thunderstorm and then it’s back to a gentle rain.”
David Hogg Quits Good Pillow Project Designed to Rival Mike Lindell’s MyPillow
Gun control advocate David Hogg announced that he is resigning from Good Pillow in order to focus on activism and his college studies.
In a series of tweets Hogg, 20, said he had stepped away from the pillow company that he planned to be “progressive competition” for MyPillow CEO and vocal conspiracy theorist, Mike Lindell.
On Saturday, Hogg thanked his Good Pillow partner William LeGate and said he would focus on his college studies and gun control activism.
He said: “Effective immediately, I have resigned and released all shares, any ownership and any control of Good Pillow LLC. I want to thank his partnership and wish him absolutely nothing but success with the future of Good Pillow.”
Hogg continued: “Over the next several months, I will be taking some time to focus on my studies in college and advance the gun violence prevention movement with March for Our Lives and personally.”
Effective immediately, I have resigned and released all shares, any ownership and any control of Good Pillow LLC. I want to thank Will for his partnership and wish him absolutely nothing but success with the future of Good Pillow.
The Harvard University student added he could not “give 100% to being a full time co-founder” and that he would “allow William to bring our vision to life without me.”
LeGate replied to Hogg’s multi-tweet statement: “It has been a pleasure working with you, David.
“I cannot wait to see what you do in the future and we will be sending you pillows from the first batch.”
No Good Pillow products have yet been sold by the new company. Pre-sales will be processed “very soon” with shipping “currently scheduled” to start in July, according to LeGate.
More Guns, Less… Suicides? In 2020, That Was The Case
This is incredibly counterintuitive, but it appears that suicides actually *fell* during 2020. And it wasn't an insignificant fall, either. Not at all what many – including myself – expected.
Some very early thoughts:
https://t.co/ZNOQK8KX0G @JAMANetwork
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) April 5, 2021
(3) Suicides dropped despite unprecedented rises in gun sales generally, and in first time gun owners specifically. This seems to once again underscore the complex relationship between guns and suicide. It's not necessarily the case that more guns = more suicide. Never has been.
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) April 5, 2021
Is there nothing sacred anymore?
Pepsi and Peeps Have Joined Forces to Create Marshmallow Soda
Spring is in the air and Easter is just a week and a half away, which means we are well past due for an insane new Peeps flavor—but this year, they’re making a splash in soda form.
In the most unlikely collaboration since Ed Sheeran and Andrea Bocelli, Peeps has partnered with Pepsi to create Marshmallow Cola, which comes in a three-pack of cute little 7.5-oz. cans. Sadly, these won’t be available on grocery store shelves this year, but fans can enter the sweepstakes to win some by hashtagging “#HangingWithMyPEEPS” on their social media photos.
More specifically, the prompt tells you to share photos enjoying your favorite springtime activities—”in a safe, socially distant manner,” of course.
The cans come in blue, pink, and yellow, although there is no difference in flavor. We got a first taste of the drink and can confirm that it does, in fact, taste like marshmallows—with a flavor that’s vaguely reminiscent of Lucky Charms.
The originals were 90% silver, the standard ‘coin’ silver. By law these have to be a minimum of 90% too, but reports are that the mint will use the .999% blanks that are used today for the Silver Eagle bullion coins.
2021 Morgan and Peace Silver Dollar Designs and Mint Marks
The United State Mint unveiled designs for the 2021 Morgan and Peace centennial silver dollars. They also revealed where they will be made and how many mint and privy marks will be used
Authorized under Public Law 116-286, the 1921 Silver Dollar Coin Anniversary Act, the U.S. Mint will strike the silver dollars in recognition of the 100th anniversary in 2021 of the production transition from Morgan dollars to Peace dollars.
Bigfoot bounty grows to more than $2 million
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s bounty on Bigfoot has grown to nearly $2.1 million mere weeks after a state lawmaker proposed a controversial bill to allow capturing of the mythical creature.
State Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, said it doesn’t matter that his legislative measure never made it out of committee. It did exactly what he intended it to do — promote interest and tourism in his heavily wooded district in Southeast Oklahoma that reportedly boasts the ninth most sightings in the world of the legendary ape-like creature.
Humphrey said he initially thought he’d have to go through the state wildlife department to issue hunting licenses for Bigfoot, but quickly discovered the state tourism department can issue tracking permits since the intent is not to kill or injure the elusive beast.
Now he’s working with state tourism officials to set up rules for Bigfoot enthusiasts who want to participate in Oklahoma’s “Sasquatch Quest.”
The No. 1 rule — Sasquatchers must capture Bigfoot unharmed and can’t injure anyone else or break any laws in the process.
So, Daleks are taking over?
Crime-fighting robot patrols Las Vegas apartment complex
How would you like a robot warning you that you are violating a curfew regulation?
A security robot is helping to transform a noisy northeast Las Vegas Valley apartment complex into a quieter, more peaceful place to live, says a manager.
“Westy” has been patrolling the grounds at the 1,129-unit Liberty Village apartment complex, just outside the southwest corner of Nellis Air Force Base, since October. It is believed to be the first such use of a security robot at a Las Vegas apartment complex.
Officially known as a Knightscope MIN31KS, the human-sized autonomous robot offers a wide variety of security measures including four-camera video recording, facial recognition, license plate reading, verbal warnings, a telephone-like connection with human security officers and a presence that helps deter improper activity.
Something of interest for the folks down south.
How Colombia’s drug cartels almost bought a Soviet submarine.
In 2019, footage of a U.S. Coast Guard interdiction of a homemade drug smuggling submarine took the world by storm, and for good reason. As we watched one of the baddest dudes we’re ever apt to see anywhere outside of a movie pounding on the hatch of the mostly submerged sub, many of us were shocked to learn that drug cartels actually have their own submarines.
What may surprise you more is that these amateur submarines were really a consolation prize for drug smugglers out of Colombia. Their first choice? An actual Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine. What’s even crazier, however, is that the Russians seemed to be more than happy to sell them one.
‘Zombie’ greenhouse gas lurks in permafrost beneath the Arctic Ocean
Millions of tons of organic carbon and methane beneath the Arctic Ocean thaw out and ooze to the surface each year. And climate change could speed up this release of greenhouse gases, new research suggests.
The carbon tied up in organic matter and methane (a carbon atom bound to four hydrogen atoms) are currently trapped in subsea permafrost, which is frozen sediment that became covered by 390 feet (120 meters) of seawater toward the end of the Paleolithic ice age about 1,800 to 1,400 years ago, according to the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS). Most subsea permafrost sits on the continental shelf under the Arctic Ocean, said study author Sayedeh Sara Sayedi, a doctoral student in the department of plant and wildlife science at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City.