News and commentary concentrating on foreign policy, military affairs and religious matters. And other things that come to mind. Click for Feedburner siteor Smartphone Site
Showing posts with label I gotta get me one of these. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I gotta get me one of these. Show all posts
A FEARLESS daredevil flies through the air like a human missile and smashes through a target which is only two metres wide. Wing-suiter Sebastian Alvarez, 29, heroically jumped from a helicopter above the sprawling metropolis of his hometown, Santiago, Chile, in March this year. And despite travelling at around 124 mph, Alvarez hit the foam target – which was painted with the colours of the Chilean flag – with pinpoint accuracy.
Absolutely zero room for inaccuracy. I was free-fall parachute qualified as a young man, but this is waaaay beyond that. I would love to do this (but not this stunt!) but alas, I am both too old now and don't have the money anyway.
You can pre-order now (only $12,000!) but think twice:
1. It's a big dollop of money that could be put toward either of two real, sure-'nuff aircraft, one a bona fide, high-performance, twin-engine jet or prop and the other the simplest flying machine I have ever seen.
2. And there is this comment left on FB, which does seem like a perceptive comment to me:
I think it's all faked and another "pre-order" scam. You simply can't get that much power out of an electric motor and battery system that size at this time. Similar set-ups (like trolling motors and scuba-tows) can only achieve about 5 mph. Not 25 mph like a 50 Horsepower outboard motor which they claim. Sorry. Not buying it.
If genuine, it would be fun for sure. But even if it is, would I pay 12 large? No way.
But why, oh why, did someone have to invent a "selfie drone"? (I'd be cautious about buying from a site where every review is five star. I mean, every review? Um, nope.)
The design has been around since the 1970s. It is a kit; some owners build them themselves, others pay someone to do it who already knows how. I scanned message boards about the plane and saw that for some reason owners who built it themselves said that it took years to do so. Of course, that's part time and presumably they paid as they went. I assume that a full-time assembler who knew what he was doing would require mere weeks, maybe less.
The plane comes in both propeller and jet. More accurately, the owner decides what propulsion he wants and fits it, within limits of course. It seems that the two jet engines on this model (which I definitely would want) cost about $4,000 each, but what the heck. Commonly, the prop versions only have a few dozen horsepower combined, sometimes as few as 30. And they still cruise at 115 mph.
I learned to fly when I was only 21, but have not piloted an aircraft in many, many years. But jeepers, does this look great!
What is it?
The Flyboard Air is an “independent propulsion unit,” Zapata says, with the ability to fly up to 10,000 feet high. A real-life hoverboard.
How does it work?
It is powered by four engines of 250 horsepower each. Similar to the original Flyboard, the flyer can control the direction of the board with their feet. However, A “logic system” is built into the Flyboard Air containing a series of algorithms to assist the flyer with stabilization. The flyer also wears a backpack full of kerosene, jet fuel, to give them ten minutes of flight time.
One thousand hp is only 200 less than the famous US Navy F4F Wildcat fighter of early World War 2, and 60 hp more than the Wildcat's chief enemy, the fabled Japanese Zero. With 1,000 hp aboard I can well believe the Flyboard will reach 10,000 feet, although with only 10 minutes or so of flight time I sure would not risk it! Also, its top speed of 100 kph (about 62 mph) is more than a vertical, unprotected pilot can withstand. The inventor, Franky Zapata, said he "hit the wall" of forward speed at 55 kph, or about 35 mph.
Fuel duration is of course set by throttle openings, so low altitude and slow speeds yield longer flights than gaining altitude and going fast, just like any other aircraft. Presently, though, the Flyboard Air is not on the market. Zapata says it takes at least 120 hours to learn to fly, which is a lot more than a private pilot's license! It is receiving some attention from the Defense Dept., though. There is also said to be a sit-down version in development.
A programmer got sick of scam recorded calls and emails, so he invaded them. Basically, he developed a program with a completely-human sounding voice to call them back and carry on totally credible, but entirely pointless, conversations with the live scammer on the other end.
And he jammed every number the scam company had, up to hundreds of calls. Typically, the telemarketer folded within 20 minutes.
"I called 100 times on 20 simultaneous channels," he said. "They answered, talked to my bots. Then they started to put my bots on hold. Then they started swearing, shouting to each other about what is going on — I could hear in the background. Then I made 500 calls on 20 simultaneous channels to the number. After 300 phone calls, they disconnected the number."
It took about 15-20 minutes to put them out of business, he said. "I completely annihilated them," he said.
Everyone knows about radio-controlled model aircraft. In the past few years a specialized type of RC aircraft has become increasingly popular. In the military they are called drones. Among hobbyists they are referred to as FPV, First Person View aircraft.
FPV craft have a video camera mounted in the "cockpit" of the model. It transmits live video back to the controller on the ground, who flies the craft using that flight view. The video can also usually be recorded for later playback.
With excellent HD cameras the result can be quite stunning, as here:
I have seen FPV systems more sophisticated that this. The most complex setup I have seen was a plane with the camera mounted on a gymbal with the video projected into a helmet the on-ground pilot wore, seeing the video in the facepiece before his eyes. When the pilot turned his head or looked up or down, the camera rotated accordingly. As you might imagine, this was a very expensive system.
There have been RC aircraft mounting cameras for a long time. But they usually are not considered FPV craft unless the video streams back to the ground station in real time. Some models on the market use your wifi network to stream and you can see the video on your tablet, tilting it to fly the aircraft. (Needless to say, flying these is a short-range proposition.)
FPV prices are dropping. Amazon has an FPV quadcopter (a very stable design) for $288. At lower prices, however, range will be limited (and so will quality, for that matter). Serious hobbyists hand build systems that can stream and be controlled to slant ranges of several thousand feet. This guy even tried to send his plane to the edge of space using a weather balloon, then glide the plane back down.
Here's a list and explanation of possibly the dumbest, most pointless iPhone apps ever conceived. Like this one:
1. iNap@Work
Developer: SilentLogic Studios Price: $0.99
This app promises to generate random office sounds -- mouse clicks, keyboard taps, pencil sharpeners, coughs, and rustling paper -- to give power-nappers some cover. Little sliders are supposed to control your "productivity" level and the frequency of each sound.
In our tests, however, the noises were a little too random to sound convincing. Besides, which is worse: to get caught napping, or to get caught using a lame iPhone app to pretend that you aren't?
This is theBulletFlight app. "It can determine the effects of windage, distance, air pressure, humidity and temperature, which makes dialing in the position of the scope’s crosshairs far easier. Think different, and then take the perfect shot." Just what every plinker needs.
Now, when I was a kid, and my dad was teaching me the secrets of sailing, we used terms like "boiling" or "flying" to describe the vessel's passage through the water. But I don't think the Old Man had this in mind.
When I grow up, I want one of these.
Of course, like any vehicle, one has to be careful. On December 21, 2008, after a first run of 61 knots, the big bird capsized in 35 knot winds gusting 45 knots. Thank God, everyone survived. The crew hopes to have her ready to run in the spring. Long may she run.
The latest entry on my "I gotta get me one of these" category is a submersible speedboat. Popular Science reports,
Nautical engineers have long dreamed of a craft that could race across wave tops like a speedboat and seconds later dive beneath them like a submarine. But crossing the two breeds presents a catch-22: Subs need heft to sink, but speedboats need to be lightweight to go fast. With an investment of nearly $2 million and years of research, former auto-shop owner Reynolds Marion of Lake City, Florida, has finally hit on a solution, a machine he’s dubbed the Hyper-Submersible Powerboat. When complete, it will reach speeds of up to 45 mph and dive down to 1,200 feet.
The sub-speedboat is not the first civilian sub by any means. Luxury submarine yachts have been on the market for years.
Ah, wouldn't it be nice?
(The 300-foot diving depth was for US Gato-class subs. USS Pampanito(SS-383), commissioned in late 1943, was designed to dive safely to 400 feet, although some of its class successfully operated deeper. Herbert Werner, a German U-boat captain in WW2, reported that no one really knew the maximum depth for their submarines, since the only way to find out meant that your hull got crushed immediately afterward. Looking at the picture of the speedboat-sub above, I personally would not want to test its claimed ability to make 1,200 feet below the surface. What might happen at 1,201?)
Former fighter pilot Yves Rossy, 48, accelerated to 186 miles an hour May 14, 2008, over the Swiss Alps during his first public flight while strapped to his self-made, jet-powered wings.
My long time buddy, Jon Miller, sent me a link to the R2 Fish School home page. Jon, an attorney, knows I have a weakness for operant psychology but I don't like rodents; however, I do like trout. Here is how their press release describes their product.
R2 Solutions announces the product release of the R2 Fish School Kit, the world's first complete pet fish training system. Each kit includes an extensive collection of fish training tools, as well as an illustrated manual and DVD that provide step-by-step instructions.
The R2 Solutions development team and noted fish-training expert, Dr. Dean Pomerleau, collaborated to create the R2 Fish School Kit. Dr. Pomerleau decided he wanted to make fish ownership more interactive and fun for his kids. His work focused on using marine mammal training techniques to teach his common goldfish. One of Dr. Pomerleau's fish, named "Albert Einstein", turned out to be a pretty good student. Albert is recognized in the Guinness Book of Records as the fish with the largest repertoire of tricks.
"With the correct tools and the basic promise of a food reward, fish can very quickly learn complex tricks - like the limbo, slalom or playing fetch. Now people in the market for a dog might want to consider a fish instead," Dr. Pomerleau said.
Dr. Pomerleau and the R2 Solutions development team spent the last year testing and developing the ideal tools for fish training. Dr. Pomerleau and his son Kyle host the DVD, which stars "Comet", a common goldfish showing off all his advanced fish trick skills. "When people see the tricks, after the initial disbelief, they want to learn how its done and teach their own fish too," R2 Solutions President Russ Ronat said. "Not only is this product fun, but it also has great educational value."
Now, you can learn the tools of conditioning right in your own living room, with the help of your goldfish. It must be real because The Seattle Times has an article about it.
Perhaps this is what the Foggy Bottom Boys used on Condi when she changed jobs. Everyone knows that life in DC is a fish bowl.
It works like the ground Segway - you lean (but not too far!) in the direction you want to go and the stand-on helicopter flies that direction. Known as the Vertipod, it's not a new idea, being about 50 years old. None of the earlier concepts got off the ground (heh!) but AirBouyant promises to get this machine to both military and civilian market within a short time.
Gizmodo, whence the link, says that the Vertipod "is intended to travel five to 15 feet above ground at a top speed of 40 mph" and will cost about ten large. That's about what it costs to buy a new, no-frills ultralight airplane, which can fly a lot higher and farther and one-fourth faster. But you still need a runway, even if it can be a flat pasture. Anyway, the ultimate in personal flight has always been seen as vertical takeoff, as in from your back yard.
I'd say they should push the Vertipod's ceiling up to 50 feet. Then most of us could fly over obstacles around the manse.
The Hiller Flying Platform of 1955 did fly higher and was very stable. So stable, in fact, that the Army rejected it (and for other reasons).
Hiller also developed a very small, true helicopter that he thought the Air Force could use to enable downed pilots to escape capture.
Another concept from the 50s was the WASP - a jet-powered, one-man platform that could fly up to 10,000 feet.
This site has gone through a few iterations. Archived posts from March 2002 - Aug. 22, 2008 may be found at two URLs on the the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, 2002 and 2003-2008.
This site became active in October 2007 and most of the 2008 posts at the link above are duplicated here. We sometimes transfer earlier posts from the previous sites to this one, but we do not revalidate the links therein. Posts on this site dated before October 2007 are transferred posts.
Posts
