No Future? Know Future!

Bay Area Space and Science Events for the week of 2/5/12-2/11/12

2012-02-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

Bay Area Space and Science Events for the week of 2/5/12-2/11/12

Bay Area Science Festival to host Saturday Night Star Party.

2011-11-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Star parties are being held at 20 sites in the bay area. Many will have cloudy sky activities if the weather is bad.

Bay Area Science Festival to host Saturday Night Star Party.

Visit NASA exhibits at the Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Days Event

2011-11-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

Please check out my examiner.com article about Sunday's Science Festival Event at AT&T Park.

Visit NASA exhibits at the Bay Area Science Festival Discovery Days Event

World's first manned flight with an electric multicopter (HD 720p)

2011-11-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

November is National Blog posting Month!

2011-11-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

So stand by for blog posts.... about things. Honestly I have no idea what will turn up here but I promise it will be something new every day!

2011-09-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Check out this fantastic video of space shuttle Atlantis being prepared for its final fight.

Maker Faire on PBS New Hour

2011-06-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

Miles O'Brien did a News Hour piece on Maker Faire.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

The Latest in Hobby Robotics 11

2011-06-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

SpaceshipTwo feather flight test

2011-05-18T21:47:00.000-07:00

Awesome video of SpaceshipTwo's first feather flight test.

Spaceflight Now | STS-134 Shuttle Report | Countdown begins anew for shuttle Endeavour's launch

2011-05-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

Spaceflight Now | STS-134 Shuttle Report | Countdown begins anew for shuttle Endeavour's launch

Back to Tomorrowland!

2011-03-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

In honor of my upcoming trip to Dinsneyland I present one of the lost rides... The Flying Saucers!

Are Flying Cars almost here?

2011-03-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

A company called Terrafugia (which means "flee the Earth") is claiming that its new "Roadable Airplane" will be available next year. The plane, which is called the Transition, can be driven to an airport and the wings can be extended in 20 seconds.
You can read more about it at http://www.slate.com/id/2287738/

NASA Launches 2011 Nationwide Technology Space Competition

2011-02-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

NASA Launches 2011 Nationwide Technology Space Competition

2011-02-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

NASA's Robonaut2 is set to fly to the International Space Station on the next Space shuttle mission. It also correctly picked the MVP in Sunday's Superbowl.

Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

Shuttle infograph on Space.com

2011-02-02T18:45:00.000-08:00

As a tribute to the final shuttle flights happening this year Space.com has posted this wonderful infograph about NASA's fleet of Space Shuttle Orbiters.

Source Space.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

New York Times examines Smithsonian's Space Suit collection.

2010-12-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

I've always been fascinated by spacesuits. "Have Spacesuit Will Travel," was the first Robert Heinlein book I read and I chose it based solely on the cover. The New York Times has a piece about The Smithsonian Institute's collection of Spacesuits. Some were worn by famous astronauts and some were prototypes that never made it into space. The Smithsonian is putting together a traveling exhibition about the suits.
Sadly it will consist mostly of full-sized images and x-rays of the suits because they are too delicate to travel. Be sure to check out the accompanying image galleries and videos at the link, there's an interactive x-ray on an Apollo suit that is especially good.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/science/21spacesuit.html

Robots!

2010-05-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

This video from Eclectic Method centers on R2D2 but features a lot of famous TV and Movie Robots. How many can you name?

Eclectic Method - Robots from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Make: Online : Handcar Regatta vehicles get the art treatment

2010-03-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

Vehicles, artwork and props from last fall's HandCar Regatta are on display at the Sonoma State Art Gallery through April 4th. This year's Regatta will be held Sept. 26 at Santa Rosa's historic Railroad Square.

Make: Online : Handcar Regatta vehicles get the art treatment

Geek Peek: Disney Parks To Debut R2-MK This Spring

2010-01-25T21:50:00.001-08:00

Geek Peek: Disney Parks To Debut R2-MK This Spring

Posted using ShareThis

Steam powered Biplane from 1933

2010-01-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

In 1933 a biplane flew at the Oakland airpont using a 150 hp two cylinder steam engine. Who says airships are the only steampunk form of air transport?

ComBots Cup IV, A Fighting Robots Competition

2009-12-03T19:46:00.001-08:00

ComBots Cup IV, A Fighting Robots Competition

Posted using ShareThis

Steam punk Month on Tor.com

2009-10-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

October is Steam Punk month on Tor.com. Check out the fiction, articles, giveaways and other cool things going on.

Make: Online : Cellular Mitosis

2009-09-30T18:29:00.001-07:00

Make: Online : Cellular Mitosis

Shared via AddThis
Celluar biology has seldom looked so tasty!

Auto-Tune the Sciences

2009-09-30T18:25:00.001-07:00

Auto-Tune the Sciences

Posted using ShareThis

Steam-Powered Car Sets New Speed Record

2009-08-25T12:34:00.001-07:00

Steam-Powered Car Sets New Speed Record

Posted using ShareThis

Your Apollo Anniversary Experience

2009-07-20T12:58:00.001-07:00

Your Apollo Anniversary Experience

Posted using ShareThis

Please Stand By....

2009-07-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

I'm making some adjustments on the old blog. I'm hoping to get back to posting on a more regular basis. I'm trying to get Know Future back to its original intent of contrasting the future we were promised with the one we are likely to get. More whimsical post (which seem to be about either British Sci-Fi or cake will be spun off into their very own Blog... Tea and Cake or Daleks! Click on the title to go there (although there is not much there there.)

Maker Faire 2009

2009-06-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

I went to the Maker Faire on Sunday.
the r/c naval battles were back again and were very popular.
Also back in force were the steampunks, and about any kind of robot you could imagine.

The R2d2 builders have several full-sized Artoos in various stages of completion. There were also a number of Telsa coils on display. The UC Santa Cruz physics department put on a very fun show with their tesla coil.

ROBOT - POLICE AUTOMATON PLAN SCIENCE AND INVENTION MAGAZINE 1924

2009-04-28T22:43:00.001-07:00

ROBOT - POLICE AUTOMATON PLAN SCIENCE AND INVENTION MAGAZINE 1924
Originally uploaded by Senor Roboto

Before Robocop, Futurecop or Holmes and Yo-Yo there was this Radio Police Automaton. Don't Tase me bot!

Cal Day is three days away!

2009-04-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

April 18th is Cal Day, the University of California at Berkeley's open house. Many of UCB's classrooms, libraries, laboratories and museums will be open to the public. In adition to tours of area usually not open to the public there are lectures, demonstrations and events for children and prosective students. Click on the title to go to the offical Cal Day website for a full schedule and hints for planning your day.

Maker Faire UK

2009-03-17T21:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a BBC report on the recent Maker Faire in Newcastle.

Make TV goes steampunk

2009-01-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

Maker Profile - Steampunk on MAKE: television from make magazine on Vimeo.
The DIY philosophy of Make TV meshes well with steampunk so its no surprise that they're featuring the creator of the steampunk keyboard and other items.

New year, new Doctor

2009-01-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

Matt Smith won't officially take over the TARDIS until 2010 but he was unveiled today as David Tennant's replacement. click on the video to see an extended interview with the 11th actor to play The Doctor. I'm taking a wait and see attitude about this. The Docotr just keeps getting younger and younger.

OH Dalek Tree, Oh Dalek Tree !

2008-12-21T19:17:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable Dalek Christmas Tree from Lindsey J. Testolin on Vimeo.
Oh please don't ex-ter-min-ate me!

Dancing R2D2 Chorus line

2008-12-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

Spiker is Australian for robot

2008-11-08T08:06:00.000-08:00

Actually, SPIKER stands for Special Purpose IED Killer Experimental Robot. I think Spiker is a cool name (especially when said with an Aussie accent) but does the Ministry of Defense really want the words "Killer Experimental Robot" in their robot's name? Click on the post title to read more.

Yet more Geeky Cake

2008-10-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

No matter where I go on the web I can't seem to stay away from cakes (I have the same problem in real life!). WEburbanist has a round-up of 20 geeky cakes. Click on the post title to go there.

War of the worlds flash Game!

2008-09-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Jeff Wayne's musical adaptation of "War of the Worlds", This flash game is like a steampunk version of Missile Command! The little victorian humans have rocket launchers, how cool is that!

LHC Rap

2008-09-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

Confused about CERN's new Large Hadron Collider? Click on the video above and watch in awe as Alpinekat drops rythmes and knowledge..... Word!

Follow in Neil and Buzz's footsteps without leaving Earth (or the Bay Area)

2008-08-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

Want to follow in the footsteps of the first men on the moon but can't afford your own space program or even a ticket to Florida or Houston? Never fear,
the Bay Area has its very own piece of Apollo history right in the city of Alameda (Yes, the same Alameda the Enterprise crew trekked to in search of "nuclear wessels" but that's another story).
The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Hornet served as the recovery ship for both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12. The ship is now open as a floating history museum and holds several NASA related exhibits on its spacious hanger deck including an Apollo Command Module and an Airstream trailer which served as an isolation housing unit for the astronauts after their return to Earth.
For more information about the U.S.S. Hornet, click on this post's title for a link to the ship's website.

Mmmmm.... more Cake!

2008-08-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

Over on the B-side blog there's a story about an amazing R2-D2 cake one really cool dad ordered for his 4 year old's birthday Click one the title to go to the posting. Scroll down to the bottom of the article for an update which include photos of the cake at the party!
Wow, I've seen R2 cakes before but this is the best one I've seen. and before you go "Shouldn't it be Blue?", read the second post where the red color is explained. While I think that maybe the whole "extreme cake" trend has gone too far (and for that I blame the Food Network) I do love robots and cake so it's all good!
Did I mention my birhtday is next month?

Happy 4th of July!!!

2008-07-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

Belated Maker Faire post

2008-07-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to post the pics I took at maker faire. If youv'e never been imagine a craft show, science fair, robot combat meet, renfair with bits of burning man and steampunks madness thrown in.It's the only place I know you can see fighting robots, fighting r/c battleships, story-telling blacksmiths,and a life-size game of Mouse-trap all in the same day.

Iron man in Spaaaaccee !!!!

2008-05-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Marvel.com reports that one of the astronauts on the international space station will get to watch the Iron Man movie IN ORBIT! Lucky him. hopefully it will help distract him from the fact that the station's only toilet is broken. click on the post title for a link to Marvel's press releas- oops, news story.

Real life powered armor

2008-05-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

With all the hype surrounding the Iron Man movie there have been alot of stories about real life attempts to make powered armor. While a flying red and gold suit with repulsor gauntlets is still a ways off, there does seem to be progress on the exoskeleton front. Hack-a-day has a pretty good survey of the history of exosuits.
Click on the title to go to their post.

Star Trek Meets Monty Python

2008-04-18T09:41:00.001-07:00

More Camelot!!

Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Lego

2008-04-13T15:26:00.001-07:00

By request, here's an oldie but goodie!

Mmmmm.... Cake!

2008-04-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

<" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="373">
Nearly everyone loves cake and apparently there's a lot of people out there making geeky cakes.
Science junkies.com has compiled the slide show above and you can view their post about it by clicking on the title.

Three Words

2008-04-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

Giant Flying Robot.
I'm not sure if hulu is ever going to rival Youtube but where else are you going to find "Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot? There's also the old Irwin Allen shows such as "Lost in Space", "Time Tunnel" and "Land of the Giants". Ever curious about "Firefly?? It's here as well as all three flavors of Galactica (current, classic and the dreaded "1980"). Missed the live action version of "The Tick"? The whole series is here. http://www.hulu.com/the-tick.
Maybe this will all crash and burn but in the meantime you can probably find something interesting to watch. http://www.hulu.com/

The box is locked the lights are on ...could it be robot fighting time again?

2008-03-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

Like alot of people my first exposure to fighting robots was through the Comedy Central series "Battle Bots". Popular Mechanics reports that battlebots will return this time on ESPN.(Click on the title to go to the article). Plans are for both a college and a pro event to be held this November. Watch this space for more details as they become available.

New iron man poster

2008-03-07T18:38:00.001-08:00

Mania.com posted this version of the Iron Man movie poster. Click on the post title to go to their article. The more I see about this movie the more I want to see it. Only time will tell if the actual movie is any good but the trailers have been excellent.No gimmicks, no viral marketing, no references to nonexistant slushy beverages just interesting clips,some good throway lines and a bit of Ozzy to top things off!

Npr discovers Steampunk!

2008-02-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

All things Considered did a brief story on the "new" asthetic known as Steampunk...um took them long enough.

Popular mechanics rates the Terminators

2008-01-26T13:29:00.000-08:00

Were you wondering which Terminator was the strongest, fastest and smartest? Me either but someone over at PM has given the matter a lot of thought. I've watched thr first few episodes of the Sarah Conor Chronicles but unless it gets better soon I'm out.Anyway, in Califonia Synet has already won. After manipulating the California electricity market and triggering a recall election, Skynet has placed a T-800 in the Governor's mansion!

Dalek cookies!

2007-10-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

I want them, I want them now.

Son of the space age

2007-10-04T12:54:00.000-07:00

To call Richard Garriott an interesting person is an understatement. He's the son of an astronaut, a pioneer in computer game development and an eccentric multi-millionaire. not only does he have his own castle (in Austin, Texas of all places!) but he owns his own Sputnik!

extermanknits!

2007-10-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

They're cute... they're cuddly... they're... Daleks? Some crafty whovian with knitting skills finely honed after years of scarf making has perfected the yarn Dalek. click on the title to go to the site for instructions to make your own.

Mars Is Amazing

2007-10-03T21:16:00.001-07:00

Very funny "history" of the Red planet

Dalek Halloween Pumpkin

2007-09-14T19:59:00.001-07:00

Just in time for halloween it's the Great Pumpkin dalek!
If you want to build your own go to http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/DalekPumpkin
for instructions. for more fun things you can do with pumpkins go here http://www.worldchampionshippunkinchunkin.com/main.htm

R2S2 - The Steam Powered R2D2 Robot from Crabfu

2007-09-05T22:36:00.001-07:00

R2 goes steampunk!

How to scar your child for life Part2

2007-09-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

When told that they would not be allowed to name their child 4Real a New Zealand couple named him superman instead. that'll show em. Click on the title for the Telegraph's story.Years from now I can picture the follow conversation.

Kid 1 : So what's your name?
Kid 2: Superman
Kid 1 : for real?
Kid:2 naw' that's what they wanted to name me but the government wouldn't let them

My favorite part of the article is the list of real weird names mostly the kids of celeberties. AS if these kids don't have it tough already, they have to go through life as Kal-el or Apple.

Daleks invade Manchester!

2007-09-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

Actually it was just a bunch of fans trying to set a world record. Click on the title for the full flicker set and links to news stories on this event.
Notice how most of the crowd is up a small flight of stairs from the Daleks. Obviously they haven't seen the last three seasons of Dr. Who! Extertminate! Exterminate!

How to scar your child for life

2007-09-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

Are the thousands of baby name books on the market not enough for you? Then by all means click on the title and read all about the new "Sci-Fi" baby names book.
But if twenty years from now, after a childhood of nonstop ridicule, your child writes the country and western hit "A boy named Slartibartfast" don't say I didn't warn you.

That's no Moon! That's a space station!

2007-08-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the one on the the top left is really Mimas, one of the inner moons of Saturn. The thing on its right side that looks like the Death Star's weapon is an Impact crater named Herschel.

Battlebots: Patent Infringment edition!

2007-08-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

iRobot, makers of the Roomba are suing Robotic FX, claiming that the company's Negotiator tactical robot is a ripoff of iRobot's military packbot. iRobot also claims that robotic Fx's founder, a former iRobot employee, violated nondisclosure and noncompeting clauses of his contract. The best part of the story (which you can read by clicking on the post's title) is the part where iRobot demands that all existing Negotiators be turned over to it "for destruction". I say if you're gonna destroy robots at least make it interesting. Let's put the packbots and negotiators in an arena, arm them to the teath and may the best robot win!

R2-D2 spotted in Berkeley

2007-08-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Back in the spring the USPS dressed mailboxes across the country as everybody's
favorite astromech droid. I figured they would be long gone by now but as of last week Artoo was still faithfully accepting may. fittingly, he occupies the same block as a comic shop And The Other Change of Hobbit science fiction book store.

Roads? Where we're going we don't need Roads

2007-08-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

One last Back to The Future post and I'll let it go... promise. Just as The BTTF ride is about to go dark things seem a little brighter for the Delorean. It seems that partly due to the films the car has gained a small but loyal following. How loyal? Loyal enough to make a Texas company mull building new ones. Click on the Title to read the story. Sounds cool but I think I'll wait until flight capabilities and Mr. fusion come standard.

Back To The Future: The Ride

2007-08-16T16:15:00.001-07:00

In honor of the soon to be late ride I present the video. Maybe if you fullscreen it and rock back and forth in your chair it will be just like the ride!

Back to no future!

2007-08-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

The blog is back, just in time to mourn the closing of the Back to the Future Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. The ride goes dark after Labor Day to make way for a Simpsons ride. Click on the title for the news. Okay, I like the Simpsons, and yes Back to the Future the ride is getting a bit... dated but is it really smart to replace a 14 year old ride with a new one based on an 18 year old TV show? and a Fox one at that? Maybe Universal should base a ride on one of there hits of the past year or so... Oh wait, they don't have any!

The doctor is on-line!

2005-05-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

A London hospital is testing a tele-presence robot which allows doctors to make rounds and see patients from a remote location (say, home or the golf course or... maybe a call centre in Bangalore). Okay, first the bedside manner goes... now docs don't even have to come to the bedside! The question is will patients line up to sbe seen by a moblie tv screen? Given the state of the English health service... probably. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4555555.stm

Inventor of the K ration dies at 100

2004-11-24T15:06:00.001-08:00

Obituaries often make for intersting reading. Not only did the guy develop the "K" ration during WWII, he even found a use for Conscientious objectors, as subjects in one of the first controlled studies of starvation. After the war he was among the first scientists to sutdy the link between cholestral and heart disease. Since he lived to be a 100, maybe he knew what he was talking about. He was also Lon Chaney's nephew.

Inventor of the K ration dies at 100

2004-11-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

One place in Europe We're still Appreciated

2004-11-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

Not that I'm planning a trip to Europe anytime soon but if I do go, I might make a side trip to Bastone.

Snakes! why did it have to be snakes?

2004-11-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

Last year I read a stow aobut how nile monitors were turning up in the Everglades, apparently now its Burmese pythons popping up. Well, on the upside, at least the the alligators have something new to eat. click on title for the article.

The xprize is over. Long live the X-cup!

2004-10-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Looks like the folks behing the x-prize are trying to turn it into an annual competition.http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/05/spaceshipone.race.ap/index.html

SpaceshipOne claims X-prize

2004-10-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it's over. Spaceship flew successfully this morning winning the X-prize. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/04/spaceshipone.attempt.cnn/index.html
Mad props to Alien for sending me the story.

Trouble down on the ant farm

2004-10-02T07:55:00.002-07:00

We hear lots of stories of native species getting crowed out by exoctic "invasive" species. Here's one where local bugs got the better of a museum's prized colony of army ants. And shame on those enytomologists for not understanding how badass dermistids are. They work in a frick'n natural history museum whe dermistids are both a tool for cleaning bones and a meance because the eat nearly everything else. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/02/MNG4M92UQC1.DTL

Trouble down on the ant farm

2004-10-02T07:55:00.001-07:00

Trouble down on the ant farm

2004-10-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

X-prize: One down, one to go!

2004-09-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

SpaceshipOne made the first of two planned flights towards the X-prize. It was successful but a bit scarier than planned. Hopefully the can do something about that roll before Monday. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/09/29/spaceshipone.attempt.cnn/index.html

Space... Virgin Territory?

2004-09-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

Just a few days ahead of spaceship one's try at the x-prize Richard Branson has announced the formation of Virgin Galactic a company which plans to liscense the spaceOne technology to take tourists into space by 2007. Wonder if each seat will have its own tv screen. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3693020.stm

Building a better cockroach

2004-09-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

So now even cockroaches need to worry about being replaced by robots! http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/09/16_full.shtml For a bit more detail and some cool viedo clips go here http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/09/rfull/rfull.html
and to think... a lot of this work is going on 3 floors above me! That's cool as long as none of the roaches (robotic or biological) escape.

Robot menace!

2004-09-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

As long as the concept of the robot has been around there are those who have been fearful of it. robots could steal our jobs, take over the planet, exterminate the human race or even.... beat us at poker? Yep, with the rise of on-line poker comes the suspision that not all the players are human
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6002298/

Maybe Icarus would be a more appropriate name

2004-09-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

Just when the Mars rovers were helping to rehabilitate NASA's pulic image, Genesis had to go muck things up.
The Genesis capsule was suppossed to deploy a parachute and be snagged mid-air by a helicopter. Instead the chute never deployed and capsule hit the desert floor in a 100 mph "hard landing". So now smples which should have been removed in clean room conditions areexposed to the elements. Sure hope these guys saw "The Andromenda Strain." http://genesis.entry.cnn/index.html

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

2004-09-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how I feel about this movie. It could be decent or it could really suck. The web site is kinda interesting and the trailer does look better than the first one I saw. http://www.skycaptain.com/

Faster than a speeding bullet it's a bird it's a plane it's the x-43 scramjet!!!!

2004-09-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

I can remember reading the Guinness Book of records in the elementery school library. Back then my favorite part was the section on the rocket cars which set the land speed record. Now after a hiatus of a few decades air speed records are being broken again.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3613752.stm

Day of the Dolphin

2004-08-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

Remember William Gibson's short story Johnny Mneumonic? Of Course you do! Anyway the story featured an ex-Navy junkie cyborg Dolphin named Jonesy the War-whale. Well, the Navy really does use Dolphins in mine-clearing operations but they're not cyborgs (or junkies either one hopes) anyway here's a pretty picture
http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/articles/military_photos_20048260.asp
For more pics, info and even calendar pages for your desktop go to the Navy's offical site at
http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/index.html

More fun with exoskeletons!

2004-08-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

Just to show that the japanese aren't the only ones working on exoskeletons here's the DARPA funded UC Berkeley BLEEX project http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/bleex.htm

Dommo arrigatto Mr. robotto

2004-08-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Back when I went to NEXTFEST, there were a lot of demonstrations of Japanese robotic prowess. Of course the most impressive was the Sony Asimo but they also had a "muscle suit" a sort of exoskeleton developed to help disabled people with mobility. You can read more about it at http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/08/09/japan.robots/index.html

They blowed up real good!

2004-08-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

While most of the xprize coverage has focused on the frontrunners Spaceship One and the Canadian Davinci Project, that doesn't mean the other teams are just sitting on their hands. Rubicon 1 had a test flight last week which didn't exactly go as planned. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/09/bc.privaterocket.ap/index.html
learn more about this and other x-prize hijinks athttp://xprize.com/

Taking the rockets out of rocket science

2004-08-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Looks like NASA is finally investigating alternatives to chemical rockets for propulsion http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/12/space.propulsion/index.html
while most of these ideas have been around in one form or another decades actually testing them out to see if they work would be a positive step.

The more things change....

2004-07-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

The last story remined me of something. If you drive through Moutain View on the 101 you will pass Moffit Field a formor Naval Air Station. From The freeway you can see the massive Hanger One, former home of the USS Macon, a 785 ft. long ridgid airship capable of launching and recovering its own fighter aircraft. The tragic history of the Macon is here http://moffetthistoric.arc.nasa.gov/history/history5.html. If we ever do build the Walrus it would be unwise to defer maintenance.

I am the Walrus.. coo-coo-ca choo!

2004-07-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

Darpa is currently taking proposals for project Walrus, a megaairship roughly the size of an aircraft carrier capable of transporting 1,600 troops and between 500-1000 tons of equipment. This beast would be able to reach any trouble spot in the world in 4 days (Eat your heart out Phineas Fogg!). http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.08/start.html?pg=3

Open the pod bay door Hal.

2004-07-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

Way back at the turn of the milliniuem, the Tech Museum had an exhibit comparing contemporary technology with that featured in the movie "2001: A Space Oddessy".
The exhibit itself is long gone but the online version is still up. http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/2001ds/

New Way to space or a bunch of hot air?

2004-07-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

While X prize contenders like Spaceship One and the Davinci Project have grabbed the headlines
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/27/x.prize/index.html
They're not the only ones reaching for the stars. At JP Aeorospace there's a plan to achieve Earth orbit with-- get this, a really big hellium balloon and an ion engine! Well, it has the virture of never having been tried before. The downside? It would take about 5 days to reach Earth orbit (By comparision the Apollo 11 roundtrip took 6 day!). Well check it out, it's definately a novel approach. http://jpaerospace.com/

The blogging craze is offically over!!

2004-07-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've finally jumped on the bandwagon which of course means the parade is over!
Lately I've been pondering how visions of the future are rarely fully realized. From Tomorrowland and World's Fairs of ages past the future just isn't what it used to be. For an example check out this link. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/exhibits/futuristics/index.html