Time marches on since the Green Tokyo Gundam Project built a full scale statue of a Gundam in Tokyo, Japan. Even though the original anime dates back to 1979, seeing a project like this come to life is really exciting for an anime fan like myself.
Tags: gundam
In the crazy mixed-up world of modern tech, it was perhaps inevitable that we’d wind up with Verizon making a television.
The company is reported to be partnering with Motorola to make an Android-fuelled tablet device, with the key selling point being TV viewing. According to the Financial Times, that will be based around a connection with Verizon’s fiber-optic digital cable TV system (pictured). It’s no coincidence that Motorola manufactures the Verizon set-top boxes.
As is becoming standard for Android tablets, the Motorola device will have several features missing from the iPad, including cameras, a form of tethering, and support for Flash. The report also says it will be thinner and lighter than the iPad. It’ll be interesting to see if that’s done through better engineering or simply a lower capacity battery.
From a British perspective, I have to say that TV services don’t feel like a major missing feature on the iPad. That’s because the biggest TV network has an on-demand website accessible on the device, while a somewhat less official site broadcasts all the over-the-air digital channels live. Of course, that will differ from market to market.
Having full and legal support for TV services would certainly be a selling point for the Motorola device. That said, tying it to Verizon does immediately limit the breadth of the appeal as the TV features would be of no use to something like 75% of Americans.
It’ll also be well worth Google’s marketing department keeping an eye on the gadget. If TV services on a tablet prove appealing, an Android device running Google TV (a specially modified version of the Chrome browser that applies Google’s search technology to TV listings and brings TV and internet broadcasts together) would seem a no-brainer.
Kudos to the artist who had the decency of not including Jar Jar Binks in there. Speaking of Jar Jar Binks, the only correct way to present him as a food item is with an apple in his mouth.
[Via Flickr]
While it looks like this aluminium foil ship is floating on nothing but thin air, it is in fact kept above ground by some sulphur hexafluoride, a gas that is significantly denser than air. It is also interesting to note that when inhaled, sulphur hexafluoride will make your voice sound much deeper than it usually is.
[Via]
Flickr user Agent RayBans loves Stormtroopers. I mean, just look at his Flickr page and you’ll understand why right away. He loves them so much that he decided to replace the old hood ornament on his Buick Park Avenue with the head of a Stormtrooper. Check it out:
When I asked him where he took the head for the ornament and how he installed it, here’s what he replied:
The main component of my hood ornament is made from the head off of a McDonald’s toy. If you search online, it’s the one of a Stormtrooper driving a wind-up AT-AT. I removed the head from the rest of the toy, making sure to take out the spring that made the head bobble. I then filled the hollow head with resin, and drilled a hole into it that would serve as the mounting point. After I sanded the head with fine grit sand paper, making sure it was extra smooth, I painted the head metallic silver.
Next I removed the existing hood ornament from my car, which took some finesse and elbow grease. I removed the Buick emblem, but made sure to keep the base that actually mounted to the car. I then bought a nut and bolt from the local hardware store. I pushed the bolt up through the hole in the base of the old hood ornament, and screwed the nut down to hold the bolt in place. Then, finally, I screwed the Stormtrooper head down onto the bolt into the hole I had drilled earlier. Once that was done, I mounted it onto my car. Tada!
Great job Agent RayBans! That new ornament looks totally fabulous! But now I’ve got one question for you: Can that old Park Avenue make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs?
BP’s name may be mud in environmental circles, but that’s also its latest tactic in the plan to permanently end the biggest accidental oil spill in history.
The company is today beginning efforts to stem the flow of oil, which has so far released the equivalent of 4.9 million barrels of liquid, through a technique which, in concept at least, is remarkably simple.
To date BP has tried several measures to control the situation, all appearing somewhat primitive. Then again, it’s arguable that it’s the scale of the spill that’s causing the complexity rather than the task of plugging the leak itself.
One major tactic to stop the leak (rather than merely control what happened to the oil) was the “junk shot”. The company fired debris such as golf balls and shredded car tires into the well at high pressure in an attempt to clog up the exit. That was considered a longshot, and proved unsuccessful.
Another technique was the use of a cofferdam: a giant dome lowered over the leak to try to keep it under control. That failed to work because of a build up of crystallized gas.
Now the phrases being bandied about are the “top kill”, “static kill” and “bottom kill”. The top and bottom simply refer to where in the well the stemming is attempted.
Explained simply, the static top kill, which the company is attempting this week, is simply a variant on the junk shot, using mud and possible concrete to try to clog up the well.
Art Berman, a geological consultant, writes at the Oil Drum website that the technique isn’t quite as simple as has been described. Contrary to some reports, the mud won’t be continuously pumped into the well until the oil is pushed back. Instead it will be done in stages, with each set of mud sinking to the bottom of the well before some of the oil is allowed to go back up to the surface to reduce the pressure.
Bertman also notes that a bottom kill would be safer as there would be less pressure at the head of the well and thus less risk of rupturing the casing. But he explains that time constraints mean the top kill is the better option, as long as those involved realize they may have to put the kibosh on the scheme if the danger of a rupture begins to emerge.
If the static top kill doesn’t do the trick, there may be no option other than to fall back on the ongoing work to build two extra wells to ease the pressure on the ruptured well and remove the oil in a more controlled fashion.
In the following video, the folks from Mythbusters show you exactly how easy it is to beat a simple fingerprint security system, provided that you have access to an approved finger imprint, of course!
In this case, “Sarcastic Man” would be more suited I guess, but it would unfortunately break the theme of the cartoon.
[Via]