To Inhabit the Solar System

Dr. Anthony Zuppero has managed to find a way that we could affordably make the push into outer space and get to inhabit the solar system. A physicist, he’s got the whole thing calculated out, this guy is the real deal. He’s written a very very readable book about his undertaking, which you can download for free in PDF form.

How does he do it? He uses a simple steam rocket which can haul immense loads of water (which is everywhere in the solar system – there are loads of near earth objects (comets / asteroids) and moons – even our own) with a massive crew area made out of water. It’s a serously interesting exploration through one man’s career and the troubles he ran into, as well as the triumphs of discovering that we can actually leave our planet, if we want to.

neofuel home page.

Thought control: now with letters

Using ECoG (electrocorticography) and overlaying electrodes directly on the surface of the brain, scientists can record reactions when letters are flashed on a screen and then play back the letters when that thought pattern is brought up. It’s around 8 letters per minute, but it’s something.

There’s also a piece where they translate thought patterns into music. An interesting article.

By Thought Alone: Mind Over Keyboard | h+ Magazine.

Predator UAV feeds unencrypted

It looks like the Iranians have found out that the video feeds  from Predator drones are in some cases unencrypted and can be tapped into using a $26,- program called Skygrabber.

FOXNews.com – Iranian-Backed Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones.

Now it turns out that the ROVER system, a hand held video system for infantry, also recieves unencrypted video from all kinds of airborne sources, from U2’s to Harriers, Tornado’s, F-15’s, F-16’s, etc. And can be tapped in the same way.

Gizmodo

Now this is nothing new – some guy was tapping into unencrypted military satellite feeds during the Iraqi wars – and is due in part to bandwidth limitations: the militaries are huge bandwidth hogs and there just isn’t enough to go around for all the tasks they’d like to use, let alone if it was all encrypted.

The question is, can Skygrabber tap targetted drones or is it a haphazard affair?

Oh dear – More Climategate!

Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations.

The data of stations located in areas not listed in the Hadley Climate Research Unit Temperature UK (HadCRUT) survey often does not show any substantial warming in the late 20th century and the early 21st century.

The HadCRUT database includes specific stations providing incomplete data and highlighting the global-warming process, rather than stations facilitating uninterrupted observations.

On the whole, climatologists use the incomplete findings of meteorological stations far more often than those providing complete observations.

via Climategate goes SERIAL: now the Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming – Telegraph Blogs.

Type n Walk

Finally! In the right direction! Someone has changed email ‘n walk to type ‘n walk, which allows you to type whilst you walk, then copy the text and then paste it into your application. Which is not quite the same as answering your SMS messages directly, but is getting there…

Home (Type n Walk).

UK – defend your home, get put in jail

If your family is kidnapped and tied up in your own home and you manage to escape, would you beat the living shit out of the guy who did it?

This guy did and he’s just been sentenced to 30 months jail time, whilst the kidnapper gets off completely free!

The UK is going to pot quickly, but these kind of rulings are ridiculous, even by their standards.

Millionaire Munir Hussain who fought off a knife-wielding burglar is jailed (while the intruder is let off) | Mail Online.

Why sex offender lists are a bad idea

Not only do they indicate that as a government you think the punitive system you have in place (prison) doesn’t work as a reformation aid, it also says the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Worst of all, there are allways borderline cases, such as this one, where a 17 year old got put on the registry for having admitted consensual sex with his 15 year old girlfriend due to a spiteful mother. Now even the mother doesn’t agree with the amount of hassle and persecution this guy has to put up with due to the stigma of being on this list.

Young Pittsfield Township man struggles with sex offender label – AnnArbor.com.