Oceans of Europa: Will the Solar Systems' 1st Extraterrestrial Life be Found There?

Jupiter's Europa. One of the most interesting non-Earth locations in the solar system. Never mind ice and occasional puddles, this moon has entire oceans - and where there's water, we can't help but hope there's life. Recent results show that there are heat sources to drive evolution of such as well, but there's still debate over what's actually going on in there.

Europa has been of interest since we started to suspect it hid water under its frozen crust, attracting the interest of everyone from NASA to Arthur C. Clarke. The widely accepted picture has Europa's rocky core stressed by the Jupiter's gravity. Which is a lot, by the way - at two times ten to the power of twenty-seven kilograms, Jupiter is so massive the SI system doesn't even have a prefix that goes that high.

A hidden ocean, sealed under kilometers of ice, far off in space. That image is so utterly calm you might have fallen asleep while reading it (in which case we apologize for stealing hours of your life), and according to Robert Tyler of the University of Washington it's entirely wrong. He's made mathematical models showing that the secret seas are hugely violent bodies thrown around by the immense mass of Jupiter.

Tyler's model, however, has those massive gravitational forces acting on the oceans directly. The result is truly titanic tides, waves so gigantic they make the Titanic itself look like a speck of sand. His models put the minimum kinetic energy of the flow at seven point three exaJoules. In the standard unit for ridiculous amounts of energy, that's one hundred thousand times the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, or 100 kiloLittleBoys.

The theory is meeting with some resistance, as papers effectively titled "Everything all y'all were saying up to now was wrong" usually do. We won't know either way until we get a closer look at this most interesting of interplanetary destinations. Until then we know one thing: with a theory that involves incredible undersea upheaval, super-nuclear natural disasters and energy sources for potential alien life, if it turns out he isn't right about the science Prof Tyler can always work with Michael Bay.

The key point of contention is the moon's crunchy ice covering. We know that the Jovian moon is coated in kilometers of frozen material, but that sort of handwaving figure can get you in trouble - exactly how many kilometers there are can make all the difference. We believe that the European core is heated by the massive tidal forces applied by Jupiter - but how does that heat radiate into space?

Most scientists believe that the subEuropan seas are locked under tens of kilometers of ice. Heat is then conducted from the warm core by bulk convective motion of ice - huge chunks of frozen material literally carrying the heat away with them as they move up through the icy layer, shuffling and refreezing as they dump heat into space.

Richard Greenberg, a professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, believes that the crust is thin, only a kilometer or so, and heat is carried out by simple conduction - much slower, but providing a constant flow of energy through a relatively fixed underwater region bordering the immense cliffs of ice.

Greenberg does weaken his case by accusing a "Big Ice" cabal of scientists of suppressing his results, holding back his views to favor their own established model. The thing is, when you start talking about a conspiracy against you it doesn't matter if you're right or wrong: you sound a bit crazy. Especially when that "cabal" isn't a hidden core of ultra-billionaires, but probably about twenty guys with tenure who meet twice a year to talk about space moons.

On the upside, it seems the shadowy Europa lobby can't keep him silent and he's published a book, "Unmasking Europa", putting forward his views and setting up the mother of all "I told you so"s if it turns out he's right. Again, he slightly weakens his case by fantasizing an entire Europan ecosystem based on a few flybys of the Galileo probe, and it's not as if popular opinion will actually sway the scientists investigating the issue.

What is important is that such issues do now percolate to the public, one way or another. Science is no longer the preserve of those either rich enough to afford it or trying to build missiles out of it. Beside the cook books and crime novels you can find imaginings of the stars, controversies of the cosmos, and books about the entire universe. Which are slightly more interesting than "Five things you can do with leftovers" by Dolores Housewife.

Posted by Luke McKinney.

Unmasking Europa

Europa 1 - Titan 0

Real Life Centaur? Woman Creates Robotic Horse Legs for Humans

• By Offbeat Mog

We’ve all heard of clothes horses, dark horses and equines named Charlie, but horse legs for humans to wear has got to be a horse of another color if there ever was one, Read all about Seattle artist, Kim Graham, and her latest, one-of-a kind creation.

The beauty and vitality of horses have captivated mankind since time immemorial. Their graceful movements and unfettered energy until now seemed something out of reach, something only to be coveted and admired. Enter Kim Graham, a fine-art sculptor who has dabbled in special effects and fantasy-based mold-making, and while you are there, meet her Digitigrade Leg Extensions, which “give a person the uncanny and graceful appearance of an animal.”

Why would anyone want to resemble an animal when walking? What secret fantasy is being fulfilled here? These are questions not answered by those who admire the otherwise non-outrageous, but totally unique works of art created by talented Kim Graham.

In her own words:

“Granted, they don’t look all that comfortable, though it takes just 10 to 15 minutes of walking to get used to them. The leg extensions work well on level surfaces, while sharp inclines are difficult and stairs are downright risky. Walking briskly is the best way to get around in these attachments. Galloping, not so much.”

The leg-extensions are custom-fitted and handmade from steel, cable, foam, and rigid plastic and add 14 inches of height to the wearer; kind of like an odd pair of stilts. They cost an arm and an additional leg ranging between $750-$1,000, if you desire the optional spring-loaded hooves.

If you want a fur costume built around the hooves in the hopes of fitting in with the horses and stable folk, that whimsy will also cost you extra. The fur does cause some problems (besides the obvious mental issue, that is). Getting in and out of the Digitigrade Leg Extensions when fur is involved can take an extra three minutes of preparation.

Right now leg extensions are new and their appeal is very limited, but who’s to say how those in the orbit of the horsey set will respond to these (not to mention the horses who might not like it)? As of this writing some actors and other brave pint-size performers already have their names on the two-month waiting list.

Kim Graham is known for her beautiful, unique sculptures and her work ranges from fine art pieces to large-scale architectural ceramic projects. Where do Digitigrade Leg Extensions fit into this grand plan? Only Kim can say for sure, but one can only contemplate what accouterments could be included to complete the Digitigrade Leg Extensions ensemble?

How about a canvas oat bag to carry around one’s neck and one with sequins for those more formal occasions? Maybe a bridle would be a good idea for those days when the wearer just “won’t behave”. Lastly but not leastly, how about a Kentucky Derby for humans in Digitigrade Leg Extension drag? (It should be somewhere in New Jersey so as not to confuse imposters.)

The possibilities are endless.

VEGAN

Newly Uncovered Enzymes Turn Corn Plant Waste into Biofuel

Cellulose-loving fungi can cut biofuel costs by enabling existing corn ethanol plants to process cheaper, woody feedstocks such as corn stover

By Steven Ashley

CORN STOVER: The remnants (or 'stover') of corn after it's harvested can be a good source of biofuel, especially when combined with the right enzymes.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/ROYALBROIL

"Visualize three tons of moldy bread." It's not the most appealing image, perhaps, but it's a description of the moist mound of growth media tended by bioscientist Cliff Bradley and his partner, chemical engineer Bob Kearns at their biofuel facility in Butte, Mont., that could help cut ethanol costs at the fuel pump.

Selected soil fungi that eat cellulose—the hard-to-digest, structural component of woody plants—thrive on the big pile of putrefaction from which Bradley and Kearns harvest certain powerful enzymes. The special enzymes allow standard biofuel plants to produce ethanol at lower cost by replacing some of the high-priced corn (starch) they process with cheaper corn stover "waste"—the leaves, stalks, husks and cobs of the maize plant itself.

Replacing 35 percent of the corn (which goes for $4.28 a bushel) now used in a typical ethanol plant with inexpensive corn stover (at $65 per ton) could save a quarter on each a gallon of ethanol the facility produces, the researchers calculate. And that's before any blender's credit or tax benefits from government for processing cellulose. Bradley and Kearns say that the basic integrated starch–cellulose process also works for biofuels produced in Brazil where ethanol is distilled from sugarcane and bagasse, or highly cellulosic cane plant residue.

Supporting development of the promising new technology is Cupertino, Calif.–based AE Biofuels, which has constructed a commercial pilot facility in Butte, where the pair demonstrates their integrated fermentation technology to potential licensing customers. The patent pending process "can be a bridge to cellulosic ethanol," says Andy Foster, executive vice president at AE Biofuels. The use of cellulosic feedstocks effectively enables farmers and producers to squeeze more ethanol from each acre of farmland, he states.

AE Biofuels is one of several companies in the U.S. that is trying to jump-start progress toward greener biofuels made from nonfood feedstocks with high cellulose content. But most of the demonstration efforts have slowed or halted "since the banking meltdown which made it very tough to arrange capital," says biofuels expert George W. Huber, a chemical engineer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Despite last year's economic turmoil, however, new pilot cellulosic biofuel plants were opened by KL Energy, Verenium Corp., and POET, LLC, he notes.

For the past few decades, Bradley and Kearns—self-styled "industrial fermentation guys"—have focused on developing effective ways to raise hard-to-cultivate soil fungi that secrete the crucial enzymes. Unlike their competitors, they grow fungi on the moist surfaces of solid nutrient particles. Standard large-scale fermentation processes, in contrast, take place in water-filled tanks. "They put an organism in a tank where everything's in a water solution," Kearns explains, "and then they try to get enough oxygen in there to make the aerobic fungi happy." Rather than "trying to adapt the organism to a desired environment," the two researchers created an environment that suits the organism.

One of the pair's special enzymes readily degrades cellulose and another has the unique ability to break down corn starch at ambient temperatures, a talent that enables existing corn ethanol plants to incorporate cellulosic feedstocks into their standard starch fermentation processes. "The integrated process uses the same equipment, which is important now that capital financing is so hard to get," Bradley says.

New Inglourious Basterds Trailer

By Zach

It’s taken a while and spell check still hates the hell out of the title, but Inglourious Basterds has finally come up with another trailer for Tarantino’s latest war epic. The Weinsteins are releasing the picture and hopefully don’t fall into bankruptcy before that time. Actually, not sure many people actually like the Weinsteins and their notorious traits of holding movies (cough…Fanboys) and/or re-cutting foreign films (Harvey Weinstein is reportedly attempting to cut out 40 minutes of this one too). And no one wants to see anything that would make Inglourious Basterds a lesser film. Check out the trailer and international poster below:

Arizona has longest stretch under 100 deg says since 1913

June hasn't been this nice since ... 1913

by John Faherty
The Arizona Republic

Meteorologists are reluctant to call a month "nice." They have their data and their science and typically do not describe the weather in such subjective terms.

Except now, because the data prove it.

"It's probably the best June since I've been here, and I've been here most of my life," said the National Weather Service's Valerie Meyers, who is in her late 40s. "It's been really nice."

Possibly the nicest June ever.

It's that type of thing that is fun to say but hard to quantify.

Thursday, however, was the 14th consecutive day to stay below 100 degrees. That's the longest stretch of its kind in any June since 1913.

The lower temperatures have allowed people to sleep with windows open and drive with their arms out vehicle windows. Evenings, too, have been spent chatting with neighbors while children or grandchildren play. Those events are not life-changing, but they are, well, nice.

Typically in June, high-pressure systems begin to form above the Valley. High pressure means clear skies and little wind. And, in June, clear skies let in the sunshine, sending the temperatures soaring.

This June, though, has remained cool because of what Meyers called "a persistent area of low pressure off the West Coast."

The low pressure has prevented the high-pressure systems from getting into place.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. This weekend, the days will heat up. Temperatures are expected to be back in the 104-105 range by the middle of next week.

Best Party Trick Ever: Multi-Device Wireless Broadband from Sprint MiFi

Written by Jolie O'Dell

It's the length and width of a credit card. It's the thickness of a couple nickels. It'll let you and a few friends get an Internet connection just about anywhere with no wires whatsoever.

It's a MiFi, Sprint's new wireless broadband device, and it's geek gadget magic that'll realistically fit in your wallet. Disclosure! Sprint gave us a MiFi device to test. We tested it for a couple weeks and sent it back. We were sad to see it go.

We first tested the device with three laptops at a Facebook Vanity URL-Grabbing party. The host's WiFi connection was getting bogged down with traffic from about 20 other devices, so three of us picked a spot and huddled around the warmth of our own connection.

Sweetly simple and functional, the device easily accommodated the three users' surfing around. Multimedia uploads were as zippy as on a normal connection during the time we were test-driving the device.

Another test involved a crowded WiFi situation at a local coffee shop. Two laptops were connected to the device with the same lightning-fast results.

We even had time to literally road-test the MiFi; there's still something man-on-the-moon-ish about accessing the Internet from a moving car. We built a website during the course of a two-hour mini-road trip.

The battery held a charge for a good couple hours between charging, and the connection worked at ranges of 10-20 feet. We did notice a bit of trouble when using the device for long periods of time with just one device; every now and then, the card seemed to overheat and would drop the connection. A rest and reboot period solved the problem, but it would've been painful/disastrous had we not had access to a backup WiFi network in the meantime.

Still, the device is pretty amazing. We highly recommend seeing it in action:

Slight correction: The Sprint website states the device can support up to five devices.

Now, as previously disclosed, we received the free-as-in-beer, no-strings-attached version of the MiFi. We were not required to go through the new account/line activation process, any rebate loopholes, contract renegotiations, or other factors that make mobile services companies so uniquely pleasant (and by "pleasant," we mean "exquisitely tortuous in the BDSM sense"). The MiFi is advertised now at $99.99 per device, based on several conditions that seemed to require scientific calculators and gave us headaches. We recommend calling Sprint if you're interested in the device and finding out exactly how much the price would be for you. We're also aware of a similar Verizon device but have not yet been exposed to it, ourselves.

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge (PICS)

sacbee.com — Pagans and partygoers drummed, danced or gyrated in hula hoops to stay awake through the night, as more than 35,000 people greeted the summer solstice Sunday at the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge. Despite fears of trouble because of the record-sized crowd, police said the annual party at the mysterious monument was mostly peaceful.

Click here for the pics: Summer Solstice at Stonehenge

Amazing Shot: 8th Grader Forward Flips, Hits 60 Foot Basket

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

msnbc.msn.com — An Ohio eighth-grader pulled of a stunt shot that has to be seen to be believed. He runs forward, does a forward somersault/flip using the basketball to push off the floor, and then hurls the ball towards the basket at the opposite end of the court, 60 feet away.

Tim Burton's twisted 3D adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

HBO's 'The Pacific'!

At long last, here's the trailer for HBO's "The Pacific," the long-awaited follow-up to Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's beloved WWII war epic "Band of Brothers." ... "I believe in ammunition!"

"The Pacific" has reportedly a budget around $200 million which, if correct, would almost certainly make it the most expensive TV project of all time. The new mini has quite a legacy to live up to when it debuts next year. Though its initial post-9/11 run on HBO was relatively lackluster, "Band of Brothers" kept gathering fans as the years passed. Runs on basic cable networks such as History Channel followed. The DVD set for "Brothers" still manages to float into the top ranks of Amazon's best-selling DVDs (and is currently selling great in Blu-ray).

Los Angeles Sheriffs Getting Electric Mini Coopers

Written by Jerry James Stone

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LA County Sheriffs stuck driving Crown Vics are about to be left feeling tragically un-hip. Their Board of Sups just approved a deal with BMW to lease 17 fully electric MINI Coopers.

Approved on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will lease the MINI Es for only $10 a month. With a market lease rate of $850, automaker BMW offered up the bargain price in exchange for deputy’s feedback.

Um, BMW, I too will give you feedback for $10 MINI E lease.

I’m sure the MINI’s will sport the standard police flare, but my vote is for the pimped out–and unrelated–version above by Agent Provocateur. Not that the 60’s style isn’t cool too.

BMW wants feedback for how the MINI Es drive and handle on Los Angeles County road conditions, Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said. You know, like can they chase Ford Broncos and stuff like that.

On top of the discount price–which constitutes a gift to the county–MINI USA will also be installing charging stations and handling all vehicle maintenance and repairs. The MINI Es will be accompanying the police force’s full size Crown Vics, Caprice Classics, and more recently Dodge Chargers.

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the gift as it supports the county’s strategic goal of promoting environmental responsibility. The cars will be used for administrative, recruitment, volunteers, and other specialized units.

“It’s clean-energy, it’s cost-effective and it could prove to be a boon for the county,” Whitmore said.

The MINI E model is currently only available to drivers in the U.S. as part of a field trial. And only 23 of the 450 Mini E prototypes have been delivered thus far.

While here in the States a MINI cop car might sound a bit ridiculous, it’s not that odd of an idea. The Cooper has a long history of being a police vehicle. Even Oregon’s Tualatin Police Department has one!

Here are some MINI cop cars, both real and fake:

Source: AllCarsElectric

Photos: AROnline, MalaysiaMiniLover, Classic Vehicles on Flickr, CincinnatiMINI, PoliceMINICooper, ForBunk on Flickr

California man creates life size Bumblebee Transformer in front yard.

This story is a couple months old but I couldn’t find a whole lot of information about it on the web so I thought I would re-share it with you. A Lemoore man decided he liked the Transformers so much that he built a life size replica of the cartoon version of Bumblebee in his front yard.

“I’ve always been a fan of the Transformers,” Tom Rhoads Rhoads stated to the crew at mim. “And when my son was born I decided to make the statue.”

The statue stands at 18 feet tall and built from a used Volkswagen, yes that’s right a used Volkswagen, in this economy who can afford to chop up a new Camaro and besides some of us liked the cartoon characters better!

The statue took him and a friend a year to build in their spare time:

“Sometimes it seemed as if we would never get through it, all the parts spread out, but then it just came together.”

A crane had to hoist the 1200 lb robot onto its feet after the welding was completed. Its legs are made of steel and angle iron to keep it secure.

If you asked me, he should have killed two birds with one stone (sorry PETA) and made the gun in its hand be Megatron. We all know he was a lame gun in the cartoon version, right?

Stay tuned, as Tom’s next project is the semi truck in the back. I wonder what he has planned for that…..

Washing machine that uses one cup of water

An environmentally-friendly washing machine developed in Britain that uses only one cup of water to clean clothes could be on sale next year.

By Alastair Jamieson

Only a small amount of water and detergent is needed to dampen the clothes, loosen stains and create the water vapour that allows the beads to work Photo: GETTY

The appliance, which could save billions of litres of water a year, has been developed at the University of Leeds.

It uses less than 10 per cent of the water of conventional machines and 30 per cent less energy by replacing most of the water with thousands of tiny reusable plastic beads to attract and absorb dirt under humid conditions.

Xeros, the company behind the technology, will start selling the machine to commercial customers such as hotels and dry cleaners before taking the idea to ordinary household consumers

Only a small amount of water and detergent is needed to dampen the clothes, loosen stains and create the water vapour that allows the beads to work. After the cycle is finished, the beads fall through a mesh in the machine’s drum and can be re-used up to a hundred times.

Xeros has signed a deal with GreenEarth Cleaning, an environmentally friendly dry-cleaning business, to sell the technology across North America.

Chief executive Bill Westwater said: “We’ve got an eye on the consumer but it will take time and we hope commercial success could act as a springboard to move into the consumer market.

“We’ve been very encouraged by the response from people, but the proof is in the pudding and that means putting a machine into someone’s operations and justifying the savings.”

The technology has been developed by Professor Stephen Burkinshaw of the University of Leeds and funded by IP Group, an intellectual property commercialisation group.

Suds With Securb: Ten Beers You Must Drink This Summer

by Bruce Owens

I want you all to look at this column as a summer reading list. These are the 10 beers you must drink this summer. Some of these beers you are probably very familiar with, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for example. Think back when is the last time you had an ice cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on a 90 degree day? This is all about rediscovering some classics and finding new favorites.

There are a ton of other great beers out there to beat the heat. Alaskan Summer Ale and Yuengling Lager come to mind. That being said I am trying to make sure these beers have a wider distribution so that all reading this column can enjoy.

10. Victory Prima Pils – The perfect BBQ beer. This beer has the body and flowery aroma of a pilsner but is one of the hoppiest pilsners on the market. This allows Prima Pils to stand up to the spiciness of peppery BBQ’ed meat coming off of your grill. Prima Pils also has a great sparkling carbonation that not only is refreshing but will cleanse the pallete of thick BBQ sauces and pasta/potato salads.

9. Landshark Lager – I first had this refreshing Lager on a 105 degree day in Las Vegas. This is a perfect summer session beer. This larger is crisp, clean and satisfying and is a perfect beer to ice down by the six-pack in a bucket. The perfect cooler companion.

8. Saison Dupont Farmhouse Ale- Perfect for those scorching August nights. This beer is very dry and crisp with a lot of characteristics of a Sauvignon Blanc. During those moonlit summer nights this is the beer to be shared with someone special. Dupont’s caged, corked finished bottle will add a little class to your special evening.

7. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – You can go home again. Admit it this is the beer that started you off on your journey into the world of microbrews. Now that you have trained and sharpened your palette this is the perfect time to rediscover this classic.

6. Pabst Blue Ribbon – I have a cold can of PBR in my hand right now as I write this. This 2006 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal winner is so under rated. Not only is this a hoppy American style lager it is inexpensive. At $15 dollars per 30 pack it is a perfect beer to fill you cooler to the brim. Available in 12 ounce cans it is an awesome companion for the golf course or beach.

5. Sam Adams Summer Ale – This is a great American style wheat beer. What makes this beer stand out among the throng of American Wheat Beers is grains of paradise, a rare pepper from Africa. The lemon zest makes this beer a no brainer to pair with grilled lemon pepper chicken or shrimp on the barbie.

4. Ommegang Witte Ale – This is a light Belgian style wheat beer with tart citrus flavors and a touch of coriander. This beer is best paired with a fresh citrus fruit salad. Throw some chilled grapefruit, orange and tangerine in a bowl with some mandarin oranges now you have the perfect companion for this great beer.

3. Harpoon Summer – The classic Kolsch Ale. It has the body and color of a pilsner, with the fruit esters of ale. I call this beer the crowd pleaser. It is light enough to appeal to American Lager drinkers and has more than enough flavor to satisfy any beer geek or even snob. Harppon summer is also great with all of your outdoor fare. Harpoon Summer matches up just as well with a New England Clambake as it does with burgers and dogs.

2. Stone Cali-Belgique IPA – What can I say, Stone does it again. This is a huge American IPA with Belgian yeast. When I say huge I want you to understand this beer is coming at you at 77 IBU’s. Cali-Belgique is not only the hoppiest of our summer drinking list it is the strongest. This beer is weighing in at 6.9%, not quite an IIPA but with the IBUs an alcohol by volume Stone Brewing Co. could have given this beer that moniker. The spiciness of the Belgium yeast playing off of the Chinook hops makes this a very interesting summer sipper.

1. Erdinger Weissbier – This is a classic German style wheat beer. This is a cloudy beer due to the fact it is unfiltered and bottle conditioned. Banana and spice aromas are obvious in the aroma of this beer along with a touch of grass and lemon. Traditionally this style of beer is served with a lemon slice. Ignore the status quo and go with an orange slice or a wedge of grapefruit. Better yet cut up a bowl of mixed fresh melons. Some cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon mixed in a bowl with a bit of pineapple are the perfect back deck companion for this great brew.

Ancient Holy Land quarry uncovered, team says

Play Video Reuters – Ancient Holy Land quarry found

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli archaeologists said on Sunday they had discovered the largest underground quarry in the Holy Land, dating back to the time of Jesus and containing Christian symbols etched into the walls.

The 4,000-square-meter (yard) cavern, buried 10 meters beneath the desert near the ancient West Bank city of Jericho, was dug about 2,000 years ago and was in use for about half a millennium, archaeologist Adam Zertal said.

The cave's main hall, about three meters tall, is supported by some 20 stone pillars and has a variety of symbols etched into the walls, including crosses dating back to about AD 350 and Roman legionary emblems.

Zertal said his team from Haifa University first discovered the site three months ago while they were putting together a detailed archaeological map of the area.

"We saw a hole in the ground ... and went down and discovered this giant cavern, originally a quarry, built uniquely with hall after hall," Zertal told Reuters.

The team believes the stones were used in buildings and churches in the region, but Zertal said further research was necessary.

The site may eventually be turned into one of the largest underground tourist sites in the Holy Land, he said.

(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Michael Roddy)

The Coolest PC Game Gun Mod

June 20, 2009 by Ruibo

Get ready to ejaculate as you feast your eyes on this new mod known as the PC VR Game Gun. You can now get your lazy a** off the couch and get in some real live action. Can you say, real life video game simulation? Perhaps Project Natal and Nintendo can learn a thing or two here.

Some features include low-cost, dual-axis miniature rate gyroscope that is fully self-contained for easy integration into human input devices such as the PC VR Gamegun. A unique electromagnetic transducer design and a single etched beam structure utilize the Coriolis effect to sense rotation in two axes simultaneously. Operating between 2.3 and 3.6 volts. 1K of available EEPROM storage on board. Low drift.

Full Motion Tracking - Move the gun and it moves the mouse.

Specs

• 7″ Widescreen Active Matrix TFT Display
• Sleek, Stealth Design
• Emulates as a Windows Mouse 100% compatible
• Built-in Game pad 3 triggers and dual axis no drivers
• High-Quality Black Finish with Black Shroud
• High Dot Resolution: 1440 (H) x 234 (V)
• 3 Selectable Screen Modes (Full, Wide, Normal)
• Wireless Remote Control with Front Panel Controls
• On Screen Display (OSD)
• Power Supply: 12 VDC
• Standard RCA Composite Video Input (NTSC only)
• Dimensions: 5″ H x 9″ W x 0.7″ D
• Plug ‘n play USB, no special drivers or software needed

Check out the video below for more details.

If you’re interested in picking up one of these bad boys, check out blackhall.net.

Update: The wireless version.

Giant Cowboys Stadium LED wall caught playing Xbox 360 during downtime

by Donald Melanson


The 72 x 160-foot LED wall at the center of the new Cowboys Stadium is certainly impressive enough when it's showing game highlights or concert footage, but no giant screen ever truly earns its credentials until it's been put to some real use: playing video games. Thankfully, Jonas Brothers video director Steve Fatone somehow pulled himself away from concert preparations to do just that earlier this week, and apparently became the first person to ever play Xbox 360 on the display in the process. As you can see above and in the gallery below, the two certainly seem to be made for each other, although it looks like the controller can get a tad touchy if you stray too far while trying to play it.
Update: Our man Steve hooked us up with a video of the rig in action -- head after the break to check it out.
[Thanks, Steve; photos thanks to Troy]

Gallery: Giant Cowboys Stadium LED wall caught playing Xbox 360 during downtime

Giants Stadium Demolition and the Hunt for Hoffa

By Sarah Schorno

With Giants Stadium scheduled to be torn down next year, authorities could have the opportunity to see if Jimmy Hoffa really is buried under the turf. Turns out they don't plan on finding out.

According to officials at the FBI, they aren't planning on taking advantage of the demolition to put a 20 year-old rumor to rest.

"If there was some credible information, we wouldn't wait until the stadium was being demolished," Special Agent Bryan Travers told the [Philadelphia Inquirer]. "We would go in there and aggressively look for it ...

"We would never wait this long. ... We would have no problem digging a giant hole at the 50-yard line if we thought there was reason to act," he said.

Wait. They bulldozed a horse farm in Michigan, ripped up blood-stained floorboards after a death bed confession, and destroyed a backyard pool, all in search of Hoffa's remains. Yet they won't take advantage of an existing demolition to close a 34 year-old case?

The rumor that Hoffa is buried under Section 107 at Giants Stadium has become very much a part of the stadium's history. Maybe it's one of things that is better left to imagination and mystery. Like the Black Dahlia. The lone gunman. The Bermuda Triangle. Steve Nash's hair.

Flying car coming sooner than you think

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It can take off and land at any airport, but the Terrafugia Transition is more than just a plane.

CTV.ca News Staff

The man behind the Terrafugia Transition, dubbed "The Flying Car," says you could see his vehicle on the road and in the skies as early as 2011.

The two-seater vehicle completed its first flight last March and just recently completed 27 additional flights, wrapping up the first of a four stage process to bring the Transition into production.

"It's been very successful," Carl Dietrich, co-founder and CEO of Terrafugia, told CTV's Canada AM in a recent interview.

"We've got a very good handling vehicle and our test pilot said that the flights were just remarkably unremarkable -- it just flies like a really nice, little airplane."

It's a new aircraft that you can fly from point A to B and then drive it home.

The tests were held to demonstrate how the vehicle can drive, fly, and automatically transform between the two.

Dietrich said the vehicle targets pilots who currently face a number of obstacles that prevent them from flying on a more regular basis.

"Weather sensitivity is a huge one," he said.

"This vehicle allows a pilot to at any time, if the weather changes, to divert to the nearest airport, fold up their wings and drive safely under the weather."

After landing, transforming from plane to car takes the pilot less than 30 seconds.

Dietrich said a second barrier is the expense of owning an aircraft.

"With the wings folded up, the vehicle actually fits inside a single car garage," Dietrich said.

He said that equates to large savings for pilots because they don't have to spend money storing the vehicle in a hangar.

In the air, the Transition can cruise up to 725 kilometres at more than 115 km/h.

It has front wheel drive on the road and a propeller for flight. Both modes are powered by unleaded gasoline.

The vehicle is expected to cost around $200,000 and Dietrich said he already has 60 deposits of $10,000.

The Terrafugia Transition, which will be registered with the FAA as a Light Sport Aircraft, can convert between a plane and a car in 20 seconds with the touch of a button .