Friday, September 3, 2010
Honoring the Hottest Female College Sports Fans (Pics)
From: http://www.totalprosports.com/
Nothing says college like parties, sports and girls. And while we can not provide you with the first thing on this list, we do have some images of the latter two to offer you. If the sight of some of these females in the stands can't get the players amped up for a game, I don't know what can.
Testing Largest Solid Rocket, NASA Outdoes All Homemade Flamethrower Videos
Posted by videodrome
From: http://motherboard.tv/
Today, on a hillside in Promontory, Utah, NASA and its contractor ATK Aerospace Systems successfully completed a two-minute, full-scale test of the largest and most powerful solid rocket motor ever designed for flight.
But the motor has nowhere to go. Borrowed from the nearly extinct Space Shuttle system, which uses solid rocket boosters to get to space, the latest rocket was originally intended for the Constellation program, whose future has been cast in doubt by the Obama administration. And now critics are raising more questions than ever about the wisdom of using solid rockets, which are considered expensive and inapplicable to other uses.
But they are generally lighter than liquid fuel, and they’re proven to work. As the New York Times explains, solid rockets have a long history, dating back to the gunpowder-packed rockets invented by the Chinese perhaps a millennium ago. Solid rocket fuel is a mix of aluminum, ammonium perchlorate, a polymer called polybutadiene acrylonitrile, epoxy and iron oxide poured into cylindrical steel casings 12 feet wide, where it hardens into the consistency of a pencil eraser. Burning the fuel expels hot gases that generate thrust. A lot of thrust.
And for a moment, all of these crazy kids shut up.
House Built From Hemp Is Full Of Green Surprises
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto
from http://www.treehugger.com/
All images from Push House
In much of the world, hemp is thought of as a useful building material; Warren recently showed us an interesting house from Australia and it is common in the UK. But in America, it is still the butt of hippie jokes; Matt Hickman of the Mother Nature Networks describes a new house in Asheville, North Carolina with references to Tommy Chong and describes the interior: "there's not a blacklight poster, hanging spider plant, or crumpled up Cheetos bag in sight." Discovery News says "Put aside old visions of burlap-like shirts that belong with hacky sacks." Even the owner tells CNN ""We heard that we could have a really great neighborhood party if it ever caught on fire."
It's a shame that everyone is focusing on that, because it is just one interesting product in a fascinating house that is full of surprises.
Forming the walls- the black is formwork, on both sides of the structural wood frame
Push Design is a "Design firm with a focus on non-toxic/chemical free + clean air; living and working environments," and Anthony Breener appears to have looked at, and questioned, every single material in the house, from the foundations up.
Better Than Zero Carbon
The exterior walls that are getting all the sniggers are made from Hemcrete, a mix of British hemp stems that is grown without agrichemicals, and processed without a lot of energy and no toxic products. It it is chopped and graded and mixed with a binder made from hydrated lime. It sequesters 110 kilograms of carbon dioxide per cubic meter of material. The supplier, American Lime Technology, explains that industrial hemp won't get you high:
Henry VIII passed a law requiring all farms over 60 acres to grow hemp to satify his naval requirements. However by the mid 20th century the growing of hemp was outlawed because of its narcotic content (cannabis). The narcotic content has been selectively bred out of the industrial crop and the first licences for industrial grade hemp farming were issued by the UK Government in 1993.
Interior of exposed hemcrete
The stuff isn't structural, so the house has a wood frame, but it is a great insulator and sound absorbent, and will give a complete seal. It's neat stuff; it is a shame that it has to be imported from the UK because American attitudes to hemp are so silly. That is why all the sniggering and bad jokes make me so cranky; it deserves better.
More at Push House and more on other neat green features of the house tomorrow.
Hemp wall detail
More Hemp:
The Whole Hemp House
Potential First U.S. Hemp Farmer Gets Fingerprinted
Infrared Nerf autocannon hunts predators, little sisters too (video)
Top 5 Most Expensive Things To Eat or Drink
From: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/
You just invented the Opti-Grab just like The Jerk's Navin R. Johnson, or possibly hit it big in what many now may consider their only chance at retirement, the lottery. What would you do with all that loot after buying a ration of fine automobiles and country estates? Well, you could join the growing legion of food elitists who are grabbing up gold-leafed cupcakes or bagels with white truffle infused cream cheese. 
For those lucky City of Ate readers who hit it big -- yeah, like they're out there -- here's a list of food items fetching that will help lighten the load of those deep pockets.
1. Kona Nigari water bottled by Hawaii Deep Marine Inc. is sucked up from 2,000 feet below the sea off the coast of the big Island in Hawaii. The mineral-rich desalinated seawater is sold desalinated to the Japanese for a retail price of $33.50 for a 2-ounce bottle. The miracle water is supposed to aid in digestion, clear your complexion and reduce stress -- probably caused by its drinkers' realization they're spending $2,144 per gallon of water.
2. Almas Caviar is sold in a 35-ounce portion tucked away in a solid gold container with a whopping price tag of $11,000. The caviar is considered the rarest on the market and is sourced from Iranian albino osetra sturgeon. What makes it so rare is the fact there are so few of these fish, and the caviar is best from the sturgeon that are 60 to 100 years old. (We prefer our caviar from Dallas-based Nick and Sam's where it's free at the bar.
3. A slice of bread. Yeah, three bucks a loaf sucks, but just thank God it doesn't get any higher. Or maybe pray for a little intercession from the Blessed Virgin: In 1994, Florida woman Diane Duyser was biting into a grilled cheese when she saw the image of the Virgin Mary emblazoned on the inside crumb. She kept the sandwich -- which allegedly didn't spoil, so it was obviously Wonder Bread and Velveeta -- for 10 year before selling it to Canadian casino Goldenpalace.com for $28,000.
4. Carlsberg Jacobsen Brewhouse Vintage Number 2 is sold for a whopping $317 per bottle. The brewery uses a special peat-smoked malt from Scotland that lends a smokey chocolate flavor and is stored in French oak casks for 100 days. The midnight black beer is limited to 600 bottles and each bottle is hand stenciled by artist Marco Evaristti with an elephant being a recurring motif. For $317, we can get about four kegs -- 80 gallons -- of Bud Select. Sure, it's Bud Select, but after the first gallon or so, our taste buds go numb anyway.
5. In February, a passenger on Dublin-based Ryanair enjoyed an expensive meal during his flight from Poland to the United Kingdom, but instead of choosing the chicken salad or ham and cheese, this brilliant passenger ate a lottery ticket worth about $12,600. After purchasing the lottery ticket in-flight, he discovered the scratch-off was a winner, the flight attendants had no way to pay off the claim immediately. Angered by the delay, the unnamed passenger chose to eat the ticket.
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