DARPA’s Hypersonic Plane Test Flight Failed Due to Mach 20 Speeds
Roughly eight months ago DARPS’s HTV-2 flight failed, and the agency explained why on Monday. It was reportedly moving so fast its skin peeled off, and the unmanned plane rolled and dove into the ocean.
We've seen people take some serious spills because they're
all walking and talking or texting and not paying attention, but what happens
to this poor girl is just horrible. That had to hurt.
The teenage girl in the video above was walking quickly down
the street, enraptured by her conversation. She was so caught up in the call,
in fact, that she didn't notice the caution blocks on the street warning her
that was about to get gobbled up by a sinkhole. It's terrible to watch her
plunge 20 feet straight down through the hollow ground, but you just can't look
away. Fortunately, a passing cab driver saw her fall and he dove down the hole
after her. Unfortunately, the earth continued to crumble and both of them were
then trapped underground.
Fortunately, official assistance was quick to arrive, and
according to the report from Today (below), everyone came up okay ok. Phew!
People! Cellphones are very convenient because you can have
conversations anywhere, but please please please be careful. You don't want
this to happen to you. But if it does, uh, could you make sure someone's
filming it?
World Snooker Championship: Allen handed disciplinary charge
Mark Allen is facing a disciplinary charge after snooker's governing body started proceedings against him for his comments following his first-round defeat at the World Championship.
Allen claimed that his Chinese opponent Cao Yupeng failed to declare an illegal push shot during his surprise 10-6 win over the Northern Irishman.
The WPBSA said Allen would be given 14 days to respond to the charge.
Allen was fined £1,000 for comments about the World Open venue in China.
At his post-match press conference on Sunday, Allen also made wider allegations that Chinese players on the circuit had been involved in "fouls and blatant cheating".
WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said that the governing body took "very seriously comments made which could be perceived to be directed at a particular nation".
World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn also made clear his displeasure at Allen's remarks.
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Allen comments saddens Hearn
"To effectively accuse your opponent of cheating is looked on as bringing the game into disrepute," said
Hearn.
"Time and time again Mark seems unable to control himself in his public statements. Sometimes I am speechless."
In response to Allen's accusation of dishonesty on the part of Cao, Hearn added: "Players have rules written in their contracts and they are not allowed to say certain things.
"If they do, they are in breach of tournament regulations and will come under a disciplinary process."
Hearn also welcomed the news that Allen has closed his Twitter account as it was also revealed that the Northern Irishman had been fined £1,000 for criticisms of the tournament location at the recent World Open in China.
"People must realise Twitter is out there in the public domain so you have to be careful what you say.
"Whether there has been a push shot or not is pretty much academic - it's the slant of the comments that Mark made afterwards.
"He had the chance to say to the referee that he believed he had made a mistake, but did not take that opportunity."
Allen, 26, could face a fine, suspension or expulsion if found guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute.
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The Antrim player, who admits he was "completely outplayed" by the world number 81, claimed Cao failed to declare an illegal push shot when leading 5-4.
No foul was given and the 26-year-old Northern Irishman eventually lost 10-6.
"I'm disgusted. The state of snooker is very sad if it has to be down to that, but it's not the first time," said Allen after the game.
It is not the first time that Allen has caused controversy on the circuit.
In March, he took to his Twitter account to criticise conditions at China's Haikou World Open as "horrendous".
"Dead cat found this morning," he tweeted. "Any wonder this place stinks. Must be dead cats all round the town."
He went on to win the event and later stood by his comments, insisting: "It would be nicer to play tournaments in the UK, but I have to go where the money is."
In December, he called on World Snooker chairman Hearn to resign after changes were made to the format of major tournaments.
"I've got no doubt he'll tweak the World Championship," Allen said at the time. "The whole tradition of the game is going to pot."
Allen was fined for the Hearn outburst before receiving another financial penalty for his comments at the World Open.
Is this the first human to fly like a bird?
Astonishing video of inventor 'taking off' on kite-like wings Dutch engineer Jarno Smeets runs througha park in the Hague flapping enormous, kite-like wings - and suddenly 'lifts off', flying 300 feet through the air.
Smeets claims to be the first human being to fly like a bird, without a jet or rotors - instead, he uses wings which 'amplify' his muscles, with the motion sensors from Nintendo's Wii transferring motions into motors in the wings.
Smeets lifts off - powered only by a run up and the flapping of the wings, without a rocket or a rotor in sight The engineer's suit is made from a 200 square foot 'kite', powered by motorised wings which 'amplify' Smeets's arm movements,Smeets takes a run-up for his test flight. The 31-year-old engineer claims that he 'flew' 300 feet and stayed in the air for a minute meets's invention uses accelerometers and motors to 'amplify' the flapping of his arms Smeets' video has provoked controversy online, with many viewers claiming that it must be faked. The video shows a flight in a park
in the Hague, which lasted about a minute. The 31-year-old engineer claims that his 'flight' isn't a feat of magic - just clever engineering. The wireless engines in the wings work as 'amplifiers' for Smeets's own arms, allowing him to flap wings that would otherwise be far too large for a single human.
The use of wireless tech and accelerometers has allowed Smeets to overcome a puzzle that has baffled inventors including Leonardo da Vinci.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water: American scientists
unleash robotic jellyfish Is the new iPad literally too hot to handle? Thermal camera shows new model is 5 degrees warmer as users claim it is overheating The Wii motion sensors in the arms 'sense' Smeets movements, helped by an accelerometer from an HTC Wildfire S smartphone. The movements are transferred into Turnigy motors which give Smeets the power to move the 200 square foot wings. 'Ever since I was a little boy I have been inspired by pioneers like Otto Lilienthal, Leonardo da Vinci, says Smeets. The project has taken six months, with Smeets blogging his progress and taking advice from fans. Smeets 'lifts off' in a bird suit built from 200 square foot kite wingswith motors in the wings that 'amplify' his flapping
NEW STORY RELEASED
Jarno Smeets VIDEO: 'Flying Dutchman's' Human-Powered Aircraft Called Hoax By Some
FOLLOW: Video, Flapping Wing Aircraft, Flying Dutchman, Flying Dutchman Video, Human-Powered Aircraft, Jarno Smeets, Jarno Smeets Flying Dutchman, Jarno Smeets Human-Powered Aircraft, Jarno Smeets Video, Science News
UPDATE: The creator of the Human Birdwings video has appeared on Dutch television admitting that his "flight" was a hoax. Watch his confession above. For English, press the "cc" button in the YouTube player.
THE TROUBLE IS THIS VIDEO HAS BEEN REMOVED
Talk about flights of fancy. A new viral video purports to show a Dutch engineer by the name of Jarno Smeets successfully testing a "semi-human-powered" flying machine. In the video, the man some are calling the "Flying Dutchman" pumps his arms furiously to help flap the contraption's wings, lifting off gracefully into the air for a brief flight. After landing, a breathless Smeets recounts the "really intense feeling of freedom" he felt while aloft.
Editors across the web were captivated by the video--which was posted at a site called Human Birdwings--and they hailed Smeets and his flying machine, which supposedly gets some of its power from tiny electronically controlled motors. But there's only one problem--the video is an elaborate hoax. At least that's the opinion of the University of Toronto's Dr. Todd Reichert.
"I'm tempted to play along, but unfortunately from a physical perspective it's completely unrealistic," Reichert told The Huffington Post in an email. "Given an estimated total weight of 100 kg, a wing area of 9 square meters, maximum lift coefficient of 1.0, and an air density of 1.22 kilograms per cubic meter...the vehicle would have to travel at least 49 kilometers per hour to stay airborne."
In other words, it's just impossible that the flight took place as depicted unless Smeets was running into an extraordinarily stiff headwind. Or as Reichert explained, "Unless this guy can blow by Usain Bolt in a sprint, he's not going to reach takeoff speed by running."
Why should we trust Reichert's opinion? Because in addition to being an expert on bird and human-powered flight, he led a team that became the first in the world to fly a man-powered flapping wing aircraft. (Dubbed the "Snowbird," the 96-pound craft maintained level flight for 19.3 seconds in 2010, according to Reichert.)
An email seeking comment from Smeeks went unanswered. What do other experts say of the "Flying Dutchman" video?
"The video of Jarno Smeets' flight is cool, and I don't see evidence that it was faked," Jamie Hynerman, of "Mythbusters" fame, wrote on tested.com. "It seems reasonable to accomplish, and is something I have wanted to try for a long time. I am suspicious because there is not much detail shown of the actual machine, but that does not mean anything other than they don't show it all."
Dr. Rhett Alain, an associate professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University, wrote a detailed analysis of the video for Wired.com. But he declined to pass judgment on it, writing, "So, where do I stand on the issue of real or fake? I said I would leave that up to you, didn’t I? Let me just say that there is nothing in this video that indicates it must be a fake."
But Reichert said he was absolutely certain the video was a hoax. Leaving aside the issue of takeoff speed, he said that he had calculated that the stresses of flight would subject Smeets' craft to a load "effectively the equivalent of a 20,000-pound elephant sitting on the small aluminum linkages. Unfortunately, the mechanism is simply not powerful enough, or robust enough to withstand the flight loads."
Who's right? Have a look at the video, and let us know your opinion.
If You
Order 1,050 Slices of Bacon, Burger King Will Comply
You don't have to be a doctor to know that eating hundreds
of strips of bacon at a time can't possibly be good for your health. A reporter
for Japan's Rocket News 24 obviously didn't get that memo. Because he ordered a
burger from Burger King with 1,050 slices on top.
You see, the fast food franchise is currently running a
promotion that lets you tack on 15 strips of back for about $1.25 Or, in this
case, over a thousand for about $90. The greasy, glistening burger must have
been quite physically taxing because by the time he (spoiler alert) gave up, he
was glowing with sweat and had only demolished about half of it. Then again, in
this case, "half" is about five hundred slices of bacon.
If you're in Japan, you can order one of these, too. That
is, if your arteries can take the punishment.
With people around the world starving is this a good message to send out??????
