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POPSRoboBugs: That Dragonfly is a U.S. Government Spy More: Defense Department documents describe nearly 100 different models in use today, some as tiny as birds, and some the size of small planes. All told, the nation's fleet of flying robots logged more than 160,000 flight hours last year -- a more than fourfold increase since 2003. A recent report by the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College warned that if traffic rules are not clarified soon, the glut of unmanned vehicles "could render military airspace chaotic and potentially dangerous." The Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems project aims to create literal shutterbugs -- camera-toting insects whose nerves have grown into their internal silicon chip so that wranglers can control their activities. DARPA researchers are also raising cyborg beetles with power for various instruments to be generated by their muscles.
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POPSThe World's Greatest Aviation Innovations 9. The flying wing -- Yves Rossy keeps breaking records and defying expectations with his 8-foot-diameter, carbon composite flying wing. Last week he made a successful 13 minute, 125 mph trip across the English Channel. 10. Stealth aircraft -- What's cooler than a plane that can outsmart radar? Because the surfaces of a stealth are designed to absorb radio waves or reflect them away from the receiver, stealth planes can sneak in and sneak out undetected. Too bad they're so expensive: The 21 plane B-2 program cost over $45 billion. 11. Jetway -- Another one most of us don't think about is the long covered walkway the connects our departure gate with our plane. 12. Deicing -- Ice buildup is the cause of many fatal aircraft accidents, which is why applying monopropylene de-icing fluid to wings pre-flight has become standard operating procedure.
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POPSHope 'n' Change: The Obama Auto Show
Nowhere in our nation's governing document can one find a presidential power to regulate the minutiae of private business, much less take ownership of those private businesses. Yet that is how Barack Obama is wielding his ever-increasing power, despite taking an oath to "faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and ... to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." "President Barack Obama announced plans on Tuesday for a national fuel-economy and greenhouse-gas standard that would significantly increase mileage requirements for cars and trucks by 2016," Politico reports. The fuel standards will require that automakers reach an industry average of 35.5 miles per gallon within just seven years. The current average is 25 mpg. Congress is working on legislation for $25 billion in further loans to the auto industry to pay for the change, which will likely cost upwards of $100 billion.
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POPSOxford Word Of The Year 2008: Hyperlmiling
mileage or even great mileage, hypermilers seek to push their gas tanks to the limit and achieve hypermileage, exceeding EPA ratings for miles per gallon. Many of the methods followed by hypermilers are basic common sense—drive the speed limit, avoid hills and stop-and-go traffic, maintain proper tire pressure, don’t let your car idle, get rid of excess cargo—but others practiced by some devotees may seem slightly eccentric: • driving without shoes (to increase the foot’s sensitivity on the pedals) • parking so that you don’t have to back up to exit the space • “ridge-riding” or driving with your tires lined up with the white line at the edge of the road to avoid driving through water-filled ruts in the road when it’s raining The hypermiling movement has been criticized for its alleged promotion of driving tactics that are considered dangerous or illegal, such as overinflating tires, rolling through stop signs, and following closely behind large vehicles to cut down on wind re
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POPSDoes Speeding Still Kill?
These figures may be accurate but the link between speed limit and traffic accidents is erroneous. People consistently drive over the speed limit no matter what it is. When you are out driving, drive the speed limit and take note of how many vehicles pass you, how many vehicles ride on your tail because you are not moving fast enough, what age groups are involved and where all of this happens. It occurs on interstates, rural roads, and urban streets. Speed limits mean absolutely nothing until there is a police officer threatening to write you a ticket. Driving has become a gratuitous show of power and position. What does anyone gain by being ahead of everyone else? How much time do you really save by getting someplace faster? Increased police enforcement must be a serious consideration because people will not control themselves. Driving defensively is a term that is only heard when taking the driving test and other people’s safety is of no concern to most people.
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POPSCharging By The Byte To Curb Internet Traffic “Based on current trends, total bandwidth in the AT&T network will increase by four times over the next three years,” the company said in a statement. All three companies say that placing caps on broadband use will ensure fair access for all users. Internet metering is a throwback to the days of dial-up service, but at a time when video and interactive games are becoming popular, the experiments could have huge implications for the future of the Web. Even if the caps are far above the average users’ consumption, their mere existence could cause users to reduce their time online. Just ask people who carefully monitor their monthly allotments of cellphone minutes and text messages. “As soon as you put serious uncertainty as to cost on the table, people’s feeling of freedom to predict cost dries up and so does innovation and trying new applications,” Vint Cerf, the chief Internet evangelist for Google who is often called the “father of the Internet.”
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POPS11 Ways To Sleep Better "Looks like Mom had it right when you were a kid. Milk contains calcium to help you relax, while the warmth is also soothing. Milk also has an amino acid in it called Tryptophan that increase the levels of serotonin and/or melatonin in the brain which slow down brain activity. It’s science folks."
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POPSSleeping behind the wheel. It is most common, leading cause of transportation accidents. Loosing control of moving vehicle even for an instance greatly increase probability of fatal accident. And exhausted brains and whole bodies answering for stimulants as caffeine, no mention terrible chemicals, with adverse, opposite to desirable, side effects.
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POPSIn search of silence in a sickeningly loud world
More: It should come as no surprise that rats exposed to a buzzer sounding for six out of every 30 seconds, seven hours a day for 35 days suffer from high blood pressure. There is some sign of habituation over time, but these buzzer-rats are still darting back and forth across their cages by day 35, while rats in quieter cages have markedly lower blood pressure and tend not to pace so nervously. For humans, six hours of exposure to 90-decibel sound significantly elevates the heart rate and leaves it there up to an hour after the noise is gone. Nearly every significant study looking for a link between exposure to noise and risk of heart attack has found one. In 2005, research in Berlin hospitals looking at more than 4,000 cases (half of them heart attacks) revealed that people subjected to loud environments are at a 50 percent greater risk of having a heart attack. Among school kids, the effect of noise shows up in the form of learning disabilities.
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POPSNew Launch PR Blogger! Check out this post from our newest SA team member to start blogging and if you have time, drop her a comment to show the power of the community. I'm out to get everyone hooked on the Web and fully engaged:)
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POPSChina to build 97 new airports by 2020 That puts the Kybosh on the future of the earth - hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians taking to the air. My question is who gave humans the right to fly and to destroy the earth? Surely no God would grant such a right. Ergo, for those who believe in a God, don't fly. Somebody has to take the lead, here.
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