Elton Baum's Golf Cart

From the Loonfoot Falls Chronicle-Gazette, 2008:

When gas went over three dollars a gallon in late 2006, Elton Baum decided to do something about it.

"I couldn't keep the price down," he said with a grin, "but I could do something about how much I used. Now, I don't go into town with the truck, unless it's for something really big."

Even a small car uses some gasoline, so Mr. Baum looked around for an alternative.

"About a year ago, I found a golf cart. Trouble was, I couldn't drive it on the roads except in daylight, and in good weather. Makes sense, but I wanted something where I wouldn't be stuck in town, or out here, if it started raining."

Elton Baum's golf cart looks about the same as it did when he got it, except for an extra bar across the back and license plates.

It's what you don't see that makes it special.

Under the seats, ten golf cart batteries take five or six hours to recharge. "Four, if I'm lucky," Elton said. He doesn't use a pedal generator to recharge his cart. "I thought about it," he said, "but … life is too short to spend that much time cycling."

A beefed-up suspension and high-performance motors boosted the golf cart's top speed to about 40 miles an hour, so Elton doesn't need a slow-moving vehicle sign. He does, though, generally wear a motorcycle helmet when he drives. It's safer, but that's not the main reason.

"It gets breezy, driving with no windshield."

Posts that probably aren't entirely unrelated to this one:

• "Fusion Power, Mirrors, and a Rambling Lemming"
  (October 17, 2014)
• "Chicago, City of Lights: Maybe"
  (January 24, 2014)
• "Apathy is Rampant, But Who Cares? - The Sequel"
  (February 7, 2011)
• "Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide Now! Or, Not"
  (January 3, 2011)
• "Elton Baum and His 'Green' Golf Cart"
  Loonfoot Falls Chronicle-Gazette (June 21, 2008)

Fusion Power, Mirrors, and a Rambling Lemming

(From Eric Schulzinger, Lockheed Martin; via Aviation Week & Space Technology; used w/o permission.)
("The CFR test team, led by Thomas McGuire (left), is focusing on plasma containment following successful magnetized ion confinement experiments."
(Aviation Week & Space Technology))

"Skunk Works Reveals Compact Fusion Reactor Details"
Guy Norris, Aviation Week & Space Technology (October 15, 2014)

"Lockheed Martin aims to develop compact reactor prototype in five years, production unit in 10

"Hidden away in the secret depths of the Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin research team has been working quietly on a nuclear energy concept they believe has the potential to meet, if not eventually decrease, the world’s insatiable demand for power.

"Dubbed the compact fusion reactor (CFR), the device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being 'compact,' Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations. It may even revive the concept of large, nuclear-powered aircraft that virtually never require refueling—ideas of which were largely abandoned more than 50 years ago because of the dangers and complexities involved with nuclear fission reactors.

"Yet the idea of nuclear fusion, in which atoms combine into more stable forms and release excess energy in the process, is not new. Ever since the 1920s, when it was postulated that fusion powers the stars, scientists have struggled to develop a truly practical means of harnessing this form of energy. Other research institutions, laboratories and companies around the world are also pursuing ideas for fusion power, but none have gone beyond the experimental stage. With just such a 'Holy Grail' breakthrough seemingly within its grasp, and to help achieve a potentially paradigm-shifting development in global energy, Lockheed has made public its project with the aim of attracting partners, resources and additional researchers...."

The Lemming started reading about fusion reactors about fifty years ago. At the time, humans said they'd have working fusion power stations in about fifty years. Looks like they'll be about ten years late: not bad, under the circumstances.

Warning! Rambling Lemming Reminiscing

About 94 years back, humans started working out what makes stars like their sun so hot: hydrogen nuclei fusing into helium, releasing energy.

A little later, they discovered that atoms release energy when their nuclei break apart, too: only not as much energy, and it generally won't happen unless you've got a very big nucleus.

Oddly enough, humans developed fission reactors long before coaxing hydrogen nuclei into fusing. Their early reactors were notoriously temperamental.

The trick wasn't to keep the fission reaction going: it was to stop it before it destroyed the reactor. That, and a global war that happened around the same time, may explain why the first 'practical' nuclear device was a bomb. Not, in the Lemming's opinion, a fact that's likely to help humans feel good about nuclear power: and that's not quite another topic.

Roughly 50 years back, humans invented the tokamak, a gadget that generates a doughnut-shaped magnetic field. Deuterium and tritium plasma, held in that field, would fuse into helium: releasing energy.

That's the idea, anyway. One of the problems with a tokamak is that fusion works best under extreme pressure — like in a star's core — and a tokamak starts leaking plasma at fairly low pressure. Still, tokamak reactors looked like the best bet for practical fusion reactors.

Another — it's not so much a problem as an issue — is that the physics involved in a tokamak mean that the things have to be big.

A 35-nation team is building the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). When they're done, they'll have the world's biggest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. It'll be at the Cadarache research center in southern France.

They're planning to start experiments with it in 2020. Actually, it's next to the Cadarache research center. ITER will be big: 19.4 meters, 64 feet, across by 11.3 meters, 37 feet, high. That photo is of a much smaller tokamak, MIT's Alcator C-Mod.

They Do It With Mirrors: Magnetic Mirrors

Humans have been using magnetic mirrors for some time: mostly for research. In the 1960s, someone got the idea of using magnetic mirrors to hold plasma in a fusion reactor. That's what the Skunk Works team is doing.

Instead of trying to hold plasma in a doughnut-shaped volume, they're using magnetic mirrors to make a vaguely hourglass-shaped volume of plasma. One of the advantages of this shape is that as the plasma tries to expand: the 'bottle' gets stronger.

Lockheed's Skunk Works: Five Prototypes, Then the Production Model

(From Lockheed Martin, via Aviation Week & Space Technology, used w/o permission.)
("Neutrons released from plasma (colored purple) will transfer heat through reactor walls to power turbines."
(Aviation Week & Space Technology ))

"...The team acknowledges that the project is in its earliest stages, and many key challenges remain before a viable prototype can be built. However, McGuire expects swift progress. The Skunk Works mind-set and 'the pace that people work at here is ridiculously fast,' he says. 'We would like to get to a prototype in five generations. If we can meet our plan of doing a design-build-test generation every year, that will put us at about five years, and we've already shown we can do that in the lab.' The prototype would demonstrate ignition conditions and the ability to run for upward of 10 sec. in a steady state after the injectors, which will be used to ignite the plasma, are turned off. 'So it wouldn’t be at full power, like a working concept reactor, but basically just showing that all the physics works,' McGuire says.

"An initial production version could follow five years after that. 'That will be a much bigger effort,' he says, suggesting that transition to full-scale manufacturing will necessarily involve materials and heat-transfer specialists as well as gas-turbine makers..."
(Guy Norris, Aviation Week & Space Technology)

The Skunk Works has been around since the 1940s. Someone at Lockheed wondered if maybe engineers might get projects done faster, if they didn't spend most of their time filling out forms: requesting forms they needed for their semi-weekly reports.

Basically, the Sunk Works is run by engineers who get exact specs on what they're expected to produce: and are the sort of folks who keep working at a project. (August 31, 2009)

With any other outfit, the Lemming might think they were overly optimistic. When the Skunk Works says they'll have a production model in a decade: the Lemming's inclined to think they're serious.

The Lemming won't be surprised if tightly-wound humans get conniptions in late 2025 or so, when the first commercial fusion reactors hit the market, and that is another topic.

One Million Years of Singed Fingers

Humans started using fire about 1,000,000 years back. Since then, they're learned to cook without killing themselves, incinerated their cities at irregular intervals, and developed less flammable buildings. (April 9, 2012; A Catholic Citizen in America (April 27, 2014))

The lesson here, in the Lemming's opinion, isn't that fire is bad: it's that fire, string, or any technology can be dangerous.

Humans are clever critters, though. They've managed to use fire, lightning rods, and fission reactors, with only the occasional disaster. The Lemming figures that they'll learn to deal with fusion reactors, too.

On the other hand, some humans can be — surprisingly daft.

Back in 1946, some of them learned why "tickling the dragon's tail" is a bad idea: survivors did learn quite a bit about what extreme radiation levels do to humans, though.

As the Lemming said, any technology can be dangerous. There will be so much energy flowing through a working fusion power plant that 'leaks' could be hazardous.

Sure, eventually humans would run out of seawater: but that'd take a long time. Decades. Centuries. Maybe more. Earth is a very wet place.

Long before there's a 'seawater shortage,' it's the Lemming's guess that humans will have replaced fusion reactors with something else. They're clever that way: and a good thing, too, or they'd have long since run out of flint.

Maybe they'll have worked the bugs out of antimatter reactors, learned how to extract useful levels of energy from phenomena like the Casimir effect, take the "un" out of entropic uncertainty, or discovered some other useful quirk in this universe.

A tip of the Lemming's hat to Jeff Stevens, on Google Plus, for the heads-up on Lockheed's reactor.

More-or-less-related posts:

• "'Tampering With Things Man Was Not Supposed to Know:' the Angst Continues"
  (August 1, 2014)
• "Fusion Power, Terraforming, and Old Dutch Windmills"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (October 11, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Buck Rogers to Bigelow Aerospace
  • Terraforming and Windmills
  • Fusion Power Plants: Another Step Closer
• "Habitable Worlds, Homer, and Haldane — or — Ganymede's Oceans, and Imagining Kepler-186f's Sunsets"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (May 9, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Fire, String, and Other Dangerous Technology
• "The Skunk Works: Why Doesn't Everybody Work This Way?"
  (August 31, 2009)
• "Really Hot Fusion: Lawrence Livermore and Star Power"
  (December 28, 2008)

From the Mind of the Lemming: Night Flight

Humans are adaptable critters. Or perhaps the Lemming should say "adapting."

For example, although they've got top-rate color vision and see well enough to avoid trees at twilight, humans are most sincerely not nocturnal. But instead of accepting a role as day-dwellers, they keep developing new ways to stay active: no matter where a sun is relative to the local horizon.

They do, however, seem to like feeling "in control," even when the actual work is getting done — and quite well — by their tech.

The Lemming recalls a time when a train's "driver" didn't tell the train's AI that he was stepping out of the vehicle — and ran after the train as it left without him.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "It's Morning — Somewhere — Or Maybe Near Sunset"
  (September 12, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Morning in the City"
  (August 29, 2014)
• "Gone for the Weekend"
  (July 4, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Xanadu Springs"
  (June 20, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: The Lemming's Walking Stick"
  (May 23, 2014)

Robird: False Falcons, Ersatz Eagles, and a Rambling Lemming

(From 3D Print, Audubon Magazine, via The Tech Journal, used w/o permission.)
(Look, up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, no: it's Robird!)

"3D Printed Robotic Birds Made To Protect Real Birds, Trials Undergoing"
Anatol Rahman, The Tech Journal (September 3, 2014)

"Birds are one of the most beautiful creations of God, but flock of these birds can be a menace for agriculture as they tend to destroy crops. Besides, they can pose a real threat to the aviation industry as they get stuck in airplane engines and raise serious issues. But don’t worry, there will be 3D printed birds that will be controlled via a remote control. These 3D-printed robotic birds are now being tested at airports, landfills and farms to scare away birds that can cause problems.

"Robird is actually a pair of 3D printed robotic birds that look like a real falcon and eagle. Full names of these robotic birds are Robird Peregrine Falcon and Robird Eagle. That falcon bird will be able to travel 50 mph speed. It has been designed to scare away birds. On the other hand, the eagle model will be able to chase off a bird of any size, because no bird dares to stand against an eagle...."

The Lemming thinks this is a pretty good idea: provided that birds loitering about airports either mistake patrolling Robirds for the real thing: or get spooked by high-speed flying robots.

That's what the Lemming thinks: but of course, the Lemming can't leave it at that. Not when there's a perfectly good opportunity to warn humanity — hysterically, of course.

As anyone who saw Hitchcock's "The Birds" realizes, birds are just biding their time: waiting to wreak chaos and destruction upon an unsuspecting world. Or Bodega Bay, at any rate. Lovely place, really.

Birds, Black Vinyl, and the Stepford Wives

The real threat, of course, was from Mars: wearing black vinyl, accompanied by a robot named Chani. Ah, they just don't make movies like "Devil Girl from Mars" any more.

Now that the Lemming thinks about it, though: there's a fairly continuous stream of that sort of thing. Not always with black vinyl, of course.

Well, one doesn't get everything: for which the Lemming is duly grateful:

• "Devil Girl from Mars"
  (1954)
• "King Kong Escapes"
  (1967)
• "Westworld"
  (1973)
• "The Stepford Wives"
  (1975)
  • and 2004
• "Android Apocalypse"
  (2006)

Let's see, where was the Lemming? Ah, yes: ranting hysterically about robots and black vinyl. Right.

Does nobody see Robird for the threat it really is?!! First they fly around airports, lulling humanity into false sense of security. Next, they'll turn to landfills: driving gulls away; and where will the gulls go?!!!

To supermarket dumpsters, of course!!!! There, they'll organize into small strike forces - - -.

No, the Lemming really should stop now. Somebody might actually believe that drivel.

Seriously? Robird: looks like a pretty good idea. Cool, anyway. In the Lemming's opinion.

More of the Lemming's view of robots, penguins, and other related topics:

• "Robots With Attitude: Maybe, Eventually"
  (August 15, 2014)
• " 'Tampering With Things Man Was Not Supposed to Know:' the Angst Continues"
  (August 1, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Amateur Night"
  (September 20, 2013)
• "Turing Tests, Subcognitive Low-Level Association, and Perambulators"
  (April 13, 2012)
• "Flying Mechanical Penguins"
  (February 12, 2011)

"Tampering With Things Man Was Not Supposed to Know:" the Angst Continues

It the Lemming's opinion that humans are curious: some, anyway.

Others seem convinced that "tampering with things man was not supposed to know" will doom them all.

Somehow, though, humans have managed to survive one of Earth's glacial epochs: despite, or perhaps because, some of them wondered if fire might be useful. Eventually, reckless experimentation with sharp sticks led to flint tools and PDAs.

And some humans still seek knowledge: while others fear what the future may bring.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Coping With Change for Millions of Years; Chatty Chimps"
  A Catholic Citizen in American (July 11, 2014)
• "Kepler-186f, Sunsets, Tourism, and a Musing Lemming"
  (May 9, 2014)
• "Life in the Universe: Where is Everybody?"
  (March 15, 2013)
• "Another Step Closer to a Practical Warp Drive: Maybe"
  (November 30, 2012)
• " '...If There Were Intelligent Life Up There....' "
  (November 22, 2012)

Kepler-186f, Sunsets, Tourism, and a Musing Lemming

(From UPR at Arecibo, NASA; used w/o permission.)

"How a sunset might look on Earth's new cousin Kepler-186f"
"NASA confirms the discovery of an Earth-sized planet that may have potential for life, but its sun is dimmer than ours. Here's what an evening stroll on a beach on Kepler-186f might be like.
Eric Mack, c|net (April 17, 2014)

"NASA announced Thursday that it has confirmed the first planet beyond our solar system that exists in the habitable zone of its star and is close to the size of Earth, making it the most likely exoplanet yet validated to host life. But the planet, Kepler-186f, orbits an M-class dwarf star and receives only about a third of the energy from its sun that Earth receives from our own beloved fireball.

"That means it could be a frozen, Hoth-like world, or it could be more dry and dead like Mars. But if conditions are right and liquid water exists on Kepler-186f, as NASA thinks it might, it could look more like the above conception, a slightly more chilly version of Earth with shallow oceans...."

Folks at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo's Planetary Habitability Laboratory started with a photo of sunset as seen from a Caribbean beach. A little digital tweaking later, they had what sunset on Kepler-186f would look like: if the planet has an atmosphere and ocean a bit like Earth's.

We don't know if Kepler-186f has an atmosphere, let alone water: but if it does, at least some of the water will probably be liquid.

Sunlight on Kepler-186f's at high noon would be a big like sunlight on Earth an hour before sunset: the climate will be on the nippy side for humans, at best. The sunlight isn't just dimmer: it's redder, too. Or is that more red?

Kepler-186f's star is smaller than Earth's Sol: and it's cooler: about 3,788° Kelvin, compared to Sol's 5,778° Kelvin. That's why Arecibo's simulated sunset looks like one of William Ascroft's Krakatoa sunset sketches.

Looking Ahead: Tourism Destinations in 4814

At the moment, humans must be content with studying Kepler-186f from the Solar system. Keper-186 is nearly 500 light years away: too far for any off-the-shelf transportation system available on Earth.

Humans have, over the last million years, been consistently innovative: and the Lemming sees no sign that this inventive streak has played itself out. It may not be too long before humans travel between stars as routinely as they do between continents today.

If Kepler-186f has an atmosphere, and water, and life: that's a lot of "ifs," but let's suppose that the planet's equatorial zone is warm enough for human comfort.

Kepler-186f is slightly larger than Earth, but not by much. The Lemming made a very rough estimate of Kepler-186f's surface gravity.

With a diameter 1.11 times Earth, Kepler-186f's volume is 1.37 times Earth's, give or take. If it's made of exactly the same mix of rock and metal, it'd be denser: but the Lemming's looking for a rough estimate, so let;s say that it's 1.37 times Earth's mass.

Plugging these numbers into the old g = m/r² equation, where g is surface gravity, m is mass, and r is radius (Earth=1); the Lemming got a surface gravity for Kepler-186f of about 1.11 g. Humans shouldn't find that too uncomfortable.

Someone weighing 150 pounds here would have about 166 pounds pressing on the sands of that hypothetical beach. It'd be like wearing a 16 pound backpack: except that the force would be distributed throughout the body.

Spectacular sunsets, weather on the nippy side but tolerable, far from the hustle and bustle of Earth: the Lemming thinks Kepler-186f has serious potential as a tourist destination.

Ridiculous? maybe. More to the point, today humans can't get there: but 28 centuries back, when Homer's "Odyssey" was new, cruise ships might have seemed just as impossible.

Of course, someone may already be living there: and that's another topic.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Kepler-186f: Facts, Speculation, and the Lemming"
  (April 25, 2014)
• "Life in the Universe: Where is Everybody?"
  (March 15, 2013)
• "Another Step Closer to a Practical Warp Drive: Maybe"
  (November 30, 2012)
• " '...If There Were Intelligent Life Up There....' "
  (November 22, 2012)
• " 'All We Want is Peace and Quiet' - Another Look at the Mind of the Alien"
  Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (December 9, 2009)

Chicago, City of Lights: Maybe

(City of Chicago, via Archinect News, used w/o permission.)

"A bright idea: City aims to light up architecture to boost tourism"
Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times.com (January 22, 2014)

"Chicago would be turned into a Midwest version of Paris — La Ville Lumiere, the City of Light — under a mayoral plan showcased Wednesday to boost tourism by spotlighting the city's architectural wonders.

"Even as his Infrastructure Trust launches a $13 million plan to make 60 government buildings more energy-efficient, Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to use a spectacular citywide light show to accomplish a new and 10 percent higher goal of attracting 55 million annual visitors by 2020.

"It will start with an 'international design competition' that invites teams of artists, architects, engineers and designers to envision ways to light up Chicago's 'buildings, parks, roads and open spaces.'..."

If this works, Chicago will look different in a few years. That'll probably upset purists of the architectural and economic sort.

As long as Chicago city planners don't try to make the city a Paris knockoff, the Lemming doesn't see a problem.

Dubai has become famous for architecture that's innovative, bizarre, or garish: depending on your point of view. Seeing folks build an indoor ski resort with resident penguins doesn't bother the Lemming a bit: and neither does an ultra-high-end hotel shaped like an arabian sailboat.

It doesn't hurt, in the Lemming's eyes, that Burj Al Arab's over-the-top decor gives tightly-wound architecture critics fits.

Getting back to Chicago, the Lemming expects that the usual suspects will get conniptions over the dreadful waste and extravagance of lighting up some of North America's most spectacular buildings. They might have a point, if the city lights up with old-style incandescent bulbs.

In the Lemming's opinion, that's about as likely as La Ville Lumiere by Lake Michigan using Yablochkov candles, and that's another topic.

Other folks, the Lemming included, will sit back; enjoy the show; and hope that Chicago attracts more tourists and investors with this makeover.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Santa Monica Place, Famous Architects, and Why Minnesota Malls Have Roofs"
  (May 2, 2012)
• "Multimedia at the Symphony, and Skateboarding Meets Opera"
  (April 11, 2012)
• "Here's Looking At You: Chicago Gets the Eye"
  (July 4, 2010)
• "Fairy Castle in Museum of Science and Industry"
  (March 28, 2010)
• "Burj Dubai: Record-Setting Superscraper Opens Today - With the Usual Complaints"
  (January 4, 2010)

The History of Playing-Cards: Hand-Crafted Art, Gutenberg, and All That

"A Concise History of Playing-cards"
The World of Playing-Cards

"Playing Cards have been around in Europe since the 1370s. Some of the earliest surviving packs were hand painted works of art which were expensive and affordable only by wealthy patrons. But you can play card games with any old pack so as demand increased new, cheaper methods of production were discovered so that playing cards became available for everyone...

"The history of playing cards in popular art is fascinating and has a long tradition. This section is an online tutorial covering the early history of playing Cards...."

It's an "online tutorial," but the Lemming had fun with The World of Playing-Cards' "Concise History. Your experience may vary.

The title is accurate, by the way. Their history is a quick shuffle through Europe's encounter with playing cards. Apparently they showed up in Europe about two decades after the Black Death, which may explain some of the more colorful playing card art.

After reading this and other histories of playing cards, the Lemming is quite certain that they came from the Middle East or somewhere else.

The World of Playing-Cards - good grief, that's a long name. Let's call them WoPC. Where was the Lemming? Playing cards. History. Really long names. More history. Right.

WoPC takes you through the social, economic, and artistic sides of playing cards: which isn't as boring as you might think.

These things started as one-of-a-kind handcrafted playthings of the aristokrater. That didn't last. New technology, woodcuts and Gutenberg's movable type, let new players deal in: starting near the end of the 14th century. Breakthroughs in printing tech eventually led to mass produced Harlequin romance books and Hoyle playing cards.

By now, just about anybody in Europe or North America can get their hands on a deck of playing cards. Or, in the case of the Lemming, paws.

There's more to WoPC's history:

• Where did playing cards come from?
• The Social Context
• Card Games
• Other uses besides Games
• What did the earliest European cards look like?
• How did Suit Systems evolve?
• Different methods of production
• Sources of imagery
• The Renaissance influence
• Standard National Patterns
• History of Blackjack

And, if you just can't get enough of this sort of thing, IPCS has a history, too:

• "History of Playing-Cards"
  The International Playing Card Society

IPCS says playing cards must have been invented in China, because that's where paper was invented. They may be right. On the other hand, paper isn't papyrus or vellum, which has nothing much to do with Velcro.

The Lemming needs to get more sleep. Definitely.

Nearly-related posts:

• "Kleptomaniac Octopus: the Video"
  (June 21, 2013)
• "And, Now, For Something Completely Different: "The Typewriter" in Concert"
  (March 2, 2012)
• "Sydney Opera House: Lego Version"
  (February 22, 2012)
• "St. Paul, Minnesota, and The Curious Case of the Cherished Carousel"
  (November 16, 2011)
• "Amerikansk dressing, Skåne Tourist Board, Volvo, Lots of Color - but No Swedish Chef"
  (June 30, 2011)

Lemming Tracks: Boston Marathon, Bombs, Death

"Source: Bombs were likely in pressure cookers in backpacks"
Josh Levs, CNN (April 16, 2013)

"The deadly bombs that turned the Boston Marathon into gruesome devastation were apparently placed inside pressure cookers hidden in backpacks, a federal law enforcement source told CNN.

"The blasts were likely detonated by timers -- not by cell phones, a law enforcement official said.

"The U.S. government has warned federal agencies in the past that pressure cookers -- air-tight pots used to quickly cook or preserve foods -- have been turned into bombs in parts of the world. A Department of Homeland Security memo called it 'a technique commonly taught in Afghan terrorist training camps.'..."

The Lemming is not at all happy about what happened at about 2:50 p.m. Monday in Boston. Three people were killed when bombs exploded. That was a tragedy. Other folks survived, but are now missing limbs. That's far from good news.

Tuesday's news includes a few new details. It looks like pressure cookers and timers were used to make the bombs.

We still don't know who was responsible. Whoever decided to cause death, suffering, and destruction, was probably motivated at by hate: at least in part. That, in the Lemming's considered opinion, is a bad thing.

The Lemming suspects that someone will seriously propose that pressure cookers, timers, and maybe backpacks, be outlawed: or that pressure cooker owners be required to register their kitchen appliances. Maybe we do need pressure cooker controls. Maybe not. And that's another topic.

Related posts:

• Common sense
  • "Boston Marathon Bombing: Tragedy and Uncertainty"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (April 15, 2013)
  • "Boston Marathon Bombs"
    Another War-on-Terror Blog (April 15, 2013)
  • "Wisconsin: Dead Sikhs; Disrupted Lives"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (August 5, 2012)
  • "How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
    (June 12, 2011)
  • "Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
    (September 24, 2010)
• Dangerous technology
  • "Technology, Freedom, and 'Love Your Neighbor' "
    A Catholic Citizen in America (January 18, 2013)br /> Particularly
    • Dealing with Dangerous Technology
  • "Lemming Tracks: Fire; 1,000,000 Years of Sizzling Steaks and Burned Fingers"
    (April 9, 2012)
  • "Next-Generation Prosthetic Hand - and Intel Says Direct Neural Interface Brain Chips by 2020"
    (December 2, 2009)
  • "DC Gun Ban, Online Censorship, Individual Rights, and Power to the People"
    Another War-on-Terror Blog (June 27, 2008)
    Particularly
    • Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but the Printing Press is Deadly
  • "'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
    (January 22, 2011)

Asteroid Miners

"New Asteroid-Mining Venture to Be Unveiled Tuesday"
Mike Wall, SPACE.com (January 21, 2013)

(Deep Space Industries, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
"This illustration depicts Deep Space Industries' Fuel Processor class spacecraft for asteroid mining...."

"A new asteroid-mining company will unveil itself to the world on Tuesday (Jan. 22) and is expected to present an ambitious plan to exploit the resources of deep space.

"The new private spaceflight company, called Deep Space Industries, Inc., will reveal its plans at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) Tuesday at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying in California. The new company is the second audacious project aimed at tapping the myriad riches that asteroids harbor.

"Deep Space seeks to launch 'the world's first fleet of commercial asteroid-prospecting spacecraft,' according to a press advisory the company sent to reporters. 'Deep Space is pursuing an aggressive schedule and plans on prospecting, harvesting and processing asteroids for use in space and to benefit Earth.'..."

Well! It's about time!

Humans have been putzing around, picking up a few rocks here and there, scraping some sand there, and taking pictures just about everywhere in the Solar system. That's fine: the Lemming has nothing against tourism or science.

On the other hand, the fourth planet's surface is covered by iron oxide - maybe the biggest deposit of iron ore humans are likely to find in the next few centuries. Unless someone works out practical applications of Alcubierre's equations sooner, and that's almost another topic. (November 30, 2012)

Where was the Lemming? Humans, tourism, science. right.

Science, Tourism, and Meteoric Iron

Sending postcards from Mars, learning how rocks on Mars aren't quite like rocks on Earth, and counting Saturn's rings, is all well and good: but humans use metals like iron and nickel. There's a remarkable amount of iron ore near Earth's surface, and a fair amount of nickel, too.

Until very recently, though, the only useful iron humans had was what fell from the sky. Meteroric iron is very useful, but very rare. Eventually, humans figured out how to get iron out of that reddish soil that's so common in some spots. That was about two dozen centuries back, more or less.

About two dozen years back, humans made a few trips to the Moon, brought back some rocks, and haven't been back since.

That's where outfits like Deep Space Industries come in.

Some humans are really good at discovering things: rocks on the moon; new lasagna recipes; whatever. Others are really good at finding ways to make use of those nifty new things.

For example, Tsiolkovsky published some interesting math that showed how folks could travel to other planets. At the time, it was interesting but impractical. The math was okay, but ridiculous amounts of energy were needed. Other humans worked out the technology for making interplanetary spaceships.

Which brings us back to asteroid mining.

Asteroid Miners

Mining in the asteroid belt has been staple fare in science fiction/speculative fiction/whatever for decades. Larry Niven's Belters probably have more in common with gold rush miners than tomorrow's technicians and robots. So far, the Lemming's only noticed two companies gearing up for off-Earth mining:

• Deep Space Industries
  (spaceindustries.com)
• Planetary Resources
  (planetaryresources.com)

As word of real asteroid miners spreads, the Lemming figures that some folks will be upset. No surprises there. Some humans are good at dealing with new ideas. Others, not so much. And that's yet another topic. (A Catholic Citizen in America (January 25, 2013))

A bit more seriously, most national and international law got written when humans didn't do much apart from take photos and collect souvenirs on trips away from Earth. Mining operations are a whole different proposition. The Lemming figures that judicial wrangles will keep lawyers busy for years. Decades.

More:

• "Iron Meteorites"
  "The Hearts of Long-Vanished Asteroids"
  Geoffrey Notkin, Aerolite Meteorites, geology.com

Related posts:

• "A 'Threat to National Security,' a New Spaceplane, and Asteroid Mining "
  A Catholic Citizen in America (January 25, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Asteroid Mining
• "Asteroid Apophis: No 'Earth Shattering Kaboom' "
  (January 11, 2013)
• "Vesta: Small World, Big Mountain"
  (October 3, 2011)
• "Mineral X From Outer Space!"
  (May 9, 2011)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

Yet more posts, the Lemming's view of:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades "
  • Link list, routinely updated
• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Centuries"
  • Link list, routinely updated

'One Small Hop for a Grasshopper...' SpaceX's Reusable Rocket

"Experimental Private Rocket Makes Highest Test Hop Yet"
Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com (December 26, 2012)

"A privately built rocket prototype that could lead to a completely reusable spaceflight system has passed its biggest test yet - a 12-story hop and smooth landing.

"The experimental reusable rocket, called the Grasshopper, made its highest and longest flight yet on Dec. 17, marking the prototype's third successful test by the private spaceflight company SpaceX.

"In the latest test at SpaceX's proving grounds in MacGregor, Texas, the Grasshopper rocket flew for 29 seconds and reached a height of more than 130 feet (40 meters). A video of the Grasshopper test flight shows the rocket soaring up into the Texas sky, then smoothly descending to land on four spindly legs...."



We're a long way from routine commercial flights to orbital hotels, research labs, and way-stations to the stars: but the Grasshopper is an important step in that direction. Or hop.

What's important about the SpaceX Grasshopper and other reusable launch vehicles is that they're - reusable. Even the Space Shuttle had throwaway booster rockets and fuel tanks. That's okay for government-funded flights to the International Space Station: but no way to run an airline. Spaceline?

Think about it: how long would a commercial air carrier last, if the company had to throw away most of each airliner after one flight?

Related posts:

• "Skylon Spaceplane's New Engine Test; Old Video; Passenger Module"
  (April 30, 2012)
• "Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming"
  (July 23, 2011)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Boeing CST-100 Spaceship: Passenger Service to ISS, Commercial Space Stations"
  (July 21, 2010)
• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)

Lights! Camera! Action! Christmas Yard Display Videos

You were warned: here's another post from the Lemming.

It's not the 1986 Perry Como Christmas Special, but the Lemming enjoyed watching and listening to these YouTube videos of Christmas season yard displays. Your experience may vary:



Allegedly-related posts:

• "Christmas Eve With the Lemming"
  (December 24, 2012)
• "Avast! International Talk Like a Pirate Day be Coming!"
  (September 7, 2012)
• "Hoarding is Not the Name of an American President"
  (December 26, 2011)
• "Save the - Goldfish?!"
  (June 16, 2011)
• "Three Kittens and a Box: the Video"
  (January 20, 2011)

Another Step Closer to a Practical Warp Drive: Maybe

"How NASA might build its very first warp drive"
George Dvorsky, io9 (November 26, 2012)

"A few months ago, physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks...."

This isn't as crazy as it may sound. The original Alcubierre equations were taken seriously by physicists: as a fascinating and impractical theory. An Alcubierre warp drive, as originally presented, would have used incredible amounts of power: and might not be stable. (June 12, 2009)

Tweaking the Numbers

"...The idea came to White while he was considering a rather remarkable equation formulated by physicist Miguel Alcubierre. In his 1994 paper titled, 'The Warp Drive: Hyper-Fast Travel Within General Relativity,' Alcubierre suggested a mechanism by which space-time could be 'warped' both in front of and behind a spacecraft....

"...In terms of the engine's mechanics, a spheroid object would be placed between two regions of space-time (one expanding and one contracting). A 'warp bubble' would then be generated that moves space-time around the object, effectively repositioning it — the end result being faster-than-light travel without the spheroid (or spacecraft) having to move with respect to its local frame of reference.

" 'Remember, nothing locally exceeds the speed of light, but space can expand and contract at any speed,' White told io9. 'However, space-time is really stiff, so to create the expansion and contraction effect in a useful manner in order for us to reach interstellar destinations in reasonable time periods would require a lot of energy.'..."

For early version of the Alcubierre warp drive, "a lot of energy" meant at least what you'd get by converting Jupiter - 317 times as massive as Earth - into energy.

That sort of energy requirement made Alcubierre's equations interesting, but impractical.

Equations, Assumptions, and 'Impossible'

What is or isn't possible depends partly on assumptions. A 'warp drive' is impossible, for instance, assuming that:

• Technology will never improve
• Alcubierre's paper covered all possibilities

Using rockets for interplanetary travel is 'impossible,' too: assuming that humanity stopped developing new technologies in 1903.

That's when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published "The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices."

A hundred years later, some folks were wondering when people would go back to the Moon.

Tweaking the Numbers

Harold White explained how looking at Alcubierre's work a little differently made a big difference:

"...'I suddenly realized that if you made the thickness of the negative vacuum energy ring larger - like shifting from a belt shape to a donut shape - and oscillate the warp bubble, you can greatly reduce the energy required - perhaps making the idea plausible.' White had adjusted the shape of Alcubierre's ring which surrounded the spheroid from something that was a flat halo to something that was thicker and curvier...."
(io9)

'Are We There Yet?'

"...White and his colleagues are trying to simulate the tweaked Alcubierre drive in miniature by using lasers to perturb space-time by one part in 10 million....

"...'Our initial test device is implementing a ring of large potential energy - what we observe as blue shifted relative to the lab frame - by utilizing a ring of ceramic capacitors that are charged to tens of thousands of volts,' he told us. 'We will increase the fidelity of our test devices and continue to enhance the sensitivity of the warp field interferometer - eventually using devices to directly generate negative vacuum energy.'

"He points out that Casimir cavities, physical forces that arise from a quantized field, may represent a viable approach...."
(io9)

Bending space-time by one part in 10 million won't take us to other stars. But if that ring of capacitors bends space-time even a little, that will show that the theory works.

Change Happens

Space ships with warp engines won't be built in the next year or so: in the Lemming's opinion. For starters, negative vacuum energy rings aren't off the shelf hardware. Today.

But let's remember that change happens. Leonardo Da Vinci drew pictures of flying machines. About five centuries later, internal combustion engines made powered fight possible.

Maybe folks will know how to build negative vacuum energy rings five centuries from now.

On the other hand, White wants to pump tens of thousands of volts of energy into a ring of ceramic capacitors: to see whether and how much space-time gets stretched.

Warp drive could be closer than it seems.

A tip of the Lemming's hat to Thomas Sanjurjo, on Google+, for the heads-up on this article.

Related posts:

• "Antimatter Rocket Motor: Physics, Straightforward; Engineering, Not So Much"
  (October 26, 2012)
• "Time, the Universe, and Space Aliens"
  (April 20, 2012)
  Particularly
  • From Theoretical Physics to Working Spaceships
• "Faster Than the Speed of Light: Maybe"
  (November 25, 2011)
• "Interstellar Space Probe: Thirty Years Later"
  (May 9, 2010)
• "Warp Speed Kills? Let's Say It's an Engineering Challenge"
  (March 11, 2010)

"...If There Were Intelligent Life Up There...."

(from XKCD, used w/o permission)

SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, almost always assumes that space aliens will use radio for communications.

It makes sense, sort of. People on Earth use radio for most long distance communications. Now.

Let's take a step back and look at people on Earth, technology, and time:

• 3,390,000 years ago - first (known) tool use
• 1,000,000 years ago - first (known) use of fire
• 151 years ago - Maxwell starts experimenting with electromagnetic waves
  • Including radio waves

Granted, people who used fire 1,000,000 years ago didn't look quite like the British Royal family: but folks who use tools and fire are, arguably, people. Even if they're obviously not British.

People have been using radio for a very long time, by American standards. Looking at the big picture, though? We've used radio for 151/1,000,000 the length of time we've been using fire.

1,000,000 years from now?

It took humans about

• 1,000,000 years to go
  • From using fire
  • To discovering radio waves
• 150 years to go
  • From knowing how radio waves work
  • To competition between cable and satellite television services

Maybe humans have stopped developing new technology.

Maybe there simply isn't anything about the universe that the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, CERN, and IISc, don't already know.

Then again, maybe not.

Vaguely related posts about people:

• On Earth
  • "Recovering from a Hurricane; Defending Freedom; Studying the Cosmos"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (November 23, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Of Points and People
  • "Lemming Tracks: Fire; 1,000,000 Years of Sizzling Steaks and Burned Fingers"
    (April 9, 2012)
  • "Growing Up Neanderthal: Another New Look"
    (November 15, 2010)
  • "Evidence of Human Compassion: 500,000 Years Ago"
    (October 13, 2010)
  • "Earliest Known Tool Use: 3,390,000 Years Ago"
    (August 12, 2010)
• Elsewhere
  • "Time, the Universe, and Space Aliens"
    (April 20, 2012)
  • "Beware Warmonger Imperialist Space Aliens!?"
    (January 11, 2011)
  • "Evolution, Space Aliens, and Two Millennia of Dealing With People"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (July 5, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Space Aliens
    • Footnote 7
  • "Gods, Demons, and Used Spaceship Dealers"
    Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (February 13, 2010)
  • "A Serious Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence: A New Wrinkle in the Maxwell Equations"
    (January 31, 2008)

Antimatter Rocket Motor: Physics, Straightforward; Engineering, Not So Much

"Antimatter: Beam Drive"
The Physics of Starship Design, Scott Kircher (2000)

"The hybrid designs (ACMF and AIM) discussed in previous sections seem quite complicated. They require the juxtaposition of the three highest energy yielding technologies known to humankind just to create a spacecraft that is barely capable of leaving the solar system. What if...."

People know how to build beamed core antimatter rocket motors. Sort of.

The physics are fairly straightforward. What's holding up production, apart from the rather small demand for interstellar vehicles, is our lack of technology. For one thing, humanity doesn't have magnets that are light enough for a practical vehicle - and, perhaps more to the point, can operate at extremely high temperatures.

Impractical: At the Time

The Lemming is reminded of the situation when Tsiolkovsky published 'The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices" back in 1903. His equations were interesting, but quite impractical.

At that time, even cutting-edge propulsion technology, like the diesel engine, didn't have anywhere near enough power to lift a vehicle into low Earth orbit - let alone send something to the Moon or Mars. (Wikipedia)

"When it's Time to Build Spaceships..."

In the Lemming's opinion:

"When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
(October 4, 2009)

We're probably not decades away from antimatter rockets, as folks in 1903 were only a half-century away from space flight. But the Lemming isn't inclined to think that traveling outside the Solar system is 'impossible,' either.

There's some interesting theoretical work on a warp drive, too. Again, the energy requirements are staggering, the warp field might not be stable, and keeping passengers alive would be difficult. But 'impossible?' The Lemming is not ready to say that.

Then there's the question of why we're not up to our hips in the space-alien equivalent of 50-gallon oil drums.

Allegedly-related posts:

• "Time, the Universe, and Space Aliens"
  (April 20, 2012)
• "Ancient Style and Today's Discussions at the 'Vatican Science Academy' "
  A Catholic Citizen in America (October 2, 2011)
• "Warp Speed Kills? Let's Say It's an Engineering Challenge"
  (March 11, 2010)
• "Gods, Demons, and Used Spaceship Dealers"
  Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (February 13, 2010)
• "Warp Drive Might Not Be Stable: Physicists Take Another look at Alcubierre's Work"
  (June 12, 2009)

Chevy Volt, Chevy Spark: Electrifying!

"Chevy Spark"
"Soon to be an URBAN LEGEND"
Chevrolet.com

"...The globe was our proving ground - and this engine came back tested and approved by people all over the world. It tackled some of the most difficult and demanding international terrain - city streets with hills included. But Hill Start Assist won’t let them drag you down by keeping the brake engaged for the split second it takes for your foot to move from the brake to the accelerator...."

Oddly enough, the Chevy Spark doesn't harness static cling as a power source. What makes the Spark go is a fairly conventional internal combustion engine. (Wikipedia) That could change next year, when an all-electric Spark rolls into the market. (Wikipedia) Or, not.

Remembering the Volt

What impressed the Lemming about the Chevy Volt, with its electric drive, was that the car actually worked: and had enough speed and acceleration to make do on American streets and roads.

Electric cars had been around for decades, and were a good choice if you wanted something with no exhaust fumes: and a top speed well in excess of 10 miles an hour. Golf carts are a pretty good example.

The Lemming may be back in a week or so, with more about the Spark. Then again, maybe not.

Almost-related posts:

• "Hands off Driving, Driving With Your Brain, and All That"
  (March 4, 2011)
• "Another Electric Car: the Teslamobile"
  (January 18, 2011)
• "Electric Cars That Actually Work"
  (November 2, 2010)
• "Chevy Volt Electric Car: Best Thing Since Sliced Bread, According to Chevrolet"
  (July 31, 2010)
• "Chevy Volt Dancers: Come On, It Wasn't That Bad!"
  (December 15, 2009)

The Lemming's Back: Or, Flight Characteristics of Wet Dust

As it turned out, the Lemming got back in "none of the above:"

• "A Change in Schedule, or, the Lemming Takes a Break"
  (September 10, 2012)

A medical emergency and family ties kept the Lemming, cleverly disguised as some 60-something human, tied up. Metaphorically speaking:

• "Another Month, Another Unexpected Drive"
  Through One Dad's eye (September 16, 2012)

The Lemming thought of getting back on schedule with a post about an XKCD.com comic strip, but decided to go with something that happened this week instead.

The Lemming's household had gotten a call from Rainbow^® (rainbowsystem.com), with the usual offer to demonstrate their product and get a free gizmo. Generally, the Lemming isn't interested: but this outfit was selling air purifiers. That's important for quite a few folks in this house, so the Lemming said 'okay.'

We didn't buy the full-size air cleaner: the price is probably reasonable, but much more than this household can afford right now. What we got was a scaled-down Rainbow^® unit, with a noisier motor and fewer of the bells and whistles. It'll be interesting to see how well it works over the next few weeks.

The freebie is about the size of two or three stacked pumpernickel loaves. It's mechanically simple: a motor drives a fan and centrifugal water pump. The pump pulls water from a smallish reservoir, flings droplets through air drawn in by the fan, with the vast bulk of the water falling back into the reservoir.

Most of the water evaporates: but mostly it just picks up dust that's in the air. The slogan on their website is "Wet Dust Can’t Fly^®." It's the same sort of thing that happens when it rains: only this rain shower is horizontal, and contained inside the gadget.

The Lemming would have enjoyed the demo, even if the gadget hadn't been worth thinking about. For one thing, the Lemming had never seen a vacuum cleaner play a harmonica before. That was fun. Watching stuff from the couch turn water into a very thin mud foam: not so much.

Folks in this household had a good time, watching the demo and chatting with the salesman and trainee who came. Your experience may vary.

That's all for now. The Lemming expects to be back next Friday, opining about whatever blows in from the Internet.

Not-completely-unrelated posts:

• "Roomba Review, and Dancing Robots"
  (August 17, 2012)
• "Alarm Clocks, the Early Days: 'At the Sound of the Clunk...' "
  (July 20, 2012)
• "Dyson "Groom Tool" - A Little More Than a Brush and Vacuum"
  (November 6, 2010)
• "3D TV Health Concern: Sort of"
  (April 15, 2010)
• "Titanium Dioxide in Concrete: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"
  (August 8, 2010)

Postcards From Mars

"...This image is a portion of a larger image taken by Curiosity's 100-millimeter Mast Camera on Aug. 23, 2012. See PIA16104. Scientists enhanced the color in one version to show the Martian scene under the lighting conditions we have on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain...."

Next, a closer look at the center of that photo.

"...For scale, an annotated version of the figure highlights a dark rock that is approximately the same size as Curiosity. The pointy mound in the center of the image, looming above the rover-sized rock, is about 1,000 feet (300 meters) across and 300 feet (100 meters) high."

Mount Sharp: Oddly-Tilted Layers

Scientists figured the terrain in Gale Crater would be interesting. They probably didn't expect anything quite this odd, though:


(from NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, used w/o permission)
"This image taken by the Mast Camera (MastCam) on NASA's Curiosity rover highlights the interesting geology of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside Gale Crater, where the rover landed.... "
What's intriguing about this photo are the strata - more-or-less horizontal layers on the face of Mount Sharp. What's unusual about this set of layers is that the upper ones are tilted quite a bit more than the ones underneath. the dividing line between those two zones runs roughly across the middle of the photo.

Strata being at different angles isn't at all unusual here on Earth - it has to do with plate tectonics, according to a fellow in a NASA news conference. But around here, it's normal for the upper set of layers to be much more horizontal than the lower ones: the opposite of what's happened on Mars.

Voicemail From Mars

"First Recorded Voice from Mars"
Mission News, NASA (August 27, 2012)

"The following statement by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was returned to Earth via the Mars Curiosity rover.

"Hello. This is Charlie Bolden, NASA Administrator, speaking to you via the broadcast capabilities of the Curiosity Rover, which is now on the surface of Mars.

"Since the beginning of time, humankind’s curiosity has led us to constantly seek new life…new possibilities just beyond the horizon. I want to congratulate the men and women of our NASA family as well as our commercial and government partners around the world, for taking us a step beyond to Mars...."



We've had the technology for sound transmissions from Mars for more than a decade. Still, Administrator Bloden's speech was a 'first.'

As of today, you can still see this video in "Interplanetary Voicemail," on NASA's website. In case NASA reorganizes their site before you see this post, here's a low-resolution version:


NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
California Institute of Technology (August 27, 2012)
video, 1:33 (file size: about 10.8 MB)

The server for the low-res. version is nowhere near as fast as NASA's, so the file may take quite a few minutes to load.

Sounds of Mars - Maybe Next Time

The Mars planning FAQ page says that Curiosity doesn't carry a microphone, so we won't be hearing 'live from Mars' broadcasts. This time.

A late-20th-century Mars expedition carried a microphone. Signals from Mars Polar Lander ended on December 3, 1999, on its way down to the Martian surface:

• Mars Polar Lander
  NASA
  • "What Sounds Will the Mars Microphone Record?"

Related posts:

• "Curiosity: Landing Video; and Settling In"
  (August 24, 2012)
• "A Tale of Two Mars Probes"
  (November 28, 2011)
• "Mars Rover Spirit: Not Bad for a Limited-Warranty Robot"
  (May 26, 2011)
• "Viking Life Experiments: Another Look at Organic Stuff on Mars"
  (January 6, 2011)
• "New Look at the Lost Ocean of Barsoom"
  (June 15, 2010)

Alarm Clocks, the Early Days: 'At the Sound of the Clunk...'

"Alarm Clocks"
Trevor Mendham

"In this digital age we barely give a second thought to alarm clocks - almost everything we buy seems to beep or buzz at us at some time or other. Some have taken to vibrating or even talking! However in the age of mechanical horology an alarm mechanism was far less common.

"History

"Early Examples

"The history of the alarm clock is a tribute to human ingenuity. People have developed alll[!] sorts of wonderful ideas for causing a signal to occur a a particular time. One of the earliest examples was in ancient Greece....

"...A simple candle clock could also be turned into an alarm clock by inserting a nail or other item into the wax at a particular point. When the candle burnt down that far, the nail fell onto a metal pan below with a clunk."

The Lemming found that 'history of the alarm clock' on Trevor Mendham's Horology Stuff website. Mr. Mendham's online creation grew pretty much the same way the Lemming's have:

"Horology is the science of time measurement, especially the manufacture of clocks, watches and chronometers of all sorts. That's the stuff you'll find on this site, along with wider discussions about theories of time in both science and fiction.

"I've loved clocks and watches since I was a kid and I'm also fascinated by the nature of time itself. Since I also love learning and writing ...."
(Home page, Horology Stuff)

Heavy sleepers, like the Lemming, may have inspired the development of something more effective than a nail going 'clunk' as a day-starter.

Interestingly, the Lemming has not found any reference to the obvious expedient of having the heavy sleeper arrange for a light sleeper - preferably one with anger-management issues - rest near the nail-in-candle alarm clock.

Of course, Mr. Mendham seems more interested in clock tech that's actually been used: not the hypothetical ramblings of a fervid Lemming.

Horology Stuff is a pretty good resource for clock-related information: with a nice, conversational writing style. In the Lemming's opinion. Your experience may vary. There's even a short section about famous clocks, and The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers (Tempus Rerum Imperator, and all that).

The website is, the Lemming hopes, a work-in-progress. Mr. Mendham seems to have been working on it since 2005. Since it's the work of one person, it takes time to 'grow' a website like Horology Stuff. Also since it's the work of one person, the Lemming thinks you'll hear the author's voice, sort of, in the text.

Almost-related posts:

• "Gaylord: A Car, Another Car, a Company, a Town, and a Block of Wax"
  (November 18, 2011)
• "And Now, for Something Completely Different: a Spiral Candle Video"
  (March 16, 2011)
• "Christmas Tree Lights: From Candles to Electric"
  (December 23, 2010)
• "Christmas Trees, Queen Victoria, And Coleridge"
  (December 21, 2009)
• "Paper Chandelier - Probably Not for Use With Candles"
  (April 26, 2008)

The Dragon Flies: SpaceX Photo, and Some Drawings

"Successful Launch Kicks Off SpaceX's Historic Mission"
SpaceX Press Release (May 22, 2012)

"Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft to orbit in an exciting start to the mission that will make SpaceX the first commercial company in history to attempt to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station - something only a handful of governments have ever accomplished.

"At 3:44 a.m. Eastern, the Falcon 9 carrying Dragon launched from SpaceX's launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Now Dragon heads toward the International Space Station. On that journey it will be subjected to a series of tests to determine if the vehicle is ready to berth with the station.

"Broadcast quality videos, including video inside of the SpaceX factory, may be downloaded at vimeo.com/spacexlaunch and high-resolution photos are posted at spacexlaunch.zenfolio.com....

"...The vehicle's first stage performed nominally before separating from the second stage. The second stage successfully delivered the Dragon spacecraft into its intended orbit. This marks the third consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch and the fifth straight launch success for SpaceX...."

As press releases go, that's a pretty good one: quite a few facts; hardly any corporate gibberish; and links to some pretty good graphics. SpaceX generally seems to be doing a good job of telling about Dragon and their other projects. Telling and showing. That color drawing is labeled "Dragon Spacecraft in Cargo Configuration" on their "Dragon Overview" page.

"...Dragon is a free-flying, reusable spacecraft being developed by SpaceX under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. Initiated internally by SpaceX in 2005, the Dragon spacecraft is made up of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members. ..."
("Dragon Overview," SpaceX)

There's a picture of the "crew configuration" for Dragon, too.

The photo of Dragon's interior, the one that the Lemming put up there with the press release, isn't identified. From the drawings, it's the Lemming's guess that we're looking up at the squarish hatch near the top of Dragon.

What the Lemming likes particularly about SpaceX's Dragon is the 'commercial' angle. Sure, NASA's the big customer for now: but it looks like SpaceX and other companies are getting read to provide commercial transportation services to low Earth orbit. And, eventually, beyond.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming"
  (July 23, 2011)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, and the Hanseatic League"
  (April 29, 2011)
• "Four Ships Docked at the ISS"
  (February 28, 2011)
• "SpaceX's Dragon: Getting Closer to Commercial Service"
  (December 8, 2010)