Everything is Interesting
The Green Wall of China is a series of human-planted forest strips in the People’s Republic of China, designed to hold back the expansion of the Gobi Desert.
The project was begun in 1978, and is planned to be completed around 2074, at which point it is planned to be 2,800 miles (4,500 km) long. 1,390 square miles of Chinese grassland are overtaken every year by the Gobi Desert.
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General Motors EN-V (Electric Networked-Vehicle) is a 2-seat urban electric concept car developed by GM that can be driven normally or operated autonomously. Designed for urban environments and around an extrapolation of the P.U.M.A. prototype announced in 2009 by GM and Segway, which contributed the two-wheeled balancing system. Three different vehicles are showcased, Xiao (Laugh), Jiao (Pride) and Miao (Magic). The EN-V can detect and avoid obstacles–including other vehicles–park themselves and will come when called by phone. Accomplished through a combination of GPS, vehicle-based sensors and vehicle-to-vehicle communication.
This autonomous technology is an extrapolation of that found in GM’s 2007 autonomous ‘The Boss’ Chevrolet Tahoe created for the DARPA Grand Challenge (2007). The EN-Vs can communicate with each other allowing platooning, with one or more EN-Vs tagging along automatically behind a leader. Also, if an EN-V detects another in close proximity, it can check what that other is intending to do and agree on how to pass it safely. Powered by two electric motors, one on each wheel, and a lithium-ion phosphate battery, the EN-V has a top speed of 40 kilometers per hour (25 mph) and a maximum all-electric range of 40 kilometers (25 mi).
The Google Driverless Car project is currently being led by engineer Sebastian Thrun, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and co-inventor of Google Street View, whose team at Stanford created the robotic vehicle Stanley which won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge (the second driverless car competition by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and its $2 million prize from the United States Department of Defense.
The system combines information gathered for Google Street View with input from video cameras inside the car, a LIDAR sensor on top of the vehicle, radar sensors on the front of the vehicle, and a position sensor attached to one of the rear wheels that helps locate the car’s position on the map.
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DFA Records is an independent record label and production team, launched in September 2001 by Mo’ Wax co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. The label has an exclusive distribution deal with major record label EMI.
James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy met while working in New York on the David Holmes album ‘Let’s Get Killed.’ DFA Records began on a series of 12″ single vinyl releases starting with The Rapture’s ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ and The Juan Maclean’s ‘By The Time I Get To Venus.’ Notable releases include James Murphy’s band LCD Soundsystem Black Dice, Shit Robot, Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom, J.O.Y., Pixeltan, Black Leotard Front, and Hot Chip.
James Murphy (b. 1970) is an American musician, producer, DJ, and co-founder of record label DFA Records. His most well-known musical project is LCD Soundsystem. Murphy was a member of Falling Man from 1988 to 1989, Pony from 1992 to 1994, and Speedking from 1995 to 1997. He was also the sound engineer for Sub Pop band Six Finger Satellite. Former Six Finger Satellite member John Maclean is now on DFA records as The Juan Maclean. In 1999 he formed DFA with Tim Goldsworthy (formerly of UNKLE).
Starting in 1993, Murphy used the name ‘Death from Above’ when DJing, a nickname that was given to his signature PA setup while he was the sound setup for Six Finger Satellite. A two-man Canadian band originally called themselves ‘Death from Above’ before there was a dispute over the name. In response to the threat, the Canadian group changed the minimum number of characters legally required of them and became ‘Death from Above 1979.’
Homies are a series of 2-inch figurines loosely based upon Chicano (Mexican American) characters in the life of artist David Gonzalez. First created in 1998, these plastic figurines were initially sold via vending machines typically positioned in supermarkets. Homies have become a highly collectible item among fans of the line, and many imitation toys have sprung up. The figures caused controversy after their initial release as members of the Los Angeles Police Department, argued that the figures glorified gang life. Many stores stopped selling the toys after the complaint.
Gonzales then created a story for each of the Homies’ characters, each of which had a positive view of the characters. Some became former jail mates who went on to educate children about how to avoid prison. Mainstream stores, such as Walmart, quickly returned the Homies to their stacks, and the toy branched out to include a line of diecast cars, among other things. By 2005, the Homies character line had women, as well as Filipino, Japanese and Puerto Rican, and even Evil Clown characters. The Puerto Ricans set, which includes twelve of the Homies, are nicknamed Los Boricuas.
Gashapon [gosh-uh-pone] is a Bandai brand trademark widely used throughout the world for their capsule toys.
‘Gashapon’ is a Japanese onomatopoeia, made up of two sounds: ‘gasha’ for the turning of a crank on a toy vending machine, and ‘pon’ for the sound of the toy capsule dropping into the receptacle. It is used to describe both the machines themselves, and any toy obtained from them.
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Disney Vinylmation is a brand of vinyl toys sold at Disney theme parks and other locations. The toys all have a common shape (that of Mickey Mouse) but have different themed markings, colors and patterns.
The first figures were introduced in November 2008. The figures are sold in sealed packaging. The purchaser does not know which figure they are buying until they have opened it.
Digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLR) are cameras that use a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera. The basic operation of a DSLR is as follows: for viewing purposes, the mirror reflects the light coming through the attached lens upwards at a 90 degree angle. It is then reflected three times by the roof pentaprism, rectifying it for the photographer’s eye.
During exposure, the mirror assembly swings upward, the aperture narrows (if stopped down, or set smaller than wide open), and a shutter opens, allowing the lens to project light onto the image sensor. A second shutter then covers the sensor, ending the exposure, and the mirror lowers while the shutter resets. All of this happens automatically over a period of milliseconds, with cameras designed to do this 3–10 times per second.
A Single-Lens Translucent (SLT) camera is similar to a Digital Single-Lens Relex (DSLR) but uses a beam splitter instead of a solid mirror. Unlike DSLRs SLT cameras do not have an optical viewfinder, instead they rely on an electronic viewfinder, using the image collected by the sensor. A DSLR mirror allows the user to directly view the image that is passing through the lens; in a SLT the mirror is only used for focusing.
A semi-translucent mirror allows the majority of the light to pass through to the sensor while reflecting a portion of the light onto a phase-detection autofocus sensor in the top of the camera, allowing the camera to take photos without any mirror movement (and associated vibrations), as well as full time auto focus. Since the autofocus array is constantly receiving light, SLT cameras are able to use phase-detection autofocus during video recording, while DSLR’s and other interchangeable lens cameras have to use slower contrast detect autofocus for video and live view.
A mirrorless interchangeable lens camera is an emerging class of digital system cameras, intermediate between compact digital cameras and digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs).
They are characterized by large sensors (the same size as entry-level DSLRs), no mirror, and interchangeable lenses, as the name suggests, and provide DSLR-quality pictures in a significantly smaller camera.
A molten salt reactor (MSR) is a type of nuclear fission reactor in which the primary coolant is a molten salt mixture, which can run at high temperatures (for higher thermodynamic efficiency) while staying at low vapor pressure for reduced mechanical stress and increased safety, and is less reactive than molten sodium coolant.
The nuclear fuel may be solid fuel rods, or dissolved in the coolant itself, which eliminates fuel fabrication, simplifies reactor structure, equalizes burnup, and allows online reprocessing. One kind of proposed MSR is a liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR). Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive chemical element estimated to be about three to four times more abundant than uranium in the Earth’s crust.
The Daily Omnivore 