Cutting it Old School
Cutting it Old School, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
I have not been using this today. It does look cool though, doesn’t it.
Monthly archives: January 2014
Cutting it Old School, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
Moth drone stays rock steady in gale-force winds – New Scientist
THEY might not seem at all stable as they batter into light bulbs but moths have inspired an autopilot for drones.
Small drones find it difficult to fly in strong winds and cluttered environments. So Physical Sciences Inc (PSI) based in Andover, Massachusetts, in association with the US military, filmed hawk moths to see how they manage to stay aloft.
via Moth drone stays rock steady in gale-force winds – tech – 16 January 2014 – New Scientist.
BBC News – Battery advance could boost renewable energy take-up
While flow battery designs are suited to storing large amounts of energy cheaply, they have previously relied on chemicals that are expensive or difficult to maintain, driving up costs.
Most previous flow batteries have chemistries based on metals. Vanadium is used in the most commercially advanced flow battery technology, but its cost is relatively high. Other variants contain precious metal catalysts such as platinum.
The researchers say their new battery already performs as well as vanadium flow batteries, but uses no precious metal catalyst and has an underlying chemistry that is metal-free, instead relying on naturally abundant, more affordable chemicals called quinones.
BBC News – Battery advance could boost renewable energy take-up.
DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s “The Fantastic Four”
Back in 1994, legendary B-Movie filmmaker Roger Corman produced one of Marvel’s first movies. It was a feature film adaptation of The Fantastic Four, which at the time never saw the light of day. It has since been bootlegged and leaked, and has gained a cult following over the years.
Director Marty Langford has created a documentary called DOOMED!: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s “The Fantastic Four” which gives us the full behind the scenes story of the film’s troubled production and release.
via Trailers for DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s “The Fantastic Four” — GeekTyrant.
RIP Sir Run Run Shaw
If you’ve watched more than a handful of Hong Kong movies, you’ll have seen a Shaw Brothers production. If you have never seen a Shaw Brothers movie, there are a lot of them on YouTube.
Salford Arms
Salford Arms, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
Fourth pub on my birthday pub crawl.
Probe in Levenshulme launched following huge blaze at house triggered by cannabis farm equipment – Manchester Evening News
In other news, not a single Mars bar can be found between Longsight and Stockport.
An investigation is underway after a massive house blaze was triggered by a suspected cannabis farm in Levenshulme.
Fire and police were called to the semi-detached house on Grange Avenue at around 7.45pm yesterday as the fire spread through the first and second floors of the property.
Spray bacteria on the desert to halt its spread – New Scientist
Planting hardy grasses helps keep sand in place, but the wind can still whip away particles between the grasses. So Chunxiang Hu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’s Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan has developed an alternative approach. She coats planted dunes with a mixture of photosynthesising cyanobacteria that can thrive in the semi-arid environment.
Grown in nearby ponds, the cyanobacteria are trucked into the desert every few days and sprayed over the dunes, where they form sticky filaments that hold soil particles in place and prevent them from being blown away. Cyanobacteria get their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis, and as part of the chemical reactions involved, they absorb carbon from the atmosphere and provide the organic matter the soil needs to be productive.
Spray bacteria on the desert to halt its spread – environment – 02 January 2014 – New Scientist.
BBC News – The three-month flight along the Nile
When an early British sea plane, the S.80, made a three-month expedition south down the Nile in 1914, the mechanic was unnamed in the newspaper reports. But the adventure’s success depended on his expertise.
The Inspiral Carpets to release ‘lost’ debut album for Record Store Day | Live4ever Ezine
‘Dung 4‘, the cassette-only album from the Inspiral Carpets which preceded their more conventional debut LP ‘Life‘ in 1989, is to be re-released for this year’s Record Store Day.
Cherry Records will for the first time issue the album on CD and vinyl formats on April 19th
via The Inspiral Carpets to release ‘lost’ debut album for Record Store Day | Live4ever Ezine.
The lobbying bill is indefensible – so don’t defend it on my behalf | Caroline Lucas | Comment is free | theguardian.com
With the Guardian’s recent poll showing half the country is angry with politicians, you might think this isn’t the best time to introduce draconian legislation that will muzzle dissent and crack down on popular campaigning. But then again, you might also think a government that came to power promising a new “big society” might welcome robust and healthy public debate, led by a diverse range of grassroots campaigners.
Which only goes to show the extraordinary hypocrisy of the coalition in ramming through its transparency of lobbying bill (better known as the gagging bill). By imposing a quite astonishing range of requirements on campaigning organisations in the run-up to elections, it would effectively shut down legitimate voices seeking to raise awareness on issues of public interest, whether they are on NHS reform, housing policy, or wildlife conservation. Campaign spending limits for “third party” organisations – such as charities and pressure groups – would be drastically cut, and the definition of what constitutes campaigning broadened. And there would be new forms of regulation for organisations lobbying on issues at constituency level.
Elephant shark takes record for slowest evolution – life – 08 January 2014 – New Scientist
And you thought Creationists weren’t evolved….
The Elephant Shark’s genome has barely changed in 400 million years, making it slower evolving than the coelacanth.
Elephant shark takes record for slowest evolution – life – 08 January 2014 – New Scientist.
BBC News – The secret history of fashion laws
Politicians have been laying down the law about what clothes we can wear since the Middle Ages, and it’s only getting worse, according to a US law professor.
Piccadilly Gardens is looking rather pretty tonight
Piccadilly Gardens is looking rather pretty tonight, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
Love the lit fountain. Is this a new feature, or has it always been able to do this?
Nice to see the Cine City redevelopment is proceeding so well
Nice to see the Cine City redevelopment is proceeding so well, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
It’s been four or five years since they tore down Cine City with the promise of posh flats and shops. And the site is still empty.
I know the cinema was a loss maker and the building decrepit, but it’s frustrating when older buildings are pulled down in she name of “progress” and the land left fallow because the developers lost interest or were too incompetent to secure enough funding.
RIP (sort of) The Mark Addy
I never got to enjoy The Mark Addy in its more recent foodie guise, but I have fond memories of the cheese platters it used to do. It was an option as a food stop on my upcoming birthday pub-crawl, but may now be by-passed (if it’s even open to sell beer) as it’s off the route a little.
THE well-known and much loved Mark Addy pub is to close as a restaurant with immediate effect. This means it will not re-open after the Christmas/New Year break which was due to finish on Monday 6 January.
Costs associated with upgrading the kitchens and restaurant areas have led to the decision. The physical upkeep of the site has been an issue for some time.
via The Mark Addy To Close | Food Drink | Manchester Confidential.
Let’s all move to a different planet
10 Most Habitable Alien Worlds by alltime10s
Video via Geeks Are Sexy
The Earth Similarity Index, ESI or “easy scale” is a measure of how physically similar a planetary mass object is to Earth. It is a scale from zero to one, with Earth having a value of one. The ESI was designed to measure planets, however the formula can also be applied to large natural satellites and other objects. The ESI is a function of the planet’s radius, density, escape velocity, and surface temperature. These parameters are often estimated based on one or more known variables. Such variables depend greatly on the method of observation used. For example, surface temperatures is influenced by a variety of factors including irradiance, tidal heating, albedo, insolation and greenhouse warming. Where these are not known, planetary equilibrium temperature is frequently used, or the variable is inferred from other known attributes.
The Cost of Cameron: 100 Worst Failures of David Cameron’s Government from May 2010 to Dec 2013
The Cost of Cameron, by Éoin Clarke
The 100 worst failures of David Cameron’s Government from May 2010 to December 2013. (note all 100 points are evidenced. Click on the word “evidence” at the end of each point to reveal the proof of the claim made therein.)
RIP The Lass O’Gowrie
At least, RIP in its current incarnation, as the landlord is being pushed out by Greene King.
The Great British Pub Award 2012 Pub of the Year winner has been forced to surrender his lease after his pub company claimed he was a below-average operator.
The Lass suffered badly from the closure of the BBC complex on Oxford Road, but it has still been running some interesting nights and tapping a geeky vein for the last few years. Sadly, my own rotten finances have kept me away from most of the good stuff they did, so I’ve been no help to them.
No doubt Greene King will put a more pliant landlord into the premises and one of Manchester’s most characterful pubs could become another bland bar.
And this is how I am spending New Year
And this is how I am spending New Year, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
With people who drink too much, just like I do.