Safe House: The Brilliant ‘Transformer’ House That Can Become a Fort.
Next generation Air Force drones
I read the article on the link below at the WIRED Danger Room site.
Coming Soon From the Air Force: Mind-Reading Drones
Very interesting, but a little frightening as well.
Key quote:
“Someone’s got to say it. Predicting a pilot’s intent might prevent collisions. But it [a drone with AI] can also neutralize a human counterattack. Or it can allow the drones’ armed cousins to mimic Israel in the Six Day War and blow up the manned aircraft on the tarmac. Coincidentally, according to the retcon in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, April 19, 2011 — today — is the day that Skynet goes online. Think about it.”
Technology marches on and it can be very beneficial to us, but we must make sure we control it.
A realistic assessment of the US forces in Afghanistan
Critic of War Effort Does His Homework, Up Close
“The question isn’t what the Marines or the Army do, the question is, why are they doing it, and what’s the end state?” Mr. West said. “My objection is, they’ve stayed to become the government.”
Bing West
2011 NBA Playoffs 1st Round Predictions
Chicago vs Indiana: I think Indiana will play hard and challenge the Bulls, but Chicago is simply too deep and too strong for the Pacers. Indiana has got a good group of young players and I think they will go past the 1st round within the next 2 years, but not this year. I think Derek Rose will take the Bulls at least as far as the conference finals.
Miami vs Philadelphia: The Heat will have no problem with Philly. I’ll be very surprised if the Sixers win more than one game.
Orlando vs Atlanta: Very tough 4 vs 5 seed match-up here. I think this series goes at least 6 games, but Orlando ultimately prevails. Atlanta can’t stop Dwight Howard.
Dallas vs Portland: I think the Blazers pull off the upset and defeat Dallas. The playoffs are where the Mav’s will really miss Caron Butler.
Boston vs New York: This will be a war, but Boston will win in the end. Boston’s core group still too strong for the revitalized Knick team. Boston in 6.
San Antonio vs Memphis: These two teams split four games during the regular season. Memphis is up and coming and they do have the potential to upset here, but I’ve got to go with the Spurs. I just can’t see the #1 seed in the West losing in the first round. SA’s core group of veteran players and their great coach, Greg Popovich, will make sure they advance.
Los Angeles vs New Orleans: Good warm up series for the Defending Champion Lakers. NO has NO chance here. Lakers in 5 games max. They get some rest as a result of a short series. They’ll need it because it will get a whole lot tougher for the Lakers after this round.
OK City vs Denver: Wow, another brutal 4 vs 5 showdown between two pretty good teams. I’ve got to pick OK City because they have a true superstar in Kevin Durant and a near superstar in Russell Westbrook. Those two will carry OK to victory. OK in 6.
Mercedes Benz F-Cell
Cool little car imo.
The MB F-Cell is a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.
Electric engine rated at 100 kW (134 hp)
Range: 250 miles
SpaceX introduces the Falcon Heavy Rocket
Here is a new video from SpaceX, the American space transport company founded by Elon Musk (who is also the CEO of Tesla Motors). The animated video shows how their new rocket, the Falcon Heavy, will work. The Falcon Heavy will be the largest rocket since the Saturn V. It will be capable of lifting payloads as large as 120,000 lb, which is twice what Space Shuttle can carry. I think the development of this technology by a private company is very exciting and comes at crucial time because the Space Shuttle program is winding down.
The Falcon Heavy is scheduled to launch sometime in 2013 at Vandenberg AFB, California.
College Basketball 2010-2011 Final Thoughts
Well,
We’ve seen better championship games than UConn vs Butler, that’s for sure. In fact, last year’s Duke vs Butler was much, much better. That said, the overall tournament this year was quite good. It was very entertaining and highly unpredictable this year. Only 2 brackets out 5.9 million plus on ESPN’s NCAA site correctly picked this year’s Final Four (FF). I suspect those two might have pulled team names out of a hat or used some other method of random selection. I can understand how someone might pick UConn and Kentucky to go to the FF, but I don’t see how anyone could have thought Butler and VCU were FF teams.
I ended up taking 4th and 5th places, out of 42 brackets, in the pool I was in this year. My picks in the early rounds were pretty good, but I was sunk in end by not picking any of the FF teams. I’m relatively pleased with my performance, given the high number of upsets this year.
I was wrong about Butler taking the Final game vs UConn. I noted in my post that UConn was the justifiable favorite, but I thought Butler might have one more upset left in them. I don’t think it was an irrational choice because Butler did beat #1 seed Pitt, #4 Wisconsin and #2 Florida on their way to the FF so they proved they could play with top tier teams. However, they only shot 19% vs UConn and that is what killed them. The poor shooting was due in part to UConn’s great D and in part to the fact that Butler was just ice cold from the outside. The Butler Bulldogs missed a lot of open shots and they had to have to good shooting night in order to have any chance to win.
The loss to UConn notwithstanding Butler coach Brad Stevens did a hell of a job just getting team back to the Final Four. I have no doubt that Stevens will ultimately be a candidate for a head coaching job at a school in a major conference. Butler gave him a new 10 year contact last year, but I will be surprised if he lasts until the end.
Congrats to UConn and Coach Jim Calhoun for capturing title #3. That is quite an accomplishment for that program.
I was happy to see BYU’s Jimmer Fredette win the John R. Wooden award for player of the year. I think he was indeed the best college player this year, but UConn’s Kemba Walker, among others, was a strong rival. Fredette delivered a lot memorable performances this year, esp. against conference rival SDSU.
Fredette had a good supporting cast at BYU this year, but he was clearly the star and carried them to the Sweet Sixteen. Unfortunately, Jimmer was on the cover of Sports Illustrated mid tourney and of course BYU lost the next game. The SI curse strikes again. You don’t want to be on the cover of SI before a tourney or playoff is completed.
NCAA’s – The Final Two
Can’t wait for Butler vs UConn. This should be a competitive game. Vegas has made UConn a 3 pt favorite and the Over/Under is 110.
I think Butler is the sentimental choice for most College Basketball fans because the Butler Bulldogs seem to epitomize team play and have been a giant killer for two years in a row now. It is truly a remarkable feat that they have managed to fight their way back to the Finals, especially after losing their best player from last year, sharp shooting Gordon Hayward, to the NBA.
UConn has also made an impressive journey to the Finals. They are on a 10 game tourney winning steak, which includes the NCAA’s and the Big East tourney. The Huskies are a very good all around team and feature one of the best players in the country in Kemba Walker, who is arguably the best point guard in the country.
UConn should be the favorite in this game because I think their road to the Finals has a been a slightly tougher than Butler’s has been, but I also think Butler can this game. I think Butler’s brilliant young coach, Brad Stevens, is going to figure out a way to at least slow Walker and keep this game within reach for the Bulldogs.
So, there it is. I’m going with Butler for the win.
The NCAA’s – The Final Four
I got 3 out of 4 Elite Eight games right. I was wrong about Kansas defeating VCU and I must admit I was shocked that #1 seed Kansas did not win. How long can VCU stay hot? Well, they have had a tremendous run so far, but I don’t think they can keep it up.
I’m picking Butler to defeat VCU and Kentucky to defeat UConn.
The Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge in San Diego
The Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge (HDPB) at night. This impressive bridge opened to the public on March 18th, after nearly three years of construction. The span connects San Diego’s downtown Ball Park/East Village section to the waterfront.
The bridge cost 27 million dollars, which was well beyond original cost estimates. I usually find publicly funded projects that go over budget disturbing, but this beautiful bridge is an exception.
This bridge is an architectural gem in my opinion and provides a much needed overpass near the new bayside Hilton Hotel and the Convention Center. The bridge is one of the longest self-anchored pedestrian suspension bridges in the world and was designed to last at least 100 years. If it lasts that long, surviving earthquakes, storms and whatever else get thrown at it in the coming decades it will have been well worth it’s cost.
Bridge Spec’s:
550′ long
16′ wide
Pylon is 131′ tall
34 individual suspenders are attached to the main cable. All cables are stainless steel.
gmf journal 