Day: August 2, 2016

Coloring the Universe

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BeyondEarth_Unknown_3000
Click to enlarge

Wouldn’t it be fun to color in the universe? If you think so, please accept this famous astronomical illustration as a preliminary substitute. You, your friends, your parents or children, can print it out or even color it digitally.

While coloring, you might be interested to know that even though this illustration has appeared in numerous places over the past 100 years, the actual artist remains unknown. Furthermore, the work has no accepted name — can you think of a good one? The illustration, first appearing in a book by Camille Flammarion in 1888, is used frequently to show that humanity’s present concepts are susceptible to being supplanted by greater truths.

Thanks, Ursarodinia

CNG/electric hybrid semi prototype coming in December

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Click to enlarge — 2000 horsepower BTW

❝ It’s long been assumed that while passenger vehicles may well start to transition to electric drive over the next decade or two, heavy commercial trucks won’t.

The energy density of liquid hydrocarbon fuel is particularly well suited to moving vehicles that can weigh 10 times the 2-ton weight of a passenger car.

But a handful of companies are forging ahead with electric and series-hybrid trucks anyhow, one of them being Nikola Motor Company.

❝ In May, Nikola unveiled its design for a natural gas- and electric-powered Class 8 commercial semi truck to be called the Nikola One.

The company, which had operated in stealth mode before April, now claims it has achieved “100 percent zero emissions” on its prototype, without providing specific test details.

Founder and CEO Trevor Milton said…that Nikola had achieved “the Holy Grail” of the trucking industry: “a zero-emission truck … that can haul 80,000 pounds more than 1,000 miles … without stopping.”

After that, he said, “the Nikola One requires only 15 minutes of downtime before heading out for the next 1,000 miles,” presumably for refueling.

❝ The company, named after famed electrical engineer Nikola Tesla, plans to unveil a running prototype of its truck in Salt Lake City, Utah, on December 2.

The Nikola One is fueled with natural gas, though the turbine it uses to generate electricity can run on a variety of fuels.

There’s a portion of the trucking industry that operates as if the Republican Party will take care of their emissions pollution as smoothly as they protect NRA butt. Ain’t about to happen. No constitutional amendments at hand to be abused by agitprop pundits and preachers. Sooner or later, the over-the-road trucking industry will be pushed into serious upgrades.

Looking forward to seeing what this critter can do. There are several basics about energy transmission in the article that warm the cockles of this one-time traffic manager’s heart. They say they have pre-orders for 7,000 haulers!

Guilty verdict revoked for BC “terror” couple — “It was the police who were the leaders of the plot”

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Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

❝ A British Columbia couple convicted of terrorism charges have had their verdicts tossed out in a scathing court decision that flays the RCMP for its “egregious” conduct in manipulating naive suspects into carrying out a police-manufactured crime…

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce said the Mounties used trickery, deceit and veiled threats to engineer the terrorist acts for which John Nuttall and Amanda Korody were arrested on Canada Day three years ago.

❝ “The world has enough terrorists. We do not need the police to create more,” Bruce said in a landmark ruling Friday as she characterized the RCMP’s methods as “multi-faceted and systematic manipulation.”

“There is clearly a need to curtail the actions of police … to ensure that future undercover investigations do not follow the same path.”…

She described the pair as marginalized, socially isolated, former heroin addicts dependent on methadone and welfare to subsist and said they were “all talk and no action.”…

❝ Without the heavy-handed involvement of undercover officers, it would have been impossible for Nuttall and Korody to articulate, craft and execute a terrorist bomb plot, Bruce said.

“Ultimately, their role in carrying out the plan was minuscule compared to what the police had to do,” Bruce said. “It was the police who were the leaders of the plot.”

Three previous attempts at entrapment defenses failed in Canadian courts. This is the first that succeeded. I think our batting average in the US isn’t that good. I believe there have been successful uses of the argument a few times. But, mostly, arrogant coppers and prosecutors have a pretty good success rate with agents provocateurs.

For decades.