Four decades of a flying giant – “An object of boyish wonder, an aviation milestone, a sea-change for cheap air travel, a Jumbo of a plane, the Boeing 747 celebrates its 40th birthday…”

Ford’s balloon car isn’t hot air – “Driver A is puttering along. Driver B, in the Lincoln MKS, has a radar monitoring the traffic in front of him. As Driver A slows down, Driver B doesn’t notice; he’s talking on his cell phone, eating an Angry Whopper, tying his shoe and disciplining his stepchildren in the back seat. A computer connected to the radar has been continuously monitoring Driver A. Finally, it determines the two vehicles are on a collision course to the insurance agent’s office and the system begins to precharge the brake calipers. It then mutes the stereo, flashes a red light across the bottom of the windshield and makes this loud beep, beep, beep sound….”

How Computers Boot Up – “Booting is an involved, hacky, multi-stage affair – fun stuff. Here’s an outline of the process…”

Tank round guides self to target during test – “An Army Abrams 120mm cannon destroyed a T-72 tank more than 5,000 meters away using a next-generation guided tank round able to find its own way toward a target, service officials said….”

Breakthrough on ‘broken windows’ – “Many police departments across the country already use elements of the broken windows theory, or focus on crime hot spots. The Lowell experiment offers guidance on what seems to work best. Cleaning up the physical environment was very effective; misdemeanor arrests less so, and boosting social services had no apparent impact.”

Deducing the diet of a prehistoric hominid – “In an unusual intersection of materials science and anthropology, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and The George Washington University (GWU) have applied materials-science-based mathematical models to help shed light on the dietary habits of some of mankind’s prehistoric relatives…”

Carrick Bend – “When joining two ropes I find the Carrick Bend is easy to both tie and undo. Besides that it’s a pretty knot…”

More Linux Phones In 2009 – “According to the LiMo Foundation, six of its operating members plan to deliver handsets based on the LiMo Platform, a Linux platform, this year. Verizon Wireless, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefonica and Vodafone are all planning devices sometime this year, the LiMo Foundation said. …”

100 Tips, Tools, and Resources to Protect Your Online Reputation – “With the advent of online tools that make it easy to share information, meet new people and keep in touch faster than ever, reputation has taken on a twofold dimension. Individuals and businesses no longer have to worry about their reputation in real life but in the virtual world as well, making it twice as hard to keep up with what’s being said. There are some ways that you can work to manage your online reputation, however, whether you’re doing it for yourself or for your business. These resources provide tips and tools to make it easier to track, control and manage your online reputation so you stay on top and in control of your personal and professional image…”

National Defense in Cyberspace – “Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, trains its own hackers — and it’s not the only official effort to defend a nation from denial-of-service attacks. Governments around the world are preparing for the future of war…”

Impressions from Nvidia’s Ion – “Nvidia has a winner with its Ion platform. The surcharge on the Intel solution with 945 GMA is worth its money. Now we await the first real products from Ion in anticipation. According to rumors, Nvidia’s new low-cost chip set with Intel’s Atom will provide its service to the next basic version of the Mac Mini….”

Dozens of science videos on YouTube

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