Elon Musk hints at electric airplane

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Writer

Apparently not content with disrupting the automotive, energy and space transport industries, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has now hinted at a potential foray into the aircraft business.

The ambitious executive for years has talked of the potential for aircraft to be powered by electricity. Power density has been the limiting factory, however lithium-ion batteries continue to deliver more watt-hours per kg as the technology matures.

“I have been thinking about the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) electric jet a bit more,” he said at a QA session for a Hyperloop design competition, according to a video spotted by Autoblog. “I think I have something that might close. I’m quite tempted to do something about it.”

Companies, researchers, educational institutions and government agencies have been working on electric airplanes for decades. Nearly every example is propeller-driven, ranging from self-launching sailplanes to gigantic solar-powered UAVs. Many prototypes have performed proof-of-concept flights, including an electric Cessna 172, however limited range continues to represent the largest barrier to commercialization.

Musk has even bigger plans, arguing that the ideal long-distance transportation vehicle would be an electric jet capable of breaking the sound barrier and vertically taking off or landing. It is unclear if his idea for VTOL capabilities centers around swiveling engines (V-22 Osprey), thrust vectoring (AV-8B Harrier II) or another approach.

Whatever idea Musk has in mind, it will presumably require much higher power densities than batteries used in the Tesla Model S or Model 3 to have any chance at competing with

Article source: http://www.leftlanenews.com/elon-musk-hints-at-electric-airplane-90909.html

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Does the Islamic State have a real presence in Egypt?

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Writer

Following the exploding of the Russian airplane as it was leaving Sharm-el-Sheikh to head to Saint Petersburg on 31 October 2015, killing all of its 224 passengers, the Islamic State’s Egyptian branch claimed responsibility for the attack. The claim was surprising to some, who asked: “when did the Islamic State reach Egypt?” Egypt has no physical border to IS’s heartland in Syria and Iraq.

The Egyptian militants had sworn allegiance to IS November 2014, adopting the new name Wilayat Sinia (Sinai Province). Prior to that, the group was known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis (Supporters of Jerusalem), officially coming into existence after the 2011 uprising that toppled former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

This group was the most prominent one in an insurgency in the Sinai that had flared up following the 2013 military coup that overthrew Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected leader. But even before that, the Sinai region, whose inhabitants complain of marginalisation and mistreatment, had frequently been plagued with anti-government violence.   

Masked jihadis waving the black banner demonstrate strength and suggest that the militant group took over territory not only in Egypt but also in other countries like Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan. However, the Islamic State did not send troops from Syria and Iraq to claim territory.

Instead it absorbs small local groups providing them with its label – similar to an international franchise company. These local groups are based in countries with authoritarian regimes who lack legitimacy within the population and thus face various forms of resistance.

Reframing the narrative

A triangle

Article source: http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/does-islamic-state-have-real-presence-egypt-1696160968

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Douglas County Treasurer Jim Rudolph won’t run for re-election

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Writer

Douglas County Treasurer Jim Rudolph said Monday he will not run again for that position.

Rudolph plans to retire, and said he wants to announce that fact now so people who might be interested in replacing him know they won’t have to battle an incumbent in the May 2016 race. Candidates have until March 8 to file.

Rudolph, 70, has been treasurer for six years, and served as deputy treasurer before that. He was appointed to replace former Treasurer Sam Huff when Huff retired in 2011. Rudolph subsequently ran for election in 2012 and defeated challenger Rae Copitka by 78 to 21 percent.

Rudolph has no deputy, thanks to county budget cutbacks, and does not know who might step up in hopes of replacing him. No one has yet filed to run for treasurer.

Prior to joining the county in 2010, Rudolph served as a business manager for the Oakland School District and Oregon State University. He also worked in accounting and finance for the University of Montana in Missoula, and for Roseburg Forest Products, then known as Roseburg Lumber.

The treasurer conducts the county’s banking and oversees its investment portfolio. He also forecasts how much cash the county will have on hand a year or two from now to meet its obligations.

Rudolph said his advice to prospective replacements is to make sure they are comfortable

Article source: http://www.nrtoday.com/news/20452431-113/douglas-county-treasurer-jim-rudolph-wont-run-for

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Paul Vozakis Feb. 21, 1932 – Jan. 21, 2016

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Writer


Paul Vozakis passed away at his home on Jan. 21, from complications due to renal kidney failure. Cremation has taken place. He was born Feb. 21, 1932, in Evanston, to Nick and Vassell (Bella) Dallas Vozakis.

After graduating from Evanston High School in 1950, he joined the National Guard. The Korean War broke out and he was activated into the Army and sent to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for basic training, and Fort Knox, Kentucky, for battlefield training, where he received tank training.

He came home in 1952. Paul always had a love for airplanes and left Evanston for Englewood, California, and the Northrup Aeronautical Institute for schooling on aircraft and a power plant license.

He traveled down the coast of California and joined the Air Force in 1955. He went to Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois, for six months for jet engine school. In his eight years in the Air Force he was stationed in Minneapolis, Niagara Falls, and then took a 39-hour trip on a DC-7, making stops along the way in Hawaii, Guam and Japan, before landing at Naha Air Force Base in Okinawa for 18 months, coming home in 1960.

He reenlisted in Salt lake City at Fort Douglas. He was sent to Denver for electronics school to work on MG-10 and F-100 aircraft. He did not get to do this as he had been reassigned to Shepherd Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, to attend missile school in 1961. This was the only

Article source: http://www.uintacountyherald.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=74&story_id=7938

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The Connected Car and the Race to KeepConsumers in the Driver’s Seat on Data Privacy

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Writer

The Connected Car and the Race to KeepConsumers in the Driver’s Seat on Data Privacy

By Ellen S. Pyle

Ellen S. Pyle is discovery counsel at McDermott Will Emery LLP in Washington. Elle focuses her practice on information governance, data privacy and enterprise risk management. She can be reached at epyle@mwe.com.

Automation technology is rapidly advancing, connecting a variety of devices to each other and the internet. One of the most exciting points of this emerging “internet of things,” and one frequently in the news this year, has been the automated or “connected”
car. The connected car incorporates technology which includes systems which sense and interact with the environment around them, as well as systems which connect wirelessly from vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), or from vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) (computer).1

Increased automation promises increased safety, enhanced efficiency and other benefits. Imagine the benefits of being able to navigate effortlessly around traffic, having your vehicle speed perfectly keyed to optimal fuel efficiency, or your vehicle sensing and relaying to you information on the presence of dangerous defect.

However, as cars automation increase, and cars move towards completely driverless automation, issues emerge regarding safety, data security and privacy. Connected cars collect and transmit large amounts of data, accessing data systems within the vehicles, as well as within its various electronic accessories (entertainment centers, GPS) and the drivers’ electronic accessories (cell phones, etc.), and transmitting that data system to system and system to internet.

A problem arises in that the connected car contains multiple system and data point connections,

Article source: http://www.bna.com/connected-car-race-n57982066853/

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Super Circle Plane Is a Plane That Other Planes Can Fly Through

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Writer


Loch Ness Monster Tea Infuser: Take the NessTea Plunge

Loch Ness Monster Tea Infuser: Take the NessTea Plunge

Super Mario Maker Wallpaper Editor: Wall ∞-∞

Super Mario Maker Wallpaper Editor: Wall ∞-∞

Archaeology Soap Should Be Renamed Primordial Soap

Archaeology Soap Should Be Renamed “Primordial Soap”

Sake-flavored Kit Kats: Drunk on Chocolate

Sake-flavored Kit Kats: Drunk on Chocolate

Article source: http://technabob.com/blog/2016/02/02/super-circle-model-airplane/

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Japan’s new stealth fighter is a futuristic marvel

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Writer

Japan’s Advanced Technology Demonstrator-Experimental, also known as the ATD-X or X-2, will fly from Nagoya Airport to Gifu Air Base at the end of February, according to the Japanese defense ministry. This will be the first flight of the high-tech testbed and a major step toward Tokyo’s plans for a domestic stealth fighter.

The Ministry of Defense had planned for the prototype to fly back in 2014, but early last year ministry officials reported that issues with engine restarts had forced a delay to the end of 2015. Reports at the end of last year then suggested a January flight, but articles in the Asahi Shimbun on Jan. 13 and in the Nikkei on Jan. 20 seem to confirm a flight in February.

The aircraft is currently under the control of the project’s prime contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, at their Komaki Minami Plant near Nagoya. ATD-X is already undergoing ground-based and taxiing tests. Mitsubishi will turn the prototype over to the Ministry of Defense’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency in March after the aircraft arrives at Gifu Air Base. From April, testing will begin on the aircraft’s radar systems at the Gifu Test Center, the home of advanced propulsion research in Japan.

The multitude of research programs feeding into ATD-X — technologies such as 3D thrust-vectoring, skin-embedded phased-array antennas, and stealth — are due to wrap up by April 2017. There’s a hard deadline. The Mitsubishi

Article source: http://theweek.com/articles/602679/japans-new-stealth-fighter-futuristic-marvel

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