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Tech NewsWhy Legal Weed Isn’t Much Safer Than a Dime Bag
Despite its new-found legality at the state level, the buds you buy in medical marijuana dispensaries aren’t that different than the dime bags you used to score on the street corner—they share the same wild swings in potency, chemical content, and fungal and pesticide contamination. That’s very not good. Potency is more than just measuring … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Trusty U.S. Chopper Is Heading Home After a Decade of War
“We fly like nobody else in the Army,” Col. Michael Musiol, commander of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, recently told Stars and Stripes. He’s right. The OH-58 Kiowa family of helicopters has been serving on the front lines—both as an advanced scout and emergency evacuator—for nearly 50 years. But as its tenure in Afghanistan comes … Continued
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Tech News
This Jet-Powered Race Car Nearly Won the Indy 500
While electric race cars and superbikes are all the rage these days, these wheeled power plants are hardly the first revolutionary engine technology. Why, back in 1967, one racing team blew more than a few minds when they dropped a genuine jet engine into their car and nearly drove it to victory at the Indianapolis … Continued
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Tech NewsBirds Fitted With Suicide Vests Are the New IED
The Taliban reportedly has a new weapon in its crusade against the heretical West: remotely detonated birds. No, seriously, think birds wearing suicide vests. Why not just load explosives into a coconut and deliver them by swallow already? NBC News reports that police in the restive Faryab province in northern Afghanistan made a surprising discovery … Continued
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Tech News
This New Global Satellite System Is Bringing 3G to the Battlefield
The US military is undergoing a radical change in its communications capabilities. Not only is DARPA’s Persistent Close Air Support cutting response times by nearly 90 percent, but a new satellite-based comm system will soon deliver a 3G smartphone experience to soldiers anywhere on the planet. Currently, US forces use an 11-satellite Ultra High Frequency … Continued
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Tech NewsThe AMSTAF Patrols Dangerous Borders So Soldiers Don’t Have To
Effectively maintaining a nation’s borders requires manpower, and lots of it—especially when that nation is on bad terms with its neighbor. But rather than put its military personnel in undue danger, both Israel and South Korea have begun using this autonomous ground vehicle to secure their borders. It’s called the AMSTAF. Built by Israel’s Automotive … Continued
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Tech News
We’re Just Three Years Away From Male Birth Control (Again)
For guys, birth control options are pretty limited, and for years we’ve been promised a male version of the pill—some reversible process that will protect against the threat of offspring that’s not as permanent as a vasectomy. This new injectable gel, however, has already proven nearly foolproof (in baboons at least) and could hit market … Continued
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Tech News
This Is What Plane-Mounted Laser Guns Could Look Like
DARPA is going gaga over the pew-pew. The department just awarded a Northrop Grumman a $20.2 million contract to begin the second phase of its Excalibur Program—one which aims to give the same kind of missile-frying laser cannon that’s currently patrolling the Persian Gulf to America’s Air Force. Specifically, Northop has been contracted as part … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightThe Grandfather of the Space Shuttle Looked Like a UFO
On this day in 1975, the venerable X-24B, an experimental aircraft that paved the way for the Space Shuttle’s lifting body design, made its 36th and final test flight in the skies over southern California. To honor that aviation milestone, here is the story of how the plane came to be. The following post originally … Continued
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Tech News
How to Fly During the Holidays Without Losing Your Mind
Starting today, Americans will engage in the county’s annual combat ritual: Holiday Travel Season—a brutal tradition pitting travelers against the monolithic security and transportation apparatus in a race to their respective destinations. Believe it or not, it’s possible to make it through with your dignity intact. It just takes a bit of planning. The frustration … Continued
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Tech News
Robotic Submarine Finds Antarctic Ice Is Thicker than We Thought
The size and thickness of the Antarctic ice sheet acts as a barometer for global health but figuring out exactly how much frozen water is sitting atop the southern pole is difficult. Satellite results are often obscured by layers of snow and ice core boring requires people to brave the extreme cold to collect them. … Continued
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Tech News
A California Power Plant Is Getting the World’s Biggest Lithium Battery
The power shortages, brown-outs, and rolling blackouts that have long plagued Los Angeles county during times of peak energy usage may soon be a thing of the past now that the region’s energy utility has signed on with battery-maker AES Southland to install a massive, 400MW auxiliary power solution. Currently, when peak energy demand outstrips … Continued
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Tech NewsWhy All These Ineffective Umbrellas Won’t Just Go Away Already
Winter has officially arrived (just look at Buffalo) which means it’s once again time to battle through streets clogged legions of holiday shoppers wielding eye-poking, rain-dribbling umbrellas. But one man believes he has found the perfect solution to staying dry in the wet: fancy pants. Dan Bransfield’s case against umbrellas is a surprisingly strong one. … Continued
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Tech NewsHow to Cook Thanksgiving Dinner in Your Microwave
Thanksgiving is meant to be a time of reflection and solemn appreciation of the joyful bounties that our lives have bestowed upon us—or, more likely, a time to gorge on football marathons and good food. But who wants to spend every waking turkey day hour over a hot stove? Not you. Here’s how you can … Continued
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Tech News
Houseboat? Try a Seafaring Luxury Apartment
Houseboats are inarguably the awesomest kind of house. But whereas most conventional houseboats are little more than bungalows mounted atop barges, the new Flash Cat 67SC offers a posh alternative. Built by the Spanish shipwrights at Flash Cartamaran, the 67SC measures 65 feet in length with a 27 foot beam. Yes, technically, it is a … Continued
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Tech News
This Is the Biggest Cargo Ship on Earth
In order to keep up with the frenetic growth of global shipping traffic—which has quadrupled over the past two decades alone—commercial cargo ships keep getting bigger. And the newest king of the containerships isn’t one of Maersk’s EEE titans, it’s the CSCL Globe. The existing cargo ship record holder, in terms of capacity, is the … Continued
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Tech News
“4D” Broadcasts Will Let Hockey Fans Feel Every Hit from Their Couch
Sitting rink side at NHL games affords an unparalleled view of the action, especially when someone gets lit up on the boards right in front of you. But now, fans of the San Jose Sharks will be able to recreate that bone-jarring experience in the comfort of their own homes. The Sharks will be incorporating … Continued
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Reviews
LG Curved OLED vs Sony 4K LCD: Which TV Tech Reigns Supreme?
It’s not an easy time to be shopping for a new TV. Do you want that crisp 4K resolution, or a gorgeous new OLED display? Unless you’ve got tens of thousands of dollars burning a hole in your pocket, you can’t have them both in the same screen. Which is why we decided to pit … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Plane That Carries Planes Costs a Quarter of a Billion Dollars
With a front end like Megamind’s noggin, this massive airliner may not be the prettiest of airplanes but her whopping 47 ton cargo capacity more than makes up for her homeliness. Popularly known as the “Beluga,” this super-capacity transport helps keep the European aviation industry in the air. It’s a whale of a plane. Officially … Continued
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Tech News
What Is the Outernet and Is It the Future of the Internet?
For 60 percent of the world’s population, regular internet access is about as common as flying cars. Nearly 5 billion people today lack basic internet access either because they live in remote, rural areas or due to restrictive censorship on the part of the local government. But where the internet has failed, the Outernet hopes … Continued
Andrew Tarantola
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