Volans-i’s drones are able to travel for up to 500 miles carrying 20 pounds of cargo at a time at a top speed of 200 miles per hour. (A delivery from Los Angeles to San Francisco would take three to four hours.) They are able to do this by employing fixed wings along with vertical-take-off-and-landing systems for flight, and both batteries and fuel for propulsion.
Because the Volans-i drones can take off or land on any flat 15-by-15 foot platform, the company and its customers don’t have to build any special infrastructure to make or take deliveries.
The kids seem to be taking the right message from the principal’s actions: they’re resisting him and exposing his high-handed interference.
On another topic, the ads I’m seeing on BoingBoing are disturbing. “This beauty was born to make you happy!” No, I’m sure she has her own reason to exist and her own thing going on. After all, she is a person.
Originally shared by Boing Boing
Texas high-school principal fires award-winning, nationally famous journalism teacher to rein in critical student newspaper reporting
Big, if true; carbon nanotubes are an amazing material with all kinds of useful properties. The actual percentage impact on atmospheric CO2 is surely minimal, though.
Originally shared by C. A. Wilke
High-quality carbon nanotubes made from carbon dioxide in the air break the manufacturing cost barrier | Kurzweil
For those interested in SCIENCE-y things… This could be huge. Like invention-of-mass-production-huge… as in something that could very well change most aspects of technology. Carbon nanotubes are such weird and interesting things and have a ridiculous amount of potential uses from power storage to stronger-than-steel materials, even super-fast computers.
You might think everyone knows this, but you would be wrong.
Originally shared by Karen Conlin
Every time I think it’s useless to rehash basic GUMmy stuff, something happens to prove me wrong. This time it was seeing an incorrectly formed plural possessive of a proper noun in a published children’s book. I saw red. So, I’m writing what’s sure to…
Via private share. Just because travel was slow and hard and sometimes dangerous didn’t mean that there wasn’t plenty of long-distance trade going on in the Middle Ages.
Nowhere near an actual self-aware android yet, of course, but a step in that direction.
Originally shared by Judah Richardson
Meet Sophia, a social robot created by former Disney Imagineer David Hanson. Modeled in part after Audrey Hepburn and Hanson’s wife, the robot was built to mimic social behaviors and inspire feelings of love and compassion in humans.
What happens when you make a public good free to use? What benefits does that realize?
Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh
Radical move. But not exactly no cost to citizens. As explained in the article, “To ride Tallinn’s network of trams, buses and trains for free, you must be registered as a resident, which makes the municipality profit €1,000 from your income tax every year. All you need to do then is getting a €2 green card and carrying your ID on public transport” “Tallinn, known for its digital government and successful tech startups, is often referred to as Europe’s innovation capital. Now celebrating five years of free public transport for all citizens, the government is planning to make Estonia the first free public transport nation. Allan Alaküla, Head of Tallinn European Union Office, shares some valuable insights for other cities.
Five years ago, citizens of Tallinn were asked in a referendum if free public transport should be realized. Why should citizens be involved in such political decisions?
“A decision for a long-term project should not only be taken by the current elected council, but it should be locked politically by asking for support from the public. Although a local referendum is not legally binding, the mandate from the popular vote is stronger than just from the council.”
[…]
Who is profiting the most from free buses, trams and trains in Tallinn?
“A good thing is, of course, that it mostly appeals to people with lower to medium incomes. But free public transport also stimulates the mobility of higher-income groups. They are simply going out more often for entertainment, to restaurants, bars and cinemas. Therefore they consume local goods and services and are likely to spend more money, more often. In the end this makes local businesses thrive. It breathes new life into the city.””
