USA – Page 9 – Take off with Natarajan

Musical Roads That Play Melodies When Cars Drive Over….!!!

November 17, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

A Japanese engineer by the name of Shizuo Shinoda was digging with a bulldozer when he accidentally scraped some markings into a road with its claw. Later when he drove over the markings he realized that the vibration produced in his car can be heard as a tune. In 2007, a team of engineers from the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute refined Shinoda’s designs and built a number of “melody roads” in Japan. These roads have groves cut at very specific intervals along the road surface. Depending on how far apart the grooves are and how deep they are, a car moving over them will produce a series of high or low notes, enabling designers to create a distinct tune. The closer the grooves are, the higher the pitch of the sound. The critical ingredient in the mix is the speed of the car.

The Civic Musical Road in Lancaster, California. Photo credit: roadtrippers.com

There are four melody roads in Japan, one each in Hokkaido, Wakayama, Shizuoka and Gunma. They all play different tunes. They stretch between 175 to 250 meters, and are carved with thousands of groves. Aside from street signs, the roads are marked by colored musical notes painted on the surface of the road which alert motorists of the incoming musical interlude. The grooves are laid down on the side of the road near the curb and not in the middle, so drivers have the option to either go over them or avoid them. In order to hear the tunes, they need to keep the car windows closed and drive at 28mph keeping one wheel over the grooves . Drive too fast and it will sound like a tape on fast forward. Drive too slow and it will have the opposite effect.

The first musical road, however, was not Japanese. It was created in Gylling, Denmark, by two Danish artists Steen Krarup Jensen and Jakob Freud-Magnus, in October 1995. Called the Asphaltophone, the street is made from a series of raised pavement markers, spaced out at intermittent intervals so that as a vehicle drives over the markers, the vibrations caused by the wheels can be heard inside the car.

Grooves on a melody road in Japan. Photo credit: Yusuke Japan Blog

The idea of musical roads has caught engineers in several other countries. There is one “Singing Road” in South Korea close to Anyang in Gyeonggi. It plays the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. Unlike other melody roads, it was designed not to draw tourists but to help motorists stay alert and awake. The Singing Road is located on a particularly treacherous section of a highway where lots of accidents occur due to dozing and speeding. 68% of traffic accidents in South Korea are due to inattentive, sleeping or speeding drivers.

America got its first melody road in 2008. It was originally built on Avenue K in Lancaster, California, for a Honda commercial. The Civic Musical Road, named after Honda Civic, stretches for a quarter-mile and plays back a part of the Finale of the ‘William Tell Overture’. But the intervals are so far off that the melody bears only a slight resemblance to the original tune. Later, when residents complained that the grooves produced too much noise from nocturnal drivers, they relocated the strip to Avenue G.

Another musical road is located in the village of Tijeras, in New Mexico. Driving over the grooves at 45mph causes the car to play the famous song “America the Beautiful”. The project was funded by the National Geographic Society, and overseen by the New Mexico Department of Transportation who said that the real motive behind the musical road is to get drivers to slow down.

A sign ahead of the Civic Musical Road in Lancaster, California. Photo credit: roadtrippers.com

The Civic Musical Road in Lancaster, California. Photo credit: roadtrippers.com

Photo credit: Yusuke Japan Blog

The musical road in New Mexico.

Amazing Singing Road of Anyang

Melody Roads….Japan

Source….www.amusingplanet.com

Natarajan

The curious case of the Google self-driving car and the police officer…!!!

November 13, 2015November 13, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Never mind the mystery behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, things just got a whole lot weirder today when Google shared with the world a picture of a police officer, seemingly in California, pulling over one of its self-driving cars— for going too slow.

Now, I’m surprised that at just about this point in the picture the officer’s head didn’t implode. (OK, OK, there was probably a human in there somewhere.)

“Driving too slowly? Bet humans don’t get pulled over for that too often,” Google wrote it a posting on its self-driving car Google+ page. “We’ve capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25mph for safety reasons. We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets.”

“Like this officer, people sometimes flag us down when they want to know more about our project. After 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that’s the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we’re proud to say we’ve never been ticketed!”

It’s also another fascinating example of how technology is racing ahead of regulations. Yes, Google’s cars are road-legal (at least along the roads they drive), but in general the laws around self-driving cars have a long way to go.

As Re/code points out, the California Department of Motor Vehicles still doesn’t have a law in place for what happens when a self-driving car is pulled over and all the seats are empty inside. Presumably, there was someone sitting in the front seat of Google’s car, though the picture doesn’t reveal that person.

One thing that came to my mind when I saw the picture was how the cars know to pull over when a police car hails them — assuming there’s no driver. Clearly that will have to be programmed in, if laws are eventually passed to allow vehicles on the road without a human inside.

It would be interesting to know if Google’s self-driving cars can already respond to police sirens, lights, or other requests that it pull over. “I’m pretty sure the car can understand that cops and fire engines behave differently than regular cars, I’m just not sure if they’re capable of pulling over for them just yet,” Christopher Espejo commented on the Google+ posting.

But in a tongue-in-cheek comment that highlights just how absurd (and cool) this tech-driven world of ours is becoming, Ken Hiroshi Clark wrote, “The cop is actually a robot, created by Google. Photo taken by a drone, Google’s, as well.”

Before long, that seems all too likely to come true.

Source….MICHAEL DE WAAL-MONTGOMERY…. http://www.venturebeat.com

Natarajan

Image of the Day…..” Saturday Night’s Mysterious Light…” !!!

November 9, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Saturday night’s mystery light not a UFO

People in Los Angeles and various states in the U.S. West saw the mysterious light. It was confirmed as a Naval missile test off the California coast.

Mysterious light sailing across the sky on Saturday night, widely seen across the U.S. West. This image is a still from a video (profanity alert).

Witnesses from Southern California to Reno, Nevada reportedly “went into a tizzy” when they spotted a bright, blue-green, mysterious, long-lasting light in the sky on Saturday evening (November 7, 2015).

The light reportedly movied from south to north over a period of five minutes or more. Many saw it, as it sailed across the sky around 6 p.m. PST (8 p.m. CST). Translate to your time zone.

Later, the light was found to be an unarmed Trident missile test-fired by the U.S. Navy, from a submarine off the coast of Southern California.

Here’s your mystery light source: It was a test of a Trident SLBM from a U.S. Navy submarine off Point Magu, California, near Vandenberg AFB. Pictured is a Trident II (D-5) missile underwater launch.
Image via DailyMail

Bottom line: The mysterious light was seen over Los Angeles and in various western states on Saturday night – November 7, 2015 – was confirmed to be an unarmed Naval test fire off the California coast.

Source…..www.earthsky.org

Natarajan

WHY STANDING IN ONE PLACE MAKES YOUR LEGS MORE SORE THAN WALKING…?

November 4, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Why does standing in one place for a long time make my legs and feet sorer than walking the same amount of time?

Working retail, waiting tables, standing in line at the amusement park or just shopping with mom, anyone who’s ever been stuck on their feet for a long time more or less standing still knows that it’s much more tiring than walking the equivalent amount of time. But why?

First, when you stand, your legs aren’t resting, even beyond just supporting your weight. Instead, your body sways very slightly. To keep you upright, a few muscles, particularly those in your calves, are constantly working, making very small adjustments that you probably aren’t consciously aware of. On the other hand, when you walk, the burden is distributed across more muscle groups. Muscles swinging the arms help propel them, core muscles keep you stable, butt muscles complete your stride, and the legs of both the calves and the thighs are employed.

Second, when you’re standing still, each foot and leg supports about half of the body’s weight, but neither ever gets a rest. On the other hand, when walking, each time a foot is raised the muscles formerly helping to balance you get a little break as does the bottom of your foot. While only a small break each instance, this totals to about half the time being in more or less a resting state other than the muscles required to lift your foot off the ground.

Third, when you stand, the blood and lymph fluids pool in your feet, calves and ankles, because your heart cannot efficiently pump the blood all the way up from your feet by itself. This is why if you stand in one place for long periods, you might notice that your feet and lower legs swell a little.

Because the heart isn’t up to performing this task efficiently, it relies in part on muscle contractions that occur when you walk and move about. As David J Tibbs in Varicose Veins and Related Disorders, states,

Only the peripheral pumping mechanism (musculovenous pumping) can cause full venous flow against gravity. This forceful pumping action is brought about when multiple veins are compressed by contraction of surrounding skeletal muscle. The valves direct the blood heartwards and prevent it from falling back again. Thus, by this simple arrangement, the harder the muscles work, the more vigorously is the massive flow of blood generated by this activity returned towards the heart.

Thus, when you stand in one place, your muscles are receiving less oxygen and other such things they need to operate at peak efficiency compared to when you walk around.

Fourth, when you stand, the entire load of your body rests on the same place – the underside of your feet, and particularly on the balls and heels. Beyond one side getting the aforementioned break about half the time, when you walk, different parts of your feet bear the load at different times.

Fifth, standing is sometimes much more boring than walking, particularly if you are at work with nothing mentally engaging to do (or watching your mom shop…). With nothing to occupy your mind, it can wander to how tired you are and how much your feet hurt. On the other hand, when walking, your brain will be more occupied since you must constantly assess the situation and avoid obstacles. Thus, standing may also seem even more tiring because you are just more aware of how your legs and feet are feeling.

Sixth, if you walk fast enough (or jog), your body will release neurochemicals that make you feel better, including adrenaline that pumps the heart faster, providing more oxygen to the muscles and brain, as well as endorphins that improve mood.

Bonus Facts:

In addition to those muscles mentioned, walking also works out the muscles around the pelvis, including the external abductors and internal adductors, belly muscles in the front and spinal muscles in the rear.
As with standing, anytime a person remains upright, venous pooling will occur; in some situations, such as when a construction worker remains suspended in a “fall harness” (the device that saves his life after a fall) but is unable to move his legs significantly, the pooling of blood can reach a critical level. As more blood pools in the legs (which aren’t moving enough to send it back up to the heart), the heart rate increases at first, and then will slow significantly. Without sufficient blood to bring fresh oxygen to the brain, the victim first loses consciousness, and if left in that condition, renal failure and even death can occur. (See: Suspension Trauma)
The average U.S. adult walks about 5,900 steps each day. Health experts recommend this be raised to at least 7,000 – the amount the average Japanese person gets in a day.
Interestingly, in a 2004 study of American Amish, it was shown that women got in more than 14,000 steps each day, and men more than 18,000. If only they had Fitbits to have the data to brag with…
Australians average almost 9,700 steps each day, and the Swiss get just a bit less than that.
The idea that “10,000 steps each day” is required for optimum health comes from an early Japanese pedometer from the 1960s called manpo-kei (“10,000 steps meter”). That said, the Centers for Disease Control does not recommend any particular number of steps, and instead suggests adults get 150 minutes of moderate activity each week.

Source….www.today i foundout.com

Natarajan

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAMES OF THE CONTINENTS….

November 3, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Today I found out the most likely origin of each of the continents’ names. (Using the seven continent model)

First on this list is Africa. There are many different theories as to the origin of Africa’s name. After the Romans defeated Carthage (which is in modern-day Tunisia in Northern Africa) in the third Punic War, they called their new province “Africa.” The most popular theory as to the origin of the name is that it was named for a native tribe there—the Afri, with “Africa” then being the feminine form of “Africus”, literally meaning “land of the Afri”.

An alternate theory, which has a hole in it due to when the name was first used, is that it comes from the Phoenician word “afar” which means “dust.” Put together with the Latin suffix –ica, sometimes used to denote “land”, the name could mean “a land of dust.” Given Africa’s hot, desert-like climate in the north, which is where the Romans claimed their province, the Phoenician root is considered by many to be a plausible alternative to the “Afri tribe” theory, for the origin of Africa’s name.

Whatever the case, as Europeans continued exploring and discovered the breadth of the continent, the name that the Romans had originally used for their small province stuck, and the entire continent became known as Africa.

Antarctica comes from the Greek word “antarktike,” which literally means “opposite to the north.” The continent is, of course, home to the southernmost point on Earth. John George Bartholomew, a Scottish cartographer, is believed to be the first person to use “Antartica” to refer to the continent. However, the name was used for a different place by the French before this. In the 1500s, they held a colony in Brazil below the equator which they named France Antartique.

Asia derives from the Ancient Greek “Ἀσία”, which was used as early as 440 B.C. by Herodotus in his Histories. However, it is likely that the name was in use long before then, though not referring to a whole continent, but rather originally just the name for the land on the east bank of the Aegean Sea, and then later the Anatolia (part of modern Turkey).

Romans referred to two provinces when talking about Asia: Asia Minor and Asia Major. A common theory is that the Greek name ultimately derived from the Phoenician word asu, which means “east”, and the Akkadian word asu which means “to go out, to rise.” In reference to the sun, Asia would then mean “the land of the sunrise.”

Terra Australis Incognita means “the unknown land in the south” in Latin, and rumours of the continent’s existence dated back to Ancient Roman times. Of course, Romans did not have the maritime technology to reach Australia and did not have any direct evidence that it existed, as far as we know. When Europeans finally discovered the continent, the name “Terra Australis” stuck. The continent was referred to the shortened “Australia” by a number of early explorers, but it was Matthew Flinders who pushed for its use from 1804. Though “Australia” was used unofficially for several years, Governor Lachlan Macquarie petitioned for its official adoption in 1817. It wasn’t until 1824 that the name was officially given to the continent.

Europe was likely named after Europa, one of Zeus’ many lovers in Greek mythology. Legend has it that he abducted her after taking on the form of a white bull and took her to Crete. It is difficult to determine the etymology of the name, but one theory is that it comes from the Akkadian word erebu which means “to go down, set” or the Phoenician ereb which means “evening, west.” The western directional meaning would mean it had similar origins to Asia. Alternatively, the name Eurpoa may have derived from the Greek “eurys”, meaning “wide”, and “ops”, meaning “face”, so “wide face”.

As in many of the other names of the continents, “Europe” originally didn’t refer to anything close to what we think of as Europe today. Rather, it was just a small region, like “Asia”, referring to a portion of present day Turkey, part of Thrace.

Like most, I’ve known that the Americas (North and South) were named after Amerigo Vespucci since my early education. However, the story behind why this is the case is somewhat more interesting and quite a bit less well known. Vespucci was a navigator that traveled to “the new world” in 1499 and 1502. Being a well educated man, he realized that this new world was not part of Asia, as some had initially thought. Vespucci chose to write about his travels and his books were published in 1502 and 1504. Being both entertaining and educational, his accounts of the new world were reprinted in almost every European language.

In 1507, a German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, chose to make a new map that included the new world. He and two scholarly partners were aware of Vespucci’s writings and were ignorant of Columbus’s expeditions. As such, they decided to name the new land after Vespucci, stating:

But now these parts (Europe, Asia and Africa, the three continents of the Ptolemaic geography) have been extensively explored and a fourth part has been discovered by Americus Vespuccius (the Latin form of Vespucci’s name), I do not see what right any one would have to object to calling this part after Americus, who discovered it and who is a man of intelligence, and so to name it Amerige, that is, the Land of Americus, or America: since both Europa and Asia got their names from women.

When the large new map, approximately 8 feet by 4 feet, was unveiled by Waldseemüller, it had the large title “AMERICA” across what is now present day Brazil. Waldseemüller used Vespucci’s travelogues as a reference for his drawing and so his map had South America as the only part of this new western hemisphere. When North America was later added, the mapmakers of the time retained the original name. In 1538, the famous geographer Gerard Mercator chose to name the entire north and south parts of America as one large “America” for the entire western hemisphere

Bonus Facts:

Part of Antartica has been named “Queen Elizabeth Land” in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. The area is about twice the size of the United Kingdom.
Captain James Cook was sent to find Terra Australis Incognita in 1772. Returning with charts of the eastern coastline of Australia—large enough to be considered a continent—he was turned down by officials who believed that the real Terra Australis Incognita was located farther south. Cook set out again and was the first person to sail into the Antarctic Circle. However, he turned away to resupply his ship before seeing land. If he had succeeded in his voyage, it is likely that Antarctica would have been named Australia after Terra Australis instead. (The first person to see the Antarctic Continent was Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in 1820).
Europa is also the name of one of Jupiter’s moons.
An alternate theory as to how America got its name, not backed up by a whole lot of documented evidence, you may sometimes hear is that a tribe of Native Americans named the Amerrique may have existed, and both Columbus and Vespucci may have visited them. The word is said to originate from the Mayan word for “exceptionally strong wind.”
Another “America” theory that you may sometimes here, again, not backed up by nearly the evidence as the above in the main article, is that it was named after a Bristol merchant named Richard Amerike. Amerike and other merchants had been trading items and fishing off the coast of Newfoundland for many years before Christopher Columbus and John Cabot made their voyages to America. The theory is that the fishermen who worked for him named the area in which they lived after their employer. It is also believed that Amerike sponsored John Cabot on his successful trip to America’s eastern shore, and that Cabot named the land after his sponsor.

[Map Image via Shutterstock

Source….www.today i foundout.com

Natarajan

Image for the Day… Spacewalk Selfie …!!!

October 30, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Expedition 45 Commander Scott Kelly took this photograph during a spacewalk on Oct. 28, 2015. Sharing the image on social media, Kelly wrote, “#SpaceWalkSelfie Back on the grid! Great first spacewalk yesterday. Now on to the next one next week. #YearInSpace”

This was the first spacewalk for both Kelly and Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren; the two will venture outside the International Space Station for the second time on Friday, Nov. 6. The two spacewalks were scheduled around milestones in space. Today, Oct. 29, Kelly becomes the U.S. astronaut who has lived in space the longest during a single U.S. spaceflight, and on Monday, Nov. 2, the crew celebrates the 15th year of a continuous human presence in space aboard the station.

During the 7-hour and 16-minute spacewalk, Kelly and Lindgren applied a thermal cover on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer; applied grease to a number of components in one of the latching ends of the Canadarm2 robotic arm; and began work to rig power and data system cables for the future installation of a docking port to the station that will be used for the arrival of the Boeing Starliner CST-100 and SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Image Credit: NASA

Source…..www.nasa.gov

natarajan

Scott Kelly Prepares For a Spacewalk….

October 29, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Expedition 45 Commander Scott Kelly tries on his spacesuit inside the U.S. Quest airlock of the International Space Station. Kelly and Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren will venture outside the station for a pair of spacewalks, the first of their careers, on Wednesday, Oct. 28 and Friday, Nov. 6.

The Oct. 28 spacewalk is set to last six hours and 30 minutes after Kelly and Lindgren set their spacesuits to battery power. It will be the 32nd U.S. spacewalk, and will focus on station upgrades and maintenance tasks, including installing a thermal cover on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector that has been attached to the station since 2011. NASA TV coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT.

Sharing this photograph of the spacesuit fit check with his social media followers, Kelly wrote, “Day 212 Getting my game face on for #spacewalk Thanks for sticking w me #GoodNight from @space_station! #YearInSpace”

Image Credit: NASA

Source…..www.nasa.gov

Natarajan

” Flying Free Forever…” !!!

October 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Back in 1981, in an effort to raise some quick funds, American Airlines introduced a $250,000 pass (about $641,000 today) that would allow customers to fly on its airlines for free for the rest of their lives. In 1990, they bumped the price to $600,000 (about $1.07 million today), and then in 1993 to $1.01 million (about 1.7 million today). Despite the sticker price, the airline has since admitted this is one of the costliest mistakes it has ever made.

Introduced in the summer of 1981, the unlimited “AAirpass” was originally envisioned as, to quote the airline’s former chief executive Robert Crandalll, something that “firms would buy for top employees” and it was thought that the scheme would bring in many millions of dollars in revenue in a very short timespan- essentially, easy money now to grow the company with, with future costs of having people use these passes being negligible to absorb. However, the AAirpass’ high cost resulted in a less than enthusiastic response from customers and in the end, only 66 passes were actually sold.

This is a shame for consumers, because those 66 customers got an amazing deal. As Crandall later noted, “It soon became apparent that the public was smarter than we were.”

According to the rather loose terms of the original AAirpass contract, customers who purchased one were entitled to free first class travel anywhere in the world and were given lifetime membership to American Airline’s Admirals Club, which grants priority boarding, same day booking and access to lounges across the world that offer free food and drink for members.

These benefits alone have seen some likening the unlimited AAirpass to “owning a fleet of private planes”. As one of the top frequent fliers, Steve Rothstein said, “A very fun Saturday would be to wake up early and fly to Detroit, rent a car and go to Ontario, have lunch and spend $50 or $100 buying Canadian things…” and then be back by dinner.

In another case, an individual travelled all the way to London 16 times in a single month, sometimes just staying long enough for a bite to eat before flying back home.

But it didn’t stop there. Savvy customers found ways to get even more out of their passes. You see, under the terms of the agreement, customers were still allowed to claim air miles on all flights they took, allowing those who used the service frequently (because why wouldn’t you?) to rack up literally millions of air miles in the space of just a handful of years, which they could give away to family and friends or in the cases of some customers, sell.

On top of this, because the AAirpass offered unlimited free travel, the airline were forced to absorb any and all fees customers incurred while using them (including taxes), meaning customers could literally book a dozen flights at a dozen different times for a single day and roll up to their airport whenever they felt like it, knowing that there would be no cancellation fees to pay for missing the other flights or additional duties or taxes to pay.

But we’re not done yet. On top of all this, American Airlines offered customers a chance to purchase a “companion pass” at a discount price (about 40% off), which granted all the same perks to anyone the original holder wanted as long as they flew together. Customers who opted for this particular upgrade utilised it in a number of impressively creative ways from booking an empty seat under a false name to score more elbow room in the already spacious first class, to ferrying friends and often random strangers across the world for free. In the case of a guy called, Steven Rothstein, he’d sometimes book two tickets for every flight he took just to surprise people at the airport with a free first class upgrade.

If you’re wondering how customers came up with all these ideas for bending the rules, many of them didn’t. A lot of the aforementioned tricks like booking multiple flights on a given day or an empty seat were often suggested to customers by people working for the airline itself as part of the complimentary booking service provided to Admirals Club members.

According to an internal report from American Airlines in 2007, the top unlimited AAirpass holders cost the airline in excess of a million dollars that year, each.Although, it would be interesting to actually see how they tallied this up, because if first class wasn’t sold out on a particular flight an AAirpass owner took, the airline wouldn’t actually lose money other than taxes, the price of in-flight consumables and the like, as it’s likely many of these customers wouldn’t have taken the flights in question had they not had the unlimited pass.

Regardless, the results of this internal report were alarming enough that it prompted American Airlines to sic its so-called revenue integrity unit onto owners of the passes in attempts to find something they’d done that constituted a breach of the AAirpass’ terms.

After pouring over the contracts and doing extensive investigations, American Airlines were able to successfully revoke the passes of a handful of the customers who’d “abused” the system the most. For instance, American tried to coerce certain people who’d been given a free ride courtesy of some of the more generous AAirpass owners into admitting that they’d paid for their tickets. In one such case, it was noted in an internal email from American Airlines that the individual in question who’d been given a ticket by AAirpass owner Jacques Vroom, “appears to be naive, without financial wherewithal, and most probably very anxious to return ‘home’”. So upon the young man checking in, he was taken to a private office and a former police officer working security for American Airlines questioned him, then offered him a free ticket home if he’d just admit he gave Vroom money for a ticket.

In another case concerning Vroom, the individual, one Sam Mulroy, was told his flight was canceled, but that he’d be given a new ticket, free of charge, if he’d just say he payed Vroom for the original ticket. Mulroy denied paying anything. When the offer of a free ticket didn’t work, American Airlines froze Mulroy’s Frequent Flier account. When Mulroy complained to American Airlines and the U.S. Department of Transportation that he felt he was being extorted by the airline, his account was unfrozen.

In the end, Vroom did indeed lose his pass when it was discovered in a subsequent lawsuit that he really had accepted payment for at least a few flights. Vroom, however, claimed the payments were for “business advice” (Vroom is a very successful marketing consultant), not for the tickets. However, Vroom’s lawyers noted that it shouldn’t matter whether he accepted payments or not, as American Airlines didn’t explicitly ban the practice of selling tickets in their “unlimited” pass contracts until three years after Vroom purchased his.

Other customers who lost their passes included a retired bond broker called Willard May who’d been very openly using his pass to ferry people across America for a fee for about two decades and the aforementioned Steven Rothstein for things like booking empty seats for his suitcase under the name “Bag Rothstein”. While May decided against pursuing the matter in court, Rothstein did. He ultimately lost when a judge ruled he had indeed violated the terms of his contract. (Amusingly given how it all turned out, Rothstein once met the aforementioned American Airlines chief executive Robert Crandall during a flight, prompting the then CEO to send Rothstein a letter saying, “I am delighted that you’ve enjoyed your AAirpass investment. You can count on us to keep the company solid, and to honor the deal, far into the future.”)

At least two others were also found to have been in breach of their contracts, according to American Airlines, but their tickets were not revoked for undisclosed reasons.

For the curious, you can still purchase an AAirpass today, though not too shockingly, American Airlines no longer offers an unlimited version. The last time they did so was in 2004, three years before they’d realised exactly how much these passes were costing them every year. At that time, they offered the pass through Neiman-Marcus for $3 million (about $3.7 million today) per pass. Despite that this would have still been a pretty good deal for a certain type of wealthy flyer or certain businesses to have such tickets at their disposal any time, nobody bought any at that price point.

Source…..www.todayifoundout.com

Natarajan

There’s a hidden message written on the back of this family portrait that an Apollo astronaut left on the moon…

October 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

On April 20, 1972, Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke took his first steps on the moon. He was 36 at the time and is the youngest human in history to ever walk on the lunar surface.

But that’s not the only achievement of Duke’s that lives on in American history.

NASA John W. Young Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., Lunar Module pilot of the Apollo 16 mission, is photographed collecting lunar samples at Station no. 1 during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site.

While he was on the moon, he snapped this family portrait of him, his two sons, and his wife, which remains on the moon to this day.

Uploaded by Scoobynaiterpaul123

On the back of the photo Duke wrote:

“This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from planet Earth who landed on the moon on April 20, 1972.”

Here’s a clearer copy of the photo Duke gave us. On the far left is his oldest son Charles Duke III who had just turned seven. In the front in red is his youngest son, Thomas Duke, who was five. Duke and his wife, Dorothy Meade Claiborne, are in the background:

Courtesy of Charles Duke

“I’d always planned to leave it on the moon,” Duke told Business Insider. “So when I dropped it, it was just to show the kids that I really did leave it on the moon.”

The photo has since been featured in numerous popular photo books and is a great example of the “human side of space exploration,” Duke said.

When Duke was training to be an Apollo astronaut, he spent most of his time in Florida. But his family was stationed in Houston. As a result, the children didn’t get to see much of their father during that time.

“So, just to get the kids excited about what dad was going to do, I said ‘Would y’all like to go to the moon with me?’” Duke said. “We can take a picture of the family and so the whole family can go to the moon.”

More than 43 years have passed since Duke walked on the moon. And while the footprints that he made in the lunar soil are relatively unchanged, Duke suspects the photo is not in very good shape at this point.

“After 43 years, the temperature of the moon every month goes up to 400 degrees [Fahrenheit] in our landing area and at night it drops almost absolute zero,” Duke said. “Shrink wrap doesn’t turn out too well in those temperatures. It looked OK when I dropped it, but I never looked at it again and I would imagine it’s all faded out by now.”

Unfortunately, there is no way to determine just how faded the photo is because it’s too small for lunar satellites to spot.

Regardless, the photos “was very meaningful for the family,” Duke said. In the end, that’s all that matters, right?

Source…..JESSICA ORWIG……..www.businessinsider.com.au

Natarajan

Most Important Airplanes of All Time….

October 24, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Ever since the Wright Brothers managed to get their Wright flyer airborne in 1903, the history of aviation has been dotted with a number of fascinating, landmark moments. This list will run through 14 of the most innovative, important and incredible airplanes ever to grace the skies, and tell the remarkable stories that made them such trailblazing groundbreakers.

1. Wright Flyer

The first plane to successfully take flight

Important Airplanes

Image: US Library Congress via wikicommons

The Wright Flyer is famous for being the first airplane to successfully take flight. Designed and built by pioneering inventors and entrepreneurs Orville and Wilbur Wright, it achieved its feat on the beaches of Kitty Hawk, when Orville Wright piloted the airborne plane for 12 short seconds, covering 120 feet. The flight may have been short, but it was to prove one of the moments of the century, and the brothers toured with their plane to show off their achievements to skeptical audiences throughout the world. It was during this tour that they flew about Le Mans in France and kick-started an aviation revolution across Europe that was to change the world.

2. Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

The fastest airplane ever built

Important Airplanes

Image: Amstrong Photo Gallery via Wikicommons

The Lockheed SR71 Blackbird was a long range, strategic reconnaissance aircraft operated by the US Air Force. Despite the fact that the Blackbird last flew in 1999, it still holds the record for the fastest flight speed ever recorded by an air-breathing manned aircraft at 2,193.2mph (3,529kph), a record that it has held – remarkably – since 1976. It once flew from London to New York (a distance of 3461.53 miles or 5,570.79km) in a ridiculously fast 1 hour 54 minutes in 1972, but Incredible speed was not the Blackbird’s only selling point. Throughout its commission it was also the highest flying plane in the world, capable of flying at an altitude of 85,069 feet or 25,929m. Of course, these attributes were not just for show, they helped the plane carry out crucial reconnaissance missions without detection, and evade missile fire when under attack.

3. Spitfire

The only plane to be manufactured throughout World War II

Important Airplanes

Image: Flickr Airwolfhound

The Supermarine Spitfire was used extensively by the British Royal Air Force and other Allied countries during and beyond World War II. It has achieved iconic status for its role during the Battle of Britain when used by heavily outnumbered allied pilots to repel invaders from the German Luftwaffe. It was also produced in greater numbers than any other British aircraft, and was the only plane to be continuously manufactured throughout the war. It remained in production until 1954.

4. Benoist XIV

The first plane to fly a paying passenger

Important Airplanes

Image: Florida Photographic Collection via Wikicommons

The Wright Brothers had proved that man’s dream of flying could become reality, but it was left to a tiny plane called the Benoist XIV to bring that dream to the paying market. The small plane was specifically designed in the hope of carrying passengers, but suffered problems in its early days. The summer of 1913 saw its first attempts to establish itself as a passenger plane, but the plan failed and the aircraft was a wrecked. It wasn’t until the winter of 1914 that the designer Thomas Benoist partnered with businessman Percival Fansler to offer commercial flights between the Florida cities of St Petersburg and Tampa. Finally, on January 10th 1914 pilot Tony Jannus flew former St Petersburg mayor Abram C. Pheil across the route for the princely sum of $400.00. Although regular flights were priced at $5.00, Pheil had paid more at auction for the honor of being the very first passenger.

5. de Havilland Comet

The first commercial jetliner

Important Airplanes

Image: wikicommons

The de Havilland Comet is regarded as both a trailblazer and a tragedy by aviation historians. It was the first jet-powered passenger plane, capable of cruising at high altitudes – and brought with it new levels of comfort and fresh possibilities for passenger flights. However, the Comet was beset by design faults leading to a number of awful accidents including three incidents in 1954 where planes broke up in mid-air. The tragedies ushered in a new era of extensive accident investigation and informed future aircraft design testing as engineers learned from the mistakes made by the Comet’s designers, including the use of catastrophically inadequate airframes.

6. Messerschmitt Me 262

The first jet-powered military plane

Important Airplanes

Image: Flickr user Peter Gronemann

The German built Messerschmitt Me 262 become the first jet-powered fighter aircraft when it was first commissioned in 1942, bolstering the Luftwaffe fleet in the middle of World War II. Allied attacks on fuel supplies and problems with the reliability of the engines meant that its impact on the direction of the War was not as great as the German military hoped, and it was not in production for very long. However, its jet engines offered a degree of maneuverability and speed that was not replicated elsewhere at the time, and its design would inspire future military aircraft into the jet-powered age.

7. Gossamer Albatross

The first human powered aircraft to cross the English Channel

Important Airplanes

Image: NASA via wikicommons

At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Gossamer Albatross was the product of aviation experimentation in the early 20th century. However, it was actually designed and built in the late 1970s. Paul B. McGready was the man behind the concept, and the Albatross was intended as a man-powered craft capable of long distance travel. On June 12th 1979, it achieved its ultimate goal when amateur cyclist and keen pilot Bryan Allen successfully flew it from England to France in 2 hours 49 minutes, reaching a top speed of 18mph. The super-lightweight composition of the Albatross has gone on to inspire the design of solar powered electric aircraft seen today.

8. Cirrus SR22

The first plane to have a life-saving ‘whole-airplane parachute’

Important Airplanes

Image: planesmart.com

The Cirrus SR22 has been the best selling single-engine, four-seater aircraft since it was introduced in 2001 – and for good reason. It features a composite construction fitted with a parachute that works on the entire plane. The parachute system has saved well over 100 lives over the course of the Cirrus’s production run, and has given confidence to budding pilots who can take the controls without the same levels of danger associated with other light aircraft. 19 year old Ryan Campbell flew in a Cirrus when he became the youngest pilot to fly around the world in 2014.

9. Concorde

Brought supersonic flights to the masses

Concorde

Image: Flickr user Dean Morley

Concorde is one of only two supersonic jets to ever carry commercial passengers and became synonymous with luxury travel and wealth. It first flew in 1969, but was not actually the first of its type – the Soviet built Tupolev Tu-144 beat it into flight by two months and the two types of plane were to be pitted in a commercial battle for years to follow. However, it was Concorde’s distinctive design that became best known throughout most of the world, and it remains an iconic symbol of aviation history today, even though it took its last flight (in a blaze of publicity) in 2003.

10. General Atomics MQ-1 Predator

The first military ‘drone’

Important Airplanes

Image: U.S Air Force via wikicommons

The MQ-1 Predator was the first ‘unmanned aerial vehicle’ (more commonly known as ‘drone’) to be used in conflict. It is capable of being piloted remotely for up to 14 hours, monitoring its target and completing missions before returning to base. The plane has been used on reconnaissance missions primarily but is also capable of firing missiles, making it a trailblazer for a new era of drone warfare that is changing the face of military conflict.

11. Blériot XI

The first plane to cross the English Channel

Important Airplanes

Image: Bain News Service via Wikicommons

The Blériot XI was designed and piloted by Frenchman Louis Blériot, becoming the first aircraft to successfully fly the 22 miles of the English channel on July 25th 1909. The accomplishment was one of the foremost achievements of the ‘pioneer era’ of aviation in the early 20th century, and sees Blériot take his place alongside the likes of the Wright Brothers as one of the most influential innovators of early aircraft design. His achievements changed the way aviation was viewed and inspired the famous ‘Britain is no longer an island’ headline from British newspaper the Daily Express once news of the successful Channel crossing broke.

12. Boeing 747

The original high passenger capacity ‘Jumbo Jet’

Important Airplanes

Image: Flickr user Kevin White

The Boeing 747 was the original ‘jumbo jet’ built to transport more passengers than ever to faraway vacations. Much of the increase was provided by the ‘upper deck’, typically reserved for first class passengers. For 37 years it held the record for passenger capacity, after being originally introduced in 1970, and its design was even more impressive considering engineers had to hand-draw 75,000 technical sketches in the days before computers could do the job for them. The design was so good, in fact, that further advancements stalled and commercial passenger aviation remained unchanged for a number of years.

13. Bell X-1

The first aircraft to break the speed of sound

Important Airplanes

Image: U.S Airforce via Wikicommons

The Bell X-1 was the product of a research experiment by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the US Air Force, designed in 1944 and built in 1945. It was intended to break the sound barrier, and it did, achieving the first Mach 1 flight ever on October 14th 1947, in a plane pilot Chuck Yeager named Glamorous Glennis after his wife. The legacy of the Bell X-1 was vast as the research techniques informed future designs of supersonic aircraft and the flight data was crucial to American military design in the latter half of the 20th century.

14. Solar Impulse

The airplane powered by the sun

Solar Impulse

Image: Flickr user Reflexite

Solar Impulse represents the fruits of a Swiss led project to build a solar powered aircraft capable of flying long distances. The project has been in development since 2003 and has achieved a number of successes, included manned test flights, a continental flight across the USA and a re-design that saw the development of Solar Impulse 2, a second model that is currently on a round-the-world trip conducted in 13 stages over two years. As of the 23rd of October 2015, Solar Impulse 2 has completed 8 of those stages and sits in Hawaii ready to complete the final 5 stages of its journey back to Abu Dhabi, from where its journey began in March 2015.

H/T popularmechanics

Source…..www.ba-bamail.com

natarajan