The Island Had to be Completely Self-Sufficient
1. It's going to take the New Horizons spacecraft until late 2016 finish sending us all the Pluto data.
"A major challenge for the New Horizons mission is the relatively low "downlink" rate at which data can be transmitted to Earth, especially when you compare it to rates now common for high-speed Internet surfers. During the Jupiter flyby in February 2007, New Horizons sent data home at about 38 kilobits per second (kbps), which is slightly slower than the transmission speed for most computer modems. The average downlink rate after New Horizons passes Pluto (and sends the bulk of its encounter data back to Earth) is approximately 2,000 bits per second, a rate the spacecraft achieves by downlinking with both of its transmitters through NASA's largest antennas. Even then, it will take until late 2016 to bring down all the encounter data stored on the spacecraft's recorders."
2. The push-button vegetable "farm."
"Our in-doors system grows the world’s most fascinating super veggie named Khai-Nam, using a fully automated, natural and safe process... Automatically grows and delivers 'Just Picked' fresh organic Khai-Nam all year round. It provides raw produce, ready to eat or drink, at a push of a button."
3. Coal's not doing so well in the bond market.
"Bonds are where coal companies turn to raise money for such things as new mines and environmental cleanups. But investors are increasingly reluctant to lend to them. Coal bond prices tumbled 17 percent in the second quarter, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence. It's the fourth consecutive quarter of price declines and the worst performance of any industry group by a long shot. Bonds fluctuate less than stocks, because the payoff is fixed and pretty much guaranteed as long as the borrower remains solvent. A 17 percent decline is huge, and it happened at a time when other energy bonds—oil and gas—were rising."
4. The imaginary roads of Vermont.
"A story I've been obsessed with since first learning about it back in 2008 is the problem of 'ancient roads' in Vermont. Vermont is unusual in that, if a road has been officially surveyed and, thus, added to town record books—even if that road was never physically constructed—it will remain legally recognized unless it has been explicitly discontinued. This means that roads surveyed as far back as the 1790s remain present in the landscape as legal rights of way—with the effect that, even if you cannot see this ancient road cutting across your property, it nonetheless persists, undercutting your claims to private ownership (the public, after all, has the right to use the road) and making it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain title insurance."
5. Who doesn't love an island utopia?
"Michel enlisted several Los Angeles real estate agents, and they eventually located four or five promising candidates, mostly small islands in the Atlantic Ocean that Great Britain might surrender for the right price. Graham was thrilled. Next, he assigned Michel and several Armorlite colleagues to design the island’s living and working quarters. Graham decreed that the island had to be completely self-sufficient, and that no cars would be permitted on it. Michel drew blueprints for prefabricated living saucers that could be stacked on land or in the sea. He designed a futuristic sewage system, greenhouse, and food factories. His masterpiece, Michel recalled fondly, when I interviewed him several years ago, was a vacuum-tube-driven transportation system, in which gyroscopically balanced pods would zip passengers from one part of the island to another. (Elon Musk surely dreams of gyroscopically balanced, vacuum pods!)"
On Fusion: We taught a bot how to write erotica, and it wrote some awesomely bad erotica.
Bonus: Internet-connected sex toys exist, but I am not sure if they are a thing.
1. pluto.jhuapl.edu 2. greenonyx.biz 3. bloomberg.com 4. bldgblog.blogspot.com 5. atlasobscura.com | @harmancipants
The Island Had to be Completely Self-Sufficient