Another invention of the month: The Airplane

Airplane

Man’s dream of flight is prehistoric as embodied oral legends such as the Greek Icarus and the ancient Indian epic of Vimana. In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci drew aircrafts. It is conventionally acknowledged that it was the Wright Brothers who invented the first powered and controllable aircraft in the English speaking world. Their successful test flight on December 17, 1903, in fact, did not use wings that were completely fixed as they depended for stability on wing warping; a flexing mechanism.

With the advent of World War I, airplanes succeeded in proving their power to inflict significant harm on the enemy. By 1927, as designs improved, the first solo transatlantic flight was completed by Charles Lindbergh. During World War II, airplanes were in evidence in almost every battle on both the European and Pacific fronts. In October 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person to exceed the speed of sound in an airplane. In 1952, the de Havilland Comet became the first commercial jet. Today, some Boeing 707s are still being used after more than 50 years. Until recently, the Boeing 747 was the largest commercial aircraft in the world. In 2005, it was surpassed by the Airbus A380.

Arpa, the grandpa of internet

“The Internet may fairly be regarded as a never-ending worldwide conversation.” – supreme judge statement on considering first amendment rights for Internet users.

On a cold war kind of day, in swinging 1969, work began on the ARPAnet, grandfather to the Internet. Designed as a computer version of the nuclear bomb shelter, ARPAnet protected the flow of information between military installations by creating a network of geographically separated computers that could exchange information via a newly developed protocol (rule for how computers interact) called NCP (Network Control Protocol).

One opposing view to ARPAnet’s origins comes from Charles M. Herzfeld, the former director of ARPA. He claimed that ARPAnet was not created as a result of a military need, stating “it came out of our frustration that there were only a limited number of large, powerful research computers in the country and that many research investigators who should have access were geographically separated from them.” ARPA stands for the Advanced Research Projects Agency, a branch of the military that developed top secret systems and weapons during the Cold War.

The first data exchange over this new network occurred between computers at UCLA and Stanford Research Institute. On their first attempt to log into Stanford’s computer by typing “log win”, UCLA researchers crashed their computer when they typed the letter ‘g’.

Four computers were the first connected in the original ARPAnet. They were located in the respective computer research labs of UCLA (Honeywell DDP 516 computer), Stanford Research Institute (SDS-940 computer), UC Santa Barbara (IBM 360/75), and the University of Utah (DEC PDP-10). As the network expanded, different models of computers were connected, creating compatibility problems. The solution rested in a better set of protocols called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) designed in 1982.

To send a message on the network, a computer breaks its data into IP (Internet Protocol) packets, like individually addressed digital envelopes. TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) makes sure the packets are delivered from client to server and reassembled in the right order.

Under ARPAnet several major innovations occurred: email, the ability to send simple messages to another person across the network (1971); telnet, a remote connection service for controlling a computer (1972); and file transfer protocol (FTP), which allows information to be sent from one computer to another in bulk (1973).

As non-military uses for the network increased, more and more people had access, and it was no longer safe for military purposes. As a result, MILnet, a military only network, was started in 1983. Internet Protocol software was soon being placed on every type of computer, and universities and research groups also began using in-house networks known as Local Area Networks or LAN’s. These in-house networks then started using Internet Protocol software so one LAN could connect with other LAN’s.

In 1986, one LAN branched out to form a new competing network, called NSFnet (Nacional Science Foundation Network). NSFnet first linked together the five national supercomputer centers, then every major university, and it started to replace the slower ARPAnet (which was finally shutdown in 1990). NSFnet formed the backbone of what we call the Internet today.

“The Internet’s pace of adoption eclipses all other technologies that preceded it. Radio was in existence 38 years before 50 million people tuned in; TV took 13 years to reach that benchmark. Sixteen years after the first PC kit came out, 50 million people were using one. Once it was opened to the general public, the Internet crossed that line in four years.” – quote from the U.S. Department report “The Emerging Digital Economy”.

History of San Marino:

San Marino, the oldest republic in the world, is the sole survivor of the independent states that existed in Italy at various times from the downfall of the Western Roman Empire to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. (The Vatican City State, which is also an independent enclave in Italy, was not constituted in its present form until the 20th century.)

According to tradition, the republic was founded in AD 301 by Marinus, a Christian stonecutter who fled from Dalmatia to avoid religious persecution; later canonized, St. Marinus is known in Italian as San Marino. If founded at the time asserted by tradition, San Marino is the oldest existing national state in Europe. There was a monastery in San Marino in existence at least as early as 885.

Because of the poverty of the region and the difficult terrain, San Marino was rarely disturbed by outside powers, and it generally avoided the factional fights of the Middle Ages. For a time, it joined the Ghibellines and was therefore interdicted by Pope Innocent IV in 1247–49. It was protected by the Montefeltro family, later dukes of Urbino, and in 1441, with Urbino, it defeated Sigismondo Malatesta and extended the size of its territory. It was briefly held by Cesare Borgia in 1503, but in 1549 its sovereignty was confirmed by Pope Paul III. In 1739, however, a military force under a papal legate, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, occupied San Marino and unsuccessfully attempted to get the Sanmarinese to acknowledge his sovereignty over them. In the following year, Pope Clement II terminated the occupation and signed a treaty of friendship with the tiny republic. Napoleon allowed San Marino to retain its liberty; the Sanmarinese are said to have declined his offer to increase their territory on the grounds that smallness and poverty alone had kept them from falling prey to larger states.

In 1849, Giuseppe Garibaldi, the liberator of Italy, took refuge from the Austrians in San Marino; he departed voluntarily shortly before the Austrians were to invade the republic to capture him. San Marino and Italy entered into a treaty of friendship and customs union in 1862. This treaty was renewed in March 1939 and amended in September 1971.

During the period of Mussolini’s rule in Italy, San Marino adopted a Fascist type of government. Despite its claim to neutrality in World War II, Allied planes bombed it on 26 June 1944. The raid caused heavy damage, especially to the railway line, and killed a number of persons. San Marino’s resources were sorely taxed to provide food and shelter for the over 100,000 refugees who obtained sanctuary during the war.

The elections of 1945 put a coalition of Communists and left-wing Socialists in control of the country. In 1957, some defections from the ruling coalition were followed by a bloodless revolution, aided by Italy, against the government. The leftists surrendered, and some were imprisoned. The rightists, chiefly Christian Democrats, won the election of 1959 and remained in power until 1973, chiefly in coalition with the Social Democrats. In March 1973, after splitting with the Social Democrats, the Christian Democrats formed an unstable coalition with the Socialists. After new elections in May 1978, the Communists, the Socialists, and the Socialist Unity Party, who together commanded a one-seat majority in the legislature, formed a governing coalition; San Marino thus became the only West European country with a Communist-led government. This coalition governed until 1986, when a Communist–Christian Democratic coalition, replaced it; this was the first coalition government formed by these two parties in San Marino’s history.

As of 2003, the ruling coalition was composed of the Sanmarinese Christian-Democratic Party and the Sanmarinese Socialist Party. In December 2002, Fiorenzo Stolfi was named secretary of state for foreign and political affairs, the equivalent of the office of a prime minister.

San Marino’s high standard of living makes Sanmarinese citizenship a valuable commodity. With the only ways for foreigners to obtain citizenship being to reside in San Marino for 30 years or marry a male citizen, the government passed a law in August 1999 prohibiting female household servants under 50 because of the potential for elderly men to fall for their young female help who may have suspicious motives.

Also in 1999, San Marino joined the European Monetary Union and adopted the euro as its currency. The Europe-wide single currency was forecasted to boost tourism but simultaneously hurt Sanmarinese bank revenues as the banks would no longer be able charge fees for currency exchange. In June 2000, the OECD accused Sanmarinese banks of making the country a “harmful” tax haven; San Marino promised to reform its banking practices.

Because San Marino has a customs union with Italy, it enjoys all of the benefits that flow from European Union membership. However, San Marino’s goal ultimately is to become a full-fledged member of the EU.

One invention of the month:

Steam Locomotive

Back in the 1700s, several types of steam engines were being developed and numerous attempts were made to modify them for use on railroads. In 1804, Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian built the earliest steam locomotive. It ran with some success on the “Penydarren” tramway in Wales. 1812 saw a twin cylinder steam locomotive built by Matthew Murray and Stephenson’s Rocket became the first viable mainline locomotive in 1829.

The first steam locomotive constructed and run in America was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Tom Thumb back in 1829. It was primarily a steam potential demonstration and not intended for commercial use. The South Carolina Railroad was the first successful steam railway in the US and began operation on December of 1830. In these early days of railroad development, many of the steam locomotives were imported from England but with the increased needs of a growing nation, a national manufacturing industry was established that produced such locomotives as the renowned DeWitt Clinton. With the advent of mainline diesel-electric locomotives starting with commercial use on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1935, steam locomotive became a relic of the past. This was due to the fact that diesel power was able to significantly reduce maintenance costs.

On this day in 1904: Rigolly breaks 100mph barrier

On this day in 1904 Louis Rigolly, driving a 15-liter Gobron-Brillie on the Ostend-Newport road in Belgium, became the first man to break the 100mph barrier in a car by raising the land-speed record to 103.55mph. On the same day in 1925, Sir Malcolm Campbell was first to best the 150mph mark when he drove his Sunbeam to a two-way average of 150.33mph at the Pendine Sands in Wales.

Who discovered global warming??

The first person to have predicted that emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels would cause a global warming is considered to be S.Arrhenius, who published in 1896 the paper ‘On the influence of carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature of the ground’.

That atmospheric carbon dioxide was actually increasing was confirmed beginning in the 1930s, and convincingly beginning in the 1950 s when highly accurate measurement techniques were developed (the most famous demonstration of this is in C.D.Keeling’s record at Mauna Loa, Hawaii). By the 1990s, it was widely accepted (but not unanimously so) that the Earth’s surface air temperature had warmed over the past century. An ongoing debate is whether such a warming can, in fact, be attributed to increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Alegria!

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=smkiSJf2cHE&feature=related

El chiki-chiki… en vivo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iViZXFXsJd4

here comes dr. tran!

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=FO0kRE5OTZI&feature=related

acerca de papa noel

Introducción

Como resultado de una abrumadora falta de peticiones, y con la ayuda
investigadora de una prestigiosa revista científica, se han obtenido las
siguientes conclusiones acerca de la existencia de Santa Claus. Esto quedara
demostrado en 4 Puntos Básicos :

Punto Numero 1

Ninguna especie conocida de reno puede volar. No obstante, existen 300.000
especies de organismos vivos pendientes de clasificación y, si bien la mayoría
de ellas son insectos y gérmenes, no es posible descartar completamente la
posible existencia entre ellas del reno volador que solo Santa Claus conoce.

Punto Numero 2

Hay unos 2.000 millones de niños (considerando únicamente a las personas con
menos de 18 años) en el mundo. Pero dado que Santa Claus no parece que se ocupe
de los niños musulmanes, hindúes, judíos y budistas, la cifra se reduce a un 15%
del total (unos 378 millones, según las estadísticas mundiales de población).
Según estas estadísticas, se puede calcular una media de 3,5 niños por hogar,
por lo que estamos hablando de unos 91,8 millones de hogares (suponiendo que en
cada uno de ellos, haya al menos un niño que se haya portado bien).

Punto Numero 3

Santa Claus dispone de 31 horas en Nochebuena para realizar su trabajo, gracias
a los diferentes husos horarios y a la rotación de la tierra (se supone que
viaja de este a oeste, lo cual parece lógico). Esto supone 822,6 visitas por
segundo. En otras palabras, en cada hogar cristiano con un niño bueno, Santa
Claus tiene 1 milésima de segundo para aparcar, salir del trineo, bajar por la
chimenea, llenar los calcetines, repartir los demás regalos bajo el árbol,
comerse lo que le hayan dejado, trepar otra vez por la chimenea, subir al trineo
y marchar hacia la siguiente casa. Suponiendo que cada una de estas 91,8
millones de paradas está distribuida uniformemente sobre la superficie de la
tierra (lo cual es falso, pero puede valer para los cálculos), hay 1,2 Km. entre
casa y casa. Esto da un recorrido total de 110 millones de Km., sin contar lo
necesario para las paradas a hacer lo que cada uno de nosotros haría al menos
una vez en 31 horas. Se deduce de ello que el trineo de Santa Claus se mueve a
unos 1000 Km./sg, 3000 veces la velocidad del sonido. Como comparación, el
vehículo fabricado por el hombre que mayor velocidad alcanza, la sonda espacial
Ulises, se mueve a unos míseros 43 Km./sg. Un reno convencional puede correr a
una velocidad punta de unos 24 Km./h.

Punto Numero 4

La carga del trineo añade otro elemento interesante al estudio. Suponiendo que
cada niño sólo se lleve un tente de tamaño mediano (0,9 Kg.), el trineo
transporta unas 321.300 toneladas, sin contar a Santa Claus, a quien siempre se
le describe como bastante rellenito. En la tierra, un reno convencional no es
capaz de transportar más allá de 150 Kg.Aunque el reno volador pudiera
transportar diez veces esa carga, no bastarían ocho o nueve, sino que se
precisarían unos 214.200 renos. Esto incrementa la carga (sin contar el peso del
propio trineo) a unas 5.353.430 toneladas.5.353.000 toneladas viajando a 1000
Km./sg crean una resistencia aerodinámica enorme, que provocará un calentamiento
de los renos similar al que sufre una nave espacial en su reentrada a la
atmósfera terrestre.La pareja de renos que vaya a la cabeza absorberá un trillón
de julios de energía por segundo,cada uno. En pocas palabras, se incendiarán y
consumirán casi al instante, quedando expuesta la pareja de renos posterior.T
ambién se originarán unas ondas sonoras ensordecedoras en este proceso. El tiro
de renos al completo se vaporizará en 4,26 milésimas de segundo. Santa Claus,
mientras tanto, sufrirá unas fuerzas centrífugas 17.500,06 veces superiores a
las de la gravedad. Si Santa Claus pesara 120 Kg. (lo cual es incluso demasiado
delgado), sería aplastado contra la parte posterior del trineo con una fuerza de
más de 2 millones de Kg.

Por consiguiente, si Santa Claus existió alguna vez y llevó los regalos a los niños en Navidad, ahora está muerto.