Evri’s attempt at delivery. Of course, nothing arrived and security cameras show no attempt at a delivery. Our community regularly experience lost, stolen and disputed deliveries. This company should be closed down for mass fraud. They once sent identical pics of an alleged delivery to us all.
Still there
A new bird species in our bird feeder
Spring
Deer in the mist
Drones are a classic dual-use technology. This cargo drone from Pipistrel can carry 270kg loads for more than 500km. Looks like it can be front-loaded with cargo pallets using a forklift. www.pipistrel-aircraft.com/nuuva-v300-t...
High tech toilets! Japan is on top of that one.
Snowdrops are up
Cricket pitch a bit wet
In training for the Big Garden Bird Watch
@alastaircampbell2.bsky.social you like trees
A complaint I hear from many tech bosses in the UK. Government indecision and a lack of understanding leads to project delays and a loss of advantage. Been writing about small modular nuclear reactors for a decade, and there is still no demo unit up and running. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Big tree in the mist
Another chilly morning for the herd
America should offer to buy Greenland from Greenlanders, not Denmark. And it would probably be a good deal to make every one a multimillionaire in exchange for the territory. Trump should rescind all threats and instead name a price--my column
www.economist.com/finance-and-...
A 3D-printed battery that you feed rather than charge (or more correctly an interesting fungal fuel cell). It could power things like sensors in remote locations. www.empa.ch/web/s604/fun...
The world is covered in concrete. Its main ingredient, cement, is responsible for some 7% of man-made CO2 emissions. There are ways to decarbonise, but at the end of the day industry has to be prepared to pay more for these green alternatives. A good roundup:
www.idtechex.com/en/research-...
@shashj.bsky.social Rolls-Royce used to fire frozen turkeys into their jet engines to simulate bird strikes. They could handle it. The question in South Korea is why no flaps and undercarriage in an emergency landing?
AI has already given us Large Language Models for chat and questions and Large Behavioural Models for robotics. We now have Large Computational Engineering Models for rocket engines. leap71.com/2024/12/23/l...
True when driving slowly in an urban environment but not on main roads, where most of the road noise comes from the tyres, with the exception of boy racers, certain sports cars (including my 60-year-old one) and a number of motorcycles. Better tyre technology could help here.
Christmas cuddles
The transition of PV panels from energy generator to building material continues.
www.pv-magazine.com/2024/12/17/g...
🎶It's the most wonderful time of the year🎶 - time for The Economist's Christmas issue, in which I try to explain what makes Toyosu, in Tokyo, the world's greatest fish market:
www.economist.com/christmas-sp...
In-wheel electric traction motors are an interesting prospect that go back a long way - even Ferdinand Porsche used them for his first car, which was in fact an EV. These take the idea much further. newatlas.com/automotive/e...
A dark-themed world map showcasing data visualization of solar farm installations. Bright orange and yellow lines radiate from various locations, illustrating the rapid increase in installations over recent years.
Solar energy is booming, but we don't have to worry about covering the world with solar installations, which occupied approximately 19,000 km² in September 2024, roughly 1/3 the size of Tasmania.
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...
Pink sky tonight
This is worrying, especially as it’s a technology that could be supercharged by AI.
https://news.bellflight.com/en-US/244996-bell-completes-wind-tunnel-testing-efforts-to-validate-revolutionary-stop-fold-jet-transition-capability
How to turn a helicopter into a jet plane. Bell (part of Textron) has wind-tunnel tested this concept, which after a vertical takeoff folds its rotors to reduce the drag that would otherwise restrict high-speed forward flight. Complicated and a bit like the Osprey, which I remember seeing launched.
