Photos from space

The man who had spent more than a year in space had an Instagram site where he had posted an incredible collection of photos of earth from above.
https://www.instagram.com/stationcdrkelly/?hl=en

More about his mission at
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/25/science/scott-kelly-astronaut-year-in-space-numbers.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

Iceland drone footage

Amazing footage, really shows off Iceland's rugged beauty.

http://youtu.be/e-aso34xqe8

The quadcopter has a "follow me" function to capture your outdoor adventures:

BMW M235

What a ride. This is what I've been looking for. The automatic was silky smooth, and was pleasant to drive in either sport mode or eco mode. No turbo lag, tight and sticky in the corners, lovely exhaust note. And very comfortable seats, with adjustable lateral support.
The manual was so perfect to drive. Silky smooth acceleration and shifting. I would've preferred a longer throw on the stickshift. You can hear the turbo spool up but there's no troublesome turbo lag. Excellent pinpoint tracking through corners and great road feel through the steering wheel.
Very cool to drive. I

Atlas robot from Boston Technology

Untethered robot walking on slippery, uneven ground, picking up a moving object, recovering from being knocked over. Incredible.


https://youtu.be/rVlhMGQgDkY?
Also very cool - a robot that sticks to a vertical surface, and climbs over onto the top of it.

https://youtu.be/XEMlkonimvQ

And on a related note, a nice review of the latest DARPA challenge

https://youtu.be/wwWHfBS9tuw

Soap opera effect on TVs

" I just bought a new ultra high-definition TV, but movies look cheesy somehow, like daytime TV. Is there a way to fix this soap opera effect?" 

Don't worry; there's nothing wrong with your HDTV, says our TV guru Claudio Ciacci. This soap opera effect is a common problem that comes up when a feature called smooth motion is activated, causing movies to lose much of their filmic character. It's referred to as the "soap opera effect" because films end up looking hyper-realistic, almost like daytime soaps. Those shows are usually shot with cameras running at a higher 60 frames per second, or 60Hz, which naturally yields smoother motion. Movies, by contrast, are usually shot at a relatively slow 24Hz, with motion that can look a bit jerky during camera pans, but that's the "film look" we're accustomed to seeing. An easy fix for the soap opera effect is to turn off the smooth-motion feature. But with some TVs, it's tied to anti-blurring processing—which is helpful in reducing blur during motion scenes. So by turning the soap opera effect off, you also lose any blur-reduction benefits. For TVs that have sub-controls in this feature's menu, be sure to turn down the setting called anti-judder and turn up the anti-blurring processing. That should preserve the authentic film look. 

Ice stacking - incredibly beautiful in nature.

Vault contruction by impressively skilled brick layers

Amazing brick laying

http://youtu.be/PB8TWMKHHMQ

Double Decker Bus to RV

An exceptional homemade RV.

http://youtu.be/Z2GNaqmx7XM

Big Ship launches compilation

Thought you'd like this. I enjoyed the assembly of the Washington State ferry which starts at 3:00; it looks so oddly flat and low before the upper decks are added.

http://youtu.be/qmdBfsOkeEI

Or, if you like watching failures -

https://youtu.be/ncwxbV1EwvE

NYTimes: Finding Beauty in the Darkness

This article on this week's discovery of gravitational waves includes the following intriguing statement of what they set out to measure:
"It is equivalent to measuring the distance between the earth and the nearest star with an accuracy of the width of a human hair."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/opinion/sunday/finding-beauty-in-the-darkness.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

Einstein's "ripples" should matter to everyone — not just physicists.

How It's Made Bricks

Cool. Very automated process.

http://youtu.be/SbKvhHzn4hQ

"Cycling" maneuvers to recruit lung in a stepwise fashion

Minimizes hemodynamic consequences of recruitment by gradually recruiting collapsed lung with stepwise PEEP increases.

Here is the original paper.

The story behind the creation of Air Bonsai

Floating (magnetic-levitation) bonsai.

BMW 335, 328

The 2011 335 coupe was a pleasure to drive. Really smooth transmission, great acceleration, comfortable ride.

The M3 2008 with a 4L V8 non-turbo had a powerful roar, was really comfortable and had a secure feel in driving. It was a convertible hard top so it was quiet inside and a fully automated conversion to open air driving.

For less than half the price, a 2007 335 turbo was incredibly comfortable, smooth, and sporty. That same slick smooth transmission, and a beautiful engine note. The most spacious inside of all of them.

Porsche 911 convertible

Test drive a convertible Porsche 911, a 2007 with only 50 K on it.
A pleasure to drive, a little stiffer body than the coupe, really pleasant acceleration and smooth power. The clutch had a surprisingly stiff feel and a long travel that takes some getting used to. And road noise is a lot higher in a convertible. Definitely don't like a light tan interior which looks worn easily.