Hoax Forum

Engineer wants to build The Enterprise

2012-05-16T13:09:35+00:00

It looks a lot like a hoax to me. This guy’s web site seems to go down and is slow when it’s up.

The pages I saw (his web site is so slow just seeing 2 or 3 pages is tortuous to load) don’t seem to have any real images or plans of what his Enterprise would look like. There are just basic graphics and copied images of the Enterprise from the TV Series/Movie or just some graphics made by a third party.

One story about it here. This guy’s painfully slow web site (when it’s up) is at:

http://www.buildtheenterprise.org

You’d think if he was serious he’d spend a few extra dollars on better web hosting.

Engineer proposes $1 trillion USS Enterprise

An anonymous electrical and systems engineer going only by the moniker BTE-Dan has posted surprisingly detailed plans for a full-scale, functioning Starship Enterprise that he claims could be built in 20 years. Though it may be tempting to scoff at such lofty ambition, the Build the Enterprise website (up all of one week) includes specifications, costs, mission plan and funding strategies, all suggesting that a serious amount of thought has gone into creating a real world counterpart to the icon spaceship of the TV and movie series, Star Trek.

The project appears to be born of Dan’s frustration with humankind’s present spacefaring efforts. Dan more or less dismisses the International Space Station for its lack of gravity and cramped quarters, describing its toilet facilities as “comical and primitive,” and musing how the money may have been better spent. Dan’s answer? A full-scale USS Enterprise similar in form, dissimilar in function to that of the TV and movie series; that would operate as “a spaceship, a space station and a spaceport,” and be home to a thousand people.

Though similar in scale and appearance to the USS Enterprise (“it ends up that this ship configuration is quite functional,” Dan writes), the “Gen1 Enterprise” would be functionally very different. Firstly, the main nuclear-powered ion engine (boasting 1.5 GW of power) would strictly limit the Enterprise to intra-solar system missions, being incapable of anything approaching faster-than-light speeds. However, Dan claims that the Gen1 would be capable of reaching Mars from Earth within ninety days, and reaching the Moon in three. Comparatively rudimentary compared to the NCC-1701 portrayed on screen, Dan’s Gen1 proposal is somewhat analogous to the real world “Tricorder” we looked at last month, being one imaginary technology scaled back to meet present day technological possibilities - though obviously this is a rather more ambitious scheme.

Dan claims that the Gen1 would have ample living space and could generate gravity of 1 g. This would be created by a rotating magnetically-suspended gravity wheel housed within the Enterprise’s familiar saucer-shaped section. A counter-rotating ring is also proposed in order to prevent the body of the ship rotating. Dan suggests that the second ring might be filled with water, propellant, or other materials that would be needed aboard ship.

Kodak’s nuclear reactor in NYC

2012-05-16T08:22:46+00:00

Story here.

Now, to the small matter of Kodak’s nuclear reactor. Wait. Nuclear WHAT?

-Kodak had weapons-grade uranium in New York basement
-Company used nuclear reactor for quality testing
-Reactor destroyed in 2006

IS this how Kodak gets rid of red-eye?

In a startling development it’s been revealed that a New York Kodak facility secretly housed, oh, we don’t know, ONLY A NUCLEAR REACTOR.

(further down in the story)
“It’s such an odd situation because private companies just don’t have this material,” said Miles Pomper from Washington’s centre for Nonproliferation Studies.

Zodiac killer still alive and living in California, new book alleges

2012-05-15T18:45:09+00:00

A new book claims that the infamous Zodiac killer is still alive and living in Northern California.

“The Zodiac Killer Cover Up” was written by a former California Highway Patrol officer, Lyndon Lafferty, and adds another theory to the much-discussed serial killer case in Northern California.

The Zodiac killer is blamed for at least five slayings in 1968 and 1969. There was never an arrest in the case.

Three killings occurred in Vallejo. Teenagers David Farraday and Betty Lou Jensen were shot to death in December 1968. Darlene Ferrin, 22, was shot and killed seven months later at Blue Rock Springs Golf Club. Her companion, Michael Mageau, 19, survived.

In “The Zodiac Killer Cover Up,” Lafferty claims the killer is now a 91-year-old man living in Solano County. The book uses aliases and does not identify the alleged killer by name. Lafferty claims he and other lawmen investigated the suspect in the early 1970s but were stymied by “power brokers” in Solano County.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the book has stirred new debate among those who have followed the famous killings.

The San Francisco police formally closed the case in 2004.

The Zodiac killer got his name by taunting newspapers and the police with letters and puzzles.

“The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them,” he wrote in a letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“I enjoy needling the blue pigs,” he wrote. Detectives thought they might have had a break two years ago, when a partial DNA profile was taken from envelopes containing the letters.

The genetic evidence seemed to clear the only suspect ever named by police—Arthur Leigh Allen of Vallejo. Allen, who was never charged, died of a heart attack in 1992.

Source

Sandwich celebrates 250th anniversary of the sandwich

2012-05-15T18:38:54+00:00

When John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, ordered beef served between slices of bread about 250 years ago he probably did not think his request would become a global convenience meal.

The story goes that the Earl asked for the particular serving so that he could eat while continuing to play cards and his friends asked “to have the same as Sandwich”, according to the British Sandwich Association.

The first written record of the sandwich was in 1762 and the Kent town of Sandwich, which is the earldom of the Montagu family, is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the meal.

Sir Edward Montagu, a prominent naval commander, became the first Earl of Sandwich when he was offered a peerage in 1660.
Sandwich not Portsmouth

Steve Laslett, one of the organisers of the Sandwich Celebration Festival, said Sir Edward Montagu chose the title because “at the time Sandwich was the premier sea port in England”.

“When he was offered the earldom he could have chosen Portsmouth but he chose Sandwich - today we could be eating a Portsmouth.”

Mr Laslett added: “The fourth Earl was a complex character.

“He’s First Lord of the Admiralty three times but he was a bit of a lad and he did stay up all night playing cards on many occasions.”

Foodsmith Sam Bompas said the Earl of Sandwich was eating with his fingers “when cutlery was de rigueur”.

“Eating of record at the time was service á la française where all the food went on the table at the same time and there was an elaborate ritual of carving, aided by troops of servants,” said Mr Bompas.

“What you have with the sandwich is the shock of informality. He was a daring man to eat in such a way coming from his social background.”

Mr Bompas added that he found it odd that the sandwich did not exist before the Earl of Sandwich ordered meat between slices of bread.

“Other people were probably eating in that way anyway but they were people who weren’t written about,” he said.
‘It’s bizarre’

Over the weekend the east Kent town hosts sandwich-making competitions and re-enactments of the moment the fourth Earl of Sandwich asked for the food in bread.

Sandwich Celebration Festival organiser Mandy Wilkins said it had had interest from around the world, including America, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, France and Russia.

Ms Wilkins said: “The sandwich is a global food and Sandwich, our town, is just a little town full of medieval buildings.

“It’s bizarre that such an important food item should be named after us.”

On Sunday the 11th Earl of Sandwich, who shares his name with the fourth Earl after which the sandwich is said to be named, hosts a lunch in Sandwich.

John Montagu said: “I am delighted to wish a happy 250th birthday to the sandwich.

“My ancestor, the 4th Earl, could never have imagined that his simple invention would spawn a multi-billion dollar industry, employing hundreds of thousands of people in this country.”

According to the British Sandwich Association the industry employs more than 300,000 people in the UK and has a commercial value of over £6bn.

Lord Montagu added: “My favourite sandwich is a traditional one: roast beef and hot horseradish on freshly baked bread.”

Source

Panama fisherman sues Cruise line that ignored him drifting at sea

2012-05-15T12:06:49+00:00

A Panama fisherman, sole survivor of a 3-man crew that spent 28 days drifting at sea in an open boat after engine failure, sues Princess Cruise Lines.

A ship of this Cruise Company passed the boat with the (at that time all three still living) castaways. Passengers onboard the Cruise Ship spotted the boat and fishermen signalling distress, and informed the Cruise Liner’s personel. But the cruise ship did not stop to pick them up.

Subsequently, 2 of the 3 castaways died and the sole survivor spent two more weeks on sea before being rescued by the Ecuadorian Navy.

More at the source

Swimmers’ urine to blame for 500 fish deaths

2012-05-12T14:47:52+00:00

Just what have they been drinking?

http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-freaky/swimmers-urine-to-blame-for-500-fish-deaths-germany-fishermen-say/story-e6frflri-1226353707575

SWIMMERS have killed about 500 fish in a northern Germany lake, with their urine causing algae that poisons marine life.

The mass death in the past two weeks has occurred in Eichbaum lake, in the port city of Hamburg, The Local reported.

“Swimmers who urinate in the lake are introducing a lot of phosphate,” fishermen’s spokesman Manfred Siedler told Bild newspaper. “We’re calculating half a liter of urine per swimmer per day.”

Applying anti-phosphate - at a reported cost of $667,000 - hasn’t worked, fueling an ongoing feud between fishermen and those who swim in the lake.

Swimmers have been banned from the lake until the algae outbreak is addressed.

Spam Spam Spam Spam SPAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!

2012-05-12T10:04:16+00:00

What Spam with bacon is really made of

Citizenship quandries, where should we go ?

2012-05-12T02:31:03+00:00

Okay, when I raged about giving up my citizenship: Disappointed with my country so I’m changing citizenship….. , it wasn’t to get a duel citizenship with Switzerland Michele Bachmann Defends Then Denounces Her Dual Swiss Citizenship

or to trim taxes:

Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO

..............Saverin, 30, joins a growing number of people giving up U.S. citizenship, a move that can trim their tax liabilities in that country. The Brazilian-born resident of Singapore is one of several people who helped Mark Zuckerberg start Facebook in a Harvard University dorm and stand to reap billions of dollars after the world’s largest social network holds its IPO.

Horray for the U.S.A.? or maybe not.

The Uprising Of The Apes (for real)

2012-05-11T18:45:49+00:00

Zoo chimp makes elaborate plots to attack humans

“Santino,” a male chimpanzee at Furuvik Zoo in Sweden, is devising increasingly complex attacks against zoo visitors.

At first Santino was famous for throwing rocks and other projectiles at visitors who annoyed him. Now he has improved his technique, which requires spontaneous innovation for future deception. Researcher Mathias Osvath, lead author of a paper about Santino in PLoS ONE, explained what the clever chimp did:

“After a visitor group had left the compound area, Santino went inside the enclosure and brought a good-sized heap of hay that he placed near the visitor’s section, and immediately after that he put stones under it,” Osvath said.

“He also appeared to have placed projectiles behind, just before he went in after the hay. After this, he sat down beside the hay and waited. When the visitors came back, he waited until they were close by and, without any preceding display, he threw stones at the crowd.”

Osvath, who is the scientific director of the Lund University Primate Research Station Furuvik, and colleague Elin Karvonen noticed the behavior while studying the elderly chimp, who is the dominant male in his exhibit at the Swedish zoo.

The calculated surprise attacks on visitors demonstrate very advanced thinking usually only associated with humans.

Osvath said, “What is interesting is that he made these preparations when the visitors were out of sight, and also that he incorporated innovations into the behavior.”

“What makes this a bit special is that he actually had not experienced before what he seemed to anticipate,” Osvath added. “He, in a sense, produced a future outcome instead of just preparing for a scenario that had previously been re-occurring reliably.”

The researchers believe that the recombination of previous experiences coupled with innovation “is a good sign of the rather sophisticated foresight abilities in chimps.”

This comes very close to what is known as “theory of mind,” which is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others, and to understand that others have thoughts, desires and more that are different from one’s own. Empathy, deception (as for Santino) and other qualities usually only reserved for humans can be linked to this process.

In terms of why the chimp wants to bother human zoo visitors, Osvath said that’s nothing new.

“A lot of great apes, especially dominant males, throw stuff at people at zoos,” he said. “And I would think that this is something that comes naturally to them when performing their dominance displays. These are often aimed at making other apes move out of the way and, in effect, accept him as the boss.”

“Humans at zoos don’t move out of the way, unless they get thrown at,” he continued. “Some apes throw sticks or feces, but Santino doesn’t have access to any good-sized sticks, and he really dislikes putting his fingers on gooey stuff, including feces.”

After observing the chimp for days, the scientists also suspect that Santino just also “finds it fun” to bug humans. He even appears to target certain people that perhaps really get on his nerves. The attacks are all the more successful because Santino plays it cool, holding back on posturing before whipping out the stone or other projectile.

Michael Huffman of Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute has also studied chimp stone throwing, which he believes “may serve to augment the effect of intimidation displays.” He further thinks that research on the behavior could shed light on the evolution of stone tool use in humans.

Osvath additionally believes that the phenomenon taps into “one of the hardest questions in science: how matter (in this case the brain) can appear to be influenced by something that does not exist (the future). This is far from trivial.”

Source with photos.

Sylvester Stallone is a Time-Lord? Seen on AD 1511 Vatican painting

2012-05-11T12:49:08+00:00

Person with a face uncanningly like that of Sylvester Stallone is present on a 16th century Vatican painting by Raphael.