Watch in awe as they “Twist, endforge, scroll, emboss, texture, hammer tube, make baskets, and press belly pickets, and much more. ”

via Gizmodo

They are using  “Implosive Connectors” to make power line connections on the new towers along I-94 in Minnesota. A small explosive charge is evenly distributed around an aluminum sleeve and when it is detonated it uniformly compresses the sleeve down onto the cable inside.

How cool is that? And they don’t want you to watch? oh come on, it is like a frikkin James Bond movie along the interstate!

I never did see any helicopters on the day I drove by, but the company does have a video of the process, and other helicopter line work on their website :

Implosive connectors and helicopter line work

In 1910 airman Walter Wellman and five companions attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the airship America. He was also accompanied by his cat Kiddo. Unfortunately once they were underway Kiddo decided he was not so fond of flying and started causing trouble by meowing, crying and running around ‘like a squirrel in a cage.’ The airship America was the first aircraft to be carry radio equipment and the first engineer, Melvin Vaniman, was so annoyed by the antics of Kiddo that he was moved to make the first in-flight radio transmission to a secretary back on land.

The historic first message read:, “Roy, come and get this goddam cat!”

A plan was formed to lower the cat in a canvas bag to motorboat beneath the airship. An attempt was made, but failed because the seas were too rough for the boat to catch the bag, so it was pulled back up again and Kiddo was forced to continue the journey. Luckily Kiddo became more comfortable and settled down to become an excellent flying companion. Navigator Murray Simon wrote that he was ‘more useful than any barometer.’ And that ‘You must never cross the Atlantic in an airship without a cat.’ He slept comfortably in a lifeboat and seemed to only become agitated when he sensed there was weather trouble ahead.

Unfortunately the weather and other problems forced the crew to give up on the crossing before it was complete. They were forced to ditch the airship and all take to the lifeboat. The crew, including Kiddo, were later rescued by the steamship RMS Trent. Simon reminded the crew that it had been a good idea to bring a cat, as they have nine lives!

Upon their return to New York Kiddo achieved celebrity status in a display in Gimbels Department store in a guilded cage with soft cushions.

The airship America, although failing to complete the Atlantic crossing, had set several new records by staying aloft for almost 72 hours and traveling over 1000 miles.

Kiddo retired from aviation to live with Walter Wellman’s daughter.

–

I found this story along with a lot other entertaining information on famous cats at Purr-n-Fur UK

Every Day is Science Friday

A Bridge Too Far from James Miller on Vimeo.

The Mercedes Unimog is the quintessential go anywhere four wheel drive work vehicle. Developed in post war Germany for agricultural use, they were taken over by Daimler Benz in 1951.  Portal gears on the wheel hubs allow the axles and transmission to be higher than the tires center, giving the Unimog a higher ground clearance than the Humvee. They also have a flexible frame that allow the wheels a great range of motion. These combine to allow the Unimog to climb a shear vertical step several feet high. They are used by various countries military forces and when decommissioned are often imported to the US and used by extreme four wheel drive enthusiasts.  They have been made in a variety of variants including a radio box truck, ambulance, troop carrier, and snowblower and are now offered in a variety of modern construction job variants. If I had more garage space (and disposable income) I would love to own an old radio box or troop carrier.

Lego is . . .  well really, do I even have to go into how awesome Lego is? Combine awesome truck with awesome building toy and you get the new Lego Unimog model.

Lego has announced their largest model kit ever is going to be a 1:12.5 scale Unimog U400 truck, and what can I do but come down with a serious case of the “I wants”. It even has a working pneumatic crane.

I want it even more than this awesome VW Beetle set (the blocks just don’t do the beautiful curves justice) which was the previous lego model I drooled over.

Unfortunately at $250 I won’t be ordering one right away, but I will always keep my eyes open for a good sale or used set, and dream…. that is still free. Some more pictures to enjoy:

One day he printed out a high resolution image on photo paper and left it on the coffee table. He noticed his toddler come up to up and try to unpinch the photo to make it larger, like you do on an iPad. She tried it a few times, without success, and looked over to him and said “broken.”

Find the rest at Born Digital

UPDATE: Over at the Kids.Woot blog Jason Toon responds. He wonders if maybe it is not such a good idea for very young children to have interact with these virtual environments so much when they are still struggling to understand the physical reality around them.

What happens to the human mind when, during the most crucial period in its cognitive and motor development, it encounters technologies like the iPad? We have no idea. I hate to pee in the virtual punchbowl, but it seems wise to at least consider the possibilities now. iPad-type devices are still only used by a relatively tiny number of people. If introducing children to iPads at an early age can harm their development, that’s a lesson we’d hate to learn after the devices have become as ubiquitous as TV.

Are iPads Good For Kids?

[Geekologie] via [Laughing Squid]

Why are America’s best and brightest and leaders of tomorrow out running around in the mud with broom sticks between their legs, trying to chase a someone in a golden lycra suit? They are playing Quidditch, of course! Yesterday two championship games of the Prairie Cup Ground Quidditch tournament were held on the campus of the University of Minnesota Morris. The game rules are roughly the same as the game from the world of Harry Potter, with of course the exception of the flying around part. People run about with brooms between their legs trying to throw a quaffle through the goal rings while avoiding the beaters trying to hit them with bludger balls. (Truth be told, we had a hard time telling the quaffle from the bludgers.) All the while, a person designated the golden snitch runs about (in a wonderful shiny golden suit) trying to avoid having his tail removed by seekers. In the pickup game we watched there were not actually any seekers in evidence chasing the golden snitch, but he had a nice run about anyway (and yes, that is fresh snow on the ground on April 16th!)

You can find a few more of my pictures here, and campus news coverage here