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Shamus Moynihan watched workers putting down Astroturf on a 40x40 stretch of City Hall Plaza as part of Mayor Walsh's effort to make the normally barren brick wasteland more fun. Part of the effort also includes the plastic Adirondack chairs the city recently plunked down on the plaza.
Turn Rockban controllers into MIDI drums with Arduino. via instructables
I’m going to show you how to convert a Rock band or Guitar Hero drum controller into a real MIDI drum set that can interface with digital audio workstations like Ableton Live, FL Studio, Pro Tools, etc.
Or you can simply use it to play DTXMania (DrumMania)!
It is also recommended if you’d like to know the inner workings of the Arduino code, and want a more detailed explanation of the circuit.
Internet users should take renewed caution when using both Adobe Flash and Oracle's Java software framework; over the weekend, three previously unknown critical vulnerabilities that could be used to surreptitiously install malware on end-user computers were revealed in Flash and Java.
The Java vulnerability is significant because attackers are actively exploiting it in an attempt to infect members of NATO, researchers from security firm Trend Micro warned in a blog post published Sunday. They said the attack involves a separate Windows vulnerability indexed as CVE-2012-015, which Microsoft addressed in 2012 in bulletin MS12-027. Oracle developers are working on a fix, the blog post said.
The two Flash vulnerabilities were unearthed late last week in the 400-gigabyte dump taken from Hacking Team, the Italian spyware developer that was breached eight days ago. The two zero-day flaws, designated CVE-2015-5122 and CVE-2015-5123, are in addition to a separate previously unknown Flash vulnerability found by Hacking Team that Adobe patched on Wednesday. The currently unpatched vulnerabilities reside in the Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux versions of the most recent versions of Flash and allow attackers to remotely execute malicious code.
Discover what sparked her interest in space exploration, and learn how she became NASA’s first female military scientist and the first female space shuttle commander.
As many of you know the Legend of Zelda is one of the most popular video game series to have ever been made. The Ocarina of Time is probably the most popular game in the series having a total of 7.6 million copies sold during it’s lifetime. One of the most iconic features of the Ocarina of Time is when you open a chest.
As you go to open a mysterious chest a tune starts to play. This tune causes anticipation and suspense. When the tune hits it’s climax Link holds the item he has found over his head in victory and a triumphant score is played. You feel accomplished for just opening a chest and holding an item.
So the goal for to day is to recreate that here. So equip Master Sword and grab you Hylian Shield, you have some items to collect!
As phone providers like AT&T and Verizon seek to phase out copper telephone networks in favor of fiber- and wireless-based VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services, the Federal Communications Commission must consider whether to require home phones to work during power outages.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has decided what the requirement should be—carriers will have to offer 24-hour backup systems, but they'll be able to charge consumers for the batteries.
Wheeler circulated his proposal to fellow commissioners on Friday and will put it to a vote on August 6. If it's approved in its current form, VoIP providers will have to offer 8-hour backup systems immediately and 24-hour backups within three years.
No Mike Florio, no problem. You can make your own NFL rumor with our help.
The NFL Rumor Mill is a weird and often inaccurate place all year long, but it gets especially stupid in the middle of summer, when very little is actually happening and people start imagining crazy things just to keep from getting bored. As ong as it's accompanied by some vague assertion of sourcing and the reporter putting it out there doesn't overplay their hand, it's surprisingly easy to get traction with unfounded gossip.
So easy, in fact, that we made you a generator. Go forth and make your own scoops!
A photo posted by Matthew Chevallard (@deltoroshoes) on
Dwight Howard is the biggest kid in sports. There is nothing wrong with this. He took this ideal to the next level with some custom Del Toro Chukkas that are decked out with the Minions.
Howard took the Houston Boys and Girls Club to the movies to see Minions, so naturally he needed the right kicks for the occasion. Dwight even had a shirt with the michevous yellow characters, because go big or go home.
io9 will be hosting live coverage during New Horizon’s close approach starting at 7:30am ET/4:30am PT on Tuesday morning, and during its first call home after the flyby starting at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT on Tuesday evening.
A beer connoisseur I am not, but I do know a good milkshake when I find one.
I just spent some time Googling to see if making milkshakes with Abita's Turbodog brew is common practice, and while I didn't find many references to actually mixing it with ice cream, several sources—including the Abita website—suggest that the dark brown ale has distinct chocolate/vanilla/toffee flavors that I suppose make it a natural pairing in the house specialty milkshake ($5) at Po' Boys & Pickles in Portland, Maine.
As the name suggests, this place is a Big Easy tribute plopped down on the outskirts of downtown Portland. No surprise, then, that they're pulling pints of Abita, but you'd never guess that this shake is chocolate-free. It's just Turbodog and vanilla ice cream, and whipping the two together somehow makes for a distinctly chocolaty result. Not sweet chocolaty, though; just rich and malty, deep and lightly bitter with a good boozy finish. There's also a bit of carbonation in there, which keeps things light and fizzy under that blanket of whipped cream. (Permalink)
Pentagon leaders are finalizing plans aimed at lifting the ban on transgender individuals in the military, with the goal of formally ending one of the last gender- or sexuality-based barriers to military service, senior U.S. officials told The Associated Press. (Permalink)
Microsoft is bringing its classic Hover! game back to life, on the web. The game combines bumper cars and capture the flag, and originally shipped on Windows 95 CDs in a special folder called fun stuff. Microsoft has worked with Dan Church, an independent developer, to bring Hover! to the web. It took around eight weeks to get it ready in time for the launch today, and Hover! fans will be able to play the PC classic in retro and modern modes. (Permalink)
Based on the classic 1980’s computer game, The Oregon Trail® Game 5K takes runners on a cross-country adventure from Missouri to Oregon, over mountains and across rivers, and to their final destination – Oregon City! Runners will have to make decisions along the course such as whether to ford a river, go hunting, and more. Can you make it to Oregon or will you die of dysentary? Each decision you make along the trail will determine your ultimate fate. Runners receive a timed score as well as a game score. (Permalink)
A rail car the size of a go-kart creeps 850 feet up a steel track through the Tehachapi foothills near Death Valley. Its passenger is a four-ton concrete block, but the real delivery is electricity.
The train is a low-tech attempt to solve a hi-tech problem. California is now generating so much renewable electricity at certain times during the day that the state can't use it all. The three biggest utilities now draw more than 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources. That number should climb higher as falling technology costs spur more investment in solar and wind power.
But the boom has drawbacks: A cloudy day can turn a flood of solar power into a drip. And a sunny day can generate more power than the grid can use.
Faced with the demand to ensure a stable supply of electricity, utilities are under pressure to develop cost-effective ways to store renewable power. The Public Utilities Commission has mandated that California’s three biggest electricity retailers find ways to store 1,300 megawatts of their total power production—about half the generating capacity of the old San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station—in the next five years.
Numerous companies are vying to break into the market, many of them relying on cutting-edge technology. One company is stacking batteries into massive hubs two stories tall. Another is compressing air in vast storage tanks, which can be released through turbines to generate electricity. A product called “Ice Bear” latches onto rooftop air conditioners to store electricity by creating and melting ice.
The "train" car. (Photo: ARES)
Jim Kelly is putting his money on trains. His company, Advanced Rail Energy Solutions, or ARES, bills his upcoming project—a $40 million plan to deliver 50 megawatts of storage in Nevada—as a simpler solution, delivering the same effect without all the flashy technology.
“We don’t need any new physics, we don’t need super conductivity or miracle batteries,” Kelly says. They just need gravity.
A pilot site in the hills some two dozen miles outside Bakersfield suggests how the operation will work. At Victory Springs Ranch in Tehachapi, a railway climbs 60 feet above its starting point, snaking through a hilly field dotted with wind turbines. Here, an ARES rail car climbs a gentle incline at 10mph. It carries concrete formed into a sleek trapezoid atop a steel carriage with four sets of wheels. The unit, stretching 16 feet long and nearly four feet tall, runs on a track set into the dusty Earth, spurred uphill by excess electricity coming off the grid.
The system would kick into gear any time renewable energy production overloads the grid. Grid operators would call ARES, which would use the excess power to drive the train. As soon as renewable production flags, an engineer can send the car downhill by striking a computer key. As the car rolls with gravity, motors inside a metal box latched to the concrete spin to generate electricity. Power goes back on the grid.
The ARES founders didn’t set out to make trains. William Peitzke, a veteran of the energy business, came to scientist John Robinson with ideas to build a hydro-electric pump near the Sea of Cortez. This system, introduced in the early 1900s and used around the world, uses excess power to pump water uphill, and then generates power when it is released back down.
But Robinson, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist who was working at NASA when humans first stepped onto the moon, deemed this system too demanding on the West’s water supply.
Instead, Peitzke and Robinson turned to Matt Brown, a ship and plane engineer, for a solution that would not rely on scarce water resources. His answer: rail. He knew trains had long excelled at moving mass over distance and height.
It's days like these ARES was made for. (Photo: ARES)
The trio launched ARES in 2009. In 2013, ARES secured a patent and constructed its pilot project at Victory Springs Ranch.
The company plans to break ground on its first commercial project next year in Nevada, 60 miles west of Las Vegas on the California border. Here, the scale will dramatically increase: ARES plans to install a six-mile track climbing 2,000 feet. Seven “shuttle trains”—each equipped with two locomotives hauling seven cars—will ascend at 18mph. Each shuttle train will carry 1,300 tons, the weight of 650 automobiles. They will stretch nearly 500 feet long.
When gravity spurs the trains downhill, they will collectively generate 12.5 megawatt hours of energy. This is enough to power a city of 50,000 homes for 15 minutes.
That size is substantial compared with batteries that can hold only five or 10 megawatts. Still, it represents just a fraction of the capacity ARES envisions. The company’s original plan was to run 800 cars on multiple tracks, storing up to 1,000 megawatts, which could power more than half a million homes. But the financing proved too difficult for the fledgling business, says Francesca Cava, vice president for operations.
Just connecting storage to the transmission grid can cost $10 to $15 million, according to Cava. Securing a land permit can cost another million. And that’s before building and operation costs. The ARES Nevada project will suck up a total of $40 million as-is, but the bigger version would have required $1 billion.
“That’s a huge barrier to any Tom, Dick, or Harry coming along,” Cava says, adding that banks are wary of giving newbie storage companies the same funds they dole out for housing and railroad construction. ARES turned to investors instead, and has raised $25 million so far.
The train track. (Photo: ARES)
“This is not a market that you dilly-dally in,” Cava says. “They believed this would work and they would make money.”
For its next phase, ARES is gearing up to tackle more financial hurdles. Snagging utility contracts could help ARES secure loans. But setting a fair price is complicated. While utilities know how to charge for energy production, calculating the costs for storage is new.
ARES will need to compete against technologies that boast diverse merits. Hydro-electric pumps, moving at slow speeds, can shift large amounts of energy. Batteries and flywheels, on the other hand, offer flexibility by transferring energy within seconds—even if they can only hold small volumes.
ARES says it operates at 60 percent of the costs of traditional hydro pumps, and is less expensive than most batteries. For example, a battery under construction by Southern California Edison, billed as one of the biggest in North America, is slated to store 32 megawatts at a cost of $50 million. By ARES’s own measurements, its rail project will generate nearly twice as much for about the same amount.
To Mark Higgins of the California Energy Storage Alliance, the diversity of storage technology attests to the growing strength of the market. “It’s absolutely healthy, and really shows the competitive nature of the industry,” he says.
The competition is forcing a time crunch. ARES estimates that batteries won’t catch up with its own storage capacity for another two decades. But the company is still under pressure to be the first of its kind to penetrate the market, Cava says.
“If we are able to be the first grid-scale, non-polluting, not-water-using, profit-making energy storage system, obviously that's a very important milestone,” she says.
Recently, the leak of a confidential report from the University of Toronto has shined a light on an alternative medicine class taught to the school's health studies majors. The class—which has a syllabus that is full of odd, fringe ideas—is taught by a homeopath who's the wife of the campus' dean. It drew fire from other faculty for its anti-vaccination stance, but the leaked report says it's fine—students get reliable information about vaccination elsewhere.
The syllabus for the course has been posted online, and it reads a bit like a bad blog post. "Quantum physics is a branch of physics that understands the interrelationship between matter and energy," It states. "This science offers clear explanations as to why homeopathic remedies with seemingly no chemical trace of the original substance are able to resolve chronic diseases, why acupuncture can offer patients enough pain relief to undergo surgery without anesthesia, why meditation alone can, in some instances, reduce the size of cancerous tumors."
But the part that caused the complaints is the section on vaccines, which includes assigned viewings of videos from Andrew Wakefield, who first launched the MMR vaccine scare, and another entitled, "Vaccine's Safety A Crime Against Humanity." According to The Toronto Star, "some of [University of Toronto's] professors and a number of external experts complained about it," prompting the review of the course.
Cook chained up three pit bull puppies and failed to provide proper shelter, according to a citation report obtained by Sports Illustrated.
Florida State running back Dalvin Cook was cited for mistreating three chained-up pit bull puppies in July 2014, according to a City of Tallahassee citation report obtained by Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples. The report states that "the dogs were unable to move and the smaller puppies were choking" from a heavy chain that had been tied around their necks. The dogs were between approximately two and eight months old.
Cook has been suspended indefinitely from the Florida State football team. Head coach Jimbo Fisher released a statement last Friday condemning Cook's alleged actions. Fisher also dismissed third-string quarterback De'Andre Johnson last week after footage emerged of Johnson punching another woman at a bar.
Cook's long-term future with the Seminoles has yet to be determined. The true sophomore-to-be rushed for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns at 5.9 yards per carry for the 'Noles last season. He was expected to handle a much larger rushing load this season with the departing Karlos Williams no longer available to split carries.
I bought two tickets to the 14 piece Michael Jackson cover band at Doug Fir tonight and can't make it. PM me with your email address if you'd like them and I'll send them to you for $FREE.99
Super Opinionated.
OnlyMrGodKnowsWhy
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