Author Archives: Chompsky

Behold: the Roland Gumpert Nathalie – an electric vehicle that refuels with methanol (in less than 3 minutes) creating hydrogen which powers a fuel cell to generate electricity.

A  fully functional concept for a not-too-difficult to envisage world where regular filling stations have methanol pumps, the Nathalie delivers a 0-100km/h time of 2,5 seconds, a top speed of 306km/h and an 850km range, producing only CO2 and water as byproducts of combustion (though the manufacturer claims the process is carbon neutral.)

Yours for between €300,000 and €500,000 (considerably cheaper than most of its rivals in the rarified e-hypercar segment)

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A 360 degree panorama of Perseverance Valley on Mars taken last year by the Opportunity Rover. To wit:

The scene is composed of 354 individual images recorded through 3 different colour filters by the rover’s panoramic camera from May 13 through June 10, 2018. A few frames remain in black and white at the lower left though. Those were obtained through only one filter just before a dust storm engulfed Mars in June 2018, ultimately ending the solar-powered rover’s trailblazing 15 year mission. Just right of center, the annotation identifies Opportunity’s entry point to Perseverance Valley along the Endeavor crater’s western rim. The rover’s tracks begin there, extending from over the horizon toward the far right and its final resting spot on the Red Planet.

Explore the full sized image here.

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Lessons From The Screenplay explores how the most effective movie scenes often follow the three-act structure of entire movies, books and plays.

A case in point: one chilling exchange between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in Johnathan Demme’s ‘The Silence of The Lambs’.

More (in the form of a more in-depth podcast) here.

kottke

Last month, Japanese Space Agency JAXA’s robotic Hyabusa2 spacecraft shot and deliberately bounced off asteroid 162173 Ryugu just to see what would happen. Hardcore. To wit:

Before impact, Hayabusa2 fired a small bullet into 162173 Ryugu to scattered surface material and increase the chance that Hayabusa2 would be able to capture some. Next month, Hayabusa2 will fire a much larger bullet into Ryugu in an effort to capture sub-surface material. Near the end of this year, Hayabusa2 is scheduled to depart Ryugu and begin a looping trip back to Earth, hopefully returning small pieces of this near-Earth asteroid in late 2020. Studying Ryugu could tell humanity not only about the minor planet‘s surface and interior, but about what materials were available in the early Solar System for the development of life.

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Behold: the Hispano Suiza Carmen – an electric hypercar and the first offering in over 70 years from the Hispanic-Swiss auto maker founded in 1904.

The Carmen’s lightweight carbon fibre monocoque chassis with all-wheel drive powered by a 700 cell lithium ion battery develops 1019bhp, accelerates to 100km/h in under three seconds and tops out at 250km/h. Meanwhile, owners can choose their own ‘perfume’ to enhance the handcrafted leather and Alcantara interior.

Only 19 will be made but the vehicles are designed to be ‘upgradable’ as new technology emerges.

Yours for €1.4 million +.

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A diverting inisight into the way colour in movie posters is used to communicate with the desired audiences.

James Verdesoto of Indika Entertainment Advertising explains how white backgrounds are used for comedy, blue for action thrillers, shadows indicate secondary characters, yellow is the colour of independent film and so on.

laughingsquid/vanityfair

Behold: the Koda Light Float House – a zinc-clad dwelling surrounded by a generous deck on a pontoon raft connected to shore by a wooden bridge.

More house than boat (designed to be towed between locations), the minimal interior features double-height ceilings, an open living space, kitchen, and a lofted sleeping area from where to view the locale where you’ve chosen to dock.

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