Radschool Association Magazine - Vol 32

Page 9

Privacy Policy  |  Editorial Policy  |  Join the Association  |  List of Members  |  Contact us  |  Index  |  Links  |  Print this page

Allan George's Gems.

Chinese Bullet Train.

A brilliant new Chinese train innovation - get on and off a fast moving train without the train stopping. No time is wasted. The train is moving all the time.

If there are 30 stations between (say) Beijing and Guangzhou, just stopping and accelerating again at each station will waste both energy and time. A mere 3 min stop per station (elderly passengers cannot be hurried) will result in a total loss of 3 min x 30 stations or 1½ hours of train journey time!

The passenger at a station embarks onto to a connector cabin-way before the train even arrives at the station. When the train arrives, it will not stop at all. It just slows down to pick up the connector cabin which will move with the train on the roof of the train. While the train is still moving away from the station, those passengers will board the train from the connector cabin mounted on the train's roof. After fully unloading all its passengers, the cabin connector cabin will be moved to the back of the train so that the next batch of outgoing passengers who want to alight at the next station will board the connector cabin at the rear of the train roof. When the train arrives at the next station, it will simply drop the whole connector cabin at the station itself and leave it behind at the station.

The outgoing passengers can take their own time to disembark at the station while the train had already left. At the same time, the train will pick up the incoming embarking passengers on another connector cabin in the front part of the train's roof. So the train will always drop one connector cabin at the rear of its roof and pick up a new connector cabin in the front part of the train's roof at each station.

You probably won’t understand the words, but the video is self explanatory and you can see it HERE, devilishly clever people those Chinese..

German Computer.

You think computers are pretty good today – have a look at what the Germans are thinking about. Click HERE.

Seatbelts.

This is the new "wear your seatbelt" ad the UK is showing on TV, it was started by some bloke not hired to do it, but because the cause was important to him, he came up with this idea, and now it's being hailed across the world as a ‘beautiful' commercial. The video has become so popular that people are forwarding it to friends/family on their own so quickly that it has spread all over the world in a very short time.

You can see it HERE.

Submarines.

The largest submarines in the U.S. Navy are the Ohio class subs. They are 170 metres long and 13 metres wide. Today there are 18 active Ohio class submarines which were built over the period 1976 to 1997. Underwater they are capable of 20-25 knots and can operate down to 245 metres (800 feet) deep (or more).

Pretty impressive machines.

The largest submarines in the world are the Russian Typhoon submarines, they are 175 metres long and 23 metres wide.

Of the six Typhoon subs built, only one is active today.

HERE are some good photos of a decommissioned Typhoon class submarine.

HERE is more info.

HERE is a satellite photo of two of the Typhoons tied up at a dock (Click Satellite)

Not for me Gungadin…….

Tanks??

And! – Who’d want to be a tanky – have a look at THIS.

Politics??

These are possibly the 5 best sentences on politics you'll ever read ... They should be in every book in every school room in every city in every state in our great Country. Our educators should make a lesson plan on these statements and instil these words in the minds of all students.

1.           You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2.           What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3.          The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4.           When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that, my friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation.

5.           You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it ...  

Reaction time!!

You should be able to waste all of 3 minutes on this one, but be careful, it's habit forming  Most car associations say the average drivers’ reaction time is: 0.75 seconds....... or 1 car length for every 15kph......

You can test your average reaction time. Click on the link HERE and good luck.

The Difference between Grandfathers and Grandmothers!

Have you ever wondered what the difference between Grandmothers and Grandfathers is? Well wonder no more, here is the answer:

A friend, who worked away from home all week, always made a special effort to be with his family on the weekends? Every Sunday morning he would take his 7-year old granddaughter out for a drive in the car for some bonding time -- just him and his granddaughter. One particular Sunday however, he had a bad cold and really didn't feel like being up at all. Luckily, his wife came to the rescue and said that she would take their granddaughter out.

When they returned, the little girl anxiously ran upstairs to see her Grandfather. 'Well, did you enjoy your ride with grandma?'' “Oh yes, Bopa” the girl replied, 'and do you know what? We didn't see a single ass-hole, dumb bastard, dip shit or horse's ass anywhere we went today!'

Almost brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?

How old are you??

Ever wondered how old you are – in days???  Well, if you want to know, click HERE.

The Word UP!!

Lovers of the English language will enjoy this...It is an example of why people learning English have so much trouble.

Learning the nuances of English makes it a difficult language. .....This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is ‘UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officials UP for election? Why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?  We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.

We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.

At other times this little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses...To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special!

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is blocked UP. We open UP a shop in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about the word UP!

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP, yet when the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, the earth soaks it UP, yet when it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap this UP for now because my time is UP and now I think I'll shut UP.

Whew!!!

Smart.

This is very interesting, and the argument is very well made. It certainly makes you think. See HERE.

TAPS.

Taps was composed in 1862, during the US Civil War, at Harrison’s Landing in Virginia, USA.

There is a lot of rumour about its origin, the most popular being it began when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison’s Landing and the Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moan of a soldier who lay mortally wounded on the field. Not knowing if the stricken man was a Union or Confederate soldier, the captain decided to risk his life and bring the man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the captain reached the soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the he reached his own lines, he discovered it was a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead. The captain lit a lantern and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw that the dead soldier was his own son.

The son had been studying music in the South when the war broke out and without telling his father, had enlisted in the Confederate Army. The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial despite his enemy status. His request was partially granted. The captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for the son at the burial. That request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate but out of respect for the father they did say they would give him only one musician. The captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of his dead son’s uniform. This wish was granted. This music was the haunting melody we now know as “Taps” that in used at all military funerals.

It’s a very nice story – but it’s false……

How Taps came into being was never anything more than one influential soldier deciding his unit could use a bugle call for particular occasions and set about to come up with one. If anyone can be said to have composed laps, it was Daniel Butterfield, commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Army corps, Army of the Putomac, during the American Civil War. Dissatisfied with the customary firing of three rifle volleys at the conclusion of burials during battle and also wanting a less harsh bugle call for ceremonially signalling the end of a soldiers’ day, it is thought he altered an older piece of music known as “Tattoo,” a French bugle call used to signal “lights out,” into the piece we now know as Taps.

Summoning his brigade’s bugler, Private Oliver Norton, to his tent one evening in 1862, Butterfield worked with the bugler to transform the melody into its present form. As Private Norton later wrote of that occasion: “General Butterfield showed me some notes on the back of an envelope and asked to sound them on my bugle. I did this several times, playing the music as written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. The music was beautiful on that still summer night, and was heard far beyond the limits of our brigade. The next day I was visited by several buglers from neighbouring brigades, asking for copies of the music, which I gladly provided. I think no general order was issued from army headquarters authorising the substitution of this for the regulation call, but as each brigade commander exercised his own discretion in such minor matters, the call was gradually taken up by both sides of the conflict and within months was being sounded by buglers in both Union and Confederate forces”.

Then as now, ‘Taps’ serves as a vital component in ceremonies honouring military dead. When “Taps” is played at a military funeral, it is customary to salute if in uniform, or place your hand over your heart if not.

Although similar, Taps is a different tune to "The Last Post" which originated in the 17^th Century and is played by Commonwealth Countries for much the same purpose.

You can hear TAPS being played HERE. The conductor of the orchestra is Andre Rieu from Holland. The young lady, her trumpet and her rendition of TAPS makes your hair stand on end.    

Skeet Shooting.

Want to see how real men go skeet shooting, click HERE.

Hollywood and the US Army.

The US Army has enlisted the help of Hollywood to train its soldiers. See HERE

Brains

At last, and answer to the age old question, who's the smarter, man or woman. See HERE

Airbus

This is what happens when you are in an Airbus that is about to land with a nose wheel problem. Usually, the nose wheel automatically centres on take off before it is retracted; this is done for two reasons, firstly so it will fit in its nacelle in the aeroplane and secondly to ensure it is facing straight ahead on landing.

Something went horribly wrong in this situation, but the pilots were up to the task and did a wonderful job of landing the aircraft safely. See HERE

Princess flying boat.

The Saunders-Roe Princess was a British flying boat aircraft built by Saunders-Roe. At the time, it was one of the largest aircraft in existence.

In 1945, Saunders-Roe was asked by the British Ministry of Supply to bid for a long range civil flying boat for British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), who planned to use them on transatlantic passenger services. The Saunders-Roe's bid was successful, and it received an order for three aircraft in May 1946

The Princess was powered by ten Bristol Proteus turboprop engines, powering six propellers. The four inner propellers were double, contra-rotating propellers driven by a twin version of the Proteus, the Bristol Coupled Proteus; each engine drove one of the propellers. The two outer propellers were single and powered by single engines. The rounded, bulbous, 'double-bubble' pressurized fuselage contained two passenger decks, with room for 105 passengers in great comfort.

The ailerons and rudder were split into multiple sections such that if a part of the servo-powered control system failed the faulty section could be "trailed" so that it did not act against the working sections. The planing bottom of the hull had only a slight step in the keel to minimize drag in the air.

In 1951 BOAC changed its mind about its needs and decided it had no requirement for the Princess. It was announced that construction of the three aircraft would continue as transport aircraft for the RAF. However, in March 1952, it was announced that while the first prototype would be completed, the second and third would be suspended to await more powerful engines. The prototype, G-ALUN, first flew on 22 August 1952 and was flown by test pilot Geoffrey Tyson off the Solent. A planned two to three hour flight was curtailed because of erroneous readings on airscrew bearing temperature. Three more flights followed in that week and then it appeared at Farmborough in September, 1953.

You can see it in action HERE

Las Vegas churches accept gambling chips.

This may come as a surprise to those of you not living in Las Vegas, but there are more catholic churches than casinos.

Not surprisingly, some worshippers at Sunday services will give casino chips rather than cash when the basket is passed.

Since they get chips from many different casinos, the churches have devised a method to collect the offerings.

The churches send all of their collected chips to a nearby Franciscan Monastery for sorting and then the chips are taken to the casinos of origin and cashed in.

This is done by the chip monks – sorry Rupe!!.

Model aeroplanes.

The model aeroplane bug can really drain your pocket if it truly bites you. Long gone are the days of balsa and fabric aircraft with glo plug Frog engines and 100 foot of string to tether the aircraft and make it fly in large circles. These days aircraft are made to scale, are radio controlled, have all the normal flying controls, retractable undercarriage and now jet engines.

Way back, if you mucked up a landing, you just got out the glue pot and glued the bits back on, flicked the prop and went flying again. Not any more!!!  Now, a bad landing can cost the owner of the aircraft hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Their aircraft are made exactly to scale, are painted to resemble actual aircraft and with a little bit of camera trickery, can easily be mistaken for the real thing.

Some blokes in the UK have built a 1/19 scale of a C-17 Globemaster – it’s amazing and you can see it HERE

Amazing.

Click on the picture at left, click on play, 

then leave the mouse alone, sit back and

enjoy a piece of creative brilliance.

I wonder who had 'time' to do this.

NZ Invention.

The YikeBike is a compact electric bike named by Time Magazine as one of the top inventions of 2009. It was thought up in Christchurch, NZ and will be ready for sale to the public in the latter part of 2010.

The specification for the YikeBike are:

The YikeBike mini-farthing is the smallest, and at 10kg, the lightest electric folding bicycle available in the world, enabling people to take it on buses, trains, cars and store it easily under a desk or in a cupboard.

It gives people freedom to commute easily and quickly in crowded urban environments with a minimal carbon footprint," says Grant Ryan, the inventor and entrepreneur behind the product.

After years of experimenting the inventor has come up with a bike where the rider sits over the front wheel and although it looks ungainly, it is as stable as the current 120 year old bicycle configuration.

"The YikeBike mini-farthing does away with chains, gears, pedals, brake pads, cables and levers and replaces all these with a powerful light, 1.2 kW electric motor and smart electronics.

Have a look at it  HERE!

Photo copier security!!

When digital photo copies replaced the old analogue machines, the manufacturers added a hard drive to store the image that had to be copied. The old analogue machines would scan the image to be copied each time they printed a copy, 1 scan, 1 copy, and if you wanted multiple copies of several documents, you were destined to spend a lot of time at the copier. Digital machines, and this includes digital photo copiers and those multifunction printers, attack the job completely differently. If you have one or more documents to be copied, the machine first scans all the documents into memory (the hard drive) and then prints out as many copies of each document as is required – drawing the ‘copy’ from the hard drive. Heaps faster.

Only trouble is, unless you have a machine that will overwrite the data in memory, and surprisingly not a lot do, all those images stay on the hard drive.

It is possible to purchase a second hand digital machine and without too much effort, extract all the data that is stored in the machine’s memory. And that’s scary!!!

CBS news in the USA recently bought a few machines and showed just how easy it is to extract, in some cases, very valuable and/or sensitive information from a used machine. You can see it HERE

Back     Go to page:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20     Forward