Saturday, April 23, 2005
Could you start a fire with a Coke can and a chocolate bar?  [via Boing Boing 4/23/2005via Make Blog 4/23/2005] 

Try to figure this one out for yourself before you peek at a solution worthy of MacGuiver.  
 
Macintosh Patent Galvanic Analytical EngineComputers in Space Examined [via Slashdot:Science 4/22/2005] Why are we still launching spacecraft with State Of The Ark computers? Three words: need, power, and radiation. Radiation is a big headache for spacecraft system designers. While core is a good solution for memory, ‘hardening’ CPUs means keeping them simple. The lower the component count on a chip (hence the dumber it is), the less susceptible it is to radiation. The Space Shuttle has state of the art computing technology - for the late 70’s. They’re sturdy beasts of silicon burden, not exotic thoroughbreds. Even the International Space Station has less brains than you would think. It stays up there thanks to the phenomenal computing power of - wait for it - an 80-386SX CPU! Can you feel the speed?  
 

© Copyright 2005 Eric Hartwell .
Last update: 5/1/2005; 3:13:34 PM .

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