Nathan

Waste disposal science-style

Joseph Longo has a solution to any and every problem with trash disposal--the Plasma Converter.

Born out of more than a decade or research, Joseph Longo, Ex-owner of International Dynetics, one of the leading trash compactor businesses, has finally been able to realize his brainchild. The Plasma Converter, a massive 15-foot tall machine, the size of a two-car garage, is able to absorb and process EVERYTHING except nuclear waste. From ceramices to explosives, the Converter takes it all.

Through the utilization of a 30,000 degrees Fahrenheight plasma arc, the plasma converter destroys molecular bonds, breaking things perfectly down into their base elements. The elements are then collected, and can be resold or reused. The only two byproducts are a glass resembling obsidian, which can readily be sold to asphalt companies, and a synthetic gas, which can be easily converted into most all types of gas, and also allows the machine to take about a quarter of the gas it produces, making the machine self-sustaining.

A single machine, capable of handling 2,000 tons of trash a day, about the amount of trash that one million people produce, costs only 250 million dollars. While that may sound like a lot, it costs New York City about 400 million dollars a year to haul trash, so the implementation of 20 such machines could pay for themselves in less than 10 years, including the resale of the elements and the two byproducts.

Popsci.com article

Future Science

This is very interesting. Click this link before reading the rest of the post.

What especially interests me is the prospect of never sleeping again. Would that ever work out? Sleep may allow you to replenish and more fully heal your body, but why can't you just replace those functions with daytime ones? The bed market would be eternally destroyed. People would be able to work for days on end, sheerly based on how committed they were to working. The world would never stop; all jobs except those in agriculture would be able to be furthered throughout the day and the night.

Where would that bring us? What end does that have? Many people would refuse to be given the pill or syringe or whatever kind of medical process that would make them never have to sleep again. If you are tired, it's pleasurable to sleep. On the other hand, people may recognize the benefits of that, and those who would wish to support a family and study to support more than their basic needs would be easily given their chances to study, work, and rest at home, all in eight hour increments over the day.

Now that's a laser!

Reaching completion in 2009, the National Ignition Facility will contain the world's most powerful laser, which is currently unnamed. The new laser is capable of generating 750 trillion watts of power, and will usually give each target object a burst of 500 trillion watts for 20 nanoseconds, 1,000 times more than the overall power output for the entire USA over the same period of time. The laser itself will have a chamber for it's machinery the size of a football stadium. 192 independent energy beams will focus in the laser's "barrel", Death Star-style, and exit into the million-pound, 33-foot diameter blast chamber. The laser will be used in fusion research, astrophysics simulations, and thermonuclear weapon research.

In other news, I decided not to continue posting house updates here. Yes, I know, I only did one, but I am chronically bad at doing things that aren't absolutely necessary, especially ones I volunteered to do myself and bore me after a short while.

Rubbermaid spies new kitchen technology

Skyguard is a high-energy tactical air defense laser, but it differentiates from most in the fact that it actually works, and works very well. It is not only capable of taking out the rogue rocket, it can also provide defense for mortar rounds, artillery shells, and multiple-launching missile platforms. In numerous test, of which it has passed every single one with flying colors, the Skyguard has also destroyed up to four mortar rounds at once, with their target not even being scratched.

The Northrop Grumman company has certainly outdone itself here, and the price tag is quite alike: $150 million. The company expects to lower costs to a fifth of that after the initial waves of production if the laser proves to be popular.

Watch the movie of Skyguard on Youtube.

Read the Popsci.com article.