The Null Device
Posts matching tags 'nasa'
2010/7/29
When NASA were launching their manned space missions, one dilemma they were faced with is how to provide life insurance, so that if the astronauts perished, their families were provided for. Space missions, by their risky nature, are uninsurable by conventional means. The solution they came up with was ingenious: printing "insurance covers", or limited-edition postcards, which were signed by the astronauts and given to their families immediately before launch. In the event of the astronauts' death, their value would increase spectacularly, meaning that the families could sell them and live off the proceeds.
(via Boing Boing) ¶ 0
2004/10/23
This is pretty cool; NASA video of an aeroplane full of crash-test dummies crashing and burning, edited and set to what sounds like a laptop-glitch remix of Interpol's Untitled. (Of course, Sigur Rós, Merzbow or some Austrian glitchmeister would have been more l33t, but still...) (via bOING bOING)
2004/3/18
Real life gets a little closer to hard science fiction: NASA scientists have developed a system that responds to subvocalised commands; i.e., sentences you "speak" in your head. It does this by analysing nerve commands to the throat using sensors. It can only recognise a small fixed number of words, so it's of no use for silently talking on the phone to someone, at least not until they make it drive a speech synthesiser. (via bOING bOING)
2002/4/19