$15 mil down the toilet...
I find it ironic that on the same day that NASA Administer Sean O'Keefe says that NASA will "meet and even exceed the safety recommendations of the Columbia shuttle accident investigation", the one of a kind NASA solar-fuel cell, propeller-driven Helios prototype crashed off Hawaii. The prototype, which cost $15 mil, had a wingspan of 247 feet and could fly up to 100,000 feet. They were flying at 8,000 feet when the ship just broke up, according to the reports from AP Online. And guess what, NASA is forming another accident investigation team.

Hey, promise no more NASA bashing today!

But on a different note, the National Plastics Expo closes today, and there is tons of news coming from the show floor...Just about 60% of the exhibitors were suppliers in the automotive industry...(the expo URL is www.npe.org and the Society of Plastics Industry Inc. can be found at www.plasticsindustry.org). Couple things worth mentioning, GE Plastics introduced ULTEM (R) XHT resin -- a new extremem high heat resistance, high performance polymer which they expect to replace metal in automotive, electronic, food service, etc. applications. Exatec, a joint venture between Bayer Polymers and GE Plastics introduced a polycarbonate glazing system , the EXATEC 500. Both companies see this as a starting poijnt and have built a tech dev center in Michigan to use this in auto glass glazing possibly leading to some new funky 3-D shapped windows. Wowzer dude!


- posted by Paula Porter @ 10:19 AM

 
Extreme!
Extreme sports and extreme games are all the rage on the tube...but here's a pretty good site if you're into extreme - www.extremetech.com . It's a pretty nifty site of users and possibly a few expers who try to help each other figure out technology...sounds impossible! But they do a pretty good job ...brought to you by the folks from "PC Magazine, our tree-killing sister product"...there are original articles, how to build its, and tons of discussion strings about our most useful tool in the whole wide world -- our computers. They've got a great article http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1132049,00.asp on the lack of innovation in keyboard and mouse design -- plus some pretty lively discussion.

Time to head to the watering hole -- too hot for the beach today! Have a good one.
- posted by Paula Porter @ 2:51 PM

 
Heat wave is on
And I think it went to my head...for the first time all year, those of us on the East Coast have had a couple of warm days and all I think about is what beach?

But hey, I'm not shirking my duties...I found a groovy website, just kinda got a case of summer fever yesterday. But here's the scoop - www.techonline.com .
Yeh, it focuses on electrical engineer, but what good engineer hasn't had to cross over now and then?They've got some darn good webcasts and I have to admit I love their virtual labs. And in the last couple days, they've had a review about Bluetooth -- "Where forth art thou, Bluetooth?"

Catch you later, gotta get me some rays...
- posted by Paula Porter @ 2:41 PM

 
Hangin' with the guys
If you're like me and sick of all the Harry Potter media frenzy of the past weekend, then you're lookin' for a place to just hang out and be an engineer, dammit. And believe it or not, we found a place online where engineers of all ilk can get as technical as they want without the blank stares - www.eng-tips.com. There are forums for all kinds of engineering -- mechanical, automotive, chemical, structural. Plus a "things" forum with stuff from real engineers on standards and software. Heck, there's even a Corporate Survival Forum with Personal and Political strategies -- something mighty important in these economic times!

Yeah, ya gotta register...that's the way of the online world nowadays. But you can talk to other members, post questions and get an email when someone replies and a pretty darn good rate the products and services. The site claims, "160,000 helpful members it's no wonder Eng-Tips is the largest Engineering community on the Internet today! Members contribute over 16,000 technical posts per month making Eng-Tips Forums the best source of 'peer-reviewed' engineering information on the Internet!"

Check it out, decide for yourself.

- posted by Paula Porter @ 2:17 PM