Purely an outlet for my overwhelming nerdism, before it starts to get serious.
Sometimes I'll be very interesting and write about things that I think are amazing, but other times I'll be whiney and patronising and maybe see if anyone notices some Blink 182 lyrics chucked in whenever I feel like it. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out...
I could not be more excited if someone had told me that they were considering building a helter skelter between my flat and the street. I would be a bit more excited - say, if someone actually had built a helter skelter between my flat and the street - but this incredible innovation is in Japan.
But with good reason.
Tohoku during the 2011 tsunami.
Following the devastation caused by the tsunami last year, a company called Senyo Kogyo (which designs rollercoasters and other amusement park rides) along with a team from Tokyo University's Institute of Industrial Science have designed the Eco-Ride, a train that will use largely its own inertia to move.
It will have no engine and be very light; gravity will do most of the work, so what little energy is required will cause next to environmentally unfriendly emissions. Its speed is controlled by 'vertical curves' in the tracks and should be able to travel at up to sixty kilometres per hour.
Numerous areas of Japan are already interested in installing Eco-Ride trains and it is hoped that they will expand to be used all over, to get around cities and towns but also by big business and sprawling university campuses that take a lot of time to walk around between, for instances, important meetings or lectures. The first train is expected to be built in 2014. It is due to be built in Tohoku, which, aside from being necessary to help survivors of the flood get around the ruined landscape, is said to be the perfect environment for Eco-Ride trains because of the slope between the relocated accommodation on the high ground in comparison to the businesses at the lower sea level.
Alight, these people have had their home washed away by furious, broiling sea water, but very soon they will be able to get a roller coaster to work.
With all due respect, sympathy and wishes for a quick recovery from the tragedy ... I am a little bit jealous...
Alright, so space tourism is not exactly a new idea. In
2001, an Italian-American engineer called Dennis Tito (the dude on the right) with more money than he can spend in many
many lifetimes paid $20 million for the privilege of an eight-day holiday on
the International Space Station. I don’t blame him for a second – if I could do
it, I totally would – but, at the moment, it is somewhat out of my price range.
But hopefully not for long. Given that by "long", I mean a couple of decades. So ... hopefully not in the semi-distant future.
Starting in 2013, Virgin Galactic, as well as three other companies arranging similar ventures, will be taking paying
passengers to the very edge of space that are
arranging. But Virgin Galactic offers the swankiest deal for your money. The lowest price is $95,000, so it is still some
time before I can afford it, but it is predicted that it will be a hell of a
lot cheaper as it becomes a more common pastime. Over nine hundred people –
including Ashton Kutcher – have already reserved seats on the space flights. In
a matter of years, flights to the moon will become commercially available at a
starting price of $150 million.
I don’t even care. I want to go. I mean, how fucking awesome does this thing look?
Regulations will state that passengers have to be over
eighteen years old and have to “consent to the risk”, which essentially means that
they have to agree not to sue if they have any awkward side effects. I'm weird enough not to care that much if anything else unfortunate happened to me, and I'm already over eighteen, so that's all good. Customers
will be offered a medical exam beforehand, but the companies will not apply
height or weight restrictions, so fat people can do it too!
In all honesty, my favourite thing about the comparative lenience of the regulations is the thought that the stag parties of very rich young men could well be held - one day - in space. Or hen parties. Or birthday parties. Or anything. As long as you and all your guests are over eighteen. But, then again, who invites anyone under eighteen out anyway? At least, not without offering them a fake ID. I accept that they are probably a bit more strict about letting me in than your average shitty club.
The trips can take anywhere between 35 minutes and 2 hours,
but Virgin Galactic will put you up for five days in accommodation, during
which time you will have training and medical checks with your trip on the
fourth day. You also get free entry – but no coverage for the cost of travel, which sort of sucks –
to exclusive events between the time you buy your ticket and go on your flight.
That means you can go to parties and presentations and air shows and test flights
with all the big shots and astronauts and scientists, which is pretty awesome,
and probably well worth a big chunk of the ticket price. Not to mention the fact that the waiting time between buying the ticket and actually going into space could stretch to as far as a few years, so depending on how much you take advantage of this you could get a hell of a lot of awesome nerd times out of it.
And then ... this:
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation reckons that flights
available from spaceports in the US will offer suborbital flights in the next
couple of years and orbital flights picking up shortly after. Within ten years,
prices are expected to drop to below $50,000.
(Before you ask, I'm not keeping a tally but, if I was, Tim Minchin and his wonderful nerdy ilk would be responsible for most of them.)
Hardcore nerdism is apparently rife in Shoreham, New York, where the Tesla Science Centre at Wardenclyffe group has raised $1.4 million via online crowd funding to buy Nikola Tesla's laboratory in order to turn it into a museum. As a soon-to-be owner of a Nikola Tesla T-shirt, this excites me very much.
It being in America both disappoints and thrills me. I am disappointed because, unless by some miracle I suddenly get very rich, it is unlikely that I will be able to go. However, considering the sheer stupidity that has come out of America, I am overjoyed that this has happened at all. Reading about it only makes it seem so much better.
The point of the museum is that it is a place that is dedicated to science and education with Nikola Tesla - an inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist and futurist whose work led to the way electricity is used today - at its foundation.
Tesla was born in Serbia in 1856 and emigrated to America in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison. He soon moved on to work for himself and conducted high-voltage, high-frequency experiments, which resulted in inventions that made him world famous. Essentially, he made explosions out of electricity for a living, which is pretty damn awesome as far as I am concerned, never mind everything else for which we have to thank him.
In typical mad-scientist fashion, he spent as much money as he made on more and more experiments and ended up dying penniless in January 1943. But still managed to keep his hair suspiciously neat, judging by the pictures of him.
In 1901, Tesla bought 200 acres on Long Island's north shore where he established what is now his only remaining laboratory. It was purchased with the intention of building a wireless transmission tower but was never fully operational. Wardenclyffe Tower - also known as Tesla Tower - remaining, even if in diminished form, as a tribute to his life and achievements is amazing. It seems only fitting that that the group also hope to have it provide space for companies to perform scientific research.
Aside from his brilliance as a scientist, Tesla was one damn incredible human. He lived his life by a strict routine, squishing his toes one hundred times per foot in the belief that it stimulated his brain. Judging by his work, he may well have been right. He worked from 9am to 6pm, at least, every day, often continuing until 3am once he had had his dinner. He walked 8 to 10 miles ever day to keep in shape; he was elegant, stylish and incredibly groomed (just look at his hair!). His gray-blue eyes, he claims, used to be darker until they lightened due to so much use of his brain.
Tesla never married, but even he admitted that it was a bit of a loss to the world that his genes were not preserved. Then again, he also said that being celibate allowed him a lot more time to devote to his work, which was most certainly a good thing. However, he was sociable, and everyone who knew him loved him. He was considered to be charming and lovely and poetic, and it is almost no surprise that so many women threw themselves at him.
After all, he made shit like this possible...
He was wonderful. If he were alive today, he still would be. It is a shame more men are not like him in this world. I am a little bit in love with him. And with good reason.
If I ever get the chance, I am going to that Tesla museum and I am going to behave like a stalkery little fangirl and I am going to love it.
Funds are still being raised on the Tesla Science Centre website to continue with the restoration of the laboratory and the creation of the museum. It is going to be awesome!
