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Media Platforms Design TeamKnowing (2009)Media Platforms Design TeamAustralian director Alex Proyas, the man behind The Crow and Dark City, has a strong pedigree in smart science fiction films. His 2004 blockbuster, I, Robot, would have fared better with critics had it not been so closely associated with Isaac Asimov’s legacy. Knowing begins as your typical Hollywood disaster movie, but then, much like M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs takes a very un-Hollywood-like turn into the realm of the theological....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Election Day, residents of San Francisco that asked if they wanted to drain one of the country’s most historic (and controversial) reservoirs and restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. The outcome was expected, but it was the latest in a political battle that has been raging for decades. Even as the dam was approved in 1913 to assist earthquake-ravaged San Francisco, environmentalists and nature lovers, who said the valley’s beauty surpassed even Yosemite Valley’s, were ....

Where does the 2 degrees C goal come from, and what’s the science behind it? This 2 degrees number came mainly out of Europe during a time when there was an effort to identify what would be considered “dangerous” climate change so we could avoid it. But pretty quickly, when scientists started trying to define what dangerous climate change meant, they realized they’d never fully agree. Dangerous is in the eye of the beholder....

Media Platforms Design TeamH3 Alpha: The Smaller Hummer Gets a Bigger PowerplantAs promised last April at the New York auto show, GM has crammed a V-8 under the hood of the H3 to create the new top-of-the-range 2008 H3 Alpha. The engine itself is the familiar, all-aluminum, 5.3-liter Vortec small-block V-8 that powers most new GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups. In those trucks, the engine is rated at 315 hp, but due to a more restrictive exhaust system that features iron exhaust manifolds and four catalytic converters in order to meet upcoming 2009 emissions standards, in the H3 Alpha the engine makes 300 hp....

Media Platforms Design TeamLOS ANGELES — When it hits the market in late 2008, Chevy’s new Silverado Hybrid, here at the L.A. Auto Show, is expected to be the most fuel-efficient full-size pickup yet—an impressive distinction for the domestic workhorse. Working in conjunction with 300-volt nickel metal hydride batteries that sit beneath the rear seats, the 6.0-liter V8 powerplant is capable of operating on four cylinders for economy, or shutting off completely at speeds of up to 30 mph....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: Now Price: $22,000–$31,900 Competitors: Mercedes-Benz SLK, Audi TT, Porsche Boxster Powertrains: 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder with 121 hp at 6000 rpm; 114 lb-ft of torque at 4250 rpm; 181 hp at 5500 rpm; 177 lb-ft of torque at 1600–5000 rpm; 208 hp at 6000 rpm; 192 lb-ft of torque at 1850–5600 rpm EPA Fuel Economy (city/highway): 29/37; 27/35; 25/33 What’s New: While the Mini Coupe is the first two-seat Mini, it has the same wheelbase as the four-seat hardtop sedan....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: Late summer 2013Base Price: TBDCompetitors: Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Ford F-150, Ram 1500Powertrains: 4.0-liter V-6, 270 hp, 278 lb-ft; 4.6-liter V-8, 310 hp, 327 lb-ft; 5.7-liter V-8, 381 hp, 401 lb-ft; five-speed automatic (standard on 4.0 V-6), RWD; six-speed automatic (standard on 4.6 and 5.7 V-8s), RWD or AWD EPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 16/20 (V-6), 15/20 (4.6-liter V-8), 14/19 (4.6-liter 4x4), 13/18 (5.7-liter V-8), 13/17 (5....

When cutting a bolt to length, first thread a nut onto the length you plan to keep. After hacksawing away the waste, unthread the nut to restore the thread shape at the cut end. Then use a file or grinder to slightly bevel the end.2. Hacksaw blades wear mostly in the center. If you have a blade that’s seen better days, it’ll still work on small jobs—just use the teeth near each end of the blade....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt sounds like the setup for a horror movie: Lock six people up on a confined space together for 17 months and see what happens. But the Russian Academy of Sciences and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, put together the in the interests of science—and the half-dozen participants managed to avoid killing one another.Mars-500 projectThe project organizers’ goal was to identify the biggest challenges for building long-duration space habitats, like the kind you’d need for a 500-plus-day mission to Mars....

View full post on YoutubeA bright fireball recently lit up skies over Oklahoma, though no one is for sure quite what the fireball was. In the video, it arcs across the sky before momentarily brightening up and continuing its burn through the atmosphere. A local astronomer, Wayne Harris-Wyrick of Science Museum Oklahoma, compared it to similar fireball videos filmed over Russia and said it was likely a meteorite. Online commenters rushed to call it a fake, while reports from Texas and other areas of Oklahoma seemed to confirm something over the skies....

As if there weren’t enough cameras trained on Britain’s population, police in Merseyside County are field-testing a flying drone equipped with closed-circuit TV cameras. The 3-ft.-wide, German-built MD4-200 chopper has four whisper-quiet rotors and can fly autonomously at up to 15 mph using GPS way points. It can also be piloted from nearly 550 yards away with a handheld controller. The drone sends footage to the pilot, via a pair of video eyeglasses, and to a police support vehicle or a control room....

Now iPhone 6 users can buy their next tank of gas, Whopper, or even a new Retina iMac with a swipe. With the launch of iOS 8.1 Monday, Apple officially released Apple Pay, the mobile payment feature that allows iPhone 6 and 6 Plus owners to make purchases at retailers such as Chevron, Macy’s, and McDonalds by tapping their phone on the register.It’s a feature that’s been available for most Android users for a while, but this is the first time it’s been an option for Apple devices....

Media Platforms Design TeamBuying your first car is an exciting and momentous occasion. In fact, there might be no better feeling than clutching the wheel at “nine and three” and driving off the lot. With that said, it’s a big purchase that requires significant preparation. From researching the type of car you want to comparison-shopping, the actual purchasing experience can feel a little overwhelming. And while the process is indeed quite complicated, grasping a few fundamentals can help you navigate this road with ease....

Media Platforms Design TeamDuring construction of their cave house, William Sleeper and his family lived in tents inside the cave and washed laundry and dishes in buckets. (Photograph by Lars Tunbjörk)The Cave DwellersWilliam, Deborah, Kian, Perry and Wesley Sleeper; Festus, Mo.Seven years ago, William and Deborah Sleeper found a choice piece of property just west of the Mississippi River. The defining element? A 17,000-square-foot sandstone mine that at one time housed a roller-skating rink and a concert hall....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf your latest renovation project includes a new ceiling, don’t panic at the thought of overhead drywall work. In the right situation, a suspended ceiling offers some real advantages over the permanent variety. First, ducts, pipes and cables hidden above a dropped ceiling remain accessible for repair or modification. And second, suspended ceilings are better sound barriers than drywall ceilings.For the do-it-yourselfer, though, the real bonus is easy installation that requires only simple household tools....

There are rapid advancements being made in deep learning and artificial neural nets, bordering on that big full-on “artificial intelligence” thing. At the same time, companies are rushing to lay claim to the advances by patenting their technologies. But the Samim Winiger, our favorite artificial neural net provocateur, has some problems with that in his new Medium post.“These patents are very wide ranging,” he writes. “Cheekily one could say, Google is trying to patent intelligence....

Media Platforms Design TeamManufacturers have gone on a weight trimming rampage of late in efforts to boost fuel economy and performance, but it seems the last people they want informed of their crash diets are car buyers. Take the recent press intro for the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe, where the Korean crossover’s staggering 266 pounds of ditched mass was repeated to journalists ad nauseam, despite President and CEO John Krafcik’s suggestion that consumers might not care about the reduced weight....

Stand several feet away from a Georges Seurat pointillist masterpiece such as A Sunday on La Grande Jatte and your eye comprehends the whole scene. Only when you step closer will you notice the distinct, individual points of color making up the whole. In a sense, this sums up the problem facing search parties who hunt for the remains of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and find themselves thwarted by all the trash in the sea....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Friday, as the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner entered its second week, a vast international search party widened to include military assets from India, where new evidence suggests the plane was approaching after it lost radio contact. As scores of helicopters, planes and naval vessels scoured an area the size of Portugal for any sign of Flight 370 and the 239 people aboard, they were joined by dozens of military satellites, spy planes, and even cameras from the International Space Station....

Will KoomjianPortland, Ore.Age: 28Years on Job: 6 Will Koomjian is totally comfortable halfway up a Douglas fir that’s swaying 10 feet off center. “It gets you in the gut, but you learn to enjoy it,” he says. Koomjian’s day job is pruning trees for Peacock Tree Preservation, but in 2007, he co-founded Ascending the Giants, a nonprofit that documents the world’s biggest trees of each species. Koomjian has climbed such record holders as a 144-foot, 800-year-old Sitka spruce in Oregon’s Cape Meares National Wildlife Refuge....