New Zealanders raise millions to buy beach and donate it to the public

Awaroa beach — which was open to all — in New Zealand’s Abel Tasman National Park was privately held by Michael Spackman (a businessman embroiled in complex financial shenanigans ) who had decided to sell it; two New Zealanders, fearing that the new owners would use it as a private beach, started a crowdfunding campaign that raised about NZ$2.3m from some 40,000 people to buy it and donate it to the country’s national parks system. (more…)

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New Zealanders raise millions to buy beach and donate it to the public

Apollo 11 sourcecode on Github

Though the code for Apollo 11’s “Apollo Guidance Computer” has been online since 2003, when Ron Burkey rekeyed it from the scans that Gary Neff had uploaded, ex-NASA intern Chris Garry’s posting of the code to Github last week has precipitated a widespread interest in the code, along with close scrutiny of the code itself. (more…)

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Apollo 11 sourcecode on Github

Peruvian officials seize eight million dried seahorses

Evidently dried seahorse is super popular in China. Fishing for seahorses is illegal in Peru, where eight million of them were seized last June. Via National Geographic : Four years ago Peruvian authorities seized 16,000 dried seahorses abandoned on a street near an airport in Lima, the nation’s capital. If you think that sounds like a whole lot of fish, think again. This time they confiscated eight million of the little creatures at the Port of Callao in Lima—the nation’s largest seahorse haul. Discovered on June 7, the seahorses were on a Chinese-flagged ship bound for Asia, according to China NewsAsia, which cited a government statement. Authorities arrested the captain in connection with smuggling the goods, worth nearly $4 million on the black market.

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Peruvian officials seize eight million dried seahorses

This tiny camera can be injected with a syringe

University of Stuttgart researchers used 3D printing to fabricate a tiny three-lens camera that fits on the end of an optical fiber no wider than two human hairs. Eventually, the technology could lead to a new kind of very thin endoscope for looking inside the human body. According to the researchers, the camera delivered “high optical performances and tremendous compactness.” From Phys.org : (The camera) can focus on images from a distance of 3.0 mm, and relay them over the length of a 1.7-metre (5.6-foot) optical fibre to which it is attached. The “imaging system” fits comfortably inside a standard syringe needle, said the team, allowing for delivery into a human organ, or even the brain. “Endoscopic applications will allow for non-invasive and non-destructive examination of small objects in the medical as well as the industrial sector,” they wrote (in their scientific paper). Below, the lens (blue) was fabricated directly on the optical fiber (red). The fiber and camera are emerging from a hollow, 27 gauge syringe needle:

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This tiny camera can be injected with a syringe

The original French tumbler, made by the company that invented tempered glass

Duralex is a French manufacturer of glassware, tableware and cookware. Picardie is one of the lines of of glassware they sell, and it is actually somewhat famous on their own, for good reason. I have had sets of the 3 3/4 oz. and the 12 oz. glasses for about 12 years. The good: They are made from tempered glass, like car windshields, so they are tough and resistant to breaking and chipping. They will survive most falls from table-height, even onto stone or tile floors. In fact I have yet to break one, and I have gone through perhaps six wine glasses in the same time. When they do break, they break into little squarish pebbles rather than sharp shards. (But that is not unique to Duralex.) They come in nine different sizes, from little 3 oz. Old-Fashioned glasses to 16 oz. tumblers. They are relatively thin and light, their strength notwithstanding. They nest and stack nicely. The faceted, swelling design makes the glasses easy to hold, even for small hands, and even when wet. They have an absolutely classic design. They might be the only glasses that people will actually recognize. I saw something very like them in a painting by van Gogh. The bad: There are no bads as such. They might only be the second toughest glasses there are (the first might be the Bormioli Rocco Rock Bar line, which resembles the Picardie line, but doesn’t have exactly the same familiar design. Especially, the lip is thicker, which makes them subtly less comfortable to drink from.) The Libbey Gibraltar glasses are similar but made of thicker glass, which makes them heavier. Some people might like that, especially for sipping whiskey. But they don’t stack. In sum, Duralex Picardie glasses are a design classic that look as good in a 18th century Provence kitchen as a sleek London flat. They are also durable, light, comfortable, and cheap. They don’t have any real flaws. — Karl Chwe Duralex Picardie 12 oz. Clear Tumbler, Set of 6 ($30

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The original French tumbler, made by the company that invented tempered glass

Why are people fleeing California? Rising housing costs, taxes

California experienced a “net outward migration” of 61,100 people in the last twelve months, the biggest exodus since 2011. San Jose Mercury News : The region’s soaring housing prices are a key factor driving dissatisfied residents toward the exit door. Several people who have departed, or soon will leave, say they potentially could have hundreds of thousands of dollars left over even after buying a house in their new locations. “They’re taking advantage of the housing bubble right now,” McElfresh said. “The majority of the people we are seeing are moving to states that don’t have state income taxes.”

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Why are people fleeing California? Rising housing costs, taxes

Parfumiers are trying to capture the smell of old books

We’ve been writing about the efforts of parfumiers to make book-smell scents ( chemistry , product , hoax ) for many years, but the reality has been pretty disappointing — I bought some smell early on and found that I ended up just smelling like vanilla. (more…)

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Parfumiers are trying to capture the smell of old books