Home-made helicopter

Ever thought about making your own helicopter? Sounds difficult doesn't it? Imagine the amount of money to spend on supplies. In addition, figuring out the correct specifics to use such as engine and navigation systems. Also, it is important to consider the labor hours needed to work on putting it all together as well as the right tools to use and the right facility for building the vehicle. Apparently, 24 year old undergraduate physics student Muhammad Abdullahi of northern Nigeria does not need all the sophisticated details mentioned above. From this article from slashdot, Abdullahi built his own helicopter using materials and parts from his backyard.

Abdullahi made his own helicopter using the engine from a second-hand Civic Honda, he got the seats from an old Toyota, and scrapped the rest of the parts from the corpse of a Boeing 747 helicopter that crashed near his house. Personally, I think that Abdullahi is an innovative person. He managed to build a helicopter from various components. I would not have been able to do anything like this.

In addition, I think Abdullahi is a genius. He is able to design the control system of the helicopter. According to the article, "the cockpit consists of a push-button ignition, an accelerator lever between the seats which controls vertical thrust, a joystick that provides balance and bearing". The helicopter clearly contains basic control. Also, Abdullahi stated in the article that he got the basics from browsing the internet and watching action flicks. I'm amazed at how he was able to make a helicopter through simple methods. However, I think that Abdullahi being a physics student helped. He must have used the knowledge he gained from his physics class when he made his helicopter.

What's the lesson here? If you don't want to spend a lot of money to build your own helicopter, go to Nigeria and look for Abdullahi. He'll be able to build you a unique helicopter and for way less cash.

Phone call above European skies

Son: "Good morning mom. How was your trip from Italy?"
Mom: "Your father and I had a wonderful time. How about you? How was France?"
Son: "France was great. I got a chance to see the Eiffel Tower up close."
Mom: "Where are you now?"
Son: "I'm aboard Air France and I've been up in the sky close to an hour now."
Mom: "Wait a minute, are you calling from--"
Son: "Hold on a sec, the stewardess is here."
Stewardess: "Here's your coffee sir."
Son: "Thanks. Sorry about that mom. You were going to say something?"
Mom: "Are you calling me while on the plane?"
Son: "Yeah."
Mom: "Isn't that prohibited because it causes interference?"
Son: "It is not prohibited as long as we are under European airspace. Anyway, if this keeps up, my cellphone bill is going to skyrocket. I'll see home in Sweden soon. Bye."

The conversation between the mother and son above explains the possibility of use of mobile phones while on board an airplane under European airspace. Slashdot provides this article from BBC news about a new technology that may allow mobile phone use while up in European skies without causing navigation system interference.

I think that this development is a breakthrough for technology. People will have an opportunity to make phone calls while on board a plane. The advantage is that people can make phone calls "more than 3,000 metres high." In addition, I think that this will be advantageous for business people because they can make business calls in the plane.

A disadvantage in this new technology is that it is only available under European skies. Only people within Europe are allowed to make phone calls from sky high to down below. Just like the conversation above, the son is talking to his mother on the plane from France while the plane is taking flight to Denmark. Moreover, another disadvantage is pointed by the last sentence of the conversation. The "cost of making a mobile phone call from a plane will be higher than making one from the ground". In other words, making a call up in the sky will cost more money. So try to keep the conversation short if you want to save money.

This new technology definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. But in the long run, I think the benefits will outweigh the costs.

Church + rated mature video game = ???

Church. A holy place of worship and prayer. The house of God. A place of peace, tranquility, and...gunshots? Wait a sec, did I just hear gunshots? Sounds like its coming from the basement of the church. I'll just take these steps downstairs and...whoa. A giant plasma screen TV! Oh wait, more TVs and a bunch of video game consoles. Hold on, is that an xbox 360 and Halo 3? Wait, am I in the arcades or the church? Well, there's the priest, the youth ministry leader, and the group of young teen members of the church community. This is definitely the church. But why are these kids playing a violent, mature oriented, video game called Halo 3 inside the church premises? Well, this article within slashdot explains the reason.

Basically, this article is about various church communities in America using the video game Halo 3 as a tool to reach young teens and "use the game’s themes as the basis for a discussion about good and evil". Personally, I think this act is blasphemy. It goes against the morality of the church. As a catholic, I think this act promotes violence rather than goodwill. The church is obviously a holy place for Christians and Catholics to pray, to self reflect, and to be together with people who believe in doing good. However, having a violent game inside the house of God taints the holy image of the church.

In addition, I think the priests behind this theme of using video games to lure in young teens into the church community are crazy. These priests need to be excommunicated because they are promoting the use of guns and violence to young teens. The game is rated for teenagers seventeen and older. But a majority of teens that are members of these churches are aged twelve, fourteen, and fifteen. Clearly, these priests are violating the rating system of the game and they are letting underaged teens playing a violent game. These priests are a disgrace to the church.

Despite the continuous effort of various churches using Halo 3 to reach young teens, I disagree with this idea. I don't like churches promoting violence because this destroys the self image of the church. Churches should find alternatives in reaching young teens without compromising the image of the church.

Viruses in online videos

Man, I haven't been in YouTube for a while. Maybe they have new videos that will entertain me. I am really in the mood to watch something interesting. What's this? This video seems interesting. I'll just click on it and...what the hell! Spyware is being installed. Oh no! That's right, be careful about opening video files because viruses or spywares can be automatically installed in your computer. This is exactly what the article within slashdot is about.

According to the article, there is a program that "silently installs spyware when a video file is opened". I know this is true because I've been a victim of this tragedy. I tried viewing a video in Metacafe (a website dedicated to online videos). When I clicked on the link, my computer automatically installed a spyware. In fact, the name of the spyware was WinAntiSpyware. My computer was infected so I had to completely reformat my whole computer. It sucked because I had to backup many of my files.

Furthermore, the article mentions that the case for video related hacking have been few so far. However, I think hacking through online videos will increase over time. For example, hackers can attack YouTube, the website with the largest collection of online videos. In fact, hackers are already on the move because "attackers have also tried to spread fake video links via postings on YouTube". In other words, be careful because attackers are going after sites that are popular. In addition, YouTube isn't the only new target of hackers. Blogs and wikis are slowly becoming new targets for hackers. I am not surprised because hackers are not only attacking online video websites but also sites with potential for having online videos.

What's the lesson here? Be careful opening online videos because hackers may have installed viruses in them. So the next time you're curious about opening an "interesting" link in YouTube or any other online video websites, watch out because a virus could infect your whole computer!