When the World Cup kicks off in South Africa, 69,070 soccer fans inside Cape Town Stadium will scream at the top of their lungs. But thanks to some clever engineering, the people living nearby will hear hardly a peep.

Via Gizmodo

Technology keeps getting better and better….

Today, we bring you Michelle Pelletier’s (a University of Rhode Island master’s degree candidate) new self-healing concrete. Currently, concrete is the most widely used building material, yet as the structures age, concrete cracks – and what begins as a slight crack can turn into a massive problem. Pelletier’s solution is a type of “smart concrete” that self heals to economically extend the life of the structure.

Read More at ArchDaily

When Mauer signed with the Twins before the season, he received the opposite of a hometown discount: The Twins had to pay Yankees prices for him. (It is far from certain that the Yankees, as currently constituted, would pay a catcher with limited power potential $184 million through 2018.) Mauer is a great player — better than Howard — but if that deal blows up, the Twins are toast. (They might be anyway, even if Mauer is fine.) The same thing for the Cardinals if they re-sign Pujols for $32 million a year for the next decade. The Phillies had to sign Howard because they need to be seen as a franchise that takes care of its guys, the way the Yankees have, the way everyone presumes they will with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera this off-season.

But those teams aren’t the Yankees. The Yankees’ financial advantages so dwarf every other team that trying to be the Yankees every decade or so, with one guy, plays right into their hands. The guy you mortgaged your whole future for, the one you were absolutely convinced that if you didn’t sign him forever your fan base would abandon you? Yeah, the Yankees have five guys like that. And because everyone knows the Yankees aren’t going anywhere, and that even if they don’t sign Matt Holliday or Jason Bay they’ll be just fine, they’re dictating the terms. Ryan Howard is making more money from the Phillies than Mark Teixeira — a better player! by far! — is getting from the Yankees. Think about that. With the overwrought Howard contract surely skewing the free-agent market for first basemen — of which there are several, from Pujols to Prince Fielder to Adrian Gonzalez — the Teixeira deal, which was seen as a shockingly large contract at the time, is already starting to look like a bargain.

The Phillies overpaying to keep their own guy; the Yankees paying less to get a mercenary. The Yankees have reached the point at which their constant spending isn’t just giving them an advantage and isn’t just crippling other teams … it may actually be allowing them to spend less. Brian Cashman and Albert Pujols are the happiest people in baseball this morning.

Via JuanRefresh
http://juanrefresh.tumblr/

Con un impresionante peso de 31.5kg (alrededor de 70 libras). Cuenta con seis ejes de movimiento y es perfecto para cargar la parte trasera de tu camión de juguete – y luego arrastrarlo, como se puede ver en el  vídeo después de la pausa. ¿Cuánto hay que pagar para tener este tipo de diversión? Sólo €4,160 – US$ 5,630. Nadie dijo que excavar de esta manera  sería barato.

Via Engadget

Via Gizmodo

El largometraje narra el intenso día a día un comando especializado en desactivación de explosivos durante la guerra de Irak liderado por el sargento Thompson. Cuando éste fallece en el transcurso de una misión, la Unidad queda al mando del impredecible y temerario sargento James (Jeremy Renner).

Está dirigida por Kathryn Bigelow, autora de grandes cintas como K-19: The Widowmaker o El peso del agua. Además de Renner, completan el reparto Anthony Mackie y Brian Geraghty, además de contar con breves intervenciones de actores como Guy Pearce , Ralph Fiennes o la atractiva Evangeline Lilly (Perdidos).

Los comentarios de la crítica han encumbrado a la película como una de las mejores del pasado año. Según Time Magazine se trata de “una película casi perfecta (…). En su actuación, Jeremy Renner desprende la fuerza, confianza e impredecibilidad de un joven Russell Crowe”. Mientras, la web Rotten Tomatoes destaca las “excelentes actuaciones, que ha sido filmada con intensidad y está repleta de acción y de épica. En tierra hostil es la mejor de las ficciones recientes sobre la guerra de Irak”.

Via 20minutos

Este exclusivo puente que cruzará el cañón Black (al sur de la presa), conectará las autopistas de Arizona y Nevada a unos 275 metros sobre el río Colorado. Antes de comenzar la obra, el equipo de ingeniería se vio obligado a diseñar y construir un complicado sistema de grúas para entregar los materiales prefabricados del puente, una enorme proeza en sí misma. Además, se utiliza un sistema muy complicado y peligroso de poleas para colocar las diferentes partes del puente en su lugar. Una construcción de tales características siempre debe superar numerosos retos. El mayor problema que enfrentan los trabajadores radica en los poderosos vientos de 125 km por hora, que se encauzan a lo largo del cañón hacia el lugar de la construcción.

Via tudiscovery