Special rail pieces arrive in Utah
Engineers in Colorado have designed new breed of rail pieces that will facilitate a smoother, quieter ride.
Workers this week unloaded the quarter mile lengths of rail, which will be slid into place and welded together to form a new smooth-riding daily commuter line stretching from Pleasant View, Utah to Salt Lake City, Utah.
This new rail pieces were made from recycled steel in Pueblo, Colorado and shipped to Utah on specially designed cars. Completion of the project is slated for mid-2008.
High steel prices result in half-sized school
Sky-high steel and concrete prices have forced Brunswick Community College in Shallotte, North Carolina to scale back its plans for a $30 million bond expansion.
The college will still build all the facilities it promised taxpayers who voted for the bond last year, but the buildings will be smaller and have fewer desks.
Lockers and hallways will also be half-sized. The on-campus daycare will be able to accommodate only 65 children instead of the planned 100.
College president Stephen Greiner regrets that the college expansions will not be as large as planned, but is proud that the college is adjusting to the reality of a steel-hungry world to give taxpayers what they wanted.
Celebrities hawk their cars for cash
If you are in Las Vegas next week and have a lot of money to burn, you might just be the new owner of a car previously owned by Shaquille O'Neal or Madonna.
On April 7 and 8, the Las Vegas Hilton Convention Center will host Kruse International's annual Auto Auction where these celebrities' cars along with other celebrity-owned autos will be sold to the highest bidder.
Wayne Newton will even be available at the auction to explain the intricacies of his 1982 Mercedes-Benz.
Mr. Newton's car and Shaq's custom built Ferrari are expected to sell in the same range – between $250'000 and $350'000.
Madonna's 1987 Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, is not that rare, and is only expected to net between $30'000 and $50'000.
High schooler gives scientists a run for their money
High school sophomore Jay Burns is using a
stainless steel
wire, aluminum foil, lightweight balsa wood, and a high-voltage supply borrowed from his dad's shop in order to build an asymmetrical capacitor that will explain anti-gravity thrusting, which is an enigma to even to scientists. Jay also wants to prove that an asymmetrical capacitor can work in space. But why?
The aspiring aeronautical engineer wants to propel himself to the next International Science Fair, which he was able to attend last year for his project on global warming.
“If it does work in space, it would be absolutely revolutionary,” Jay said of his experiment.
The teenaged genius, who has been entering science fairs since the 1st grade, laments the lack of American representation he saw at the International Science Fair last year: “For being the wealthiest nation on the planet, we should be far and away the best. And we are not.”
For his next science fair project, Jay plans to investigate alternative fuel sources, such as ethanol.