Slashdot Mirror
Bullet-Proof Sheets of Carbon Nanotubes
An anonymous reader notes a CNN.com report on Nanocomp Technologies, the first in the world to make sheets of carbon nanotubes. "In April, [CEO] Lashmore had a mechanical multicaliber gun shoot bullets at different versions of his sheet, each less than a fifth of an inch thick. ... Army tests show the material works as well as Kevlar. The military also hopes to replace copper wiring in planes and satellites with highly conductive nanotubes, saving millions of dollars in fuel costs."
The New York subway system can be a royal pain in the ass. It seems that every time I'm in any kind of rush the damn thing breaks down. No problem, I'll just go up and grab a cab. The problem with that is that it is raining and trying to catch a cab in midtown in midday is bad enough but in the rain it is near impossible. Aw screw it. I'll get there when I get there and they go stuff themselves. I'm Judy, a twenty six-year-old junior marketing manager for one of the Fortune 500 computer companies. I've been with his company ever since college and really love the job; and the money. Lately I've been getting more than my share of travel so I'm building a nice bank of frequent flyer miles but so far my travel has all been within the US but there is a good possibility I'll be off on a Paris/London trip a month from now. That's down the road, I have to make this meeting in the next half-hour or as the saying goes, my ass is grass. Subway failure is not an acceptable excuse with this crowd. "Anticipate" is the key word in the office. 'Think of what can occur that can negatively impact your plans and then take precautions to prevent that from happening." I waited too long to head for the meeting and that's my fault ... not the subways'.
I climbed the steps from the subway platform to see a cab letting a guy out right in front of me. WOW, I jumped in and pulled the door shut and pushed down the lock button. There were two or three others standing at the curb shaking their fists at me for being so forward but screw it, this is life in the big city. I gave the cab driver my destination but it always surprises me when they can understand instructions for, as any of you who have taken a cab in NYC know, the cab drivers are every nationality, except USA.
Traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it might and I made it to the conference room with plenty of time to spare. As I walked in the door there were ten to fifteen people already gathered in little chat groups waiting for the meeting to start. I didn't know anyone and was standing there like the proverbial bump on a log when a gorgeous looking gal about my own age came over and introduced herself.
She had her hand out while saying with a big smile, "Hi, I'm Ann and am with the company you guys are trying to sell."
"Hi Ann, I'm Judy and if our top guys don't get here soon I wouldn't blame if all of you left. The meeting is supposed to start in five minutes."
"Oh don't blame anyone. They were all here a half hour ago and took our top guys for a tour of the building."
"OK, I won't fire them." I laughed.
We stood there chatting about everything but computers and found we had tons in common. We both rented apartments down in lower Manhattan and we had both graduated from Colgate. My folks live up in northeastern Pennsylvania and hers are up in New York State about thirty miles from mine. I have a younger brother and older sister and so does she. The similarities were almost uncanny. In addition to all of that I had the instant hots for her. She appeared to have a great shape and she had super smooth facial skin with an absolutely gorgeous head of brunette hair. This was going to be a tough assignment for me for I damn sure didn't want to blow the corporate deal just because I wanted to jump into the sack with her. Now I'm wondering if I can do anything with her that would move the deal along in our favor by getting closer to her in every way.
The business meeting went pretty well and Ann and I exchanged both business and home phone numbers promising to call one another after all of the business stuff died down.
She called several weeks later asking if I would like to get together for a movie or just a simple dinner in a small little family owned restaurant she had recently discovered. It was close to the theater and it wasn't expensive. Ooops, she said the magic words ... good food at a reasonable price. I agreed and we met and enjoyed the movie and food and our conversation. She was a technical analyst at her company and I am responsible for pre
I need super-duper protection in my HUMMER for the impending collapse and the Limbaugh-Palin 2012 presidential road show.
Yours In Crime,
President-VICE ( of the United Gulags of America ) Richard B. Cheney
"Saving millions on fuel costs"
There is very little energy wasted in copper wiring, especially in airplanes! Moving to a material of higher conductivity will result in minuscule savings, and will be nowhere remotely close to covering the cost of the (extremely expensive) materials.