Thinking Green On The Red Planet: Dry Ice Engine Could Propel Spaceships To Mars

Mars has emerged as a major spacefaring destination for the coming decades, but ideas on how to get there are still up in the air (well, lack of air, technically.)  Now, a new idea that would utilize sustainable Martian resources for fuel has got scientists gassed to head to the red planet...

An image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows abundant dry ice deposits.
Could this be the new rocket fuel?
(Image courtesy socialphy.com.)

 

PyGest: A Python Tkinter Tutorial, Part 1

This is part one in our tutorial series on building a simple Python GUI app with tkinter. You can find the introductory article to the series at the link. In this article, we'll get things up and running by filling out the basic structure for our Python script and the application itself. We'll add a top level comment, define the necessary imports, set up our main name space, define the main function, and then configure a logger to aid in sanity checking . . .

PyGest: A Python tkinter Tutorial, Introduction

In this tutorial series, we are going to build a simple file hashing application using the Python standard library's interface to the TK GUI toolkit: tkinter. One can find some resistance to using tkinter in the Python community. However, my interest in tkinter was recently rekindled after watching "Tinkering with Tkinter", a presentation by Russel Keith-Magee, in which the Django developer makes a strong case for revisiting this often overlooked and under-appreciated component of the Python standard library . . .

Solar More Than Solo: Community Energy Gardens Growing In Power

With the opportunities for sustainable energy sources growing more acceptable, abundant, and affordable every day, it behooves the users of such power to understand its possible new impact for entire communities at large.  After all, once the tides (and windmills, and solar panels) turn to making sustainable energy the main source of power for communities in the way that nuclear or gas have previously, large numbers of people will all be invested in the infrastructure together.  Now, that idea has sprouted a garden of its own...

No sunflowers, but lots of sun power getting harvested in a solar garden.
(Image courtesy joinmosaic.com.)

Space Station Sunday: Space Swap

Good afternoon, space fans!  After all of the excitement with last week's spacewalks, the ISS crew are pleased with their results, but several of them are also ready to return back home.  A very special crew is set to replace the Expedition 42 team...

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko
pay a traditional pre-flight tribute in front of St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow.
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

ACLU: None Of NSA's Phone Surveillance Stopped "A Single Terrorist Attack"

While the NSA has been monitoring all of our phone calls, it seems they've been phoning it in regarding any hint of actually stopping terrorism.  According to a report released by the ACLU this week, none of the NSA's "intelligence gathering" via phone records have helped to thwart a single terrorist attack...

Power To The Peeing People: New Prototype Toilet Converts Urine To Electricity

Techniques for harnessing sustainable energy have expanded tremendously in the last few years, and power has been found to be accessible from some rather unorthodox sources.  Now, gathering power is apparently as easy as taking a trip to the restroom...

"Drink up!  We're pee-powering the nation of Rwanda tonight!"
(Image courtesy blog.cureus.com.)