So, no one really knew how it worked, or rather had some ideas how it works, but had little influence over the results. And as consequence we had so precise and spot on search results that made Google so popular. If you used other search engines you’d get pages with the most repetitions of your search keywords, with Google you’d get pages that have keywords, but also the number of external references and the “ranking” of those references counted. In other words your top results would be credible pages that have the keyword you were looking for. No one would link to pages that aren’t informative, or would they?

This is where SEO comes in. And spoils everything. People started to create pages full of keywords and link from other pages to them. So creating some sort of mesh of interlinked sites. Yeah, they’d probably get one or another link from external source, but not a lot. Yet each page in this SE mesh has loads of incoming links. And just what sort of pages these are? Well, if it’s not porn, then it’s all about online shops. Or price comparison sites if you’re too lazy to run an online shop.

All you have to do is link to several online shops, get the results (sorting is optional) and that’s it. No, not really, what’s a point in having price comparison site that no one’s using? So you create another 1000-2000 equally useless pages. What happens next? You’re on the top of the Google search results alongside other “competitors”.

All very well and good. For you. But not for me. I don’t give a damn about your price comparison stuff. I don’t even want to buy that stuff. I’m after the information. I used to type in (rather technical) phrase and Google would come back with the manual or some troubleshooting guide or links to forums. Not anymore. First gazillion pages would list price comparison sites. Or online shops.

Thank you Google. You’re not that good anymore. Still quite useful, but not amazing. As you used to be. Alternatives? None as yet.

So that this doesn’t sound like a pointless rant, let me illustrate my point. I’m on Server Fault, trying to give my 2p in the discussion about built-in RAID controllers. This guy’s asking about A6VMX motherboard RAID setup and whether that would work with his choice of Linux. I’ve spent decent amount of my life working with “proper” hardware RAID controllers and never met the built in one. So I’m off to do some research.

I go to the manufacturer’s website, but unfortunately their manuals don’t have enough information. No worries, I’ll google it. There must be someone out there that uses these motherboards. And if they (MBs) sport RAID controllers, someone must have written at least few words about it.

Ok, I’m not that naive, I’m not searching just for A6VMX (although why not???). I use more specific search term: “A6VMX raid configuration“. And what’s the result? Ha ha, surprise-surprise… A list of online comparison sites:

And only the second page of results reveal some posts on hardware related forums. Not very useful, but at least some non-automatically generated content… Mind you, the search was rather specific. Try something less obvious and you’ll be lost. I was looking for my TV reviews. Yeah. I wish there were any…

So Google, you’ve done great job, but failed to keep fighting against the SEO herd. I just hope you’ll find a clever way to fight back and make your search results as good as they used to be.

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Airbus A400M

Airbus plans to produce around 30 aircrafts each year. Production line is in Seville, Spain. Coincidentally Seville is where A400M first flew, in 11th of December, 2009. First flight lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes and the aircraft has received really positive comments from the pilots. Ignacio Lombo, second pilot, has made a comment that the A400M is very responsive and performs all instructions with great precision.

Airbus A400M

Primary goal of the test flight was to test all onboard systems, and all tests passed successfully. No issues were encountered during the flight.

The A400M is yet to receive licenses for use as military and civil cargo aircraft.

Airbus A400M

Airbus A400M can operate in many different configurations: cargo transport, troop transport, medical evacuation, aerial refuelling and electronic surveillance.

The aircraft is powered by four Europrop TP400-D6 engines rated at 8,250 kW (11,000 hp) each. Unlike the majority setups, where all propellers turn in the same direction, A400M propellers on each wing turn in opposite directions to each other. This is achieved by installing a gearbox on two of the engines, which means that all engines are identical and turn in the same direction.

Airbus A400M

General characteristics

• Crew: 3 or 4 (2 pilots, 3rd optional, 1 loadmaster)
• Capacity: 37,000 kg (82,000 lb)
• 116 fully equipped troops / paratroops,
• up to 66 stretchers accompanied by 25 medical personnel
• Length: 45.1 m (148 ft 0 in)
• Wingspan: 42.4 m (139 ft 1 in)
• Height: 14.7 m (48 ft 3 in)
• Empty weight: 69,853 kg (154,000 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 141,000 kg (310,852 lb)
• Max. Landing Weight: 114 tonnes (251,000 lb)
• Total Internal Fuel: 50.5 tonnes (111,333 lb)
• Powerplant: 4 × Europrop TP400-D6 turboprop, 8,250 kW (11,060 hp) each
• Propellers: 8-bladed, 5.3 m (17 ft 5 in) diameter

Airbus a400m summary

Performance

• Cruising speed: 780 km/h (480 mph; 420 kn) (Mach 0.68 – 0.72)
• Initial Cruise Altitude: at max take-off weight: 9,000 m (29,000 ft)
• Range: 3,298 km (2,049 mi; 1,781 nmi) at max payload (long range cruise speed; reserves as per MIL-C-5011A)
• Range at 30-tonne payload: 4,540 km (2,450 nmi)
• Range at 20-tonne payload: 6,390 km (3,450 nmi)
• Ferry range: 8,710 km (5,412 mi; 4,703 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 11,300 m (37,073 ft)
• Maximum Operating Altitude: 12,000 m (40,000 ft)
• Tactical Takeoff Distance: 980 m (3,215 ft) (aircraft weight 100 tonnes, soft field, ISA, sea level)
• Tactical Landing Distance: 770 m (2,526 ft) (as above)
• Turning Radius (Ground): 28.6 m

Cost: €100 million.

Airbus A400M

Construction of the plane has taken lot longer than anticipated and this imposes a much higher cost of the aircraft, which some argue is not cost effective. Some speculate that Airbus might even cancel the production – only future will show what’s going to happen, but for now, let appreciate the scale and magnitude of the work involved and the engineering craft.

A400M in assembly line:

A400M assembly line

A400M assembly line

Testing the engines

Components are sourced from various locations where they are manufactured

A400M Components

This is how A400M measures in comparison to other cargo aircrafts. As you can see C-17 is larger and is much cheaper – currently €70mil, but this also includes support and service throughout the lifetime of an aircraft. This is one of the major reasons for the proposed halt of the A400M production.

A400M Size comparison

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Vehicles being recalled are those produced between 2008-03-31 and 2009-08-26 (X-Trail) and 2008-02-18 and 2009-05-22 (Qashqai). More specifically, affected Qashqai models are with the following VIN numbers: SJNF**J10*1013272 to SJNF**J10U1022002.

Update: Some more numbers here, some will overlap with the above, some are new.

Qashqai:

• SJNFAAJ10U1000261 – SJNFAAJ10U1454840
• SJNFBNJ10U1000283 – SJNFBNJ10U1420781
• SJNFCAJ10U1062590 – SJNFCAJ10U1427112
• SJNFDNJ10U1120239 – SJNFDNJ10U1374168
• SJNJAAJ10U6015000 – SJNJAAJ10U6032965
• SJNJBNJ10U6011688 – SJNJBNJ10U6026756
• SJNJCAJ10U6016077 – SJNJCAJ10U6023136
• SJNJDNJ10U6022662 – SJNJDNJ10U6024896

X-Trail:

• JN1TANT31U0001088 – JN1TANT31U0200230
• JN1TBNT31U0000020 – JN1TBNT31U0200359
• JN1TCNT31U0005095 – JN1TCNT31U0202732

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Selection of “species” is really large, you can find pet-robots, sport-bots, cook-robots, worker-robots, etc, etc.

A man controls the "Shadow Dextrous Hand" with the "CyberGlove" at its demonstration during the International Robot Exhibition

"Okonomiyaki Robot" demonstrates its ability to cook Japanese traditional food Okonomiyaki, a savoury pancake, during the international robot exhibition 2009 in Tokyo November 25, 2009. The robot which has 15 joints, can take verbal orders from customers and use standard kitchen utensils. The banner reads,"Okonomiyaki". REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (JAPAN BUSINESS FOOD SCI TECH)

"Paro", a therapeutic robot, reacts as a woman pats during the international robot exhibition 2009 in Tokyo November 25, 2009. The seal-like robot has a behaviour generation system that generates behaviours like real animals and was developed for therapies, the maker said. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (JAPAN)

A man controls "Wakamaru" (front) with a flexible sensor tube (FST) at its demonstration during the international robot exhibition 2009 in Tokyo November 25, 2009. With FST, a operator can remote control a robot. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (JAPAN SCI TECH)

Japan's Kawada Industries, Inc.'s newly developed industrial robot "Next Age" demonstrates how it can sort out items at the International Robot Exhibition 2009 in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009.(AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)

(Why are they wearing masks???)

(Errr.. I personally think she’s bit scary… Wouldn’t really want to be welcomed by this “receptionist”. Hopefully her children are going to be more… well, let’s say, presentable).

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happiness hat from Lauren McCarthy on Vimeo.

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First Corvette Stingray has been built some fifty years ago. Celebrating 50th aniversary GM is presenting new concept Corvette Stingray model.

First appearance of the new Stingray was in Chicago 2009 autoshow. Later you could see it in the movie Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen.

When designing Corvette Stingray 50th Anniversary GM engineers had a challenge of combining technologies of the future with the design and form of the past. Therefore the new Stingray is more of a designer experiment than a mass product for consumers. We shouldn’t forget about the upcoming Corvette C7, which might inherit some of the properties of the Stingray. It’s believed that technologies such as rear view camera, hybrid engine and the seats might be the few elements reused in the new C7.

But for now, just enjoy the looks of the Corvette Stingray 50th Anniversary.

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(Squirrels are my personal heroes)

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He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan and graduated in 1989. Since then he has had 17 solo exhibitions and taken part in 10 group exhibitions.

He paints using oil on canvas and often works on a few paintings at the same time. Karol Bak creates realistic canvasses with many of his figurative works being inspired by myth and mythology.

He works and lives in Poznan. You can find more pictures on his website.

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