The Man Who Jumped From The Space

Joseph William Kittinger II on August 16, 1960 made a jump from a hot air balloon(called Excelsior III) at 102,800 feet.He fell for 14 minutes and 36 seconds (before reaching earth) reaching a maximum speed of 714 mph before opening his parachute at 14,000 feet. Pressurization for his right glove malfunctioned during the ascent, and his right hand swelled to twice its normal size.He set records for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (14 min), and fastest speed by a human through the atmosphere.

Related Articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excelsior.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,939169,00.html.

Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twin Spark

Royal Enfield India is growing slowly but steadily .The latest offering from the Chennai based company is the new Thunderbird with a twin spark engine and few other changes ,most significant of the changes made is the UCE (unit construction engine) with integrated gear box which according to Royal Enfield reduces the metal wear and tear. The UCE in the Thunderbird Twinspark means that customers will no longer have to deal with the chronic issues of owning a Bullet — the vintage version that has given the company the reputation it basks in today — which means no more push rod adjustment to stop tappet noise, no more oil leaks, no more checking oil level with a dipstick (a glass window now allows an instant check)..Other new features included are the auto decompresser, CV carburetor, powerful disc breaks, a 6-plate low effort clutch and highest payload for any Indian motorcycle(160 kgs) .That plus a torque of 28 Nm ,the company says is the bike's USP.The new Thunderbird @ 20 bhp promises to be more efficient and responsive.The company might phase out the present TBLB(Thunderbird Lean Burn) depending on the response .

Specs:

Related Links:

Royal Enfield Bullet Machismo.

Curse Of The Finals

 

India's curse of the Finals continues to haunt them with yet another flop performance in a final .In the last 22 final matches since 1999 India have lost 18 finals and just won 2 while it shared the title 2 times .This final belonged to Mendis who with his unique bowling action(with the flick of the middle finger ,carrom ball its called!!!!!) bowled superbly for his 8-1-13-6 .Wonder what has to be done to end the curse.

Michel Jackson Meets Sardarji

Fire Walk Test

Sandeep of Techsavvy reports this unusual way of testing laptops.Really, this type of testing seems to have caught up .Few days back I saw a personal at a multi-brand laptop showroom standing on a laptop to prove the laptop's strength.