Open catch-all thread for DARPA projects/programs of interest and boldly go where unreal horrors out of sic-fi novels and super-brain polymaths could only think up, the Imagineers of War, to include silly amusement R&D and for the love of DARPA acronyms. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (formerly ARPA; created in 1957 after the the Sputnik revelation -co-founded by Jeff Bezos' paternal grand daddy) as some of you may know spans an extremely broad spectrum of advanced technology endeavors from all facets of exoteric & esoteric science, aviation, Bio-metrics, vaccines for Muslims, surveillance, computers, nanotechnology, satellites, weather manipulation, space, weapons & war machines, Virtual, electro-magnetics, brain tech, special meta materials manufacturing, maritime, cyber & social media influence/meme warfare to elaborate ARGs, everything & anything concerning National Security, you name it they have a stake in it, often clandestine like a double-edge sword and sometimes covertly funded via their many front companies & Orgs...and sometimes their tech advances are knowingly & unknowingly unleashed onto the sheeple consumer; for better or worse.

I mean what's not to like, LOL.



Starting off with their most recent R&D is The DARPA BRACE program aims to prolong the serviceability of DoD structures & airfield pavements by integrating a self-repair capability into existing concrete.

Quote:Concrete in Disrepair? DARPA May Help You BRACE It

BRACE program teams aim to introduce self-repair capabilities to defense concrete installations

Recent years have seen an emergence of so-called living materials, or materials that have the properties of living things. The DARPA Bio-inspired Restoration of Aged Concrete Edifices (BRACE) program aims to prolong the serviceability of Department of Defense structures and airfield pavements by integrating a self-repair capability into existing concrete. The central hypothesis of BRACE is that concrete can be infused with self-repair capabilities typically found in living organisms, drawing inspiration from vascular systems found in humans and vast networks of filamentous fungi that can span acres of land similar in scale to concrete buildings. Such systems could provide a network of transportation for healing within the depths of the material to repair cracks before they reach the surface and before they cause failure.

DARPA has selected program performers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Battelle Memorial Institute to meet program goals. Each performer has proposed unique approaches to provide concrete with a network of “vasculature” integrated within the depths of the material, which can be used not only for crack repair but also for diagnosing the root causes of deterioration before they result in catastrophic damage. All teams will work toward operationalizing the vasculature, which requires applying and maintaining its function, developing novel testbeds, and predicting long-term performance through modeling.


“More than ever, we are seeing how our ability to understand and engineer biology can be leveraged for applications far beyond human health and disease, especially in the field of materials science,” noted Dr. Matthew J. Pava, BRACE program manager. “BRACE will attempt to push the limits of what is possible for engineering biological technologies to safely function and preserve our legacy concrete, and in doing so, we likely will learn about new possibilities for engineering biology and materials that we have not yet conceived.”

The 4.5-year research effort includes a Strategic Track for long-term solutions geared towards big, heavy structures such as missile silos and naval piers, and a Tactical Track for improving rapid airfield damage repair in expeditionary settings.

“Although BRACE is initially focused on military use-cases, if successful, technologies developed on BRACE eventually could have general utility for the massive amount of concrete that exists in civil infrastructure such as roads, highways, bridges, and buildings,” added Pava.

BRACE performers will engage with U.S. government and defense stakeholders, as well as appropriate regulatory authorities. Safety is paramount, and all research will be subject to regular review by both an independent laboratory and regulatory agencies to ensure BRACE technologies do not pose a threat to human or structural health. In addition, teams are required to collaborate with ethical, legal, and societal implications experts and ensure the research addresses any related concerns. Performers will be required to conform to regulatory requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before any of their technologies are used outside of the controlled laboratory environment, such as on test structures in the field during the final phase of the program.

Quote:Riddle solved: Why was Roman concrete so durable?

An unexpected ancient manufacturing strategy may hold the key to designing concrete that lasts for millennia.

David L. Chandler | MIT News Office
Publication Date: January 6, 2023

The ancient Romans were masters of engineering, constructing vast networks of roads, aqueducts, ports, and massive buildings, whose remains have survived for two millennia. Many of these structures were built with concrete: Rome’s famed Pantheon, which has the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome and was dedicated in 128 C.E., is still intact, and some ancient Roman aqueducts still deliver water to Rome today. Meanwhile, many modern concrete structures have crumbled after a few decades.

Researchers have spent decades trying to figure out the secret of this ultradurable ancient construction material, particularly in structures that endured especially harsh conditions, such as docks, sewers, and seawalls, or those constructed in seismically active locations.

Now, a team of investigators from MIT, Harvard University, and laboratories in Italy and Switzerland, has made progress in this field, discovering ancient concrete-manufacturing strategies that incorporated several key self-healing functionalities. The findings are published today in the journal Science Advances, in a paper by MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering Admir Masic, former doctoral student Linda Seymour ’14, PhD ’21, and four others.

For many years, researchers have assumed that the key to the ancient concrete’s durability was based on one ingredient: pozzolanic material such as volcanic ash from the area of Pozzuoli, on the Bay of Naples. This specific kind of ash was even shipped all across the vast Roman empire to be used in construction, and was described as a key ingredient for concrete in accounts by architects and historians at the time.

Under closer examination, these ancient samples also contain small, distinctive, millimeter-scale bright white mineral features, which have been long recognized as a ubiquitous component of Roman concretes. These white chunks, often referred to as “lime clasts,” originate from lime, another key component of the ancient concrete mix. “Ever since I first began working with ancient Roman concrete, I’ve always been fascinated by these features,” says Masic. “These are not found in modern concrete formulations, so why are they present in these ancient materials?”

Previously disregarded as merely evidence of sloppy mixing practices, or poor-quality raw materials, the new study suggests that these tiny lime clasts gave the concrete a previously unrecognized self-healing capability. “The idea that the presence of these lime clasts was simply attributed to low quality control always bothered me,” says Masic. “If the Romans put so much effort into making an outstanding construction material, following all of the detailed recipes that had been optimized over the course of many centuries, why would they put so little effort into ensuring the production of a well-mixed final product? There has to be more to this story.”

Upon further characterization of these lime clasts, using high-resolution multiscale imaging and chemical mapping techniques pioneered in Masic’s research lab, the researchers gained new insights into the potential functionality of these lime clasts.

Historically, it had been assumed that when lime was incorporated into Roman concrete, it was first combined with water to form a highly reactive paste-like material, in a process known as slaking. But this process alone could not account for the presence of the lime clasts. Masic wondered: “Was it possible that the Romans might have actually directly used lime in its more reactive form, known as quicklime?”

Studying samples of this ancient concrete, he and his team determined that the white inclusions were, indeed, made out of various forms of calcium carbonate. And spectroscopic examination provided clues that these had been formed at extreme temperatures, as would be expected from the exothermic reaction produced by using quicklime instead of, or in addition to, the slaked lime in the mixture. Hot mixing, the team has now concluded, was actually the key to the super-durable nature.

“The benefits of hot mixing are twofold,” Masic says. “First, when the overall concrete is heated to high temperatures, it allows chemistries that are not possible if you only used slaked lime, producing high-temperature-associated compounds that would not otherwise form. Second, this increased temperature significantly reduces curing and setting times since all the reactions are accelerated, allowing for much faster construction.”

During the hot mixing process, the lime clasts develop a characteristically brittle nanoparticulate architecture, creating an easily fractured and reactive calcium source, which, as the team proposed, could provide a critical self-healing functionality. As soon as tiny cracks start to form within the concrete, they can preferentially travel through the high-surface-area lime clasts. This material can then react with water, creating a calcium-saturated solution, which can recrystallize as calcium carbonate and quickly fill the crack, or react with pozzolanic materials to further strengthen the composite material. These reactions take place spontaneously and therefore automatically heal the cracks before they spread. Previous support for this hypothesis was found through the examination of other Roman concrete samples that exhibited calcite-filled cracks.

To prove that this was indeed the mechanism responsible for the durability of the Roman concrete, the team produced samples of hot-mixed concrete that incorporated both ancient and modern formulations, deliberately cracked them, and then ran water through the cracks. Sure enough: Within two weeks the cracks had completely healed and the water could no longer flow. An identical chunk of concrete made without quicklime never healed, and the water just kept flowing through the sample. As a result of these successful tests, the team is working to commercialize this modified cement material.

“It’s exciting to think about how these more durable concrete formulations could expand not only the service life of these materials, but also how it could improve the durability of 3D-printed concrete formulations,” says Masic.

Through the extended functional lifespan and the development of lighter-weight concrete forms, he hopes that these efforts could help reduce the environmental impact of cement production, which currently accounts for about 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Along with other new formulations, such as concrete that can actually absorb carbon dioxide from the air, another current research focus of the Masic lab, these improvements could help to reduce concrete’s global climate impact.

The research team included Janille Maragh at MIT, Paolo Sabatini at DMAT in Italy, Michel Di Tommaso at the Instituto Meccanica dei Materiali in Switzerland, and James Weaver at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. The work was carried out with the assistance of the Archeological Museum of Priverno in Italy.

Quote:REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala., Sept. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Javelin™ Joint Venture team, a partnership of Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), successfully fired Javelin missiles from a Kongsberg remote launcher mounted on a Titan unmanned ground vehicle built by QinetiQ North America and Milrem Robotics. The demonstrations, conducted at the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center, Alabama, validated the integration of the weapon station, missile and vehicle.

Raytheon

I have some music I found on CD at a garage sale. It was Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, and they did the song "Dreadful Wind and Rain". I liked it, old timey country-folk type music and last night when it played on my computer on my media player that randomly selected it, I actually listened to the lyrics.

Man, what a messed up story in this ballad. It has a very long history going back to the mid 1600s in Northern Europe and has a number of versions. Jerry Garcia, Billy Strings and a lot of bands have played versions of this song, but those two guys do probably the most common version. Two other versions are known as "Twa Sisters" or "The Two Sisters" and also "The Cruel Sister". They are quite different but definitely the same story.

Here is a summary from Wikipedia . . .

Quote:Two sisters go down by a body of water, sometimes a river and sometimes the sea. The older one pushes the younger in and refuses to pull her out again; generally the lyrics explicitly state her intent to drown her younger sister. Her motive, when included in the lyrics, is sexual jealousy – in some variants, the sisters are being two-timed by a suitor; in others, the elder sister's affections are not encouraged by the young man. In a few versions, a third sister is mentioned, but plays no significant role in events. In most versions, the older sister is described as dark, while the younger sister is fair.

When the murdered girl's body floats ashore, someone makes a musical instrument out of it, generally a harp or a fiddle, with a frame of bone and the girl's "long yellow hair" (or "golden hair") for strings. The instrument then plays itself and sings about the murder. In some versions, this occurs after the musician has taken it to the family's household, so that the elder sister is publicly revealed (sometimes at her wedding to the murdered girl's suitor) as the murderess.

The variant titled "The Two Sisters" typically omits the haunted instrument entirely, ending instead with an unrelated person (often a miller) robbing the murdered girl's corpse, sometimes being executed for it, and the elder sister sometimes going unpunished, or sometimes boiled in lead.

I will post this for those who listen to audio books. The Author Dean M. Cole and read by R.C. Bray is quite good IMO at weaving a story ... A little to much touchy feely in some cases but still a good listen.https://youtu.be/0HaVECRtUQ0  Bad space aliens show up and do some serious Earth butt kicking until .....

The cost of this stuff is unbelievable IMO. They are talking about only 200 6th generation fighters as the cost (like the F-22 before it) is prohibitive expensive. Presently we have less than 180 F-22s flyable..

Loyal wing man drones and a bunch of new weapons etc etc are supposedly the add-ons for the 6th generation fighters... If I were an adversary of the USA and had the missile technology that even junk countries like N. Korea seems to have these days I would hit the bases where any of these supposedly game changing weapons are stored. I am still of the belief that quantity has has its own quality when fighting a war even though the machine gun stopped the human wave attacks that some countries tried to use...

"The Space Traders" (1992) by Derrick Bell (credited with the development of critical race theory) about aliens coming specifically to America & wanting to trade gold & renewable energy tech for... black Americans and of course the country does it. Great story. You might be familiar with this story, but back in the 90's I was off-world and missed alot for reasons, but that is another story. Off we go...

It begins as alien ships unexpectedly arrive on earth. The aliens have a proposition for the United States.

Their offer:

Quote:Those mammoth vessels carried within their holds treasure of which the United States was in most desperate need: gold, to bail out the almost bankrupt federal, state, and local governments; special chemicals capable of unpolluting the environment, which was becoming daily more toxic, and restoring it to the pristine state it had been before Western explorers set foot on it; and a totally safe nuclear engine and fuel, to relieve the nation's all-but-depleted supply of fossil fuel. In return, the visitors wanted only one thing-and that was to take back to their home star all the African Americans who lived in the United States.

The jaw of every one of the welcoming officials dropped, not a word of the many speeches they had prepared suitable for the occasion. As the Americans stood in stupefied silence, the visitors' leaded emphasized that the proposed trade was for the Americans freely to accept or not, that no force would be used. Neither then nor subsequently did the leader or any other of the visitors, whom anchorpersons on that evening's news shows immediately labeled the "Space Traders," reveal why they wanted only black people or what plans they had for them should the United States be prepared to part with that or any other group of its citizens.

The leader only reiterated to his still-dumbfounded audience that, in exchange for the treasure they had brought, they wanted to take away every American categorized as black on birth certificate or other official identification. The Space Traders said they would wait sixteen days for a response to their offer. That is, on 17 January-the day when in that year the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., was to be observed-they would depart carrying with them every black man, woman, and child in the nation and
leave behind untold treasure. Otherwise, the Space Traders' leader shrugged and glanced around-at the oil slick in the water, at the dead gulls on t he beach, at the thick shadow of smog that obscured the sky on all but the windiest days. Then the visitors walked back over the waves back over the waves and returned to their ships.

Quote:A science fiction anthology series that aired on HBO. It was hosted by Parliament lead singer George Clinton. It also starred Casey Kasem, Robert Guillaume, and Anthony Anderson.

In the tradition of The Twilight Zone, this bizarre, thought-provoking trilogy addresses the destiny of the world's minorities: Part I: A conservative African American politician must choose between his people's survival and appeasing his white colleagues when space aliens propose to share their profound knowledge in exchange for all black people on earth. Part II: The Virgin Mary's appearance in an inner-city housing project forces a Hispanic priest to face the hidden cultural origins of Western religion. Part III: On the dawn of the "Black Revolution," an African American couple discovers who the "real" enemy is.
Cosmic Slop

Just caught this on the local Fox network yesterday. The governor is putting up our tax money to fund this plant and according to Tudor Dixon, the CCP are involved as well as Ferris State University in Big Rapids. I saw a rebuttal from the township on a 9&10 report. They dismissed a couple of Dixon's claims, but never addressed the CCP being here in Michigan.

Quote:Outrage brewing over plans for China-linked battery company in Michigan: 'Don’t want CCP in our small town'

Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon blasted Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Wednesday for moving forward with plans to allow $715 million dollars of taxpayer money to fund a Chinese Communist Party-linked business in the state. Gotion High tech-Co., a battery company based in Hefei, China, announced its plans last year for a roughly $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Big Rapids, Mich. that would bring an estimated 2,350 jobs to the state, according to a press release from Whitmer’s office. Dixon, however, said a CCP-linked business shouldn’t be allowed to operate in the state and called out Whitmer for allowing the company to come to Michigan.

Many will think the title is a little "out there" yet some of the latest genetic research tends to point that any certain ethically/genetic targeted group can be targeted and done away. The Chinese have the largest data bank on genetic heritage for humans/Americans in the world.. Whatever you want to believe this is interesting IMO.

I know there are some people really into this sort of stuff with regards to out of body experiences and the possibility of a holographic universe so I will post this for them. I am a left hemisphere type person so if I can not touch it, use it in a meaningful way I usually do not devote the time or thoughts into such an endeavor...Maybe my loss but it has served me well in this life IMO.

I do not know about you Guys and Gals but over the last two years every time I hear something about Hunter I ask myself why has there not been serious action heaped upon his head for all the various crimes he has been accused of. Now someone else who has dirt on the Bidens has been arrested and claims his arrest is nothing more than a means to shut him up...?? Wonder when the cameras will malfunction in prison with this case ?