An annual food festival in Hawaii features an unlikely star – Spam wonderful Spam.
Spam Jam, which took place near Waikiki beach, saw local restaurants serve creative variations of canned-meat dishes to a crowd of nearly 25,000.
Last year the festival raised nearly $25,000 dollars in donations for local charities. Hawaii consumes more Spam than any other state in the nation.
Internet power demand warning
Britain’s internet demand is expanding at such a rate that it could consume the nation’s entire power supply by 2035, an expert has warned.
Andrew Ellis, professor of optical communications at Aston University, said the success of video-streaming websites such as YouTube and Netflix along with new innovations meant optical fibres could reach their limit within eight years.
Prof. Ellis said rationing internet use or charging more so that more cables can be installed may need to be considered, as experts prepare to meet at London’s Royal Society later this month to discuss what can be done to avert a web crisis.
Star trekking at Space Station
Space station astronauts have finally hit the big time, at least when it comes to the big screen.
Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly told the Associated Press that he and the rest of the crew are enjoying the 65-inch projection screen that was delivered to the International Space Station nearly two weeks ago. The rolled-up screen came up on a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Kelly said the screen is useful for work as well as entertainment. Last weekend, for instance, the crew used it to watch the space film Gravity. Until the projection screen arrived, astronauts had been stuck using their laptops for video conferences, training sessions and films.
The Texas manufacturer, Screen Innovations, calls it the Viewscreen, the same name used by the fictional Star Trek crew.
Chinese claim to be fastest builders
A Chinese construction company is claiming to be the world’s fastest builder after erecting a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 working days in central China.
The Broad Sustainable Building Company put up the rectangular, glass-and-steel Mini Sky City in the Hunan provincial capital of Changsha using a modular method, assembling three floors per day, company vice president Xiao Changgeng said.
The company, which has ambitions to assemble the world’s tallest skyscraper at 220 floors in only three months, worked on Mini Sky City in two spurts separated by winter weather. Its time-lapse video of the rapid assembly has become popular on Chinese video-sharing sites since it was first uploaded on YouTube.
Life on Mars in a corner of Utah
Scientists and engineers have been coming to a rocky corner of Utah for more than a decade to run imaginary missions to Mars.
The research centre near Hanksville is run by the non-profit Mars Society. The group is not affiliated with Nasa or the federal government.
More than 900 people have participated in simulated missions since the site opened in 2002. They hope the research will help put humans on the red planet.