Our Top 10 Dave Clark Five Songs list examines some of the best music the band released during their decade-long run in the 1960s. The Dave Clark Five originated in the London Borough of Haringey in England. The group was first formed in 1957. Like The Beatles‚ The Rolling Stones‚ and many other bands hailing from the United Kingdom‚ The Dave Clark Five released different versions of their albums on both sides of the Atlantic. The same also went for their singles release schedules. In the end‚ as fans‚ we are left with a tremendous body of work often overlooked The post Top 10 Dave Clark Five Songs appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

It's no secret that some of the most important keys to our past are buried under the dirt‚ or hidden in a room somewhere waiting to be found. Sometimes these discoveries lead to more questions. Who built the pyramids? How do we get in the hidden room? Other times‚ we're provided with incredible answers that open our eyes about where we came from and where we might be going. These are the greatest... Source

So you’ve had a “fender bender” in your plane and are in need of some wings. What do you do?  You could rent a plane from the local flight school. But at a cost of $155 per hour (whether the propeller is turning or not) that is simply not practical. Can you borrow a plane? Perhaps‚ but after someone learns why your plane is in the shop they might not be so keen on handing over the keys to their bird. You could bum rides from friends. Sure‚ but they may not stay friends for long. Or you could give up flying until your plane is repaired and use the time to work on your golf game. Never! That leaves just one option: Buy a second plane. The challenge is that planes are notoriously poor investments—in most cases they are either way overpriced or in such poor condition that the cost of making them airworthy makes them unaffordable. Finding a plane you can both afford and actually fly as soon as you’re handed the keys takes some luck‚ and a strategy.  I wanted a basic machine‚ nothing fancy—a simple Cessna or Piper—something for day trips to the islands or Cape. It didn’t need to go fast. It didn’t need to be all-weather. It just needed to be reliable. So my search began where all searches begin: the internet. But like all internet searches‚ frustration quickly set in. My search ran up against the reality that lots of people are looking for the same plane‚ particularly flight schools and new owners. Such planes‚ being in high demand‚ command a hefty premium in price. Not only that‚ but such planes also tend to be very high time (read: worn out)‚ and thus more trouble than they’re worth. I needed to change my approach. After a couple of dead ends‚ I found an area of aviation where one can still find a simple‚ affordable aircraft: Vintage planes. The plane I generally fly is 60 years old‚ so by vintage I mean planes that are really old‚ almost antique. These are planes built not long after the dawn of aviation; planes that are covered in cloth rather than metal; planes manufactured by companies long out of business…the Taylorcrafts‚ the Luscombes‚ the Aeroncas‚ the Stinsons and the Swifts.  And what I landed upon surprised me: the Ercoupe‚ a twin-tail‚ tricycle gear‚ metal and cloth hybrid that was way ahead of its time when it was designed in the mid-1930s. Back then‚ the Ercoupe seemed poised to do for aviation what the Model T did for the automobile.  An Ercoupe was photographed outside the ERCO factory in 1946. In 1935‚ less than a decade after Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis‚ aviation had—to use a bad pun—taken off. Airline traffic in the United States was doubling every year‚ carrying more than 900‚000 passengers (compared to more than 853 million passengers per year today). Each year saw a proliferation of new airlines‚ new airplane manufacturers‚ new records being made or broken and exploding interest in aviation.  In all this heady optimism‚ the Department of Commerce sought to bring airplane ownership within reach of ordinary citizens. Under the auspices of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)‚ the forerunner of NASA‚ it challenged engineers to develop a machine that inexperienced pilots could operate‚ at a price much less than conventional airplanes. From this emerged the Ercoupe‚ a name derived by the name of the company that produced it‚ Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO). Designed by legendary aeronautical engineer Fred Weick‚ the Ercoupe incorporated a number of features that made the plane simpler and safer to fly. This included tricycle landing gear‚ which made the plane much easier to take off and land than its tail-dragging cousins. The plane’s twin tails were designed to be outside the propeller wash‚ which alleviated unwanted yaw movements on takeoff and at slow speeds. The bubble canopy gave the pilot unmatched visibility. The fuel-air mixture was fixed‚ so there was no mixture control. There were no flaps. Elevator deflection was limited‚ making stalls nearly impossible. And‚ most importantly‚ the plane’s flight controls were integrated—the rudders were linked to the ailerons. That meant no rudder pedals‚ which also meant all turns were coordinated. Because of this‚ the Ercoupe was the first plane to be certified as “characteristically incapable of spinning‚” and every plane has a placard on the control panel stating as much. On the ground‚ the nose-wheel was also linked to the control yoke‚ so the plane steered like a car.     A line of Ercoupes at various stages of assembly at the ERCO factory in 1946. ERCO marketed the Ercoupe as “the world’s safest plane‚” one as easy to operate as the family car. In 1945‚ the sticker price was $2‚665. A Buick sedan‚ by comparison‚ sold for $1995. In another first‚ you could buy an Ercoupe in a department store. Macy’s took out a full-page ad in The New York Times in 1945 to herald the opening of its airplane department. At Hamburger’s in Newark‚ New Jersey‚ elevator operators hollered‚ “Sixth floor‚ airplanes!” Aviation was going retail. But the dream of “an airplane in every garage” never materialized. Though safer and easier to fly than conventional planes‚ the reality is that the Ercoupe still requires airmanship—not to mention a license—to fly. And that includes knowledge of weather‚ aviation regulations‚ navigation and aeronautics. The average American wasn’t quite ready for this. Sales stalled. In 1950‚ ERCO sold the rights to the Ercoupe to the Forney Aircraft Company. Fred Weick moved on to Piper Aircraft‚ where he later designed the venerable Piper Cherokee‚ one of the most popular airplanes of all time. A succession of companies made Ercoupes up until 1967—a total of 5‚685 in all—an exceptionally long run for a general aviation aircraft. Of those‚ more than 2‚000 are estimated to still be flying.  A well-maintained Ercoupe still costs less than a compact sedan. The plane I found was born in 1946. When I first laid eyes on it‚ I thought it looked like an MG with wings. It was painted in the silver-and-yellow WWII Army Air Corps trainer scheme. Very sharp. My Ercoupe shows off its twin tail–and its faux military coloiring. Thing is‚ the only Ercoupes to actually serve in the military were a pair bought by the Army in 1941 that were evaluated for use in observation and later used as target drones. The government used another Ercoupe to test jet-assisted take-off (JATO)‚ in which a short-burst rocket was strapped to the fuselage for a high-powered take-off. So the plane’s military paint scheme was a bit of a fraud‚ but that’s okay because—having never served in the military—so am I. After getting it home‚ I placed a series of mosquito stickers along the side of the plane that attest to my “confirmed kills.”  The author shows off his “kills.” The man who sold it to me is a Navy veteran and retired Boeing 747 captain. He told me Pan Am used the Ercoupe to train its early crews in how to land in a crab. The conventional technique of banking the plane and applying opposite rudder to stay on the runway centerline wouldn’t work with the giant 747 because the outboard engines could scrape the pavement if the wings weren’t level. “The technique was to fly in the crab‚ and at 50 feet above the runway the flight engineer would call ‘50 feet’ reading the radar altimeter and the pilot would bring the nose around with rudder to straighten it out and reduce side loads on the main gear‚” he told me. “Worked well! Thank you Ercoupe for the help!” My insurance company required me to get an instructor’s sign-off before covering me for solo flight. My instructor‚ a young guy who flies for a major airline‚ had never heard of an Ercoupe. When I told him it had no rudder pedals‚ he sounded perplexed. “How do you land it?” he asked. “We’ll figure it out‚” I said.  The plane‚ we discovered‚ is an absolute cinch to fly. Flip the battery switch‚ turn on the magnetos and just pull the starter. With the carburetor wired‚ there’s no fuel mixture to adjust. Gas from the plane’s two wing tanks is gravity fed to the engine‚ so there’s no tank selector. Just “drive” the plane out to the runway‚ line it up‚ push in the throttle and when the plane hits 65 miles per hour lift it off the runway.  You’re not going to go very far or go very fast with a cruising speed of around 95 miles per hour. And if there’s a stiff headwind you may find that cars on the highway below are passing you. But with the windows down and the wind in your hair you get the feeling that this is the way flying was meant to be…that “slipped the surly bonds of earth” sort of thing. More than anything‚ it is just fun. Want to check out some basic aeronautics? Stick your arm out the window and hold it in the wind. Watch the nose drop and the plane begin to turn (this is actually an approved technique for making a rapid descent). Put the plane into a steep turn and you’ll get the feeling there’s nothing between you and the ground. Circle over Gillette Stadium and it will be like you’re on a string spinning over it.  But the best part of it is bringing it home. Given all my experience and training‚ I thought that landing sideways onto the runway would make for a hair-raising‚ jarring arrival. Not so. The trailing-link gear gently cushions the landing and the plane naturally pivots in the direction of flight‚ straightening out for a smooth‚ effortless landing.  “How can you tell when you’re on the ground?” my brother asked when I took him up for a flight.  I wish all my landings could be like that. Tom LeCompte is a freelance writer‚ airplane owner and longtime pilot based south of Boston. When not writing or researching stories‚ he’s airborne somewhere. This article originally appeared on his blog‚ nineronepop.blogspot.com.

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The smallest human-like robot ever to exist has been created by a group of four teenagers in Hong Kong. Measuring just 14.1 centimeters (5.55 inches) in height‚ the tiny gizmo is 11.3 millimeters (0.44 inches) shorter than the previous world record holder‚ which was built by Zain Ahmad Qureshi from Pakistan in 2022.Verified by Guinness World Records (GWR)‚ the miniature robot was designed and assembled by Aaron Ho Yat Fung‚ Isaac Zachary To‚ Justin Wang Tou Duong‚ and Ngo Hei Leung‚ all of whom attend Hong Kong’s Diocesan Boys’ School (DBS). In order to satisfy the requirements for the record‚ the robot had to be able to walk on two feet and rotate its shoulders‚ elbows‚ hips‚ and knees.After designing the wee gadget using software provided by the school’s robotics lab‚ the boys then made the acrylic body panels and 3D-printed components. A factory was then contracted to produce a number of servo motors‚ which enable the robot to move its arms and legs.Speaking to GWR‚ team members explained that the contraption can walk‚ play soccer‚ dance‚ and even do kung-fu. Aside from the glory of entering the record books‚ the youngsters say their motivation for building the robot was to create a low-cost learning tool for use in STEAM (science‚ technology‚ engineering‚ arts‚ and mathematics) education.  By designing the device to be as small as possible‚ they say the costs of mass-production can be reduced‚ thus making the robot more affordable and accessible for underprivileged households. “We also plan to open-source the design and programming code to further our objectives of promoting STEAM education‚” said team member Isaac.The robot is powered by an onboard 7.4-volt lithium-ion battery and can be controlled remotely using an app or via buttons on a panel that sits on the humanoid’s back. Widely praised for their ingenious creation‚ the DBS Robotics Team join a growing list of youngsters to have hit the news in recent weeks for their scientific endeavors.In Canada‚ for instance‚ an eighth-grade student has received a raft of accolades after recreating a "death ray" that was originally designed by the Ancient Greek inventor Archimedes more than 2‚000 years ago. Over in Australia‚ meanwhile‚ an eight-year-old girl is currently authoring a scientific paper about magpies and their tendency to swoop on bald-headed men.

In eastern Java‚ Indonesia lies the Kawah Ijen volcano‚ which has become something of a tourist hotspot in recent years. This is because‚ at night‚ otherworldly blue lights appear on its darkened slopes. These ghostly pale fires are caused by the large amounts of sulfur deposits on the volcano’s surface. When the high temperatures from inside the volcano heat these sulfur deposits‚ they combust into blue flame.But as impressive and mysterious as these displays may be‚ they do conceal a darker aspect concerning this volcano‚ one related to the humans who mine its resources. These miners work in dangerous and precarious conditions to get at the sulfur‚ or what they call “Devil’s gold”.   Sulfur is an important natural resource and humans have been fascinated with it for centuries. Today‚ it is used in an array of products and industries across the world. We use it in our sugar‚ our matches‚ and our batteries‚ but sulfur’s various compounds are also integral to the production chemicals in fertilizers and medicines. It is also an essential ingredient in rubber products‚ fireworks‚ gunpowder and so on. And this is big business too. Compared to other jobs available on the island‚ sulfur mining pays pretty well‚ making it an appealing job for workers.However‚ it is also a very dangerous job; not only is it physically demanding‚ often requiring back-breaking efforts to mine‚ but it is also extremely toxic for the workers.The sulfur gas is extracted from inside the volcano by way of metal pipes that bleed it from the interior. Once on the surface‚ the gas condenses into a liquid and‚ as it cools‚ it hardens into yellow slabs that are then broken apart by hand and placed in wicker baskets. These baskets are then put either side of a pole and carried back up the face of the crater across the miner’s shoulders.Kawah Ijen is one of the last places on Earth where sulfur is mined in this way.Image credit: Jerome LABOUYRIE/Shutterstock.comAnyone who has done hard labor will know that carrying heavy loads like this over and over again can have severe implications for your health‚ but in this instance the miners are usually carrying loads that are heavier than they are (around 68-90 kilograms‚ or 150-200 pounds). As such‚ the gruelling and precarious journey back up the crater comes with a painful toll‚ giving most workers an average life expectancy that rarely exceed 50 years‚ as well as producing spinal injuries and disfigured backs.In addition to the challenges of carrying these yellow rocks is the fact that the air at the base of the crater is also filled with toxic sulfur dioxide fumes. In most instances the miners work without suitable protection‚ so they are breathing in this gas that burns their lungs and causes their eyes to constantly water. In high enough concentrations‚ sulfur dioxide can lead to respiratory problems and even acute pulmonary edema.The mining communities on Java are among the last on the planet. In most instances‚ sulfur is extracted from petroleum‚ natural gas‚ and other fossil resources (where it is obtained in the form of hydrogen sulfide). The sulfur industry is estimated to be worth about US$13 billion and is expected to grow in the coming years.Mined sulfur is not as pure as that refined through the above processes‚ so it does not fetch as much of a price either. But despite these issues‚ the industry on Java remains an important but treacherous option for those who cannot find work elsewhere.

In California’s share of the Mojave Desert‚ one of the sunniest places on Earth‚ the largest single solar and battery energy storage project in the world has just become fully operational: the Edwards &; Sanborn Solar and Energy Storage facility.Consisting of almost 2 million solar panels‚ the sprawling solar farm has 875 megawatts of capacity‚ the highest of any such facility in the US. Crucially‚ it also features 3‚287 megawatt-hours of energy storage that's enabled using over 120‚000 batteries. This storage allows the site to keep the flow of power going even during periods of high demand or no sunlight. The Edwards &; Sanborn Solar and Energy Storage facility covers 1‚886 total hectares (4‚660 total acres) of land‚ approximately one-third the size of Manhattan. To link up the whole system‚ engineers had to lay over 724 kilometers (450 miles) of wiring.To offer a taste of its vast scale‚ the Landsat-9 satellite captured an image of the site on January 12‚ 2024‚ just before its grand opening. Mortenson‚ a building and engineering service provider‚ started building the project at the start of 2021. It came online in February 2023 and became fully online in January 2024.When talking about its size and scale‚ it’s important to outline some definitions. The highest capacity solar farm in the world is the Golmud Solar Park in China‚ with an installed solar capacity of 2.8 gigawatts‚ closely followed by the Bhadla Solar Park in India‚ with a 2.7-gigawatt capacity. The Edwards Sanborn Solar and Energy Storage stands apart from these giants as it's the largest single solar and battery energy storage project‚ according to Mortenson. It recently swiped the title for the largest energy storage site from Vistra’s facility at Moss Landing‚ also in California.Solar power is set to become an increasingly important source of renewable energy that’s helping to wean the world off fossil fuels‚ by far the largest contributor to climate change. However‚ solar farm infrastructure does present its own challenges. Solar storage typically relies on lithium-ion batteries made of rare materials like lithium and cobalt. The mining of these metals can be very risky for the environment‚ putting local communities and ecosystems in danger. Soaking up the sun also requires a huge amount of infrastructure. The Mojave Desert has become swamped with solar farms in recent years‚ including the Riverside East Solar Energy Zone‚ which stretches for 60‚700 hectares (150‚000 acres)‚ 10 times the size of Manhattan.Along with angering Native American tribes‚ who have close spiritual ties to the land‚ the infrastructure development in the Mojave Desert has also dramatically upset the natural habitat of species like the flat-tailed horned toad and the desert tortoise.

One of humanity’s great coming-of-age moments was the realization that the Sun is a star‚ falling somewhat unexceptionally within the range of those we see; made special only by our relationship to it. However‚ stars are not clones of each other. So do all other stars count as suns? Do any? If only some do‚ which ones? There are no universally accepted answers‚ but we can explore.As with so many things‚ astronomical categories seemed so easy before we learned more about them. There was THE Sun‚ THE Moon‚ five planets‚ and thousands of stars. We had to make up stories to explain what they were‚ but it wasn’t hard working out which category something fell into.What is a sun?Then things got messy‚ as anyone bruised by Pluto’s deplanetation can tell you. New categories like asteroid and dwarf planet were created and not everything fitted neatly. Objects circling other planets got called moons‚ rather than having a new term created‚ although we do also use “satellite”. Our own moon may still be The Moon to us‚ but some quite insignificant chunks of rock and ice orbiting the gas giants get rated moons as well. Only when we learned of objects with a more casual association with their planets did we create a new category‚ quasimoon.As we started to learn the scale of the universe and grasp the nature of stars‚ it became clear that the Sun clearly belongs in that stellar category. It’s not typical exactly – there are far cooler and less massive stars than there are ones of the Sun’s brightness or greater‚ but if there’s anything truly exceptional about it‚ we have yet to discover it.Most categories are made up by humans to make it easier for us to understand an essentially fuzzy universe‚ rather than being surrounded by immutable boundaries. So if we had wanted to‚ we could have all agreed that “The Sun” was a specific name for the star Earth orbits‚ not to refer to any other body. Some people do believe this. Website Little Astronomy states: “Using the term sun to refer to any other star is incorrect. Sun is not a synonym for star.”However‚ language changes with usage. The use of “Sun” to describe stars very like our own is now so widespread that those clinging to the belief that the word Sun should be reserved for one star only are the minority. Stars that are reasonably Sun-like are often referred to as other suns. As one example among many‚ when people refer to a famous scene in the original Star Wars‚ they talk of the setting of Tatooine’s “twin suns”.If you’d prefer the word of authority in a case like this‚ rather than democracy‚ consider NASA’s children’s website: “Many other solar systems have multiple suns…” Which stars count?Some stars being suns doesn’t mean they all are.The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers “A celestial body like the sun; star” as one acceptable definition. Note the “like the sun” part. There’s no official designation of how Sun-like a star needs to be to be called a sun‚ instead‚ it’s a matter of the way speech has evolved. Many science fiction books have been set on planets orbiting Tau Ceti‚ the most similar star to the Sun in our near vicinity. These often refer to it as a sun. Few scientists would argue. On the other hand‚ it’s unlikely anyone would call a white dwarf‚ a dead star radiating its remnant heat but no longer undergoing fusion‚ a sun. Likewise for a neutron star. Then again‚ if that’s what you want to do‚ no one has the right to stop you.In general‚ however‚ stars only get referred to as suns if they have at least two characteristics: they’re still fusing elements‚ releasing heat in the process‚ and they are orbited by planets.Just meeting those criteria‚ however‚ doesn’t mean everyone will welcome a star into the club.Brown dwarfs‚ for example‚ are not massive enough to join the main sequence by fusing ordinary hydrogen. They still (barely) qualify as stars because they fuse deuterium‚ which requires less pressure. However‚ deuterium is so rare stars that like this don’t do very good Sun impersonations. Stars that have only gas giants orbiting them‚ rather than planets astronauts might one day stand on‚ are also less likely to be looked upon as suns. Part of the usage seems to be to imagine aliens or future colonists getting to watch sunrises and sunsets. Starsets just sounds wrong.Other people would be more restrictive. Red dwarfs (M-type stars) are definitely stars‚ and we know many of them have orbiting planets with physical characteristics similar to Earth. Yet they’re not all that Sun-like. We’re still not sure if it is possible for life to exist in their vicinity. Planets need to huddle very close to be warm enough to such faint stars for liquid water to be present‚ but at such close ranges may have their atmospheres stripped by the frequent flares. Given all that‚ many would question calling them suns.It's up to youUltimately‚ this is a case where people make the rules‚ and on the assumption that all our readers are people‚ we say it’s up to you. If you want to consider there to be only one sun‚ that’s your right. The same if you want to call even white dwarfs suns‚ but in either case you’d be very much an outlier. Feel free to stand strong in your convictions‚ but don’t expect many allies. As to whether some modestly Sun-like stars deserve the name – use at your discretion.