Pick a lock. For fun. (It’s legal too)
The quick answer is no, we are not safe. The lockpicking community has managed to “tear down,” as they say, every single lock it has gotten its hands on except one, the Finnish Abloy Protec. And yeah, they are working hard on that one.
So now that we have you alarmed, the good news, sort of. Bad people trying to break into your home don’t pick locks. They break them, or break windows, or come in some other way.
“Jet Man” Yves Rossy Crosses English Channel Like a Human Rocket
Yves Rossy, aka Jet Man, zoomed into the record books this morning, flying across the English Channel strapped to a single jet-powered wing, with only a helmet and flight suit for protection.
No mention of whether he was able to catch the roadrunner.
As energy prices soar and consumers turn to the Sun for their power, opportunistic thieves are cashing in on the new market by dismantling and reselling solar panels.
“I wouldn’t say it’s pervasive, but it’s going on,” California Solar Energy Industries Association executive director Sue Kateley told the Contra Costa Times in August. According to UK paper the Guardian a rash of thefts in California has led one wag to coin the term ‘grand theft solar’
Advertisement. You are receiving this e-mail because you have identified yourself as a Ravens fan via the NFL through a promotion, subscription, purchase, etc.
When the hell did I identify myself as a Ravens fan?
DOLPHINS! (Say, how are things up in New England these days? Having fun?)
But still pretty neat. A 15+ minute video of someone making vacuum tubes by hand.
Oregon State 27, USC 21 (USC being ranked #1 going into the game)
Way to go, Beavers! (Of course, they couldn’t do this sort of thing when I was there; they were busy having something like 30 straight losing seasons)
For vision, at least. Spacing, Not Size, Matters in Visual Recognition, NYU Researchers Find
New York University neuroscientists have concluded that it’s the spacing between letters, not their size, that matters. In general, objects, such as letters, can be recognized only if they are separated by enough space, the “critical spacing.” Objects closer than that spacing are “crowded” and cannot be identified. A broad review of this crowding phenomenon, appearing in the latest issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, shows that this critical spacing is the same for all objects, including letters, animals, and furniture.
No mention if the Rayleigh criterion is responsible for this.
Dance of the Spirits — The beautiful Aurora Borealis
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.
Intro to The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service
Huge blogroll of women blogging on science and technology at Sciencewoman. Via sciencegeekgirl