Smartphone Domino Machine
Monthly Archives: April 2010
It's Not Really an Ant
APOD: 2010 April 25 The Ant Nebula
I will say this: I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords. Because there’s no chance a phrase from The Simpsons could ever become hackneyed.
Who's Got the Juice?
Compare the population density of the world, with the nighttime image, which should be some kind of proxy of electric power availability.
In most places, there is a reasonable correlation with high population density giving you bright lights. In some places, like the US, even low population density is noticeably lit up. Now take a peek at Nepal and Bangladesh, just above India. That’s scary to me; all those people living in close proximity without access to modern “conveniences.” Scary in a different way is central China, because one might suspect that electrification is going to be expanding there soon, with all the implications to carbon being dumped into the atmosphere.
Parity Transformation
“Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black”
Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.
Just Add Wally
Scott Adams Blog: That Lost 4G Phone
Take a moment to marvel at the fact that I didn’t need to add anything to the story as it has been told in the media. All it really needed was Wally.
The Eyes Have It
The retina is at the rear of the eye and includes the light-sensing cells called photoreceptors. But across most of the retina, the photoreceptors are obscured behind three or four coats of additional retinal cells–networked neurons–and a carpet of cellular cables to the brain. Apparently, the retina processes an image by blurring it first. Biologists reference this odd “design” to illustrate that nature’s creations are not all so “intelligent.” Vision scientists have just tried to make sense of how it works as well as it does.
Here Comes the Sun
These are more than alright.
Stunning new images of the sun (photos)
While many people celebrated Earth Day on Thursday, NASA had its eye on the sun.
The space agency released stunning new images of the sun that have been sent back by its Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which was launched into space on February 11.
The Fascinating Forbidden Closet of Mysteries
Secret play room uses armoire as hidden doorway
Cool. Next time I’m home I’ll have to remember to document and post the secret compartments my dad built into the house; he converted our attic into a bedroom, and the crawl spaces have a secret door.
Double the Freedom
The Burger Lab: Why Double Fry French Fries?
Now this is food science.
Eight years ago my mother sent me a fancy set of calipers in a vain attempt to draw me out of the dark depths of the restaurant kitchens and back to a much more sensible career like mechanical engineering or gunsmithing. Who knew that their inaugural run would be on a couple of potatoes?
Well mom, your gift has finally paid off.