Con-artist tricks, natural nuclear reactors, brand reputations, exoskeleton suit …

• 1 – The art of the con
  Metafilter rounds up the arts of the con-man.
  (tags: hack culture jargon speech language illusion tricks confidence scams)
• 2 – Why I Write
  Alma Alexander manages to be simultaneously very encouraging and hope-shattering all at once.
  (tags: professional encouragement author advice stories literature books writing)
• 3 – Nature’s Nuclear Reactors
  Damn Interesting has the lowdown on the natural yellowcake reactors that were found in West Africa.
  (tags: Uranium Africa West reactors nuclear natural science)
• 4 – UC Joins Google Library Project
  University of California opens up its academic libraries to be scanned, and lawsuits be damned.
  (tags: University California project library universal controversy property intellectual scanning books copyright Google)
• 5 – Why Sustainability, not Terrorism, Should Be Our Real Security Focus.
  More words of wisdom from Worldchanging. By encouraging fear of terrorism, our governments have handed terrorists the exact victory they desired, while the environment dies around us.
  (tags: politics investment future economics technology sustainability security terrorism)
• 6 – Kodak pianos? Buick aspirin?
  Research indicates that big brand names ‘have their reputation damaged’ by other products with the same name, no matter how unconnected they are. A million lawyers grin in glee…
  (tags: consumer confusion product damage reputation research marketing brand)
• 7 – More problems for Coke and Pepsi in India
  …and more big-brand grief. One Indian state has banned sales and production of all their products forthwith. Seems the Indian gov’t aren’t keen on their voters drinking pesticides.
  (tags: sales production banned Pepsi Coke India Kerala marketing brand)
• 8 – Twin-mirror laser-weapon relay hits the spot
  USAF haven’t given up on the ’star wars’ dreams of the Reagan era – the technology is pretty cool, but somehow I think ‘missile defense’ is not the only phrase on the whiteboard here.
  (tags: technology space defense destruction missile line-of-sight redirection relay mirror twin weapon laser military)
• 9 – Robot suit helps quadriplegic scale mountain
  Does what it says on the tin…paralysed dude gets carried up an alp by another dude kitted out with an exoskeleton power-suit. Those ‘lifters’ from Aliens suddenly seem a lot closer, no?
  (tags: paralysis ascent mountain boost strength exoskeleton HAL suit robot technology)
• 10 – Ball-bot
  A bot with no wheels or legs – it moves its columnar body around on a single ball. Clever and cool-looking at once.
  (tags: robotics technology dimensions human project engineering stable dynamically locomotion ballbot robot)