Links for 28-11-2006
Caffeine abuse, image macros, artificial skyfish, radical transparency, creationism in the UK, the French love Linux, adult friends of Lego…
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“Use of caffeine as a stimulant is becoming a problem among U.S. young people who can’t get enough of it…” Hah! Pussies … they just can’t handle the hard stuff.
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“the picture is funny BECAUSE IT HAS LETTERS ON IT”
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“As the tools of production and distribution are democratized, institutions lose power and individuals gain it. As the Web becomes the greatest word-of-mouth amplifier in history, consumers learn to trust peers more and companies less.”
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“This page attempts to list time-specific historical predictions (or prophecy) by claimed prophets or leaders within various churches and sects who identify themselves as Christian, but whose predictions failed to happen.” Cheers, Huge Entity.
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“In cryptozoology, a skyfish, or “rod”, is a supposed atmospheric entity that travels too fast to be seen by the unaided eye.” If we can imagine them, maybe we can build them too.
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“It has been called the invention that will bring down global capitalism, start a second industrial revolution and save the environment – and it might just put Santa out of a job too.” Teh Grauniad discovers the RepRap project.
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“Humpback whales have a type of brain cell seen only in humans, the great apes, and other cetaceans such as dolphins, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.”
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“Can we expect to find gas giants mixed with small terrestrial worlds around most Sun-like stars? And what about the smaller and far fainter red dwarfs?” Centauri Dreams thinking aloud about terrestrial exoplanets.
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“Some 2.4 billion years ago [...] cosmic rays started pouring onto our planet, causing instability within the living. Populations of bacteria and algae repeatedly soared and crashed in the oceans.”
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“The ability to analyse single dopant atoms could help engineers squeeze further power out conventional computer systems, say the researchers.”
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“Chemistry teacher at Liverpool [UK]‘s Blue Coat School, Nick Cowan, says the packs promoting intelligent design are useful in debating Darwinist evolution.” That’s a slippery slope, right there.
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12 – Steam moped“My SteamPed started life as a Motobecane Moped which I obtained in a non running condition but with all the parts intact. I eventually want to build a steam car and decided this would be a good way to get my feet “dry” with steam land vehicles…”
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“The Ministry of the Environment Government of Japan has a guide (PDF) on using cloth as opposed to paper for wrapping gifts to cut down on the wasted paper usually used in gift wrap…” Nice.
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“It’s an impressive game, simulating weaponry the military is actually using or building, gamers say. But the gameplay is designed so it’s hard to lose: The equipment holds up awfully well and the enemy doesn’t learn from experience.”
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“France’s gendarmes and Ministry of Culture and Communication have done it, and now members of the country’s parliament are about to switch to open source.” Vive la difference!
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“Driving at nearly the speed of light? Impossible in real life, but feasible in a computer simulation: A tour through the city centre of Tübingen illustrates what we should see when moving at such a high speed.” Video relativity metaphor.
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“As in previous stories, there’s the claim that WiFi hasn’t yet been proven safe. Of course, it hasn’t yet been proven unsafe beyond this type of anecdotal evidence, either.” Today’s slice of technophobia.
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“Bush Goes to Indonesia. Black Magic ensues.” Has Dubya been cursed?
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“…an independent review is to recommend the terms are not extended, a well-placed government source has said.” A triumph for common sense and fair use! w00t!
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“When I started to make a list of all the promotional efforts I’ve made in the past year, I started to feel — well, a little embarrassed. To an outsider, it must look like I do nothing all day but come up with ways to move copies of Infoquake.”
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“They can re-create the Seven Wonders of the World in a literal snap. But now they huddle in their model shop of Legoland California and contemplate the seemingly impossible: How in the rectangular heck do you give a Lego bride a Lego bosom?”
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“Bob has actually fallen into James Bond’s shoes and isn’t filling them terribly well. He’s not even filling his tux terribly well. In fact, he does not know how to do up a bow tie.”
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“Experts from London’s Metropolitan Police’s Homicide Prevention Unit are creating psychological profiles of likely offenders which will enable them to predict future patterns of behaviour.” Once again, life imitating PKD.
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“For the first time researchers have been able to induce the growth of replacement teeth in mammals. Unlike other vertebrates, mammals normally lose the ability after they replace their milk teeth in infancy.” I hate dentists, you know.
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“Some 43% of Britons who watch video from the internet or on a mobile device at least once a week said they watched less normal TV as a result.” We can hope they respond by improving the programming.
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26 – Outer Space Exposure“When the human body is suddenly exposed to the vacuum of space, a number of injuries begin to occur immediately. Though they are relatively minor at first, they accumulate rapidly into a life-threatening combination.”
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“You can customize your warning label with all sorts of dire admonishments, in addition to a wide selection of cautionary stick figures.” A must for fellow fans of hazard symbols – or the easily amused.
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“It’s a big day for Moore’s Law. I’m not sure anyone else has noticed this, but by my calculations we have in the past few months reached the penny-per-MIPS* milestone.”
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“…anime and manga will do for the visual culture of this century what African-American music did for the musical culture of the last century: Provide idioms that are adopted everywhere and adapted for local use. I’ve now added graffiti to the list…”
Tags: links
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