I sooooo wish I could embed this video of Kiki Sanford moving cereal flakes with a magnet to demonstrate their high iron content. She later extracts the iron dust from the cereal as well. Curse your restrictive embedding Wordpress!
A Solar House that Heats and Cools Without Electricity isn’t news, except this one is 40-Years-Old (HT Clint).
Blackwater isn’t so bad, recently the security-training firm built a 120-foot wind turbine at their facility.
You’re 400 km above the Earth, your ride home was canceled due to a faulty fuel guage, and your mother dies. Astronaut Dan Tani is having a rough time for the holidays.
An important argument for speeding up the adoption process has been given scientific support, as children raised in orphanages as have lower I.Q.s.
Goal!!!Japan postpones humpback whale hunt!!! Goaaaaaaaaaal!!! Thank you Australia’s Whale-Watching businesses for pressuring the country into the delayed and, hopefully, one day end to this barbaric practice! GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!
This free software is available for download, and is a great way to introduce your child to 3-D Modeling software. It’s also free and didn’t cause my computer to explode, so you’ve got nothing to lose by trying it out.
A huge selection of Lego parts are available in the application, which also allows for zooms and 360-degree rotations. In fact, this software is so much like other 3-D design tools I have used, that I started calling it “Lego Cad.”
Once your child has built a model they want to have in real life, they can order the exact parts they need online, and the software will walk the child through the process of assembling their model in real life. Although I haven’t had the opportunity to order any parts through this software, Lego is an established brand, and I don’t have any doubts that they are a safe company to buy from online.
This is software is a really neat toy in and of itself. I had very few problems learning my way around the program, and am confident that most children will fall right into the Lego virtual world, and, like most computer-related things, become better at it than their parents possibly could.
I mentioned it’s free and you don’t have to brave the consumer feeding frenzy at the stores for this last minute gift right?
Lego is also a big-time exercise in imagination too…
Lego Imagination Ad
If you like the above Lego ad, also check out these other creative Lego ads.
Thank you Nat Torkington for making the obvious point that science requires linguistic skills as well as mathematical too many potential scientists, like myself and, apparently many women, get scared away to the humanities because our verbal skills are superior to our mathematical.
A Texas Creationist institute has come one step closer to offering a masters in Creationist Science. If they succeed, I’m gonna start a Master’s program in Computerless Blogging.
National Geographic would like you to know that the picture of a giant human skeleton attributed to them is a hoax that began in 2002, but has resurfaced recently.
Designers have a kick-but design for a Sustainable Moon Base. PopSci has an slideshow flash tour of it’s features.
Hat Tip to flyingsirkus for sending me this awesome video of Spiders on Drugs:
When I was in elementary school, there was a huge Rubik’s Cube fad. In addition to the Rubik’s Cube, there was the Jacob’s ladder-like Rubik’s Magic, Barrel, Diamond, and many more. My favorite was the Pyraminx because it was the most complex puzzle I could actually solve on my own.
I am happy to see today that the Rubik’s Cube has made a serious comeback. Speedcubing events are taking place all over the world, and new records are being set regularly. Even so, the Rubik’s Cube as a gift will often be quickly forgotten for most children.
The problem with the Rubik’s cube comes with it’s unsolvability. 99.9% of us are never going to figure it out on our own, and that’s why it’s important to go online and learn how to solve one.
It’s a surprisingly easy thing to do. You only need to memorize six simple Algorithms to Solve a Rubik’s cube. “Algorithm” is a scary word, but it shouldn’t be. An algorithm is simply a set of steps to perform some task. For instance, the directions on a Betty Crocker box are an algorithm for making a cake. You can learn how to solve a Rubik’s Cube in about an hour. That’s pretty amazing when you consider there are forty-three quintillion possible permutations to a Rubik’s Cube.
A Rubik’s Cube is best solved in three layers. The first is super-easy to master, the second involves memorizing two algorithms that are mirrors of one another, and the third is where things get a bit more complex.
The following are pictures of my Rubik’s Cube in various states of completion, solving layers one, two, and three. Just ignore the numbers on the cube, I wrote those on there in permanent ink so I could play sodoku, which prompted a friend to ask me, “Are you that hurting for things to do???”
Rubik’s Cube Scrambled
Rubik’s Cube Layer One
Rubik’s Cube Layer Two
Rubik’s Cube Layer Three
Add a Twist
The following two videos by Dan Brown are the best instructionals I’ve found for learning how to solve a Rubik’s Cube. You’ll need to watch them several times, pausing and rewinding, and write down the algorithms on a cheat sheet for practicing while your waiting in line at the grocery store, on a plane, or ignoring your significant other.
Rubik’s Cubes are a great way to teach spatial relations. Learning how to solve a Rubik’s Cube only gave me a better appreciation for the puzzle and a better understanding of how the parts worked.
Adding a Sodoku Layer is great way to teach math, but be sure to give the cube a few days for the ink to set, or find a better way to paint the numbers on. Mine keep rubbing off.
If you’ve got a free weekend on your hands, you might want to try making a Rubik’s Cube out of Dice too.
I watched Blade Runner, The Director’s Cut for the upteenth time Monday, appreciating the film’s flaws, and speculating on which ones Ridley Scott would clean up with the final, digitally-remastered version.
Of course, all the silliness that made the original theatrical release of Blade Runner a total flop would stay on the cutting room floor. The bad narration and pasted in happy ending wouldn’t sully the film, but what about the other items that dated the movie? The strings visible in one scene… The H.R. Geiger background that doesn’t quite fit… The sound overlays that didn’t quite match… how much of this would Ridley Scott fix?
When you can add “esque” to the end of a film’s title, you know it was a breakthrough in filmmaking. Ridley Scott’s story takes place in San Angeles, San Diego and Los Angeles grown into one another, a bit of futurism considered outlandish in 1982, but today is a reality. Akira, Battle Angel Alita, and Ghost in the Shell all model their worlds on Blade Runner’s cinematic style. The film’s philosophical dilemmas were as old as Frankenstein, but the plot devices used to explore them were novel, later appearing in films like A.I. and I, Robot.
The Final Cut was released yesterday, but nowhere in Elizabeth City would carry it and it’s not on Netflix. One kid working at Blockbuster apologized and couldn’t believe they didn’t get at least one copy.
So I scrambled, found a copy, and just finished watching it. It’s Beautiful!!! The special effects are so much clearer, revealing more detail in the city. The sound effects are so much more detailed, so that we can hear Roy whispering to Sebastian as he comes after him in a haunting scene. This is movie that could have come recently, it’s so relevant and it’s style so dateless.
The plot twist is still there, and is still very easy to miss if you aren’t paying attention. I’ve never actually met anyone who’s caught it, and only know about it myself from an interview with Ridley Scott, where the director actually came out and explained it.
This is a classic groundbreaking film, and deserves to be in everyone’s film collection.
Plot spoiler!!! (If you’ve never seen ANY version of the film)
Pay attention to Deckard’s dream/waking vision of a unicorn running through the forest, and the origami calling card left for him at the film’s end.
Awhile back I blogged on Blackle.com, a black-background version of google.com that purported to save energy by reducing the amount of light monitors needed to emit to display their page. Researchers confirmed this was true of old, obsolete CRT monitors, but flat screens used more energy to suppress white than display it.
Well, my Kill-A-Watt ($25) arrived in the mail awhile back, and it’s now official. My computer system, running dual flat-screen monitors uses 254 to 255 Kilowatt Hours of electricity to display Google on both screens, and 255 to 256 kilowatt hours to display Blackle on both screens. With both monitors turned off, my computer uses 142 kwh.
You know what else I found? My computer consumes 14 kHz when it’s turned off. After some troubleshooting, I found this was because I leave my speakers on, turning them off reduced my power consumption at this wall socket to zero when not in use.
The Kill-A-Watt is a handy device, and one I’ve returned to regularly in the last couple of months out of curiosity to see how changes to my computer affect its power consumption. It provides several different ways to measure consumption, including a clock that tracks total energy used.
The Kill-A-Watt has also made me a bit more energy conscious, and that’s why I’m recommending it as a gift. It’s a scientific tool that gives me a clearer understanding of how my actions affect the burden I place on the Earth, and the burden I place on my pocketbook when the power bill arrives.
Updated Velociraptor with Feathers
(Awww… So Cuddly!!!)
Wow, am I ever behind on my paleontology, National Geographic has a cool website of Bizarre Dinosaurs, many of which I’ve never heard of (Must have all been discovered during my teenage years, when I was “too cool” for science).
Plans to build a carbon neutral coal plant are moving forward as Illinois is chosen to host the $1.5 billion plant, which will pump carbon dioxide into the Earth to sequester it.
Archeologists have discovered Mammoth fossils baring the scars of a Meteor Impact.
The popularity of this device is just further proof that consumers are idiotic %#$&ing sheep.
Yeesh! CNN has a picture of the giant rat and tiny possum found in Indonesia’s “Lost World” mentioned yesterday.
Giant Rat
(Awww… So Cuddly!!!)
As humans migrated out of Africa, they had to evolve lighter skin so their bodies could produce more Vitamin D from sunlight, apparently Signs of TB in Ancient Skulls show that the disease was our Natural Selector.
“Happiness demands giving up all hope of a better past.”
- Buddha
I dilly-dallied about checking out this book when it came out last year. Then one day, I happened to pick up an opened copy at the bookstore and immediately fell into profound ionian enchantment with it. This is the kind of book I would normally bounce around, taking it down off the bookshelf every now and then and opening to a random subject to enjoy whatever topic I stumbled upon. I still do that to my now dog-eared copy with its worn binding, but I first read it cover to cover, bibliography and all.
With more than 60 authors, many mainstream and noteworthy, contributing to this tome of a book, fantastic design layout, inspiring photographs, and though-provoking material, it would be a wonder if I didn’t fall in love with it. For 2007, this was my catch-all gift, everyone who got a present from me got this book, and everyone receiving it loved it too.
Worldchanging is the greatest collection of sustainable living innovations ever compiled. Worldchanging introduced me to the Mega Cities Project, which seeks innovative solutions to urban living, NGO-in-a-Box open-source software for managing Non-Governmental Organizations, Solar Energy Products at Real Goods, H2ouse home water-saving ideas, the United Nation’s World Food Programme free video game where players deliver aid to countries in crisis Food Force, the free International Futures modeling software, Gapminder free software to visualize world development, and numerous other resources online, offline, and within myself. Not to mention, the Worldchanging Website, called the “leading sustainability-focused website on the planet” and has “an archive of 7,600 stories on ecological innovation, breakthrough design and social change.”
Most of all, Worldchanging makes us hopeful about the future. It recognizes the myriad problems the global village faces and places its focus on finding the solutions to them. This is the best DIY book ever. After reading over 500 pages of projects, inventions, lifestyle modifications, and products, you will see the world around you in a whole new light. And a fresh outlook on life is one of the best gifts you can give.
They check in but they don’t check out, vacuuming fleas kills them, apparently from instantaneous dehydration.
Duuuuude… Popular Science has the dirt on the E-ELT, the World’s Biggest Telescope, intended for finding exoplanets.
Salon has a good review of the Aerogarden. Do you need one? Short answer, no, grow your own herbs more cheaply in dirt or buy them at the local market.
ZomeTool’s connector balls are
small rhombicosidodecahedrons
I started playing with Zome Tool after watching the college lecture series Joy of Thinking: The Beauty and Power of Classical Mathematical Ideas on DVD, which required no mathematical background and I highly recommend for anyone interested in learning about why Math totally rocks from a humanistic perspective. I wanted to try out some of the geometrical concepts the lecture series talked about and needed a construction set that would suit this need.
Zome Tool is like an errector set, only incredibly geometrically well thought-out. The vertices, connector balls, for the Zome Tool are small rhombicosidodecahedrons, one of the 13 types of Archmedean Solids (this link has 3-D examples that you can rotate). This means that there are three types of connections for the edges, a pentagon, rectangle, and equilateral triangle; and for this reason, the edge pieces come in three different color-coded types.
The length of these edge pieces are related to one another along the Golden Mean, a proportion found throughout nature, art, and architecture, and one that allowed me to build three interlaced golden rectangles inside an icosahedron.
Icosahedron with Three Interlaced Golden Rectangles
The Bali Climate Change talks ended with the U.S. Agreeing to work on a new treaty over the next two years. So that’s one year of nothing happening, followed by one year with anyone but Bush.
IMB and Evergreen Energy Inc have created a greenhouse gas meter that will measure industry emissions and help regulate carbon credits.
Hooray for Nature! The science journal is making its genome papers available under a creative commons license.
Medical researchers from Osaka University Hospital have successfully repaired a cardiac patient’s heart with muscles from his thigh.
Science Cafes, where people get together over beer or coffee and talk science, are becoming increasingly popular.
Kav continues his insightful commentary on the £80m shortfall in the British Science and Technology Facilities Council’s budget, asking why the STFC lists Why is there a Universe? at the top of its Big Science questions to be addressed.
I stumbled across this wonderful collection of political cartoons ridiculing creationism online from Evolution: a journal of nature 1927-1938.
Secularists are realizing more and more the importance of organization. Religious folk propagate and reinforce their beliefs with weekly gatherings at formal institutions called “churches,” where they develop an extended social network of other human beings sharing the same beliefs. It’s a fantastic tool for community building and providing a support group that helps to ensure the health and well being of its members.
That’s why I support the idea of Atheist Sunday Schools, recently covered in Time Magazine.
The American Founding Fathers can provide guidance on how to conduct such a weekly community-building exercise. Many of them were Deists, who believed that god’s word was found in the natural world, not in books written by men. Secularists don’t need to find god in nature, but there’s nothing wrong in finding meaning and purpose in the appreciation of the natural world.
I could imagine Atheist Sunday Sermons beginning like this:
Let us now read from the Jurassic period, where the fossil record describes a time when…
Let us now read from the field of Quantum Theory, where experiments reveal to us a world where…
Let us now read from the Hubble Telescope, and appreciate the unfathomable enormity of the cosmos and quintillions of possibilities available within its scope…
Where religious Sunday schools are an exercise in imaginative fantasy, atheist Sunday schools should be an exercise in appreciating measurable, quantifiable, and reproducible reality, fostering the virtues of free inquiry and healthy skepticism.
His book 2001: A Space Odyssey was made into a very trippy, far-out and visually stunning film, but also one that left out so many of the important plot elements that made Clarke’s novel so great. All that flashy, psychedelic stuff happening at the film’s end? That was the astronaut becoming ambassador to the human race, existing at all stages of a human lifetime at once.
2010: Odyssey Two was made into a straightforward science fiction film, with great special effects, but again failed to explain what was going on in the film’s final moments, when Jupiter gets turned into a star in order to thaw out Europa and promote the evolution of life there. We know this, because, in a crucial scene from the novel that gets left out of the movie, an alien life form emerges from the ice of Europa to swallow a Japanese spacecraft that has landed there, attracted by its lights, leaving a sole astronaut to describe what he has witnessed.
2061 and 3001 were also great books, hard SF, and very thought provoking. While I’ve read countless short stories by Clarke, the only other novel I’ve read was Childhood’s End, about an evolutionary leap in the human race and a great, quick read.
Clarke is also an official knight, which isn’t as cool as being a ninja, but pretty dang-gone cool nonetheless.
Happy Birthday and thanks for the futurist inspirations Sir Clarke!!!
