Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky and is more than 1000 light years away.
Thanks to B. Allen for the e-mail.
22 March 2007
A matter of scale
I got the following series of pics from a friend in an e-mail. I don't know what the accreditation is for these pics, but it certainly gives us an idea of our place in the universe!
Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky and is more than 1000 light years away.
Thanks to B. Allen for the e-mail.
Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky and is more than 1000 light years away.
Thanks to B. Allen for the e-mail.
17 March 2007
The Worst Company In America
The Consumerist has a poll on what is the Worst Company in America. This is the Last Round: RIAA vs. Haliburton. What's interesting is that the RIAA is edging out Haliburton as the worst. Other rounds included:
Round 14: RIAA vs Exxon
Advice to Young Men from an Old Man
A no nonsense list. Take it or leave it, but this Advice to Young Men from an Old Man isn't all off.
His energy bill is $0.00
An article from Yahoo about a man who has managed, through a combination of solar, hrdrogen fuel cell and other renewable resources, lowered his energy bill is $0.00. As with most of these stories, which are worthy pursuits, they tuck away the fact that it cost the guy $500,000 to do it.
As an example, for me (admittedly a low energy user) it would take me some 33 years to make the system pay for the $80,000 solar panels versus regular energy!! Naturally, that is a pure dollars calculation, without examining the whole cost of environmental impact, but that is also the way consumers still think.
As an example, for me (admittedly a low energy user) it would take me some 33 years to make the system pay for the $80,000 solar panels versus regular energy!! Naturally, that is a pure dollars calculation, without examining the whole cost of environmental impact, but that is also the way consumers still think.
Music, no headphones
From Ars Technica, comes an article about an iPod headband featuring bone conduction
which allows the wearer to hear the music without the annoyance of earphones.
which allows the wearer to hear the music without the annoyance of earphones.
One Ring to rule them all
An article by David Pogue from the March 15, 2007 edition of the New York Times describing a "new service called GrandCentral [that] can unify your cellphone with phones at work and home and perform many other tricks."
14 March 2007
20 Things You Didn't Know About... Skin
From Discover Magazine comes 20 Things You Didn't Know About... Skin.
30 Strange Deaths and 15 Strange Coincidences
From Neatorama.com comes a compendium of the 30 Strangest Deaths in History. From 2Spare.com comes a list of 15 Strange Coincidences.
The extreme end of stubbornness
A photo from China showing how stubborn people can get. Naturally this could not happen in the United States where the rule of law prevails and legislates against removing access to someone's property. Apparently, the owner does not live in the property, is politically connected, demanded an outrageous sum for the property. He also let it be known that there would be hell to pay if there was damage to his property. Interestingly, note the absence of any infrastructure below the building: no gas, sewer, electric...
The Ten Coolest Numbers
This one is definitely for the geeks. The Ten Coolest Numbers as described by a mathematician.
TB patient locked in isolation
The patient is not ill, just highly infectious and carrying a strain that is extremely drug resistant. But having broken his voluntary quarantine he has lost his freedom and has been locked in isolation.
Africa and Europe set for tunnel link
From BBC comes news that Africa and Europe set for tunnel link, which would mean that one could theoretically go, by car, from the UK to South Africa without going entirely around the Mediterranean Sea.
Jackalopes
In the slightly gross yet fascinating category, it seems that jackalopes are not entirely fictional things, but rather are just rabbits infected with a virus, the Shope papillomavirus, which seems to be spread by insect bites. Here are some pics of cute bunny rabbits made somewhat grotesque by this infection. The virus is limited to rabbits, however there is a human equivalent -- SideshowWorld.com has an article which tell more about the history of the jackalope as well as some pics of the human equivalent. This seems like it is not entirely implausible, as this recently Dugg story from the Yemen Observer about a 102 year old man who has had a horn that began to grow in his seventies, broke off, and kept growing back.
10 March 2007
The World’s Most Important 6-Sec Drum Loop
How important can it be? Well, chances are you have heard it a million times in numerous contexts such as ads and a variety of music. It also was the basis of drum-and-bass and jungle music, despite the fact that it comes from a 1969 B-side song called "Amen Brother" that never went anywhere. This 20 minute video from 2004 by Nate Harrison explains the origins, history and importance of the
world’s most important 6-Sec drum loop.
Even if you aren't particularly interested in that type of music, it is a truly amazing narration.
world’s most important 6-Sec drum loop.
Even if you aren't particularly interested in that type of music, it is a truly amazing narration.
770
The 770 site is an interesting collection of photographs about 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY the origin of the Lubavitch sect of Orthodox Jews and how the building has sprung up across the world.
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