Friday Links
Here you go. Wasting your morning begins now.From Jason Maskell, a link to yet another incredibly cool project from MIT--the Lightboard. Here's an excerpt:
...they were able to light a 60W light bulb from a power source seven feet (more than two meters) away; there was no physical connection between the source and the appliance. The MIT team refers to its concept as "WiTricity" (as in wireless electricity).
Read the full article here.
Here's a thoughtful and interesting article from Shane Lynch, who sends along a link to "What the World Eats." It's a pictorial essay of what represents a week's worth of food for families in different countries. It's a very thought-provoking series of photographs, and you can see them here.
Here's another excellent link from Cliff Eyler, this one about a new theory for the extinction of mammoths. Here's an excerpt:
Recently, a group of more than two dozen scientists offered a new explanation. They have found signs that a comet -- or multiple fragments of one -- exploded over Canada about 12,900 years ago with the force equivalent to millions of nuclear weapons. That unleashed, they said, a tremendous shock wave that destroyed much of what was in its path and ignited wildfires across North America.
There's much more (including the discovery of two distinct genetic groups among mammoths), and you can read it all here.
Jessie Leimkuehler sent in two excellent links this week. The first is a link to an article over at The Consumerist by an ex-Circuit City employee. It's a retail train wreck (with you aboard), and you can read it here.
The second link is even more interesting: a cultural guide prepared by the Army Special Services Division for soldiers going to Iraq.
In 1943.
It's totally fascinating (choose the "view entire document" on the left of the page), and you can see it here.
Steven Kreuch sent me a link to a remarkable moment in the "Britain's Got Talent" show. A mobile phone salesman, who looks like the least confident fellow in the world, gets up to sing opera. You have to see this clip to believe what happened, and it's here.
Seriously, you need to watch that video. It's not what you expect.
From Geoff Engelstein, a link to the discovery of a bird-like dinosaur--but this one is huge. Here's an excerpt:
...this beast weighed about 1,400kg (3,080lbs).
That is about 35 times heavier than other similar feathered dinosaurs.
Nature journal reports that the beaked animal was 8m (26ft) long and twice as tall as a man at the shoulder; yet it was only a young adult when it died.
It's fascinating, and you can read it here.
John sent me a link to the story of a whale that's absolutely remarkable:
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt -- more than a century ago.
Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3½-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.
It's quite a story, and you can read it here.
Finally, a couple of quick notes.
First, DDL, who was the first to send me the link to those craptacular PS3 ads last week, said the video of the pederast character gave his brain "the red ring of death." He also has a website called Make Your Nut, which is described as "Personal finance tips, tricks, and pitfalls."
Wally let me know that the article about Niall Ferguson that I linked to earlier this week came from New York Magazine, not the New York Times Magazine.
Also, someone (sorry, I can't find the e-mail) mentioned that Ferguson is currently working with the developers of Making History: The Calm & the Storm (the game he so highly recommended in the article) on a new series of computer game. That's worth noting.
<< Home