Friday Links!
If Robert Ripley was still alive, even he would be reading this collection of links. It's a bizarre compendium that will happily waste your entire morning.Leading off this week is a link from Nate Carpenter to an article in The New Yorker about a man who was trapped in an elevator--for 41 hours. It's riveting reading, and there is an absolutely huge amount of detail about elevators.
From Cliff Eyler, an article about a musem--for the Three Stooges. It's in Philadelphia, and it sounds fantastic.
Eli is still a little young for the Stooges, but I'm looking forward to the day I hear him laugh until he falls over.
Here's an article from Newsweek about Harmonix founders Eran Egozy and Alex Rigopulos, and it precisely describes how Harmonix is into making a new way to experiencing music.
From Roger Ray, a link to an article about the invention of a new circuit element: the memristor. Here's an excerpt:
Up until today, the circuit element had only been described in a series of mathematical equations written by Leon Chua, who in 1971 was an engineering student studying non-linear circuits. Chua knew the circuit element should exist -- he even accurately outlined its properties and how it would work. Unfortunately, neither he nor the rest of the engineering community could come up with a physical manifestation that matched his mathematical expression.
Thirty-seven years later, a group of scientists from HP Labs has finally built real working memristors, thus adding a fourth basic circuit element to electrical circuit theory, one that will join the three better-known ones: the capacitor, resistor and the inductor.
From Jesse Leimkuehler, a link to a Frontline documentary called The Tank Man, a look back at the extraordinary 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and their aftermath. It's excellent viewing.
From the Edwin Garcia links machine, a link to a story about superconducting cables, which "lose almost no electricity, radiate almost no EMF and can be discreetly buried."
From Rob Varak, a link to another brilliant McSweeney's satire--it's not Guitar Hero, it's Acoustic Citizen.
From Chris Meyer, a link to an article about Tanya Andersen, who seems to have the RIAA on its heels. It's an interesting article about piracy and identity in a digital age.
From Jarod, a link to a how-to article: case modding a beaver. With pictures. And since Blogger is freaking out if I try to create a name for the link, I'll just post the link directly:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Compubeaver---%3e-How-to-case-mod-a-beaver---in-29-e/.
From Scott Zimmerman, a link to a story about NTT creating a new kind of data transfer system that can use your body as a network. A second link from Scott is to a story about South Korea cloning dogs to find explosives and drugs. Only 10%-15% of dogs are usually qualified to do this work, but seven dogs cloned from a highly skilled dog all passed the test.
The usual caveat about anything regarding South Korea and cloning should be inserted now.
From Keith Schleicher, a link to his interview with Geoff Keighley on the history of Grand Theft Auto and GTA 4.
From Jeremy Fischer, a link to a video of Bob Munden, the world's fastest gunslinger. Believe me, the guy is amazing beyond all words.
From Gloria (yes, that Gloria), a link to an online exhibit of the National Museum of Health and Medicine: Hairballs: Myths and Realities behind some Medical Curiosities. Yes, it's as disgusting as it sounds.
From Nicholas, a link to an outstanding Steve Spangler science video that vividly demonstrates the unique properties of cornstarch. How unique? When mixed with the right amount of water, it becomes a non-Newtonian fluid, and it can be walked across. I'm afraid to tell Eli 6.9, because he'll want to rent a tank and a cement mixer for the weekend.
From Sirius, a link to a story about research into the volume of a bat's call. How loud? Try 120db--times 100x. Also from Sirius, a link to a story about the discovery of the first superheavy element in nature. How it was discovered makes for an excellent read, and the comments below the article are interesting as well. And the hat trick for Sirius is a link to scientists examining the 30-foot long, 900 pound squid that was caught by commercial fishermen last year.
Joe Craig sent me a link to video (ad first) of a policeman stopping traffic--on a highway--so that a duck and her ducklings could go safely across.
<< Home