The Milky Way

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a great panorama of the Milky Way.

Trader handsignals

The New York Times has a graphical article that shows what the hand signals used by commodity pit traders mean.

via kottke.org

UN Data Now Available

The United Nations has an interesting new website that presents a lot of their statistical data.

This page for example shows CO2 production by country over time. Using the controls on the left you can add other countries (Canada for example) to the chart. Aside: This raises the question of why the Canadian numbers are so different from the US ones.

via slashdot

Factoid: private jets at Davos

According to this not particularly worth reading article in Newsweek, Gulfstream says that the Davos conference usually attracts more of its planes than any other gathering, drawing up to 10 percent of the 1,500 planes in service to Zurich airport.

The Growth of Walmart

The page has a video showing an animation of Walmart's expansion across the US.

Generating Character Names

Just the thing for the aspiring novelist, this site creates character names based on data from the US census.

via kottke.org

Traffic shockwave observed in lab

Have you ever been driving on the highway when you suddenly get stuck in traffic which when you get to the front has no apparent cause? Well, the New Scientist has an article about Japanese scientists who have managed to reproduce this in the lab.

The scientists had 22 cars going around a track all of which were told to drive at a steady 30 kilometers / hour. Eventually a wave caused by one driver briefly putting on his brakes travelled back through the stream of cars and caused several to come to a complete stop.

via slashdot

Follow up: Stu kindly sent a link to this little Java applet that simulates traffic flow. If you try the ring road simulation you will see how the traffic bunches up and eventually stops.

Quizzes

Can you name all the elements in 15 minutes? Try this quiz and find out.

The way the quiz works is interesting, there is a display of the periodic table and an entry box at the top. You type the name of an element into the box and if it is correct the answer is placed into the table.

There are a number of the quizzes on the site all with similar interfaces. Try naming all the countries of Asia for example or all the US states. The only down side is there aren't any stats so you can't tell how you compare with other people who've taken the same quiz.

Rotherforth - the name

For those of you who have wondered how rare these Rotherforths really are, check out this page that is part of a surname analysis of the British census. Apparently there were 208 (of voting age) in the UK in 1998.

Feeling Secure

Bruce Schneier has a blog post about the difference between being secure and feeling secure.

A New User Interface for Magazines

This site has an interesting new user interface for a magazine. Basically it uses the Google Maps scroll and zoom style interface over the pages of a print magazine. I'm not sure that it will catch on but it is an interesting idea.

via kottke.org

Dextre stands up

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a nice shot of the new Dextre robot standing up from the space station.

The first explored area of the moon

Kottke.com has a post which links to two maps that show how much of the moon was explored by the first Apollo landing. The first shows Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's explorations superimposed on a soccer field. The second shows it on a baseball diamond.

Why don't people do what economists think they should?

The LA Times has an article explaining why evolution has lead people to make strange economic choices.

50 Best Works of Art

Kottke.org has a very short post that links to a list of the 50 best works of art in the world (including where they are and how to see them) and a link to a site that links to photos of them all.

Space shuttle pictures

Two nice pictures of the recent Space Shuttle launch from the Astronomy Picture of the Day. The first of the launch and the second a few minutes later.

A Rotherforth in the news

I can't say I've ever encountered this before but here we have an actual news article about someone named Rotherforth. According to this article in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus a Police Constable named Simone Rotherforth was inured in a scuffle with a drunk.

New space station photo

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a photo of the International Space Station with the new lab installed.

Origami with your Tea

Another practical use of origami. This company has replaced the little tag on the end of the string on your teabag with a little origami boat. The boat floats in your tea so that you don't have to scald your fingers to take the bag out.

Stick to your Resolutions

The New York Times has a column by Steven Levitt, of Freakonomics fame, about a method to ensure that you will carry through with a resolution.

to write a check for a substantial amount of money to the American Nazi Party, seal it up in a stamped envelope, and vow to drop it in the mail if you break your diet.

He then describes a new website called StickK.com that does a similar thing by essentially holding a cheque from you until you either complete or fail at a resolution. If you fail they send the cheque to a charity of your choice.

New Lab on Space Station

Astronomy Picture of the day has a nice picture of the new Columbus Laboratory on the International Space Station.

How a Bobbin Works

I must confess I have always wondered how a sewing machine actually works. Now a post on Material Mama has an animation that shows exactly how the two threads get tied together.

via Dark Roasted Blend

Upside Down Demolition

Fogonazos has an article about a building being demolished in London. The difference here is that, due to the way it was originally built, this building is being demolished from the bottom up.

Superhero Suits

Always wanted your own superhero outfit? Well these folks will custom make one for you.

A Pop-up Light

The perfect pop-up book for the bedside table. When you open it, a light pops up.

Where the Blondes Are

Strange Maps has another interesting map this one showing where in Europe blondes are predominant.

"Terrorproof" Buildings

The Christian Science Monitor has an article about new high-rise buildings that are resistant to extreme damage. The article is specifically about Number 7 World Trade Centre which is billed as the safest building in the world.

"The biggest change in high-rise construction now is this sealed, hardened core," says Dr. Herb Hauser, president of New York-based Midtown Technologies, who worked with the architects of the skyscrapers that will ring the new World Trade Center. "This means that the structure around the core can go down, or be on fire, or be invested with a biological or chemical problem, but the actual core itself will be protected."

While I don't have any problem with improved buildings, I do think that the title of the article (which I have copied) illustrates the nature of the real problem. Since buildings can't feel fear they are inherently "terrorproof". A building doesn't care whether it is being damaged by an earthquake, extreme weather, bank robbers, vandals or terrorists.

Sniffing the Browser History

Another geeky one, this time a blog post about how a website can tell what other sites a user has visited.

The method depends on the fact that browsers show visited links in a different colour than unvisited links. The technique uses JavaScript to create a page (that you never see) with a bunch of links, then checks to see which links are in the visited colour. This seems to mean that he can only check if you've been to a specific list of sites rather than seeing the whole list of you've been. He has a demo page if you want to see it in action.

via 43 Folders

Lego Art

I normally go for smaller Lego models myself but this fellow has made some very impressive large ones.

Map of US Christian Denominations

Strange Maps has a map showing the distribution of Christian denominations across the US. The maps shows counties where more than 50% of the residents belong to the same religion. The interesting things were the number of such counties (ie almost all of them) and the contiguous blocks of the same religion in different areas of the country.

Adventures in Stacking

BLDG Blog has a post about stacking blocks. The posting links to a subscription only article but does have some nice diagrams.

Homemade Sunbeam

Popular Science has an article about a fellow who made his own flashlight. This particular flashlight though has 38 million candle power and can project a spot of light onto a cloud four miles high. There is a how it works gallery for those of you who want to build your own but keep in mind that the builder of this one sunburned his face when he looked into the beam.

Star Forts

Deputy Dog is back with another great photo post. This one is about the star shaped forts, that were built to defend cities after the development of cannons.

Good Looking Libraries

Curious Expeditions has a Compendium of Beautiful Libraries. This is a long post with a huge number of photos of the insides of fancy libraries. Some nice looking pictures if you are a book lover.

Yahoo and Google to provide OpenIDs

Another geeky posting I'm afraid. This time we have two articles from TechCrunch, both about OpenID.

The first is about Yahoo providing OpenID and the second about Google doing the same. I haven't tried this but it should allow you to sign into a huge number of websites using your yahoo or Google id. I.e. you don't have to create an id on every single site you visit.

The Google offering isn't quite as useful as it could be as they seem to be only allowing people who have blogs on Blogger (which Google owns) to use their id. I suppose this may change in the future.

More Domain Shenanigans

Following up on my earlier post about someone registering domains after they have been searched for, TechCrunch is reporting that Domain Solutions, the original and still largest domain registrar, is doing something similar. If you search for a domain using their search tool, they will register any unregistered domain that comes up. That way if you want it you have to buy it from them.

Japanese Robot Snowplow Makes Ice Bricks

InventorSpot has a posting about a robotic Japanese snowplow that packs the snow into bricks of ice which it can then stack up.

via Dark Roasted Blend

The Sound Mirrors

Deputy Dog has a post about the sound mirrors that were built along the British coast before the Second World War. In the era before radar the sound mirrors were designed to gather the sound of incoming aircraft and reflect it to a microphone so that defending aircraft could be launched.

via Low-Tech Magazine

A Gaza Primer

Slate's Explainer has a background column about the Gaza Strip.

The Mystery of a Found Digital Camera

Yahoo has an article about the quest to locate the owner of a digital camera found in the back of a New York taxi.

US Private School Endowments

The New York Times has an article about the huge endowments that some older American private schools now have. The article mainly focuses on Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. The school, which has a thousand students, now has over US$ 1 billion in its endowment fund.

With its small classes, computers for students receiving financial aid, lavish sports facilities and more, Exeter devotes an average of $63,500 annually to house and educate each of its 1,000 students. That is far more than the Thomas family could ever afford and well above even the $36,500 in tuition, room and board Exeter charges those paying full price.

Travel Quiz

Travelpod has a traveler IQ test that is a fun little quiz game.

I went to a presentation by the founder of travelpod at the Ottawa BarCamp last year and he said that the game was a huge driver of traffic to the site as well as a source of new members.

New Drug Could Eliminate Sleep

Wired has an article about a new drug, orexin A, that may be able to eliminate the need for sleep.

The monkeys were deprived of sleep for 30 to 36 hours and then given either orexin A or a saline placebo before taking standard cognitive tests. The monkeys given orexin A in a nasal spray scored about the same as alert monkeys, while the saline-control group was severely impaired.

via slashdot

Collapsable Home Office

Here is an interesting item of furniture. It is a home office that folds away into a nice looking little rolling cart.

Flash: Flying Polar Bears

An amusing little flash game that features a leaping polar bear and falling ice cubes.

Funny Business at the Domain Registrar

There have always been rumours that if you search for a good domain name on one of the online name checker sites, someone will register it before you do. Now the DailyDomainer reports seeing numerous domains registered within 30 seconds of being checked. The problem is made worse by domain tasters who manage to register their domains for free for 30 days.

via slashdot

18th Century Messaging

Low-tech magazine has an article about an 18th century French communications system that could send a message from Amsterdam to Venice in 1 hour. The system consisted of a towers fitted with semaphore signals. The operator in each tower watches the previous tower through a telescope and copies its signal. The operator also looks at the tower before the previous one to confirm the signal is correct.

I've only started looking at the Low-tech Magazine site but it looks interesting so far.

via slashdot

A Ten Hour Work Week

The New York Times has an article about the Canadian website PlentyOfFish.com. The site is a dating website that owner Markus Frind developed on his own as a programming exercise. Frind is the only person who works on the site, and he only puts in about ten hours a week, but the site makes about ten million dollars a year.

Money Shots

Some interesting photos on Flickr using US money and real landmarks.

via Dark Roasted Blend

DVD: Next

I didn't really notice this movie when it first came out. It is the one where Nicholas Cage plays a character who can see two minutes into the future. Naturally the government want him to help them catch terrorists but he just wants to be left alone.

I really liked the movie. There were a few problems with the plot - like "who were the bad guys and what were they trying to accomplish" but on the whole things moved fairly well. The main emphasis was on Cage's character's power and how he uses it.

Well worth watching.

The end of Direct Current in Manhattan

The New York Times has an article about the ending of direct current (DC) electrical service in Manhattan. The service was originally started 125 years ago by Thomas Edison when he was trying to establish DC as the standard for distributing electricity.

Tracking Shoppers

TechCrunch has an article about a new application that allows store managers to track where customers walk in their stores. The system uses radio receivers that listen for the pings the customers' cell phones send out periodically.

I'm not sure if there are privacy implications here or not. The system can tell people apart but can't identify them. Plus I suppose people could just turn off their phones if they are worried about this sort of thing.

Origami: Make a Drinking Cup

Wikihow has a page on how to make a drinking cup from a sheet of paper. This may have been more useful over the holiday season but could still come in handy. I'm not sure how long a given cup will last but I was amused at the warning not to use the cup for hot beverages.

This Cellphone Feels Empty

The New Scientist has an article about an application for cellphones that uses a phone's accelerometer (a relatively new feature) and vibrator to make the phone feel like it is partly full of liquid when you shake it. The phone can be made to feel more and more empty as the batter gets closer to flat.

via slashdot

Roads that Play Music

The Guardian has an article about some roads in Japan that play music as you drive along them. They use a series of rough strips across the roadway to play a song if you are driving at the correct speed.

Swarming

The New York Times has an article about swarming and how swarms can sometimes exhibit intelligent behavior.

By studying army ants — as well as birds, fish, locusts and other swarming animals — Dr. Couzin and his colleagues are starting to discover simple rules that allow swarms to work so well. Those rules allow thousands of relatively simple animals to form a collective brain able to make decisions and move like a single organism.

Panarama by the last men on the moon

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a panoramic photo taken by the astronauts of Apollo 17 - the last men on the moon.

An Awesome Looking Bookstore

Coolhunter has a post (with photos) about a gorgeous looking bookstore in the Netherlands. The store is in an 800 year old church in Maastricht and won the Lensvelt de Architect Interior Prize 2007.

Thing we don't have a word for in English

The Mirror (not that I read the Mirror) has an article about words in other languages that can't be translated easily into English.

A few that I liked:

• Spesenritter - German: a person who shows off by paying the bill on the firm's money, literally "an expense knight".
• Pelinti - Buli, Ghana: to move very hot food around inside one's mouth.
• Tartle - Scottish: to hesitate when you are introducing someone whose name you can't quite remember.
• Prozvonit - Czech and Slovak: to call someone's mobile from your own to leave your number in their memory without them picking it up.

via Dark Roasted Blend

Demo video of exoskeleton

Danger Room has an article with a YouTube video of an experimental powered exoskeleton. They don't mention how much practice the operator has but some of the things he does with it are quite impressive.

PeaceCorps is seeking older recuits

The New York Times has an article about how the American Peace Corps is actively recruiting older members. Traditionally seen as a post-graduation job, today more and more members are post-retirement.

Space Station over Greece

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a great picture of the International Space Station with the Ionian Sea in the background.

Lighthouse Photo

Astronomy Picture of the day has a nice picture of an old fashioned lighthouse in operation in a slight fog.

Maps of Ontario Traffic Cams

The Ontario Ministry of Transport has a Google maps mashup showing the locations of traffic cameras in various Ontario cities. You can click on the map and see the views from the cameras.

via Google Maps Mania (which has a bunch of other Canadian maps)

How To Get Up Early

Here is an entire blog that will teach you how to get up early. There are 41 tips at the moment some of which are interesting and some of which aren't.

I have been getting up early for the past month or so and one of the tips that I think works for me is drinking a big glass of water as soon as I get up.

Lego: Village on an Asteroid

A very cool Lego creation, this is an asteroid (which seems to be a Lego sub-genre) with a very small village on top. There are some great little details including a rooftop flower garden and a fellow filling a cup from a tap.

via Brothers Brick

Smugglers' Submarines

Danger Room has a post about the increase in use of submarines by drug smugglers. 13 of the vessels have been seized in the last two years, some capable of carrying 5 tons of cargo.

Storing extension cords

The Unclutterer has a blog post, well mostly a picture, of a way to conveniently store cables using toilet paper rolls.

via lifehacker

Did Unleaded Gas Lower Crime Rates?

The New York Times has an article that suggests that the drop in US crime rates may have been caused by the phasing out of leaded gasoline. You may recall that it has also been suggested that this drop was caused by the legalisation of abortion.

via slashdot

Colossus runs again

Yahoo news reports that Colossus, the early computer used to decode German messages during World War II, has been rebuilt and is running once again. Colossus was the world's first programmable electronic computer but was kept secret for many years after the war.

The BBC also has a good article with some pictures.

Looking for somewhere to land

Runwayfinder.com is a site that show airports and air strips throughout the US and Canada. It is a Google maps mashup so you can do the normal scrolling and zooming in and out.

via Google Maps Mania

Boat Lifts

DeputyDog is back with another post. This one featuring 8 huge boat lifts of the kind used for moving boats over dams and in places where locks won't work. The only one I've seen in person is the Falkirk Wheel which is certainly worth a visit if you are in that part of Scotland.

Make Your Own Comic Strip

The site stripgenerator.com will let you make your own three panel comic strip by dragging and dropping characters and objects.

Here is an example that I put together in about a minute:
http://stripgenerator.com/strip/63742/

Great Elevators of the World

Another post from DeputyDog, this one about seven amazing elevators.

A Beer Bottle that is also a Brick

Here is an interesting idea, apparently back in the 60s Heineken tried the idea of making beer bottles that could be reused as bricks. I'm not sure how environmentally friendly that would be compared to modern day recycling but it is interesting especially since the second use wouldn't get in the way of the first.

Comic Covers

For the comic book fans out there here is a site that has the covers from a large number of old (and not so old) comics. They even have links from each cover to check and see if there are any for sale on ebay.

A Band in Flash

For those of you who have always wanted your own band, here is a flash site that lets you control a drummer and singer/accordionist. Amusingly, I found this app while flipping through a magazine at a friends house.

The Oldest Domains

jottings.com presents a list of the 100 oldest .com domains.

Lunar Landing Licenses

Slate has an article that answers the question of whether or not a private company would need permission to land a spacecraft on the moon. The short answer is no but they need permission to take off from Earth.

Holes of the Day

Deputy Dog has a blog post with pictures of seven amazingly large holes. I have seen a few of the pictures before but it is neat to see them all together.

Frog photo

National Geographic has a nice picture of a tree frog. There's nothing more to it than that - I just like tree frogs.

NASA is hiring

According to the Houston Chronicle NASA is hiring a batch of new astronauts. The job requirements are list as well in case any of you are interested.

via slashdot

Things You Can Print

Today we have a blog post with a huge list of things that you can print out and use. I really liked the paper toys and of course I am a big fan of the hipster PDA but there are all sorts of fun, and some rather odd, things on the list.

A Whack on the Head

Danger Room has a blog post that links to a video demonstrating a new gel that can be used to protect against impact. It looks like an interesting material but it is a bit disconcerting to see the guy being hit on the head with the shovel.

Will People Use the Passage?

Canada.com has an article arguing that even with reduced amounts of ice, no one will actually use the northwest passage.

Comic: War of the Worlds

Dark Horse comics has put their version of the War of the Worlds online.

The Myth of the Flat Earth

A short article about the mistaken belief that people used to believe the world was flat and how that belief came about.

That's not a Lego set, this is a Lego set

Gizmodo has an article about a new set from Lego. The set is a model of the Millennium Falcon which has 5000 pieces. It is the largest set Lego has ever made and costs $500.

Who Owns Toronto's Air Raid Sirens?

The Toronto Star has an article about the air raid sirens installed in Toronto in the 1950s. A building owner recently found one and wanted to include it in a new building so he tried to find out who actually owned it. This was more difficult than you would think.

Airships over Manhattan

The blog Fogonazos has a post with some great pictures of airships flying over Manhattan back in the 1930s.

China Bans Unauthorized Reincarnation

MSNBC reports that the Chinese government has banned Tibetans from reincarnating in Tibet without permission. While this initially sounds laughable it seems really to be an effort to control the succession of the Dalai Lama. In Tibetan Buddhism sufficiently enlightened beings, such as the Dalai Lama, can control who they are reborn as.

via slashdot

Japanese Lights

Dark Roasted Blend has a post about, and with lots of pictures of, the huge neon signs that are found on Japanese streets.

Forgotten Canadian Weapons Block UK Runway

Danger room has a blog post about a World War II Canadian weapon that has blocked a runway in the UK. The Canadian Pipe Mine (also called a 'McNaughton Tube') was a device planted under airfields so that the runway could be destroyed if attacked. This would have been very useful in WWII when gliders were used by airborne troops to carry heavy equipment and supplies.

In the case of Daedalus Airfield in Hampshire, the weapon was forgotten about and never removed after the war. It was discovered last year and had to be carefully removed by the Royal Engineers.

The Wright Brothers' Tent

The HistoryNet picture of the day has a neat photo of the Wright brothers' tent at Kitty Hawk where they worked on their first plane.

What Osama Said

Slate has a translation of Osama bin Laden's recent news release. I was surprised that in addition to global warming, he believes that American business interests killed JFK to stop him from ending the war in Vietnam.

Light and Crime

Bruce Schneier has a short blog posting on the effects of lighting on crime rates. It seems that once again less is more.

A Periodic Table of Data Visualization Techniques

Here is a Periodic Table of Data Visualization Methods. I'm not entirely sure how the arrangement into a periodic table works but the individual entries are certainly interesting. Note that hovering over each cell will show an example of the cell's method.

via Robot Wisdom

Art that only Cellphones can see

An interesting blog post about some t-shirt designs where the part of the pattern can only be seen in digital photos. I'm not sure how useful this is but you could certainly get some amusing results.

Hiding an Aircraft Factory

The Think or Thwim blog has a posting about efforts during World War II to hide an aircraft factory in Burbank, California. They seem to have used some giant tarps - there are pictures in the article. I'm not sure why they thought Burbank was at risk of air attack but it is still an interesting article.

Very Expensive Pocket Change

Bruce Schneier has a blog post about a fellow who had to transport a rare dime, worth $1.9 million, across the US. What did he do? He put the dime in his pocket and took a plane.