American Religious Beliefs

Harris Interactive has the results of a poll on American religious beliefs.

80% of adult Americans believe in God – unchanged since the last time we asked the question in 2005. Large majorities of the public believe in miracles (75%), heaven (73%), angels (71%), that Jesus is God or the Son of God (71%), the resurrection of Jesus (70%), the survival of the soul after death (68%), hell (62%), the Virgin birth (Jesus born of Mary (61%) and the devil (59%).

Recreation of "Oldest Computer"

Wired has an article (with a demonstration video) about a British scientist who has made a working reconstruction of the ancient Greek Antikythera mechanism.  The device, consisting of a complex series of rotating metal disks is several thousand years old and is believed to have been used for astronomical calculations.

Space Shuttles for sale (sort of)

Yahoo is reporting that NASA is trying to decide what to do with the Space Shuttles once they are retired. One could be yours for $43 million (shipping not included).

Using Your Desktop Wallpaper

I've linked to some desktop wallpaper before (mainly on Smashing Magazine) but here is one designed not to look pretty but to be used. The idea is hat you put different files in the different areas of the wallpaper depending on what they are for or how urgent they are.

It's worth a look but since I run all my applications full screen I don't really see my wallpaper that often.

via lifehacker

Using DNA Evidence to find Criminal's Relatives

The LA Times has an article about the police using DNA evidence to find criminals when the criminals aren't in the DNA database. They can now find people in the database who are relatives of the actual criminal. Normal police work follows from there.

Long Distance Keycutting

This article announces that researchers have successfully duplicated a key from a long range digital camera picture. In the example the picture was taken from 195 feet.

Warbirds over the Pacific

National Geographic has a nice photo of three American WWII aircraft flying in front of a sunset.

Lego in the Kitchen

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratory has a post about using Lego in your kitchen. Some of the containers don't look half bad (though as a Lego fan I may be biased).

Factoid: The Soviets weren't allowed to use the Panama Canal

The BBC has an article about a Soviet warship transiting the Panama Canal after a visit to Latin America. What caught my eye was this:

The 50-mile (80km) canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was shut to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Do It Yourself Compact Calendar

Another tool for do-it-yourself productivity folks, this website lets you create your own "compact calendar".

I think I've talked about the compact calendar before, these are an interesting way to view a whole year and do high level planning. Today's site lets you custom make your own. You can specify the start and end points as well as any holidays. Once you print it out you can scribble all over it to do your planning.

New Drug may cure Jet Lag

The LA Times reports on the discovery of a drug that might eliminate jet lag.

Some research has shown that administering melatonin can adjust sleep cycles in travelers and workers, but the results have been mixed.

Because melatonin can't be patented, drug companies have been interested in developing melatonin mimics, such as tasimelteon, which can be patented.

DVD: The Illusionist

Set in 19th Century Vienna, The Illusionist is the story of a stage magician who returns to the city after years wandering the world.  The son of a woodworker, he was forced to leave after a teenage romance with a member of the local noble family.  On his return, under a stage name, he finds his former love is now all but betrothed to the Crown Prince.  Naturally things become complicated, especially when a Police Inspector with an interest in magic gets involved.

There are a few minor problems with the plot but overall I definitely enjoyed this movie and would recommend it.

Planets over Los Angeles

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a nice photo of Venus and Jupiter together with a crescent moon over the lights of Los Angeles.

For the next little while Venus and Jupiter will be close together in the sky and very bright. It has been cloudy in Ottawa for the past few days but this evening I manged to see the two planets and they were extremely bright. Worth looking for if you are out and about.

Followup: A later Astronomy Picture of the Day has a photo of the same three objects in an amusing configuration.

The End of Wall Street?

Portfolio.com has an article by Michael Lewis about how he sees the current financial crisis as Wall Street's own incompetence coming back to kill it.

Lewis wrote the book Liar's Poker in the 1980s about his experiences at an investment bank. The book is considered by many to be the classic book about 1980s Wall Street.

I thought I was writing a period piece about the 1980s in America. Not for a moment did I suspect that the financial 1980s would last two full decades longer or that the difference in degree between Wall Street and ordinary life would swell into a difference in kind. I expected readers of the future to be outraged that back in 1986, the C.E.O. of Salomon Brothers, John Gutfreund, was paid $3.1 million; I expected them to gape in horror when I reported that one of our traders, Howie Rubin, had moved to Merrill Lynch, where he lost $250 million; I assumed they’d be shocked to learn that a Wall Street C.E.O. had only the vaguest idea of the risks his traders were running. What I didn’t expect was that any future reader would look on my experience and say, “How quaint.”

The History of the Lego Minifig

Gizmodo has a pictorial history of the minifig (the little yellow men that come in Lego sets). I hadn't realised that Jar-Jar had made an appearance in Lego.

Ice on Mars

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a photo of some ice that was found underneath the Phoenix Lander on Mars.

A Modern Day Depression

The Boston Post has an article that tries to predict what a modern day depression would be like.

Beyond that, two of the basics of existence - food and clothing - are a lot cheaper today, thanks to industrial agriculture and overseas labor. The average middle-class man in the late 1920s, according to the writer and cultural critic Virginia Postrel, could afford just six outfits, and his wife nine - by comparison, the average woman today has seven pairs of jeans alone.

First Picture of the Earth from the Moon

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a newly restored image from 1966. This is the first picture of the Earth taken from the moon and was taken by Lunar Orbitor 1.

As an aside, today is the 10 anniversary of the International Space Station.

Japanese Vending Machines

Dark Roasted Blend has a post with lots of pictures about vending machines in Japan. The flower vending machines would be particularly helpful after too many visits to the beer vending machines.

Visualising Sorting Algorithms

Another geeky one here.  This page is a visual representation of various sorting algorithms and how they affect the data being sorted on each pass.  On the page you can click on the images and watch as the rows are slowly reordered.  Handy for getting your head around the ways the various schemes work.