Make Your Own Google Map Envelope

MapEnvelope.com lets you enter a location and a comment and will then generate a page you can print to make your own envelope with a google map of the specified location right in the centre.  (This will be a lot clearer if you look at the example.)

The Universal Packing List

Packing for a trip?  This website will generate a packing list for you.  The site has been on the net since 1993 so is presumably well tested.

Flash Rations

The New York Times has a flash slide show of various countries' military rations.  If you click on the package it will show you the contents.  I had always thought that French ration packs had wine in them but apparently not.

Factoid: Studying in Multiple Places is Better

According to this article in the New York Times:

In one classic 1978 experiment, psychologists found that college students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms — one windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a view on a courtyard — did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room. Later studies have confirmed the finding, for a variety of topics.

via lifehacker

Control Panels

Dark Roasted Blend has another of their mega roundups. This one showcases control panels from various vehicles including fighter aircraft and the Hindenburg airship.

A Paper Map That Zooms In

Here is another real world paper folding product. It is a pocket sized map of London that unfolds to let you zoom in on a given area.

Labels Help Make Beer Bottles Musical

Make has a post about a brand of beer bottles that are printed with levels that show what note you would make by blowing across the top of the bottle.

Video: Ride the Trans-Siberian Railway

Here is a Google Map / video mash up that lets you ride the 9230 km length of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Note that I have only actually tested the first few kilometres leaving Moscow.

via Google Maps Mania

Tour de France

National Geographic Photo of the Day has an excellent action shot of the Tour de France pack of riders passing by.

Obit: Piper William Millin

The Telegraph has the obituary of William Millin. Millin was a piper who actually piped troops ashore under heavy fire during the D-day landings.

The pipes were damaged by shrapnel later that day, but remained playable. Millin was surprised not to have been shot, and he mentioned this to some Germans who had been taken prisoner.

They said that they had not shot at him because they thought he had gone off his head.

There are other obituaries in the Wall Street Journal, and The Scotsman.

Post-It Prevents Mess When Drilling

via LifeHacker

Obit: Rear-Admiral Bob Welland

The Telegraph has the obituary of Canadian Rear-Admiral Bob Welland. Worth a quick read and has several amusing points:

In 1943, when Welland took command of the destroyer Assiniboine, his mother wrote to him: “Bobby, aren’t you a bit young at 25 to be a destroyer captain?” He replied: “Aren’t you a bit young at 39 to be my mother?”

I also found this interesting about events during the Korean War:

When wounded civilians were brought to Athabaskan by local fishermen, the ship’s doctor operated on Welland’s dining room table. One patient was a six-year-old girl who had been shot in the chest ; during the two weeks it took her to recuperate, her mother stayed on board and helped in the galley.

How Many Tabs is Too Many?

You know how in Firefox when you accidentally hit the close window button a dialog pops up that basically says: "Dude you are about to close 5 tabs! Do you really want to do this?"

Well the other day I accidentally hit the close window button and a dialog popped up that said (and I'm not making this up) "You are about to close 198 tabs! Do you really want to do this?"

This may explain why I had to go out and by more RAM yesterday.

Computer Hardware Chart

Ever wondered what all of those connectors and sockets on your computer are? Well check out this page, it will probably have your answer.

Apollo Astronauts Insurance

UKInsuranceNet.com has an article about an unusual form of life insurance used by the Apollo astronauts. Since they were unable to get normal life insurance what they did was sign postcards that would be posted (and hence postmarked) when the rockets took off. The theory was that if the rockets crashed the cards would be worth a fortune.

via Dark Roasted Blend

Lego: Castle in the Sky

I love the fake perspective in this model.

via Brothers Brick

Camel on a sand dune

I'm not sure why but I like this photo from National Geographic of a camel on a sand dune.

Factoid: There are two ATMs in Antarctica

According to this article there are two Wells Fargo banking machines at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Interestingly they don't have to send new money to the continent as the cash just circulates around on the base.

via kottke.org

Real Life Superheroes

Wired Danger Room has an article about the sub-culture of real life superheroes. These are people who dress up in costumes and go out to do good deeds.

Factoid: Bomber Costs

According to this Danger Room post:

Every time the Air Force sends a B-1B bomber on a mission over Afghanistan, it spends costs $720,000 in fuel, repair, and other costs. And when the plane comes back, it has to spend 48 hours being repaired for every hour it was in the air.