Last Photo of Shuttle from Orbit

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a rather sad photo of the last Space Shuttle reentering the Earth's atmosphere as seen from the International Space Station.

Factoid: Higher Muslims Have to Wait Longer to Break Fast

The Associated Press reports that Muslims who live more than 80 storeys above the ground have to wait an extra two minutes before breaking their fast during Ramadan.

Graphic: Highest to Lowest

Our Amazing Planet has an interesting infographic showing the range of heights on Earth.  I hadn't realised the South Pole was so high up.

If Everyone Lived in One City

Per Square Mile has a post with an image showing how much space would be required if all the people in the world lived at the same population density as various cities.  For example, if we all lived at the same density as New York City then we would all fit in Texas.  That would leave the entire rest of the world for growing food and theme parks.

via Flowing Data and Dark Roasted Blend

Photos of Last Shuttle Mission

The Big Picture has a page of photos of the recent (and final) Space Shuttle mission.

Space Walk With Logos

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a photo of an astronaut on a space walk at the end of the Canadarm.  Amusingly the only logo visible in the picture is the Canada wordmark and you can see it three times.

Comic Sans Comic

This comic is a bit hard to explain if you don't get it.  The key is that Comic Sans is a font.

Lego Robots Solve Rubik's Cube and Suduko

Singularity Hub has a post with some videos of a new super fast Lego robot that solves Rubik's cubes.  There are also videos of humans setting records solving the cubes and as a bonus there is a very cool, and very slow, Lego robot that solves Sudoku puzzles.

Stars Over Dubai

Astronomy Photo of the Day has a nice nighttime shot of Dubai.

The Great Stork Derby

I came across this quote:

In 1926, a wealthy Toronto lawyer and practical joker by the name of Charles Vance Millar died. In his last will and testament Mr. Millar bequeathed the residue of his estate to the woman in Toronto who could produce the most children in the 10-year period following his death. The race became known as The Great Stork Derby and, in 1936, there were four winning mothers who each had produced nine children. They each received $125,000, which in 2011 dollars had the same buying power as $2,032,050.

 the other day in the Globe and Mail.

I had never heard of this before but it is true according to Snopes and Wikipedia.

How Much Do They Make in the UK?

The British Office for National Statistics has a google map showing weekly income by neighbourhood.  It starts out zoomed in on central London but you can zoom back out to see the entire country (well England and Wales anyway - I guess the Scots didn't want to talk about how much money they make).

via Google Maps Mania

That File is Hard to Move

Flowing Data has a post about a computer mouse that gives its user tactile feedback.  For example it makes a larger file feel harder to move (ie heavier) than a smaller one.  I think that would probably get annoying after a while but it is still an interesting idea.

Last Vietnam-era Draftee to Retire from US Army

According to Yahoo News, the last person drafted into the US Army during the Vietnam War has decided to retire.  Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Mellinger was drafted in 1972 but decided to stay in the army.

An Interesting Headboard

I like the idea behind this headboard.  (Not that I particularly like headboards.)

How Far Can You Go in 15 Minutes

Mapnificent is a site that will show you have far you can travel from your house on foot or by public transit in 15 minutes.  It only works in certain cities (presumably ones where they have the transit information).

via Flowing Data

Comic: Who are the Superheroes?

Optipess has a webcomic about accountants and super heroes.

Slow Motion Video of a Cymbal being Struck

Kottke.org has a post with a video of a cymbal being struck.  As he says there is way more movement than I would have expected.

Organise Cables with Bread Bag Closures

Make has an interesting way to label the cables under your desk.  Use those plastic tags that secure the plastic bags that bread comes in.  I might give this a try next time I make a sandwich.

Visualising Letter Frequencies

I'm not sure if this is art or not but this post shows a keyboard where the height of the key reflects the relative frequency of the letter.

via Flowing Data

Photo: Highland Cattle

National Geographic Photo of the Day has a great picture of some Highland Cattle.  For some reason these beasties always remind me of my wife's relatives.

I once encountered a small herd of them (cattle, not relatives) on a road in the Scottish Highlands.  They were standing on the road completely blocking it.  They completely ignored the car but as soon as I got out the all ran away.

Photo: Steampowered Fire Engine

A great photo on Flickr of a steam-powered fire engine.

via Dark Roasted Blend

Photo: Lightning in Front of Eclipse

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a nice shot of a lightning strike during the recent lunar eclipse.

Space Station With Shuttle

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a great photo of the International Space Station with the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked.

Photos and plans of the Hindenburg

This site has plans and photos of the various decks and cabins on the Hindenburg.  The interiors seem like a strange cross between old ocean liners and modern airplanes although the cabins look a bit like those on trains.

Obit: Man Who Flew Through a Mushroom Cloud

The Telegraph has the obituary of Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Dhenin.  As a young pilot he was given the assignment of flying though the mushroom cloud after a nuclear test.

When the first weapon was detonated, on October 13, Dhenin was already airborne at 30,000ft. As soon as the mushroom cloud developed he turned towards it and placed a wing tip, with a sensor attached, into the cloud to obtain radiation readings. Using special instruments, his observer calculated the probable dose rate. Once assured that the rate “would not be suicidal”, Dhenin turned for the centre of the cloud.

Disney tries to Trademark "Seal Team 6"

I'm not sure if this is a coincidence or not but, according to the Associated Press, the day after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden the Disney corporation tried to trademark the name "Seal Team 6".

Age Your Own Whiskey

American Drink has a post about a kit that lets you "make" or at least finish making your own whiskey. The kit comes with a wooden barrel and some raw whiskey that you put in the barrel for as long as you want.

I would assume this is not available in Canada.

Lego in Space

I often blog about Lego and I often blog about space so naturally I couldn't resist this Gizmodo story about Lego in space.

I thought this was interesting:

the sets will be enclosed in a see-through glove box, "so the small pieces don't get lost in the station." Coleman—who actually trained to do this—will build the sets inside that glove box, demonstrating how they work afterwards in front of millions of kids.

Gravity Plays the Marimba

Make has a post with a video (actually a Samsung ad) of a huge long marimba that is "played| by a ball rolling along it.  It is sort of like musical falling dominoes.

Fitness Myths

I had a bit of trouble picking a name for this post.  The actual article in Men's Journal is called "Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie" which isn't entirely true since most of what is in the article is well known.  The Lifehacker post that lead me to the article is called "Use Your Gym Better By Learning Its Secrets" which again isn't really what the article is about.

To me the article, which I thought was well worth reading, is about one man's journey towards fitness.  Along the way he makes many observations some of which lead to the two titles above.

Photo: Freedom 7 Liftoff

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a great shot of Freedom 7 - the rocket carrying the first American astronaut - moments after liftoff.

Table Becomes Picture Frame

Make has a post showing a wall mounted picture that folds down into a table.

Where There is No Doctor

I have heard of the book "Where there is no Doctor" many times before and had always wondered about getting a copy - just in case.  Now the book is available online as a PDF.

Lego: Balloon Over Mountains

I love the fake perspective in this Lego vignette.

Lights Under Italian Clouds

National Geographic Photo of the Day has a nice picture of an Italian valley with clouds lit from below.

Canada's Oldest Hercules Leaves Afghanistan

Several interesting facts in this article from the Ottawa Citizen about the Canadian Air Force's oldest Hercules being moved back to Canada.

The C-130 H Hercules has flown nearly 45,000 hours and nearly 18 million kilometres since it was ordered by the Diefenbaker government.

That's over 5 years in the air and 23 round trips to the moon.

I also thought this was amusing:

Col. Al Meitzinger, Canada's last air wing commander in Kandahar, discovered a few days ago that he had a personal connection to the departing aircraft going back to the time when he was a Grade 5 student. His father, Chief Warrant Officer Dave Meitzinger (ret.), checked his old logs and discovered that he flew the same aircraft (tail number 130819) as a loadmaster from 1977 to 1980.

Wolfram Alpha can help you with crosswords

This may be overkill but if you type a partial word into Wolfram Alpha with underscores instead of some of the letter, you will get a list of possible words.

For example: ch__s_b___er

Obama's Cone of Silence

The BBC has an article about the mobile security setup that the US president uses when he travels.

Designed to withstand eavesdropping, phone tapping and computer hacking, Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities - also known as SCIFs - are protected areas where classified conversations can be held.
They can be permanent enclosures within a building, or mobile areas set up when a world leader is on the move, to allow them to view sensitive documents or have secret conversations without any outsiders listening or hacking in.

Video: The Joy of Stats

The Hans Rosling video The Joy of Stats is now online.  It is a bit long, almost an hour, but is a good intro to what Rosling has been saying about how statistics can be used to help people.  He also makes the point that increasingly powerful computers make bigger and bigger volumes of data usable by humans.

A while ago I blogged about a TED talk that Rosling did using animated graphics to show changes in statistics from the third world.  Still worth a look if you don't have time for the Joy of Stats.

Marines Need Their Chocolate Milk

According to this article in Slate, the US Marine Corps requires the companies that run their mess halls to have chocolate milk at all meals.

The US Army on the other hand has the following breakfast requirements:

eggs-made-to-order, three types of bread, three types of meat, six kinds of cereal, no fewer than one potato dish, and at least one pastry

Intelligence Artist

You may have heard of War Artists who are officially sanctioned artists who accompany troops on missions but the New York Times has an article about an artist who did a similar thing for MI6, the British Secret Service.

Lego Tank Filmed by Lego Chase Cars

Gizmodo (which has a horrible new site design) has a post with a cool video of a small Lego tank.  The tank gets extra mobility by using omni wheels.  The video is extra cool because it is filmed by a video camera on another Lego car. 

DIY Pocket Tool

Make has a post about the Switch modular pocket knife.  It comes with a James Bond style case from which you select your attachments.  There are three different sized frames you can use for anywhere between 4 and 13 of the 17 attachments.

Factoid: US Army loses more troops to suicide than in Iraq and Afghanistan

Congress.org reports this astounding fact about US Army losses:

For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 via kottke.org

Video: View From the Tip of a Sword

This is a bit vertigo inducing but this YouTube video shows what it looks like if you attach a video camera to the end of a sword.

The Dakar Rally

I'm not a big sports guy but I enjoyed these photos from this years race on The Big Picture.  The rally is now held in South America but the terrain looks just as rough as in Africa.

Video: Tim Ferriss Learns Samurai Horse Archery

A post on Tim Ferriss's (of the 4 Hour Workweek) blog has a video of what was probably meant to be the pilot of a TV show.  Ferriss goes to Japan to learn yabusame which is a type of horse archery.  He only has five days to learn so he has to use various advanced training techniques.

A well done video.  The yabusame stuff is interesting as are Ferriss's techniques.  It would have been interesting to see what other things he would have done if the series had had more episodes.

iPhone Demo Video: WordLens

Lifehacker has a post with an amazing video of an iPhone app called WordLens.  The app, at least in the video, does real time translation of signs from Spanish to English.  The cool part is it preserves the font and colours of the original.

I have seen their free demo app that reverses text and it is very cool but sadly it only impresses geeks.

Nickel For Scale

Make has a post with a short video that demonstrates using a nickel (a 5 cent coin) to determine the size of objects in a picture.  In the video they place a nickel on the back of someone's hand to determine the correct size of a ring.

Obit: Richard Winters - leader of the Band of Brothers

The Washington Post has the obituary of Richard Winters.  During the Second World War, Winters was the commander of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division - better known as Easy Company of Band of Brothers fame.

High Speed Graphiti Tagging

Make has a post showing a neat little attachment you can make for a spray paint can that can make endlessly repeating stencils.  It is a bit of a shame that the demo video appears to use the device for vandalism but you can't really blame the gizmo for that.

The Economist: Life Begins at 46

The cover story on the Christmas issue of the Economist is titled "Life Begins at 46".  For those of us turning 46 this year this sounds like good news.  Unfortunately, what they mean is that 46 is that age at which people on average are the least happy.  After that their happiness level increases every year.

So I guess they're saying that if I can get through the next year I should be laughing.

Fire Department Activity Map as Art

Infosthetics.com has a photo of some wall art that is actually a map showing locations of incidents worked by a particular station of the Ulvenhout fire department in the Netherlands. 

A Koran Written in Sadam Husein's Blood

This is just weird.  According to this article in the Guardian, while he was president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein had blood drawn regularly so that he could have a Koran written in it.  Now of course the Iraqi government don't know what to do with it - they'd like to get rid of anything to do with Saddam but they can't throw away the Muslim holy book.

Space Station in Front of the Eclipse

Astronomy Photo of the Day has a picture of the recent eclipse but this one shows the International Space Station passing in front of the sun at the same time.

Letter Reveals 1916 Christmas Truce

Canada.com has an article about a recently discovered letter that mentions a previously unknown First World War Christmas truce.  The 1914 truce is apparently well documented but this letter mentions one in 1916.  The author of the letter, 23-year-old Private Ronald MacKinnon, was killed at the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Custer's Last Flag Sold at Auction

The Seatle Times reports that the only flag (actually a guidon) recovered from Custer's Last Stand has been sold at auction for $2.2 million.

Stormcell over Montana

Astronomy Picture of the Day has an amazing picture of a stormcell in Montana.  I'm not sure what the scale is but I think it is probably a good thing it is far away.

Singapore Streetview

I've just discovered that Google now have streetview for Singapore.  Some highlights for my curious readers:

This is the pedestrian gate to the condo complex I used to live in.

I used to work in this building. In my day what is now the Singapura Financial was an actual Royal Bank of Canada branch. I worked in the trading room which was up on, I think, the 15th floor.

If you walk down the street from the old RBC building and turn on MacCallum street you get to the hawker centre where we used to get lunch most days.  Unfortunately you can't go inside and see if the fried rice man is still there.

Web Comic: Beware the Third Wish

I liked this comic.

An Astronaut at the Window of the Spacestation

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a great photo of an astronaut looking out the new bay window on the International Space Station.

A Giant Clothespeg in the Park

I can't really describe it more than that.  Check out the picture.

Strangely Shaped Coins and Wheels that aren't Round

When I lived in the UK I used to sometimes wonder about the strange shape of the 50 pence coin.  It seemed to be half way between round and hexagonal (actually it has 7 sides).  According to this blog post the shape of the coin means that it has constant width even though it isn't round.  The post shows how this works and even demos using them as wheels.

Aerial Footage of WWI Aftermath

The BBC has an article with a short video taken from a blimp flying over First World War battlefields in 1919.  The devastation is amazing.

Ancient Roman Multi-tool

Make has an article, with picture, about an ancient(ish) Roman pocket knife.  It's not exactly a Swiss Army knife but, given that it would have been made by hand, it looks pretty good.

Astronauts Can See Cosmic Rays

According to this article in the Guardian about life on the International Space Station, astronauts sometimes see cosmic rays when they pass through their eyeballs.

The lights don't go out completely, though. People dozing in orbit see streaks and bursts of bright colour caused by high-energy cosmic rays painlessly slamming into their retinas.

Love Locks

I have never heard of this before but apparently there is a trend for couples in love to fasten a padlock to certain large objects and then throw away the key.  Some of the pictures in the article have a heck of a lot of locks.

Obit: Dennis Rendell, WWII Escaper

The Telegraph has the obituary of Dennis Rendell who served in the British Parachute Regiment and Royal Military Police.  The most amazing thing about the article is the picture at the top.  It shows Rendell, on the run after escaping from a German prison camp, playing a carnival game in between two German soldiers.

Follow up:  I had never heard of those shooting games mentioned in the obituary that take a picture when you hit the target but then came across this article about a woman who visited such a shooting gallery from 1936 until the present day. 

follow up via kottke.org

The Bowl is the Scale

I quite like the first item on this page.  The bowl that becomes a scale when it floats, is one of those ideas that designers have that probably will never become a real product but are cool nonetheless. 

Lightning over a Volcano

National Geographic Photo of the Day has an awesome shot of lightning in the smoke plume of an erupting volcano.

Stars over a Wreck

A nice picture from Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Walt Disney's Mind Map

Peter Duke has a blog post linking to a mind map done in 1957 by Walt Disney (the person not the company) detailing his plans for his future empire and how the parts would relate to, and help each other.

You can't say that in English

I think I blogged about this sort of thing ages ago but here is another list of words that can't be directly translated into English.

I do like:

Tartle - Scottish – The act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name.

and

Ilunga - Tshiluba (Southwest Congo) – A word famous for its untranslatability, most professional translators pinpoint it as the stature of a person “who is ready to forgive and forget any first abuse, tolerate it the second time, but never forgive nor tolerate on the third offense.”

as well as the somewhat more modern

Prozvonit - Czech – This word means to call a mobile phone and let it ring once so that the other person will call back, saving the first caller money. In Spanish, the phrase for this is “Dar un toque,” or, “To give a touch.”

Facebook Now Lets You Download All Your Data

According to Lifehacker, Facebook now lets you download a copy of all of your information - including all of your pictures.

How Much Exploring Did Apollo 11 Do?

Chart Porn has some images that show just how little of the Moon's surface was explored during the first lunar mission.  They have superimposed the routes followed by the astronauts onto a baseball diamond and a football field.

As a bonus, this site from the BBC will let you superimpose the moon landing area on your own address.

An Abandoned Lego House

Here is an awesome Lego model built using only black and white bricks.

Google's Self Driving Car

The New York Times has an article with Google's experiments with self driving cars.  Their seven test cars have already driven over a thousand miles without human intervention.

Robot drivers react faster than humans, have 360-degree perception and do not get distracted, sleepy or intoxicated, the engineers argue. They speak in terms of lives saved and injuries avoided — more than 37,000 people died in car accidents in the United States in 2008. The engineers say the technology could double the capacity of roads by allowing cars to drive more safely while closer together. Because the robot cars would eventually be less likely to crash, they could be built lighter, reducing fuel consumption.

Royal Navy Field Gun Competition

This video is worth checking out especially if you've never seen such a thing before.  A field gun competition involves two teams racing to each pull an old fashioned field gun around a course and over and through various obstacles.  As you are watching, try to think about how heavy the various bits are.

via kottke.org

Factoid: Great Pyramid was second tallest building until 1874

According to Wikipedia, the Great Pyramid of Giza was the second tallest building in the world until 1874.  It was the tallest until 1311 when Lincoln Cathedral was built.  The pyramid had been knocked out of the top three for a while but clawed its way back in in 1625 when the spire on St. Olaf's church in Tallinn burned down.

How to Escape from a Sinking Car

Lifehacker has a post with videos from Rick Mercer and the Mythbusters to teach you how to escape from a car sinking in water.  There's nothing really earth shattering in there but I did learn that if you have to kick it is better to kick near the hinge side of the door windows.  Also the demonstration of the centre punch in the Rick Mercer video was pretty impressive.

They Make Their Own Ladders

Make has an article, with a video, about the San Francisco Fire Department's ladder factory.  For various reasons they still use wooden ladders and they make and repair their own.

Factoid: Carrots used to be purple

The blog Today I Found Out has a post that explains that carrots were purple until the late 16th century.

New Model of Raytheon Exoskeleton

Tech&Gadgets has a post about the latest version of the Raytheon Exoskeleton.  There is a video with a demonstration involving, for some reason, one of the actors from Iron Man 2.  It is looking very cool but is still tethered to a base station, presumably for power.

Beer Chart

World Famous Design Junkies has a great chart that shows the interrelationship of the various types of beer - with examples of each type.

Getting People to Return Your Digital Camera If They Find It

Andrew MacDonald has a blog post with a series of photos that he always puts as the first pictures on his digital cameras.  The pictures form a funny story that lets him ask that anyone who finds the camera to get in touch with him.

via lifehacker

The First World War is over for Germany

The Telegraph has an article about Germany making its last reparation payment imposed under the treaty that ended the Great War.

Followup: Time has an article with a bit more information.

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.