Free Air Miles (well, not anymore)

The Wall Street Journal has an article on what used to be a great way to get free flights. Basically the US Mint was selling dollar coins for $1 with free shipping. So you buy as many as you can on your credit card, get the air miles, then, when the coins arrive you use them to pay off the credit card. Repeat until done.

Sadly, the mint doesn't let you do this anymore.

Obit: Roy King, England's master bowmaker

The Times has the obituary of Roy King, a English man who had mastered the ancient art of bowmaking.

But perhaps King's most enduring contribution was to the Mary Rose Trust, which asked him to replicate the bows recovered from Henry VIII's flagship, which sank off Portsmouth in 1545 and was raised in 1982. Few examples of longbows from that era – the last years before gunpowder weapons became dominant – were then known to exist. But among the many treasures raised with the Mary Rose were 139 complete, and 33 partial, longbows.

And in true modern fashion he was born in Poland.

Ultimate Model Airplane

Now this is a model airplane. It is a 1:16 scale model of a P-51D Mustang fighter plane, was handcrafted from aluminium and took three years to make.

A Campervan with a Loft

Here is a pop top camper with a bit of a difference. Instead of adding extra headroom when the top is up. The top here provides a second floor for use as a sleeping area. Also interesting is the way the roof pivots up from one side rather than just popping straight up.

As a related bonus here is a really cool looking trailer that pops open into a camper.

How big is Antarctica?

This picture compares Antarctica to the continental US. It's bigger than I thought.

Plot Drawings

Xkcd.com has plot diagrams for the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Jurassic Park. The diagrams show the location and groupings of the various characters as the stories progress.

I'm not sure how useful something like this would be if you were writing a story rather than studying one but the idea is certainly interesting.

via Walter Jon William's blog

Flash Game: Totem Destroyer 2

Totem Destroyer 2 is another cool flash game. In this one instead of building up a pile of things you start with a pile of things with an idol at the top. You goal is to blow up the items in the pile so as to lower the idol to the ground. (Actually not the ground but to the special dark coloured blocks.)

Some of the levels need a bit of luck but on the whole a fun game.

via kottke.org

Obit: Richard Sonnenfeldt, chief interpreter at Nuremberg

The Economist has the obituary of Richard Sonnenfeldt, the chief interpreter at the Nuremberg war crimes trials.

I thought this section was particularly interesting:

When he asked Rudolf Hoess, commandant of Auschwitz, whether he was ever tempted to enrich himself from the inmates, Hoess replied: “What kind of man do you think I am?”

Prize awarded in Space Elevator Contest

The Washington Post reports that a design team from Seattle has won a prize in NASA's first space elevator contest.

The contest requires that the machines climb 2,953 feet up a cable slung beneath a helicopter hovering nearly a mile high.

SF Gate also has an article on the contest and says the prize was $900,000.

Attractive Quarterbacks are Better Quarterbacks

The Ottawa Citizen has an article (as does the National Post) about a new study that shows that the facial attractiveness of NFL quarterbacks is directly correlated to their ability on the playing field.

A new study shows that the facial attractiveness of NFL quarterbacks — as rated by panels of female students who have no idea they're pro athletes — mirrors their athletic ability on the field, regardless of other attributes such as age or ethnicity. Other studies have demonstrated similar patterns with professional hockey and soccer players.

Steel Velcro

The New Scientist reports that German engineers have built what is essentially steel Velcro. The strips can support 35 tonnes parallel to the join or 7 tonnes perpendicular.

via Make

Massive Crater on Phobos

Astronomy Picture of the day has a photo of the Stickney Crater on the Martian moon Phobos. The crater is huge - it takes up one whole end of the not-very-round moon.

Ponoko - Make Stuff from a Picture

Have you every drawn something on a napkin and decided you would really like the real object but had no idea how to make it? Check out the intro video on this page at Ponoko. If you send them a digital photo of the napkin they will make the object for you.

They can also make an object from a more conventional CAD file.

Note that I haven't actually used this service I just like the idea of it.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

The Washington Post has an interesting article about the events that lead to the opening of the Berlin Wall. The article says it was a bureaucratic misunderstanding started by a bumbled press conference.

Factoid: Deutsche Bank has 60,000 pieces of contemporary art

This article in the New York Times has an article about the amount of art owned by banks.

Deutsche Bank is believed to own the largest corporate collection in the world, with some 60,000 pieces of contemporary art. UBS owns 40,000 pieces, and JPMorgan Chase 30,000. Combined, that approaches the Museum of Modern Art’s trove.

Stars over Easter Island

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a beautiful shot of, well, stars over Easter Island.

Tides

Wolfram Alpha will show you the tides for a given location. We don't have tides here in Ottawa but if you type in "tides Singapore" it will show you the tides there.

You can also add a date if you don't want today's tides:
tides oahu tomorrow
tides kitty hawk 1 January 1969

Gnome Bowling

Here's a project for a rainy day: Paper gnomes for you to use as bowling pins.

Plot Generator

Looking for a plot for your novel? Big Huge Thesaurus will generate a whole list of them for you every time you load the page.

Some examples:

• A servant is held hostage in Washington D.C..
• A maid grabs the wrong briefcase by mistake in a spooky cemetary.
• A mystical shaman discovers a shocking secret in the sewers.
• An abused woman must save the president from terrorists while on Safari in Africa.
• God takes a vacation that goes horribly wrong in a prep school.
• A young man misses an opportunity of a lifetime and ends up betraying his best friend.
• An army chaplain fights for his life in Australia.
• A battle-scarred warrior enters a hot dog eating contest while on a date.

Top 50 Foods and Where to get them

The Guardian has an article on the best 50 foods in the world and the best places to get them. I haven't had any of the things on the list so I can't really agree or disagree. Have any of you tried any of them?

via kottke.org