…that only weird people like me would find fascinating.

So, if you haven’t been able to tell from previous posts, I have a fascination with watches. I still hold true that my two favorite watches are the Seiko Kinetic watch my wife gave me when we got married (and much to her dismay, wear very infrequently) and my Casio G-Shock Atomic Solar…uh…watch. I’m sure it’s got some more descriptive adjectives in the title, but I think you get the point.

Well, it seems that Casio has developed their “Tough Movement” system to utilize LEDs to synchronize the watch with six different time bases. Every hour, when the minute hand hits the 55 minutes mark, the watch will receive a time calibration signal which, if it doesn’t match with the watch, the LEDs will fire a beam of light to a phototransistor. The beam shines through a 300 micrometer hole in the gears for the hands. If the light doesn’t make it through, the gears will rotate until it can and then the time will be correct.

This new “Tough Movement” system also utilizes plastics as well as metal in the mechanisms to reduce weight and size. In some cases, it has reduced the cases up to 33%! I am also happy that they are adding this to the G-Shock line which is what mine is. Once mine dies, I might have to invest. It will start at $388 in Japan at the end of September, so I will have to wait until costs go down first!

Retrieved from -OhGizmo!-

…and it seems that must of the disgusting things involves their digestion.

So, a few years ago, scientists wanted to investigate how cows are digesting their food and also have an easy access to providing different vitamins and medications to make them healthier and to also perform research. Now, what better way to do that then to provide a “portal” that can be sealed by a plug directly into one of the cow’s stomachs? Sounds tasty, right? How does it sound that people can go in to the university, slap on a glove and have anyone just go in there and play around with the contents of the stomach? Sounds lovely to me, sign me up!

Now, with the rising concern of greenhouse gases, one of which is methane, scientists are now measuring the methane produced by cows. So come on now class, where does methane come from on the cows? Two answers….that’s right, burps and farts. So, scientists are placing a bag on the back of the cow so they can “collect” the methane produced and measure how much is being produced. The main goal, to adjust the cows diet to see which produces the least methane.

Wow, makes me enjoy my job!

Retrieved from -Dvice-

…and this guy makes me tired seeing his “crowning achievement”.

This fella created a huge contraption made completely of wood (not even metal screws or bolts) that really does not much else than show off his incredible skills of understanding machinery. Mechanical engineers out there…bask in the glory of his supreme skills!

Forewarning, long video, but great and informative!

Retrieved from -Dvice-

…or is it just a cover-up for their “Nuke the World” campaign?

Alright, so most of my friends make fun of me for really liking Armageddon…the wonderful movie with Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler in which they take ocean platform oil drillers and throw them in outer space so they can drill in an asteroid that is expected to impact the Earth so they can plant nuclear bombs to split it in pieces to miss the earth.

Rusty Schweickart, a former astronaut, has spoken against NASA’s motives for their placing nuclear weapons in orbit to blow asteroids to smithereens if they get near the Earth. The government’s plans completely contradict the verdict that was arrived at in the Armageddon movie. Nuclear weapons will have very little impact on asteroids if fired when in space, so Schweickart claims that NASA (under pressure from our government) is really just planning on placing the bombs in space for future defensive launches. I thought those days were over and done with (at least when it comes to the USA).

Anyways, Schweickart’s group, the B612 Foundation, has a much more rational approach to protecting us from asteroids. It relies on building more powerful telescopes that can identify asteroids at a much earlier stage and then use probes or unmanned spacecraft to “nudge” the asteroids to miss the Earth. At a far enough distance, only a slight movement is needed to miss us by quite a bit.

Chalk one up for ex-NASA astronauts, and zip for NASA itself.

Retrieved from -Gizmodo-

…but I’m sure slower people will still make the rabbits feel the road rage!

I’m sure this will never make its way over to the good ol’ US of A, but it appears that Audi has started a pilot program on 50 traffic lights to make them “smart lights”. The lights have been equipped with sensors that send information to a netowrk that “adapts to traffic patterns to deliver optimum light switching” but supposedly also lets drivers know when the light will change so you can speed up to get through the intersection.

With the way I have seen people around here drive, it won’t amount to a hill of beans. People already run red lights, I just think this will make them run it more frequently. And most drivers won’t pay attention to the “speed up to make the light” sensor…they’ll just plod along.

Who knows though?

Retrieved from -Engadget-

…with their shopping mall/restaurant complex in one of their highest populated areas.

So, how would you like to look outside your bedroom window when you wake up and find a cruise ship sitting there? And then, on the way to work, you realized you needed to grab some lunch so you decided to walk right in that cruise ship and grab what you needed? To me, that would be just plain odd! The cruise ship Whampoa is located in Hong Kong’s largest private housing state, Whampoa Garden. I do have to say, it would be better than seeing just more buildings…

Take a look at the scale of the Whampoa from Google maps….it’s huge!

Retrieved from -Gizmodo-

…and I have to say, after riding in a friend’s gas version of it, I’ve come to see the appeal of the MINI Cooper!

So at a breakfast meeting on July 22, the vice president of MINI USA announced that by next summer, electric versions of the MINI Cooper will be available to consumers. He is unsure whether they will be leased or owned or how many they will make, but they will be available. So, for those who want another alternative for in-town travel, sounds like you may have your wish. I still personally have issues with batteries for electric cars (trip length, battery replacement, among other things), but for those communting to work, this might be a good choice!

Retrieved from -AutoBlogGreen-

…especially when it could cause loss in sales.

As I reported back on July 4th, it had been reported that the manufacturers of flat panel TVs used a compound called Nitrogen Trifluoride which was found to be 17x more harmful to the ozone layer than carbone dioxide.

Now, the Linde Group, the main manufacturer of LCD panels for popular brands, has said that they will start using Fluorine which is much less harmful than Nitrogen Trifluoride. I hope their motivation wasn’t only a potential loss of sales (which I doubt since most people probably didn’t read any of these articles), but merely a way to make up for the harmful chemicals they have been using.

Retrieved from -Gizmodo-

My computer at home went down on Saturday and hopefully I can get it back to working condition in the next week. Therefore, be prepared for fewer updates, although I will try to get some good info back on there!

Also, as a side social commentary, I have to praise the people who clean my office at work. What they do is one amazing feat! They manage to clean my trash, shut my door and lock it. That doesn’t sound very amazing at all, so here is the best part. 2/3 of that time they manage to set the trash can so that when I open the door it knocks over onto the floor! Tell me how they do that…I’m at a loss and utterly amazed both!

…by using Segway’s as rapid deployment for their SWAT team.

So, it appears that during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing later this year, the Chinese S.W.A.T team will be using Segways. I’ve always wanted to try one, and also make joking comments when I see them in the mall (like I did at Concord Mills yesterday), but I have to try and really bite my tongue so I don’t say anything about armed policeman chasing after me on one of those. And as a side note, why don’t they use bigger guns?

Retrieved from -Engadget-