Archive for August, 2008
I’m surprised that a Sci Fi author had personality…
…even if it was a prune commercial.
Boing Boing today posted an old TV commercial for prunes that had Ray Bradbury in it. Most of the time, when I see (or hear) an author of Sci Fi, they are so…”out there”… that you either feel sorry for them or condescended to. But, in this commercial, where the announcer states about how the future will have pneumatic people tubes, wall to wall TVs and small packages of prunes, you have Ray stepping in to say “I never had prunes in my stories!” Maybe to most this is just a horrible commercial, but I have to say that I enjoy it nonetheless!
Retrieved from -Boing Boing-
No comments
So mad scientists have been hard at work…
…at making a Frankenstein’s monster from rat brains!
At the Reading University in the United Kingdom, researchers are trying to perfect a method of using rat brains to control a robot. Specifically, they have removed about 300,000 neurons from a rat fetus to create an electrical network so they can study how the brain functions. Once they remove the neurons and place them on the chip, the neurons begin making connections to each other, which is in itself amazing. After about 5 days, information is able to be transmitted across the new network. This is all in an effort to combat Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Disease and epilepsy to name a few.
Pretty soon, they state that they will be able to “train” the neurons to perform certain tasks. It really is Frankenstein’s monster, isn’t it?
Retrieved from -New Scientist-
No commentsAs if there aren’t enough distractions while driving…
…the British have introduced one of the most ridiculous I have yet to see!
Maplin’s, an electronics chain in the UK, has introduced a new gadget for the car…a microwave! Now, I know we have car refrigerators already, which can make sense to me. Long trips during holidays can now keep the food cold so it does’t go bad. But I am really having trouble trying to figure out why anyone would want (or need) a microwave for their car. This thing would drain your battery, make your food warm and also cause you to ram the back of the car in front of you while adjusting settings. As the famous British phrase goes….BRILLIANT!
Retrieved from -Dvice-
No commentsReality shows nowadays force people to make horrible decisions…
…but this one would have to be the worst for me yet (if I was single!).
So, not that I ever watch the Playboy TV channel, but they will begin airing their version of a reality TV show titled “Gadget or the Girl” beginning September 1st hosted by Iliza Shlesinger. This show will have three beautiful women meet up with one guy who then will choose two to take on a date. Later, he will have to limit it down to one woman for the remainder of the evening. Finally, he gets to make one final decision…to go on a weekend getaway with the girl or to instead take home a brand new gadget.
Now, if the gadget was something cheezy, then I would say bogus on the whole premise. But the guy could get things ranging from a home arcade game to a 60″ plasma TV. Not too shabby.
Now, after flipping through horrible reality TV shows, I have to say that no one can think a weekend getaway is really going to mean anything to either the guy or the girl. They just want air time on the TV. So, I’m not sure how the show is going to work it out to entice the man to seek the weekend getaway. But, I’m not like most men, so maybe it would really appeal to some.
Anyone have an opinion on it?
Retrieved from -OhGizmo!-
2 commentsThe basics of science should be learned by everyone…
…else you could turn out like this!
People scare…they really do. Especially the conspriacy theorists.
No commentsThe homeless recyclers might have their own functional home…
…if the “Shelter Cart” ever makes it to production.
So, I have never heard of the sub-genre of homeless people called rag-pickers. They are the people who use a cart (or as I saw today in Charlotte, a large trash bag on a bike) to collect recyclable material and then take it to a center to collect money. Well, a design studio has come up with an idea to make life easier for the rag-pickers…the Shelter Cart!
This extendable cart looks like an overgrown grocery cart when sitting on it’s wheels, but when the owner is ready to go to sleep, or if it rains, the cover can extend and then turn over to provide shelter. To me, a pretty useful idea, but I foresee problems. How soon would it be before we heard about homeless people deaths due to fights over the shelters? This would require a bit of forethought before bringing it out, but a great idea!
Product Info -Gregor Timlin-
Retrieved from -Coolest Gadgets-
When I was growing up, there was only style of Band-Aid out there…
…now, there are tons of choices, some geeky and some freaky.
Let’s start out with the one for the breakfast people out there. Haven’t you always wanted to cover up a gory infected wound with bacon and eggs? Well now you can!
For the comic book geeks out there, you now have your wish. Now no one can see that you are actually not a superhero in disguise who can get hurt!
For the just plain weird people, you can have some full luscious lips kissing the boo-boo away.
And for the CSI fanatics, you have your wish as well!
Product Info -Bacon & Eggs-
Product Info -Comic Strip-
Product Info -Hot Kisses-
Product Info -Crime Scene-
And here I thought that Weird Al Yankovic was the nerdiest rapper…
…but this rap about the Hadron Collider definitely puts him to shame!
This video, with the lyrics written by one of CERN’s science writers, Kate McAlpine, definitely covers quite a bit of ground and actually explains quite a bit. I will admit this up front. I may be an engineer, but the first time I have heard about this collider has only been in the past few months leading up to the first test. The Hadron Collider is located in a concrete tunnel about 17 miles in length and located between 150′ and 450′ underground between the border of France and Switzerland. Some very beautiful pictures can be found at the Boston Globe.
I am going to try and understand this in the next few weeks, but until then, you can read the description of what the Hadron Collider does here (quoted from the ever reliable Wikipedia):
The LHC is being built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and lies under the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC will become the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is funded and built in collaboration with over two thousand physicists from thirty-four countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.
The collider is currently undergoing commissioning while being cooled down to its final operating temperature of approximately 1.9 K (−271.25 °C). The initial particle beams are due for injection in August 2008, the first attempt to circulate beam through the entire LHC is scheduled for September 10, 2008, and the first high-energy collisions are planned to take place after the LHC is officially unveiled, on October 21, 2008.
When activated, it is theorized that the collider will produce the elusive Higgs boson, the observation of which could confirm the predictions and “missing links” in the Standard Model of physics and could explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass. The verification of the existence of the Higgs boson would be a significant step in the search for a Grand Unified Theory, which seeks to unify three of the four known fundamental forces: electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force, leaving out only gravity. The Higgs boson may also help to explain why gravitation is so weak compared to the other three forces. In addition to the Higgs boson, other theorized novel particles that might be produced, and for which searches are planned, include strangelets, micro black holes, magnetic monopoles and supersymmetric particles.
So, most people fear that this may create a black hole which could be the undoing of all that we know. The physicists claim they have this under control, but I still have concerns over theoretical physics and how we determine what can happen.
2 commentsFinally, desk jockeys may actually have a chance…
…since it only will take a pill to convert them to a jock!
Researches at the Salk Institute have discovered two drugs that can increase endurance by tricking the muscles into thinking they have been working out.
One drug, known as Aicar, increased the mice’s endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after just four weeks of treatment.
A second drug, GW1516, supercharged the mice to a 75 percent increase in endurance, but had to be combined with exercise to have any effect.
“It’s a little bit like a free lunch without the calories,” said Dr. Ronald M. Evans, leader of the Salk group.
The results, Dr. Evans said, seem reasonably likely to apply to people, who control muscle tone with the same underlying genes as do mice. And if the drugs work and prove to be safe, they could be useful in a wide range of settings.
So now, all of those MMO players or avid console players can get their workout by clicking the mouse instead of going to some gym and dealing with the sweaty muscleheads! I’m there!
Retrieved from -Gizmodo-
No commentsThe first town to utilize the self-cleaning cement is at hand…
…but you have to live in the Netherlands to be able to enjoy the clean air.
Back in June, I mentioned the self-cleaning cement that was used in Rome. Now it appears that the the Dutch town of Hengelo is debating about paving their roads with it. The new type of air purifying cement developed by the University of Twente is already being used on half of a road under construction. Before creating the whole road with it, they will just do the first half and then wait a year. Testing will be performed to see if there is any change in the air quality. They will then decide whether to continue paving the rest of the town.
Here’s to hoping that it makes a world of difference. With all the infrastructure improvements over here, it would be wonderful to incorporate this technology to help out with the environment.
Retrieved from -Engadget-
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