britcoal

WILD Burritos

2009-12-08T16:33:00.002-05:00

Most Amazing Scientific Images

2009-12-05T00:50:00.002-05:00

Worth a look, if you're into that sort of thing: The Most Amazing Scientific Images (as chosen by Popsci.com). Of note:

Boeing's Latest Mobile Laser Weapon Tracks and Shoots Shit down:

Boeing recently announced it successfully tracked and shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle with a laser weapon. Actually, it shot down five UAVs at various ranges with the trailer-mounted Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX).

And there is a lot more:

Swimming around in their tank, these autonomous robotic jellyfish move alone or in a swarm and communicate with their brethren to avoid underwater collisions.

Scientists measure methane at the source: In a lush pasture near Buenos Aires, this cow and its compatriots are digesting important information: how much methane—a greenhouse gas 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide—is released by the country’s 55 million bovines. (that poor cow)

A horse trots along a dirt road in Turkey, encased by the Kurtsystems Car equine training system. What may look like a complex horse-drawn carriage is actually a high-tech way to automate the delicate process of training racehorses. The horse isn’t pulling the four-and-a-half-ton, $427,000 vehicle. Rather, the vehicle keeps pace with the animal, and trainers fit the horse with equipment such as an electrocardiogram machine, oxygen masks and movement sensors to monitor its performance. WHAT?

You get the idea.. check it out.

2009-11-24T18:21:00.001-05:00

Pollen is pretty

2009-11-24T11:36:00.000-05:00

Pollen is really pretty when you look at it up close and personal

2009-11-23T18:21:00.001-05:00

Sparklines!

2009-11-20T19:50:00.001-05:00

While I don't have much need for Excel most of the times, it's nice to see they have added support for sparklines.

Too bad they are trying to patent use of sparklines in spreadsheets, though, as it's a no-brainer and something the inventor of sparklines, Edward Tufte, suggested many years before. At least he just wants his ideas to be free.

'C' is for Corruption.

2009-11-18T11:13:00.002-05:00

Transparency International has a great interactive map of perceived political corruption based on their annual Corruption Perceptions Index.

Unsurprisingly, the Scandinavian countries score at the top, along with Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Australia. NZ appears to be the least corrupt of all.

Also unsurprising is the clump of intense corruption you see in the Iraq-Iran-Afghan corridor and middle-Africa.

Ocean @ Geno's, Friday the 13th

2009-11-17T17:54:00.002-05:00

askin' a lot out of a big crop on this last one, but I liked it

Def Leppard, Clash of the Titans @ Empire, 11/10/2009

2009-11-12T16:20:00.003-05:00

Someone once told me they liked me because I had "texture".

2009-11-06T13:39:00.002-05:00

2009-11-06T13:34:00.002-05:00

2009-11-05T00:15:00.002-05:00

Peticare

2009-11-04T21:55:00.005-05:00

How many groups, agencies, and institutes (both public and private) does it take to diagnose H1N1 in a house cat? Apparently, many:

The 13-year-old indoor cat in Iowa was brought to the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where it tested positive for the H1N1 virus. The diagnosis is the culmination of collaborative efforts between IDPH, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Center for Advanced Host Defenses, Immunobiotics and Translational Comparative Medicine, USDA, and IDALS Animal Industry Bureau.

Well, I'm glad that's settled then.

“Two of the three members of the family that owns the pet had suffered from influenza-like illness before the cat became ill,” said IDPH Public Health Veterinarian, Dr. Ann Garvey. “This is not completely unexpected, as other strains of influenza have been found in cats in the past.”

Ahh, pet insurance here we come. Now that they've figured out how to infect your pets with the same cold that you get, bingo. Peticare and Peticaid.

No worries, though,

Both the cat and its owners have recovered from their illnesses.

phew.

Also of note, H1N1 confirmed in commercial swine herd in Indiana.

Clash of the Titans: Portishead vs. Velvet Underground

2009-11-04T10:59:00.002-05:00

Oh, Henry.. always under the foot.

2009-11-04T02:03:00.003-05:00

Learning! Genetics!

2009-10-28T13:41:00.002-04:00

The University of Utah has a pretty great online genetics learning center. Especially fun is this zoom-able comparison of various tiny things (from a coffee bean down to a carbon atom). Neat!

Brenda

2009-10-22T20:06:00.002-04:00

2009-10-20T11:00:00.001-04:00

2009-10-14T13:39:00.001-04:00

2009-10-12T16:09:00.002-04:00

Obama wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize hours before bombing the moon

2009-10-09T10:36:00.003-04:00

Or at least that's what the cheeky comment on metafilter had to say about it.

Joking aside, this is a bit of an odd turn isn't it? As the Carpenters would say, "we've only just begun."

Asked why the prize had been awarded to Mr Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel Committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve".

So, basically, the Nobel prizes (at a sweet $1.4m a pop) have become like pro sports contracts - pay for potential.

2009-10-08T02:08:00.002-04:00

Dictatorship in the USA

2009-10-02T13:21:00.003-04:00

Gore Vidal, who predicts a dictatorship in the US soon, is a real spit and vittles kind of guy. If you've read any of his stuff you know he's a straight-out with it sort of guy, and says it like it is. In the article linked above he makes excellent points about the dim-witted-ness of the American populace, complaining that Obama is giving his audience too much credit (he really needs to talk down to them, Vidal thinks).

So is he right? Here is an anecdotal experiment - go to google and type in "can a human " into the search. You will get a drop down of suggestions based on common searches including your terms.. You may be shocked by what is on the top of the list.

For those too lazy, here is a screenshot (via c-dunx):

insert man's best friend joke here

2009-09-30T16:55:00.000-04:00

2009-09-21T16:18:00.000-04:00