Cool concept:
The listed time to get the motorcycle from the plane is three minutes, so that’s not bad.
Although the modified the engine to reduce the chances for fuel leakage, it still means you’re flying with a gallon or two of gas on your belly.
Cool idea!
A 28 kilometer-long bridge is being planned to link the Middle East and Africa. The US$20 billion bridge will become the longest suspension bridge in the world and tower some 400 meters above the water, with at least three spans of around 2700m each. Undoubtedly set to become one of the wonders of the modern world, the project includes plans to build entire cities at each end, linked by a six-lane motorway and a four-track railway. Adding complexity to the enormous task, the bridge it is to be built in an area of intense seismic activity.
Now that’s a heck of an idea!
Now this is just well done.
So there’s this game – Improbable Island – that you play in your browser. It’s free.
It’s really a blast.
It’s based on the old “LoRD” BBS door-game engine, and it’s very slickly done. If you enable Javascript (if you don’t know what that means, you haven’t disabled it, so ignore that – it’ll work for you), you can type letters on the keyboard to access the various functions, so once you get to know what you’re doing, it’s extremely quick if you want it to be – quick and easy.
What’s the game?
Well, you’ve landed on this island, and you have to go kill stuff. And you can buy weapons and visit various cities around the island and do stuff and meet some great people…
The AudioFile: Understanding MP3 compression: Page 1
But what is MP3? The usual explanations usually take one of two forms. The long version, available in technical papers, is written in jargon and filled with math. The short version, often used by newspapers and nontechnical periodicals, simply states that the process eliminates parts of sound not normally heard by the human ear. But this one-sentence description raises more questions than it answers for any reasonably tech-savvy reader: how does it find those unheard sounds, and how does it get rid of them? Whats the difference between the different bit rates and quality levels? If youre anything like me, youve often wanted to know the mechanics of MP3, but not to the point of writing your own encoder.
This is a very well-written article, intended to try and bring more understanding of exactly how the MP3 format works to non-engineer—types, and I think it succeeds pretty well. It’s still a little heavier than some might wish; but if you stick with it, I think you’ll have a better understanding of the general process of making an MP3. I think it helps to have a basic understanding of what an audio waveform basically means (in regards to how it relates to the makeup of frequencies), but I’d imagine even folks who don’t have that understanding can still glean some [hopefully] interesting information.
For the first time since I’ve been checking, my glucose is under 200!
What’s weird is that I only took it because I was feeling a little shaky – but now that I think about it, it feels more like Ritalin-on-empty-stomach more than blood-sugar-problems, which would be accurate – I took Ritalin on an empty stomach, then went to fix breakfast. And I can feel the Ritalin kicking in… So yeah… Oops.
OTOH, I probably wouldn’t have bothered checking my glucose, so it’s not all bad. heh.
OTOOH, this is “fasting” level since breakfast hasn’t kicked in – so we’ll have to check in a bit to see where it goes… but maybe this Metformin will start working. I hope so.
(For those that don’t know about glucose: Normal people range from 90-130. Controlled Diabetes is 140-150; anything over 200 requires help to control… so my goal is 140-150, but my FIRST goal is to drop below 200…)
Well! About twenty days before the start of the official hurricane season, and we have our first storm. Subtropical, yes, but a named storm, by golly…
I’d seen this forming off the coast a couple of days ago—or rather, I saw on the SE Radar composite that it looked like a low pressure area out there… I guess it was!
Welcome to the pre-season!
I’m thinking this year will be more like 2005 than last year, simply because we don’t appear to have the El Nino effect to dampen things this year.
Here’s a current radar capture:
If you look to the left of Tallahassee, you’ll see some red markings – that’s two Xs with a red circle around each. The right X is where I live (The left one is the flower shop – it’s rather more useful looking a local weather…)
And here’s the satellite:
NHC Discussion:
000
WTNT41 KNHC 091459
TCDAT1
SUBTROPICAL STORM ANDREA DISCUSSION NUMBER 1
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL012007
1100 AM EDT WED MAY 09 2007AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE HAS BEEN INVESTIGATING THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OFF THE SOUTHEAST U.S. COAST SINCE EARLY THIS MORNING. THE INITIAL LEG OF THE MISSION WAS FLOWN AT 300 MB FROM WEST TO EAST OVER THE CIRCULATION CENTER…AND SEVERAL DROPSONDES WERE RELEASED. THE TEMPERATURE PROFILES REVEAL A RATHER FLAT THERMAL CROSS-SECTION…NOT INDICATING A DISCERNIBLE WARM OR COLD CORE AT ANY VERTICAL LEVEL. THE WIND PROFILES…HOWEVER…SHOW WINDS INCREASING WITH HEIGHT IN THE WESTERN HALF OF THE CIRCULATION AND DECREASING WITH HEIGHT IN THE EASTERN HALF. GOES IMAGERY INDICATES THAT…COMPARED TO YESTERDAY…THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY HAS CONSOLIDATED CLOSER TO THE CENTER…BUT PRIMARILY IN THE EASTERN SEMICIRCLE. THERE IS ALSO A SLIGHT HINT OF UPPER-LEVEL OUTFLOW WHICH WAS COMPLETELY ABSENT YESTERDAY…BUT THE SYSTEM REMAINS EMBEDDED WITHIN A LARGE DEEP-LAYER TROUGH. ALSO…THE RADIUS OF MAXIMUM WINDS HAS CONTRACTED FROM MORE THAN 100 N MI YESTERDAY TO ABOUT 50-60 N MI THIS MORNING. BASED ON THE HYBRID STRUCTURE OF THE SYSTEM…ADVISORIES ARE BEING INITIATED ON SUBTROPICAL STORM ANDREA. THE 40 KT INITIAL INTENSITY IS BASED ON AN EARLY MORNING QUIKSCAT PASS AND RECENT AIRCRAFT DATA FROM 850 MB.
THE INITIAL MOTION IS SLOW AND GENERALLY WESTWARD…ABOUT 270 DEGREES AT 4 KT. SINCE ANDREA IS ESSENTIALLY TRAPPED WITHIN A MIDDLE- TO UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH THAT THE DYNAMICAL MODELS FORECAST TO NOT MOVE MUCH DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS…ANDREA WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE TO MOVE SLOWLY…BUT IN THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF THE NORTHEAST FLORIDA COAST. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST GENERALLY FOLLOWS THE SCENARIO PAINTED BY ALL OF THE MODELS…TAKING THE SYSTEM SLOWLY SOUTHWESTWARD AND THEN SOUTHWARD DURING THE NEXT 3 DAYS OR SO. NONE OF THE MODELS BRING ANDREA INLAND…AND NEITHER DOES THE
OFFICIAL FORECAST. ANDREA IS CURRENTLY OVER SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURES OF NO MORE THAN ABOUT 25 CELSIUS…AND THEY WILL NOT GET ANY WARMER ALONG THE FORECAST TRACK. THEREFORE A SLOW WEAKENING TREND IS ANTICIPATED AND THE OFFICIAL FORECAST SHOWS DISSIPATION NEAR THE COAST IN LESS THAN FIVE DAYS. HOWEVER…SINCE ANDREA MIGHT BRING WINDS OF TROPICAL STORM FORCE TO THE COAST…A TROPICAL STORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED.FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INITIAL 09/1500Z 30.8N 79.3W 40 KT
12HR VT 10/0000Z 30.6N 79.9W 40 KT 24HR VT 10/1200Z 30.2N 80.6W 35 KT 36HR VT 11/0000Z 29.8N 81.0W 35 KT 48HR VT 11/1200Z 29.6N 81.0W 30 KT 72HR VT 12/1200Z 29.5N 81.0W 25 KT 96HR VT 13/1200Z 29.5N 81.0W 25 KT…DISSIPATING
120HR VT 14/1200Z…DISSIPATED$$
FORECASTER KNABB
Official Google Blog: Personality goes a long way
Quote: We wanted to offer you a way to add some personality to your Google homepage, too, but we had to ask ourselves some tough questions. How do we add personality without taking away from the information? How do we make sure people don’t get sick of looking at the same theme every day?
Today we’re releasing six themes for the personalized homepage that try to solve these challenges: a city, a teahouse (super cute—this one is my favorite), a winter scene, a sky, a beach and a bus stop. All of our themes are dynamic: they change with your own local time of day, current weather conditions or season. If you add the beach theme, for example (changes with time of day), it will ask you for your Zip code and adjust itself to match your local sunrise and sunset times. So if you happen to be stuck in a windowless office, you can at least crack open a cold one and watch the sun set over your desktop.
Themes for your custom Google page?
Awesome!
A Surge In The ‘Burbs – Forbes.com
Quote: Texas boasts half of the top 10 counties with the greatest population gains in numeric terms. (Maricopa County, Ariz., which includes Phoenix, topped this list.) But in terms of growth—meaning percent increases in population—four Texas counties also made the list: Rockwall and Collin near Dallas, Williamson County near Austin and Fort Bend near Houston. Much of the growth in these metropolitan centers has to do with the prosperous high-tech industry. Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news – people ), for example, is located in Williamson County, and Ericsson (nasdaq: ERIC - news – people ), the North American subsidiary of the Swedish telecom company, is located in Plano, much of which is located in Collin County.
It’s a recurring theme – the DFW Metroplex is just growing and growing.
KOSHER COKE A BIG HIT By RITA DELFINER - Regionalnews – New York Post Online Edition
Quote: Why is this Coke different from all other Cokes?
First, I thought that was rather clever. It’s the obvious joke, I suppose, but I guess I’m easily amused.
Meanwhile, it means COKE WITH SUGAR - not corn syrup!
I’ve got to find some of this!
First visitors step onto canyon skywalk – Yahoo! News
Quote: HUALAPAI INDIAN RESERVATION, Ariz. – Indian leaders and former astronauts stepped gingerly beyond the Grand Canyon’s rim Tuesday, staring through the glass floor and into the 4,000-foot chasm below during the opening ceremony for a new observation deck.
It’s open!
I’ve been hearing about this project off and on for at least a couple of years…
I’d like to go. 
Main Line Times – Dallas’ celebration of the arts
Quote: When people talk about Texas, most mean Dallas.
Don’t tell Houston
But pardon me a moment of Dallas pride… 
Charlotte Observer | 03/13/2007 | Mag: Morganton a top retirement town
Quote: Other communities on the list were Natchez, Miss.; San Antonio, Texas; Lafayette, La.; Dothan, Ala.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Georgetown, S.C.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Valdosta, Ga.; Hot Springs, Ark.; and Panama City, Fla.
Natchez and Panama City are, of course, both good retirement communities…
Given the size of each community, I’m surely the only one (besides close family) that would think this is kinda cool to see them both on the same list… heh.
So I suppose I’m spamming my own blog – but hey, I do this for me as much as whoever is reading.
Link to Article: nurl.us/tq
Quote: Born from a military vehicle and the most prominent symbol of America’s global military dominance, the HUMMER does not require more testosterone, but hey, boys will be boys.
I’d love to find out which county this is… The trees make it look like North Central Texas, and if I’d have to guess, I’d guess somewhere within a county or two of the I-35 corridor between Dallas and Austin…
I really wonder about the local reaction to this sherriff sending off a Hummer to Germany to be customized… And really, couldn’t a better paint scheme been found? But I suppose sherriffs aren’t generally known for their artist skills, and… it does get the job done, I suppose.
I wouldn’t mind owning this, don’t get me wrong – but I think my take would have been a little different….
Link to Article: Strawjet Project
Quote: The desire to use straw as a building material is as old as the agricultural revolution, but straw based products have always suffered from the apparent lack of strength of the plant itself. Previous technologies from straw bale construction to the recent development of compressed straw-board and straw panels have all begun with crushed, chopped straw. The fundamental advance embodied in the Strawjet technology is the use of the whole undamaged plant stem. The compressive strength of straw when loaded parallel with the stem is impressive. The Strawjet system seeks to use that strength by bundling the plant stems into “cables” about 2 inches in diameter.
So as they harvest the fields, they’re creating these continuous cables, which are cut into 8’ lengths.
(although I would assume this could be changed—I can imagine spooling up the cables and transporting them elsewhere for projects that require different lengths)
So far, they are then typically covered in papercrete (concrete made from cement and paper instead of cement and rock, basically, for a lighter substance that can be sprayed onto forms – something my uncle does).
Basically, you end up with a building substance that is very strong and environmentally friendly. Here’s a picture of a wall-segment for testing:
This is potentially revolutionary. It has been pointed out that, if nothing else, it gives farmers a cheap building material for their own use. It can also provide income for something otherwise viewed as waste.
My only question is in regards to how important plowing the straw back under is for sustaining the land. But I trust someone will be thinking about this… Assuming that’s not a major concern, this could well be very revolutionary.
I don’t know the amount of material that could be made, but surely it could replace a non-trivial percentage of the building materials used. Seems like if it caused less reliance on wood, that couldn’t be a bad thing—assuming that would allow for more mature forests, although a cynical point of view might be that fewer forests of any type (natural vs. renewed) would be the result… Still, that’s merely a cynical point of view, and surely this would be a valuable tool to help the environment.
And surely this would help not just the United States, but other countries as well…
I’m no expert, but I don’t see much of a downside, even trying to be pessimistic.
NOTE: I do NOT recommend anyone download and run this, except maybe geeks on a box you use solely for testing. Unlike beta software, which is usually relatively stable, alpha software is usually very unstable.
Link to Article: mozilla links
Quote: As planned Firefox Alpha 3 (code name Bon Echo) has been released to achieve the goal of having a feature complete build at the alpha level.
I can’t wait for the release! Although I suppose…. I will have to wait.
Firefox rocks.
Link to Article: Treehugger: Holographic Solar: New Method of Concentrating Sunlight Could Be Cheaper
Quote: Prism Solar Technologies in New York has developed a proof-of-concept solar module that uses holograms to concentrate light, possibly cutting the cost of solar modules by as much as 75 percent, making them competitive with electricity generated from fossil fuels.
Now that seems like a worthy goal…
Although I don’t have an engineering or scientific level understanding of the various ways to generate energy, technologies like solar cells, wind and hydro power seem to be surely among the best, from an environmental point of view.
So it seems like generally speaking, any technology that enhances the practicality of these technologies is a Good Thing™.
Link to Article: IfEnergy: Loremo on the Edge
Quote: The one, two combination of light weight and tunnel tested aerodynamics allow this car to travel 157 miles per gallon of gasoline or 1.5 l per 100km!
And it looks pretty spiffy, too!
And here’s a link to the Loremo site...
Link to Article: gizmag Article: New high performance, zero emission commercial vehicle
Quote: The soon-to-debut UK-built Modec van is the first zero emission van that is comparable in economy and performance to diesel equivalents, making it a real and viable urban delivery vehicle.
It has a range of up to 120 miles, and can recharge overnight. Since it can carry two tons, it’s certainly viable for many business situations…
One especially cool fact is that it actually goes farther in start/stop situations, unlike gas- and diesel-based solutions…
Pretty cool. I hope we see this adopted here in the US…
New Tech Spy: Boeing 797 to take on Airbus with (1000 seat) giant Blended Wing plane
Quote: Boeing is preparing a 1000 passenger jet that could reshape the Air travel industry for the next 100 years. The radical Blended Wing design has been developed by Boeing in cooperation with the NASA Langley Research Center. The mammoth plane will have a wing span of 265 feet compared to the 747’s 211 feet, and is designed to fit within the newly created terminals used for the 555 seat Airbus A380, which is 262 feet wide.
Well, I wonder if it’s not a little late—seems like there might be a smaller market for super-large aircraft like this… Although I wonder how it would work for cargo…
OTOH, about time to see a major revolution in aircraft design – even if this particular design is way overdue anyway – I know there were similar basic designs back in the 1950’s, if not earlier. Still, I’m rather sure that the design has been modernized in every way anyway, so it’s not like I’m saying they’re using outdated design!
Incredible Machines – Google Video
These really are incredible machines!
Rube Goldberg machines, I believe Japanese in origin. Definitely well-above-average in design—there are truly some remarkable ideas expressed! Nearly thirteen minutes in length, and you’ll probably watch it a couple of times to try and catch everything.
Awesome.
Quote: A disposable torch with long life (I hope I don’t invent the wheel once more) I bought ‘tic-tac’ mint candy and found out that this package must be ideal for 3 AAA batteries to make a small torch (or lamp) with.
Pretty cool!
Maybe not as cool as an Altoid flashlight would be, but I like Altoids better. And, I suppose, Altoids devices are overdone anway…
MousePlanet.com, your resource for all things Disney
Quote: The best strategy for using an enhanced Fastpass
What I would do is gather all the passports after entering the park, and have one designated “runner” and then the rest of the group can go straight to Fantasyland, a non-Fastpass attraction, or just go sit down and have some breakfast. The one “runner” will then go around the park to every ride that offers Fastpass and get a set of Fastpasses for each member of the group. After he collects the entire set, he meets up with the rest of the group.
Basically, this site will help you figured out how to maximise your enjoyment… It doesn’t appear to be unethical, either – simply using the system to its fullest.
So I ran across the original sketch for the Firefox logo, and I decided I wanted to play with it. Firefox rocks, especially the logo…
Here’s the original image:
And here’s my colorized version:
I made gradients from the actual colors from the rendered logo. The gradient is working better on the fox than the world, because the fox sort of follows a gradient, whereas the world is patchy. So I should probably do something else, but for now, I’m happy as a first version.
