Best Science Images of 2008

Honorable Mention, Photography: "Squid Suckers: The Little Monsters That Feed the Beast" Drexel University doctoral student Jessica Schiffman won an honorable mention in photography in the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge for capturing what's actually an array of suckers found on the tentacles of a long-finned squid.

Each sucker--about 400 micrometers wide, or a little smaller than the width of a human hair--is surrounded with "fangs" of chitin, a hard organic material.

Squid use their powerful suckers to secure unwitting prey and feed their robust appetites--much like the horror-movie plant that inspired the image's color scheme.

..via National Geographic

Level Orange

Why is it that I have been back in Dallas for about 40 minutes and since that time I have been consistently sneezing and with a runny nose? Could it have anything to do with that 'level orange' pollution alert today? And hmmm...could that level orange have anything to do with the peachish/orange haze that hung over all of downtown this morning when I passed by on my way to Austin?

Zyrtec is my new bestest friend. And this is all coincidence, because mankind does not cause any pollution or damage at all! Silly me.

The United States of Mind

The United States of Mind"As for high-anxiety states, that group includes not just Type A New York and New Jersey, but also states stressed by poverty, such as West Virginia and Mississippi. As a group, these neurotic states tend to have higher rates of heart disease and lower life expectancy."

So it turns out according to this study that Texas has an extraversion of 16, agreeableness 25, conscientiousness 17, neuroticism 28 and openness of 17. All pretty low numbers, indicating we're nice, friendly folk. Go us!

As a bonus when looking at this, our fantastic vice-presidential candidate that is pro-life, pro-gun, creationist comes from Alaska, with the scores of: extraversion of 49, agreeableness 51, conscientiousness 51, neuroticism 47 and openness of 49. So she comes from the land of the introverted, mean, rude, laid-back, and close minded. Perfect for a position of power!

And I'm a Douchebag

I'm a PC

Really. Because having 86% tof the American consumers makes perfect sense to go ahead and mock the competition. Way to go innovative marketing/advertising team!

Things I Want # 237

LED interactive coffee table

Yay Charlie!

10 reasons it would rule to date a unicorn!

Kids Change the World!

12 year old revolutionizes the solar cell

When I was 12 we had 'Invention Convention', and the winner was a girl who painted a milk carton red and shoved it full of plastic bags and created the 'spare bag holder', an invention that has been out in much better forms for much longer. But of course, it wouldn't have anything to do with her mother being one of the judges. Nooooo....This kid probably could win in that contest either.

So True

I guess temptation was too much for me. Damn that Satan.

..via Vintage Vandalism

The Power of Wind

I dunno. I think I liked his original job of just messing with people and the people not fighting back. Looks like fun.

Better than a Windmill

Dutch scientists have been experimenting with wind power in a new form, kites. Since kites can reach a higher latitude than a wind turbine, tethering one to a generator has been proved so far to be able to produce enough energy to pwer 10 homes, and there are plans on new models that could produce enough energy for 100,000 homes. And they are colorful, so when they are up in the sky, we get a better view than that of an airplane!

Exploding Dog

Milestone

As we were: five years ago (or 4 and a lot of months).

Hell, I never even thought I could keep a friend this long...life is a lot different when you are 22 than 27.

New Ways to Show Support

Pick a look/hobby/profession, it's on here. Seems the only thing missing is actually 'disgruntled workers for Obama'. I might actually pay for that one.

Also, check out: Send a condom to a Republican delegate. Because really, abstinence only works wonders. Just ask Bristol Palin.

Wow! PC for the win!

It is a rare day indeed when I show support for a PC over an Apple. Rarer yet when it is an HP, the computer I remember growing up to be a complete pain in the ass and not worth the money paid. Working at Circuit City after high school, wemocked the customers that dared purchase an HP over a Sony, although decidely less than the unfortunate purchasers of eMachines.

So, that said, I am in awe over this amazing use of recycled materials by HP for the Pavillion dv692. Rather than a huge box of packaging (my Powerbook has a box measuring 8x14x22 sitting my closet), a used messenger bag serves as the basic holder. Internal air bubbles keep the product protected while eliminating 97% of the packaging. Three of these fit into a larger box for shipping, cutting another 65% of the packaging space for shipping purposes. Way for someone to think outside of the box (ha! a pun!) and come up with a much better solution. And with the nifty messenger bag, the buyer saves even more for not having to invest in a laptop bag.

Too bad that in the end, it IS still an HP....

Back to Normality....

Good God I'm lazy. I've been spending most of the day uploading photos from my external hard drive to a private folder on Flickr since I'm already paying for it and my hard driveonly seems to like to show up anymore on my work laptop. Stupid Windows/Mac/crappy hard drive brand compatibility. I had no idea until now just how many photos I have taken in the past 5 years or so, nor how time consuming it really is to transfer all tens of thousands of photos it is.

The plan was to spend the day getting the Seattle photos online as well as reading up on all the political pointlessness I've missed out on lately. NPR is wonderful, but only helpful if you catch a good show.

So, maybe soon I will have a good post.In the meatime, you get aNihil quote that pretty much sums up everything: "the Republicans want to go on and on about experience, well George W Bush has 8 years experience being the president, and he f-ing sucks at it."