tingilinde

an accurate functional model of the workings of congress

and made of wood

(thanks Greg!)

lhc rap

yikes -- thanks to the 18 (and counting) people who sent this

(actually factual)

pigs in space

this squeals for narration. Thanks for the link Bjarne .. and also for the title (although Jim Henson must be smiling)

not only in france

By accident I found myself at page 60 of Law in Everyday Japan Sex, Sumo, Suicide, and Statutes a rather curious passage refers to a height requirement of 173 cm (5'8") for wrestlers. It seems that some wrestlers below the limit had silicone implanted into their head. In an extreme case a 16 year old implanted 15 cm (6") to make the limit. The governing body outlawed implants in the mid 90s and finally dropped the height requirement.

It does make you think about optimal body size for sports (also proportions). Basketball strongly favors height, rowers tend to be tall, jockeys and gymnasts tend to be below average height. Recently it was noted on coverage of the tour that the average Tour rider is very close to 173 - 176 cm tall. Anything much taller or shorter is a disadvantage. Colleen is a quarter meter taller - even something like building a frame may be an issue.

It is interesting to consider that some sports where reach and jumping aren't important are specialized enough that height and muscle distribution may be important factors.

What about height and this sport? Something tells me height could be a handicap, but I don't know. In any event it is good to see it added as a school sport.

how to make tiny minimal homes popular

Before this, show potential buyers schemes like this first.

(a hat tip to Roger)

btw - a lot of fun is to be had googling around on micro, small, tiny, etc homes... Like this one.

more on food photography

From slashfood -- tips on preparing food for great photography

motor oil as a substitute for pancake syrup sounds about right as does elmer's glue for "got milk" ads

bikes and freeways

This is just frightening (thanks for the link Greg)

Maybe when gas hits $10 a gallon there will be few enough cars on the road that bikes will be more practical.

cholesterol level too low?

This is just frightening

somehow I can't put it in the food category

getting juiced without electricity

the mind just wobbles

(thanks for the link Sara)

beyond cupholders

This ought to be just the thing to sell all of those Ford SUVs - an in car refrigerator

Nothing like enjoying nice cool drinks as you watch the digits on the gas pump spin. On the other hand it is big enough that you can probably live in it when gas payments get larger than your mortgage.

(tip of the hat to John)

green appendages

A prosthetic for those on their way to something. Perhaps an apostate branch of the Church of the FSM?

(sort of a tip of the hat to Tim)

really small microcar gets reviewed

Top Gear checks out the Peel P50 - a tiny and somewhat silly car from the early 1960s that would be the worst thing imaginable for a friend and her forty inch inseam. Post WWII Europe was short on many things and there was considerable experimentation in this area, but a bike is much more practical than many of these designs and the world went in another direction.

The pollution from that two cycle moped engine must be awful, but there are companies talking about updated clean retro microcars. It makes one wonder if more "practical" microcars will be updated.

It is reasonable to think about the right form factor for various types of transport. Somehow 3500 pounds carrying a 130 pound driver and 20 pounds of groceries seems wrong. Assuming you have safe roads, bikes and assisted bikes are going to rule on short trips in mostly good weather, but a 1000 pound vehicle could get away with a modest load of modern (lithium-ion for example) batteries and might be the basis for a neat city vehicle. Maybe even one for someone with Colleen's legs.

consume consume and consume

and feel good about it

laughter is the clear response here

100 mpg basic transportation

Two Peels. Basic, two cycle (heavy pollution and inefficient), light, small ... I don't think my 2 meter friend Colleen would have much luck here.

now how many cup holders can you put in one? If you wanted something small and efficient, take a 3 wheel bike, put an electric motor in it and make a body. Maybe if gas goes to $10 a gallon we'll see some cleverness.

nose filters

Yup - from the land of Hello Kitty. Nasally fitted filters

roadside america fame

wow

er - thanks, I guess

lots of good content though

very hard work

A pedal powered snowplow.

perhaps if you only have powder

give a hoot with usb

another unusual usb toy

telekinesis

Recently people have been talking about telekinesis quite a bit. I've been tempted to post, but it is something like religion. People want to believe without serious evidence that stands up to careful investigation.

The physics approach is to recognize only two of the four known forces act at a long enough distance to make telekinesis work - gravitation and electromagnetism. Both can quickly be ruled out. Gravitation is far too weak and EM is far to easy to detect if something was going on.

There might be other forces, but there are strong experimental limits on their nature and telekinesis is generally excluded (the same for telepathy).

But Sean wrote a fine piece on the subject

A friend takes many of her notes on the palm of her hand.

this seems ideal....

waffledogs

Doubtless there are those who will love the concept of combining the waffle and the hot dog....

I'll pass

The curious thing is this came up as a suggested item

gnomes gone bad

I first heard of this on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me

snip

The bizarre crime is on the rise in Sweden and officers say thieves have got away with thousands of pounds in cash, jewellery and other valuables in recent months.

Gangs are said to sneak the dwarves into the luggage hold, hidden inside baggage.

Then, once the journey has begun, the stowaways are free to rifle through the bags of other passengers without fear of being apprehended.

Before the coach arrives at its destination the dwarves take their loot back into their suitcase, zip themselves inside and wait to be collected by their partners in crime.

____

update.. I received a complaint from someone who is a member of Little People of America and an apology is in order. I don't mean to make fun of anyone's stature, but rather the unusual nature of this crime.

loud noises do things to your brain

thanks Yann

not exactly efficient, but an extrapolation of predictions of the 1950s

weird interface

but cute

the words of Malvina Reynolds come to mind...

Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of tickytacky
Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

wingfoot

two small turbojets + one finn

thanks Mike!

relativistic psychology

ah papers to read:

From the abstract:

Two studies demonstrated that the motivation to resolve cognitive dissonance affects the visual perception of physical environments. In Study 1, subjects crossed a campus quadrangle wearing a costume reminiscent of Carmen Miranda. In Study 2, subjects pushed themselves up a hill while kneeling on a skateboard. Subjects performed either task under a high-choice, low-choice, or control condition. Subjects in the high-choice conditions, presumably to resolve dissonance, perceived the environment to be less aversive than did subjects in the low-choice and control conditions, seeing a shorter distance to travel (Study 1) and a shallower slope to climb (Study 2). These studies suggest that the impact of motivational states extends from social judgment down into perceptual processes.

Balcetis, E. & Dunning, D. (2007). Cognitive dissonance and the perception of natural environments. Psychological Science, 917-921.

In the embarrassing costume study, subjects who had little choice shortened their estimate of distance by 40%. Since I'm not a psychologist, I won't comment:-)

holiday spirit

perhaps the most garish yet...

nun too soon

(thanks Lorraine!)

there are reasons for electrical codes

Tom found found this on one of his mailing lists:

I had all sorts of problems with light bulbs flickering and burning out, as well as other electrical problems. After lots of ranting I got the landlord to bring in an electrician.

He found that one of the 220 breakers was blown, so he replaced the fuse and threw the switch.

There was a flash across the room and the breaker popped immediatly.

He followed the 220 line from the breaker and found it clamped to
a pipe.

A gas pipe.

When they replaced the electric stove with gas, instead of capping the electric line, they just attached it to a nearby pipe. (Which happened to be the gas pipe.)

My landlord did not say much the rest of the day and I know we didn't have any gas leaks.

topless clerks in liverpool

... assuming they work in tropical fish stores.

and more...

One wonders how some of these laws came into effect. (thanks for the link Sukie)

when l/d is "enough"

The lift over drag of a human body is very similar to that of a brick ... but add a bit of wing and some people do strange things. (making its way around, but worth repeating)

not as elegant, but still over the top is a fixed wing assisted with model airplane scale gas turbines. Anyone who says the Swiss are bland?

disturbing?

frightening - really frightening - I couldn't make it to the end. I don't know if I should award or remove points from those that do.

One wonders if Australian movie makers are watching ... and I won't comment on the country of origin

(er - thanks Jheri)

and while on the strange theme - braille tattoos

tattoos for the blind and a different way to think about body alterations.

Perhaps a programmable array of small two state bumps makes sense.

curious vehicles

Bjarne notes an interesting site.

seasonal pencil sharpener

yikes

(thanks for the link Sara)

really annoying bird

er - thanks Bjarne... perhaps having the bird dance to Abba would be even more disturbing

the day of ussher

As long as we are talking about milestones...

Sukie points out that Oct 23, 4004BC is the day figured by Bishop Ussher as the biblical creation day...

for techies 4004 has its own meaning as a moment of creation.

not to mention that Google went through 666 today for the first time

a most unusual home

Roadside America comments on a converted missile silo... several conversions have been made and I'm sure all are "special"

probably great tornado protection

happy mole day

if you have to ask ...

I celebrated at 6:02am

gilbert and sullivan + or v xena?

strange indeed
as noted by Jeff

commercials as artforms

some are great

(thanks Bart!)

homemade x fighter

Greg points to someone who should crack some books

clever design

offered without comment

hacking fashion

why not? Some of this visually disturbs me, but I'm used to that. And self expression can be fun...

jet luge

The advent of relatively inexpensive small turbojet engines has created some unusual, and sometimes dangerous, projects.

This one gets points for unusual and dangerous.

Fortunately the engines are spendy enough ($3k to $5k) that teenagers aren't playing with them.

low pollution flying cars

bringing new meaning to the term bottle rocket, and more practical than many flying car schemes promoted over the decades. (thanks for the link Greg!!!)

power to weight

It is easy to get a stone to fly with enough power.

Over the years there have been so many flying cars ... and they keep coming.

really silly idea

this has to be a joke...

it is wrong in so many dimensions...

horsepower my foot...

body art

Science tattoos! (thanks Sukie!)

carbon torch -- back to the future

Cobble together an old lighting technique and make people around you really nervous

(thanks for the link Greg!)

priority

Bringing new meaning to the term

what's on your ipod?

probably not this...

an extension of train spotting I guess

at&t iphone billing madness ... the video

one of the more just stupid policies ever

hip musicians

Described as "possibly the most undignified musical instrument ever". the hipDisk makes sound based on angular relations between the hip and torso. As implemented, one tends to agree with the assessment, but a mostly invisible version used as a midi controller in dance might have potential...

the school commute

when I was a kid we trudged through the four foot snow drifts in arctic temperatures - our bodies bent forward into the gale force wind like a hood ornament on a luxury car from the 1920s ...

All true:-) - and these stories increase with time.

If this report is true, kids from Nujiang should have an impressive starting point for their future stories. Hopefully some of them will be tempted by creative writing.

bug zapper and a six pack

redneck entertainment for hours ...

redneck games

(thanks for the link Sara)

maps in clouds

Britain in the clouds at the often curious strangemaps.

Of course it should be pointed out that drawing with clouds is relatively straightforward in Photoshop.

best.military.quote.ever

From the man-eating badger rumors sweeping Basra (and you thought it was weird where you live)

We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area.
     - UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer

a salute to the french

It is July 14^th after all ...

Oddly enough, a fair percentage of the French nationals I know are pilots and a bit aggressive with their flying. So this video of old Mirage F1s seems appropriate (editing is rough as is the music ... but the flying is insane)

speaking of flight...

another lawnchair flies...

The first time was a bit stranger (an excellent piece on the subject appeared in The New Yorker)

david pogue, the musical

offered without comment

random walks in two dimensions

It has been proven that on a two-dimensional lattice, a random walk has unity probability of reaching any point (including the starting point) as the number of steps approaches infinity.

Here a driver, fueled by panic and cocaine, attempts his own verification in the Netherlands. (thanks for the link Jim)

plant channeling gnomes

One of the stranger products I've seen out of Japan in - well - weeks.

Hanakotoba claims to tell you what your plant can't - in Japanese of course.

So if you are looking for that really strange gift ...

and if a gnome doesn't do it for you, how about an endoscope for removing your earwax?

since people don't look at real issues anymore...

Some of the reported commentary raises doubt about judgement (scroll down to the story of Seamus the Irish Setter) as well as - well - just plain stupidity.

but where's my jetpack?

The old hydrogen peroxide rocket belts of the 60s had several issues that rendered them impractical - perhaps the most serious being half minute flights on $100 worth of fuel. In the late 60s a small turbofan jet belt was made by Williams Research (the folks who build cruise missile engines these days). Among other things, all of the rotating bits had to be counter rotating to deal with torque issues. Still impractical at 400 or so pounds, but it did have a nifty zero altitude rocket deployed parachute for safety,

Now a company called Jetpackinternational claims to have a jetpack coming out at the end of the year. Potentially mechanism to reduce the population of wealthy males... I don't know what a T73 turbine is ... the only T73 I know of is a much lager turbine by Pratt&Whitney.

curious cloud over iran

Noted in spaceweather a few hours ago ... (go to the June 15^th archive if you are looking later)

very curious ... a malfunctioning vehicle>

curious networks

We seen what can happen when a network carrier hunts for and turns over information .. some people support this for government purposes (oddly enough Republicans strongly support this) ...

what happens when curious networks team with other network customers...?

homes that don't do it for me...

nice view though...

power house

Greg knows my weakness for tree houses .. this one takes the concept a bit too far

ah yes - the crackpot index

Jim recalled the crackpot index - a mechanism for ranking bad and really bad practitioners of pseudoscience.

decomposition

John Hawkes (great blog btw) on getting down to basics...

not for mealtime

people power

Bjarne notes a remarkable incident in India...

dictionary + singing..

non trivial (and her voice isn't bad)

(noted by Sukie)

speaking of tree houses

the brainy primate blues ...

(thanks for the link Sara)

but physics may be worse

and there is no global warming...

An outstanding Daily Show segment that interviews one of the true non-believers.

Of course this guy is into other things that don't exactly rely on science.

wired?

caffeinated lip balm

(a tip of the hat to Sukie)

what to do with 3000 m3 of space

some people have interesting tastes

insane sports

The most striking feature of this year's Bond movie is an unbelievable parkour chase scene. The April 16 issue of The New Yorker has a piece on the sport by Alec Wilkinson which they have posted online.

Parkour has no explicit glossary, but traceurs typically describe the fundamental maneuvers as the cat leap, the precision jump, the roll, and the wall run. There is also the tic-tac, in which a nearly horizontal traceur takes at least one step and sometimes several steps along a wall and launches himself from it; and the underbar, in which a traceur dives feet first through a gap between fence rails, like a letter going through a slot, then grabs the upper rail as his shoulders pass under it. In addition, there are several vaults, including the lazy vault, the reverse vault, the turn vault, the speed vault, the dash vault, and the kong or monkey vault, in which a traceur runs straight at a wall or a railing, plants his hands on top, and brings his feet through his hands. All these moves link to one another, so that a traceur might say that he went cat to cat, or that he tic-taced a wall or konged it, then did a roll and a wall leap. The intention is to become so adept that the movements recede in one’s awareness and can be performed without reflection. Jazz musicians occasionally say that a novice needs to learn all about his instrument, then he needs to learn all about music, then he needs to forget everything and learn how to play, which is a paradigm that also fits parkour, especially because both activities at their most proficient are improvised. A jazz musician wants to be comfortable in any key. Similarly, a traceur wants to be sufficiently fluent so that he can cross any terrain in flight without compromise.

As a bonus, before you start your youtube search, a set of video links is provided.

we are having plumbing work done today

and someone points to this...

more theremin fun

strangeness indeed...

and a theremin plus vocals plus computer for looping... (would Bobby approve?)

amazingly clueless design

PC concepts from Samsung The first "PC" has maybe the worst keyboard I've seen.

(thanks for the link Don)

asparagus

The asparagus available in local markets is as good as I've seen.

I don't think we need an asparagus peeling machine though (great sound track though)

id car

really strange (via pharyngula)

Feynman's old van was covered with Feynman diagrams, but they represent real science.

huntin' in texas...

I checked to see if this was an April Fool's piece

strange instruments

An old HP scanner playing Fur Elise...

how much does that sting hurt

A pain scale by someone with serious experience (mentioned on boing boing)

1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.

1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.

1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.

2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.

2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.

2.x Honey bee and European hornet.

3.0 Red harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.

3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of Hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.

4.0 Pepsis wasp: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath (if you get stung by one you might as well lie down and scream).

4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel.

And a Discover article for probing a bit more deeply..