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eftychia at 06:27pm on 2003-07-18
eftychia at 06:27pm on 2003-07-18- The third of these
political posters that
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tcb has, really
grabs me. - lederhosen suggests a
"Which Jack Chick character stereotype are you?" thing.
"I was originally going to make this a webquiz so I could annoy the rest of
you as well, but I can't think of good questions. So this is a minimalist
webquiz: pick your own answer. I've included a link to one example with each of
these [...]"
- Hey, human eyes are actually sensitive (slightly) into the near-infrared range! Who'da thunk it? This article describes wearing welder's goggles with infrared filters in bright daylight, so that all the other frequencies our eyes are more sensitive to are cut out, and one's eyes adjust to the [percieved as] dim level of the available IR. The author's descriptions gibe with the results of shooting Kodak HIE infrared film with a filter to remove most of the visible light, as one would expect. (Well, except for the red tints to most things, which you don't see on HIE, which is a black-and-white film.) Hmm ... a way to preview scenes to see which will look interesting in IR before shooting such expensive film... The author cautions against driving while wearing IR goggles (taillights are very bright, but some red traffic lights are invisible), but describes ways to plant secret messages that only other gogglers will see. Layers of theatre gels are used, which are cheaper than photographic filters.
- A dictionary of musical terms that didn't make it into Grove's. E.g. "allegro con brillo" is "the fastest way to wash pots and pans," and "appologgiatura" is "an ornament you regret after playing it." Fun. Only one that I thought of as obscure (but quite funny if you know about 'h'). It's worth backing up to the page of humour links it's referenced from, for the link to Great Concert Disasters, a couple of Christmas Carol puzzles, laughs from papers written by music students, and The Alto's Lament.
- Gnod is the latest "build a database from user inputs and tell people what they're likely to enjoy that they haven't heard of before while simultaneously refining the database" engine (there's got to be a name for such things). Bands, movies, books ... So far when I enter sets of three band names, it gives me mostly other bands I like or ones I've never heard of; very few that I know and don't like. (This is the third such engine I've played with. The others quietly vanished when I went back to use them to get suggestions after a year or so.)
- Atom In A Box illustrates -- and animates, and even does 3-D if you have the two-colour glasses -- orbital structures of atoms. Gee, and I was just trying to remember the shape of the 'd' orbitals last week -- convenient timing!
- geekchick spotted a
rather amusing tattoo.
- An Ergonomic Keyboard for Pirates
- Men (and others with relevant anatomy regardless of self identification!) take note: A new study suggests frequent masturbation by men in their 20s provides protection against prostate cancer later in life. As one witty fellow put it, "Our health is in our own hands." "The team concluded that the more men between the ages of 20 and 50 masturbate, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer. The study emphasizes that this is especially so for men in their 20s."
- And without further comment beyond this statement that I'm not going to comment apart from this statement (don't you hate it when we mathematicians try to be precise?), here's an Associated Press story: "The agency created to combat terrorism now is targeting those who prey on children. Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge announced 'Operation Predator' on Wednesday. The initiative seeks to crack down on crimes by child predators by pulling together once-fragmented investigative and intelligence resources. It will target illegal aliens and foreign nationals who have avoided deportation. [...]"
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Oh no! I'm too late!
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