Call my crazy, but that’s exactly what I’ve got for you today. Back in 1890, Nikola Tesla invented wireless power, and in June of this year, a team at MIT demonstrated wireless power, or as they called it, WiTricity.

Now, Jeff Lieberman has taken this concept a step further with electromagnets, allowing his wirelessly-powered lightbulb to basically levitate.  It’s a piece of art, no doubt, but it’s functional too.  And as Lieberman points out,  the irony of this setup is that with both the levitation and power on, this lightbulb consumes less than half the energy a traditional wired lightbulb consumes!

(via notcot)

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Early yesterday, Google launched their next phase of interstellar domination with Google Sky. This is an addition to the Google Earth app that allows you to navigate the heavens by way of constellation maps, Hubble satellite images, and planetary orbit animations. Not to mention the ability to aimlessly wander space the traditional Google Earth way by panning, zooming and rotating your view. I have to say, this is pretty freakin’ sweet. Check it ›

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“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” just may be one of the funniest damn television shows ever written. A detail in one of the episodes (season 2 - “The Gang Goes Jihad”) has caught the attention of several serious fans: a mysterious sandwich called a “Grilled Charlie.” Below are the results of my own reverse engineering analysis of a Grilled Charlie.

Its appearance and description in the show offer several good clues to its construction:
•Firstly, the instructions shouted by its creator, Charlie:

“A Grilled Charlie has peanutbutter last! Peanutbutter outside, chocolate inside! Butter inside, cheese outside!”

•Close inspection of the scene reveals a jar of JIF peanutbutter, a packet of American cheese slices (or cheddar), and a bottle of Hershey’s syrup next to the hotplate used to fry the “Grilled Charlie” (though other posted recipes erroneously indicate a chocolate bar).

Here’s a possible/probable way to create this:
Step 1 - Butter the bejeezus out of one side of a piece of white bread. Place the piece of bread, butter-side down, onto a hot skillet (if you’re hardcore, your skillet is on a hotplate and you’re in a filthy apartment).

Step 2 - As the butter side is frying, place a slice of cheese (American or possibly cheddar) on the top of the bread and let it melt. Then flip the bread over and fry the cheese side (you’ll need a sh*tload of butter to pull this off properly). You’ll have to keep moving it so the cheese doesn’t burn off the bread.

Step 3 - Remove the butter-cheese slice and put a new white bread slice onto the skillet (make sure there is still sufficient butter in the skillet to fry it). Fry the piece of bread, and while it is frying put Hershey’s chocolate syrup on the top side. Flip the bread over and quickly fry the chocolate side (it will actually fry if you do it right). Remove from skillet.

Step 4 - Join the two pieces of fried bread, cheese on outside, butter and chocolate on the inside. Add JIF peanutbutter to the outside of the sandwich (not clear if it goes on top of the cheese or on the opposide side of the sandwich).

Step 5 - Eat warm, with cold beer. Then prepare for the heart attack.

It is surprisingly good - a nice combination of burnt cheese, chocolate and peanutbutter.

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Last month I posted an Urban Non-Legends article about “FrankenBerry Stool” - the medical term given to false “blood in stool” readings caused by red food coloring (the term arose from the early years of FrankenBerry cereal, which had horrified parents rushing red-stooled children to doctors). Last month I tested this and it appears that they changed the recipe: FrankenBerry came out indistinguishable from Count Chocula.

A friend reported “a recent colorful outcome” with BooBerry cereal (FrankenBerry’s poltergeist counterpart). I got some and gave it a try.

The results of “Operation BooBerry”
Though BooBerry turns milk blue, the final outcome was wholly unexpected: it was quite colorful, but not blue at all.

In sum: “FrankenBerry Stool” cannot be achieved anymore (with FrankenBerry). And “BooBerry Stool” is spectacularly vibrant, but not blue - to be technical about it (because this is scientific research after all and I’m not enough of a sicko to post photos), it is Pantone 368 or hex# 77bd33 (thanks Chris).

On a related note - it’s uncanny how Al Franken looks like FrankenBerry and Scott Bakula looks like Count Chocula.
(Yes: I had a lot of free time on my hands to make these. I <3 Photoshop)

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Exotic Sashimi

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Behold! The Super-Awesome Action Hero Name Generator!!! Push the button for non-stop crime-fighting Action Hero names!!! You can’t fight zombies with a name like “Scooter.” Push the button and get ready for ACTION!!! [Does not work well with Internet Explorer - the browser of the feeble].

©2007 Blogadilla
Concept (and names): Timbotron
Actual Labor and Creation: Steve B
Machete Photograph: Y. Trottier.

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A friend of mine is a curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA; yesterday I got a cool private tour. Here are some of the highlights (click on photo to enlarge):

A - The IBM “Deep Blue” supercomputer; defeated chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

B - The Apple 1 personal computer (the first Apple product), for sale in 1976 for the price of $666.66.

C - Douglas Engelbart’s 1967 mouse prototype (no joke, it’s made of wood).

D - Herman Hollerith’s 1889 tabulation/census machine; it electronically “read” punch-cards; in 1911 he sold the patent to a small company known as the International Business Machines corporation (IBM).

E - Data cards from J. M. Jacquard’s 1804 programmable textile loom.

F - An example of the detailed “printing” of Jacquard’s loom (you’re looking at a woven image).

G - A WWII Enigma code machine.

H - The 1949 IBM 604 Calculator; IBM’s first mass-produced computer.

I - The Rand JOHNNIAC computer, used for scientific computing in 1954.

J - Detail of the stylish 50’s JOHNNIAC nameplate (looks like a car or a fridge).

K - IBM core memory for the 1954 SAGE air defense system computer used by NORAD.

L - The first Google Production Server, 1999.

M - The 1954 SAGE air defense system computer used by NORAD.

N - Detail of SAGE’s built-in cigarette lighter and ashtray (you gotta love the 50’s).

O - The guidance computer for a 1962 Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic (nuclear) missile.

P - The MIT 1965 Apollo spacecraft guidance computer.

Q - University of Tokyo’s Biper-4 bipedal robotic legs, 1983.

R - The 1976 Cray-1 supercomputer.

S - The 1985 Cray-2 supercomputer, with stylish fluid cooling tower.

T - The 1971 Computer Space arcade game; the first commercially available video game.

U - The Apple 1 personal computer, autographed by Steve Wozniak.

V - Detail of “Woz” autograph.

W - A pre-1956 RAMAC prototype; the world’s first disc-drive.

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Soon after its creation in 1971 (in the mad scientist labs of General Mills), many disdraught parents discovered that FrankenBerry cereal turned more than the milk pink. Apparently the red dyes in FrankenBerry did not break down in the disgestive tract, producing what medical professionals have come to refer to as “FrankenBerry stool.” Red and pink stuff was coming out of childrens’ bodies and parents were taking them to doctors to screen for internal bleeding. These incidents were common enough for the term “FrankenBerry stool” to make its way into medical literature.

In the name of science and all that is sophomoric, I took it upon myself to personally test this. Behold: “Operation FrankenBerry.” It is a hard-to-find cereal in my area, but luckly I was able to buy FrankenBerry on Amazon.com (also available through Hometown Favorites). Earlier this week, I had two sequential meals consisting of FrankenBerry.

The results: No FrankenBerry stool. They have changed the dyes since 1971. FrankenBerry comes out the same as Count Chocula.

Stay tuned.
Next research project: “Operation BooBerry” (accounts from friends indicate that it does turn things purple). I will post the results soon.

Note: Though the resemblance is uncanny, Al Franken is not affiliated with FrankenBerry.

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If you find yourself swimming in the Amazon River, wearing loose shorts (or naked), and urinating in the water - you may be in grave danger. A candirú just might swim into your urethra and lodge itself there. Long considered a myth or “bush legend,” this fear has recently (and unfortunately) come to light as true. The name “candirú” actually refers to several species in the Trichomycteridae family and the Vandelliinae subfamily - they are tiny, parasitic, transparent catfish that subsist upon the blood of larger fish. Most of these species lodge themselves among the gills of larger fish (they have sets of backward-facing spines around their head) and live on the blood of their unfortunate hosts. Accounts* also note that some candirú species lodge themselves in the anuses of larger (and terribly unfortunate) fish. Perhaps as a case of mistaken identity, they seem to be attracted to human urine (which perhaps has a chemical signature similar to fish excreta or gill respiration) and will advance to the source, and at times lodge themselves in that source. A 1997 incident of a young man (23 yrs old) near Manaus, Brazil who had a candirú removed from his manhood is one of the first extensively and scientifically documented cases (gnarly web archive photos of the procedure here). The dead specimen (a species of Plectrochilus), which was removed with some difficulty, measured 133.5mm long and 11.5mm at the widest part of its head. The man and his equipment survived intact. A fish this size seemed to have little difficulty working its entire body into the urethra of the poor man. To offer a sense of scale, here is an illustration of a Trichomycterid candirú with an American quarter (specimen illustration redrawn from Spotte).

*The definitive work on this subject is marine scientist Stephen Spotte’s “Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfishes.” Spotte has left no stone unturned in this extensive collection of candirú accounts and current research. I got it for Christmas, an awesome read.

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SteveB sent this to me on Thursday, and I immediately thought we should post it. In fact, I assumed he would have already done so, because it’s that cool. But because more than 24 hours have gone by since Stevo shared it with me and it’s still not up, this video is fair game upon which I am going to sieze.

And behold….The Amazing Singing Tesla Coil!  That’s right, a Tesla coil that ‘plays’ along with some pretty solid music.

Ya gotta love the Nintendo throwback.

(For the full story and a bit of science, head over to HauntedFrog)

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A Purdue University research team (the Rosen Center of Advanced Computing) released a video of their computer simulation of the 9-11 aircraft collision into the World Trade North Tower. This reconstruction is the product of two and half years of research to help understand this tragedy from an engineering standpoint.

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So most of you might shy away from bringing such items on a camping trip, but this little johnny could save your life in a pinch. I know I will be packing a few on my next camping trip! What am I going on about? Well if you knew how to start a fire with water and a condom you were already one step ahead of me!

Click the link for the VIDEO!!!

(Via http://www.gadling.com/ )

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To make sense of who is out there, I generated a nice chart of “the neighbors” in our outer Solar System (Photoshop generated images based upon color and composition data and/or estimations for each body; the data are very limited for some of these); nicknames are in quotes, and the satellites of each are depicted beneath their respective planet-thingy (click on chart to enlarge):

In recent years, our Solar System has become both smaller and bigger. I thought I would chose this subject as the “What Is It? of the Week” because it is a little confusing and I thought I’d sort it out.

Last year, the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to the status of Dwarf Planet - the Solar System now only has 8 planets. A Dwarf Planet is defined as: 1). having an orbit around the Sun, 2). having sufficient mass to become a near-spherical shape, 3). not a satellite of another body in the Solar System (other than the Sun), 4). has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. Basically, a Dwarf Planet is a small planet with crap around it.

Much of the demotion of Pluto’s status can be attributed to the discoveries of Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz. In recent years, this team has discovered several bodies in the Solar System large enough to be considered “the next planet” or to cause Pluto to be redefined as a member of an extensive community of smaller planet-like thingies orbiting around the Sun. Among the larger Pluto-like planet-thingies, the Brown team has discovered Eris, Quaoar, Orcus, and Sedna. To add insult to injury to Pluto, it now appears that Eris is around 27% larger than Pluto; Pluto is not even the largest of the Dwarf Planets. Poor Pluto has gone through a lot in the last year. Eris, a rocky iceball (or icy rockball), was discovered in 2005 (by Brown, Trujillo, and Rabinowitz) and until its official naming in Sept 2006, it was nicknamed <nerd>”Xena”</nerd> and its moon (now called “Dysnomia”) went by <nerd>”Gabrielle”</nerd>.

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Slo-Mo-Mentos+DietSoda

(via TVweek.com; Via Metacafe)

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A cool video of Bob Bryanton’s clear and simple description of dimensions one through ten. It made my brain hurt and I think blood is trickling from my ears.

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Earlier this year, scientists made several great leaps closer to a scientific understanding of “ball lightning” and how it is naturally generated - following the hypothesis that ball lightning could be generated by lightning striking soil and a “ball” of vaporized silicon (from the soil) would breifly maintain an electrical charge. Laboratory tests using electrically superheated silicon produced “ball lightning” that persisted for several seconds, moved and changed direction, briefly maintained a “ball” shape, and briefly maintained high temperatures - all typical characteristics reported in natural ball lightning sightings.

Here’s a video of a laboratory recreation of “ball lightning”:

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Quick. Name the female equivalent of Viagra. Can’t do it? That’s because it doesn’t exist. The pharmaceutical companies haven’t invented a pill for getting your husband off the couch to help with the housework. (Joking. I kid because I love.) But that’s not because they haven’t been trying.

As Natalie Anger reported recently in the New York Times, the compound bremelanotide is wending its way through clinical trials as a possible treatment for so-called “female hypoactive sexual desire disorder”*:

Studies in rodents demonstrated that the drug not only gave male rats spontaneous erections, but also fomented sexual excitement in female rats, prompting them to wiggle their ears, hop excitedly, rub noses with males and otherwise display unmistakable hallmarks of rodent arousal.

Lest you think that bremelanotide is going to transform your average over-worked, stressed-out, resentful Type A woman into a raging nympho, think again:

Importantly, the females responded to the drug only under laboratory conditions where they could maintain a sense of control over the mating game. Take away the female’s opportunity to escape or proceed at her preferred pace, and no amount of bremelanotide would get those ears to wiggle. In other words, Annette M. Shadiack, director of biological research of Palatin, said, “this doesn’t look like a potential date-rape drug.”

Or, in yet other words, if you’re not in the mood mentally—because you hate your job, you’re stressed, or your spouse has let his six-pack abs become a 12-pack—you ain’t going to be in the mood physically. (To be fair, I understand that Viagra’s the same way. If a guy isn’t attracted to his partner, popping a pill isn’t going to make the little man stand at attention.)

So there you have it. When you’re standing around at that cocktail party this weekend, see if you can drop “bremelanotide” into casual conversation. For bonus points, you can mention the drug’s original purpose. (Sorry, you have to read the article.)

As for whether it will get those ears wiggling, well, I’m not making any promises.

*Try to imagine how hard I’m biting my tongue at this point.

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A team of NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope astronomers were able to generate an image of dark matter (right image) based on how the galaxy cluster ZwCl0024+1652 (nicknamed “Clumpy McDarkmatter”) gravitationally “lenses” the light from galaxies behind it (notice the rings of faint blue smudges around the galaxy cluster in the left image). Dark matter is a subject of great interest for astrophysicists - it is matter that contributes to a large percentage of the mass/gravity of the universe, yet does not interact with electromagnetic phenomena (light, etc.) (outside of gravitational lensing, etc.).
Link.

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