Theo Jansen is one of my personal heroes and perhaps the closest thing to a modern-day Leonardo daVinci. He makes complex robots that are powered by the wind and walk on multiple legs. Theo Jansen’s website
Theo Jansen at the 2007 TED talks:
Preview of a documentary about Theo Jansen:
STRANDBEESTEN_TRAILER from Alexander Schlichter on Vimeo.
(artists’ concepts of Fomalhaut b. Left image by David A. Hardy)
A few days ago a team from UC Berkeley, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Lawrence Livermore Labs, and NASA JPL announced in Science that they have taken a photograph of a planet outside of our own solar system. Though numerous planets outside our solar system have been discovered in recent years, this is a rare example of an extrasolar planet identified through photographs. This planet - between one and a half to three times the mass of Jupiter - orbits the star Fomalhaut (25 light years away) in the constellation Piscis Australis (”The Southern Fish”). The star Fomalhaut is about twice the size of our Sun, but 15 times as bright, glowing bright blue-white. Remarkably, this young star has features similar to our early solar system: it has a large disk of debris surrounding it, serving as a “nursery” for young planets.
Several years ago, scientists noticed that this debris ring has a sharp inner edge (as if something large is shaping the inner edge) and that it is not entirely centered around the star (as if some other mass is pulling the ring slightly off-center). A comparison of photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004 and 2006 revealed an object in orbit around Fomalhaut on the inside of the star’s debris ring - this planet moves at a pace of 872 years for one complete orbit around the star.
This planet is named Fomalhaut b: it’s one and a half to three times the size of Jupiter, it appears to be a giant ball of gas (much like Jupiter or Saturn), and may have a large ring system of its own (and much larger than Saturn’s).
A few weeks ago, the New York Times (Health) presented a nice slideshow of “Iconography of Contagion” - public health posters from the 1930’s - 1950’s.
Even two months after the New York Times article on Miracle Fruit was published (last May), online sources were still sold out or were having difficulty maintaining their stock of Miracle Fruit.
Everyone had to try it.
Especially me.
When chewed/eaten, Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) temporarily alters your taste perception: the sensation of “sour” registers as “sweet” for approximately 1-2 hours.
I finally got a hold of some Miracle Fruit tablets (dried Miracle Fruit in tablet form), from Miracle Fruit World online.
Friends and I experimented with Miracle Fruit tablets over the past week, here are some observations and results:
• It makes a lemon taste like a Valencia orange.
• It makes a Meyer lemon taste like an expensive Valencia orange.
• It makes a lime taste like a sweet tangerine.
• It makes Country Time Instant Lemonade taste like bland sugar water.
• It makes Sour Patch Kids taste like Normal Patch Kids (it makes them taste like fruity gummy bears).
• It makes a Dill Pickle taste like a gross Sweet Pickle.
• It makes a Cola taste very sugary and sweet(er).
[click to enlarge]
As American presidential elections are coming up, ponder this:
• A vote for president in Maine is worth more than two votes for president in California.
• A vote for president in North Dakota is worth more than three votes for president in California.
I made this lovely graphic to show the value of a presidential vote in each state, compared to California. For example, Louisiana is labeled +39%. That means voting for president in Louisiana has 39% more value than voting for president in California - five votes from Louisiana equals almost seven votes from California. I decided to use California as a basis of comparison because I live here and because we rock.
Why is this happening?
Because the Electoral College sucks.
For those of you who are new to this or who didn’t pay attention in highschool. . . (more…)
The “Nicolas Cage Suck Factor” is approximately .75 (75%).
In recent years, the chance of a Nicolas Cage movie sucking is about 75% - only one in every four of his films will not suck.
I was at the movies last night and noticed the poster for Nicolas Cage’s new movie “Bangkok Dangerous” and a couple questions came to mind:
• ”Will Nicolas Cage show up in any movie offered to him?”
• “Since Leaving Las Vegas (1995), which Nicolas Cage movies haven’t sucked?”
Based on the films he’s appeared in since 1995, here is a running list of Sucked and Not Sucked (though not necessarily great, either). This is the data pool I used to generate the “Nicolas Cage Suck Factor.”
Not Sucked:
• Leaving Las Vegas
• City of Angels (almost sucked)
• Adaptation
• Lord of War
• National Treasure (almost sucked)
Sucked:
• The Rock
• Con Air (yeah, I know, some liked it)
• Face/Off
• Snake Eyes (really sucked)
• 8mm (semi-sucked)
• Bring Out the Dead (semi-sucked)
• Gone in 60 Seconds
• The Family Man
• A Christmas Carol: the Movie
• Matchstick Men
• The Wicker Man (semi-sucked)
• Ghost Rider
• Next
• National Treasure II
• Bangkok Dangerous
Update: To be scientifimical about this, post your own Nicolas Cage Suck Factor in the comments below, based upon the movies listed above and we can create a more accurate general public Nicolas Cage Suck Factor number.
Heywood: .67
Rabbi VonSydow: .67
Timbotron: .75
cmdrtebok: 1.00
Rebecca: .71 (she added a movie)
Allison: .80
• Snowbilly - (adj., n.) A “hillbilly” or “red neck” from Alaska or other northern reaches of the United States. Currently used in reference to Sarah Palin.
• Bandslash - (adj., n.) A genre of fan authored fiction that focusses on homosexual encounters among rock stars (often among band members within the same group).
• ‘Anata to wa chigau n desu.’ - (Japanese phrase) Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said this cryptic phrase (”I am different from you”) to a reporter soon after his recent and unexpected resignation from office. This expression is now becoming the new internet ‘buzz phrase’ in Japan (props to PinkTentacle for explaining/traslating this). Fukuda T-shirts are now selling like crazy in Japan.
• Urushiol - (n.) The oily compound produced by members of the Toxicodendron family of plants (Poison Oak, Poison Ivy, Poison Sumac), which causes irritation and swelling when in contact with skin and mucous membranes. This is a good word to know if you want to be a smartass in the forest.
• Grey Goo - (n.) An end-of-the-world scenario involving nanotechnology that self-replicates and eventually overtakes the surface of the Earth, destroying all life in its wake.
This weekend (Sept 6 & 7), the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California is hosting a Jetpack Show!
I just got back and already made a sweet, sweet video for you all (live jetpack action!):
Jetpack Facts:
• “Jetpack” is without question the coolest compound word in the English language.
• “Jetpack” as an adjective means “better than awesome.”
• “Jetpack Pilot” would be the coolest thing to have on a business card, ever.
• Samuel L. Jackson with a jetpack would be unstoppable.
• Rumor has it that “Jetpack” will be the top celebrity baby name in 2009.
