Science and Technology
General
Get off Facebook video
Jan 8th
It is another new year (happy new year everybody!) and most people have already made many new year resolutions. Watching the news the last couple of weeks, most people in the new year hope to lose weight, get a better job, or just make more money. On the other hand, Ross Gardiner is encouraging people to get off Facebook as he has done for the last 5 months.
I never had a Facebook account and I don’t plan on opening one any time soon but I know many people who do and they are wasting an enormous amount of time on there obsessing over the number of “friends” they have, updating their status or keeping up with the status updates in friend stream. I just don’t find any of these activities particularly exciting and since I can always keep in touch with my good (and actual not just online) friends over email and telephone, I cannot imagine a need for me to give up all my personal information to yet another online service.
At any rate, I think Ross makes some excellent points as to why people should get off Facebook. Make it your new year resolution because if nothing else, this one is easy to keep. 
Arthur Benjamin: Mathemagics
Apr 3rd
I truly enjoyed this TED talk on Mathemagics. From the description,
In a lively show, “mathemagician” Arthur Benjamin races a team of calculators to figure out 3-digit squares in his head, performs a massive mental calculation, and guesses a few birth days. How does he do it? He’ll be happy to tell you.
Thomas Edison: Electrocuting an elephant
Jan 5th
Thomas Edison in his efforts to show that his direct current was safer than alternating current electrocuted a number of animals. In the process, he also demonstrated the dangers of AC on Coney Island’s Luna Park Zoo elephant Topsy. The experiment took place in 1903 and you can read the story on Wired here. Edison made film of this and the YouTube video below shows the unfortunate Topsy getting zapped by 6600 Volts of alternating current.
Jumbo jet and rainbow
Nov 6th
During my recent trip to San Diego to attend the IROS conference, I took the following photo from inside the plane upon our final approach to the San Diego International airport; click the image for the higher resolution version.
High speed camera action with balloons
Nov 4th
High speed camera are awesome. Check out the following footage of a water balloon exploding captured at 5000fps,
Balloon Burst – High Frame Rate Camera – The funniest videos are a click away
And also checkout another water filled balloon falling to the ground but not exploding also filmed with a high speed camera at 2000fps,
Motorcycle jacket with airbags
Oct 18th
Having been in the unpleasant position of getting hit by a car while riding a bicycle, I can appreciate the existence of what seems a rather crazy product: a jacket with build in airbags! Impact Jackets manufactures these for motorcycle and horse back riders; I wish they had a light version for cyclists, at least for the winter because who wears anything more than a t-shirt during the summer? The jackets are a bit expensive at $500 but compared to preventing you from shuttering your bones and even saving your life, it is a small price to pay. Some guy in Baltimore already owns his life to one of these jackets.
