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"There's a bit of news coverage right now about the cold weather that's hitting certain parts of the world, but don't jump into the idea that we've entered global cooling. Take a look at the rest of the world and a little historical perspective, as well as the reason why some of us are getting this cold weather in the first place."

There's a lot of warm and hot on this map, FishMan! But, it's Summer in Australia!!!

"kristoffer myskja: interference machine 'interference machine' by kristoffer myskja, 2009 norwegian artist kristoffer myskja specializes in creating small machines that perform a variety of tasks, including playing the rim of wine glasses. 'interference machine' sits a top a small pedestal and slowly spins in circles, rubbing the top of two glasses to create a high-pitched noise. the machine is made from small brass and other metal components that are powered by a motor. the motor spins the main gears and this triggers the two arms to swing around. each arm is counter-weighted and rubs the glass rim with a soft piece of material. http://www.kristoffermyskja.com 'interference machine' by kristoffer myskja, 2009 'interference machine' by kristoffer myskja, 2009 'interference machine' by kristoffer myskja, 2009 'interference machine' by kristoffer myskja, 2009 'interference machine' by kristoffer myskja, 2009"

These are the "sounds of space" collected by U Iowa instruments on various spacecraft.

"We look forward to what sort of wacky, zany, and sexy campaigns PETA has in store for the next decade. Whatever they are, you can count on us to be there! " From these photos, PETA = Pert Exhibitionists Tantalizing Aggressively

As Chilean and international rescue forces work through the rubble cause by the massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake that hit near Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, users of social media the world over have undertaken their own rescue measures. Twitter, Facebook, and several of Google's properties aren't trivial, now. They're life-saving, informational tools. An eye-rolling bit of gossip about one of those Kardashian girls can explode through the Web in minutes--and now, news about those in Chile is traveling over the same digital pathways, with the same speed, reaching the same vast amount of people. These are a few ways social media is being used in the wake of the quake.

Hoping Giorgio's doing ok...

ASUS has always been known for making some of the best gaming computers in the world. Now they can also be known for making some of the coolest: ASUS now has two notebooks that are built using bamboo - and selling for under $1,000. The ASUS U6V and U2E Bamboo Series Notebook computers use industrial-strength two-year-old Moso bamboo for virtually the entire casing of the product. "We spent the last couple of years perfecting and working with bamboo," said Jonney Shih, Chairmen of ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated. "It is trendy yet responsible." Pound-for-pound, bamboo also has a regeneration rate that is simply unmatched in nature. It has been known to grow two feet in just 24 hours and using less energy in to manufacture than those made out of metal alloys from refined petroleum.

beautiful! Adding to my wish list...

Kids are always decorating their clothes, whether it's drawing on Vans, or, in the 80s, sticking Gummy Bears on their shirts, to complement the blood spilled from getting punched by kids who draw on Vans. For a guy whose tinkering's taken on a hellacious bent, check out custom hats from HellBilly Delux.

How do you enter your home? Through a normal door? Bo-ring! Just take a gander at this ludicrous entrance, which is made to look like you're entering a spaceship (or at least a spaceship from the set of a 70's TV show) every time you come home. Apparently, this house is located in San Francisco on 3rd Ave near Geary. And sadly, it's not a permanent entryway. Instead, the folks who live there change up the front of the house for various theme parties that they have. And based on the entryway, I'm guessing those parties are pretty crazy.

"Darkness can conceal identity and encourage moral transgressions; thus Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in "Worship" in The Conduct of Life (1860), "as gaslight is the best nocturnal police, so the universe protects itself by pitiless publicity." New research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, shows that darkness may also induce a psychological feeling of illusory anonymity, just as children playing "hide and seek" will close their eyes and believe that other cannot see them, the experience of darkness, even one as subtle as wearing a pair of sunglasses, triggers the belief that we are warded from others' attention and inspections."

"In this remarkable and fully rockin' video, an Italian singer performs a rock piece whose lyrics are gibberish intended to sound like English. Entitled "What English Sounds Like to Foreigners," the video is meant to illustrate which English phonemes and syllables carry into the foreign ear, but I tell you what, it sounded like English to me, too, though like English as sung in such a way as to make it hard to decipher. What English Sounds Like to Foreigners (via Making Light) Update Thanks to commenter LukeWhite for this intelligence: "It's actually titled Prisencolinensinainciusol, written by Adriano Celentano wrote it in 1972.""

So Twine is either down for the count, or (more ominously) my content and user access have been Twained... [duh, duh, duhhhhhhhhhh]...

"Russia is considering sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth, the head of the country's space agency said Wednesday. Anatoly Perminov said the space agency will hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis, telling Golos Rossii radio that it would invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project once it is finalized. When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated the chances of it smashing into Earth in its first flyby in 2029 were as high as 1-in-37, but have since lowered their estimate. Further studies ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 18,300 miles (29,450 kilometers) above Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters. In October, NASA lowered the odds that Apophis could hit Earth in 2036 from a 1-in-45,000 as earlier thought to a 1-in-250,000 chance after researchers recalculated the asteroid's path. It said another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact. Without mentioning NASA findings, Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. "I don't remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032," Perminov said. "People's lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people," Perminov said. Scientists have long theorized about asteroid deflection strategies. Some have proposed sending a probe to circle around a dangerous asteroid to gradually change its trajectory. Others suggested sending a spacecraft to collide with the asteroid and alter its momentum, or using nuclear weapons to hit it."

"Here is an innovation borne of the need to make solar modules that are more able to capture more sunlight in regions like New York (or Germany) that have relatively low level insolation. Normally that means that it takes more panels to make the same power, which means it simply costs more to make the same electricity in upstate New York than in the Southern California desert. Prism Solar Technologies in Highland, NY has innovated a breakthrough holographic thin-film (Holographic Planar Concentrator™) that makes possible a very parsimonious use of crystalline PV cells to counteract that problem for Northern region"

structure is everywhere. the golden rule rules.

AR without a marker, cool

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Soon the word "hella" may not be associated with California surfers as much as with scientists in lab coats. A physics student is petitioning to add "hella" to the International System of Units (SI) as the official designation of 10 to the 27th power, or a trillion trillions.