They don’t build ‘em like they used to. A 70-year-old with an even older car took on a 2003 Hummer H2 in a hill climb and won. Of course it helps to weigh so little, but it’s still quite a feat for both car and driver.
Jeff :: Jul.30.2007 :: Interesting Stuff :: No Comments »
Jeff :: Jul.29.2007 :: News 'n' Commentary :: No Comments »
Looks like the materials world is where the cool stuff is happening. Graphene oxide paper promises to be stronger than steel and as flexible as carbon fiber, but cheaper to make. It doesn’t seem to play nice with water, however, so there’s plenty of engineering hurdles to jump. One step closer to the space elevator!
Jeff :: Jul.29.2007 :: Interesting Stuff :: No Comments »
For those of you heavy drinkers out there, be sure to get your intake of fish in between beers, cocktails, martinis, or whatever your poison is. Eating fish has always been considered good for your health, apart from the mercury content thing in some of them. If for some reason you’re not a big fan of fish you can always try an extract of fish oil.
Jeff :: Jul.25.2007 :: Interesting Stuff :: 1 Comment »
Looks like my lazy ass was right — a non-stop one-hour cardio-fest cannot be that good for your health. Well at least mine, anyway. Really smart Japanese researchers determined that taking 20-minute breaks between 30-minute workout sessions actually helps to burn fat compared to doing the whole hour of exercise all at once.
The funniest part is that they compared this to an hour of rest without exercise. I suppose that’s what we call the “control” sample. I hope the test subjects who sat in a chair doing nothing for an hour got paid less than the ones who had to slave away at the stationary bike.
Jeff :: Jul.24.2007 :: Interesting Stuff :: No Comments »
Hopes for Turkey to join the EU have gone from unlikely to never-gonna-happen. Following an Islamist-influenced party victory in the parliamentary elections yesterday, Turkey’s future as a fervently secular state is now in doubt. Hopefully the new ruling party doesn’t go to far and reform Turkey’s laws to be closer to the Iranian model.
Jeff :: Jul.24.2007 :: News 'n' Commentary :: No Comments »
Looks like the One Laptop Per Child project is moving ahead, with mass production underway. At first I thought this idea was fairly silly when considering that third-world countries have more pressing needs like sanitary water supplies and basic health care, not to mention democratic governments.
I then realized that “wealthy” countries reached their current status through an investment in education. Education is what provided our modern-day solutions for health and well-being, and it’s a prerequisite for change in poor nations. The OLPC sounds like a modern way to create an education infrastructure, instead of the old way (libraries, books, etc), in essence making it a education project, not just a laptop project.
Jeff :: Jul.23.2007 :: News 'n' Commentary :: No Comments »
