MIT class does a feasibility test of the storied tactical weapon of 212 BC.

Ancient Greek and Roman historians recorded that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Archimedes (a notably smart person) constructed a burning glass to set the Roman warships, anchored within bow and arrow range, afire. The story has been much debated and oft dismissed as myth.

Intrigued by the idea and an intuitive belief that it could work, MIT's 2.009ers decided to apply the early product development 'sketch or soft modelling' process to the problem.

a series of earth images named 'Blue Marble' detailing the scope of what our planet looks like during the course of a year.

Everyone knows that NASA studies space; fewer people know that NASA also studies Earth. Since the agency's creation almost 50 years ago, NASA has been a world leader in space-based studies of our home planet. Our mission has always been to explore, to discover, and to understand the world in which we live from the unique vantage point of space, and to share our newly gained perspectives with the public. That spirit of sharing remains true today as NASA operates 18 of the most advanced Earth-observing satellites ever built, helping scientists make some of the most detailed observations ever made of our world.

Ralph: [Upon Principal Skinner informing him that he's failing English class] Me fail English? That's unpossible!

T-shirt logo from the Gryphon music shop in Palo Alto, California.

Much as we love the old Gryphon T-shirt design, after over 25 years of looking at the same logo everybody around here was ready for something different. The 'Robot Johnson' design is of course from Robert Armstrong, famed underground cartoonist and founding member of the Cheap Suit Serenaders.

The Cheap Suit Serenaders, as one will remember, being the string band that also included another famed underground artist, R Crumb.

Looks like an interesting shop of instruments, with many vintage pieces.

an impressive variety in the autumn colours of the vine maple, due to location and exposure to sunlight.

the formation of red pigments in the autumn provides protection, preventing the too-rapid breakdown of chlorophyll which could occur in exposed (read: excess light) areas. As you can clearly see in the leaf in the upper right, the bottom-right corner has the pattern of the leaf above. Where the leaf above shaded this leaf, no red pigments were produced. Where the leaf was exposed, bright red anthocyanins were formed. To take this to a broader perspective, vine maple trees in shaded forests and under low light conditions have little need to produce red pigments, as the breakdown of chlorophyll can occur at a modest pace. However, vine maples in exposed sites turn flame orange and red, so that the pigments produced will slow the rate of chlorophyll breakdown. The leaves in this photograph are from trees that are partially exposed, hence the attractive blend of colours.

Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune started building this house in San Jose, California in 1884 and the building continued 24 hrs a day for 38 years until her death in 1922. Guided by spiritualists and her fear of a hostile afterlife, the house had no overall plan except that it be continually built and rebuilt with the intent of discouraging the bad spirits.

from Winchester Mystery House...

As the days, weeks and months passed, the house continued to grow. Rooms were added to rooms and then turned into entire wings, doors were joined to windows, levels turned into towers and peaks and the place eventually grew to a height of seven stories. Inside of the house, three elevators were installed as were 47 fireplaces. There were countless staircases which led nowhere; a blind chimney that stops short of the ceiling; closets that opened to blank walls; trap doors; double-back hallways; skylights that were located one above another; doors that opened to steep drops to the lawn below; and dozens of other oddities. Even all of the stair posts were installed upside-down and many of the bathrooms had glass doors on them.

160 rooms (more or less) including 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms, countless staircases, towers, cupolas, and all the trimmings that a turn of the century fortune could provide. And it took the movers six weeks just to get the furniture out of the maze that it had become.

link to wikipedia entry

link to Mystery House Blog by a tour guide

the 'Titanic Lamp'

Doors drummer John Densmore, far left, is still holding out against letting commercial interests use the Doors music for selling their wares.

......like all top classic-rock franchises, it now has the chance to exploit a lucrative afterlife in television commercials. Offers keep coming in, such as the $15 million dangled by Cadillac last year to lease the song "Break On Through (to the Other Side)" to hawk its luxury SUVs.
To the surprise of the corporation and the chagrin of his former bandmates, Densmore vetoed the idea. He said he did the same when Apple Computer called with a $4-million offer, and every time "some deodorant company wants to use 'Light My Fire.

nice paint job from Alaska Airlines

The Salmon-Thirty-Salmon, sporting the glimmering image of a wild Alaska king salmon, is among the world's most intricately painted commercial airplanes. Complete with shiny scales, a dorsal fin and gills, the livery on the Alaska Airlines 737-400 passenger aircraft is the result of a dedicated team of 30 painters working nearly nonstop for 24 days.

A recent flyby of this moon by the Cassini spacecraft in the Saturn system has provided high resolution images of it's strange landscape.

..or Mr Jalopy.

Recycler, Collector, Buy & Sell, Swap and Build.

As of Jan 2004 the asteroid known as 2004 MN4 was given a 1 in 60 chance of hitting the earth in 2029, when it makes it's pass.

Recent new math has it now off the mark but still close...with a better chance on it's next pass in 2036.

....additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on Earth or the Moon in 2029. A future impact on April 13, is still possible, keeping the asteroid at level 1 on the Torino impact hazard scale as of September 2005, with an estimated impact-probability of 1 in 5,560.

The asteroid is also known as 99942 Apophis and the day in 2029 is April 13, a Friday...

link to Wikipedia entry

visual presentations from the 2005 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge.

NYLENTIK (Indonesian)

To flick someone with the middle finger on the ear.

NGAOBERA (Pascuense, Easter Island)

A slight inflammation of the throat caused by screaming too much.

BAKKU-SHAN (Japanese)

A girl who looks as though she might be pretty when seen from behind, but isn't when seen from the front.

KOSHATNIK (Russian)

A dealer in stolen cats.

ZECHPRELLER (German)

A person who leaves a restaurant without paying.

A sculpture installation in Prague that has two figures writing messages.

While they are peeing, the two figures move realistically. An electric mechanism driven by a couple of microproccesors swivels the upper part of the body, while the penis goes up and down. The stream of water writes quotes from famous Prague residents.

Visitor can interupt them by sending SMS message from mobile phone to a number, displayed next to the sculptures. The living statue then 'writes' the text of the message, before carrying on as before.

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