Cool Links

Is video game violence a First Amendment right for kids?

Is video game violence a First Amendment right for kids?

Nov 01 2010 | comment(s)

Remember when Tipper Gore wanted to have labeling for adult lyrics in music?  Frank Zappa and others protested this was a Constitutional violation and that it was the responsibility of parents to decide what kids listen to - yes, pop musicians were against Democrats and actually expected that parents should listen to everything their child might access in advance of them accessing it and... well, it was a silly argument.    Record labels made no different in music sales but it at least gave parents an idea what not to buy for their kids, even if they couldn't keep children from obtaining it themselves.
Halloween around the world

Halloween around the world

Oct 31 2010 | comment(s)

They celebrate Halloween in Pakistan?   Apparently so, as this Getty picture shows.  

Halloween in Pakistan
Fotografía de Getty Images

And Halloween pics from Hong Kong and the Philippines and, of course, Germany, which pretty much invented it.   See Fotos de Halloween alrededor del mundo for all of them.
Global Warming fight - geoengineering versus biodiversity

Global Warming fight - geoengineering versus biodiversity

Oct 31 2010 | comment(s)

There's a conflict brewing in the global warming issue - The 193-nation Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has called for "no climate-related geoengineering activities that may affect biodiversity ... until there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities."

Well, what is 'adequate' scientific basis?   It is the nature of climate that nothing can be considered accurate in the sense of physics.   ETC, the Canadian group that pushed for the language behind the scenes, says it is a "a de facto moratorium on geoengineering projects and experiments."
A real life Ultima adventure for Halloween

A real life Ultima adventure for Halloween

Oct 31 2010 | comment(s)

Richard Garriott, aka "Lord British", creator of the "Ultima" game series, used to do something fun for Halloween - a real life haunted house fantasy adventure.  

Tickets were given for free, first come, first served, and some lined up well in advance, creating a makeshift hobo camp outside his property.  It took 400 people to create it each time it was held and 200 people to staff it.   He spent $100,000 on the effects.  Here, the Medusa on the second floor:


Photo: Richard Garriott
SCUBA divers enjoy Halloween also - take a look

SCUBA divers enjoy Halloween also - take a look

Oct 30 2010 | comment(s)

The Giant Ocean Tank folks at the New England Aquarium aren't letting Halloween go by without getting some SCUBA attention.   

There's a jack-o-lantern underwater:



and A Wicked Witch of the Deep
Parents may be more important than the school or even the child in educational performance

Parents may be more important than the school or even the child in educational performance

Oct 29 2010 | comment(s)

Home schoolers will tell you they knew this (and results bear them out) found that the effect on a child's educational attainment was, in order;

1) parents' effort is more important than the school effort
2) school effort is my important than the child's effort

Yes, they say parental involvement is more important than even how hard the child is inclined to work.
Astrophotographer Alan Friedman reveals how you can get a mind-blowing DIY Sun picture

Astrophotographer Alan Friedman reveals how you can get a mind-blowing DIY Sun picture

Oct 29 2010 | comment(s)

Artist and astrophotographer Alan Friedman talked to Wired blogger Lisa Grossman about he got an incredible photo of the Sun in his downtown Buffalo, NY backyard - and you can too.

He hooked his telescope to a hydrogen-alpha filter
which selects a tiny slice of the visible light spectrum. Hydrogen, the chief component of the sun, radiates strongly in this deep-red light, letting both the sun’s outer layers and the feathery filaments that extend away from the disk show up in sharp detail (see photos below).
San Francisco revives its stoner reputation

San Francisco revives its stoner reputation

Oct 29 2010 | comment(s)

It's bad enough that San Francisco football fans are ridiculed, what with drinking white wine spritzers in the stands and all that.   Now baseball fans are becoming famous for being stoners.

Californians may well pass a marijuana legalization law, putting them squarely in defiance of the big government in Washington most Californians claim is a good thing - but it hasn't happened yet, so Dallas sports anchor Newy Scruggs became a YouTube hit when he noted people were smoking weed outside AT&T Park before Game 1 of the World Series and "the police aren't doing anything."
Why efforts to beat malaria go nowhere

Why efforts to beat malaria go nowhere

Oct 29 2010 | comment(s)

It's impossible that some in science protest anti-science thinking in defiance of evidence yet continue to regard "Silent Spring" as an accurate waypoint regarding science policy.    A culture war  on DDT led to banning it and replacement by synthetic substitutes far worse than DDT for people and wildlife and, due to high cost, the deaths of many more children in Africa.

Now, instead of the obvious solution for malaria used for decades without harm, a group of experts say we should give up on beating it.
6 Habits You Didn't Know Were Keeping You Alive

6 Habits You Didn't Know Were Keeping You Alive

Oct 28 2010 | comment(s)

Putting your kids in daycare with other germ-infested kids may have kept them from getting diseases like Leukemia - what that means is hyper-attentive mothers insisting you go through a space-age quarantine process before viewing their little cherub may be doing more young'uns harm than good.

And using your cell phone may be preventing Alzheimers.   4 more subtle habits keeping you alive at Cracked.
The Evolution of Halloween

The Evolution of Halloween

Oct 28 2010 | comment(s)

Halloween through the years in one easy graphic. Click image to see it in a more readable larger size.

The Evolution of Halloween
A hole in your body - amaze and impress your engineering friends with this low-cost Halloween costume

A hole in your body - amaze and impress your engineering friends with this low-cost Halloween costume

Oct 28 2010 | comment(s)

It's special effects on a budget and, if you like gaping holes through your stomach, it looks fantastic.

Evan Booth shows us all how it is done.   A portable DVD player attached to his stomach actually displays a live video image from a camera mounted on his back - so it shows what's behind him, giving the illusion of a gaping hole through his chest.

hole through body costume illusion
Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics

Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics

Oct 27 2010 | comment(s)

Britney Spears is not the first star to juggle the weight of fame and a gift for technical matters. Austrian born film star Hedy Lamarr, famous in the 1930s and '40s, was also a gifted electrical engineer. 

Lamarr was frequently quoted as saying, " Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid ." She may have played that role on the silver screen, but when it came to real life, Hedy proved that brainpower was everything.
James Cameron's Next Films Will Be 'Avatar 2' & '3'

James Cameron's Next Films Will Be 'Avatar 2' & '3'

Oct 27 2010 | comment(s)

Hollywood's going to need more military costumes for villains.   James Cameron, the-man-who-hates-Marines(1), has agreed to shelve other projects and film Avatar 2 and 3 (has filming sequels simultaneously ever worked?   Does anyone regard that second "Pirates of the Caribbean" as a good film?  How about "Back to the Future 2"?   You see what I mean) for release in 2014 and 2015 - supposedly because Fox made a donation to an environmental charity.
Can Jon Stewart save the election for Democrats?

Can Jon Stewart save the election for Democrats?

Oct 27 2010 | comment(s)

Democrats are looking to a pair of comedians, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert,  to do what President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and dozens of other Democrat leaders haven’t done yet this election season: Get someone other than Republicans excited about voting. 

Stewart and Colbert expect tens of thousands of fans to join them three days from now at the “Rally to Restore Sanity”, the progressive alternative to the various conservative "Tea Party" rallies held this year.
 
Styrofoam Gets Biodegradable - And It's Made of Milk

Styrofoam Gets Biodegradable - And It's Made of Milk

Oct 27 2010 | comment(s)

Forget corn and sugar and petroleum for plastics, scientists have developed a Styrofoam out of clay and milk proteins.

Like a lot of great research, it began with an accidental discovery in the lab.  A student freeze-dried clay and got something intriguing enough that they started mixing the clay with a variety of materials.

When they added a cow's milk protein called casein, they ended up with a super-light, fluffy, and foam-like material. With further experimentation, they hit on a recipe that worked wel.
World's weirdest migration

World's weirdest migration

Oct 27 2010 | comment(s)

A group of researchers are teaching Waldrapps,  the northern bald ibis, to learn a migration route by teaching them to follow a microlight.

It's part of a wider conservation plan to save this critically endangered bird - because the birds are usually taught migration paths by their parents, impossible because the birds are raised in captivity, an artificial way to teach them is necessary.   
GM food necessary to feed the world of the future, says former Science Minister Lord Sainsbury

GM food necessary to feed the world of the future, says former Science Minister Lord Sainsbury

Oct 27 2010 | comment(s)

As is often the case when anti-science hysteria turns evidence issues into political and cultural wars, the opportunities for rational discussion get lost.  

Lord Sainsbury says it is time for a new debate on GM foods as he thinks they will help feed the world population estimated to reach 9 billion people by 2050.
They Might Be (Viral) Giants

They Might Be (Viral) Giants

Oct 27 2010 | comment(s)

A cool link for today for the title alone, but discovery of an oceanic cousin of the Mimivirus — the Cafeteria roenbergensis virus — which has the second-largest viral genome ever found in a single-celled host, is cool in its own right.

GenomeWeb.com
Skycouch - economy class airline seating gets cuddly (likely for those married under 5 years)

Skycouch - economy class airline seating gets cuddly (likely for those married under 5 years)

Oct 26 2010 | comment(s)

Can't get enough romance, even on an airplane?   Air New Zealand is for you.   They are about to offer what MSNBC calls "Cuddle Class" on Auckland-LA Flights starting next April - it's ostensibly for families so don't get crazy and let out the little Maori tribesman in you.