Warning: The following link leads to an extremely addicting flash game. Luckily there are only 20 levels and then you can go to sleep. At least, that’s what I did.
Oktapodi
Oktapodi, a short CG animation from the students at Gobelins.
DIY Garden Lanterns
If you’ve ever thought about getting some LED garden lights, check out the link for a simple and inexpensive tutorial on how to make your own.
Olympic Swim
As I’ve mentioned (many times to anyone that cares to listen) my former house-mate is Canada’s fastest swimmer in the 50m freestyle. This morning at around 4:30am local time he will be swimming in Beijing!
I saw Richard’s photo on Yahoo News (same photo here) and caught a couple clips of him swimming and on deck on the CBC a couple nights ago. (I also saw his roommate Jonas swimming tonight to—he competed in the 100m breast).
Here’s what Richard has to say on his blog the night before the big event.
Why I and not i?
The New York Times on why we capitalize the word “I”?
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Astro-09 High Altitude Photos
The following photos are from a set taken with a Pentax k10d from a high-altitude sounding balloon during an experiment conducted by Oklahoma State University while testing a new cosmic radiation detector.
According to the original poster, the k10d performed flawlessly in the harsh vacuum of space at temperatures below -60F.
“The payloads are attached to a sounding balloon which climbs to over 100,000 ft. The balloon is tracked with GPS telemetry systems. When the balloon is launched, it is about 12 ft. in diameter. At peak altitude it is between 40-50 ft. in diameter before burst (or commanded cut-down).”
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What will the LHC find?
Check out Cosmic Variance’s list of possible discoveries and the probability of each discovery being made in the next five years at the Large Hadron Collider.
Also, be sure to check out The Big Picture photos of the LHC.
Lightning Strike
My friends Paul and Jessica had their building struck by lightning last night. I think that’s what inspired them to start a new blog. Time will tell if they’ll actually keep it up.
As for the lightning, perhaps it was a divine message: vegetarianism goes against FSM.
Back to the Hat
It’s a civic holiday this Monday, so I’m away for the long weekend visiting family in Medicine Hat. My sister and her kids are going to be there—hopefully I’ll get some nice action shots of the boys jumping off the couch.
Speaking of my sister, check out her site jackiehutch.blogspot.com new site Jackie Hutchinson photography.
Posting has been sparse lately so it’s probably not particularly surprising when I say I may not be adding a whole lot while I’m gone.
Addicted to Oil
Good Magazine produced this politically charged, entertaining, and interesting youtube video about the state of the world, our demands for oil, and the dramatic increases to the cost of living in a world thirsty for energy.
If we’re addicted to oil, our twelve-step program should begin with admitting that we have a problem. As the price of oil creeps higher, finding new energy sources is more important than ever. But the search for alternatives, combined with environmental disruptions, is putting new pressures on other essentials like food. There are some things that are going well in the world. Right now, the economy is not one of them.
[Oil Addiction – YouTube]