AutoCAD? Are they kidding? All the high-tech shops that could afford this kind of hardware switched to SolidWorks a long time ago. Solid modeling FTW.

I've had the pleasure of having dinner with Mr. Stein, and I found him to be an extremely intelligent speaker, but completely lacking in common sense. He was able to wonderfully craft an argument explaining absolute nonsense. He was the kind of person who sounds smart until you actually listen to the words.

Is it any surprise that his first prominent position was as Richard Nixon's speechwriter?

#3:
My current digital camera (a Panasonic Lumix DMZ-TZ3) has a feature where if you take a picture with an exposure longer than 1 second, it automatically takes a second picture of the same exposure length with the shutter closed and subtracts the dark frame automatically. My old Cannon SD100 did the same thing.

#20:

If your debit card has an RFID chip in it, it is pretty easy to find. Just hold your card up to the light and look at the reflection off the face (and the back) of the card. The RFID chip will be a pea-sized rectuangular indentation.

On my Chase Freedom, it is located in the top half of the "H" in Chase as shown by the yellow square in the below image:
http://i25.tinypic.com/2zrly4g.jpg

I would imagine that the placement doesn't vary too much from card to card. Disabling it would probably require a finishing nail or something smaller than a hammer.

I just wanted to point out that the picture is of an RF security tag, not an RFID. It's just a simple Inductor-Capacitor circuit, and there's no computer chip.

The difference between that and and RFID is that the RF security tag is not uniquely identifiable, and it's trivially easy to burn out the capacitor using an EM field tuned to the resonant frequency of the circuit (which is how the cashiers deactivate it).

I know there are definitely some women who cause my penis to shrink when they touch me...

#16 posted by Takuan , April 21, 2008 10:27 AM Also, anyone know the kosher racket? Who do I have to get on board to get cultured pork declared OK? Petri dishes have no hooves.

Unfortunately, no vat-grown meat could be kosher as petri dishes don't chew their cud.

It's pretty clear that while the phones go into the batter, they're never actually fried. There is always a cut.

You can buy them from EcoSphere but they're not cheap. They run $100-$500, and there is a $40-$150 recharge cost. They are, however, much more elegant than the mason jar versions.

#1: My thoughts exactly.

Who installs a 4-camera security system in their house, but doesn't even bother to install a decent armored lock on the front door?

If you read the article, all elevators are required by law to have the emergency hatches bolted shut from the outside -- they are for emergency responders to get in, not for you to get out. An elevator shaft is a remarkably dangerous place.

When I moved into my new apartment, I was able to pick up a really weak WiFi signal to connect to the internet from one of my neighbors (with their permission). Windows was showing "No Signal" (even though I am connected), and my link quality, according to my wireless card drivers, was around 35%. I purchased this D-Link antenna from NewEgg.com for $5 after rebates (it's $17 now), and this allowed me to get the link quality up to around 60% (with windows saying the signal was between "No Signal" and 1 bar), but I was still getting dropouts.

Then I found plans for a parabolic reflector at FreeAntennas.com. I modified the plans for the EZ-12 "Windsurfer" reflector to fit my much larger antenna by making the parabolic part much higher and using two cross-braces. Using aluminum foil, heavy paper, a glue stick, and some tape, I was able to build the reflector shown in the picture below. I couldn't believe it, but it actually improved my link quality to 90-100%, and my signal to 3 bars. It's ugly, but it works.

http://www2.zansstuff.com:3390/images/windsurfer.jpg

The real question is: do they let them ride the subway alone?

#7 posted by nmantzoros , April 8, 2008 10:18 AM
Well that's very odd to see a represenative from Illinois act that way. I would assume that this woman is from the southern part of Illinois and not from Chicago. People in Chicago do believe in god (I work in a Catholic hospital) but they aren't this bizzare.

Actually, according to the article, she is the representative for Chicago.

What they didn't show was before the cashire's shift, where they "hypnotist" paid her a few hundred euros to "not remember".

I have a relative who as a stage magician used to do hypnosis, both real and fake. According to him, only 1 in 10 people are actually able to be hypnotized, and there is no such thing as "cold" hypnosis. Anyone he had on stage that was to be actually hypnotized was someone he had previously hypnotized in a controlled environment, usually more than once. Most performances he did used what is called Stage Hypnosis.

Real hypnosis is a time consuming process. Most stage hypnosis, where the hypnotist quickly hypnotizes people by having them look into his eyes, snapping, or whatever, is based more on peer pressure and the willingness of people to do anything for attention if they have an excuse. He likened it to people acting drunk after drinking non-alcoholic beer without knowing it. If you tell someone that they aren't responsable for their actions and they're in front of a large crowd, most people will do anything for "fame". One common technique is to line up a series of volunteers and try to "hypnotize" them all at once, quickly sending away any that aren't effected by the "hypnosis". By making it clear that the hypnotist will get rid of anyone who doesn't play along, rather than being rejected from their five minutes of fame, many people play hypnotized.

So New Hampshire (population 1.3 million) files an extension but then says that they won't comply anyway, and they are denied the extension. Then California (population 36.5 million) files an extension and says that they won't comply anyway, and are granted the extension.

Once again, the government tramples on the little guy.

The chip is usually pretty obvious if you look at the reflection of something on the face of the card. It will be a pea-sized rectangular indentation on the surface.

On my Chase Freedom, it is located in the top half of the "H" in Chase as shown by the yellow square in the below image:
http://i25.tinypic.com/2zrly4g.jpg

I would imagine that the placement doesn't vary too much from card to card.

I just want to add to my previous comment that 98.5% tungsten mixed with 1.5% osmium, iridium, or osmiridium would have the exact density of gold.

As for the density, all you would need to do is dope the tungsten with a small amount of something denser (iridium and osmium are around 22.65 g/cm^3 and cost less than half what gold does) to get the density correct.

However, the big giveaway would be electrical conductivity. Gold has a conductivity of 4.52e5/ohm*cm, while tungsten is only 1.89e5/ohm*cm. You'd need a heck of a lot of current to measure a resistance that small, but the difference is quite significant.

I was just going to post that this comic works much better when based on the Shatner version.

Actually, no, I thought of the sub-vocalization technology in Cory Doctorow's "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom".

Seriously, here on Cory's site, there is no mention of the ties to one of his major stories?

So let me get this straight: they've invented a material that is rigid, but gets soft and floppy when put into water. So basically, they've invented... spaghetti?

JONJONZ:

I can't give you a link or a google search string, but I have found that searching for a title plus "rapidshare" usually helps me in finding such downloads on the internet.

I still can't find a link to the program that creates instructions for folding paper into any shape.

Some of these have to be photoshopped. They were believable at first, but by the time they got to "destroy the evidence" for a gas pump I knew it had to be made up.

Err, scratch that, the port is actually from the Palm m100.

Incidently, I have quite a bit of experience with these cameras, as I hacked a CVS camera to be the payload of an undergraduate experimental rocket project while in college. The camera worked flawlessly, but unfortunately the experimental parachute system didn't, and the camera was very dead by the time I dug it out of the three feet of dirt it had buried itself in.

SCUBA_SM: This camera is actually the same as the CVS camcorder. Both are made by Pure Digital, but the CVS camera uses a proprietary port (actually the same port as the Palm III PDA) and the movies are encrypted. However, from what I understand, the newer firmware on the CVS camcorders is much harder to crack.

This needs an audio Unicorn Chaser

Please, somebody must have a mirror!

I would vote for Good Omens as well. It took Terry Pratchett's help, but it's the closest thing to a Douglas Adams book I've seen from another author.

"The wheels and treadmill arrangement are posited so as to instantaneously counteract and eliminate any forward thrust provided by the engine."

But as the wheels are not coupled to the engine in any meaningful way, the treadmill CAN'T counteract the thrust of the engine.

That's like saying that you and a buddy are singing, and if your friend starts singing sharp, you instantly counteract it by singing flat. Try as you might, your singing flatter isn't going to stop your friend from singing sharp.

A giant fan COUNT counteract the thrust from the engines, but it would also provide enough flow over the airfoil to make the plane take off.

http://www.tv3.co.nz/VideoBrowseAll/ScienceTechnologyVideo/tabid/311/articleID/44707/cat/64/Default.aspx#video

After watching that video, I have to revise my calculations. There is only about .25 liters of water in the cup, but the water "boils" in just 5 seconds. Therefore, were he actually boiling it, it would take 15.6kW.

What it looks like in the video is that the device just has holes which he is forcing air through. Note that the device is suspended from a copper pipe, and that the power cord looks a lot like a thick rubber hose. Also note that all the bubbles come from the gap between the metal sphere and the black metal cap over it.

The basic laws of thermodynamics still apply here.

1 kilowatt-second of energy will heat 1 liter of water 0.24°C. The article says it boils water in "seconds", so let's be conservative and assume that it takes 30 seconds. Let's also assume that the glass in the picture holds .5 liters of 25°C water. Assuming 100% efficiency, it would take 5.2kW to boil that water in 30 seconds. A household outlet, by comparison, is usually rated for 2kW.

Therefore, I must conclude that he is agitating the water (using ultrasound), and not actually making it boil.

Is directory assistance free in Japan? Here in the US that would've cost me $17,900, and most of my calls would've been handled by an IVR computer. I miss InFone, which was a real live person for $.90.

I played this throughout college. The friend who introduced me had actually met the game creator at an event at a Borders book store, and had the "Borders Bonus" card shown above (this was a promotional card only available at such events). He also had a signed copy of the game creator's custom card (which counted as The Brain card).

Just in case you don't believe it's real, you can click on "January 25 Scrabble" at http://www.whatsonwinnipeg.com/index.php?option=com_puzzles to see it for yourself.

Just in case you don't believe it's real, you can click on "January 25 Scrabble" at http://www.whatsonwinnipeg.com/index.php?option=com_puzzles to see it for yourself.

Aaron, can you post a map showing the current route and your proposed route? Do we just have to take your word for it that avoiding your house won't cause something else objectionable to us (clearing out old-growth forest land, wiping out OTHER houses, etc.).

Is there a free Windows binary?

So you're paying $60 a month for this service?

I pay $30 for Sprint SERO service. It has free nights and weekends, and nights are 7pm-7am. Since I get home at 6pm and leave for work at 8am, that means there are only two hours a day which aren't free (since my office has land line phones). For an additional $5 a month, I can also get the "top 3" feature. I've never used more than 60 minutes of my anytime minutes a month.

So for someone who doesn't work from home, the T-Mobile plan is overpriced.

Reading the headline, I thought this was going to be an article about the book feeding the hungry or raising awareness of important issues, but alas the headline author just misspelled "well" as g-o-o-d.

I'm confused. Do New York apartments not have door shoes or sealing thresholds to keep noise, light, and drafts from the hallway out? Why not install one (most landlords wouldn't notice a door shoe) to keep menus out? Something like this: http://www.door-locks.com/door_bottoms.php

"seriously what are you using 56 GB a month doing? Not that I don't think unlimited should mean unlimited but this begs the question."

actually, it raises the question, it doesn't beg anything.

Ken:
Don't forget that Darwinian evolution describes species emerging over thousands of years, so it would be impossible for a new species to completely emerge through evolution since "Darwinism/Evolution was first discussed".

However, there are many many cases of species evolving. For example, many diseases have evolved to become antibiotic resistant due to natural selection (those not antibiotic resistant died out).

On a larger scale, the Peppered Moth changed from light colored to dark colored between the late 19th and early 20th century in response to the industrial revolution causing trees light colored tree lichen to die off, making it hard for a light colored moth to camouflage itself. The American Blue Mussel has evolved to have a thicker shell since the Asian shore crab invaded the east coast and started killing the mussels off in the late 80s. The crickets in Kauai have evolved since the late 90s to have wings that cannot make a "chirp" sound after a parasitic fly invaded that targeted crickets by sound.

"How are people "forced to resign"? For me it would be a matter of honor to refuse to quit and force them to fire me."

In many jobs, being fired means a loss of bonuses, unused vacation days, and reduction or loss of pension. For someone working in the public sector, the loss or reduction of pension could be financially crippling.

I've seen mini-donut machines in Fanuel Hall Market in Boston and at the Big E (New England's equvalent of a state fair). But they are rare. Rare and delicious.

If your car has a transponder key (and these days almost all cars do), the wallet-key is either going to be really fat or won't work to start the car. While it's great for the times when you lock your keys in the car, it's not so great when you drop your keys down a storm drain.

I think the most interesting thing is that no matter how disgusted the granny gets, she always looks back at the screen, like a rubbernecker at a car accident.

June, for a safe description of the video, see http://gurnt.blogspot.com/2007/10/humble-critique.html

^That was my thought exactly. Seeing someone use these would be a lot like a certain scene in American Pie 2.

This isn't exactly a grandfather clock that they were repairing. It was a huge architectural clock, similar to the one on the courthouse in Back to the Future.

As television producers exhausted all the combinations of "a bunch of people in a house/island/trip try to win money/love", the term "reality show" has now come to mean "game show with recurring contestants".

I think it all started with American Idol, which was clearly a game show (in the same vein as the Gong Show or Star Search) but was called a reality show because you were stuck with one group of contestants for the season. Although by this logic, the BBC's "My Word" was a reality show back in 1956.

So the biggest feature is something that Opera has had for at least 5 years?

I like the 8-year-old who put an "iPhone" button on hers.

Got it!

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2005/03/08/554.aspx

According to Jim Hill, the Disney Imagineers did a test of this on Walt Disney World's abandoned airstrip, where the grooved pavement would play "Zip a Dee Doo Dah."

I heard that it was never deployed, but was tested on the Disney World airstrip. I'll try to find my source on that.

I'm pretty sure the salt stains and the static ones would work just as well with water as with vinegar -- and i'm not sure my pets want to drink vinegary water.

For those of you in the US who need 3D glasses for this video, this is a wonderful time to pick some up for FREE. Just head to your local Walgreens, and there should be a box of 3D glasses sitting on the photo counter (if not, just ask the person there).

The glasses are the paper style you punch out and assemble. They're in an orange box that says "Live with Regis and Kelly" on it (apparently they're doing a 3D holiday episode). I was able to grab a handful. Just make sure to get them before Halloween.

"While the Hulk Brothers aren't controllable, everything else on the crazy Halloween display is using X10 powerline control technology ... plus there are three live webcams to keep an eye on all of the action."

Wasn't this debunked as a hoax driven by a clever Perl script a couple years ago?

I saw this as well last year when I headed to Salem for Halloween. It turns out that a bung hole is the hole that was drilled into casks of wine, beer, or rum in order to dispense said alcoholic beverage, so the name is quite appropriate.

I would request my info, but I really don't want to be SSSS'd for the rest of my life.

I was disappointed to see that the marzipan wasn't actually knit, but was just scored to give it a knit appearance. Still, quite impressive and convincing!

A local ice-cream truck near me still sells bubblegum cigarettes, although they are made in Mexico and the packaging is entirely in Spanish.

Weird coincidence, my girlfriend was just given this flowchart as a handout in a "History of Sexuality" class.

I like the redesign. However, since we are all used to reading web sites with a left-hand margin and the content on the right, having the content on the left is very disorienting.