Category Archives: Friday Link Roundup

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Fun for Friday the Twenty-Ferd

Friday Link Roundup

Happy Friday everyone!

Ryan’s at San Diego Comic-Con, so it’s Jacob here, giving you your Friday goods.

Ryan:

Robot legs! Just what I need to survive Comic Con.
http://grinding.be/2010/07/19/rex-another-exoskeleton-is-coming-to-market/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+grinding+(grinding.be)
Plus they’d make for a sweet costume. Just click on the Science… sort of donate button and type “$150,000” Thanks!

Patrick:

You know you’ve always wanted to know how to moonwalk (the second nerdiest of all dances, behind the robot). What’s stopping you? We live in the internet age, you can learn practically anything from youtube…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EEynvjfljU
Even if you don’t perfect it, there is a guilty pleasure in knowing how it is done, like knowing the secret to a magic trick.

Acid Queen:

It’s been a tumultuous legislative session for metamorphic petrologists everywhere. But the pain is perhaps most stinging in California where the state senate has introduced a bill to strip the crown of official state rock from serpentine. No runner up second or otherwise has been named. Jerks.
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/sen/sb_0601-0650/sb_624_bill_20100623_amended_asm_v96.html

Jacob:

Its been a lazy week for me… I’ve been watching a lot of movies. Mostly trying to check off the movies I haven’t seen from this list of the 10 most under-appreciated sci fi movies!
http://daily.likeme.net/2010/07/20/10-underappreciated-sci-fi-movies/
I just watched “Moon” (2009) and “Primer” (2004) and they’re both REALLY good. Science-minded folks will love both, I’m sure.

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Freakin Friday Round ‘Up

Friday Link Roundup

Happy Friday once again, PaleoPosse!

Well, Ryan’s at TAM 8, rubbing elbows with the best-of-the-best in the scientific/skeptical universe. So its your buddy Jacob here again, filling you in on the latest bits of news we all found interesting this week.

Patrick:
Slate contributor, Sam Kean has a book out about the periodic table, riviting stuff, I know. Anyway, he is blogging about several of the elements for Slate and you can read about them for free. http://www.slate.com/id/2258112/entry/2258111/?from=rss

Ben:
hey. how come, back in the day, everyone had saber teeth? it seems like it was common? was it because animals didn’t know how wide their throats were, and so needed a gauge? maybe the primary prey for everythings were giant, meaty pneumatic tires? I don’t know, i’m just a simple country physicist.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/08/2947710.htm

Ryan:
A really cool picture of Saturn from a really cool satellite being talked about on a really cool blog. Having just met Phil Plait here at TAM 8 I couldn’t help but link to his site.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/07/08/saturns-gorgeous-gray-mood/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+BadAstronomyBlog+(Bad+Astronomy)

Jacob:
Pic related! Dutch scientists have created a way to make cement with a mixture of Titanium Dioxide, which acts a catalyst to convert the pollutant NO2 from the air and convert it to harmless nitrates.  Their preliminary tests show as 25-45% decrease in the amount of pollutants present in the paved areas!
http://greenopolis.com/goblog/jerryjamesstone/scientists-make-air-purifying-cement-cuts-emissions-45
Lets hope they do some full life-cycle studies to make sure it’s safe, and get this out ASAP!

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July 4th Weekend Roundup!

Friday Link Roundup

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Jacob here, filling in for Ryan as he flies back and forth across the country, trying to decide if he wants to go to graduate school or become a homeless hippy on the streets of Santa Cruz.

If you get bored during your long weekend and/or visits with family, here are some links from the PaleoPals to keep you occupied.


Patrick:

Last week it was jet packs, this week it’s flying cars. Forget the Joneses, time to keep up with the Jetsons.
http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-06/flying-car-gets-faa-approval-goes-sale-soon

Acid Queen:

Adopt a Microbe from the Deep Biosphere!
The project in a nutshell: Adopt a microbe from the deep biosphere. Get to know your microbe through exciting weekly activities. Submit your weekly projects online to qualify to win one of our fabulous prizes! http://sites.google.com/site/adoptamicrobe/

Ben:

I decided to search for the physics of Nunchucks. They’re kind of interesting. they amass a lot of speed through the conservation of angular momentum. so, with a little trickery, they can be moved in clever, counterintuitive ways, like the small arm of a double-pendulum. also, they should precess.

anyway, this is the only relevant link i found: http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-244793.html

and it degenerates pretty quickly into people debating katanas and viking axes pretty quickly. also, no one really talks about the physics of the nunchucks. it almost might be worth learning to use them so that i can write about them :p
[Note from AcidQueen: “I broke my wrist with some nunchucks once… be careful.”]

Jacob:

Fiberglass Origami!
In the world of Aerospace Structures, a good 75% of what we build is made from flat sheets of metal (or fiberglass or carbon) that we bend, layup, bond, etc… into the shapes that we want for our design.
Well, MIT scientists have discovered a way to make the material shape itself.  By connecting the edges with a special piezoelectric “tape”, the material can fold itself up when a current is applied.  Check out the video at http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/07/programmable-matter-can-fold-itself-into-various-shapes.ars

Charlie:

NUKES IN SPACE: HAPPY 4TH OF JULY
In 1962 the US of A launched a thor rocket with an H-bomb 250 miles up into the atmosphere, that is, into space. They launched it a night and created a stunning light show. Yeah Nukes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z99FIOSetGw&feature=player_embedded

Have a good holiday everyone!

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A Buncha Links from the Paleopals

Friday Link Roundup

pa lottery

Friday is a day of possibility, at least once you’re off work. So until you’re off work maybe you can enjoy some of the things on the internet that have kept the Paleopals working for the weekend. Enjoy!

Patrick:

Terrible? yes. Funny? yes. Good? Not in the traditional sense of the word. Bad? In the best way possible.

Charlie:

This is awesome because the sun ate a comet and also we watched it. Which was pretty hard to do, technically. Comet Dives Into Sun: STEREO, SOHO Spacecraft Catch Craft

Ryan:

I FOUND this t-shirt and I thought it went well with my article this week. Wear it and look sexy.

Found

Ben:

Hey look it’s an interview with the father of the modern zombie! And he talks about academics who waste time doing zombie-math. He doesn’t say anything about ending your name with a question mark though.

George A. Romero: “Who says zombies eat brains?”

Jacob:

This is an official military specification on how to make cookies and brownies for military rations. The story has been making rounds around some of the major news outlets this week, but this is the actual, official document that I pulled from our direct link to the government spec database. IT’S LEGIT.

Funny enough, it actually references another mil spec on how to make all forms of hard and soft candies as well. It’s pretty awesome.

MilSpec-Brownies.pdf

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