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April Buchheit
"A children’s toy inspires a cheap, easy production method for high-tech diagnostic chips" - http://www.technologyreview.com/TR35...
"A children’s toy inspires a cheap, easy production method for high-tech diagnostic chips"
"In 2006, Michelle Khine arrived at the University of California­'s brand-new Merced campus eager to establish her first lab. She was experimenting with tiny liquid-filled channels in hopes of devising chip-based diagnostic tests, a discipline called microfluidics. The trouble was, the specialized equipment that she previously used to make microfluidic chips cost more than $100,000--money that wasn't immediately available. "I'm a very impatient person," says Khine, now an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine. "I wanted to figure out how I could set things up really quickly." Racking her brain for a quick-and-dirty way to make microfluidic devices, Khine remembered her favorite childhood toy: Shrinky Dinks, large sheets of thin plastic that can be colored with paint or ink and then shrunk in a hot oven. "I thought if I could print out the [designs] at a certain resolution and then make them shrink, I could make channels the right size for micro­fluidics," she... more... - April Buchheit from Bookmarklet
This is pretty cool... making PDMS microfluidic chips is like making jello mold devices. You can make your jello mold out of just about anything, just usually people use high grade silicon, because people already understand really well how to etch it precisely. - Clare Dibble
Cool. I didn't know those were still around. - Gabe
I loved shrinky dinks!! :D - Susan Beebe
Paul Buchheit
More Animal Fat, Better Sleep - http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009...
"After I wrote about eating a lot of pork fat and sleeping better, David Shackleford commented that he had a related experience: When he started eating much more animal fat and meat, he started to sleep better. He had posted about his sleep improvement before he read about mine. I asked him for details. He answered:" - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet
Amit Patel
Generation specs: Stopping the short-sight epidemic - health - 06 November 2009 - New Scientist - http://www.newscientist.com/article...
What causes nearsightedness? It doesn't appear to be genetic. Spending lots of time outdoors while growing up seems to greatly reduce the chances of being nearsighted. - Amit Patel
"Near work, such as reading, had always seemed like an obvious contributor, since short-sightedness appears more common among highly educated people." - Clare Dibble
"Playing indoor sports turned out to have no benefits for the eyes, whereas even physically inactive time spent outside was beneficial" - Clare Dibble
"The result? On average the children in Sydney spent nearly 14 hours per week outside, and only 3 per cent developed myopia. In contrast, the children in Singapore spent just 3 hours outside, and 30 per cent developed myopia. Once again, close work had a minimal influence; the Australian children actually spent more time reading and in front of their computers than the Singaporeans... more... - bob
My optometrist was very impressed that my myopia is getting better. He thinks it's because I take off my glasses to read, but now I think it's because I spent a lot more time outside than others. - Piaw Na
My myopia stopped getting worse when I started going out more, but there were so many other lifestyle changes at the time that it's hard for me to say whether it had an effect. For example, when outdoors I also exercise more :) (hiking, mostly) - Amit Patel
Our 9 month old son loves being outside. Maybe this will mean that he won't be as near-sighted as I am. - Robert Felty
FWIW, I've heard that sleeping with a night light can cause myopia... - Andrew C
This peripheral blur theory sounds very interesting. I actually only need my glasses to drive or watch TV/movies... I should get back to what I used to do for years, which was go without the rest of the time. I've needed lenses for nearly 20 years now, but the progression (degradation) has been very very slow. - Andrew C
April Buchheit
Colour photography in Pre-Revolutionary Russia - http://eljenmajusmasodika.blogspot.com/2009...
Colour photography in Pre-Revolutionary Russia
Colour photography in Pre-Revolutionary Russia
"Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii was a chemist turned photographer ahead of his time who undertook an ambitious photographic survey of the Russian Empire for Tsar Nicholas II. Between 1909 and 1915, he completed tours of eleven regions, traveling in a specially equipped train carriage which had been provided by the Ministry of Transportation. What made this project remarkable was his use of an innovative technique for taking photographs in full and extremely vivid colour. He was able to capture colour by using a camera that exposed one oblong glass plate three times in rapid succession through three different colour filters: blue, green, and red. To view his images, he printed positive glass slides of his negatives and projected them through a triple lens magic lantern. The images were projected through the three lenses and, with the use of colour filters, superimposed in full colour on to a screen." - April Buchheit from Bookmarklet
I feel guilty that I feel this way, but color really helps me relate better to people of that period. I was just watching that link to color film footage of London in 1927 and felt the same way. There's something that makes it so much more real and empathizable even though other things you'd think would be barriers (strange hairstyles, clothing) are still there. - Spidra Webster
It's surprising that he was able to take so many good photos of people. That's almost impossible to do with multiple exposures. - Gabe
You can see the motion in the shot he took of the kids on the hillside. - Spidra Webster
Spidra: yes, the shot of kids on the hillside (http://www.loc.gov/exhibit...) appears to be the only one that isn't posed. - Gabe
I know what you mean, Spidra. Somehow the detail of color make the people more real and their way of life somehow more relevant. - April Buchheit
Matt Cutts
Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem Of Hell - http://www.techcrunch.com/2009...
Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem Of Hell
I don't get it. People actually pay for points on their games? - Piaw Na
Piaw - it's a trade of money for time. - Andrew C
BTW, I had no idea the scams were this bad. I have friends who work at some of the "bad" gaming companies named here. - Andrew C
Maybe this is part of the reason that Apple is so restrictive about iPhone apps. - Robert Felty
Robert, Apple's review process can't discover apps that do this -- they can't tell whether the ad unit that shows a legitimate ad during the review process suddenly starts showing scammy lead-gen a week later. I'd look at it a different way: scammy lead-gen shows up everywhere that content providers don't attach value to having a satisfied user (email spam, search engine spam, etc.). The best way for FB to avoid this is to make their platform useful for nontrivial app authors. Looks like they're trying... - Daniel Dulitz
Good point Daniel. It seems like it is a pretty difficult thing to police. Maybe they could create a blacklist of advertisers. - Robert Felty
Its not always the advertisers, its how the offers are presented. Tatto Media suggested we block people from seeing more than 3 articles on our site without forcing the user to fill out an offer of their choice. Of course we didn't implement this and it wouldn't drive the user experience we are looking for. - Matt Ellsworth
Amit Patel
Tobold's MMORPG Blog: Facebook games: Scam or useful tool? - http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2009...
How popular Facebook games work and why they're popular. via nelson - Amit Patel
Laurence Gonsalves
Interactive laser demo is quite awesome! - http://blog.makezine.com/archive...
Dan Hsiao
Dan ran into tourists outside the Facebook office today. They asked (in a foreign accent) "Is this where the Facebook company is?" They were excited that it was and ran into the lobby to take pictures. Apparently this isn't such a rare occurence.
Ana
Ana
Fatal Staples Center Collapse Brings Merciful Early End To Clippers Game - The Onion - http://www.theonion.com/content...
Fatal Staples Center Collapse Brings Merciful Early End To Clippers Game - The Onion
"I just thought, 'please let it have killed Chris Kaman.'" - Ana from Bookmarklet
Whoa - Julie Parker
Simon
YouTube - PETMAN Prototype - http://www.youtube.com/watch...
YouTube - PETMAN Prototype
Play
From the makers of the Big Dog robot. - Simon
I wish there was more toe flexion of the foot. - Andrew C
Amit Patel
Emerald Lake and Burgess Shale - http://www.flickr.com/photos...
Emerald Lake and Burgess Shale
While touring Canada's Banff/Yoho National Parks, we went to Emerald Lake. It's very pretty. It's glacial fed, so the water is silty instead of clear. But the big surprise here was that this is the site of the Burgess Shale! It's an incredible fossil site that led to the discovery of the creatures of the cambrian explosion (500 million years ago), my favorite time period in the evolution of life. The animals were odd — five eyes? spiny legs? This was before the common forms today (like two arms, two legs, one head, two eyes) beat the competing forms. The site is up on the mountain in the distance, and was unfortunately closed when they designated it a heritage site. - Amit Patel
AJ Batac
Conan the scaredy cat - http://www.youtube.com/watch...
Conan the scaredy cat
Play
I don't blame him. That is one freaky looking teddy bear. - April Buchheit
April Buchheit
Why, hello there, handsome!
photo.jpg
Handsome boy is so handsome. :) - April Buchheit
Jason Wehmhoener
What you’re seeing here are sand dunes on Mars. This region is in the center of a large crater at mid-north latitude on Mars, a couple of hours past local noon, and with a resolution of 50 cm (18 inches) per pixel. Sand dunes are common in crater beds, where the wind can blow steadily [...] - Jason Wehmhoener
heh, uncannily similar to the trails of subatomic particles in high-energy collision experiments. - Slippy "Threadsbane" Lane
I thought I was seeing a tattoo. - Amit Patel
Slippy, true, I hadn't thought of that. Amit, I was also seeing a tattoo. - Jason Wehmhoener
"The important thing to note here is that the sand in the craters of Mars is actually dark grey in color, since it’s made of basalt. The reason it looks red in pictures is because covering the sand is a thin layer of much finer dust, and the dust is what’s red. When a dust devil moves over the Martian surface, it can pick up the very light dust particles, but not the heavier sand... more... - bob
Amit Patel
Extract DNA from your Halloween pumpkin. - http://sci-toys.com/scitoys...
Extract DNA from your Halloween pumpkin.
"We're going to extract the DNA from a pumpkin." – using household materials and chemicals - Amit Patel from Bookmarklet
I'm amazed that one can extract DNA without specialized equipment. Thanks Simon! - Amit Patel
"DNA dissolves in water, so it stays in the juice. But when we float some alcohol on top, the DNA comes out of solution, and precipitates into the white goo we see at the bottom of the alcohol layer." That's not really an explanation though, why does the DNA come out of solution? - Benjamin Golub
Gary Burd
How to Shoot an Anvil 200 Feet in the Air - http://www.youtube.com/watch...
How to Shoot an Anvil 200 Feet in the Air
Play
"Gay Wilkinson enjoys blowing anvils more than 100 feet in the air. So much so that is a world champion at the activity." (via http://www.boingboing.net/2009...) - Gary Burd from Bookmarklet
awesome - Ňicķ
Almost hit balloon boy. - Louis Gray
This just in Ballon Boys Dad was able to catch the Anvil. ;) - Moved to Facebook
boy that was exciting - lets see him do that in times square - Allen Stern
pure awesomesauce - Jay
i like this breakdown of how the sexes respond to his stunt. - Felicia Yue
That was frickin awesome. - Chieze Okoye
Wasn't there something like this in the movie "Sweet Home Alabama" with Reese Witherspoon? My daughter rented the DVD and I watched it with her. One of the characters had an eccentric grandfather who was always blasting something into the air... I don't think it was anvils, but something similarly "thud-worthy." Hilarious! - Mark Jepsen
Simon
UK Scientists Use Laser To Give False Memories to Flies - http://singularityhub.com/2009...
"The experiment has important implications for the eventual development of a technology to create false human memories. We could one day “learn” by having experiences directly inputed into our brains." - Simon from Bookmarklet
April Buchheit
Whoa! - Anne Bouey
What was wrong with that bus driver? - You...
It doesn't actually show him getting away... - Stephen Mack
Who, they guy made it across, or the bus driver? - You...
The description is awesome when translated to English, "Supposed failure of the braking system .... The man across the road, apparently born in a shirt!" - You...
The brakes failed; not exactly the bus driver's fault. - Glen Campbell
wow! um... just wow! - Rachel Lea Fox
Something about that feels composited to me. Hm. - Ken Sheppardson
I'm convinced it's just something wrong with how Russians cross the road after seeing this one also, http://www.inquisitr.com/41884... - You...
This is one lucky dude! - Alex
Paul Buchheit
Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking" - http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2009...
New religions aren't always that hard to start. Sure, Lutheranism might not have been easy, but Scientology certainly was. - Gabe
Perhaps L. Ron was a better hacker Gabe. Maybe everything is easy if you know how :) - Paul Buchheit
L.Ron wrote Sci Fi first, that would seem an entre - WarLord
"...wherever and whenever there were people, there was someone staring into the system, searching for the truth. Some of those people were content to simply find a truth, but others used their discoveries to hack the system, to transform the world." - Clare Dibble
"Sometimes we catch a glimpse of the truth, and discover the actual rules of a system. Once the actual rules are known, it may be possible to perform "miracles" -- things which violate the perceived rules." - Indeyets
Kevin Fox
Paul Buchheit
awesome - Ayman Shurafa
wow. insane! - Caio
Looks like Tornado won! - Private Sanjeev
love the metaphor :) - andy brudtkuhl
brilliant. Alternative comment: this metaphor is a train wreck - Ivan Kirigin
haha love it - Rasmus Lauridsen
Smashing! Simply smashing... - Chris Heath
Ivan +1! - Kevin L
I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It was like watching a train wreck! - Chuck Adams
so sad story :( trains are so unprotected.. - я был в лесу
physics is a beaatch for sure - Robert Higgins
That video never gets old. Never underestimate the power of nature. - Jim Goldstein
This highlights the need for additional Superman III technology investment. - Jay Cuthrell
wow!! :) - Oğuz Serdar
AMAZING footage. Dayum! - Josh Haley
That was worth watching even ignoring the obviously cute pun. - Greg Grothaus
isn't it too early for this? :) - Mengu
Paul is probably just joking - but if he is serious about this pun i would assume it's for good reason. - Chris Heath
and i bet paul just couldn't wait for them to open up tornado when he first saw this video - Chris Heath
amazing - boro
should hitler be saying something about it now :) - vinod
MOther Nature indeed - Mark Mason
WOW! That reminds me...I still have some video from this summer's train trip to post. Nothing this exciting happened, I'm afraid. - Eph Zero
Just as I expected, it's all twisted. - Dustin Sallings
very punny. - winterismute
j1m
j1m
Sweden’s Internet broken by DNS mistake | Royal Pingdom - http://royal.pingdom.com/2009...
Sweden’s Internet broken by DNS mistake | Royal Pingdom
:) - j1m from Bookmarklet
Paul Buchheit
1 million fps Slow Motion video of bullet impacts made by Werner Mehl from Kurzzeit - http://www.youtube.com/watch...
1 million fps Slow Motion video of bullet impacts made by Werner Mehl from Kurzzeit
Play
Beautiful. - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet
Amazing video. Some of those bullets are really cruel. - Willem (@wim66) ☠
Those are really amazing. But could his "watermark" logo have been any larger and more obnoxious? I was almost in danger of being able to see the video :) - Joel Webber
The impacts looks a lot like water splashing - Benjamin Golub
It's a shame such awesome video has such lame music. - Gabe
I actually like the music. - April Buchheit
@mirat: I'm just guessing, but I think they still use chemical films. CMIIW. - Pandu ● IT Optimizer from fftogo
It's really impressive how quickly the fractures travel through glass (eg: 2:59 and 4:38). Significantly faster than a "speeding bullet". - Laurence Gonsalves
I agree with April. The music is good. - Louis Gray
I also agree with April and Louis. The music is "Temple" from Hook The Captain. - imabonehead
mirat: A Shimadzu HPV-2: http://www.shimadzu.com/product... (although this footage may be from an HPV-1) - Gabe
Wow, totally cool. Love the scene where the bullet impacts a stronger surface and becomes a daisy :) - Susan Beebe
I love the music in the background - Jesse Stay
music is pretty cool - Susan Beebe
@Gabe: Digital?!? Sh*t... - Pandu ● IT Optimizer
BTW, nice music :-) - Pandu ● IT Optimizer
This video is way too long. Show me the best two or three maybe. - Skyler Call
@Skyler: see Gabe's link. - Pandu ● IT Optimizer from fftogo
Amazing! - Matter of Attitude
Paul Buchheit
Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation - http://www.ted.com/talks...
Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation
Some good examples on the often counter-intuitive nature of management and incentives. - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet
I think traditional management techniques mostly just create disincentives, sometimes intentionally but often unintentionally. - Paul Buchheit
This is great. I want to learn more about this- especially now that I have a daughter. The talk reminds me that I wanted to read that book by Alfie Kohn (Punished By Rewards...) - metalerik
Alfie Kohn has another great book called Unconditional Parenting. Actually, I enjoyed watching a DVD of him lecturing on that topic even more than the book. It's all great in theory, but it is interesting actually parenting and realizing how often you reach for metaphorical carrots and sticks. - Laura Norvig
Thanks Laura, I just ordered the book. - Paul Buchheit
Awesome presentation! It's rare that a talk captivates me like this one did. - Troy Benohanian
LauraN, I was lucky to catch him speak in San Francisco about 18 months ago. I'm with you on theory vs practice- yikes. Still cool to keep working on it though! - metalerik
I have had success holding his theories (which are quite well supported by research) in the back of my mind, but for concrete ideas of how to put that into practice, I turn to the Positive Discipline books by Jane Nelsen. She also had a cool podcast for awhile that is still available here http://www.positivediscipline.com/podcast... It is pretty amazing when you stop trying to "make" your... more... - Laura Norvig
This TED talk http://www.ted.com/talks... is also about the ineffectiveness of incentives. It's premise is that people want to be virtuous and do right by others. - Laura Norvig
At one point in the Barry Schwartz video he talks about "moral heroes." My brother Peter is actually my moral hero. He's freakishly moral. - Laura Norvig
Bump because this is really important for people to understand. Waving money is not the answer - people *want* to do a good job, we are programmed to want to solve puzzles, make connections, take the next step but the way businesses are organised actively hampers these natural traits. It has implications for EVERYTHING we do at home and at work, as individuals and as communities. - WorldofHiglet
my idealistic side says we can blame capitalism for this whole mess. money confuses life. - Laura Norvig
Laura: capitalism may not be the best, but so far it's the only thing that scales. - Gabe
@gabe you mean "scales" in case of american capitalism in beginning of XXI century? :) - A.T.
By "scales", I mean it works for populations of tens of millions of people without rampant poverty or starvation. For instance, communism works fine, but doesn't scale well to thousands of people, let alone millions. - Gabe
Paul Buchheit
How to Eliminate/Prevent a Skin Infection and What It Means - http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009...
"Preventing and eliminating infection is at the core of medicine, just as cutting is at the core of manufacturing. My discovery reveals that my doctor — and by implication, the whole health care establishment — failed to know something basic and simple about this. If they understood what I figured out, there would be no need for anti-foot-fungus medicine. A gazillion dollars a year is spent on medical research, medical schools and research institutes around the world are full of faculty doing research — and they haven’t figured out something as basic and simple as this." - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet
The article is just one dude's single anecdote, but I have found the medical establishment pretty useless (or even harmful) for minor skin problems. Ever know someone who went to a dermatologist for acne? - ⓞnor
Accutane solved my severe acne (I still have to use Tazorac daily to prevent breakouts), but also resulted in other medical complications. So yeah I know all about dermatologists and acne :( - LANjackal from IM
He is partially right about how you wash your socks having something to do with it, but it's not the whole story. If I were to make recommendations to someone with a foot fungus problem, I would probably suggest they switch to white cotton socks which should be washed in very hot water with twice the recommended amount of bleach, then dried in a very hot drier for a minimum of 20... more... - April Russo (app103)
the real key is to just never wear socks, stick with flipflops :P - bob
Since fungus hates light, buy shoes a few sizes bigger and just put a flashlight in them next to your foot. - Andy Bakun
I went to a dermatologists (at a military hospital, if that makes a difference) when I was a teenager for an acne related problem and found out I was zinc deficient. I remember having to take the zinc pills, which were awful, but I don't remember if it actually helped. However, for the past 20 years, I have not had any acne issues. - Andy Bakun
Fossil Huntress
High Elevation Paradise - Taseko Lake Fossil Field Trip
Fossil Images 033.jpg
Fossil Images 034.jpg
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Eleven elite paleo enthusiasts were flown into the Tyaughton area near Castle Peak north of Goldbridge in a new Jet Ranger. We were interested in the local geology and fossils from the Jurassic/Triassic exposures high in the alpine. Camping at about 7,500 ft, we were treated to all four seasons and some great collecting over the course of the week. - Fossil Huntress
Past trips have included grizzlies at close quarters. This year we saw fresh tracks each day, but the bears were actively avoiding our camp but still leaving enough scat to give us the heads up that this is their territory. - - Fossil Huntress
Paul Buchheit
"A sun dog or sundog is an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun.[1] Sundogs may appear as a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun, 22° (or more) distant and at the same distance above the horizon as the sun, and in ice halos. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season. In Europe and North America, they might be seen as often as twice a week but they are not always obvious or bright. They are best seen and at their most conspicuous when the sun is low. ... Sundogs are formed by plate shaped hexagonal ice crystals in high and cold cirrus clouds or - during very cold weather - by ice crystals called diamond dust drifting in the air at low level. Sundog forming rays enter a near vertical prism side face of a crystal and exit through a second side face inclined 60° to the first. There is net refraction at each face and the light is dispersed into colors. There is no... more... - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet
Well I think they are just a bunch of UFO's. - Meryn Stol
Simon
YouTube - Tree Electrocutes Itself - http://www.youtube.com/watch...
YouTube - Tree Electrocutes Itself
Play
Clare Dibble
Abruptly Forgotten: Working Memory Disappears in a Blink: Scientific American - http://www.scientificamerican.com/article...
Abruptly Forgotten: Working Memory Disappears in a Blink: Scientific American
"tested subjects’ recall for the hues of colored squares flashed briefly on a screen up to 10 seconds earlier. Subjects marked their answer on a color wheel. If memories decay gradually, the guesses should have become increasingly imprecise as time wore on, evidenced by participants selecting yellow or red, for example, when the correct choice was orange. Instead subjects went straight from fairly accurate answers to random choices—no better than chance—indicating the memories were decaying all at once." - Clare Dibble from Bookmarklet
Amit Patel
PhotoSketch: Internet Image Montage « Ming-Ming Cheng (程明明) - http://cg.cs.tsinghua.edu.cn:8080/cmm...
PhotoSketch: Internet Image Montage « Ming-Ming Cheng (程明明)
Graphics research is amazing. This project: sketch and label something you want a photo of, then the system finds photos on the web, cuts out the parts that it wants, and composes everything together. Watch the video too. - Amit Patel from Bookmarklet
Graphics programmers have the best demos. Hands down. - Bill Strathearn
The site is down at the moment, but here's a direct link to the video: http://vimeo.com/6496886 - Ben Darnell
This made me wonder once more how things spread through the social web. When I posted this the site was up! Then it got on gizmodo, reddit, etc. and the site went down. :( - Amit Patel
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