06

1. Don't copy that floppy. RE: Cyber Life. Funny. Quirky. Video.
2. What is an XML feed?. RE: Cyber Life. My Stuff.
3. Antartic crater found that explains The Great Dying. RE: Geologic Time. Science.
4. Gymkata: A martial arts movie in its own class. RE: Funny. Martial. Movies. Quirky.
5. Nano a la sponge. RE: Nanotech. Nature. Science.
6. Military batwings. RE: Comics. Engineering. Martial.
7. Marketing photoretouching. RE: Funny. Photography.
8. Futurama Returns. RE: Animated. Culture. Funny. Science Fiction. TV.

2006-06-06t03:02:47Z | RE: Cyber Life. Funny. Quirky. Video.
Don't copy that floppy

Why do we submit ourselves to such horribleness?!? Why, o why, o why?!!

Don't Copy That Floppy [video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4837609090332617729; 09:37]

2006-06-06t16:28:14Z | RE: Cyber Life. My Stuff.
What is an XML feed?

A friend of mine asked "What is an XML feed?". I came up with this answer for the layperson:

In one sentence, a modern "feed" is an URL/link for syndicated content that can be consumed by a feed reader.

The syndicated content might be blog posts, newspaper articles, lists of events, etc., but is usually a stream of fresh content. How you discover or choose feeds is a matter of poking around. The format of the feed is usually XML like RSS or ATOM.

You probably already visit feed reading sites/apps that display their own XML feeds (most blogs), or provide you with links that headlines from XML feeds from other people (e.g. Google News), or let you choose what feeds to display (My Yahoo or personalized Google). There are also generic feed reading sites (e.g. Google Reader). Modern browsers have feed reading capabilities (IE7 makes it more prominent).

2006-06-16t02:12:39Z | RE: Geologic Time. Science.
Antartic crater found that explains The Great Dying

This is a great story. It is fun for at least two reasons:

• Something this big has been hidden for this long. This new Wilkes Land crater [W] is the second largest crater on earth. See also List of impact craters on Earth [W].
• It so neatly explains a great mystery. Of the 7 great Extinction events [W], this was the 4th and greatest.
  • The Cambrian-Ordovician extinction events. The 1st of 7 extinctions events. 488 MYA.
  • The Ordovician-Silurian extinction events. The 2nd of 7 extinction events. 444 MYA.
  • The Late Devonian extinction events. A prolonged (20 MY) extinction that killed off 70% of all species. The 3rd of 7 extinction events. 360 MYA.
  • The Permian-Triassic extinction event, aka The Great Dying. Kills 95% of all marine species and 70% of all land species. The Wilkes Land crater, the cause of this extinction event was discovered in 2006. The 4th and greatest of 7 extinction events. 251 MYA.
  • Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. The 5th of 7 extinction events. 200 MYA.
  • The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event. Kills of 50% of all species. The 6th of 7extinction events. 65 MYA.
  • The Holocene extinction event. It's happening right now. The 7th of 7 extinction events. Present.

Giant Crater Found: Tied to Worst Mass Extinction Ever  [space.com/scienceastronomy/060601_big_crater.html]

An apparent crater as big as Ohio has been found in Antarctica. Scientists think it was carved by a space rock that caused the greatest mass extinction on Earth, 250 million years ago. The crater, buried beneath a half-mile of ice and discovered by some serious airborne and satellite sleuthing, is more than twice as big as the one involved in the demise of the dinosaurs. The crater's location, in the Wilkes Land region of East Antarctica, south of Australia, suggests it might have instigated the breakup of the so-called Gondwana supercontinent, which pushed Australia northward, the researchers said.

The newfound crater is more than twice the size of the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan peninsula, which marks the impact that may have ultimately killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The Chicxulub space rock is thought to have been 6 miles wide, while the Wilkes Land meteor could have been up to 30 miles wide, the researchers said.

2006-06-16t02:26:21Z | RE: Funny. Martial. Movies. Quirky.
Gymkata: A martial arts movie in its own class

Don't forget to vote so you can too can get a DVD of Gymkata ... unless, of course, you already own such a treasure.

Ninjas, monsters, and 8-bit rock! [i-mockery.com/blabber/?p=44]

A lot of people have told me that my big feature on Gymkata was their favorite movie review I’ve done so far. I know the movie has been out of print for a long time and lots of you have wanted to see it. Well, guess what? We might have the chance to get it released on DVD if we make our voices heard. For the month of June, Warner Video and Amazon.com are holding a “DVD Decision” event in which you get to choose from 30 movies about which ones you’d like to see released on DVD. The 10 DVDs that get the most results will win! Don’t ask me how, but somehow Gymkata made it on the list!

So here’s what you’ve gotta do. First off, go to this url: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/165671011/

Click here to read my big review of Gymkata (with plenty of the GIF animations you crave)

2006-06-16t02:35:46Z | RE: Nanotech. Nature. Science.
Nano a la sponge

I love how nanotech is both old school and new school. It's new school because when things have new properties when they get really small. It's old school because we get to imitate lots of stuff that nature already does.

A Sponge's Guide to Nano-Assembly [technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16959&ch=nanotech]

One of the ongoing goals of nanotechnology is to easily and inexpensively create high-performance materials structured at the nanoscale. And one of the most promising strategies is to attempt to mimic nature's remarkable ability to self-assemble complex shapes with nanoscale precision. Now researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), using clues gleaned from marine sponges, have developed a method of synthesizing semiconducting materials with useful structures and novel electronic properties. The first applications could be ways to make materials for more powerful batteries and highly efficient solar cells at a lower price.

Maximizing surface area is a big deal. These pictures say it all.

2006-06-16t22:27:24Z | RE: Comics. Engineering. Martial.
Military batwings

See?! This is what happens when you let people like my 4th grade self work for the military!

Special forces to use strap-on 'Batwings' [dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=389357&in_page_id=1770]

Elite special forces troops being dropped behind enemy lines on covert missions are to ditch their traditional parachutes in favour of strap-on stealth wings. The lightweight carbon fibre mono-wings will allow them to jump from high altitudes and then glide 120 miles or more before landing - making them almost impossible to spot, as their aircraft can avoid flying anywhere near the target.

The technology was demonstrated in spectacular fashion three years ago when Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner - a pioneer of freefall gliding - famously 'flew' across the English Channel, leaping out of an aircraft 30,000ft above Dover and landing safely near Calais 12 minutes later. Wearing an aerodynamic suit, and with a 6ft wide wing strapped to his back, he soared across the sea at 220mph, moving six feet forward through the air for every one foot he fell vertically - and opened his parachute 1,000ft above the ground before landing safely.

Resembling a 6ft-wide pair of aircraft wings, the devices should allow a parachutist to glide up to 120miles, carrying 200lb of equipment, the manufacturers claim. Fitted with oxygen supply, stabilisation and navigation aides, troops wearing the wings will jump from a high-altitude transport aircraft which can stay far away from enemy territory - or on secret peacetime missions could avoid detection or suspicion by staying close to commercial airliner flight paths. The manufacturers claim the ESG wing is '100 per cent silent' and 'extremely difficult' to track using radar.

(FYI: 15 stone = 210 pounds ~ 95 Kg)

2006-06-16t22:40:58Z | RE: Funny. Photography.
Marketing photoretouching

It's always fun to see how they're doing photo retouching in marketing these days. However it is a shame that some people do it for the news.

Oh, pretty pictures. Really? [metafilter.com/mefi/52311]

Brian Dilg Photography Long after Jamie Lee Curtis bared all to show the world she's no longer Perfect are we still being fooled by the seeming perfection of photos being presented to us in the media?

2006-06-23t15:05:46Z | RE: Animated. Culture. Funny. Science Fiction. TV.
Futurama Returns

Futurama is coming back! What great news! Especially after so many teaser and fake rumors.

• "Futurama" gets new life on Comedy Central [today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=2006-06-23T033638Z_01_N22173912_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-FUTURAMA-DC.XML]
• New episodes of Futurama coming to Comedy Central ... for real! [tvsquad.com/2006/06/22/new-episodes-of-futurama-coming-to-comedy-central-for-real/] [via slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/23/0117229&from=rss]
• 'Futurama' may get new lease on life [variety.com/article/VR1117935453?categoryid=1050&cs=1&s=h&p=0] [via http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/48051]
• See these for more about Futurama
  • http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/35548. Links to the best 25 Futurama moments.
  • Futurama [W]
  • GotFuturama.com

I also want to add that Cartoon Network [cartoonnetwork.com] has some great picks. Their Adult Swim [W] has great stuff like Futurama, Venture Bros, Family Guy, Mission Hill, and Korgoth of Barbaria. Even their regular line up has great stuff like Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd, n Eddy, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, Naruto, and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

The only other animated stuff out there now that even come close are Disney's Kim Possible and Nick' SpongeBob Squarepants.