meta-roj

the earth impact effects calculator. this handy web-based calculator provides all kinds of nice information about how the rock falling from the sky might kill you… you can find out how big the hole will be, how crispy-fried you’ll be, how much stuff will fall on you, how much rocking and rolling is going on, and even how loud it’ll be.

now all you have to do is find the rock so you know what to put in the form before it hits.

from an nec press release, word of a [really, really] quick-recharging battery.

science takes a great leap forward, with microwaves for security (and medical) imaging applications…

Microwaves Could Heat Up Security Searches

“Microwaves are inherently safe, certainly in comparison to X-rays, which are ionising radiation that causes tissue damage. Microwaves are non-ionising and don’t cause tissue damage,” said Smith

tell that to my popcorn.

the story on this seems to be about the hardness. i thought this little quote was more interesting:

reuters

…we were able to grow gem-sized crystals in about a day.

there’s pressure, and then there’s pressure…

nature brings news of 250-attosecond uv flashing from researchers at the vienna university of technology.

“Every time we get shorter pulses, chemists say that we don’t really need them,” says David Klug, a photochemist at Imperial College, London. “But then they find a way to use them. Once it becomes convenient, people will find applications for it.”

i’m waiting for the ipod version.

jeff hancock tells us that people lie less in email.

new scientist

Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium. He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 per cent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and a whopping 37 per cent of phone calls.

alton brown said it first.

alton brown

We are to blame because our culture has come to value two qualities above all else: “cheap”, and “more”. How else can you explain the cancerous creep of Wal-Marts across our landscape, or the ever swelling American waistline?

check your values, people. realize what you’re doing.

update: quote in effect, with a nod to crysflame.

introducing X(3872).

japanese scientists have evidence of a funky new meson.

Although this is extremely short-lived by human standards, scientists say that a billionth of a trillionth of a second is nearly an eternity for a sub-atomic particle this heavy

true, that. i can hardly get anything done in a billionth of a trillionth of a second.

if you find this stuff growing in your bathtub, you might have to get creative about your selection of cleaning methods.

japanese researchers have evidence that chemicals in green tea may prevent hiv binding to human t-cells.

so, between cups of hot cocoa slip in some green tea.

of course, green tea doesn’t fit into my “brown food group,” but i’ll let that slide for now.

(this green tea stuff is amazing – even on prostate cancer)