Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Energy Savings
Energy consumption for the production of primary and secondary metals:
Source: J.J. Moore, Int. Met. Reviews, 1978, Vol. 5, p241-264
P. Hayes, Process Selection in Extractive Metallurgy, 1985, p.17
Monday, September 29, 2008
Gliders
I went gliding last Sunday. The take off was impressive, a 1km long cable and a winch accelerated us from 20-100km/h in 2.5sec, and brought us to 500m. We didn't find any thermal columns :( the flight time was only 9 minutes. We missed a few great "hot air bubbles", some other planes stayed in the air for 30 minutes and had to come back because other people also want to fly.
One glider made 2 loopings, a few rolls and spirals. I wish I could fly with him, but that wasn't allowed for me.
On good days they make longer flights and even make it to Germany, a few 100 km. They can land in fields if they run out of rising air. A good pilot only needs 30m of grass to land.
A new gliders costs around 120,000 euro.
Here is my flight path :), you can see lowlands on the far right.
stone ballancing with Bill Dan
I remember we were trying some stone balancing on vacation. That was nothing compared to this Bill Dan. He has been doing this for the last 14 years, if he continues doing this for another 14 years i'm sure he will get the stones to float in the air.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk
VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.
"PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says.
PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health.
"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."
In a statement Ben and Jerry's said, "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
How would ice creams produced with human milk taste? I think I'll definitely give it a try when I get the chance.
The real difference between liberals and conservatives
"Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most."
High-res video
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Big Cow
Meet the Belgian Blue cow, this animal was not genetically engineered, but bred through selective breeding..
wiki
The Belgian Blue has a natural mutation of the gene that codes for myostatin, a protein that counteracts muscle growth. The truncated myostatin is unable to function in this capacity. This mutation also interferes with fat deposition, resulting in very lean meat. They are often unable to give birth naturally, requiring a cesarean section.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
One Day of Global Air Traffic
That's a lot of dots!
I found out how to embed high quality YouTube videos.
Click here for a higher quality mov.
Cursus roltrap lopen voor treinreizigers
Je moet rennen om de trein te halen. De roltrap naar het perron staat vol mensen die kennelijk geen haast hebben en ook geen ruimte laten voor wie dat wel heeft.Een situatie die veel ergernis oplevert bij treinreizigers. Prorail gaat opnieuw proberen daar iets aan te doen. In Amersfoort komt een proef met voetstapjes op de roltrap. Die moeten mensen duidelijk maken dat zij rechts kunnen stilstaan, zodat de gehaaste medereizeiziger links kan passeren. Er is al eerder geprobeerd de treinreiziger in Nederland wat "Engelse discipline" bij te brengen. Maar dat heeft kennelijk geen blijvend resultaat gehad.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Darvaza, Turkmenistan - Door to Hell
wiki
Darvaza underground is naturally rich in natural gas. In 1971, during a drilling, geologists accidentally found an underground cavern filled with natural gas. The ground on which the drilling rig was placed collapsed, leaving a large gaping hole exposed with a diameter of about 50-100 meters. To avoid poisonous gases coming out of the hole, it was decided to let the gases burn. As of 2008, gases in the underground cavern are still burning without interruption. Locals have named the cavern The Door to Hell.
More videos
Google Maps link (it's the small red circle)
Monday, September 22, 2008
Twisting Skyscrapers
Saturday, September 20, 2008
What would happen to the world without insects?
Recently we had a discussion and wondered whether people could survive or even if much would change without insects.
So, what would happen if, all of a sudden, all insect life ceased to exist? This question has been asked from time to time by entomologists and, although the time frame varies, the general outcome is usually a matter of agreement—human life as we know it would probably end. Noted entomologist Edward O. Wilson, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Medal of Science, gives humans about ten years if all invertebrates were to go extinct (with insects constituting the vast majority of invertebrates).Read the full article to find out why.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Felon
Media: Film
Why bother: A gut wrenching prison drama that seems too over the top to have any ground in reality, sadly it is grounded in some reality (you may want to read this after seeing the movie).
It's not as good or fulfilling as Shawshank Redemption and might leave you slightly depressed after watching it.
Also a very good supporting role played by Val Kilmer who we don't see often.
Rating: 8/10 - Powerful film
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Blog Maintenance
I've removed out post statistics from the main blog. There is now a link where the stats used to be that takes you to the page containing our stats. Hopefully this will make the blog load quicker.
Hurrican Ike - Before and After
Kamielkaze's post shows the lighter side of a hurricane, here is a darker side.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Okavango Delta - the world's largest inland delta
Goon City
*UPDATE: it has been taken down due to bandwidth problems. Though it might be up soon again.
*UPDATE2: The site is running again, go explore and remember to find Waldo/Wally
Goon City is a huge online city consisting of pixel art made by many users. It has a Google Maps like interface and is really fun to browse around for a while. It has edges that end, but is constantly expanding.
First picture of likely planet around sun-like star unveiled
Three scientists from astronomy and astrophysics used the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to take images of the young star 1RXS J160929.1-210524 (which lies outside the solar system at about 500 light-years from Earth) and a candidate companion of that star. They also obtained spectra to confirm the nature of the companion, which has a mass about eight times that of Jupiter and lies roughly 330 times the Earth-sun distance away from its star. (For comparison, the most distant planet in our solar system, Neptune, orbits the sun at only about 30 times the Earth-sun distance.) The parent star is similar in mass to the sun but is much younger.
[...]
Even though the likelihood of a chance alignment between such an object and a similarly young star is rather small, it will take up to two years to verify that the star and its likely planet are moving through space together. "Of course it would be premature to say that the object is definitely orbiting this star but the evidence is extremely compelling. This will be a very intensely studied object for the next few years," Lafrenicre said.
Full Article...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Born To Run
"Biomechanical research reveals a surprising key to the survival of our species: Humans are built to outrun nearly every other animal on the planet over long distances.
(...)
He and Bramble argue that not only can humans outlast horses, but over long distances and under the right conditions, they can also outrun just about any other animal on the planet—including dogs, wolves, hyenas, and antelope, the other great endurance runners. From our abundant sweat glands to our Achilles tendons, from our big knee joints to our muscular glutei maximi, human bodies are beautifully tuned running machines. "We're loaded top to bottom with all these features, many of which don't have any role in walking," Lieberman says. Our anatomy suggests that running down prey was once a way of life that ensured hominid survival millions of years ago on the African savanna."
full article
30.000 dominoes in 30 seconds
A domino freak celebrates 30000 other domino freak subscribers to his YouTube channel, by dropping 30000 stones.
They should build a few of these at the next domino D-day, looks pretty cool. Nice colors too :)
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Spiders in our garden
I noticed at least 6 spiders and webs in our garden today and decided to play with the spiders like I did when I was young; finding other insects and inserting them into webs :) I also put two spiders of the same species in one web. I noticed some of you never play with spiders so I filmed it. The first spider is creating a new web.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Helping People With Photoshop on the Interwebs
This forum image is too big to show up readable on our site. So You'll have to go to the source.
BTW, you might have seen a cute little bear in the pictures, well that's actually pedobear a newish internet meme, so wrong..., but funny (video) :)
That's a Lot of Post-Its
You can buy those post-it pop-up pads that are already slinky like, still a lot of work though.
These guys also made the biggest Coke and Mentos videos.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Media: Documentary/Biography
Name: Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
IMDb / review: IMDb
Torrent (HQ Screener)
Buy it @ Amazon
Why bother: A biography on Hunter S. Thompson whose story Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was made into a great movie.
The passages from his books that feature in the documentary are narrated by Johnny Depp.
It really gives a fascinating look into the life of Hunter S. Thompson and has many interesting stories and anecdotes.
Rating: 8/10 - Warm and fussy feeling inside
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Very Wrong Design
Was this designed to look phallic on purpose? It must have been, nobody can not see it. Great music also :)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Warhammer Online - Cinematic Trailer HD
Check out this awesome trailer for Warhammer Online. Be sure to choose for the HD version if your PC can handle it. The animation was made by Blur Studios.
The actual gameplay footage isn't nearly as impressive as the trailer though.
Best christian music ever!
Watching this clip it was quite easy for me to ignore my prejudice against christian music. catchy song, ridiculous lyrics.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
History of the browser user-agent string
In the beginning there was NCSA Mosaic, and Mosaic called itself NCSA_Mosaic/2.0 (Windows 3.1), and Mosaic displayed pictures along with text, and there was much rejoicing.
And behold, then came a new web browser known as “Mozilla”, being short for “Mosaic Killer,” but Mosaic was not amused, so the public name was changed to Netscape, and Netscape called itself Mozilla/1.0 (Win3.1), and there was more rejoicing.... read on
Profile editing
Couldn't sleep and thought I'd make a personal page, which you see when you click on my bear to the left. Will probably expand it in the near future, though I doubt many people click on the avatars.
Any of you feel like doing your own?
Monday, September 08, 2008
LHC Rap
Google to Get Its Own Satellite
Google has signed a deal under which GeoEye will supply the search giant with imagery from a satellite due to launch in coming days, the companies said.
Under the deal, Google is the exclusive online mapping site that may use the imagery, said Mark Brender, vice president of corporate communications and marketing. Google uses satellite imagery in its Google Maps and Google Earth product.
And as a little icing on the cake, Google's logo is on the side of the rocket set to launch the 4,300-pound satellite in six days from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
GeoEye-1 will orbit 423 miles above Earth, but it will be able to gather imagery with details the size of 41 centimeters, Brender said. Google, though, is permitted to use data only with a resolution of 50cm because of the terms of GeoEye's license with the U.S. government.
Full Story...
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Nicotine as Good as Ritalin
Tomorrow I start with Ritalin in order to reduce the effects of ADD on my ability to concentrate. I was browsing the net on what to be careful with in combination with Ritalin and found this article. Turns out I've been self medicating for quite some years now...
NEW ORLEANS, LA -- November 13, 2003 -- Nicotine serves as well as the commonly prescribed drug methylphenidate (Ritalin) on measures of motor inhibition taken in teens with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). [...] Nicotine was delivered by a skin patch. Comparison was to oral Ritalin and a placebo for both medications. The teens served as their own controls. Reaction times significantly improved on 2 standard laboratory tasks that measure inhibition of responding no matter which drug was used. Tests included the Stroop Task, with nicotine significantly decreasing the so-called Stroop effect (P < .05). Nicotine worked better on this task than did Ritalin.
Upside-down House
The interior is also upside-down, so it's not suitable for living in. More pictures.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth
This blog has a number of pictures from Socotra Island, part of Yemen. They really look quite alien.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Procrastination Flowchart
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Don lafontaine!
Don lafontaine died today on a blood clot in his lungs. You may not noticed this man his face, but he probably got the most famous voice of the film business.
this man could make a trailer better then the movie. So he gets my respect.
Large Hadron Collider Overview
A 10 minute clip on the LHC and its research plans.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of 7 TeV protons. Its main purpose is to explore the validity and limitations of the Standard Model, the current theoretical picture for particle physics. The LHC was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and lies under the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. The collider is currently undergoing commissioning while being cooled down to its final operating temperature of approximately 1.9 K (−271.25 °C). Initial particle beam injections were successfully carried out on 8-11 August, 2008, the first attempt to circulate a beam through the entire LHC is scheduled for 10 September 2008,and the first high-energy collisions are planned to take place after the LHC is officially unveiled, on 21 October 2008. more at wiki
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Google Releases Its Own Browser
Are Internet Explorer and Firefox ready to do battle with Chrome?
Google announced Monday that it has been hard at work on an open-source browser known as Chrome, a beta version of which will be released in 100 countries on Tuesday.
New features will included "isolated" tabs designed to prevent browser crashes and a more powerful JavaScript engine.
"Why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web," Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, Google engineering director, wrote in a blog post.
Full Story...
Monday, September 01, 2008
Adam Savage - Fascincation With The Dodo Bird
Adam Savage from Mythbusters gives a nice presentation and Q&A session at a hackers conference. I really like this guy. It's in many stupid YouTube parts so I made a playlist of it. At the end of each video it should automatically go to the next one. It's 12 parts of 5 minutes, so it's an hour long. The presentation at the beginning is only 20 minutes long if you don't want to watch it all.