The Fount of Useless Information
Your place for useless information that just might possibly be interesting.
The 6 Weirdest Things That Are Ruining Your Memory
http://www.cracked.com/article_19583_the-6-weirdest-things-that-are-ruining-your-memory.html
Another Cracked article I just can’t pass up posting. Be sure to check out the pictures and captions, they are half the amusement of the article!
It amazes me how …
SETI to Scour the Moon for Alien Footprints?
http://news.discovery.com/space/seti-to-scour-the-moon-for-alien-tech-111227.html
Of course, it is a long shot, as the article states:
…If these hypothetical aliens are advanced enough to traverse the vast distances between the stars, and if they decided to
I thought I would document my thought process on a biofuel-based product that I recently conceived of. This is the sort of economic analysis I use when I evaluate alternatives (for my take on alternatives in general, please see The …
Can a molecule make us moral?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/27/opinion/zak-moral-molecule/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
The author seems very sure of himself, but without doing a bunch of reading I can’t tell if it is justified or not. I think the article is worth a read and while …
Precambrian fossils, once thought to be embryos, reinterpreted as… something else
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/12/precambrian-fossils-once-thought-to-be-embryos-reinterpreted-as-somethign-else.ars
Since the Cambrian period basically represents the first time organisms contained hard body parts (soft body parts very rarely fossilize), a lot less is known about the pre-Cambrian …
Solar cell could be cheaper than fossil fuel
http://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/60289-solar-cell-could-be-cheaper-than-fossil-fuel
I am not sure about this 114% efficiency number, it seems like gaming the system (meaning getting more than one electron per photon seems like unfair counting). However, if they can …
Earth Has Other Moons, Astronomers Say
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/21/earth-has-other-moons-astronomer-says/
I almost didn’t read this because the title seems so nonsensical on its surface, but since the definition of a moon is unfixed, it actually turns out that this is a very interesting …
Comet Lovejoy survives close encounter with the sun
http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/60251-comet-lovejoy-survives-close-encounter-with-the-sun
Clearly something passing through the sun’s corona isn’t just made of ices, it must also have plenty of rocky material. One day I really need to stay up late and do …
The Bioterrorist Next Door
Man-made killer bird flu is here. Can — should — governments try to stop it?
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/12/14/the_bioterrorist_next_door
It is a long article by most people’s standards (7 pages, my goodness!) but I encourage anyone interested in bio-terrorism/bio-warfare …
Rocket system could lower cost of access to space, Allen says
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-57342610-239/rocket-system-could-lower-cost-of-access-to-space-allen-says/
I have remained unconvinced that using aircraft to bring rockets to merely 30-50K feet would make the slightest difference in the cost of launching. However, this statement did …