Blog

A set of four priceless archival recordings from the University of Auckland (New Zealand) of the outstanding Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman – arguably the greatest science lecturer ever. Although the recording is of modest technical quality the exceptional personal style and unique delivery shine through. Feynman gives us not just a lesson in basic physics but also a deep insight into the scientific mind of a 20th century genius analysing the approach of the 17th century genius Newton. Thanks Stefan! Link.

Rats! Call and email now! “Think the Broadcast Flag is dead? EFF is warning that Hollywood is trying to sneak the broadcast flag into law as an amendment to a massive appropriations bill. ‘If what we hear is true, the provision will be introduced before a subcommittee tomorrow and before the full appropriations committee on Thursday. That gives us 48 hours to stop it.’ Action Alert here. List of Senator’s phone numbers here.” [via].

Make pal Cory Doctorow’s latest book is out- right up the MAKE alley- the story revolves around a guy who dumpster-dives parts to build WiFi repeaters for a community wireless network that he’s hacking together through Toronto! I’ll be reviewing Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town soon, along with making some ebook versions out of the Creative Commons text Cory puts out there. As an ebook proponent, I really love that he does this. Link.

This site has some pretty neat electronic projects and schematics. Tons of photos, step by steps and more- the parallel port stepper motor might come in handy for a bot I’m working on- Build an easy stepper motor driver that will allow you to precisely control a unipolar stepper motor through your computer’s parallel port. Link.

Many people have likely seen Julian’s work, but if you haven’t- check it out. Julian Beever has made pavement drawings for over ten years. He has worked in the U.K., Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, the USA and Australia. The pavement drawings have included both renderings of old masters plus a wealth of original inventive pieces of work. Link.

Clever hack…make a PSP pirate radio station! Here’s a cool hack which will allow you to stream FM radio using your PSP with the iPod iTrip (FM transmitter for the iPod). This is what happens when an iTrip (fm transmitter for iPod) and a PSP get together. [via] Link.

The moon is looking creepy big at the moment. Here’s why…Step outside any evening at sunset and look around. You’ll see a giant moon rising in the east. It looks like Earth’s moon, round and cratered; the Man in the Moon is in his usual place. But something’s wrong. This full moon is strangely inflated. It’s huge! You’ve just experienced the Moon Illusion. [via] Link.