Month: June 2005

I had no idea honey can last forever. Certain items in your house practically scream “toss me” when their prime has passed. That mysterious extra white layer on the Cheddar? A sure sign it needs to be put out of its misery. Chunky milk? Down the drain it goes. But what about that jar of olives or Maraschino cherries that has resided in your refrigerator since before the birth of your kindergartner? Or the innumerable nonedibles lurking deep within your cabinets and closets: stockpiled shampoo and toothpaste, seldom-used silver polish? How do you know when their primes have passed? Link.

There are a lot of modded Barbie and Barbie part projects springing up lately. This is a set of all types of jewelry made from Barbie eyes and other parts. I like what the artist has to say “Barbie dolls were extremely significant in fueling my creative life as a child. They were manipulated and controlled to fir infinite situations of my choosing”. [via] Link.

In microgravity…you don’t need a container. In Day’s initial experiments, the melt–a molten droplet about 1/4 inch in diameter–was held in place inside a hot furnace simply by the pressure of sound waves emitted by an acoustic levitator. With that acoustic levitator, explains Day, ‘we could melt and cool and melt and cool a molten droplet without letting it touch anything.’ As Day had hoped, containerless processing produced a better glass. To his surprise, though, the glass was of even higher quality than theory had predicted. [via] Link.

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.