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Posted by on 18th October, 2007

How airplanes really fly

How airplanes really fly

“So we all know how planes fly, right? The top of the wing is rounded and the bottom of the wing is straighter. Air takes longer to travel over the top of the wing, which means there’s less air pressure there relative to the bottom of the wing. That means there’s more air pressure on the bottom — hence the lift. Right? Right?” Nope… apparently not. [button link=”http://dmiessler.com/blogarchive/why-planes-fly-what-they-taught-you-in-school-was-wrong”” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 28th August, 2007

Survival of the fittest

Survival of the fittest

“Survival of the fittest is a phrase which is a shorthand for a concept relating to competition for survival or predominance. Originally applied by Herbert Spencer in his Principles of Biology of 1864, Spencer drew parallels to his ideas of economics with Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution by what Darwin termed natural selection. [wikipedia]” Now, we know this well established concept is applied to everyday living organisms. But what about the not so obvious ones…? What about M & M’s? [button link=”http://www.laughbreak.com/stories/survival_of_the_fittest.html” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 25th August, 2007

Content aware image resizing

Content aware image resizing

Re-sizing an image is nothing new, and if you maintain the aspect ratio, it will look exactly the same but smaller or larger: smaller, you’ll see less of it and larger, you’ll distort the image. But what if you could in some way, intelligently resize an image without distorting the content of it…? What if that intelligent technology could identify the less important background pixels in an image and delete those to shrink the image without touching the main object in the middle? That sounds crazy, but that is exactly what this technology will offer. (Imagine this technology built into your browser…) [button link=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qadw0BRKeMk” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 23rd August, 2007

Build a Laser Spy Microphone.

Build a Laser Spy Microphone.

With less than $5 and it is incredibly simple. I had known about the technology, but thought it involved a more sensitive and expensive equipment. It turns out you can make yourself a simple Laser Microphone with a $2 laser and the light sensor from a nightlight… The technology involves around the fact that sounds [of your voice] are simply waves that cause vibrations in the air. The windows in any room will vibrate accordingly when impacted with these vibrations. If you point a laser light at the window and capture the reflected light on a sensor, any vibration on the window will be reflected and captured in your sensor. It is just a matter of translating the vibrations back to sound with software and any laptop with Windows will do that for you. [button link=”http://lifehacker.com/software/diy/build-a-laser-spy-microphone-on-the-cheap-292718.php” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 11th December, 2006

The OpenScience Project

The OpenScience Project

Somehow I stumbled upon this site and found it quite interesting, especially the decent amount of (free) software in each of the specializations. If you have an interest in any of the fields of science, check it out… “The OpenScience project is dedicated to writing and releasing free and Open Source scientific software. We are a group of scientists, mathematicians and engineers who want to encourage a collaborative environment in which science can be pursued by anyone who is inspired to discover something new about the natural world.” [button link=”http://www.openscience.org” color=”#FFFFCC” size=”1″ style=”4″ dark=”1″]read...

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Posted by on 16th December, 2004

NASA World Wind software

NASA World Wind software

World Wind allows any user to zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth, leveraging high resolution LandSat imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) elevation data to experience Earth terrain (or any planet with the data) in visually rich 3D, just as if they were really there. Virtually visit anyplace in the world. Look across the Andes, into the Grand Canyon, over the Alps or along the African Sahara. The download of this phenomenal software is free, but is quite large at around 250Mb. You will also need a fast computer with plenty of memory and compatible 3D graphics acceleration. If that wasn't enough, you must also have broadband (I would not try this with anything less than that). The software allows you to set the detail of resolution. The whole planet can bee seen with a resolution detail of 7 meters (1 pixel == 7 square meters), whereas all of the US can be seen with 1 meter resolution. Some urban areas like Washington D.C., Fort...

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