The text I quoted above got me thinking. As many of my readers know, I’ve been working on an extremely difficult programming problem for the last seven years. Many really smart people have attempted to solve it before me, and so far, none have succeeded; many others, equally intelligent, believe that it simply can’t be …
Continue reading ‘“Keep Going. Concentrate on Something Useful.”’ »
I’ve long been fascinated with human attempts at protecting bird food from squirrels, ever since seeing one at my grandparents’ place in Pennsylvania. Most such attempts are spectacular failures (as was theirs), though I’ve posted before about a few that work. Apparently there’s an extremely funny book on the subject now too. Maybe it will …
Continue reading ‘“Outwitting Squirrels: one of the funniest books I’ve ever read”’ »
Our new house has no air conditioning, and no ductwork that air conditioning could be vented through. We’ve bought a small air conditioner, but it’s only good for one room (we put it in the bedroom). We spend most of our time in the basement office during daylight hours (where it’s naturally cooler), but in …
Continue reading ‘“Set Up a Super Simple Evaporative Cooler for Immediate Heat Relief”’ »
A whole five megabytes, and I’ve been inside bathrooms that weren’t much larger than that thing. There’s no mention of price, but I’m betting it’s in the six- or seven-figure range. (I didn’t click through to find out; the details of computer artifacts from before I was born just aren’t that interesting to me.)
Our friend Don and his girlfriend were visiting for a few days, and yesterday around noon we took them to a nearby beach. It was the first time that we’d been to one in several years… we remembered to use sunscreen, so I only got a very mild sunburn on one shoulder, and GoddessJ on …
Some companies are accused of paying people to sit around doing nothing, but this is just ridiculous.
I can’t believe I missed this. I’ve been fascinated by the idea of solar sails ever since I first read The Mote in God’s Eye as a kid.
I never knew that carrots came in different colors: The reason modern Western carrots are orange is because they were bred that way, in the 16th and 17th centuries, in tribute to the Dutch royal House of Orange. I wonder what people would say to yellow or purple carrots. Other than “that’s weird!” 😉
This would be extremely useful, and not just for medical purposes — “cold sleep” is a common plot device in science fiction books and movies, for dealing with decades-long interstellar voyages, just as one example. And since humans obviously can do it, I think it’s inevitable that science will find a way to harness it, …
Continue reading ‘“Suspended-animation cold sleep achieved in lab”’ »
“Be careful: this machine has no brain. Use your own.” One of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard in months, and not just for working with powered machinery.