Non-Prophet

Antikythera Mechanism Demonstrated

Aerogel

Chatting on the phone with my pappa the other day, he mentioned that he was working with a wickedly awesome material called aerogel. It is nearly the lightest solid on the planet, as it weights only double what air does, but cooler still is that it has perhaps the lowest coefficient of thermal conductivity of any substance. It is a super insulator.
Add to that the fact that it looks totally freaky, due to Rayleigh scattering of the shorter wavelengths of visible light by the nanosized dendritic structure. People call it frozen smoke.
I want some. I'm not sure why, but I do. And it's on ebay. This stuff is freaky.
wikipedia.org:

Aerogels are good thermal insulators because they almost nullify the three methods of heat transfer (convection, conduction and radiation). They are good convective inhibitors because air cannot circulate throughout the lattice. Silica aerogel is an especially good conductive insulator because silica is a poor conductor of heat—a metallic aerogel, on the other hand, would be a less effective insulator. Carbon aerogel is a good radiative insulator because carbon absorbs the infrared radiation that transfers heat at standard temperatures. The most insulative aerogel is silica aerogel with carbon added to it.

Due to its hygroscopic nature, aerogel feels dry and acts as a strong desiccant. Persons handling aerogel for extended periods of time should wear gloves to prevent the appearance of dry brittle spots on their hands.

Ironic Panda

Oh yeah. That's funny. Not a koala.

news.yahoo.com:

"An An", whose Chinese name translates as "Peace", bit the experienced female keeper as she was laying bamboo leaves in the panda's habitat, a spokeswoman for Ocean Park said. "Ocean Park immediately provided first aid to the panda keeper, and arranged for an ambulance to take the panda keeper to the hospital for medical treatment," the spokeswoman added.

Sugar is a Drug

Over the last hundred years it has become ubiquitous in our food. I'm finding that even organic wheat bread tastes more like cake than bread these days. Sugar is disgusting. ;)

news.yahoo.com:

A study of rats finds they show all the signs of addiction to sugar. The finding could help better understand eating disorders in humans. Professor Bart Hoebel and his team in the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute have been studying signs of sugar addiction in rats for years. They had previously demonstrated a behavioral pattern of increased intake and then showed signs of withdrawal.

Proof That Government Is Dramatically Impure

Big Trees

This lecture will take your breath away.

The Shape of the U

If you don't know Ted, you should.

300 Million App Store Downloads

thathappened.net:

Since opening the Apple iTunes App Store in July, users of iPhone and iPod Touch have purchases more than 300 million applications. 60 million applications are downloaded on a monthly basis, with over 2 million downloaded each day. Seattle - Since opening the Apple iTunes App Store in July, users of iPhone and iPod Touch have purchases more than 300 million applications. 60 million applications are downloaded on a monthly basis, with over 2 million downloaded each day. Other companies, link Handango, have offered applications for smart phones for years, but users were often confused and frustrated by the download process. With the streamlined use of the iTunes store, Apple has been able to take down the last hurdle for widespread use of smart phone applications.

My guess is that this story has it wrong. I bet people haven't purchased 300 million applications, but rather downloaded 300 million. The difference is that the vast majority of the iPhone apps that I use are free, and I've paid for only a couple. Even so, this is an astounding number of downloads for a store that has only been open for a few months. The furture is here and it is a tiny notebook computer that you carry in your pocket. ;)

Fun

Check and make sure that you're having all of the fun that you deserve. Do this now. ;)