Clipmarks | JediKnut's clips

Man plans air ascent by ponytail

Fri, 02 May 2008 20:14:18 GMT

clipped by: JediKnut
clipper's remarks: I know we Indians are crazy... but this is really a bit much!

Wonder if he can 'pull it off' !

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Man plans air ascent by ponytail

A man in eastern India says he is going to take to the air by hanging from a helicopter suspended by his ponytail.

Earlier this week Shailendra Roy drew large crowds when he pulled the famous Darjeeling toy train with his ponytail.

Mr Roy wanted to pull the train for more than 300 metres (Photos: Sanjay Sah)

One end of an iron chain was tied to his foot-long ponytail, and the other to the train engine and three coaches, weighing some 35 tonnes.

He says he keeps the hair strong by rubbing it with mustard oil and pulling cars and other heavy objects.

"I am planning to dangle myself from a helicopter," Mr Roy said after pulling the train 10 metres the town of Siliguri where the track is flat.

Tags: hair, ponytail, helicopter, train

RHCP: Influences & Inspirations

Fri, 02 May 2008 07:05:55 GMT

clipped by: JediKnut
clipper's remarks: Great read for anybody who's a fan of RHCP!

Clip Source: www.gibson.com

Influences & Inspirations: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Having weathered death, addiction, and constant personnel changes, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have not only survived 25 years in the music industry but only grow more popular as time marches on. The miraculous thing is the band is still using the same basic formula Anthony Kiedis and Michael “Flea” Balzary originally hatched when they came together with Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons at Fairfax High School in 1983 as Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem―a bit of funk, bit of rock, and whole lot of unbridled energy.

Jimi Hendrix “Hey Joe"

Flea has Hendrix’s face tattooed on his arm. The band has covered “Fire.” Every single one of their guitar players has worshipped at his alter. It’s really a miracle that the Red Hot Chili Peppers didn’t end up as the world’s biggest Jimi Hendrix tribute act.

Iggy Pop “I Wanna Be Your Dog”

Van Halen’s version of “You Really Got Me”

Tags: rhcp, inspiration, tribute

Electronics' 'missing link' found

Fri, 02 May 2008 06:52:00 GMT

clipped by: JediKnut
clipper's remarks: Interesting read... with this, possibilites for reducing the size of most electronics (PCs, mobile phones, etc.) just gets bigger.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Electronics' 'missing link' found

Details of an entirely new kind of electronic device, which could make chips smaller and far more efficient, have been outlined by scientists.

The new components, described by scientists at Hewlett-Packard, are known as "memristors".

The devices were proposed 40 years ago but have only recently been fabricated, the team wrote in the journal Nature.

They have already been used to build novel transistors - tiny switches that are the building blocks of all chips.

"Now we have this type of device we have a broader palette with which to paint our circuits," Professor Stan Williams, one of the team, told the BBC last year.

Total recall

Memristors were first proposed in 1971 by Professor Leon Chua, a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley.

They are the "fourth" basic building block of circuits, after capacitors, resistors and inductors.

"I never thought I'd live long enough to see this happen," Professor Chua told the Associated Press.

Tags: electronics, memristors

Keyboards 'dirtier than a toilet'

Fri, 02 May 2008 06:29:10 GMT

clipped by: JediKnut
clipper's remarks: Wow! This is just dirty! I hate it when people eat at their desks... more so if they don't wash their hands after eating, or eat oily/fried stuff while typing... Just disgusting!

What's interesting though, is that the study says "compared to men, on average women have three to four times the amount of germs in, on and around their work area". ! Who'd ever think that possible!? heh

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Keyboards 'dirtier than a toilet'

Some computer keyboards harbour more harmful bacteria than a toilet seat, research has suggested.

Consumer group Which? said tests at its London offices found equipment carrying bugs that could cause food poisoning.

Out of 33 keyboards swabbed, four were regarded as a potential health hazard and one harboured five times more germs than one of the office's toilet seats.

Microbiologist Dr Peter Wilson said a keyboard was often "a reflection of what is in your nose and in your gut".

During the Which? tests in January this year, a microbiologist deemed one of the office's keyboards to be so dirty he ordered it to be removed, quarantined and cleaned.

It had 150 times the recommended limit for bacteria - five times as filthy as a lavatory seat tested at the same time, the research found.

They also found that, compared to men, on average women have three to four times the amount of germs in, on and around their work area.

Tags: keyboard, hygiene, bacteria, dirt

Next decade 'may see no warming'

Fri, 02 May 2008 06:21:11 GMT

clipped by: JediKnut
clipper's remarks: Seriously... global warming scares me! We need to do something about it, & I just hope complacency doesn't set in because of this!

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Next decade 'may see no warming'

The Earth's temperature may stay roughly the same for a decade, as natural climate cycles enter a cooling phase, scientists have predicted.

A new computer model developed by German researchers, reported in the journal Nature, suggests the cooling will counter greenhouse warming.

However, temperatures will again be rising quickly by about 2020, they say.

Other climate scientists have welcomed the research, saying it may help societies plan better for the future.

The key to the new prediction is the natural cycle of ocean temperatures called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), which is closely related to the warm currents that bring heat from the tropics to the shores of Europe.

The cause of the oscillation is not well understood, but the cycle appears to come round about every 60 to 70 years.

Tags: global warming, climate change