Clipmarks | KRMike's clips

Without them there would be no high-rise city. But when it comes to the passenger lift - now celebrating its 150th anniversary - are you a lost soul or a welcome wagon?

The invention of the lift made skyscrapers possible

But without the lift, which is celebrating a low-key 150th anniversary, the urban landscape would look utterly different. High-rise apartments and thrusting corporate tower blocks would have remained distinctly low-rise if we still depended on the stairs.

Tags: lift, technology, anniversary

Saving Money with the Arcane UK Rail System (and have fun doing it!)

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:12:00 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: This is great. I occasionally used to have to travel from London to Edinburgh, and it cost a fortune as a student. Break the Journey into smaller parts and save some cash (if you can - But look at Number 10 - it's GENIUS).

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

10 legit ways to get cheaper rail fares

Seeking a cheaper ticket?

Ticketing arrangements on the UK's railways are notoriously arcane, but you can use the rules to get cheaper fares. Independent rail expert Barry Doe details 10 popular journeys on which you can save money by asking for your ticket in the right way.

If you turn up at Penzance and ask for the cheapest return to Birmingham for immediate travel, the clerk will sell you a saver return at £106. That seems a good buy compared with the single of £85.50, and the saver return can be used either way on any train, any day, without restriction.

If, however, you ask for a saver return from Penzance to Cheltenham and a saver return from Cheltenham to Birmingham, it will be a lot cheaper.

So before 0900 the total is £85.50 - saving £20.50 over the originally-asked-for £106 - and after 0900 or at weekends, the total is £76.50, saving £29.50.

Tags: train, operatros, money, trick, save

The 13 Towers - Ancient Sun-Cult Observatory

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:28:53 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: Great stuff. Shows that even ancient technology could beat what 'normal' people today could build, even with access to the Internet .

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Towers point to ancient Sun cult

The oldest solar observatory in the Americas has been found, suggesting the existence of early, sophisticated Sun cults, scientists report.

It comprises of a group of 2,300-year-old structures, known as the Thirteen Towers, which are found in the Chankillo archaeological site, Peru.

The towers span the annual rising and setting arcs of the Sun, providing a solar calendar to mark special dates.

"I was gobsmacked when I saw them for the first time - the array of towers covers the entire solar arc."

The Thirteen Towers of Chankillo run from north to south along the ridge of a low hill within the site; they are relatively well-preserved and each has a pair of inset staircases leading to the summit.

The towers have inset staircases

When viewed from the western observation point, the Sun appears to the left of the left-most tower

The site contains a number of interesting structures

Tags: astronomy, history, sun, cult, observatory

Top 20 Lesser Known BitTorrent Sites

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:47:54 GMT

clipped by: leksi
clipper's remarks: Awesome list. :]

Clip Source: torrentfreak.com

Top 20 Less Known BitTorrent Sites

So what is “Less Known”? Well, we used the Alexa ranking as our criteria, all the sites in this list are not in the top 5000 (5000 most visited sites on the Internet). The order of the sites is random, and the list includes some meta search engines as well.

Do you know a relatively unknown public BitTorrent site that should be in this list? Put it in the comments.

01. torrentvalley.com

02. yotoshi.com

03. extratorrent.com

04. bitenova.nl

05. torrentscan.com

06. fenopy.com

07. smaragdtorrent.org

08. torrentat.org

09. fulldls.com

10. worldnova.org

11. spynova.org

12. nova9.org

13. 2torrents.com

14. scrapetorrent.com

15. litebay.org

16. monova.org

17. torrents.to

18. torrentradar.org

19. bitdig.com

20. bittorrentshare.com

We all know about mininova, The Pirate Bay and Torrentz, but what few know is that there are a host of less known torrent sites that also have some great, and sometimes rare, content. Here are 20 of these less known torrent sites.

Tags: torrents, bittorrent, downloads, torrent

Islamic Art 600 Years ahead of Mathematicians

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:48:38 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: Incredible. Artists have the answer (sometimes ).

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Advanced geometry of Islamic art

Peter Lu became interested in the subject on a trip to Central Asia

A study of medieval Islamic art has shown some of its geometric patterns use principles established centuries later by modern mathematicians.

Researchers in the US have found 15th Century examples that use the concept of quasicrystalline geometry.

This indicates intuitive understanding of complex mathematical formulae, even if the artisans had not worked out the underlying theory, the study says.

"They made tilings that reflect mathematics that were so sophisticated that we didn't figure it out until the last 20 or 30 years."

Tags: maths, islam, science

Doomsday Vault Unveiled

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 10:12:27 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: Big-Up the Norwegians for an interesting, forward looking project in a sensible place (rather than near an active volcano as one such site is). I just hope it isn't me who has to get there in the case of actually needing some of the samples after a catastrophe. Hmm. How long 'till it turns up in a book/film?

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Artist's impression of the entrance to the vault

Enlarge Image

The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government.

The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole.

The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change.

Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008.

The Norwegian government is paying the $5m (£2.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house three million seed samples.

The Arctic vault will act as a back-up store for a global network of seed banks financially supported by the trust.

Dr Fowler said that a proportion of the seeds housed at these banks would be deposited at Svalbard, which will act as a "living Fort Knox".

Tags: doomsday, seed, bank, science, future, crops

The Effect of Typeface on the Perception of Email

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 23:44:19 GMT

clipped by: pallefs

Clip Source: psychology.wichita.edu

By A. Dawn Shaikh, Doug Fox, & Barbara S. Chaparro

Summary: This study investigated the effect that a font has on the reader’s perception of an email. Based on a previous study by Shaikh, Chaparro, and Fox (2006), a sample email message was presented in three fonts (Calibri, Comic Sans, and Gigi). The three chosen fonts represented a high, medium, and low level of congruency for email messages. The least congruent typeface (Gigi) resulted in different perceptions of the email document and its author. However, no significant differences were found between the moderately and highly congruent fonts.

Table 1. Rank order of fonts that should be used for email

The results from this study suggest there is a relationship between typeface selection and the reader’s perception of an email. The email presented in the typeface that was judged in previous studies to be low in appropriateness for email (Gigi) was perceived to be less stable, less practical, more rebellious, and more youthful than either Calibri (highly appropriate) or Comic Sans (moderately appropriate). This finding suggests that documents presented in typefaces that are viewed as less appropriate are seen as less serious and less professional in nature. The appropriateness of the typeface also affected the perception of the email author in that the email using Gigi created a perception of an author who is less professional, less trustworthy, and less mature. Finally, the typeface that was lower in appropriateness led participants to conclude that the author was a lower level trainee employee. When choosing a typeface for a document, the level of appropriateness should be taken into account in order to avoid sending unintentional messages.

Typefaces should be chosen to reflect the message of the content and care should be taken to ensure that the typeface does not conflict with the intentions of the author.

Tags: usability, typeface, font, perception, email, psychology, research, writing

Hugging Neolithic Skeletons

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:32:28 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: Just brilliant. I don't know, a reminder about human's ability to be kind an caring? Or just funky bones.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Italy mystery of prehistoric hug

The skeletons' bones were discovered interlaced

Archaeologists in Italy have unearthed two skeletons thought to be 5,000 to 6,000 years old, locked in an embrace.

The pair from the Neolithic period were discovered outside Mantua, about 40km (25 miles) south of Verona.

The pair, almost certainly a man and a woman, are thought to have died young as their teeth were mostly intact, said chief archaeologist Elena Menotti.

The burial site was discovered on Monday during construction work for a factory building.

The skeletons' bones were discovered interlaced

"It's an extraordinary case," said Ms Menotti. "There has not been a double burial found in the Neolithic period, much less two people hugging - and they really are hugging," she told Reuters news agency.

"I've been doing this job for 25 years. I've done digs at Pompeii, all the famous sites, but I've never been so moved because this is the discovery of something special," she said.

Tags: archaeology, rare, skeleton, neolithic, italy

Doomsday Clock says it all.

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 01:12:42 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: I think it says a lot that it is so close considering past event, and how 'easily' the individual can at last do something to change it. We _are_ in control of our futures at last.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Climate resets 'Doomsday Clock'

Experts have added climate change as a great threat

Stephen Hawking

Experts assessing the dangers posed to civilisation have added climate change to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind.

As a result, the group has moved the minute hand on its famous "Doomsday Clock" two minutes closer to midnight.

The concept timepiece, devised by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, now stands at five minutes to the hour.

Not since the darkest days of the Cold War has the Bulletin, which covers global security issues, felt the need to place the minute hand so close to midnight.

Tags: doomsday, global, warming, nuclear, weapons

Indian Fog

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 11:00:39 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: Just a beautiful little photo of a farmer in the fog in India.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

An Indian farmer walks through the fog which has been affecting parts of northern India recently.

Tags: india, farmer, fog

What every Brit should know about jaywalking

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:16:07 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: It's always advisable to check on the laws of foreign countries when you travel, but I guess it's hard to check on everything .

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

What every Brit should know about jaywalking

The moment of his arrest

In the UK no one would bat an eyelid. In Atlanta, you could be wrestled to the ground.

It is a cautionary tale for any traveller - distinguished historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto tried to cross the road while in Atlanta for the conference of the American Historical Association, only to find himself in handcuffs and surrounded by armed police.

Professor Fernandez-Armesto then spent eight hours in the cells before the charges were dropped. He told the Times that his colleagues now regard him as "as a combination of Rambo, because it took five cops to pin me to the ground, and Perry Mason, because my eloquence before a judge obtained my immediate release".

Tags: law, traffic, jay, walking

Want to improve the NHS? Remove the Consultants (Suprise Suprise)

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 03:38:29 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: Few shocks here...

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

'Doctors are a law unto themselves'

Sir Gerry thinks doctors need closer managing

One of Britain's most experienced and successful businessman was given one hospital, no money and six months to cut waiting lists at a NHS Trust in Yorkshire. In BBC Two's Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS?, he gives his diagnosis.

Rotherham General is a good hospital and had received the highest rating possible in its annual review.

But the chief executive Brian James had great ambitions for the hospital.

His vision was to provide hospital services with no waiting times.

He had starting implementing his plans and waiting lists had started coming down.

But he asked for Sir Gerry Robinson's help to see if he could speed up the process.

After a six-month stint, Sir Gerry feels he was given a unique insight into the turbulent world of the NHS.

"The consultants were a law unto themselves."

Sir Gerry, who has headed a string of leading UK companies, said of the challenge: "I feel it was one of the most difficult things I have ever taken on."

The general manager had been trying to get waiting times down but was having difficulties engaging the consultants in her plans.

"What you really see here is the power the consultants wield in the NHS.

"If the consultants don't want to do it, then it won't happen, as simple as that.

"In what other organisation would that be allowed to happen?"

Tags: nhs, health, consultant, doctor, money

London's Little People Project

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 23:34:27 GMT

clipped by: haraya
clipper's remarks:

[T]he Little People Project: it's a guilt-free street art project. Tiny little figures (tiny! Smaller than a dime!) are placed around London. Most of them will never be noticed, but I like to imagine some kid will find some of these someday and be delighted by the surreal magic of the world. --John Brownlee, Wired Blogs: Table of Malcontents

Like Amelie finding the little boy's treasure box in her wall-- I'd like to imagine that too.

Clip Source: little-people.blogspot.com

Roadworks

Clip Source: little-people.blogspot.com

Rubbish

Clip Source: little-people.blogspot.com

Wrong turn

Clip Source: little-people.blogspot.com

Balloon man

Clip Source: little-people.blogspot.com

Commuting

Clip Source: little-people.blogspot.com

London sun

Tags: street art, art, street, installations, figures, cute, tiny, photographs, london, fun, entertainment, people, miniature, treasure

Forbidden Rice Pudding

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 22:43:31 GMT

clipped by: ladydracene
clipper's remarks: "Forbidden Rice" (China Black rice).........www.lotusfoods.com

Clip Source: www.thatsmyhome.com

1 C. Forbidden black rice

2 C. water

3 T. toasted coconut (see below)

1 1/2 C. canned or homemade coconut milk

2/3 C. simple syrup (see below)

1/2 t. kosher salt

Coconut whipped cream (see below)

2 red bananas, sliced

Strawberries for garnish (if desired)

Rinse rice. Bring water to a boil over high heat. Add rice and toasted coconut, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes or until most of the liquid is gone and the rice is not quite tender.

Stir in coconut milk, simple syrup and salt. Simmer until most but not all of the liquid is gone. Serve warm in soup cups and top with coconut whipped cream and banana slices. Garnish with strawberries if desired.

To make toasted coconut: Preheat oven to 350° F. Bake 1/2 cup coconut in a small baking pan for 5 to 10 minutes until light golden brown. Stir once or twice to brown evenly.

To make simple syrup: Bring 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Simmer for 2 minutes until sugar is dissolved.

To make coconut whipped cream: Beat 1/2 cup heavy cream, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons toasted coconut until soft peaks form.

Notes: Forbidden rice, a medium-size Chinese black rice, turns a rich purple when cooked. Red bananas, common in South America, are a deep amber and less sweet than yellow bananas.

Tags: recipes, food, cooking