Stray Hawkeye

Did you know that NASA makes movie style poster for its missions?  They do, and they’re awesome.  I think the one for Expedition 13 (really big pdf of it) is my favorite:

Neo... In... Space!!

And before anyone starts bitching about “my tax dollars at work”, remember:

1. If you know what you’re doing it doesn’t take that long to do this sort of thing, especially when they already make the informative versions for press / schools.
2. Seeing a government agency embracing a bit of remix / pop culture is sort of a refreshing surprise.  Especially with the continuous corporate push towards more DRM and more strict intellectual property laws that would limit this sort of format.
3. These people when to god-damn space and are in basically the most hazardous profession that exists.  They deserve to be doted on a little bit, especially now when shuttle launches and space walks barely even get a 5 second mention on the evening news unless they’re the last one of something, or something goes terribly wrong (see most hazardous profession that exists comment).  I mean really, without looking at the poster above, name me one astronaut in the last 5 years.  Now name me one reality show star.  That’s what I thought.  Our real heroes need some more press.
4. They’re awesome.

Via Kottke.

Here’s how we do it.  We need to convince the oil companies that there is oil on Mars.  Stay with me here. The oil companies will then fund manned space flight to Mars so they can drill for the oil. If they eventually find it, it will prove there was once life there, which will cause the religious fundamentalists’ heads to all explode in unison (side benefit there).  Then, because using the oil on Mars would be way cheaper than shipping it to Earth (not to mention supply and demand), we could then send all of the SUVs and sports cars (and their drivers, another side benefit) to Mars.  This would also have the side benefit of decreasing congestion here. Then, all the green house gases from the SUVs and sports cars will cause global warming on Mars (Marsal warming?), which will then teraform Mars to be habitable. We can then grow food on Mars and solve world hunger, on two planets no less. The end.

Granted, the religious fundies would just deny that we had ever been to Mars, or claim the oil was put there by god 5,000 years ago to test their faith. And there would have to be oil on Mars in the first place. And we’d have to figure out how to make SUVs run at several hundred degrees below zero with double the gravity. And I have no clue how fertile Martian soil is. But I can dream, right?

Or maybe we could just reproduce less.

Sort of like an internet party, but with chemicals.  Dorky and a bit nsfw:

Real Genius gets another step closer.

The end result of Pavlov’s diabolical plan to make everyone drool while Christmas shopping.

• The Bloomberg Way – A short quote, but I’m pretty sure it proves I will never write for, or most likely, enjoy reading anything from Bloomberg News, however, I admittedly don’t know all that much about them.
• I like Wendy’s logo / brand, in no small part because of their total lack of modern update.  And as ultra cheap fast food goes, it’s not bad.
• What do you call someone who compulsively stores jars full of baby poop in a freezer for over 30 years, adding to the collection on a regular basis?  Um, a scientist.  They apparently also go for fruit bat blow jobs.  And hell, while we’re at it, growing rabbit penises in a lab.  Because really, that’s what the world needs, more rabbit penises.
• Brawndo begins it’s assent to world power.  Here’s the commercial they reference in that article:
  
  And, of course, where to buy it.

Two different environmental / tech items I kind of like.

Aptera is a company working on make an super, super efficient car.  It sort of boarders between glorified motorcycle and tiny coupe, but interesting as a thought experiment if nothing else, though I think they have a few working prototypes floating around.

FloDesign Wind has a very different take on wind turbines as well.  The video is particularly interesting, though it’s a bit of a commercial for them as well.  Interesting for thinking about the different pros and cons of traditional wind power, and making a little more sense of how they’re set up when you see a field of them.  Personally, I still think solar concentrators with steam engines are the way to go.

Something randomly occurred to me, which may well be beyond common sense for most people, but I had never thought about it before.

I was always told you shouldn’t drink really hot things (like hot cocoa or tea) through a straw, because they’d burn your mouth that way. It was one of those things that got ingrained as motherly wisdom, but on first blush, it makes absolutely no sense. How would something passing through a plastic tube make it hotter?

However, while drinking my toasty warm coffee, I noticing myself blowing on it, and two and two came together. Even if you don’t blow on it, the liquid at the bottom of the mug is much better insulated than the liquid at the top of the mug. The stuff at the bottom (assuming it’s not being stirred a bunch), has all of the liquid above it to insulate it from the colder air above it, as well as the mug insulating it on the sides and below. So, it would make sense then that the liquid at the top is cooler, as it’s not as well insulated and it’s transferring heat to the surrounding air. So, when you take a sip off the top, you’re getting coffee that has had some of the heat removed by the air around it, and you are basically taking a slice off the top of the coolest liquid. However, when you use a straw, you’re piping the most well insulated liquid (and therefore hottest part) directly into your mouth.  Thus, burnt tongue.

Amazing how counter-intuitive folk-ish wisdom can make so much sense. Or maybe everyone else figured this out when they were five, and I’m just slow.

Now if someone could explain to me why eating apples, or apple derived products, gives me bloody noses the next day.  Seriously.  Anyone?  Because it’s really annoying and I kind of like apples.

• How much of the universe can’t we see because things are in the way (ignoring gravitational lensing)? For instance, what is the volume of space that’s on the far side of Andromeda, that we can’t see because Andromeda is in the way? Or Dwingeloo 1 for that matter?
• What percentage of single word search terms return a Wikipedia page as their first hit in a Google search?
• Are there any single family homes (not towers, duplexes, or commercial buildings) on the island of Manhattan?

Kind of cool for how simple it is:

Via Make