Latest Blog Entries by lucky760 at VideoSift.com

Google Knols

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:01:35 -0700

(2 comments - 21 views)
Never heard about it before but google just launched Knol, a site that could overtake Wikipedia. The big difference: Knol allows only known authors to create entries in areas of their expertise. Other members can make comments and suggestions, but control of the contents are held firmly by the author.

This is in stark contrast with Wikipedia who, as you probably know, allows anyone even anonymous people (and even bots for that matter) to create and edit entries to contain whatever "facts" they want. Sounds like a very interesting idea and as a matter of fact very similar to something Fedquip has described before.

I think it'll be a great first resource to hit instead of Wikipedia, assuming someone has written about your topic of desire of course.

- lucky760

Invisibility Carpet Possible in 1-2 Years

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:32:48 -0700

(2 comments - 83 views)

Invisible Carpet Idea Close to Actual Invisibility
Eric Bland, Discovery News

July 17, 2008 -- Invisibility cloaks are cool, but an invisibility carpet is more practical.

That's according to scientists from Imperial College London, who recently published a paper detailing the creation of a material that would be the first to hide objects in visible light, something no cloaking device has ever achieved.

"We've given a prescription for how to cloak something in visible light," said John Pendry, who, along with Jensen Li, wrote the paper that appeared recently on ArXiv.org. "It will be difficult to make but it is also practical."

Cloaking an object requires structures, often referred to as metamaterials, that channel light in a specific way.

The only way to channel light in that fashion is by using structures smaller than the wavelength of light being used to detect an object. In 2006, Duke University scientists cloaked an object from light centimeters long by creating a metamaterial with structures millimeters in size.

To cloak an object in visible light, which has a much smaller wavelength, around half a micron, scientists would have to create structures nanometers in size, which, according to Pendry, "requires some clever nanotechnology."

That nanotechnology would come from combining special layers of common silica and silicon, each of which reflects light differently.

"It's a lot like a mirage," said Pendry. "The sun heats the air above the desert and creates a temperature gradient, so when light from the sky comes down the graded refraction bends the light and it enters your eye and you see a mirage the looks like water."

....

Read the rest of the story at Discovery News.

- lucky760

Twitter Much?

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:25:18 -0700

(10 comments - 159 views)
So I just discovered this weird little service called Twitter. Do any of you use this thing?

For the uninformed, it's basically a quite simple thing where you can send updates (via website or cellphone text message) of up to 140 characters describing what you're doing right now. Then anyone who is "following" you (which sounds kind of creepy and stalkerish) can be informed of your update.

I just signed up last night and it seems pretty useless to me. Anyone else able to make any use of the uselessness?

760 out.

- lucky760

Black Community Denied Water for Decades

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:55:33 -0700

(2 comments - 97 views)
Wow. This is unbelievable. I just found this story about a small community of all Black people who have been denied running water since 1956!

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Residents of a mostly black neighborhood in rural Ohio were awarded nearly $11 million Thursday by a federal jury that found local authorities denied them public water service for decades out of racial discrimination.

Each of the 67 plaintiffs was awarded $15,000 to $300,000, depending on how long they had lived in the Coal Run neighborhood, about 5 miles east of Zanesville in Muskingum County in east-central Ohio.

The money covers both monetary losses and the residents' pain and suffering between 1956, when water lines were first laid in the area, and 2003, when Coal Run got public water. ...

Read the whole story at CNN

- lucky760

Got HiDef?

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:22:36 -0700

(6 comments - 106 views)
Just wondering what HD format you support in your home. In your home is there a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player? Or perhaps do you have both? Also, do you use it? Do you enjoy it? How many movies do you have for your format?

I ask because I finally just received my set of 5 HD-DVD movies to which I was entitled for buying a laptop with an HD-DVD drive (which is now non-functional since I upgraded from Vista to XP), and I'm trying to figure out what to do with the packages of coasters.

Maybe a VideoSift contest (that, obviously, only HD-DVD owners or gifters will want to participate in)?

- lucky760

New Car!

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:22:14 -0700

(11 comments - 240 views)
After continuing problems with our old Jeep Liberty, we rid ourselves of it and found a great deal on a new 2008 Mercedes Benz C300 Sport Sedan, so I bit the bullet and got it for Charms. It has black interior and metallic blue exterior. We're extremely excited and just wanted to share our glee! Below are a couple of the photos I snapped. (View all 10 at flickr.)

Here's a sloppy, quick video of Charms driving past me outside our humble abode.
(Pardon the shaky cam and blockiness.)

WHOOPEE!!!

- lucky760

How Would You Survive a Zombie Attack?

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:35:02 -0700

(31 comments - 510 views)
It's a topic of much debate among scholars, so I thought of broaching the subject for discussion among the VideoSift intellectuals.

The question is: What would you do to survive the zombie attack that is obviously imminent? Also, do you plan on preparing for the attack or do you intend to wait for it to begin and simply react?

When considering the issue, you must keep in mind that the zombie attack will not likely last a single night; it could go on for days, weeks, months, or even longer. It'll also be likely that the zombies will not be immune to sunlight (that's just silly vampire nonsense), so waiting for dawn won't help.

So, I ask again, how would you survive?

Here's my plan:

I hope to have a chain mail suit (commonly used by divers around sharks) so the zombies can't easily bite into my skin and infect me.

In order to fight back I'll need a shotgun or other firearms with a large supply of ammunition. These should be always kept nearby with the chain mail, so storage in the trunk of my car is probably best.

Once the attack began, I'd need a location that could be turned into a fortress while also providing long-term sustenance. A shopping mall or grocery store might be a first inclination, but a bad one. In either there are too many entrances and exits through which the unusually strong undead can penetrate.

No, I'd opt for a Costco wholesale warehouse for several reasons. It has tall, thick walls all the way around so as a last resort I could head for the roof where the zombies couldn't climb from outside. There are only a few doors to the outside which can be easily fortified. There is an almost never-ending supply of food, clothes, electronics, etc. so we would never be bored or hungry. The warehouse is very large so if there is a breach we'll have plenty of space to fight and run to make it up to the roof where we'll make our last stand.

These are my initial thoughts. What are yours?

- lucky760

The Gecko In the Egg - Evolution in Action!

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:26:08 -0700

(3 comments - 208 views)

This doctor was cracking chicken eggs while making breakfast and found a surprise in one: a dead gecko.

Read the full story.

- lucky760

Crying Jesus in a Window

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:22:57 -0700

(8 comments - 390 views)
Apparently this image of Jesus with tears streaming down his cheeks appeared in a window somewhere and remained for a couple hours before fading away.

- lucky760

Quick Question

lucky760 (http://lucky760.videosift.com) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:38:51 -0700

(2 comments - 167 views)
Who gets pulled over for driving a bumper car on a public street?

- lucky760