Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Blow Your Mind 6 Seconds At A Time

The GE 6 Second Science Fair on Vine was pretty cool it seems...



A few of these I've done before in some form or another, or at least know what is going and on and why.  But not all of them to be sure.  I'm gonna go try that one with the ice cube and the water on the upside down coffee cup now...

(via IOTBS via Digg)

Friday, August 23, 2013

Check Your Head - The NFL & Concussions

That the NFL has a problem with head injuries and that the league has been at least down playing the issue and at worst denying or even covering it up shouldn't be news to anyone at this point.  Just how big of a problem it is and just how long the league and probably even the fans should have know something was wrong is still being investigated.  This fall Frontline is stepping up with a two part special on the issue...




ESPN was originally involved in the project until they reportedly pulled out under pressure from the NFL.  That's not a good way for the NFL to be doing business.  Football may not, and probably should not, be the same game for much longer.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Restore A Little Of Your Faith In Humanity

Stephen Colbert will do the honors along with the good people of Vicco, Kentucky...

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive


Well done indeed.

(via a whole bunch of places)

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Interesting Viewpoints

Here are a couple of very engrossing videos to kill off some of your time and absorb a bit of your attention (and possibly distract you from the continued stagnation and meltdown of our political system.) (Me? Jaded? Why do you ask?)

NASA has been taking a lot of photos of Saturn with the Cassini Orbiter over the past couple of years and now you can look at them in video format.

Around Saturn from fabio di donato on Vimeo.


Closer to home this quad-copter mini-drone footage offers a pretty wild perspective on Niagra Falls.



Pretty good distractions I think.

(both via crave)

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Down By The River

In case you haven't noticed I like maps, a lot.

Here are a couple that caught my attention this spring, hopefully you saw them already (actually scratch that, I hope this is the first time you see them and they blow your mind and you feel forever indebted to me for showing them to you) but if you haven't they're worth a gander.

Someone took the time to make a map of the US out of just rivers and streams and it's beautiful and fascinating.  You can also think about this as a map of all of the waterways in the US and nothing else, two sides of a coin if you will.

US rivers in the contiguous 48

If you're interested in who you might run into by your local or regional river or stream you can check out this fairly meta map of the US broken down into geographic areas based on the circulation of dollar bills.

In order to figure out exactly what you're looking at head on over to the NPR story on the map and the researchers who put it together.

US - Canada Relations

Ever wonder why that line between the US and Canada is so straight out west?  Ever think that maybe it actually isn't as straight as it looks on most maps?  This video is for you...



This is just one of several gems from CGP Grey, they'll keep you amused while making sure that you learn at least a little something new.

(I can't remember how I got there, but these days it was probably Digg)

Ah Government

Our system of government is pretty muddled if you ask me; many, many common sense issues that need to be addressed just get bogged down and picked at and never even get voted on by our law makers (can you tell I'm frustrated with the way we do the business of governing here?).

The latest victim is shaping up to be immigration reform, and the GOP Congressmen looking to block the current efforts but out a letter about their complaints.  Former high school teacher and current Dem Congressman Mark Takano gave the letter some comments.  It would be funny if it wasn't so sad...


Also Takano's tumblr is called There Will Be Charts, I think I like this guy.  Has he been on the Daily Show yet?