pretend you have a giant magnifying glass...an oldie but a goodie

save the gasoline tanker truck for last.. trust me. dont forget to click on whatever you are magnifying...

http://fun.drno.de/flash/antcity.swf

feeling dizzy? dont forget to click the image..

Google's Secret Plans For All That Dark Fiber?

take my word for it, you want to read this article..wow~



"Robert X. Cringely details the plan for all the dark fiber Google has been buying up: "The probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid. While Google could put these containers anywhere, it makes the most sense to place them at Internet peering points, of which there are about 300 worldwide.""

Tech-Rec Hits Minnesota Campus --another one of those "why didnt i think of that"? ideas...

MANKATO, Minnesota -- With the click of a mouse, Cassie Pap flips through cable TV channels, her legs pumping away on a recumbent exercise cycle.
She settles for MTV and reaches for the mouse to turn up the volume during her 2-mile workout. On another day, Pap might check e-mail or write a homework assignment using a flexible keyboard that will survive hundreds of sweaty fingers.


Her options are part of the latest technology upgrade on campus: computer-equipped exercise equipment.
"It's easier to work out with something in front of you to keep you entertained," said Pap, a freshman at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She credits the new equipment with motivating her to exercise nearly every day instead of just once in a while.
Campus officials, planning a renovation of the recreation building, hit on high-tech as a way to get more students to exercise, and brought in the school's technology staff to help out.
But when they went looking for the equipment -- treadmills, bikes and stairsteppers with computer/TV capabilities -- they couldn't find it.
"We found exercise equipment with TVs in front and others with computer programs but not a complete computer," said Wayne Sharp, director of the university's Academic Computer Center. "We had to take it to the next step."
So Sharp and his tech experts set up adjustable stands next to 40 pieces of exercise equipment. Each stand has a computer, keyboard and mouse; the student who uses it chooses his or her own way to pass the time.
"Exercising can be monotonous and tedious at times," said Todd Pfingsten, director of campus recreation. "The important thing is that it becomes habitual."
Pfingsten sees that happening already: Pap and other students fill up the machines almost all day, forcing students to sign up in advance.
It's not clear how many are using the computers for homework; some students have already found that it takes some coordination.
"I can't run and type at the same time," fourth-year student Jessie Nelson said as she checked her e-mail before getting on a cross-trainer machine. "I'd probably fall over."
Sarah Lerczak, a sophomore, said she'll probably stick to watching TV, but likes the e-mail option. "If you have to check your e-mail you don't have to make two stops. You can go right to the gym," she said. "It's a big convenience."
It will take time for students to get better at multitasking, said Kent Kalm, a professor in the university's human performance department, which offers physical education classes. Next spring, students in one of his fitness classes will use the equipment while watching video instruction, taking quizzes and logging their workouts.
"As more and more faculty use a multimedia-based curriculum, I see this as a great opportunity," Kalm said. "I think as students use the 'tech-rec' equipment, they'll probably come up with even more ideas."
Some other campus directors said they'd consider following Minnesota State's lead when it's time to replace their own old equipment. Students are ready for it, they said.
"They've grown up with video games, TV and internet," said Chris Oelling, associate director of recreation at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
Off campus, some major fitness chains have moved toward individualized entertainment, letting people channel-surf on their own TV screens. But nothing like Minnesota State's arrangement has caught on yet.
"People aren't really clamoring for that sort of thing," said Matt Messinger, a spokesman for the national chain Bally Total Fitness. "What they're really looking for is something to keep them interested and entertained."
That's a relief to Stephanie Maks, who worked with CEOs and other busy people in 20-some years as a personal trainer. Maks said she's had to take people's cell phones away to get them to focus on the exercise.
"Part of working out is relaxing," she said. "Don't bring the office with you to the gym."

your body,vitamins, and the copper paradox

Zinc and Vitamin C, both antioxidants, are very beneficial to health and immune function. The problem is, both of these nutrients interfere with the absorption of copper and iron. Copper and iron are beneficial to the body as oxidants. Thus, consumption of one comes at the expense of the other. This is known as the copper paradox.

How to Wash a Vehicle With Micro Fiber Cloths

Micro fiber cloths appeared for non-commercial use about four years ago. They are sold mostly for automobile care, but can be used for house cleaning and other maintenance needs. This article will focus on cleaning a vehicle.
Micro fiber cloth is a synthetic knit fiber of very small threads. The cloth is both soft and abrasive at such a micro level that you can’t feel it. Since it is made of so many small fibers, it is very absorbent, yet can be wrung almost dry like a chamois (shammy). Since it is synthetic, it holds dust, dirt, and bugs well, but rinses out easily, with very little being absorbed into the cloth.

http://wiki.ehow.com/Wash-a-Vehicle-With-Micro-Fiber-Cloths

Is That a Bomb in Your Pocket?

Bomb-detection technology is in the spotlight this month, as a deadline approaches for U.S. airport security personnel to complete a crash course in explosives screening just in time for the holidays.

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,69435,00.html?tw=rss.TOP

i HATE spiders...
compliments of THEHEAVYUSER �

a lot of our tv's are becoming obsolete sooner than planned-House backs quicker digital TV switch plan

November 19, 2005 9:15 AM PST
The House of Representatives on Friday backed a plan to require TV broadcasters to switch to all-digital transmissions by December 2008, which is three months earlier than they would under provisions of a Senate bill, according to a story by The Associated Press.
As part of a sweeping budget bill, the House also voted to set aside $830 million to help millions of Americans with older, analog TV sets pay for converter boxes so they'll continue to get service in the digital era, according to the story.
The deadline for the switch in the Senate bill is April 7, 2009--after the March Madness college basketball playoffs. Now it's up to House and Senate negotiators to work out differences between the two bills.

Vintage Panasonic appliances papercraft models

Panasonic has a selection of downloadable papercraft models of vintage Japanese small appliances, like this 1959 rice-cooker. Link (via We Make Money Not Art)

check out this optical illusion..click the image for full effect

Warning: Do not keep blinking too frequently. Blink vibrates the retinas in the eye balls, which might possibly cause serious disorders, e.g. retinal detachment or hemorrhage of the fundus for those who have too strong nearsightedness, high blood pressure or diabetes.

Shop-Till-You-Drop Specials, Revealed Here First

For retailers, the day after Thanksgiving is a painstakingly orchestrated affair.
Prices are scientifically slashed, down to the penny. Sales begin at dawn. And glossy circulars containing the well-laid plans are distributed just a day or two ahead to keep consumers and competitors in the dark.


Or at least that is how it worked before people like Michael Brim came along. From a cramped dorm room in California, Mr. Brim, an 18-year-old college freshman who dines on Lucky Charms and says he rarely shops, is abruptly pulling back the curtain on the biggest shopping day of the year.
His Web site, BF2005.com, publishes the circulars for what retailers call Black Friday - the day that officially starts the holiday shopping season - weeks ahead of time.
So far this year, sources have leaked advertisements to him from Toys "R" Us (showing the Barbie Fashion Show Mall, regularly $99.99, for $29.97); Sears (a Canon ZR100 MiniDV camcorder, regularly $329.99, for $249.99); and Ace Hardware (a Skil 12-volt drill, regularly $44.99, for $24.99).
Mr. Brim says his motive is to educate consumers. But retailers are furious, arguing that the site jeopardizes their holiday business, and they have threatened legal action.
But BF2005.com is not their only problem. There are now at least three Web sites dedicated to digging up Black Friday sales secrets, creating a fierce competition to post the ads first. It is so heated, in fact, that all three sites stamp the circulars with bright electronic watermarks to discourage rivals from stealing a scoop.

get a head start on formulating your post thanksgiving shopping plan.. look at the circulars that stuff the thanksgiving day paper way in advance. shop smart!

http://bf2005.com/

also check out...

http://gottadeal.com and

http://blackfridayads.com

mit is crafting a 100 dollar laptop for third world countries.

and you thought your first computer was slow? how about having to pause surfing the web so you could wind up your computer? no kidding its powered by a hand crank~ nifty..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501546.html

Secret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You

Tiny Dots Show Where and When You Made Your Print.

San Francisco - A research team led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently broke the code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide in every document.
The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known.
"We've found that the dots from at least one line of printers encode the date and time your document was printed, as well as the serial number of the printer," said EFF Staff Technologist Seth David Schoen.
You can see the dots on color prints from machines made by Xerox, Canon, and other manufacturers (for a list of the printers we investigated so far, see: http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php). The dots are yellow, less than one millimeter in diameter, and are typically repeated over each page of a document. In order to see the pattern, you need a blue light, a magnifying glass, or a microscope (for instructions on how to see the dots, see: http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/docucolor/).
EFF and its partners began its project to break the printer code with the Xerox DocuColor line. Researchers Schoen, EFF intern Robert Lee, and volunteers Patrick Murphy and Joel Alwen compared dots from test pages sent in by EFF supporters, noting similarities and differences in their arrangement, and then found a simple way to read the pattern.
"So far, we've only broken the code for Xerox DocuColor printers," said Schoen. "But we believe that other models from other manufacturers include the same personally identifiable information in their tracking dots."
You can decode your own Xerox DocuColor prints using EFF's automated program at http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/docucolor/index.php#program.
Xerox previously admitted that it provided these tracking dots to the government, but indicated that only the Secret Service had the ability to read the code. The Secret Service maintains that it only uses the information for criminal counterfeit investigations. However, there are no laws to prevent the government from abusing this information.
"Underground democracy movements that produce political or religious pamphlets and flyers, like the Russian samizdat of the 1980s, will always need the anonymity of simple paper documents, but this technology makes it easier for governments to find dissenters," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. "Even worse, it shows how the government and private industry make backroom deals to weaken our privacy by compromising everyday equipment like printers. The logical next question is: what other deals have been or are being made to ensure that our technology rats on us?"
EFF is still working on cracking the codes from other printers and we need the public's help. Find out how you can make your own test pages to be included in our research at http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/wp.php#testsheets.
Contact:
Seth Schoen Staff Technologist Electronic Frontier Foundation seth@eff.org

so you wanna hack, mod, or increase your recording time on your TIVO..

THEN YOU NEED TO GO HERE.. my brother used a free program listed here to get his updated tv listings using his wireless network, no phone line necessary.. lots of info about versions, updates, upgrades and even prepackaged kits. a must have link for tivo addicts.
http://www.weaknees.com

pictures that result when you hit the shutter, and toss your camera in the air

i dunno about throwing my 400 dollar canon up in the air, but, who knows, with a safety net perhaps... or one of those new disposable digitals...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/cameratoss/interesting/

meet the man who will save the internet..governing the internet for the entire planet..

The Register is running an interesting piece about Masood Khan, chairman of the sub-committee that is tackling many of the difficult questions about internet governance.

MIT RESEARCH ON TIN-FOIL HATS-just in

MIT researchers are claiming that tin-foil helmets do not stop government mind control rays (and may, in fact, make them more powerful!) However, the opposition respectfully disagrees.

thanx memepool™

70000 new blogs a daily;# of blogs total doubles every 5 months

so why have a blog? here is a link from slashdot comparing some popular blog tools..

An anonymous reader writes "With published numbers saying there are approximately 70,000 new blogs being created each day, and the total number of blogs doubling every 5 months, it's no wonder that everyone and their dog is wondering whether to setup their own blog for a chance at fame, or perhaps a book publishing deal. The question then becomes: What software should you use? SitePoint has just published The Blog Software Smackdown which takes a look at Movable Type, WordPress, and Textpattern. Pick one, and take your stab at fame or notoriety."

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=18829501

what does the "Rx" sign mean on pharmacies?

the english language sure has a lot of words with roots in latin~

http://ask.yahoo.com/20051114.html

newsfeeds is what you need.

use any of these 4 comprehensive newsfeed search sites, in conjunction with "newsowl" posted above, and you wont even have to surf to get the latest news, niftys and gossip, just look at a constantly refreshing dynamic page, as your pre-chosen sources for info, and topics of interest, scroll their latest breaking content.
i like to think of it as ¤ semi-manageable information overload ¤its out there , you just dont know it yet.
http://www.newsisfree.com
http://www.weblogs.com
http://www.rss-verzeichnis.de
http://www.syndic8.com

The Wrt54g Revival Guide in case you make a mistake of some kind..

ok, you INTENDED to upgrade or enhance your wrt54g, be a little CONSTRUCTIVE, but instead you were DESTRUCTIVE and you " bricked" it..
stuff happens. maybe the information here, both from linksys and some "unofficial" individuals, will get you back on the air. several things here to try in case you end up with a nice blue paperweight.. some are as simple as using a piece of wire run from your antenna to a certain pin on the circuit board, this will sometimes unlock a bricked up router. also several de-bricking programs. the site has some very nice pictures for assistance~ at this point, what do you have to lose? you cant break it more than broke~ good links too.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/linksysinfo/revival/

rss readers

first of all, i'm assuming you know what RSS is. it's the future, and the future is better. right? anyway. it's a way to have the news delivered to your doorstep... or... your desktop without having it land in your flowerbed. i used to be addicted to PLUCK... but... i am really starting to like OWL... check it out and tell us what you think!

aaron "too good for the geek squad" harper

not just another weather link

this weather link is constructed and managed by my friend, and fellow amateur radio operator, justin- KI4BDK. i find it useful because it is located less than 5 miles from my house, and it is refreshed often, for real time wind speed, temperature, barometric pressure, all that good stuff,PLUS it has the daily minimum/maximum statistics, and links to weather at any location. i hope to run a setup like this one day myself.. great work , but he is..
Kinda
Intelligent
4 (a)
Big
Dumb
Kid . hihi no offense jw~ here is his link..
http://www.ki4bdk.com

here are a few wi-fi homebrew antenna websites

take that crappy rubber duck off of your wireless access point, spend less than 10 dollars, and make yourself a more efficient hi gain (23dB!) out of such things as pringles can, baked bean cans, old directv dishes, chicken wire, many different models and variations, none seem too complex to build for anyone even slightly crafty.. what do you have to lose? perhaps that deadspot in the driveway, or basement guest room hopefully~

there are several here including the "bi-quad" http://martybugs.net/wireless/biquad/

this site lists 4 antennas, construction, comparisons, photos, and MORE links:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/elepal/antennie.html

How to Animate Clay

make your own stop motion animation one squish at a time gumby~

http://wiki.ehow.com/Animate-Clay

audio interviews with katrina victims

Leo McGovern, publisher of the New Orleans based alt-zine ANTIGRAVITY says,
The I-10 Witness Project is doing interviews with Katrina victims who are back in New Orleans, putting them in mp3 format and placing them in the public domain.

http://i10witness.org/index.html

linksys info § 1st post §

hey, just bought a linksys wrt54g wireless broadband router-switch-hub unit, im still in research mode, but have found some pretty useful links already, not sure how to do links yet, but anyway .. if you are using any of the linksys™ brand of networking gear, and especially the wrt54g series, there is lots of version info, tweaks, mods, and especially all the firmware releases from linksys here, and many 3rd party free firmware updates with added functions, adjustments etc. turn up your power! make an antenna that picks up much better than stock out of baked bean cans!increase your range!
http://www.linksysinfo.org

Techreation is simply somewhat about using the TECHnology of the day, or perhaps yesterday, or yesteryear for that matter, for your own RECREATION.. or the CREATION of items TECHnological.. take your pick. we all do it to some extent,and just because you are my favorite reader im hoping to offer you CONTENT related to those of us who enjoy ,and more importantly are aware, and appreciative of the technologies that enhance our recreational time, and to educate in anyway possible , using THIS technology to be informative. im hopeful you might learn about something cool or useful here, and tell your friends.
have fun.
and because im confident YOU as my favorite reader, know of things i dont ,
YOU will educate me on a myriad of cool and useful hints and tips too~
make yourself at home, feel welcome to post and particicipate ¤
lets see what happens.
K²