Month: August 2006

Wikipedia picture of the day

Yes, I’ve been on a bit of a photo-of-the-day kick lately.  It’s just a phase, I’m sure.  As I have more time to catch up on news, I’ll be posting fewer images.  This latest image posting is the Wikipedia picture of the day for August 3, 2006.

600px-london_eye_twilight_april_2006.jpg

Seen here from the rear at twilight, the London Eye, also known as the Millennium Wheel, is the largest observation wheel in the world at 135 m (443 ft) high. The wheel carries 32 sealed passenger capsules and rotates at a rate of 0.26 m/s (about 0.9 km/h or 0.6 mph) so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes to complete.

Click the image for a full size view.

[tags]Wikipedia, Picture of the day, Millennium Wheel, London Eye[/tags]

Constellations in a canister

(via MAKEzine blog)
A set of simple (and honestly – obvious enough that I should have thought of and done this on my own) instructions for making canisters which project constellations on walls/ceilings/etc, courtesy of NASA. A great teaching project for kids, too. My older son is getting to the age where he’ll probably be really interested in things like this, anyway. And of course, whatever the older does, the younger wants to do.

constellations-01.jpg
constellations-02.jpg

[tags]NASA, Constellations, DIY projects[/tags]

What the?!?!?!?

OK, so I’ve been on something of a forensics/profiler/behavioral sciences kick lately.  The book I’m currently reading, The Evil That Men Do, references a forensic medicine book.  Thinking I’d look in to the options for this, I do an Amazon search for ‘forensic medicine’ and look over the list.  As I am looking at one offering, Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine, Volume 1-4 (Hardcover), I notice this odd little pairing Amazon gives me for the “Better together” option:

forensics.jpg

I never would have guessed one could get more enjoyment from a forensics encyclopedia by purchasing it with the March of the Penguins DVD.

[tags]Forensic medicine, Better together, Amazon[/tags]

OK, so it might be a little tough to read

I just saw this at ahajokes while looking at their funny picture of the day. This poem was listed in their funny form of the day. Try to read the whole thing out loud. It’s long, and continues after the break, so don’t think you’ve made it just because you clear a couple of paragraphs.

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Continue reading “OK, so it might be a little tough to read”