[worry]

[QuickTidal]

An hour long, but well worth it. "Our Future In Space" panel.

http://vimeo.com/30742999

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 21 October 2011 - 07:17 PM

[Adjutant Stormy~]

OMG HUGE SCIENCE BONER INCOMING

[Darkwatch]

Two things:

This, a laser so powerful as to tear open space time!

Mad Science

And a DIY transhumanist, very much in spirit of Kim Ross.

Because why stay human?

[Adjutant Stormy~]

While totally awesome, that woman gives me an unhealthy dose of surgery squick.

[Lucifer's Heaven]

XD

This comment from the first link amused me muchly

"I'm just hoping that the results of this experiment will provide once and for all, a definitive answer to the ages old question of:

If three astronauts are flying over the Gobi Desert in a canoe, and they crash land, how many pancakes does it take to shingle a doghouse?"

I've only been able to narrow it down to two possible answers:

Three, because ice cream has no bones.

or

Nine, because watermelons can't use night vision goggles.

And even then, I am only about 70% sure the answer is one of those. This experiment with the great big lasers could reveal a completely different answer."

[Mezla PigDog]

Some research I've been doing recently has lead me to discover the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System on the WHO website. It is really cool (if you like that sort of thing, which I definitely do)! Global Influenza Programme

Their charts bit is really cool. Each week, diagnostic and reference labs contributing to the surveillance network send their data to the WHO who make all the data public and you can pull out charts for whatever time frame and country you're interested in at this link: FluNet If you want to look, an interesting timeframe to choose is something like 2007 - 2011 so you can see the regular flu season against the unseasonal spike of the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

For Brits, the Health Protection Agency publishes a weekly influenza report detailing the rates of infection in our country (it's all to do with predicting epidemics and pandemics by waiting for the data to trend above baseline values): HPA National Influenza Report

And additionally for Brits, if you want to take part in a research study, you can join the FluSurvey. We all know we suffer from cold and flu symptoms through winter but most of us don't go to the doctors because it isn't serious enough. That all means that there is a distinct lack of data for scientists to use to understand common cold and flu infection. This study is intended to gather that data and it's a nice place to catalogue the sniffles

[Darkwatch]

Spoilered for size

Spoiler

[Obdigore]

That is a cool chart and all, but I have no idea who that company who made it is, I would be much more impressed if they had any kind of data to backup their projections...

[HiddenOne]

I need a different audio recording interface. I'm using ProTools and an MBox USB. My main issue is latency. I can't turn it down far enough to avoid the huge auidble delay between input signal and recorded tracks.

I have recently been playing with Audacity, using my audio card on my computer. There is no audible latency, but the sound quality is inferior, and Audacity doesn't have the same extreme functionality, effects processing capability, sound engines, etc.

I would love to have a direct hardware interface that I can use that will work with ProTools, but they're so proprietary about their stuff there is no hope.

Need new audio gear!

[worry]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15835017

There's video on that page that is just amazing. Anyway, the opening of the article is:

'Brinicle' ice finger of death filmed in Antarctic
A bizarre underwater "icicle of death" has been filmed by a BBC crew.

With timelapse cameras, specialists recorded salt water being excluded from the sea ice and sinking.

The temperature of this sinking brine, which was well below 0C, caused the water to freeze in an icy sheath around it.

Where the so-called "brinicle" met the sea bed, a web of ice formed that froze everything it touched, including sea urchins and starfish.

The unusual phenomenon was filmed for the first time by cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson for the BBC One series Frozen Planet.

[Darkwatch]

And then there was light:

http://blogs.nature....othingness.html

[Shiara]

I did not know that eels have a larval stage:

[Adjutant Stormy~]

Shiara, on 28 November 2011 - 07:50 AM, said:

I did not know that eels have a larval stage:

INVISIBLE EEL ATTACK

[QuickTidal]

worrywort, on 23 November 2011 - 09:19 PM, said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15835017

There's video on that page that is just amazing. Anyway, the opening of the article is:

'Brinicle' ice finger of death filmed in Antarctic
A bizarre underwater "icicle of death" has been filmed by a BBC crew.

With timelapse cameras, specialists recorded salt water being excluded from the sea ice and sinking.

The temperature of this sinking brine, which was well below 0C, caused the water to freeze in an icy sheath around it.

Where the so-called "brinicle" met the sea bed, a web of ice formed that froze everything it touched, including sea urchins and starfish.

The unusual phenomenon was filmed for the first time by cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson for the BBC One series Frozen Planet.

This is reason #127 why I can't wait to get me hands on the FROZEN PLANET BluRay set when it drops.

Seriously, BLUE PLANET, PLANET EARTH, HUMAN PLANET, and FROZEN PLANET have to be the BEST nature doc's ever made. I never get tired of watching the first 3 (only seen bits of FROZEN so far).

[QuickTidal]

A nice list of the top ten martian mysteries. Good stuff there:

http://io9.com/58628...rtian-mysteries

[Use Of Weapons]

QuickTidal, on 28 November 2011 - 07:50 PM, said:

Seriously, BLUE PLANET, PLANET EARTH, HUMAN PLANET, and FROZEN PLANET have to be the BEST nature doc's ever made. I never get tired of watching the first 3 (only seen bits of FROZEN so far).

The Planet series are all excellent, but my favourites are the Life series: Life on Earth; Living Planet; Trials of Life; Private Life of Plants; Life in the Undergrowth; Life of Birds; Life of Mammals; Life in Cold Blood

[Shiara]

David Attenborough is like a cosmic mentor - I grew up watching his documentaries

[Mezla PigDog]

UseOfWeapons, on 29 November 2011 - 12:27 AM, said:

QuickTidal, on 28 November 2011 - 07:50 PM, said:

Seriously, BLUE PLANET, PLANET EARTH, HUMAN PLANET, and FROZEN PLANET have to be the BEST nature doc's ever made. I never get tired of watching the first 3 (only seen bits of FROZEN so far).

The Planet series are all excellent, but my favourites are the Life series: Life on Earth; Living Planet; Trials of Life; Private Life of Plants; Life in the Undergrowth; Life of Birds; Life of Mammals; Life in Cold Blood

The Killer Whales beaching themselves to catch seals and then playing with their corpses is the main abiding memory of Trials of Life. I've got a friend who worked as a Producer on Planet Earth (the tv series, that is, not the actual planet cos that wouldn't be anything worth reporting!), the jammy git. The bit where the polar bear mother emerges from her den with 2 cubs is his work and the horror episode in the bat cave with the guano mountain, he did that. You know how they show "making of" sections at the end and on the guano mountain it shows them wearing boiler suits and taping up the crotch with gaffer tape so that centipedes won't crawl in?? That's him!!

[Use Of Weapons]

Mezla PigDog, on 29 November 2011 - 09:26 AM, said:

The Killer Whales beaching themselves to catch seals and then playing with their corpses is the main abiding memory of Trials of Life. I've got a friend who worked as a Producer on Planet Earth (the tv series, that is, not the actual planet cos that wouldn't be anything worth reporting!), the jammy git. The bit where the polar bear mother emerges from her den with 2 cubs is his work and the horror episode in the bat cave with the guano mountain, he did that. You know how they show "making of" sections at the end and on the guano mountain it shows them wearing boiler suits and taping up the crotch with gaffer tape so that centipedes won't crawl in?? That's him!!

That bat cave guano/mountain of cockroaches episode was my favourite of all the Planet Earth episodes. Kudos to your friend!