Month: May 2004

Design your own cereal box and learn about some of the ways cereal is marketed towards children.

According to German physicists, our universe is shaped like an “elongated triangle like the Paris landmark, but with a spire going on and on.” And you thought it was football-shaped…

If you thought Eric Idle was pissed off, wait until you read Kurt Vonnegut’s article “Cold Turkey.”

I probably wouldn’t have linked to the Pi To ONE MILLION Places site if it hadn’t invoked a Dr. Evil reference… 🙂

Ever wanted your own Batphone? Build your own with a complete parts list and set of instructions. I think I have a new project to work on now… 😉

I just read a very informative article (from The New Yorker?) entitled “Big and Bad: How the S.U.V. ran over automotive safety.” The predominant theme, although not that revelatory, is that bigger is not always better when it comes to car safety, although studies show that most people don’t realize this fact.

I didn’t realize how little engineering is involved in building trucks when compared to conventional vehicles. Another site illustrates this point in showing the graphic aftermath of a 40 mph collision test in a Mini Cooper vs. a Ford F150. The point is obviously that a well-engineered small vehicle does much better than a non-existently engineered behemoth, a point borne out by the accompanying statistics of driver fatalities in different vehicles. The first article points out that smaller vehicles generally excel in “active safety” versus “passive safety,” which basically means they are better able to avoid an accident in the first place. Still, the amount of damage to that F150 makes me wonder whether people driving large SUVs and trucks should really feel that safe in their large elevated metal cabins that dwarf smaller vehicles.

The article makes many good points, and I should stop trying to do it justice; I highly recommend that you read it for yourselves…

“The producers of ‘Gilligan’s Island’ are teaming with the producers of the ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette’ to bring ‘Gilligan’s Island’ to reality TV.” The website seems to be a casting call for the show to air on TBS, “so if you’re the perfect Gilligan, Skipper, Thurston or Lovey Howell, Ginger Grant, Mary Ann, or The Professor (just what was his name, anyway?), fill out the application and mail it in, along with a video of yourself telling us why you’d make a great castaway.” This sounds horrible, although I guess nothing should surprise/dismay me anymore…

According to Save Wonderfalls, Fox is looking into releasing all 13 episodes of the cancelled show Wonderfalls on DVD in time for the holidays. This is definitely good news, but as one person on the forum pointed out, “you never know what can derail something like this,” so I won’t get too happy until I actually see the goods.

CNN reports on the political race of “Old Blue Tie” vs. “Hair France.” 🙂

Evergreen International Aviation is apparently developing a the “Evergreen Supertanker,” a modified 747 airliner with “24,000 gallons of tank space on board” for the airdropping of fire suppressants etc. Pretty wild, although I have my doubts about how effective a huge, lumbering jet would be in a firefighting role…

via Information Junk