Dancing on the Edge of Science and Technology

Generating Elecricity from Foot Traffic

2010-04-16T10:46:00.002-04:00

This is brilliant! What a GREAT way to generate electricity. I wonder how expensive it is to roll this out to every metro area. Imagine putting this at the entrance to metro stations in DC. I bet you could at least power the metro with the foot traffic.More info here:Check out the power generated by people stepping on floor tiles.

Google Launched "Near me Now" on Android

2010-01-08T17:57:00.001-05:00

Now that I'm a new Android user, I love this feature. Especially since I've gotten over how creepy it is that Google knows where I am every minute of the day (when I have my phone on). The creep factor is negated by the fact that I really like to use my phone as a GPS and to find where the closest Starbucks is to me in a new city.More about the Google announcement about "Near me Now" on the Fast

Filipino Prisoners Dancing to Queen

2009-11-11T12:14:00.003-05:00

Supposedly as a part of their rehab. The beginning is slow, but stick with it, it's worth it.

Rocket Fuel Found in Infant Formual - Kids at Risk

2009-04-02T11:52:00.001-04:00

CDC has found the rocket fuel chemical (perchlorate) in 15 brands of powdered infant formula. Combined with existing perchlorate drinking water contamination in 28 states, infants are at risk. Environmental Working Group asks for EPA action. http://www.ewg.org/Rocket-Fuel-In-Infant-Formula/TakeAction

Beautiful 404 pages

2009-02-23T17:31:00.002-05:00

I just loved some of these 404 Error Pages and had to share. I copied my favorites below, but you should really see them all.

Mercury Found in High Fructose Corn Syrup

2009-02-03T10:48:00.005-05:00

My family members are diabetic, so I've been irritated by the corn industry's new TV commercials that say "high fructose corn syrup is fine in moderating".Yeah right.Turns out they've been creating the stuff with mercury."Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before

Looking for a coffee in a strange city that isn't Starbucks?

2009-01-28T22:18:00.001-05:00

I had to share a new tool that will let you look up non-chain coffee shops, bookstores and theaters. It's called Delocator.

Useless Info for the Day - Fear of Long Words

2009-01-08T11:19:00.001-05:00

Really. The word that describes the fear of long words is: Hippopotomonstrosequippedalio.Look it up.

Dr. Stephen Badylak - Regenerative Tissues

2008-10-30T16:40:00.005-04:00

Dr. Stephen Badylak is an expert on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, with over 40 U.S. patents and 200 patents worldwide.This was by far one of the most exciting presentations at PopTech.Here's the video:Dr. Badylak has studied how or body can regenerate its own tissue by rallying the stem cells we have in our own body. He discovered an extracellular matrix that is loaded with

Jay Parkinson - Social Network to Connect you to your Doctor

2008-10-30T16:30:00.005-04:00

Jay Parkinson has created HelloHealth which lets you make appointments online, email your doctor, and use 21st century tools to manage your health. I think it's a great model.The phrase that stuck with me after his presentation at Pop!Tech?16.9% of the US GDP runs on handwritten notes.

Gary Slutkin - Violence as an Infectious Disease

2008-10-30T16:23:00.002-04:00

This presentation at Pop!Tech was fascinating. Gary Slutkin has a background in infectious diseases and discovered that the spread of violence behaves a lot like the spread of disease. He has applied the formula for containing the spread of infectious diseases to violence reduction in Chicago with great success.The formula to control infectious diseases looks like this:Interrupt

Visualizing your Friend Connections on Facebook

2008-10-30T14:39:00.001-04:00

I discovered a neat way to view your friend connections on Facebook via a new (to me) application. You can see my graph here.

Finally! Google Maps Helps me Find a Restroom

2008-10-29T15:52:00.002-04:00

Women everywhere will appreciate this. We are always aware in our travels of where the free and clean restrooms are, but now you can find them using Google Maps.SitOrSquat.comThe wonderfully named SitOrSquat.com is a website and mobile application that has mapped over 25,000 public restrooms. In their own words SitOrSquat "is dedicated to telling you where the closest public restroom is and

Hookup Maps - A Mashup of Craigslist Personals and Google Maps

2008-10-29T15:39:00.003-04:00

So it turns out there is a mashup application out there to let you know who is single in your neighborhood. Beyond the obvious (that as a single woman I don't want random men to know where I live before vetting them) it might actually be helpful. I'm thinking of my own neighborhood where there are TONS of townhouses and apartment complexes in a small area. I walk by them on the way to the metro,

Technology use is Stimulating Evolutionary Change

2008-10-29T15:04:00.002-04:00

And everyone laughed when Ray Kurzweil talked about the ultimate merging of human brains and machines.Here's a fascinating article looking at how we strengthen certain neural passageways due to our technology use - making use better at decision-making, data filtering, and complex reasoning, but also limiting our ability to read body language.The whole article is here.

Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter

2008-10-27T17:57:00.002-04:00

Fascinating. US Army has posted a report claiming that certain mobile and web technologies (like Twitter) could be used to enable terrorism. The report references how activists used Twitter to organize protests at the Republican National Convention. More here.

Clay Shirky - Design for Generosity

2008-10-27T12:49:00.003-04:00

I've followed Clay Shirky for awhile now (he's the author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations), and it was great to hear him speak at PopTech.He admitted that he hasn't found the magic formula for explaining the growth & activity in social media sites to "old school" organizations. I find myself in that role again and again, and while I'm getting better at

Marian Bantjes - Beautiful Designs

2008-10-27T12:42:00.004-04:00

Her designs are beautiful, and one line from her presentation really stuck with me: "When we spend time on something, we sacrifice ourselves to do it."

Yummy Chocolate -TCHO

2008-10-26T19:36:00.001-04:00

I have a confession to make. I've become a chocoholic, and have really been enjoying Trader Joe's single source chocolate ice cream. I've discovered similar high quality chocolate in bar form at PopTech -- www.tcho.com. So yummy!

Translate your video into another language

2008-10-25T10:26:00.002-04:00

Free tool to translate your videos into another language: dotsub.com.

Global Volunteer Service before College

2008-10-25T10:13:00.002-04:00

PopTechers were introduced to Global Citizen Year - a nonprofit that is creating a movement to get young people to do a year of global service during the year between high school and college. It will be interesting to see how they create an attitude change amongst high schoolers to fill their ranks of volunteer slots... I also wonder how this will be more successful than the Peace Corps? Are we

The Extinction of Languages

2008-10-25T10:06:00.003-04:00

David Harrison is a ethnolinguist who is working with the Living Languages Institute and National Geographic to record dying languages around the world. They've created a great site where you can see the last living survivors of various languages (with English translations) at languagehotspots.org.

PopTech Day 1- Scents, Passion, Energy, Expression and Addiction

2008-10-24T08:19:00.009-04:00

As usual the first day of Pop!Tech was amazing. The speakers that spoke to me were:Saul GriffithHe has calculated his entire energy usage for his lifetime - including the energy used to create the things he purchases like bottled water, his laptop, and the NY Times that gets delivered to his front door every morning. You can calculate your energy usage too at Wattzon.com. He provided a summary

It's Almost Time for Pop!Tech

2008-10-21T18:43:00.002-04:00

Oh...I can't wait, and Pop!Tech has posted an intro video about Pop!Tech to get me excited about this year's conference. I can't wait to get re-inspired and get my passion for social change and the potential for technology re-charged. @ Yahoo! Video

Selling Lotion through Mapping Social Networks

2008-10-09T12:49:00.003-04:00

I found a fascinating article about how Vaseline created a film documentary through mapping the social network of a small town in Kodiak, Alaska, and then analyzed the social network to determine who was the "sneezer" (a reference there to the Ideavirus book)...or the one in the community who was recommending the lotion the most to other town residents.Once they found Petal Ruch (a voice coach