Links to What I Found Interesting (l2wifi, get it?)

AT&T and the original war for Radio and Communication

2010-04-12T10:49:00.001-05:00

Patent wars and battling over control of Telecommunications is nothing new. Ars Technica wrote a very indepth article over how the US Navy, AT&T, Marconi, Congress, and others battled for control of radio broadcasting rights and used patents to force their own way. Very interesting though a little depressing.

Every type of Freeware tool you need for Writing

2010-04-11T13:38:00.001-05:00

No kidding, probably the best collection of tools and websites for writers of every type imaginable.

Hollywood level photo zooming becomes real

2010-04-11T10:58:00.001-05:00

One big pet peeve I've had for a long time is Hollywood shows that zoom in and zoom in and zoom in on a picture way past what is possible with the most advanced possible cameras and software. To give you an idea of what it takes to perform that kind of zoom on an image go read PetaPixel's article about a 22 Megapixel display of a 13 GIGAPIXEL! image.

For reference your Canon or Nikon DSLR camera takes between a 12-20 Megapixel image. You would have to take and combine 1,000 13 megapixel photos to make the image they are using in the video.

How to use a Multispeed bike, Hallelulah

2010-04-09T13:21:00.001-05:00

Finally, a simple short guide on how to use a multi-speed bike. Like a 18 or in my case 24 speed bike. Basically, use the middle front gear for most work and use the big and little front gears for more extreme situations, but even then only about half the available back gears. Click on the title of this post to watch the video to understand.

How to make your videos better

2010-04-08T09:41:00.002-05:00

Ars Technica has put up a fairly exhaustive article on the many ways and options to consider when taking a video with a modern camera.

A few minutes to put toward saving your life

2010-04-08T09:19:00.000-05:00

Click on the Title of this post to goto MedIDs.com's Free ID page. Click on it and type in your vital info that will make printable card with your pertinent medical info and fit in any place a business card would. It's something most people (including myself would never think about), but in an emergency you may be unconscious or just out of it and not remember info like the vitamins and supplements you are taking that can change how a doctor in the ER treats you and what medicines you can receive. Vitamin E and Fish oil are just 2 supplements that have major implications to Emergency medicine and it's pretty easy to forget to mention and forget about. If you're being treated for any condition having a card with info is even more important to have on you.

So, take a few minutes and atleast fill out the free one or, if you have the cash or need they have keychain and wallet cards for just a few dollars for something more permanent and even more info possible.

The other thing you can do is at the bottom of the page in the link is the ICE (in case of emergency) listing in your cell phone. That more and more first responders and medical professionals are being trained to look for in cell phones.

The truth about men's brains

2010-04-06T22:18:00.000-05:00

A surprisingly good article at CNN written by a Dr. of psychiatry on many parts of the male brain that make us act as we do.

Everyone sleeps even insects

2010-04-06T20:56:00.000-05:00

A photographer has taken some amazing macro images of insects sleeping covered in morning dew. Definitely worth a look.

Safe Drinking water for everyone

2010-04-06T00:12:00.000-05:00

Getting safe drinking water is not an easy thing in many parts of the world even where water is plentiful. Scientists have managed to make a small scale desalination device that is about as efficient as a major plant and runs on very little electricity meaning salt water might soon be a viable source of drinking water in many poor parts of the world.

Alcohol doesn't affect test scores it seems

2010-04-05T23:50:00.000-05:00

Ars Technica has posted an article where researchers apparently tested students who got drunk then were given the GRE and found no noticeable difference in the scores.

Freelance photographers, a website

2010-04-05T23:48:00.000-05:00

See the work and read about the world of freelance photographers around the world today over at The Photo Brigade

Steve McQueen as he wasn't seen

2010-04-05T23:44:00.000-05:00

Life.com (aka Life Magazine) has posted up 20 images from their collection of never published photos for an article that never happened. Great images that I'm happy have finally seen the light of day.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Photographic Lighting on every budget

2010-04-05T23:41:00.000-05:00

In case I haven't said it enough I love the Internet and all the free information it provides. Case in point is this wonderful collection of websites that will teach and show everything there is to lighting a photograph to get the image you always wanted.

For a simple show of how lighting can effect an image go see Photocritic's post.

Great day for science geeks everywhere

2010-04-05T23:37:00.000-05:00

Nature News has gone entirely free on their website. All articles are available for reading without a subscription. Sadly, the premier journal Nature is not free (yet?)

8 reasons you are fat (some may surprise you)

2010-04-05T23:34:00.000-05:00

LiveScience posted an interesting article on 8 reasons researchers have decided cause people (especially Americans) to put on weight and keep it. It's not just too many calories though that has alot to do with it.

Dark roast coffee is more soothing than light roasts

2010-04-05T23:31:00.000-05:00

In a short little article over at Scientific American it seems that researchers have found that stomachs react better to a chemical found in higher quantities the darker the roast.

Water through images. More amazing than you thought.

2010-04-05T23:28:00.000-05:00

Boston.com for World Water Day put together a photo essay from many sources to show all the amazing and poignant ways water affects our world. To me this is what a photo essay should always be, writing with images.

The war you never see

2010-04-05T23:25:00.000-05:00

ForeignPolicy.com has posted an interesting photo essay of the images that standout to the photojournalists that have gone to the wars of this last decade. Enjoy and be moved.

Download all the facebook images everyone has of you with a simple program

2010-04-05T23:20:00.000-05:00

A neat little program has been posted simply called Photograbber that allows you to download all the images everyone has marked on Facebook of you. Makeuseof.com has even posted a simple tutorial on how to use the program, but you probably won't need it.

Why cellphone camers may soon be as good as the big SLR cameras

2010-04-05T23:14:00.000-05:00

If what the company says is true about their new image sensors cameras are about to get a whole lot better and cheaper. The article explains it all, but basically right now the light sensors on cameras barely pick up and register 50% of the light they receive usually much less plus lots of noise that reduces image quality. inVisage has figured out how to use "Quantum dots" as part of the image sensor and can detect 90% of the light photons with much less noise to boot.

See the world in a new way with NASA's Earth Observatory Images

2010-04-05T23:09:00.000-05:00

Pretty cool images and animations of the entire Earth that shows various interesting things month to month over the last 5 years like Average Rainfall, Chlorophyll, Carbon Monoxide or Surface Temperature. Instead of listening to new pundits that rarely know what they are talking about go checkout the maps and images from the Earth Observatory yourself.

Anything and Everything you wanted to know about working on a Bicycle

2010-04-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

Found a great website with free video and written tutorials on everything possibly involved in bicycle repair that the average person could do (just about everything). The name is even pretty obvious bicycletutor.com

Another great place for everything about cycling for the beginner such as myself is over at Road Bike Review Beginner's Forum The stickies are all must reads.

Explaining Sex With Ballpoint Pens

2010-02-28T00:05:00.001-06:00

How to explain sex with ball point pens from orientation to different activities.

NSFW: for subject matter and humor not everyone may appreciated

$8,000 Tiny Ultrasound Device Might Revolutionize Medicine

2010-02-27T23:51:00.001-06:00

The most affordable portable ultrasound device I've ever heard of. The Vscan is set to sale for just $8,000. It shows promise to help doctors improve medicine not just with baby monitoring, but anywhere they need to see what is happening in the body without surgery and on the spot.

New Transistors Mimics Human Brain Cells

2010-02-27T23:42:00.001-06:00

Positronic brain here we come... (one step closer atleast) with a neuron transistor. The new form of transistor could concievably let scientist design CPUs that work like human brains that while not faster processing would be more efficient at certain tasks like photo and video manipulation.