Wednesday, September 25, 2013

LET'S DO AWAY WITH GUNS ALTOGETHER

GUN OWNERSHIP AND THE BREAKDOWN OF THE COMMON GOOD. No other icon of the American identity simultaneously carries with it such unabated reverence, pride, fear and disgust as guns.  Guns are as much a part of the American self-image as apple pie, Monday Night Football and beer pong.  The latest numbers indicate 100 to 200 million people in the US are gun owners, with anywhere from 300 to 700 million total guns in the country,...

Sunday, September 15, 2013

WEIRD NATURE: The Hummingbird Moth

Like Hummingbirds, The Hummingbird Moth feeds on the nectar of flowers, as it hovers stationary over the flower; its wings beating so fast they are practically invisible.  The flared tail and long proboscis as well as the soft buzzing sound it makes while in flight can momentarily fool even the most experienced enthusiast. A hummingbird moth starts out as a plump, yellowish green caterpillar, with darker green lines along the back, reddish...

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Launched in the 1970's, the Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes were launched to probe the deeper parts of our solar system.  For all intents and purposes, science has no interest in these probes anymore.  In fact, the last signal we received was from Pioneer 10 in 2003.  These crafts are now nearly 8 million miles away, past Pluto's orbit, and have run out of power to send signals back to Earth. So what's the big deal? The big deal...

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Glass Harmonica (with video)

The automated glass harmonica was developed by none other than the brilliant American Renaissance Man; Benjamin Franklin.  It functions in the same way that we have all seen people run their wetted fingers around the rims of glasses that are filled to various capacities.  Though the concept of playing glass rims originated in Ireland, what Franklin did years later was assemble the glasses stacked inside each other and place them on a...

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

WEIRD NATURE: The Pistol Shrimp

By now, you've all likely seen the illustrations and videos circulating around the internet boasting the amazing attributes of the Mantis Shrimp.  You've seen videos of these seemingly otherworldly creatures beating the life out of helpless crustaceans with club-like appendages that travel at speeds comparable to a .22 caliber bullet, not to mention, marveled at their beautiful color patterns - especially the peacock.  By no means...

Monday, September 9, 2013

HOW TO BUILD A RAILGUN

BRING IT ON, TERMINATORS! I've been meaning to get to writing this post for some time as it is something near and dear to my heart.. or maybe my brain.  No, it is not some save-the-Earth cause or suggestions on a way to feed the homeless.  This is an article that gives you, the reader, a concise overview of the many ways to build the world's most awesome cutting-edge explosive-free weapon; the rail gun. For those of you not familiar...

Friday, September 6, 2013

ULTRA HD TV PRANK - Technology fools the human eye

Having fun with cutting edge technology.  This is one of the best I've seen.  Not a bad TV either! ...