Made by Mikal – Page 99

When the Russians drilled 12 kilometres into the ground, they didn’t reach China

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 18, 2006
Post category:Link

Beginning in 1962, the drilling effort was led by the USSR's Interdepartmental Scientific Council for the Study of the Earth's Interior and Superdeep Drilling, which spent years preparing for the historic project. It was started in parallel to the Space Race, a period of intense competition between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. The survey to find a suitable drill site was completed in 1965 when project leaders decided to drill on the Kola Peninsula in the north-west portion of the Soviet Union. After five more years of construction and preparations, the drill began to nudge its way into the ground in 1970. Damn Interesting Wikipedia.

When Henry Ford imported America to export rubber

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 18, 2006
Post category:Link

Wow. A few interesting random stories tonight. It appears that Henry Ford wanted to pay less for rubber for his car tires. What's the logical solution? How about moving a piece of America to Brazil and trying to grow plants on rocks? ...by the late 1920s, the infamous automobile tycoon Henry Ford set out to break the back of this rubbery monopoly. His hundreds of thousands of new cars needed millions of tires, which were very expensive to produce when buying raw materials from the established rubber lords. To that end, he established Fordlandia, a tiny piece of America which was transplanted into the Amazon rain forest for a single purpose: to create the largest rubber plantation on the planet. Damn Interesting Wikipedia.

Natural nuclear reactors

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 18, 2006
Post category:Link

In the early- to mid-1950s, Dr. Paul Kuroda from the University of Arkansas described the possibility of naturally occurring nuclear reactors lurking in the crust of ancient Earth... Such a reactor could not exist today, because too much of the Earth's natural U-235 has decayed… but a billion and a half years ago, there was enough of it around to make the idea plausible. In point of fact, it has since been discovered that it actually happened. Damn Interesting, Wikipedia.

Nice write up of sci foo 06

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 12, 2006
Post category:Conference

Forbes has a nice write up of Sci Foo 06: Many of the SciFoo "campers" were the people that other conferences are built around: Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: SUNW - news - people ) and inventor of Berkeley UNIX; Danny Hillis, co-founder of Thinking Machines, one of the first massively parallel supercomputers; Esther Dyson, long-time technology pundit and now venture capitalist; the Google duo, Larry and Sergey, along with their new compatriot, Larry Brilliant, who helped squash smallpox and is now running the billion-dollar Google Foundation; and Donald Hopkins, who directs health programs at the Carter Center and is leading the fight to eradicate guinea worm disease.

Joseph Pujol

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 12, 2006
Post category:Link

Joseph Pujol, a man of singular talent, was born in Marseilles, France in 1857. In his early youth it became clear that he was a natural entertainer, singing, dancing, and performing for his parents' house guests. He had a love for music, and over the years he became handy with a trombone, but it was a different wind instrument that led to his eventual fame and fortune. Damn interesting Wikipedia

Looking for Women studying computing in Australia

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 7, 2006
Post category:Google

I was in an unrelated meeting at work today, and it came up that the first annual Anti Borg scholarship is closing it's application window in a few days. I thought it was worth mentioning here, in case there are people who are interested in applying. The basic deal is: Dr. Anita Borg (1949 - 2003) devoted her adult life to revolutionizing the way we think about technology and dismantling barriers that keep women and minorities from entering computing and technology fields. Her combination of technical expertise and fearless vision continues to inspire and motivate countless women to become active participants and leaders in creating technology. As part of Google's ongoing commitment to furthering Anita's vision, we are pleased to announce the 2006 Google Australia Anita Borg Scholarship. Through the scholarship, we would like to encourage women to excel in computing and technology and become active role models and leaders. Scholarships will be awarded based on the strength of candidates' academic background and demonstrated leadership. A group of female undergraduate and postgraduate student finalists will be chosen from the applicant pool. The scholarship recipients, selected from the finalists, will each receive a $5,000 AUD scholarship for the 2007 academic year.…

Does this stuff happen to other people?

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 6, 2006
Post category:Bike

The other day I was riding to work. Pumping along. Nice and fast. I needed extra cooling, so I was riding with my mouth open. And then it happened. This post is aiming to be a rant you see, and I feel that I need to write it in my best ranty style. It seems to me that rants should be a little disjointed, have short sentences, and beat on one or two points for no apparent reason. Anyway, back to the rantage... So, I'm doing the right thing. The right thing! Riding to work! Exercise! Oh, did I mention the bad thing that happened yet? I guess not. A flying insect of some form (I'm not sure if it was a bee, wasp, or some strange American killer flying monster) flew into my mouth. My mouth! That thing I had open for extra cooling! Oh the humanity! Then, not surprisingly, it found that being in my mouth scared the shit out of it. I could have told it that would happen if it had asked, but no it didn't. My mouth! And then it stung me on the inside of my upper lip. I figure that sentence deserves a…

FAA Considering Passenger Ban

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 3, 2006
Post category:Link

Seeking to address "the number-one threat to airline security," the Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday that it will consider banning passengers on all domestic and international commercial flights. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27687.

Dells are now explosives, and therefore not allowed on planes

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 27, 2006
Post category:Link

Qantas bans Dell batteries from flights unless the contacts are taped over?

Creepy

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 22, 2006
Post category:Link

mary had a little Lamb Its fleece was white as snow; And as red as blood, and as black as the night, with the Corps Program, is for students. who have a disability or medical- condition is required to be submitted to the Storting. in the spring of the year. in the Shadows of Motown From Google Talk.