Got stuck behind an accident on the M42 for an hour this afternoon. On the plus side, I also got the gig I'd been interviewing for 
Happy invoicing!
- Emergency and Disaster Information Service - Google Maps mashup of current and ongoing calamities throughout the world
- Turtles use the Earth’s magnetic field as a global GPS - "In 1996, a loggerhead turtle called Adelita swam across 9,000 miles from Mexico to Japan, crossing the entire Pacific on her way. Wallace J. Nichols tracked this epic journey with a satellite tag. But Adelita herself had no such technology at her disposal. How did she steer a route across two oceans to find her destination?" Apparently, they go the wrong way if you reverse the polarity.
- Wells Fargo Meeting Today With Philly Homeowner Who "Foreclosed" On Them (Here's How He Did It) - "Wells Fargo is meeting today at noon with the Philadelphia homeowner who 'foreclosed' on them... how did Patrick go from embattled and ignored homeowner to seated across the negotiating table with leverage? I spoke with him to find out more about both how and why he did what he did. His story is an inspiration to anyone who's dreamed of going toe-to-toe with the big banks and winning."
- From Slumber to the Fires of Computation - "After billions of years, a hydrogen atom might be swept up by the currents of gravity radiating from a congealing galaxy. With the dimmest hint of time and change it slowly drifts in a steady direction toward other stuff. Another billion years it bumps into the first bit of matter it has ever encountered. After millions of years it meets the second. In time it meets another of its kind, a hydrogen atom. They drift together in mild attraction until eons later they meet an oxygen. Suddenly something weird happens."
- CIA's photostream on flickr - As well as boring photos of people giving speeches, the CIA's photostream includes cool stuff such as robotic fish and a camera to be carried by a pigeon.
- Programming languages and their relationship styles - "Java: You try to be loving, but you were raised by a commune of 60 nervous women who have told you that everything you do is loving, even when it isn't. Your unhelpful behaviors have never been corrected and everything you do is subtly wrong and destructive." Meredith L. Patterson compares various programming languages in terms of how they would be in a human relationship; there are loads of additional funny bits in the comments. comments
- Have a Bit - "Be inspired by great people." Nice little collection of quotations from the usual suspects.
- internet buttons - "Create a page of buttons for someone you know that makes it super easy for them to use the internet." Neat little tool that allows you to set up a page of buttons for somebody, including details of how to contact you if they get stuck: perfect for that family member that gets confused by things like URLs and Google.
- 24 hour shot - "This is a 24 hour picture. I was wondering if it is possible to visualize on a photo a full day, from the morning to the next morning. I finally decided to give it a try! The shooting began the morning of December 30, 2010. I started taking photos with the camera on a tripod facing east. The 'day part' is composed of a dozen of shots covering the landscape from east to west and the Sun's course from sunrise to sunset. The Sun's position was recorded exactly every 15 minutes using an intervalometer, with an astrosolar filter adjusted to the camera lens. In one of the shots, when the Sun was near it's maximum altitude, I removed the filter in order to capture a more 'dramatic' shot with the Sun's glare. After the sunset, I took various shots with the camera facing west – northwest in order to achieve a more smooth transition from the 'day part' to the 'night part' of the picture. The 'night part' is also composed of a dozen of shots covering the landscape from west to east. After the 'transition' shots I mentioned above, I took a small startrail sequence, with approximately half an hour duration, and the camera facing northwest. Then at 19.13 local time, I turned the camera to north and I started taking the all-night startrail which lasted almost 11 hours. After the 11 hour startrail I turned the camera to northeast and I shot a half an hour startrail, and finally with the camera at northeast and east some 'night to day' transition shots."
- David Cameron Pretending to be Common - "A Conservative publicist steers David Cameron towards a more suitable PR setting after his loud proclamation 'I like this graffiti because it is like Caravaggio for urban people'" Pictures of David Cameron trying to look like an ordinary person.
Happy invoicing!
for the gig
Comment