Archive for April, 2007
South Park Mike
Apr 23rd
Hey look its South Park Mike!
A friend of mine did this for me. Look Familiar?
Check out this guy beatboxing
Apr 18th
I know, I know, the video is posted by an arabic speaker, but the people in the video speak french and this is an english website c’est vraiment? Anyways, check it out it is pretty cool
J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Children of Hurin”
Apr 17th
Adam Tolkien edited what Christopher Tolkien could assemble of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings of middle earth to bring to us, after 30 years, the last work of Tolkien. Adam paid especially close detail to this work to maintain as much of J.R.R.’s writing as possible. This is supposed to be set hundreds of years before the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy in the Middle Earth timeline. I have already ordered mine as I truly enjoyed reading his other books. The book is available as a hardcover with full color illustrations inside. Order yours now before the first edition is gone. Click the picture for the Amazon page of the book. Stayed tuned for a review when I am finished reading my copy J
Speech Contest
Apr 15th
The Arizona Communication Association held a Speech Competition for students enrolled in one of the Maricopa Community Colleges at Glendale Community College on Friday. Three other students and I represented Scottsdale Community College at the event. Aside from class, this was my first big experience with Public Speaking. My topic was “Purpose” and although I was not as polished as some of the other entrants I still managed to pull off a slot as a semi-finalist, got a plaque, a certificate, a book and a check.
The entire event was a learning experience. Stage fright is over rated. I went through three rounds and didn’t make it as finalist, they competed once more. Before it was my turn I did feel a little anxious but let it go by asking myself “Could I let this go…Would I let this go…When?”, which worked great. What I really learned was the importance of practice and polish. My speech was a little clunky and I only practiced it about 30 times (I still had a note card for the quotes I used). Other contestants fit the format really well and I was surprised at the eloquence of some. There was one guy who did a speech on the Photo Radar tickets who had an excellent speaking voice and presentation but ended up getting a little tongue tied halfway through. Chris Johnson, another contestant that is in my class at SCC, ended up being a finalist. His speech was on Bacteria and addressed the topic of how our actions of disinfecting are actually making the bacteria stronger. Another reason to not wash!
Even though my award is a semi-finalist award, I am still going to put it on my wall as a reminder to practice and polish my work more and as motivation to win next year’s competition. I will be using the same speech for my Honor’s project except instead of 8 minutes it will need to be 15 so I will add some to it and use what I learned to make it outstanding. Our instructor might record them so if mine is good enough I will post here for you.
Giant Crystal Cave
Apr 12th
***WARNING***
This might drop your jaw but rest assured these photos are real and so are the crystals
Giant Crystal Cave near Delicias, Mexico (click picture for more)
I found this article on the National Geographic site discussing a cave that was discovered in 2000. It wasn’t until the water was pumped out that they discovered the massive crystals growing inside. The heat of the caves is around 136oF and the water is mineral rich allowing for such luxurious crystals to grow. The water was pumped out to support a mining operation, the issue of preserving the caves is being discussed. When I first saw these pictures I thought “cool picture” then as I read the article and realized these are real crystals. Read the full article here Below is a map of the area near Delicias, Mexico
InstaCalc
Apr 9th
I have a duty to share this with you. While surfing the net for useful tools to increase the efficiency of my surfing…I mean homework, I came across InstaCalc as a sidebar gadget for Windows Vista. Simple and effective it does the job. The sidebar gadget calculates in real time so I did not even have to hit the enter key. In the bottom right corner of the gadget is some text that says “make link”, I do not claim to be a cat but curiosity got me so I clicked it.
Little did I know that there was a whole website to go along with it. BEHOLD! A brilliantly simple web page opened with my calculation and more tools for me to use. I was amazed. Yes. Amazed. So add it to your favorites and use it.
The picture is linked to that very page.
To even increase your interest and use of it, there is a version you can embed into your website, just like below. Go ahead and play with it, visit the site, download the gadget, but do me a favor… if you like the instacalc click on their ads so they get some money J
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Cat takes the bus, gets off on same stop every time
Apr 9th
Apparently the British have been sending their cats to run errands. A few days a week the same white cat jumps on the same bus and gets off on the same stop. It’s a good read and makes you wonder whose cat it is. Full story
Flying Saucer/Hovercraft?
Apr 9th
Geoff Hatton, a British Hovercraft engineer has gone and done it. He invented a flying saucer/hovercraft that really works. Purportedly, the British Government dismissed his idea only to have our US Government snag it up, for its many…uses. As a result of the design, the hoversaucer can bump into objects and still recover as the blades are not exposed as a helicopter’s are. Click here for the original article. Click the picture for the video of it in action.
Note: image blatantly stolen from the source article at www.dailymail.co.uk
Map of How much Solar Panel Coverage it would take to Supply World Energy Usage
Apr 7th
Thought this was interesting. The area mapped out is how much area of solar panels, at 8% efficiency, it would take to supply the world with its current energy usage. Today efficiency is getting closer to 20% and there are even some dyes that were recently made that could achieve even higher efficiency. Click the picture for the full story.
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