My Holiday Wishlist

Okay, yes I am a dork, but I am ecstatic about all the cool things out there for the holidays. This is what I want. I know I will end up with treats for my dog, but a girl can dream, right?


First up: this awesome Bluetooth

Retro Phone Handset

and ThinkGeeks definition?:

Yeah, we know all about those bluetooth headsets for cell phones, but forget that stuff! We have here the latest development in cell phone technology and it's a big hunk of beautiful plastic. An accessory for your phone that you can really grab onto. Something with heft and that good-old-American solid construction feel - like a 1972 Cadillac. The Retro Phone Handset is a new production replica of the Western Electric 500-series model, which was the classic phone handset for several decades. It's been slightly modified to work with the headset jack of most cell phones (or via a "hands free" adapter kit, sold elsewhere). Just plug-in and dial - or for added effect, put your cell phone in your pants pocket - then it looks like you're talking on a phone connected to... well, who knows?   

Cool. Next is the video series I am dying to see: . I'm greedy and want the Book/ DVD combo.


Great Migrations


Along the lines of great videos, I also want Life. It was awesome.




 
 
On to my geeky side, I also need this book to add to my zOmBiE book collection
The Proper Care and Feeding of Zombies: A Completely Scientific Guide to the Lives of the Undead and I want it badly. Funny.




What weird and interesting products do you want this season or whenever? Add links in the comments!

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Sound of eBay

To those of us "in-the-know" there is a group of individuals behind two "hacker-artists" that creates songs using eBay arbitrary information. These guys are responsible for GWEI (Google Will Eat Itself), an exhibit that has been seen in galleries world wide. While it does seem strange, it's always interesting to see what your song will sound like. I did mine in June and it is very Euro-tech. Makes me want to play 16-bit racing games. Apparently mine is quite boring because I don't buy much. If you want to do your own, just because curiosity got the best of you, go to the Sound of eBay website. Be wary, however, the pixilations on the Sound of eBay website are lewd when viewed from afar. Up close they look like nothing. If your hubs is a ways behind you though, he will see it as quite a bit scandalous. Those crazy artist types have a wicked sense of humor. The link to my personal eBay song, however, is just an mP3 link so nothing scary to see. The whole piece (as it is "art") is called The Sound of eBay, Teletext porn, Human Needs.... and the corresponding images have numbers.

Please do not get mad at me if you click the link to the main site and are offended. It is art and art has the tendency to push envelopes. I just thought the technology behind this was amusing. The other 2 links are fine ("mine" and "GWEI").

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Top 10 mad scienctists!

LiveScience posted a list of the top 10 mad scientists so far and while I have to agree with most of them, they left one out! Yes, I know how disturbing the picture is. I was inspired by A. Einstein's tongue picture and even wore a wig!

Read it. I promise it is simple and you will definitely learn something!

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Thursday already!?!?!

I cannot believe how quickly the week has passed... and not an utter of science news? I must be getting ill. So to make up for it I am gonna list some of my favorite useless facts. This may come in handy should you ever be fortunate enough to be in the Cash Cab! (I'm an addict, not affiliated)

A calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one cubic centimeter one degree Celsius.

There are only approximately 4500 stars visible to the naked eye... although many will argue more.

Seasons are caused by the tilt of the axis of earth while orbiting the sun.

The air we breathe is actually mostly nitrogen.

Three common states of matter : solid, liquid, gas.

1 atmosphere of pressure is equal to approx. 5 feet molten rock or 33 ft of water.

There are millions of cells under an area on your body covered by a quarter.

Smell affects taste!

Most of the dust in your air is skin! (eww)


Ok I'm done. I may update this later with some more cheesy facts!

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Kent Couch, Lawn Chair Balloonist

This picture is from the Open Clip Art Library and was released into Public Domain

Yes, that is correct. You read it. Lawn chair balloonist. This man made his first accent into the skies via lawn chair in 2006. Then last year (July 2007), he made a 193 mile flight using a cluster of balloons. As if that wasn't enough, Couch wants to make the trip all the way into Idaho (he usually leaves from Oregon). Well... he did it. This weekend he "flew" 235 miles from Bend, OR and landed in a field in ID. He uses Cherry Kool-Aid as his "ballasts" and a BB gun for buoyancy- control. He has done numerous TV and radio appearances but does it for the fun of it.


So now we go on to the science.

Helium.
Most of the helium that exists on Earth is the result of Radio Active Decay (a topic that takes way to long to explain). It is the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen. It is lighter than air (which is about 78% nitrogen) though heavier than hydrogen. Hydrogen burns easily, however, and helium does not, making it the best choice for balloons (score one for safety, Kent). Not only does it not burn, it it the least reactive of all the element on the chart. It is the least water soluble of all the gases and actually heats up when allowed to expand. Since there is little helium in the atmosphere, it would be very expensive to remove it from the air. Economically it is easier to remove helium from natural gas, which contains about 7% of this element. Because of it's low solubility, it is used in air mixtures for deep sea divers. Helium is also used as a tracer gas to find leaks in high-vacuum and high-pressure equipment... and apparently for making trips across state lines in lawn chairs.

Then what causes the squeaky voice from sucking on helium? Well, the speed of sound is also different in helium. It is actually three times faster than air.

Now that you know the basics of helium... does it make lawn-chair ballooning any less scary?

Not to me.

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