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Quick sciency flyby:
1. Was reading a Sherlock Holmes book, The Sign Of The Four and came across an interesting word. "Feringhee." Apparently, it's a word the people of India used to refer (often in a derogatory/insulting fashion) to White men (particularly their British colonial overlords). Who knew? (I wonder if the Star Trek: The Next Generation writers did...)
2. The White House Office of Science And Technology sent out a tweet with a headline I just couldn't ignore. "Idaho scientists find mythical worm. The article to which it linked was entitled "Idaho Scientists Find Fabled Worm." It's a "giant" earthworm, thought to have been extinct. It looks... pretty much like an earthworm. But it's a mythical, fabled, giant earthworm, apparently. Insert your own joke here.
3. The National Science Foundation also had an interesting article to tweet about: Your mobile device may become its own mouse. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon are developing the "minput" system. A couple of lasers and associated sensors are stuck on to the back of a mobile device, and suddenly you can use it as its own optical mouse. Which is cool in a sense. But kind of annoying and disorienting, I expect. I mean, can you imagine having to wave your PDA, smartphone, mp3 player, or what have you over a flat surface in order to move the mouse cursor? If it's on a 1-to-1 ratio, then basically the cursor stays put while you move the entire screen around it. ... I think I'll go with the touchscreen.
1. Was reading a Sherlock Holmes book, The Sign Of The Four and came across an interesting word. "Feringhee." Apparently, it's a word the people of India used to refer (often in a derogatory/insulting fashion) to White men (particularly their British colonial overlords). Who knew? (I wonder if the Star Trek: The Next Generation writers did...)
2. The White House Office of Science And Technology sent out a tweet with a headline I just couldn't ignore. "Idaho scientists find mythical worm. The article to which it linked was entitled "Idaho Scientists Find Fabled Worm." It's a "giant" earthworm, thought to have been extinct. It looks... pretty much like an earthworm. But it's a mythical, fabled, giant earthworm, apparently. Insert your own joke here.
3. The National Science Foundation also had an interesting article to tweet about: Your mobile device may become its own mouse. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon are developing the "minput" system. A couple of lasers and associated sensors are stuck on to the back of a mobile device, and suddenly you can use it as its own optical mouse. Which is cool in a sense. But kind of annoying and disorienting, I expect. I mean, can you imagine having to wave your PDA, smartphone, mp3 player, or what have you over a flat surface in order to move the mouse cursor? If it's on a 1-to-1 ratio, then basically the cursor stays put while you move the entire screen around it. ... I think I'll go with the touchscreen.
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2 - I was very disappointed by the picture. I went into it thinking of Tremors, and it was much smaller!
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2. Yeah, same here (except for the specific detail of Tremors rather than, say, Dune). I'm not entirely sure how that qualifies as "giant" or "mythical."