Found this video through Mixx. Wally Wallington demonstrates how the stones of Stonehenge could have been transported and erected with fewer people than you might think. He stands a 19,000 lb. block on its end by himself using only leverage and gravity.
Korea Trip Photos
Well, I finally found those photos I took while on my trip to Korea. Korea Trip Photos on Google Maps
7 Engineering Wonders of the Modern World
7 Engineering Wonders of the Modern World: Contemporary World Record-Setting Construction
Found this story on Digg. I like the 1000’+ outdoor elevator, it is much more impressive than the Grand Canyon Skywalk. If only it weren’t in China.
The only thing that might top this is the Millau Bridge.
Photo source: Peter Welland
Hana Highway Trip Photos
It’s the Great Server, Chuck and Kreg! – A Friends in Tech Halloween Special
Slated for release on October 24th, it’s the annual Technology-themed Halloween Special presented by Friends in Tech.
“It’s the Great Server Chuck and Kreg!”
Convinced that the Great Server will be making its yearly appearance, Kreg refuses to go Trick-or-Treating with the rest of the FiT gang and instead pulls an all-nighter waiting for the Great Server to “…rise up out of the server farm and brings technology to all the good geeks around the world.”
Written by Douglas E. Welch and the Members of Friends in Tech
Charlie Munger – USC Law School Commencement
Found this through the MSN Berkshire Hathaway Mailing List. Charlie’s pearls of wisdom are always worth a read.
Charlie Munger – USC Law School Commencement
I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.
Child Safety Online Flier
A friend of mine has put together an educational flier on resources parents and caregivers can use to ensure that their children use the Internet safely. Topics range from cyber-bullying, blogging and street smarts for web surfing. There are also links to the popular free security software packages and office suites. And, last but not least, there are links to a couple of family friendly podcasts.
GPS photo tagging experiment
I recently bought a Garmin eTrex Vista Cx and like every new toy, I’ve got to play with it until something breaks. Until then, I’ll squeeze in some useful work. Using Robogeo to geocode the location info onto my photos, I’ve assembled a quick and dirty Google Map page. Most of these are just some shots taken from the car at various intersections to see if the location is close enough for more detailed uses.
Click here to go to map
Here’s some thumbnails of the pics I took. They link to the originals, which are rather large, especially the photostitched ones.
Marv
Penny bridges
I first saw coin structures like the ones atcoinstacking.com a couple of years ago, but it’s still a fascination for me. Like an arch, these only things holding the structure together is gravity and friction. But unlike that most ancient architectural element, there is no strategically placed keystone. These coin structures are also much more easy to build because the structure is relatively stable during construction.
I like the way this guy kept stacking more columns of coins on a bridge spanning three coin diameters. It’s amazing when you think about how the load is carried to the ground. Notice that in the picture before collapse, the bottom-most penny at midspan doesn’t appear to be carrying any of the load above it.
New cement conducts electricity like metal
A new type of cement mixes Titanium with the usual lime / alumina compound and heats it up to 1100 degrees Celsius. The resulting compound conducts electricity about as well as other metals at room temperature.
With Titanium in the mix, don’t expect to see this mix in your every day concrete pour. The article mentions a possible application as a substitute material for Indium which is used in plasma TVs and the like. This material is going to find a home inside of an iPod or cell phone probably.
All in all, it reminds me of electrically conducting clay polymers but with the novelty of being made with portland cement.