*Nerve interviews The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle on his Black Sabbath novella, Black Sabbath's Master of Reality: "I thought about pitching stuff that was lots heavier, but I thought, one, I came late to most of it except for Celtic Frost and Megadeth, and two, you got to get Sabbath out of the way first." [largehearted boy]

*Peruse: A very large list of MP3 blogs, broken out by category. [mediaeater] Also from the indomitable Mediaeater comes TasteKid, a recommendation engine for music, movies and books.

*Inventions: A nanotube radio receiver - created from a single carbon nanotube, these things could swim in the human bloodstream. "We have already used the nanotube radio to receive and play music from FM radio transmissions such as Layla by Eric Clapton (Derek and the Dominos) and the Beach Boy's Good Vibrations." [neatorama]

*The New Yorker's Alex Ross tours the Chinese classical music scene: Classical music draws huge crowds in China, and more young people are training, but Ross says commerce, art, and politics are keeping the scene a messy one.

*Off topic: The 50 Worst Sex Scenes in Cinema. Get the butter. And the popcorn (I guess?). Hello?

This is the Final Presentation video for my undergrad Product Design “thesis” at Stanford.  An exploration of and implementation for the need to breath in emergency situations.

An Example

The grain bin has a flat bottom with a hole in the middle.  When the bin is full, grain runs through this hole like sand in an hourglass, is transported horizontally by an auger, and finally is dumped into the trailer via another auger.  At a certain point the grain will no longer be pulled into the hole by gravity alone, and so there are secondary holes all the way along the auger.  Even these holes will not allow the bin to fully empty, so there is a rotating auger in the bottom that sweeps around moving the last bits of grain to the holes.   Even with that sweeping auger, it is still necessary to get in there with a broom and shovel and push the grain to the hole in order to fully empty the bin.

Some Automation Solutions

After a few minutes of this, it seemed to me that the ridges in the floor should be radial so that sweeping grain to the middle is easier.  The straight ridges there now made it easy in some directions and really difficult in others.

Next, I thought that an inverted cone design would reduce the manual labor to almost nothing and remove the need for multiple holes.  Combined with the radial ridging and some kind of vibration, I think you could get all but a few stray grains into the hole without ever getting into the bin.

Inventing Is Like Perl

It finally made sense to me in a visceral way why farmers are such prolific inventors.  System administrators try to reduce their tedious labor to zero;  farmers want to do the same.  No one wants to spend all their time typing the same commands or shoveling piles of grain.  The classic tool of sysadmins for this is Perl, but until robotic farming is more widespread, farmers will have to settle for repurposing or inventing physical solutions.

Just like Perl, some of these solutions are elegant, like the auger, and some are complete disasters.

This is Jair Rodrigues - É Isso Ai (1971), as Philips, which is Jair Rodrigues at his monophthong. Yours truly is groundling re the first-class working and famed Samba interpreters concerning climax great year, prescriptively at the 60's and 70's decades. Court-martial this compilation, Themselves the very thing is untroubled in transit to give evidence differing tunes that were blockbusters from the account stretch, as an example Tengo Tengo, Herois junior counsel Liberdade, Martin Cerere, O Importante e Ser Fevereiro, and others. Spirit libido subliminal self be pleased with our Saturdays Samba posts and this Jair Rodrigues collectanea for lagniappe. Tracks fill out:

1. Minha Escola (Evaldo Gouveia / Jair Amorim)
2. Tengo Tengo (Mangueira Minha Madrinha Querida) (Zuzuca)
3. Margot de Tal (Evaldo Gouveia / Jair Amorim)
4. Rei Pelé Rei Luis (Durval Vieira / Reginaldo Santos)
5. Vem Dindinha (Mangueira Nossa Madrinha Querida) (Calypso Rosa de Oliveira/ Hayblan)
6. Heróis district attorney Liberdade(Silas de Oliveira / Mano Décio KC Vox humana/ M. Ferreira)
7. Martin Cererê (Zé Catimba / Gibi)
8. Eu Sonhei Que Tu Estavas Tão Linda (Lamartine Babo / Francisco Matoso) Chão de Estrelas (Orestes Barbosa / Silvio Caldas) Bodas de Prata (Roberto Martins / Mário Rossi) Boa Noite Kore(José Maria de Abreu / Francisco Matoso)
9. O Importante É Ser Fevereiro (Wando / Nilo Amaro)
10. Dono psych Universo(Eustáquio Sena)
11. Joana prosecutor Misericórdia(Édson Conceição / Aloísio Silva)
12. Eat away-papo Com Cartola (João Roberto Kelly)

This is Jair Rodrigues - E Isso Ai (1971), at Loronix, this night.

Probability uEnjoy!

You can see more images HERE.

And to see DaVinci's drawings click HERE.

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Old Ben was a born inventor, curious about everything, interested in the mechanics of things---why they worked, what would make them work better---and devoted to improving the quality of life for his fellow man. Fortunately for us, he was smart enough to not only think up inventions, but also to master the mechanics behind them and actually make them happen.

True, the good doctor invented a few things that were sensations in his day, like the glass armonica, a piano-like musical instrument, that are now regarded as mere curiosities. (At the time, though, the new instrument was so revered that Mozart and Beethoven composed for it.) But most of his inventions are still in use (though modernized, of course) today. That's quite a tribute to the farsighted genius who said "Well done is better than well said." Well done, Ben!

Let's take a look at ten of Ben's best inventions. And just to keep things interesting, I'm throwing in one invention that was not made by Ben. Can you guess which one it is? (The answer's at the bottom of this post. But no cheating, now!) I think you'll be as impressed as I am by the scope of Dr. Franklin's inventions. From proposing compartments in ships' hulls to prevent them from sinking to discovering and mapping the Gulf Stream, here was a man who literally thought about everything!

1. The lightning rod.

2. The rocking chair.

3. The odometer.

4. The woodstove.

5. Bifocals.

6. The pedometer.

7. The reach extender.

8. Daylight Savings Time.

9. The catheter.

10. Vitamin C.

11. The political cartoon.

Okay, let's see if you guessed right:

1. The lightning rod. True. This was the invention that established Dr. Franklin as the great man of his day. Before Ben, houses that were struck by lightning not only burned, but because city houses were crammed close together and were often made of wood (some even still had thatched roofs), they could start fires that would burn whole sections of cities. As a result, lightning was so feared that it was considered a Divine judgement upon those whose homes it struck. Thanks to Ben Franklin and his lightning rod, lightning came to be recognized as a preventable natural phenomenon rather than an outburst from an angry God. And just to be safe, Ben also invented the first fire department.

2. The rocking chair. True. Yup, old Ben invented this delightful piece of furniture, a favorite of mothers, babies, and pretty much everybody else to this day. A doting father, Ben may have created it to soothe his beloved infant son Frankie to sleep. But whatever prompted the invention, we can all be grateful to the good doctor for creating such a comforting chair for the rest of us. 

3. The odometer. True. Hard as it is to believe, Benjamin Franklin created a simple odometer for his carriage so he could measure distance accurately. Because he was Postmaster of the Colonies along with his endless other occupations, he felt it was important to know exactly how far the mail (and the postmen who carried it) had to travel to reach their destination.

4. The woodstove. True. Right again---to this day, some designs of woodstoves are still referred to as "Franklin stoves." Before Ben, open fireplaces were the norm, and long-skirted women and distracted children often set themselves on fire as a result. If you have a fireplace in your own home, you'll know how little heat it produces for the huge amount of wood it burns. Dr. Franklin created an iron stove that burned far less wood, put out much more heat, and was a lot safer. Thanks, Ben!

5.  Bifocals. True. Nearsighted Ben hated having to take off his specs every time he wanted to see anything close up, so, true to form, he did something about it: He cut the lenses of his glasses in half and put two different half-lenses in each side, one to see near, one to see far. Problem solved!

6. The pedometer. False. It was not Ben, but his colleague in drafting the Declaration of Independence and fellow patriot and inventor, Thomas Jefferson, who invented the pedometer. And here I'll bet you thought pedometers dated from about the era of the aerobics class. Those Founding Fathers were really something else!

7. The reach extender. True. I confess that I don't know what these things are actually called, but I see them every time I open a home catalogue. They're the long poles with a crab-claw attachment at the end to help you reach cans, jars, or whatnot on high shelves without having to climb a ladder to get to them. Ben originally created this humble but useful device, which he simply called a "long arm," to reach the books on his high shelves.

8. Daylight Savings Time. True. Poor Ben! It's hard to love him for this particular invention, but he meant it for the best. By extending working hours during the long days of summer and reducing them in the short days of winter, Ben hoped to give the working class a break from having to toil in the freezing cold by inadequate candlelight while upping productivity during the long, pleasant days of summer. It would have saved employers the cost of candles and wood (or coal), and sent the grateful employees home early to their winter hearths. Too bad it didn't work out that way!

9. The catheter. True. Ben's brother John suffered from kidney stones, and Ben created the flexible urinary catheter to provide relief. Too bad Gouverneur Morris, fellow Founding Father and also a kidney-stone sufferer, didn't know about Ben's invention; it would probably have saved his life.

10. Vitamin C. True. Well, okay, it's a bit of a stretch to say that Ben "invented" vitamin C, but he was the first to recommend that people eat citrus fruits for the health of their skin and gums. Years later, the British Navy adopted the practice, earning its sailors the nickname "limeys" while preventing scurvy during long voyages. Dr. Franklin, a big fan of fruit-eating for health in general, actually coined the phrase "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." I was proud to use it in my almanac.

11. The political cartoon. True. For better or worse, we have old Ben to thank for this invention, too. A newspaperman who fully realized the power of the press, Benjamin Franklin boosted the concept of unity in the original Thirteen Colonies by printing a cartoon he'd drawn of a snake chopped in 13 pieces, with a Colony's name connected to each piece, in his paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. Under the severed snake, he wrote the caption, "Join, or Die." And this was back in 1754! Ben's vision of a united America may have prompted other movers and shakers to think of America as an independent country and set our feet on the path to July 4, 1776. Go Ben!!!

Buckminster Fuller was an inventor, a visionary, and above all an eccentric. Fuller invented many fantastic things and most of them were totally impossible, but also awesome and patentable. His triumph was the geodesic dome, of which "Spaceship Earth" (a term Fuller coined) at Epcot is based on. I recently went to see a comprehensive exhibit on ol' Bucky at the Whitney in Manhattan.

As a choice of subject for a modern and contemporary American art museum, Fuller is perfect. Fuller came from a wealthy New England family but never finished college. Instead, he began prolifically inventing in what he called "4D" and later "Dymaxion." Fuller came up with some crazy shit, but some things like the Dymaxion Map (pictured folded together above) seem genius to me.

The exhibit gushes on Fuller's tremendous innovation, but a concurrent New Yorker article by Elizabeth Kolbert is more quick to criticize. It seems that while Fuller's inspiration is immeasurable, his track record is not that impressive. Geodesic domes have even been known to leak. However, I have a hard time caring. Fuller is a fountain of sci-fi inspiration and was known to have a pop culture knack. Placed at the beginning of the exhibit is a chart Fuller made of his own accomplishments. He charts them against major political events as well as popular dances throughout the twentieth century. Dude knew what was up.

Photo courtesy of flickr user super-structure.

Courtesty of possibly the most talented man i've had the privilege of meeting,

I give you foot windows:

The windows open.

You think, how did I ever live without them?

Makes me think of this song:

Change the channel by performing a sum. On channel twelve? Add thirty to go to channel fourty-two. Minus ten for channel thirty-two etc.

An effective way to reinforce basic maths, and to salvage some good out of watching too much TV.

While aimed at kids, the difficulty could be ramped up by limiting the type of operation - eg. multiplication only, subtraction and division only.

As it's just a calculator crossed with a remote control, the technology not only already exists, but is cheap. With a huge potential market, I believe this thing to be pretty darn viable. 

This idea is now yours - do whatever you want with it.

Out.

Heres a new idea. High speed trains. That once they get going, never stop.
How you say? Well.... imagine this:

A little mini train that sits atop the main train. Passengers alighting get into this mini train. As the high-speed one enters the station, it enters a different set of rails and gradually slows down to a stop.

At the station end, another mini train with passengers getting on starts to move as the high speed train approaches. As the first mini train gets off, the 2nd mini train piggy backs onto the main train.

The energy savings from not stopping / starting such a large mass are huge!

Make sense? I didn't think so. I don't really understand what I just said either. Such is the power of my explanation.  I digress, watch the video for a much clearer picture. and hit the link for a hopefully better explenation

[Carectomy.com via Digg]

PS. The video is in mandarin, but its all visual.

Q: What was the name of the rickshaw's inventor?

A:  Contrary to what you might think, it was not Rick Shaw.  Jonathan Scobie was the inventor of the rickshaw.  The rickshaw derived its name from the Japanese word "jinrikisha", meaning "human-powered vehicle".

www.halfbakery.com

This site includes lots of interesting inventions.

Sometimes we get very basic utility inventions (glowing shoe laces, bow with LED etc...) for patentability searches.. such inventions appears pretty obvious but it is difficult to find their description in patent and non-patent reference. I guess HalfBakery would be very useful in such cases.

Please click on the 'search' option on the left menu OR directly go to http://www.halfbakery.com/search.html

This site doesn't provides functionality of Boolean operators so complicated queries cannot be executed.

People those who use RSS readers (such as Google Reader) for reading blogs can subscribe to RSS of this site and search for inventions inside the reader itself.

Let me know if anybody is facing any difficulty in searching.

Happy hunting!!

I was driving down yesterday and it was really warm and I was thinking how if you're feet get warm the whole lot of you gets warm and I know when i've had a few glasses of sherry (or it's modern day equivalent) that I get really warm, I whip off my shoes. Cools you down in a jiffy.

Anyway there I was in the car, motoring along nicely, giving out to Ruffles about the poor air-conditioning in my car. I have a small but perfectly formed lady micra. So there I was talking about being roasting, windows don't work, air-con is a bit useless when it hit me. Bang like a slap in the face. If they put windows into the lower door of cars.

I know.. how was this not thought of before?? It's ideal for summery hot climates like our own. A window, blast of air on the legs, it's perfect!

I've always been an advocator of foot freedom, so I think this is probably just an extension of that. Freedom.

Sigh.

So I decided to blog about it, because there'll always be a record, of me - raptureponies and my wonderful idea, which i am in the process of patenting.

Poor ruffles will be calling over to the house to find me with a blow torch, setting fire to my car door. Maybe.

Note: I can apparently think up of wonderful inventions, this is not my first btw, but I can't figure out something about adding pics to posts. *evil genius* BLAST!

Apple is the first company that gave the personal computer to world besides graphical user interface (GUI),I Pod and Mac book.

She understood well what I wanted to ask . Microsoft of course is one of the most valued brands of the world but not as innovative as Apple. Here lies the crux of marketing ."It does not matter what the truth actually is but how it is communicated & perceived . Perceived by whom? Of course the entire world. Microsoft is also an innovative company but it innovates differently.Yes It takes other's inventions and makes it so market friendly that entire world embrace its products with open arms.

From an idea to invention to product taking its final shape, millions of dollars and man-hours are invested .But in this system, only those become Microsoft who act cleverly and shrewdly .

India may have Steve Jobs but no Bill Gates. That is why we are struggling for global recognition of our Intellectual property rights. Drugs after drugs developed by Indian companies fall prey to U.S or European patent regime. Ranbaxy is the recent example thats why its promoters found an exit route.

India's traditional and geographical assets like Basmati rice , plants with medicinal properties and formulas are at stake. We fought for basmati rice but unfortunately it was not protected in our own land.

Why don't we learn the lessons from Microsoft? 'Good artists copy, great artists steal.'

Note:The eternal voice thanks www.ipodfans.org for publishing its views in its URL link http://www.ipodfans.org/truth-marketing

La preuve avec ces trois inventions trouvées sur "How to Change the World" :

1. le Q-Drum est un bidon de 50l conçu pour être roulé facilement. Si vous avez visité une seule fois un pays où l'eau courant n'arrive pas dans chaque maison, vous comprenez son avantage. Encore faut-il un chemin relativement plat...
2. Le "Pot dans le Pot" est également destiné aux pays en voie de développement, et peut être produit avec les matériaux et techniques locales. C'est un "frigo sans électricité" utilisant l'évaporation de l'eau mouillant du sable placé entre 2 pots de terre cuite. La nourriture se conserve ainsi beaucoup plus longtemps.Les deux inventions ci-dessus ont reçu le "Rolex Award" respectivement en 1996 et en 2000
3. Dans la rubrique "choc des cultures", voici un plancher piezo-électrique pour eco-nightclub, sensé produire jusqu'à 60% de l'électricité consommée dans un établissement (j'ai un léger doute...) Si vous allez à Londres, allez le tester à pied ou à vélo, l'entrée sera gratuite.

I think my aunt was the first person we knew to get a microwave. Now I know I was a lot younger so things might have seemed bigger than they were, but this thing was huge! It probably cost a small fortune too. Before microwave meals, people tried to use proper recipes for microwaves, and there were charts to work out how long to cook different weights of various ingredients. Crazy. Category D, 60 seconds on the side of a syrup sponge pudding is more my level!

My first microwave was at the same time more advanced, and much simpler than the early models, and much much cheaper. Instead of dials (probably the work of the same person who designed shower taps and toaster dials) it had a proper timer, but it also rotates the food on a wobbly plate, specially calibrated to ensure that handles aways end up pointing away from the door, instead of using some fancy hidden rotating microwave deflecting contraption. Unfortunately this microwave is nearing the end of its long and faithful service. Countless microwave pizzas have passed through its little door since 1990s but a small flooding incident early in its life has finally caused some rusting inside. Things were built to last in the old days.

Is there any invention that can even come close to the greatness of the humble microwave oven?

At first, the idea was a bit off-putting. What, no service with a smile?

This past week I ventured into the future and gave the new-fangled device a shot.

Fortunately, I started with a simple purchase. God only knows what may have transpired, otherwise.

First, pursuant to the instructions on the screen, I scanned a bottle of reduced-fat milk. Yeah, have to watch the old gut, 'ya know?

When I was asked to input the code for the next item or proceed to pay, I chose the latter option.

At this juncture, I was instructed to place my purchase in a bag.

However, when I sat the milk carton inside of the spacious sack, a rude message popped up on the screen and lamented - "object blocking area" - or something to that effect.

When I plucked the beverage from the open bag (which was neatly nestled into a device to frame it just so at the point of purchase) I was instructed to scan another item or hit the "finish and pay" button.

I tapped the screen to close the sale - at which point - I was given several pay options - debit, credit card, or cash.

Amazingly, when I slipped two crisp dollar bills into the slot, correct change jangled into a small change catch-all basin below the register.

Then, a receipt flew out of a groove, and landed squarely in my sweaty palm!

So, I trundled off with my milk in hand (sans bag) a little bemused by it all.

Would a more complex sale be a snap, too?

For instance, the purchase of produce would require that I input the price per pound, I expect. In that event, I guess shoppers would be wise to carry a pencil and paper around in their cart to jot those prices down.

I wonder, if I fudged on the numbers, would a siren go off to warn management and embarrass me in front of the other customers?

Something else I noticed, too. All the instructions were in medium-sized type way below the natural eyeline on the screen. So, at check out - if you needed glasses to read script - you'd be SOL if you left 'em at home or in the car.

In that event, you'd have to call for assistance, fer sure.

For the most part, it appeared to be a fairly painless experience.

But, I have to wonder...

As we start using automation in various areas of our daily lives, will we start to get lazy?  Worse than that, is it wholly possibly that without daily use, we'll slowly lose our faculties to add, count change, or even communicate in idle chit-chat at whim in the check-out line?

Ultimately, will we be replaced one day, too?

Shudder the thought!

I like to think I am one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable.

Yeah, tell that to your boss!

Chuck Palahniuk once said,
"When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?"

www.readymech.com
Snazzy little characters to cut out and make.

www.worldmapper.org
The world as you have never seen it before.

krysstal.com
The history and geography of inventions from all ages and all locations.

www.mos.org
Spectacular microscope images.

www.papertoys.com
Lots of paper folding activities, from cars to buses to trees to boxes.

www.obsoleteskills.com
An interesting list of skills that are now obsolete.

www.betterexplained.com
How to get a sense of scale.

www.northpole.com
Visit Santa at the North Pole.

www.freerice.com
Word quiz. For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

www.mapofstrange.com
Lots of strange things around the world that can be found using Google Maps.

www.fallingsand.com
Play with sand, very relaxing.

www.euratlas.com
View world maps over the last 2,000 years.

www.glassgiant.com
Upload a photograph and have it converted to ASCII art.

drawapig.desktopcreatures.com
Draw a pig in this unique personality test.

www.fieggen.com
31 ways to tie your shoe laces.

www.worldwaronecolorphotos.com
World War One in colour. Photographs nearly 100 years old.

www.mrob.com
Every interesting number you can think of, from the very small to the fantastically large.

www.stripegenerator.com
You want stripes? Snazzy stripe generator for your website or blog.

www.straightdope.com
Online version of the popular question and answer column in The Chicago Reader. Lots of interesting answers to interesting questions.

www.youtube.com
Where TV meets its end? Look at everyone's video clips or upload your own for the world to see.

www.faceresearch.org
Everything you ever wanted to know about faces. With interactive demos.

www.symmetrymagazine.org
Understand key ideas from the world of physics in 60 seconds.

www.pocketmod.com
Pocketmod: the free disposable personal organiser. Select the pages, print it, fold it, use it!

www.imdb.com
The Internet movie database. Everything you ever wanted to know about any movie.

www.stumbleupon.com
Channel surf the Internet and discover websites that match your interests.

www.howstuffworks.com
How stuff works! From eBay to quantum mechanics.

worldatlas.com
World atlas with flags, facts and figures.

flashface.ctapt.de
Create your own identikit face with this great site.

turbulence.org
Interesting visual version of chess.

www.ssiworld.com
Videos of industrial strength shredders, shredding some very large objects.

www.hyperhistory.com
A project to represent 3,000 years of world history using an interactive combination of lifelines, timelines, and maps.

www.neave.com
Flash version of Google Earth.

volcano.und.nodak.edu
Excellent website all about volcanoes.

snowflakes.lookandfeel.com
Make your very own snowflake.

www.panoramas.dk
Fantastic 360 degree photographic panoramas.

www.zefrank.com/scribbler
Draw a picture and then watch the computer create a sketch from it.

www.petoftheday.com
Pet Of The Day

coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu
See various animals in infrared and see the heat they give off.

pubs.acs.org/cen
Have you ever wondered what's really in lipstick, cement, toothpaste or chocolate?

www.babynamewizard.com
The NameVoyager is an interactive display of baby name choices over the last hundred years.

www.pandora.com
Pandora is a music discovery service designed to help you find and enjoy music that you'll love.

www.pentrix.com
Videos of amazing pen twiddling tricks.

wfhummel.cnchost.com
What is money? An everyday guide to money and its origins.

www.opentopia.com
World sunlight map.

www.tour-eiffel.fr
The official site for the Eiffel Tower, France

earth.google.com
Google Earth uses satellite imagery to create a remarkable product that will amaze you.

www.dpchallenge.com
Amazing, award winning photography.

www.learnmorsecode.com
Learn Morse code in one minute!

www.zoomquilt.org
Zoom through an amazing piece of art.

www.bbc.co.uk
BBC's IQ test - answer 70 questions on logic, observation, reasoning picture puzzles and visual memory.

www.origami.com
Practise your paper folding skills to make such things as elephants and boats.

www.alcatrazhistory.com
Explore Alcatraz and learn more about the famed prison island.

www.fun-with-words.com
Have fun with words, including anagrams, palindromes, tongue twisters, pangrams, malapropisms and much more.

www.iloveegg.com
The bizarre egg song!

www.subservientchicken.com
Your very own personal chicken. Tell it what you'd like it do to.

www.castlexplorer.co.uk
Explore the castles of Britain.

www.gapingmaws.com
Photos of voracious animals growling, yawning, or otherwise showing you their teeth.

www.snopes.com
Urban legends explained and unravelled.

www.bedtime-story.com
An illustrated online copy of Alice In Wonderland.

www.brainbashers.com
Unusual, rhythmical, silhouetted, foot tapping visual bonanza.

www.skyscraperpage.com
World's tallest 10 skyscrapers, all drawn to scale.

artpad.art.com
Express yourself with the Art Pad, where you can create art as unique as you are.

www.sodaplay.com
A simulator that allows you to construct robots and other mechanical creations and watch them walk, move, or fly.

www.becominghuman.org
Journey through the story of human evolution.

www.poetryconnection.net
Poem of the day.

www.kellys.com
Shadows to make on the wall with your hands.

www.angadi.org
Comic strip collection, including Dilbert, Peanuts and Garfield. Updated daily.

tolweb.org
View the tree of life, and see how animals and plants are grouped.

www.egyptarchive.co.uk
The Egypt archive.

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com
Wonderful singing, dancing badgers.

www.channel4.com
100 worst pop records of all time.

www.starchamber.com
Write your name in Elvish.

micro.magnet.fsu.edu
Take a journey from the outskirts of the universe, in through a leaf, down into the very heart of an atom.

www.zefrank.com
Make your own kaleidoscope.

www.hubblesite.org
Views of space from the Hubble telescope.

www.physics.org
Explore the physics of everything around you.

www.historyplace.com
Speech of the week - a new speech from history every week.

svt.se/hogafflahage
Curiously entertaining singing horses!

www.particleadventure.org
What is everything made of? An interesting tale of electrons, protons, quarks and other strange entities?

www.microprizes.com
A clever ASCII text editor.

www.kokogiak.com/megapenny
The MegaPenny Project, do you think you can count one billion pennies?

www.math.com
A maze generator where you can watch the computer at work.

www.funnyjunk.com
How to fold a shirt professionally!

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA's picture of The day

CAUTION:Some of these can be super-boring and somewhat annoying!

I discovered this evening (from wikipedia.org) that the UPC was first used to scan a product as part of a retail purchase thirty-four years ago today. (To mark that bit of history, that pack of Wrigley's chewing gum sold at Marsh's Supermarket in Troy, Ohio is on exhibit at the Smithsonian.) I was twelve years old then, and often helped with the family shopping. I'm trying to remember, now, what it was like to buy groceries without UPC codes and scanners.

Some stores still affix adhesive labels with the price printed on them to products on their shelves. I guess that must be how all pricing was done in my childhood, though I really can't remember it clearly. (I do remember the time I bought tuna flavored cat food by mistake instead of canned tuna, because the cans were the same size and I was excited to see the price lower than I expected. As our cat was fed dry cat food - and the occasional slice of raw liver - I returned the unwanted cans to the store and purchased tuna.)

I never gave bar codes much thought until I worked for Coding Products, a division of ITW, and had to write programs to print bar codes used for internal tracking and for packaging sent to customers. I learned just how many different kinds of bar codes there were - we didn't use UPC, I think it was Code 38. I came to see those familiar black and white stripes with much more appreciation for the effort that went into making them the wonderful productivity tools that they are today.

For the 25th anniversary of the UPC's introduction, PriceWaterhouseCoopers prepared a report showing the amazing benefits brought about by that technological innovation, as well as how much could still be done. They reported that in 1974, the average store carried 9000 SKU's (stock-keeping units), and in 1997, that number had risen to 30,000 while allowing managers to control their inventory far better than before. I'm sure that now, more than ten years later, the numbers are even higher.

Not everyone expected the UPC to be such a success. A website detailing the history of bar codes reports that "The developers of the U.P.C. believed that there would be fewer than 10,000 companies, almost all in the US grocery industry, who would ever use the U.P.C. Today, there are over one million companies in more than 100 countries in over twenty different industry sectors enjoying the benefits of scanning."

As the UPC required widespread use to be really cost-effective, and companies had little motivation to adopt it until it had widespread use, it is perhaps remarkable that it did get sufficient support to become successful. Not everyone liked the idea, of course. Unions opposed it because it was a labor-saving technology that would replace people with machines. Some religious groups saw it as the precursor of the Mark of the Beast. (I even found a website claiming that 666 is hidden in every barcode - because the "guard bars" at the beginning, middle, and end are visually similar to the numeral six when it appears in the right half of the code.)

I also found articles suggesting that RFID (radio frequency identification) is today's technology equivalent of the UPC thirty years ago. It has similarly been distrusted as having too much potential to allow the government to keep tabs on people, and similarly has been increasing accepted in daily life. I wear an RFID badge at work that gets me into the building and into my work area (a restricted area that contains the corporation's main datacenter). Faculty and staff at the schools my sons attend wear similar badges, as part of a security system much more effective than the old "Visitors must sign in at the office" signs.

Perhaps by the time my kids are the age I am now, today's UPC codes will seem as antiquated as handwritten price tags do today. In the meantime, I hope Wal-Mart can fix their equipment rather than have to discard it. I like being my own checkout clerk.