Nanocar

Here is a cool thing to do with Buckyballs - build a nanocar!
Only took them 8 years.



Rice scientists build world's first single-molecule car
'Nanocar' with buckyball wheels paves way for other molecular machines

Rice University scientists have constructed the world's smallest car -- a single molecule "nanocar" that contains a chassis, axles and four buckyball wheels.

The "nanocar" is described in a research paper that is available online and due to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters.

The nanocar consists of a chassis and axles made of well-defined organic groups with pivoting suspension and freely rotating axles. The wheels are buckyballs, spheres of pure carbon containing 60 atoms apiece. The entire car measures just 3-4 nanometers across, making it slightly wider than a strand of DNA. A human hair, by comparison, is about 80,000 nanometers in diameter.


Link

Cool new search on eBay for misspellings

Got some nice hits when I tried it with my knife collecting!

http://www.misspelledauctions.com/index.php

great old postcard

Neat old postcard scene that someone has scanned in as part of a Yiddish postcard collection:

Feeling better...

After a brief but bad cold.

Now back to grinding away at the estate and assessing the MCS antiques.

pinhole camera from legos

Thanks to link from BoingBoing. Wish I had thought of this!

HOWTO Build a pinhole camera from legos
This build-log details an ingenius project to build a large-format pinhole camera out of legos. The maker hasn't yet uploaded any of the photos from it yet, but I'm looking forward to them.

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/10/09/howto_build_a_pinhol.html

George colics

Katie's new horse, George, coliced and had to be walked for quite some time. Perhaps he got into the pokeberries in the back pasture?
The vet tried to get a tube into him to give him mineral oil to help him pass the problem, but just managed to bloody his nose.

New Horse; reunion

Well, yet another horse from the farm nearby. Hope this one is a keeper. Katie did a great job showing him and won a second in the walk trot class yesterday, after having him just one day!
Pics to come.

Enjoyed the family reunion in Penn. Also pics to come.

global warming

What is it about global warming that incites or infuriates the left? I feel I pretty much align with their views, yet every time I speak up that the science has not proven humans are the cause, I get lambasted. Visit:
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/
OR
http://www.sepp.org

cubesat

Here's a great site that covers low cost satellites that can be put into orbit for less than $100,000. Great for university study programs and rocket clubs.


http://www.littonlab.atl.calpoly.edu/

There's a New Member of the Family (A Horse!)

We put a deposit on a gray thoroughbred today. Will ship to our barn on Tuesday. It is registered via a lip tat but we would like to give it a name.
Any ideas, please post a comment.

Here is Katie and Horse:


Here is a short video clip of Katie and horse:

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Swap meet

Bike swap meet in Bloomfield next week. All our friends will be there. You come too. Will post pics of the pre-swap bar hop shortly after.

Hotel closing went thru. We'll see what happens next.

Here is a link to the SCUL rider site:
http://www.scul.org/index.htm

My height in punch cards...

is equal to enough info for a 3 minute mp3 song!
From BoingBoing:

One 3 min MP3 = 5'9" high stack of punchcards
In case you were wondering: how many punchcards it would take to store an MP3:
"Assuming a non-Hollerith encoding with eight bits per column, and an MP3 file encoded at 128kbps CBR, there would be 36,864 cards in that deck, and the card reader would need a throughput of 205 cards per second. It might be wise to include an 8-column sequence number, however, so that a misordered deck can be repaired by a card sorter; with 72 data columns per card, the total is precisely 40,960 cards (40K cards), requiring a 228 card/second throughput." The 21 boxes of cards needed would by 5 feet 9 inches tall. That such a huge leap in technology is well within living memory astonishes Y.

On the road again

It's been awhile since I've last updated here. Packing to visit Florida next week and see everyone. It's been almost 13 years since we have been down there.

Finally nice days here in CT. Enjoyed my bicycle ride today and didn't come back completely soaked. Like Lance says, "didn't feel the bike had a chain on it today."

Working a bit on Allie story. Trying to get some sense of atmosphere like I found in Wicked. Reading Pretty Birds is good, but somehow lacking what Maguire did with Oz.

Muah...

Just desserts

I love this. I wish I had thought of it first.

Group proposes to build hotel on Justice Souter's house property
Following the Supreme Court ruling allowing private companies to seize people's houses and develop the land for business purposes, a private developer has asked the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire "to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road." That's the address of Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter's home.
The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."


Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.



"This is not a prank" said Clements, "The Towne of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development."

We're baaaaack!

And Europe was an expensive blast!
Here's two of us in front of the Seine near the Eiffel tower:

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Whale songs

This gentleman has been researching whale songs for years. Just like humans, he says whales interact with song riffs. And just like humans, the songs from the 60's were better than those today!
Link: http://joi.ito.com/archives/2005/05/26/masters_of_remix_-_the_humpback_whale.html

And I'd like one of these for our next party:
http://www.happyhourchandelier.com/

Bike parade

Simsbury Memorial Day parade on antique bikes.
Be there.
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Last few days, lot pics, art pics

Busy the past fews days again, as usual here in the Quiet corner of Connecticut.
Went to a alternative rock party last night, still working on designing our house, and managing the MCS estate. To say nothing about regular work!
Only a short while until England! Can't wait. Only sad thing is we will miss the Dick Dale concert where several of our band buddies open for him at Toad's. Oh well.

Here is a shot of our lot:
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Katie's latest projects:
A fired rhino from art class at middle school
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And a quick pastel of a flower pot, also from art class
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Whatsa CAPU-U?

Enjoyed the day at Connecticut Author and Publisher Society University today!
Found a lot of value, and scribbled notes all day. Even allowing that I'm new to writing, that means I got a lot of material. Did some great networking too.
And after sitting in the Stuff Your Stories seminar, I realized what symbols I was planting in the Kat story! (Lucia knows).
More to come when I get a chance.

Meanwhile, the house design continues. Got some plans from the Home Design place and will have to make some mods after bids. Exciting time for us. Reminds me of when we first got married and could barely get into the bathroom what with all the stuff destined for our new place. George Carlin is right.

Are you a Republican? Take this and see ( I scored 19%): http://paulkienitz.net/republican.html

Finally, this place is really cool! I have ancestors on both sides, but ya gotta love the Confederacy: http://www.moc.org/

NJ move; Dirkon camera; sign language alert

Finally moved all the breakables from the NJ house. May be the last time I see it somewhat furnished as the movers come next week. A creepy feeling.

Here is a cool project: a paper camera. See the link:
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/05/01/paper_camera.html

I also like the whistle-blower who, via sign language translation, let on that the Ukranian election was rigged:
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/05/02/ukranian_tv_signlang.html

Excited about CAPA-U this weekend. Finally getting a chance to think and talk and work on writing again!