bob

"Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural...Now, a city of nearly 2 million in the 1950s has declined to less than half that number. On some blocks, only one or two occupied houses remain, surrounded by trash-strewn lots and vacant, burned-out homes. Scavengers have stripped anything of value from empty buildings. According to one recent estimate, Detroit has 33,500 empty houses and 91,000 vacant residential lots. " - bob

""The current plan would demolish about 10,000 houses and empty buildings in three years and pump new investment into stronger neighborhoods. In the neighborhoods that would be cleared, the city would offer to relocate residents or buy them out. The city could use tax foreclosure to claim abandoned property and invoke eminent domain for those who refuse to leave, much as cities now do for freeway projects. - bob

i bet they could do it faster and more cheaply with gasoline :P - bob

I think Big Bird is yellow. - Paul Buchheit

Awesome though. - Paul Buchheit

Now we know what REALLY happened to Mr Hooper - Johnny

hey eagles value their privacy :) - Private Sanjeev

"Carbon monoxide is used in modified atmosphere packaging systems in the US, mainly with fresh meat products such as beef, pork, and fish to keep them looking fresh. The carbon monoxide combines with myoglobin to form carboxymyoglobin, a bright cherry red pigment. Carboxymyoglobin is more stable than the oxygenated form of myoglobin, oxymyoglobin, which can become oxidized to the brown pigment, metmyoglobin. This stable red color can persist much longer than in normally packaged meat.[31] Typical levels of carbon monoxide used in the facilities that use this process are between 0.4% to 0.5%...The process is banned in many other countries, including Canada, Japan, Singapore and the European Union." - bob

"High in the sky above Lompoc, California, a freefalling Staff Sgt. Eric Thompson planned his skydive to coincide with the June 7 liftoff of a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The Delta 2 carried the Italian Thales Alenia-Space COSMO-SkyMed satellite, placing it into Earth orbit. Thompson is an instructor with the 532nd Training Squadron." - bob

higher res http://i.imgur.com/jzpdK.jpg - bob

"The parietal eye (and two regular eyes) of a juvenile bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)" - bob

"Einsteinium does not occur naturally in any measurable quantities. The modern process of creating the element starts with the irradiation of plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor for several years. The resulting plutonium-242 isotope (in the form of the compound plutonium(IV) oxide) is mixed with aluminium and formed into pellets. The pellets are then further irradiated for approximately one year in a nuclear reactor. Another four months of irradiation is required in a different reactor. The result is a mixture of californium and einsteinium, which can then be separated....Further einsteinium has been produced at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor in Tennessee by bombarding 239Pu with neutrons. Around 3 milligrams were created over a four year program of irradiation and then chemical separation from a starting 1 kg of plutonium isotope... Though only small amounts have been made, it has been determined to be silver-colored." - bob

Another Element. - Ashish

Why the hell would somebody spend 4 years to make a few mg of Es? It seems like a rather pointless waste of money (or at least time). - Gabe

the government wastes money on worse things - id rather know something about an obscure unstable element than blow up some more of a random country :P - bob

"As with cocaine in Coca-Cola, lithium was widely marketed as one of a number of patent medicine products popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, and was the medicinal ingredient of a refreshment beverage, 7 Up. Charles Leiper Grigg, who launched his St. Louis-based company The Howdy Corporation in 1920, invented a formula for a lemon-lime soft drink in 1929. The product, originally named "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda", was launched two weeks before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.[12] It contained the mood stabiliser lithium citrate and was one of a number of patent medicine products popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The beverage was marketed specifically as a hangover cure. Its name was soon changed to 7 Up. According to Gary Yu (UCSB) and researchers for the "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader", the name is derived from the atomic mass of lithium (approximately seven daltons). Lithium citrate was removed from 7 Up's formula in 1950.[13]" - bob

"When Germany invaded Denmark in World War II, the Hungarian chemist George de Hevesy dissolved the gold Nobel Prizes of Max von Laue and James Franck into aqua regia to prevent the Nazis from stealing them. He placed the resulting solution on a shelf in his laboratory at the Niels Bohr Institute. It was subsequently ignored by the Nazis who thought the jar—one of perhaps hundreds on the shelving—contained common chemicals. After the war, de Hevesy returned to find the solution undisturbed and precipitated the gold out of the acid. The gold was returned to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Foundation who recast the medals and again presented them to Laue and Franck." - bob

Meow! - April Buchheit

#котэ - Starepolsky smok

"Orange County Sheriff's Office investigators said today that SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau died from "multiple traumatic injuries and drowning" after a killer whale pulled her underwater by her long pony tail near the theme park's Shamu Stadium. Investigators released a statement shortly after an official at SeaWorld Orlando said that the killer whale, Tilikum, is being evaluated and that the theme park will keep the animal....The orca that killed veteran trainer Brancheau has been linked to two previous deaths since 1991." - bob

The way they describe the orca as having been: "linked to two previous deaths since 1991" make it sound like the animal was hanging out with the wrong crowd or has been killing people, but in a way that makes it hard to discover who did it. - no name

They are like tiny leaves or shingles. - Paul Buchheit

mini fish hooks - Chris Heath

Nice - April Buchheit

"The suit accuses the school of turning on Blake's webcam while the computer was inside his Penn Valley home, allegedly violating wiretap laws and his right to privacy. Blake Robbins told CBS3 on Friday that a school official described him in his room and mistook a piece of candy for a pill. "She described what I was doing," he said. "She said she thought I had pills and said she thought that I was selling drugs." Robbins said he was holding a Mike and Ike candy, not pills. Holly Robbins said a school official told her that she had a picture of Blake holding up what she thought were pills." - bob

"A Swiss freediver held his breath underwater for 19 minutes and 21 seconds, according to news reports this week. The gasp-inducing feat beat the previous world record by 19 seconds, and blew away the record of 17 minutes and four seconds that magician David Blaine set on Oprah Winfrey's talk show in 2008....To fight those powerful instincts, a competitive breath-holder starts by hyperventilating for as much as 10 minutes while breathing from a tank of 100 percent oxygen. Breathing hard and fast expels carbon dioxide from the body, buying time before CO2 levels get too high. Likewise, boosting oxygen stores with pure oxygen buys time before O2 levels fall too low. After hyperventilating, if a person isn't unconscious, he'll probably feel dizzy and have extreme cramping in the arms and legs. The next step is to plunge into a tank of water. That triggers a primitive, mammalian reaction called the diving reflex. When confronted with water, especially cold water, the body shunts circulation from the rest of the body to the heart and brain. The reflex, which even chickens have, probably helps babies survive the trip through the birth canal, Lundgren said. By lowering how much total oxygen the body is using, the diving reflex also allows people to hold their breaths for longer stretches. The record for breath-holding on land is around 10 minutes, said Lundgren, who can go eight or nine minutes without breathing. The new record-holder, named Peter Colat, was able to last twice as long because he was in a tank of water. " - bob

I can do 19 seconds... oh, wait... - Paul Buchheit

The TED Talk on this by Blaine was a great watch imo: http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Isaac Hepworth

"Villarrica, with is lava of basaltic-andesitic composition is one of only four volcanoes worldwide known to have an active lava lake within its crater." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - bob

"Dear visitors from Google. This site is not Facebook. This is a website called ReadWriteWeb that reports on news about Facebook and other Internet services..." the comments are pretty funny, --- All I want to do is log in, this sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 --- The new facebook sucks> NOW LET ME IN. --- I just want to log in to Facebook - what with the red color and all? LOLLLOLOL!!!!!111 --- I was just learning,why would you mess it up? - bob

Yeah why did Fb switch to that red color? Lol - Paul Buchheit

It's hard to tell how many commenters really thought it was FB, and how many just thought it was funny to leave a comment to that effect. - Gabe

"The discovery of phosphorus is credited to the German alchemist Hennig Brand in 1669, although other chemists might have discovered phosphorus around the same time.[22] Brand experimented with urine, which contains considerable quantities of dissolved phosphates from normal metabolism.[4] Working in Hamburg, Brand attempted to create the fabled philosopher's stone through the distillation of some salts by evaporating urine, and in the process produced a white material that glowed in the dark and burned brilliantly. His process originally involved letting urine stand for days until it gave off a terrible smell. Then he boiled it down to a paste, heated this paste to a high temperature, and led the vapours through water, where he hoped they would condense to gold. Instead, he obtained a white, waxy substance that glowed in the dark. Brand had discovered phosphorus, the first element discovered since antiquity. We now know that Brand produced ammonium sodium hydrogen phosphate, (NH4)NaHPO4. While the quantities were essentially correct (it took about 1,100 L of urine to make about 60 g of phosphorus), it was unnecessary to allow the urine to rot. Later scientists would discover that fresh urine yielded the same amount of phosphorus." - bob

until it gave off a terrible smell... - Ashish

Is that medically safe? (Image from National Geographic 1972) - τorƍue

The first emperor of China died from consuming Mercury. He thought it would make him live forever. << Got this from History Channel. I think. - Tanapon

"A man carrying sulphur blocks at Kawah Ijen a volcano in East Java, Indonesia." - bob

I think he needs a SulfurFactoryFactory. - Gabe

Bob cat? - Kevin Fox

I think lynx = bobcat - April Buchheit

"Lina Medina (born September 27, 1933, in Ticrapo, Huancavelica Region, Peru) is the youngest confirmed mother in medical history, giving birth at the age of five years, seven months and 21 days....Born in Ticrapo, Peru,[1] Medina was brought to a hospital by her parents at the age of five years due to increasing abdominal size. She was originally thought to have had a tumor, but her doctors determined she was in her seventh month of pregnancy. Dr. Gerardo Lozada took her to Lima, Peru, prior to the surgery to have other specialists confirm that Medina was pregnant. A month and a half later, on May 14, 1939, she gave birth to a boy by a caesarean section necessitated by her small pelvis. The surgery was performed by Dr. Lozada and Dr. Busalleu, with Dr. Colareta providing anaesthesia. Her case was reported in detail by Dr. Edmundo Escomel in the medical journal La Presse Médicale, including the additional details that her menarche had occurred at eight months of age (or 2 1/2 according to a different article)[1] and that she had prominent breast development by the age of four. By age five, her figure displayed pelvic widening and advanced bone maturation." - bob

crazy. - Private Sanjeev

"Jobs, characteristically, did not mince words as he spoke to the assembled, according to a person who was there who could not be named because this person is not authorized by Apple to speak with the press. On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars. About Adobe: They are lazy, Jobs says. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5." - bob

"These causality problems would be solved without any change to the mathematical formalism of GR, but only to its interpretation, if gravity is once again taken to be a propagating force of nature in flat space-time with the propagation speed indicated by observational evidence and experiments: not less than 2x10^10 c...The most amazing thing I was taught as a graduate student of celestial mechanics at Yale in the 1960s was that all gravitational interactions between bodies in all dynamical systems had to be taken as instantaneous. This seemed unacceptable on two counts. In the first place, it seemed to be a form of “action at a distance”. Perhaps no one has so elegantly expressed the objection to such a concept better than Sir Isaac Newton: “That one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum, without the mediation of any thing else, by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from one to the other, is to me so great an absurdity, that I believe no man who has in philosophical matters a competent faculty of thinking, can ever fall into it.” (See Hoffman, 1983.) But mediation requires propagation, and finite bodies should be incapable of propagation at infinite speeds since that would require infinite energy. So instantaneous gravity seemed to have an element of magic to it. The second objection was that we had all been taught that Einstein’s special relativity (SR), an experimentally well-established theory, proved that nothing could propagate in forward time at a speed greater than that of light in a vacuum. Indeed, as astronomers we were taught to calculate orbits using instantaneous forces; then extract the position of some body along its orbit at a time of interest, and calculate where that position would appear as seen from Earth by allowing for the finite propagation speed of light from there to here. It seemed incongruous to allow for the finite speed of light from the body to the Earth, but to take the effect of Earth’s gravity on that same body as propagating from here to there instantaneously. Yet that was the required procedure to get the correct answers....Yet, anyone with a computer and orbit computation or numerical integration software can verify the consequences of introducing a delay into gravitational interactions. The effect on computed orbits is usually disastrous because conservation of angular momentum is destroyed. Expressed less technically by Sir Arthur Eddington, this means: “If the Sun attracts Jupiter towards its present position S, and Jupiter attracts the Sun towards its present position J, the two forces are in the same line and balance. But if the Sun attracts Jupiter toward its previous position S’, and Jupiter attracts the Sun towards its previous position J’, when the force of attraction started out to cross the gulf, then the two forces give a couple. This couple will tend to increase the angular momentum of the system, and, acting cumulatively, will soon cause an appreciable change of period, disagreeing with observations if the speed is at all comparable with that of light.” (Eddington, 1920, p. 94) See Figure 1." - bob

I was entranced until I came upon this bit of tautology: "How can black holes have gravity when nothing can get out because escape speed is greater than the speed of light?" - Kevin Fox

I knew I shouldn't have built my house there. I am currently on fire. - Mark