Month: October 2007
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Silly string
[String theory in two minutes](http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/10/string_theory_in_2_minute.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890). Sadly, two minutes are all also all you need to hear about the experimental confirmations of string theory. Assuming your local string theorist can keep the excuse for the total lack of results down to only two minutes, that is.
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Election07: Leap year edition
*Announcements*: * ALP: [$489m for solar panels in schools](http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/26/2071678.htm). * Coalition: [$75m grant program for innovative renewal energy technologies](http://liberal.org.au/info/news/detail/20071026_SupportforInnovativeRenewableEnergy.php). *Polls*: [Morgan](http://www.pollbludger.com/649): ALP 56-44. 29 days to go.
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A song for all seasons
[Might as well face it, you’re addicted to Civ](http://skzbrust.livejournal.com/66515.html). This game is one of the few to have encouraged me to play through the night. Something about that ‘one more turn’ nature.
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Another use for acid
[Make your own business cards using acid].(http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/08/how_to_make_your_own_embo.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890). That’s the acid ferric chloride, in case your mind took you somewhere else entirely.
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Rescue your Facebook data
[An application to get your contact details out of Facebook](http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/23/with-friendcsv-data-sneaks-out-facebooks-back-door/). My biggest worry about Facebook is the closed system nature – while anyone can write an application, you don’t get to control your own data. This is a partial solution, but not a complete one.
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Climate change pain
[Plasma and LCD flat panels use a lot of electricity](http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/how-green-is-my-plasma/2007/10/24/1192941120182.html?s_cid=rss_news) Frankly I doubt they’ll ever be banned in their current form, as some people suggest. Still, there is a *lot* consumer electronics manufacturers could be doing to make it easier to save energy.
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Climate change action
[Underground coal fires contribute as much to global warming as all the cars in the US](http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/from-bagels-to-coal-fires-an-unorthodox-economist-keeps-pushing-for-change/). One of the real problems in designing the long run policy on this stuff is deciding how to assign property rights to emissions like these. A price imposing scheme (be it a tax or permit system) needs these property…
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Election07: Sphenic edition
*Announcements*: * ALP has policies on [petrol for volunteers ($69m)](http://alp.org.au/media/1007/msloo250.php) and talked about its [broadband package](http://alp.org.au/media/1007/mscoit250.php). * The Democrats (remember them?) [propose abolishing HECS contributions](http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/25/2070417.htm). * Coalition just announced some Perth specific stuff (I’m only tracking national announcements here). *Polls*: [Galaxy senate poll](http://www.getup.org.au/files/media/senatepolloctober07.pdf) shows some strange results. *Other*: [Paul Keating escapes from the box he…
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Shrinking
[GPS receiver in 1985](http://img.engadget.com/common/images/0131583169424672.GIF?0.8677629570302273) [GPS receiver today](http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/19/proportas-freedom-key-ring-gps-receiver-stays-out-of-sight-kee/)
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Another item for lazy day
[A powered crescent wrench](http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2007/10/24/black-decker-auto-wr.html). I can only think of this as another step towards the eventual robot domination of the world. Good-o.