NASA says they have a goal to men on Mars by 2037. "We are looking at the moon and Mars to build a civilization for tomorrow and after that," Griffin added in while addressing heads of the world's space agencies.
Why even bother setting up a colony to live on Mars? The Moon is certainly a lot closer. Is the Moon not big enough for us? There's so much room on the moon!
Surface area:
• 7,884,254 km²: Mainland USA
• 30,221,532 km²: Africa
• 37,930,000 km²: Moon
• 510,065,600 km²: Earth
The moon is just a bit bigger than Africa.
==================================================
Here's a size comparison of the Moon to Earth:
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The surface area of the moon is the equivalent to 4.8 mainland USAs:
The presidential candidates' websites send out some rather entertaining emails. Yesterday I get an email from Bill Clinton; part of it says:
So here's an idea: why don't you and I share that excitement together during an upcoming debate. Hillary's campaign will pick three people -- each invited with a guest to watch one of the upcoming presidential debates with me. We'll sit down in front of a big TV with a big bowl of chips, watch the debate, and talk about the race. If you enter before the Sunday midnight deadline, you and a guest could be the ones to sit down with me to watch a presidential debate.
And then bla bla it goes on about contributing to Hilary Clinton's campaign. I'm not even going to provide the link, because instead I support the much better option, Dennis Kucinich. And actually, if anyone wants to come over to my apartment to watch a presidential campaign, I'll provide the big bowl of chips to your choosing!
Seriously though. Do you really need to listen to your headphones for that extra thirty seconds in the elevator? What if someone wanted to talk to you?
I cannot find the answer anywhere on the web. Here are some hints:
one grain of sand has a volume of 1.3 * 10^-9 cubic feet (from gomath.com)
Some people on abc.net.au tried to figure out how many grains of sand are on earth.
Hypertextbook.com says the volume varies between 1.13 × 10-13 m3 and 4.85 × 10-9 m3
There's a group of 13 people that spent 1,000 hours counting 3,281,579 grains of sand. There's a photo on their webpage at multiply.com.
Okay smartypants, if anyone out there can find the answer to how many grains of sand fit into one cup volume, then you are the first person ever to figure that out.
Am I an idiot for not ever realizing that Hindustan would be the world's third most popular language? I guess it makes sense since there are so many people living in India. Where are all the Hindustani websites? And Bengali? Wow, i need to get out more.
Today Chicago reveals their new logo today for their bid of the 2016 Olympic games. The previous logo featured a torch. (Critique of that logo available at Previous torch Chicago Olympic logo). The International Olympic Committee allows the torch to be used only for official Olympic city logos, not bid cities. Will Chicago go back to the torch for the official logo if we win the bid to host the games?
Props to VSA Partners' Chicago office for creating this new logo. They did a fantastic job. Here’s my design critique of the new Chicago Olympic bid logo:
Excitement
This logo truly stirs the imagination of the Olympics coming to Chicago. The star from our flag is in the logo. The Chicago flag. You know what this means? Chicago will DEFINITELY be adding a fifth star to our flag if we get the Olympics. This logo creates a sense of reality that this WILL happen. Just the thought of potentially adding another star to our flag gets me pumped up.
Gradients
Boy howdy, this logo is using gradients galore, usually that’s a no-no in logo design, because it’s hard to reproduce on things like pens. But using the gradients balances out the bold, striking colors by softening the edges. Plus the gradients give a sense of movement.
Architecture
The previous logo really represented the architecture of Chicago. The newer version only subtely hints towards it, but it does it enough to be part of the meaning without clobering you over the head. The yellow and red do a nice job of portraying architecture during sunset or sunrise.
Star
As the Chicago2016.org says, “The central star reflects the design of the four stars on the City’s flag and symbolizes our plan to put the athletes at the center of the Games—since they’re the real stars.” Nicely put! Especially since previous American bids got shot down for being too American-focused and cocky.
Extra meaning
The six points on the star are meant to represent Hope, Respect, Harmony, Friendship, Excellence and Celebration. Yeah yeah, whatever, that’s just extra nicey nice talk. Then again, why not? It adds a little more back story to the logo. Better to do have these extra meanings than to not have them mean anything at all.
Typography
I'm still yet to figure out exactly what font they used in this logo. In the newer version they went with a slightly less bold version. Perhaps this is to go along with the more humble approach the Chicago committee is taking.
Animation potenial
Having a star be the focus of the logo opens up some great opportunities to use animations with shining stars and glittering effects. Check out this YouTube video.
Conclusion
This logo is clean and simple, yet powerful. It’s a classy logo for a world-class city. Chicago can stand behind this logo and hold it up proud.
What do you think of the logo? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.
According to CNN, Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman was the first to use the :-) in a computer message.
Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on September 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly. "I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)," wrote Fahlman. "Read it sideways."
Later in the article, Amy Weinberg, a University of Maryland linguist and computer scientist, is quoted:
"you have a sentence that says 'I love my boss' and then there's a smiley face, you better not take that seriously."
I dunno. I always think of the smiley face as just meaning you're happy. If someone had a sentence that said "I love my boss. :-)" I would think that person just really likes their boss and is happy. Maybe I'm too gullible or optimistic. Now the winking face would be for jokes or ironic humor. Anyways, hooray for the smiley emoticon! :-)
Here are the superpowers I do NOT want (in no particular order):
Accelerated healing
I would be too tempted to harm myself by doing silly things, and that just doesn't seem right.
Duplication
I already have a twin. We don't need another one of us monkeys running around.
Invisibility
I would feel more lonely if i was invisible.
Superhuman reflexes (Ability to react faster than a normal human)
I would get too cocky with this.
Wallcrawling
Would be fun, but wouldn't you have creepy sticky hands?
Omni-linguism
I don't travel that much where this is necessary.
Cross-dimensional awareness
This would creepy me out.
Telepathy
Might be interesting, but this is an invasion of privacy. It's like x-ray vision
Probability manipulation (Ability to alter probability, causing unlikely things to happen or likely things to not happen.)
Things happen for a reason. I don't want to screw around with this. I'm happy to take things as they come.
Dimensional transportation (Ability to create wormholes, portation "discs" or other spatial portals for transport between two non-adjacent locations):
Sounds interesting to be able to go wherever you want. But I would kinda miss traveling. I like to read when I travel.
Sparxmind asked what superpower would you like to have. And if you can't have your #1 most-wanted superpower, what would be your #2 and #3 wanted superpower. That's a GREAT way of asking the question. You should leave a comment on his blog post at "Superpowers/Mutant Abilities."
Here are the super powers I would like to have in order of most wantedness:
1) Light manipulation
Meaning: Ability to control, generate or absorb photons (particles of light).
Thoughts: This would come in handy for photography. If you can control light with great skill, wow, you could come up with some snappin photos.
2) Density control
Meaning: Ability to increase the natural density of an object and/or one's self.
Thoughts: This would be neat to be able to just float. Or you can have your friends pick you up. Why walk when someone can just carry you! Couple this power with Power bestowal and you can make everyone super light.
3) Plant manipulation
Meaning: Ability to accelerate the growth of, control or animate plant life.
Thoughts: My plants die often, so it would be nice to save them. Plus, can you imagine being able to just sprout plants anywhere? I'd be planting gardens all over da place.
4) Echolocation
Meaning: Ability to determine location of items in the environment by use of reflected sound waves, whether generated by the character or ambient sound. Also known as sonar sense.
Thoughts: I would like to have this ability. It would come in handy to find lost stuff.
5) Time manipulation
Meaning: Ability to affect the flow of time, slowing, accelerating or even stopping it.
Thoughts: Crap. This is too obvious. Skip it!
6) Cold and ice manipulation
Meaning: Ability to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms and thus reduce temperature, can be used to control, generate, or absorb ice.
Thoughts: I'm always running out of ice, so this would be nice. And the ability to make snowballs in the middle of summer would be cool. Plus whenever you go to a party you can be the guy who brings the ice.
Right now construction crews are drilling 34 holes in the ground going 120 feet deep, 10-feet in diameter. These will be the caissons for America's tallest building, the Chicago Spire to be completed in 2010--or will it be completed? Many still doubt that the building has the financial backing. Even though each hole costs $250,000, that's nothing compared to the $2 billion price tag.
We might end up with 34 really really deep holes in the ground. What should we do with them?
A) Fill them with chocolate.
In the summer they won't melt, because of the cooler underground.
B) Convert 'em into nuke bunkers.
They're underground, so they should be safe right?
C) Missile silos.
Instead of hiding in 'em to be protected from nukes, let's stick our nukes in the holes and use them as cannons.
D) Big soda bottles.
Wait that last one was kinda sad. How about we make some REALLY MEGA-SIZED big soda bottles and store them in there. It's like the next step up from the two-liter container.
E) Underground lair.
Cut out a large space underneath and make super cool underground lair. The holes could be elevator shafts leading down to the lair below.
F) Extreme slip-n-slide water park.
Have a constant flow of water going down the tubes, and it'll be like jumping down a waterfall.
G) Wall climbing gyms.
It will be like you are a gerbil in a mass of underground habitrails.
H) Nap rooms.
Convert them into 14 private nap rooms. When you lay down at the very bottom of the tube, it's 78.5 square feet. Plenty of room for a bed!
Got any other bright ideas? Leave 'em in the comments. Thanks!
Forget drinking out of the big water jugs. They are bad for your health and the environment.
The hard plastic is bad
An array of serious reproductive disorders in people are caused by a chemical found in the hard plastic of large water cooler tanks. The chemical bisphenol A (BPA) has been linked to female reproductive tract disorders, although earlier studies have found early-stage prostate and breast cancer and decreased sperm counts in animals exposed to low doses.
Source: Scientists issue warning about chemical in plastic
Bacteria grows in water cooler tanks
Next time you replace the tank on your water cooler, do two things:
Wipe bottom part of the tank with a paper towel. Now look at all the dirt that comes with each “new” bottle.
Now look at holding tank. When was the last time that was cleaned? Years, probably. Yeah. And you are drinking water out of that.
Transporting water wastes gas, releases more exhaust
Water weighs so much, they can’t even fill up an entire 18-wheeler truck with water. How much sense does it make to haul water around in a truck? You are wasting gas. You are adding more exhaust into the air.
Solution
Use filtered water. No BPA plastic to kill you. No growing bacteria on unclean bottles. No wasted gas. No exhaust. Just turn the handle, and look! Water comes out.
My experience
On the 14th floor of the Tribune Tower where I work, we have a water station on each side of the floor. One is filtered. The other is bottled. I sit on the bottled side of the floor and people think I’m crazy for preaching how bad the bottled water is. There are three solid good reasons for not using it. Ug.
I'm helping to organize this event at the Apple store. Anyone that wants to come is very welcome!
Stan Lawrence and Terry Armour of WCKG-FM (105.9) will be guests of honor at September’s Chicago Area Podcasters Network Meetup. The podcasters meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the Chicago Apple Store, 679 N. Michigan Ave.
Stan and Terry, who reign at WCKG from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. middays, will offer tips on how to conduct on-air interviews, how to maintain a professional presence — and how to keep listeners and viewers coming back for more.
My photo, AMA Building Shadows is featured on Gapers Block Rearview for September 10, 2007. Hooray! Check out the Flickr photo and high-resolution prints at deviantart.
I am a twin. My name is Matt. My twin's name is Erik. My parents are smart. They gave us names that sound different. It allows us to be individuals. Again, let me stress how smart my parents are.
Then there are parents who name their children Tyler and Taylor. Those parents are dumb. If you are one of those parents, you are dumb.
To see what to NOT name your twins, just go to the Popular names for twins as tallied by the Social Security Administration. They list the top 100 twin names for the previous year. It's chock full of confusing doozies. Here's a sneek preview of the top ten most confusing names.
Names of twins born in 2006
Rank
Names
Number
1
Jacob, Joshua
67
2
Matthew, Michael
54
3
Daniel, David
52
4
Ella, Emma
38
5
Isaac, Isaiah
38
6
Madison, Morgan
36
7
Landon, Logan
35
8
Taylor, Tyler
35
9
Brandon, Bryan
34
10
Christian, Christopher
33
I feel sorry for all these people. It's hard enough for high school kids to keep Erik and Matt straight. I cannot imagine Brandon and Bryan.
The name "Boy" is not in the top 1000 names for any year of birth in the last 15 years. I'm sure there are some people who get so tired of trying to find the right name for their child, they just end up naming him "Boy."
What's up? What's shaking? yeah yeah. How about some new phrases:
* What's rolling?
* What's jumping?
* What's spinning?
PLEASE leave some related alternatives in the comments. There's GOTTA be some more.
I hope Chicago is getting their act together on their new logo. The bids are due to the International Olympic Committee a week from Thursday! You'd think the Chicago bid would include their logo somewhere. (FYI, the logo pictured above was used by Chicago to win the American bid for the Olympics. Then the IOC put the slam down saying that logo is illegal, because it includes the Olympic torch).
Spudart.org has lots of fun stuff by Matt Maldre, a 35-year-old Chicago Christian, artist, designer, illustrator, photographer, webmaster, entrepreneur, curator, goofball, and croquet player. Read more about Matt on the about page.
