LotR Film

Ok, there is a lot of list journalism at this time of year, but this effort is actually interesting: Things You Didn't Know About... The Fellowship of the Ring.  Perhaps half of these things you actually do know, particularly if you are a Peter Jackson fan, but there are some good quotes like this one from Sir Ian:

If you are suddenly dropped by a helicopter on top of a mountain on which no man has ever walked before, which I was, and you're trudging in Gandalf's gear through two feet of snow, feeling like that Kiwi, Edmund Hillary, going up Everest, no acting is required...

Also, ponder this without your brain hurting - The Beatles apparently wanted to star in a version of Fellowship. Directed by Kubrick. o_O

Lightning

Artificial lightning can be created in the lab with tesla coils, but apparently a much higher voltage than natural lightning is required. These guys think this is because existing tesla coils are not big enough, so they are going to build two 10-story high coils and send arcs across a football field. If you think this is great, then you can contribute to the project. They have also built a wirelessly-powered vehicle (a chair on wheels), which thankfully runs during "arc free" mode. True steampunk-style Mad Science!

Influential

A games site just wrote an article about Why Quake Changed Games Forever. Quake is an old game that I used to play a lot; it looks terribly brown and pixelated now but that is not the point - the point was shooting at monsters/friends in a true 3d world, which was technology years ahead of its time. Also, because John Carmack wrote it, it was super-easy to mod, which we did instead of writing college assignments. I see Romero gets a bit defensive in the article; he has his reasons *cough Daikatana*. The most amusing part is the the fact that Quake code still survives in games today. How many games can claim that?

Asteroids

A while ago there was a website I enjoyed using where you helped astronomers categorize galaxies, Galaxy Zoo. This site has now expanded to other projects, which are collectively called the Zooniverse (disappointingly, no, I don't think it is a Mighty Boosh reference). Now they not only have have projects that involve astronomical data from the moon, sun and Milky Way but there is also a weather one, and one based on transcribing old papyri. But my favorite at the moment is Ice Hunters, where you check highly-processed photos for possible asteroids (more technically "Kuiper Belt Objects"). Not for everyone, I'm sure, but it's kind of relaxing for me.

Music

A lot has been said about how music is over-priced yet the artists only get a small cut; this is a case of under-pricing. This guy gives his music away for free. His name is General Fuzz and he makes, in his words, "lush melodic instrumental electronica". It's quality, listen-toable stuff with the occasional guest artist on sax or violin. I started with the album "Messy's Place", which includes the brilliant "unconscious alliance". If you only download one track, this is it. You can donate, but he also accepts nonfincancial support - spreading the word via blogs etc. Consider it done, Mr Fuzz.

Nanodiamond

Could I resist reading a story with that title? No.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University are making electronics out of diamonds rather than silicon. The "nano" part is due to the very thin layer that is used; the process is inexpensive because of this, and also due to the use of industrial diamonds (or what should be called "reasonably-priced" diamond). Why do this when silicon seems to be adequate? Well, silicon has problems with high-energy particle interference, e.g when in space or in a nuclear reactor. These new-style transistors get around that by using an old-style concept: vacuum tubes. Yes, if they can cheaply pack these in a vacuum, we will have Super-efficient Nanodiamond Space Transistors. And who doesn't want one of those?

It's live

The reason I have been quiet in recent weeks is now live:

MyLife Deals

It was a lot of work for our small team, but worth it. Our first deal is from an Indian restaurant called Tanzore, which is located in a "casual Beverly Hills locale". So if you happen to be in the area, grab the deal now before it ends today! :)

Guitarists

While listening to Dire Straits recently I noticed some familiar sounds in Mark Knopfler's voice, and, sure enough when I looked up the information, he was raised in the North East (Blythe) and attended Leeds University. (He got an English degree and worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post). There is more interesting stuff on the wiki, but the main thing I'd like to point out is this comedy gem he appears in, from an early French and Saunders show.

Website News

Quick update for those that don't know yet; CitizenLocal was bought by MyLife, a company that specializes in people search and various other web services. There is a lot of integration work to do, and things are looking good.

Future Tech

I have collected a few links to tech stories and will now relay them here and tie them together using an increasingly-strained film-based theme. Ahem.

1. NASA is working on a plasma drive for spacecraft. This is good news for people who want to get to Mars in a reasonable time (39 days) instead of the months it takes with chemical rockets. Plus it looks like what drives the Millennium Falcon!
2. NASA is also looking into using a ground-based laser to get rid of orbiting space junk before it hits our satellites or causes chain-reaction chaos, aka Kessler syndrome. The graphics remind me of a certain moon-sized space station...
3. There's a company building a Rankine Cycle heat regenerative external combustion engine. This differs from normal car engines by being quieter, cooler and able to use a wide range of fuels. Also it needs no catalytic converter, muffler, oil lubrication or transmission. This is clearly an engine of the future, and, um, was probably used on one of those pod racers? Yeah.

DVD Player

Sometimes, when you put a disk in your DVD player it grinds and clicks for a while and then grumpily says "No Disk", even when there clearly is a disk in there. Other disks don't work either. A Google search brings up various advice; from the optimistic "blow air into the tray" to the more helpful "clean the lens". Not being a fan of those Cleaning Disks (a CD with bristles attached), I opened up the case. There was some general fluff to remove and the lens looked clean, but I wiped it anyway with an alcoholled cotton swab. Disks still did not play. After puzzling for a while, I reasoned that the mechanism was working but the player was not receiving data from the disk, and the data should be coming out of the paper-thin ribbon cable that is attached to the laser assembly. On my player, this is attached with one of those slide-out-a-little plastic clips that grip the cable. After swab-cleaning and secure re-location into the socket, all was well. So I hope this shows up sometimes as an additional thing for tinkerers to try before reaching for the credit card.

Rockets

Sci-fi author Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash, The Diamond Age) has written an article about why we use rockets to get into space. To begin, he shows how inter-continental rocketry was invented ahead of its time, due mainly to WWII and the threat of a Third. These hyper-expensive things were then re-purposed when it was realized that satellites were so damned useful. He then discusses why we are now locked-in to using them as the default way to get into orbit, even though they are expensive and dangerous. The reasons are not just regulatory and managerial - there is accountancy (launch insurance) and international law (permission to fly over countries). We have made rockets "as close to perfect as they're ever going to get", yet we don't try alternative, better technologies.

He does not give any answers, but one of the advisers he credits gives away an interesting detail; he works for LaserMotive, world leaders in power-beaming. This technology just happens to be the best way to power a space elevator. Could this be hint for what features in his next novel?

Forecast

"Spring is around the corner"
- Punxsutawney Phil, Prognosticator of Prognosticators

John Barry, RIP

A soundtracking genius - whether it was tv (The Persuaders) or film (Midnight Cowboy, Out of Africa) his distinctive sound always gave the final product an extra boost of class. The producers of James Bond owe him a pint not only for keeping their monster series afloat, but for inventing Cold War Spy Music in the classic film The Ipcress File. The man could not be cooler unless he had his own jazz band and shared a house with Michael Caine. Oh wait, he did. RIP.

Computer

I have recently been reading up about the EDSAC, the first practical stored-program computer. This is because a replica has been commissioned to be built at Bletchley Park. Of course, it was one of those room-sized beasts, tended to by blokes in overalls and thick, round spectacles. Reading the specs, I see that it used 3000 valves/tubes, and therefore used 12kW of power. Seen as though an electric fire uses just 1kW, it is going to get pretty hot in that room. I'm thinking they should maybe build one for show that has pretend valves lit with LEDs, and have someone sitting inside it with the transistor equivalent in a shoebox on his lap.