I really don’t understand why this isn’t taught to every first year calculus class in the country. It’s so elegant, and complex, and beautiful. An imaginary number combined with an irrational number combined with natural logarithm hocus pocus equals an integer!

The term Mode 7 originated on the Super NES video game console, on which it describes a simple texture mapping graphics mode that allows a background layer to be rotated and scaled. By modifying the scaling and positioning of the layer on a scanline-by-scanline basis, a simple perspective effect can be applied, transforming the layer into a 2-dimensional horizontal texture-mapped plane that trades height for depth. Thus, an impression of 3-dimensional graphics is achieved.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_7

Basically, for lines on the screen, when they’re at the top, scale the texture smaller. When they’re near the bottom, scale the texture bigger.

Immediately makes me remember Super Mario Kart and F-Zero. This is how they did the fake 3d perspective of the ground before titles like Star Fox came out;and it also explains why the barriers on the racetracks always appeared flat, whereas in games like Stunt Race FX, the barriers were solid. What I didn’t realize, was that Final Fantasy VI also used this trick for the world map. Neat.

ii is a minimalist FIFO and filesystem-based IRC client. It creates an irc directory tree with server, channel and nick name directories. In every directory a FIFO in file and a normal out file is created.

The in file is used to communicate with the servers and the out files contain the server messages. For every channel and every nick name there are related in and out files created. This allows IRC communication from command line and adheres to the Unix philosophy.

http://tools.suckless.org/ii/

There’s not much else to say about it. It does what it needs to do in the simplest way possible. The lack of complexity makes it infallible. Any problems you have with it are almost certainly due to user error, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Conus Pennaceus

Hello, Rule 30, didn’t expect to see you there! Thanks, Nature, for making the universe such an amazing place to live.

This is one of the greatest inventions I’ve seen in a long time. Using a charge in the saw blade, if it detects capacitance from human flesh it immediately halts and retracts the spinning blade. When pushing wood through at any reasonable speed, it’s supposed to stop before the blade cuts any deeper than 1/16th an inch. Probably does irreparable damage to the saw’s blade, but at least you keep your fingers.

Not that I have any use for a table saw, but if I did, I’d buy this one.

The second to last shot of the day is the Abby Singer shot. As an assistant director, near the end of a day of shooting, Abby Singer would say “this and one more” so the crew could begin to tear down parts of the set.

Named after Elian Gonzales’ aunt, the Marislasis shot is the third to last, the Maya Angelou shot is the fourth to last shot, and the Lou Nidus shot is the shot before lunch.

This point of view is different from the default position of radical environmentalists and a common opinion that all technology necessarily degrades the environment, and that environmental restoration can therefore occur only with reduced reliance on technology. Technogaians argue that technology gets cleaner and more efficient with time. They would also point to such things as hydrogen fuel cells to demonstrate that developments do not have to come at the environment’s expense. More directly, they argue that such things as nanotechnology and biotechnology can directly reverse environmental degradation. Molecular nanotechnology, for example, could convert garbage in landfills into useful materials and products, while biotechnology could lead to novel microbes that devour hazardous waste. (wikipedia)

Don’t dive too deep; there’s a layer of hydrogen sulfide in the lake 15-20 meters deep. Drink it and you die.

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=s…76111

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTXinF8ZVCo

Heterocephalus glaber

A rodent which lives in colonies underground, digging with its enlarged front teeth. Only one female in a colony breed, and her offspring become workers or soldiers, helping dig the burrows in search of tubers underground. (bbc.com)

Also interesting in this species: they feel no pain!

The skin of naked mole rats lacks a key neurotransmitter called Substance P that is responsible in mammals for sending pain signals to the central nervous system. When naked mole rats are exposed to acid or capsaicin, they feel no pain. (wikipedia.org)