Category: Geek

I feel fine

One of the largest supervolcanoes in the world lies beneath Yellowstone National Park and scientists say activity there is increasing.Though the Yellowstone system, which spans parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, is active and expected to eventually blow its top, scientists don’t think it will erupt any time soon. Supervolcanoes can sleep for centuries or millennia before producing incredibly massive eruptions that can drop ash across an entire continent.

Activity discovered at Yellowstone supervolcano – LiveScience – MSNBC.com

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Strange things are afoot at the Circle K

So, Ars Technicais reporting that there may or may not be a new state of matter, and that electrons may be one expression of a multi-dimensional super particle in our slice of the universe.

…Wen and Levin postulated something incredible: what if electrons were not fundamental particles, but merely the ends of long strings of other “true” fundamental particles? With this idea, the pair developed a new model for matter where it was made up of these strings woven together to form what they dubbed “string-nets.” Developing and running computer simulations of this model showed that it gave rise to both conventional particles as well as the quasi-particles, those which carried a fractional charge that began this whole adventure. Then they discovered something completely unexpected.

I, for one, welcome our new multi-dimensional overlords.

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Podcasts and Nike+

So, Susie asked

Question for you–there’s no way to use the Nike+ with a podcast, right? I miss Phidip when I’m trying to measure my runs:(“

In case anyone else is interested, I’ve got two hacks that should work:

  1. Create a playlist called “Podcasts” (or whatever) prior to the run, and to drop the podcasts you wanted to hear, in the order you wanted to hear them, into the playlist. Sync prior to the run, and when you get to the point in the setup where you select a playlist, choose “Podcasts”, and the first podcast in the setup should be there.

    To make it more transparent, create a “Smart Playlist” (File->New Smart Playlist). Under rules, set “Artist” “Contains” and the artist of the podcast you want to add. Then, whenever a new episode is downloaded, it will automatically be added to the “Podcast” smart playlist. If you aren’t sure what the “Artist” field is for the podcast you want to add, right click on the column titles when you’re looking at “Podcasts”, and add the column for “Artist”. Or, your smart playlist could just consist of “Podcast” ” is true”.

  2. Alternately, you could start listening to the podcast prior to the run, and when you get to the choose music for the run, choose “Now Playing”, and the podcast will continue playing. You’ll miss a couple of seconds while the voice starts you off, but will hear the rest of the podcast.

Hope this helps.

Darn Tootin’

Seven months after a conclave of scientists downgraded the distant heavenly body to a “dwarf planet,” a state representative in New Mexico aims to give the snubbed world back some of its respect. State lawmakers will vote Tuesday on a bill that proposes “as Pluto passes overhead through New Mexico’s excellent night skies, it be declared a planet.”

Wired News: State Might Make Pluto a Planet

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Free Stuff (Cheap!)

South by Southwest (SXSW) started this weekend down in Austin. Not to be missed is the annual torrent of free music. This year, it’s 3.1 GB. Haven’t listened yet, so no recommendations yet.

south by southwest festivals + conferences

The latest offering for geeks and information-addicts is the first torrent of 2007 Showcasing Band MP3s (Release 1 [3.1G] – 739 MP3s).

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