The Time Keepers

If you were to ask me to recollect the meaning of a "long dash following ten seconds of silence," I would be forced to admit to at least two phrasal connotations:

(i) An uncomfortable memory of a narrow escape from a third-grade spelling bee; and
(ii) The NRC's time signal, which is 75 years young today.

Heard every day on CBC radio, that annoying beeeeeep at end of ten seconds of dead air is the official signal that lunch is over in Toronto, lunch is just beginning in Winnipeg, and it's time to get to yoga in Vancouver. In more technical terms, it denotes exactly on-the-hour time across Canada.

Three-quarters of a century is a long time to be dashing it out every day, but hey, that 45-second program has become Canada's longest-running radio broadcast. And that's a far longer run than my own schoolroom breakaway from the horrors of spelling interrogation. To this day I wonder, is it ukulele or ukelele?

Be careful what you say around the chips

This is such a cool development in acoustics... A team of researchers have developed a visual microphone algorithm that picks up audio by looking for microscopic vibrations in video footage. The technique allowed researchers to recover speech by analyzing the tiny vibrations of a potato chip bag from 15 feet away — with a video camera watching through soundproof glass. It's good enough to capture singing from a bag of potato chips, and musical tones from a potted plant.

Almost, at times, the Fool

It’s hoax day and I can’t stop the marvel at fab fakes in science. Here are a few famous hoaxes for your April Fools reading pleasure:

Zero-gravity day: Anyone planning on taking a leap April 4 to test the zero-gravity proposition? Don’t forget: Gravity is mutual.

Alabama redefining pi: To keep it closer to the biblical value.

Blondes as an endangered species: World Health Organization study predicting that blonde gene would be extinct by 2202.

Piltdown Man: Skull fragments discovered in the U.K. in 1911. The *missing link between human and ape*.

Smart Luggage

A team of four University of Waterloo engineering students have recently invented a suitcase with sensors that can be tracked with a smartphone.

They call it 'casesensitive'. Not only can you know the location of your luggage at any given time, but if somebody has opened it, it will tell you when and where that happened.


http://www.travelandescape.ca/2014/03/university-waterloo-students-invent-smart-luggage-get-lost/

Time of sunrise today: May thru August

The Venusian day is longer than its year. Which means that, on Venus, you can avoid seasonal affective disorder by simply sleeping in one day.


http://www.universetoday.com/47898/length-of-day-on-venus/

Once upon a time the universe had this crazy growth spurt

I can’t imagine a finer greeting than: “Hello. I bring tidings of affirmation and great joy. Your lifetime of work has led to this. We found the proof.”

Watch the joy of Andrei Linde as he is informed of a discovery that confirms his inflationary universe theory. Years from now, you may not remember what is said here, or even what is done, but I bet you will never forget the look on his face and how it made you feel.


http://sploid.gizmodo.com/witness-the-joy-of-the-man-who-predicted-todays-big-ba-1545834924

Dark chocolate is good for your heart. You're welcome.

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology has published a paper that seems too good to be true: dark chocolate is good for you. No really, science says so. Dark chocolate helps restore arterial flexibility while also preventing white blood cells from sticking to the walls of blood vessels. Both of these are significant factors that contribute atherosclerosis. What's more, increasing the flavanol content of dark chocolate does not change this effect.

I find it gloriously hopeful that these recent results were obtained after only eight weeks. Imagine the benefits gained from a lifetime of chocolate indulgence.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/…/140227092149.htm

Thank heavens for blue-sky dreamers

Here's a cool little listicle of the five strangest contraptions ever designed in Toronto. Where would we be without people willing to experiment? These are some crazy contraptions, but my heart is with the iconoclasts. I'm still hoping for an Avro-dream revival.

http://www.blogto.com/city/2014/02/the_5_strangest_machines_designed_in_toronto/

Diversity is the spice of life

Word to the wise: If you’re making decisions today (especially *those* kinds of decisions), you should choose the most far-out option. Do it to mix things up a little. Do it for the surprise element. Do it for posterity.

And happy Valentine's Day.

"Mixed genes: Interactive world map of human genetic history reveals likely genetic impacts of historical events"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/…/140213142305.htm

The Rogue of X-Frogs

Took a trip today to the Canadian Museum of Nature and was fascinated by the frog exhibit they currently have on. So many beautiful creatures, some of them deadly. This little guy is the Blue Poison Dart Frog, mostly found in South and Central America and Hawaii. One of the poisoniest creatures on earth, its glands contain batrachotoxin, a toxin that blocks nerve signals to muscles, causing paralysis and death. It's the Rogue of x-frogs.

Like the Earth slowly reclaiming its swag

I've been really kind of mesmerized by this minute of creeping suspense. Watch a lava flow fully envelop a can of Coke -- twice: First shot with a Nikon D800 and then an old GoPro Hero 2. It's like the 2000-degree molten rock is taking back the precious metals that were borrowed from the Earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaSjwAu3yrI