Pluto Not a Planet Anymore

By now, you've probably already heard that Pluto has been voted out of planet status. What is really cool is that Rocketboom has actual footage of the historical vote of the International Astronomical Union.

Like one of the interviewees says, I feel that this vote was really more for the general public than astronomers. We will continue to be interested in studying Pluto and other fascinating objects that are in our solar system, no matter what we choose to call them.

Never heard of Rocketboom? It is just a daily video "blog" that features interesting and usually funny news items presented (now) by Joanne Colan. The original host was Amanda Congdon, who recently left the show amid a bunch of controversy. Joanne has filled Amanda's shoes brilliantly, but sometimes I miss Amanda's goofiness. Rocketboom continues to be a must-see show for me.

Bob Dylan says modern recordings sound "atrocious"

From Digg:

Bob Dylan says modern recordings sound "atrocious," and even the songs on his new album sounded much better in the studio than on disc. Noting the music industry's complaints that illegal downloading means people are getting their music for free, he said, "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway."

More and more people are complaining about the atrocious sound of modern recordings. It's as if we've forgotten how to record a clean signal. I've noticed it myself, like the latest Nelly Furtado single. Why do the drums have to be distorted? What happened to the huge drum sound that Hugh Pagdham got for Phil Collins, like in "In the Air Tonight"? Enough people have to start complaining, otherwise it is not going to get better.

Though I have to admit, Green Day's American Idiot is a great example of a good recording. It is loud, punchy, yet clean.

read more | digg story

3-D Pictures of the "Monitor"

I was amazed to find actual photographs from the civil war at the Library of Congress site. I was even more amazed to see photos from the USS Monitor (use this link and then click on the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimac link). I was flabbergasted to see that there were 3-D picutres, too!

I'm a big fan of stereo pictures, especially the random dot stereograms that unfortunately people only know as Magic Eye pictures. If you can find them used, I highly recommend the books Stereogram and Super Stereogram from Cadence Books for some great examples of this art form.

How to make the simplest electric motor

From Digg:

You have one drywall screw, one 1.5 V alkaline cell, six inches of copper wire, one small neodymium disk magnet, and no other tools or supplies. You have 30 seconds to make an electric motor running in excess of ten thousand RPM. Here's how. Includes video.

Now I realize how much electrical engineering I've forgotten programming computers. The key is that button magnet (which needs to have a conductive coating). Very cool! I'll have to try it sometime.

read more | digg story

The Amazing Screw-On Head

Get over to scifi.com and watch this pilot for a new show right now!

I like to partake in graphic novels every once in a while (OK, I mean comics). Mike Mignola's HellBoy is one of my favorites. I didn't know that he also created another character called Screw-On Head, who is basically a secret agent working for Abraham Lincoln. That's right, the President. If you are intrigued, then head on over and watch the full pilot for an animated series at http://www.scifi.com/amazingscrewonhead/ and then take the survey at the end. Hopefully they will make this into an real series!

The artwork on the pilot is amazing; it looks just like Mignola's drawings. And it has great voice acting, like David Hyde-Pierce as the arch villan. Given Mike's love of drawing gorillas with electrodes sticking out of their necks, I'm sure we'll see plenty of off-the-wall characters to come.

Fans of HellBoy, be sure to pick up Vol 6: Strange Places, which is the trade paperback that collects the latest Mignola-written HellBoy adventures. And I also saw on scifi.com that Universal has scheduled HellBoy 2 to start filming next year for release in 2008.