Ever wanted to make a ring out of a dollar bill? Now you can!
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Those little plastic things on the end of a shoelace are called aglets. And did you know there were people who think a lot about shoelaces? Ian does:
http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/agletrepair.htm
He also claims to have the fastest way to tie your shoes.
Coming up with a completely new, intereseting item a day is tough! Don’t be angry if some of the items seem silly or inconsequential.
Although the pictures on my HDTV are really good, especially compared to analog, they can be compressed up to almost 68 to 1. Since most broadcasters are sending up to 3 channels in their allotted bandwidth, picture quality has to take a hit. I’ve been wondering what an uncompressed picture would look like!
Further info on this subject.
http://broadcastengineering.com/digital_handbook/broadcasting_hdtv_data_multiplexing_5/
As opposed to a typical DVD movie, which is compressed about 10 to 1.
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Bribes were tax deductible
Until recently, in several European countries bribes to foreign public officials were not only legal but tax deductible!
http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/295/Writing_off_tax_deductibility.html
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Why 16:9 and not 2:1?
I always wanted to know why the Advanced Television Committee went with such an odd aspect ratio for the new digital television standard. Turns out one guy, Dr. Kerns Powers, discovered that this ratio would cover all of the existing formats of film, from super wide screen 2.35 down to TV and old film size of 1.33.
Check out these entertaining and informational instructional videos from Craig Syverson, the videogrunt. Highly recommended.
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Limitless Free Energy?
UPDATE 6/2018: As with most TGTBT claims, this company has long been defunct. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steorn
The Steorn company claims to have developed a limitless free energy technology. They state on their web site they “…have developed a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy.” They are a little evasive about how it actually works and also say that no scientists they have approached would go on record as saying the technology works. The web site says that the technology evolved during the development of “micro generators.” My hunch is that this nano technology may seem to provide the energy at the molecular level but has yet to see a feasible way to expand it’s energy production to a level needed to power something. Or I could be completely wrong, anyway you can explore it yourself if you find this…something of interest.
While visiting the NC Transportation Museum, I noticed a display about shipping containers. Malcom McLean, a North Carolina native, is credited as the inventor of the idea to ship goods in containers that can be easily transfered to other modes of transportation. This one development revolutionized the World economy. Read his fascinating story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_McLean
You can also find some interesting uses for these containers, such as building homes and shelters. Just google “shipping container homes.”
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VR RC Plane Cam
Here’s a guy whose attached a camera to his RC airplane. But he’s also devised a goggle that lets him move the camera by positioning his head. Really cool. Discovered on Google video.
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The US Navy’s Zeppelin
I caught this little item on a radio newscast. Seems they’ve discovered the undersea wreckage of a huge airship of the Navy, the USS Macon that crashed in 1935. I never knew the US military had dirigibles similar to the Hindenburg that infamously went down in flames. This one had bi-planes it could deploy and retrieve.
Explore this topic:
Info and pics
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/macon.html
Video Newstory on the exploration
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=4605858
Vintage footage of the airship
http://www.archive.org/details/1933-04-24_New_Dirigible_on_Trial_Flights
