Wild Things

I'm excited about this:


Anyone with me??

Blacker is the new black

A blacker black has been developed.
Kinda cool.

Not quite a flying car, but close enough to impress me:

It took me a few minutes to figure out what they meant by "disappearing car door", but once I watched the video and had it spelled out for me, I drooled. Watch the whole video, enjoy the narrator's accent, struggle to imagine mainstream car companies adopting this.

The company is located in So. Cal. and the website seems a little slap-dash, but it seems like a viable idea.

Henna

Having tried since before Christmas to schedule a time with Anu to play with henna, we finally managed to squeeze in about an hour on Saturday while Ladybug was taking her nap. It was a lot of fun and the results are great! The art will last about a week.

Ladybug Goes to Nashville

Ladybug and her parents visited Jeremy and me in Nashville this weekend. We had great food, great talks, and great fun. We spent most of Ladybug's endless energy at the park with the dragon (Fannie Mae Dees Park). First, we had to get bundled up for the stroller ride:

Then, find the dragon:

Play on and around the dragon:

Help the dragon with some hygene:

And, elsewhere in the fantastic park, learn about climbing (great reach!):

Fun with tunnels (a video I hope):

Later, there was some fort-building--all fine and good until the bears took over:

Letters

I received real mail this week. I checked my mailbox as I was on my way to campus and found a card. A real card--just because!! I detoured back to my apartment to open it right then because I couldn't wait. I think about how happy I get when I get a letter, note, anything from a real person that I think I ought to be sending letters to people I know (like real correspondence).

Another inspiration for sending letters is the beautiful and fun stamps that the post office has put out this year. See? Yoda! Yea!

Go buy stamps and send a letter!! Make someone's day.

Inspired by: Sunflower!! Thanks soo much!!!

Death Ray!!!

It's happened. Pop-pop would be proud.

Seen on Engadget:

Japanese scientists make breakthrough in space-based laser power

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Osaka University have been working together to develop a device which converts sunlight into laser-light with four times the efficiency of previous attempts. According to a report out of Tokyo, the team is working on Space-based solar power systems which can collect sunlight in space and convert it into laser light, which is then transmitted to Earth and used for electricity... or to power a massive Death-Ray. The project works by storing sunlight-based energy in plate made from a sintered powder of metals like chromium and neodymium. When weak laser light is shined onto the plate, the stored energy is transferred to the laser where its strength is amplified by a factor of four. In one test, a 0.5-watt laser was amplified to 180-watts by the plates. Scientists have thus far been able to garner 40-percent of the solar energy produced, and they hope to have a system ready for satellite mounting by the not-too-distant year 20 30. Huzzah!

The Trace

Having finished the rough draft of my paper, having finished the week of school and the office, having already decided that today was a day off from workouts, and having no better sense than to drive out of Nashville at rush hour, I took off after work this afternoon to scope out Natchez Trace, a 444-mile "scenic byway" that, according to the website, "commemorates an ancient trail that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River, through Alabama, to salt licks in today's central Tennessee." The Trace is a popular biking route--a well-maintained road with a low speed limit through beautiful scenery.

I ended up driving about 50 miles, only 5 of which were on the actual trace, because I had a hard time finding the access points. But, I got a good feel for where I can park my car and what the road feel is and I can imagine the tremendous quads and glutes I could develop from riding the hills. I'm hoping to get out for a ride sometime this weekend.

Then, having no better sense, I went to the grocery when hungry.

Car? Check.
Gas in the car? Check.
Navbitch? Check.
Common sense? Che--umm...

Death Ray

It's time I came clean. I was bold enough to wear the shirt this week, but the news leaked, my "secret project" finally came to light. According to some unnamed people, I've been working on a non-lethal focused-beam project for the last few years. This coupled with the blood-cell-sized memory and the artificial black ice, I really ought to be set for life. Instead, I'm living the life of a mindless grad-student. Go figure.