Do you like maps? I do, and over the past few weeks I've very much enjoyed a blog I have newly subscribe to via RSS, the Map Scroll. Several times per week, you'll find new blog posts about maps which show demographical relationships. One recent posting showed where foreign born engineers in the USA came from originally (see below for just one twist … click to view full sized). Worth a look and subscription. This particular map was originally from the NY Times.
Ever heard about Google's data center, and their self-designed PC's. Their computer configuration was always a big secret, but not any more! Link to CNet and learn how to build your own data center computers. (click to view the image full sized)
This is a really smart use of Web 2.0 to map the region of each major league baseball team. Click to expand the image, or better yet … visit the United Counties of Baseball and let your voice (umm … I mean computer … be heard). Play Ball !
The Crack of the Bat! Another baseball season is upon us … and in the true spirit of this blog let's research the science and engineering of the game. After all, I need an edge to win my fantasy baseball league!
Drilling down into the archives, browse on over to this NY Times article from 2001 … The Crack of the Bat: Acoustics Takes On the Sound of Baseball. Here are a few lines to warm you up:
''As soon as I hear the sound of the bat, I know where the ball is going,'' Mr. Mora said before a game with the Toronto Blue Jays last week. A sharp crack, and he races out; a dull clunk, and he runs in. ''It's about reaction,'' he said.
Although Mr. Mora makes no claim to understand the physics of the bat-on-ball collision — ''It's something I can't explain,'' he said — more than a few baseball-loving researchers have made it their business to understand the science behind one of the most evocative aspects of the national pastime: its sounds."
Now, if you really want to learn about the science of baseball, then link on over to Kettering University's Professor Dan Russell's extensive web portal, The Physics and Acoustics of Baseball. You'll find not just written research, but references to many podcast interviews.
Hopefully all these icons will survive into 2010. I'm not worried about the Apple Pie, but sometimes I wonder about Baseball (new stadiums, higher ticket prices, etc). Now Chevrolet … that is a whole other matter …
It's April 4th … and Spring should be in the air. Instead, newly fallen snow blankets Minnesota … and Molly is slipping over the pavement on a final training run for the Boston Marathon which is two weeks hence. However, as Molly (my wife) moves towards Patriot's Day and her 26.2 mile jaunt, running the final yards will be just a tiny bit easier for her than for most competitors.
You may ask why? The answer is simple … what began with a trip to China, Loppets for Lingyun, continued with Rich's Birkebeiner K's for Kids, will finish via Molly's Boston for Beds. The end result will be a new school dorm up in the mountains of Southern China near the Vietnamese border.
Take three minutes and watch our video … then donate. Contributions to the China Tomorrow Education Foundation are tax deductible in the USA (full report).
Donate via PayPal … even a $25 donation helps!