Tech Blog 99

Opinions

2008-02-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

Here I've opened another blog - the difference with this one being that there I'm always going to write something, and here I may just put a site without writing anything in detail about it.

Clustering Algorithms

2007-09-05T09:47:00.001-07:00

I've published a Java applet demonstrating Clustering Algorithms here.

Missed!

2007-04-22T00:35:00.000-07:00

Top 10 hopeless misses in soccer.

Acrobots

2007-04-22T00:23:00.000-07:00

Well... to be truthful it's not exactly a game. I'm not very sure what it is... but quite impressive.

Order of magnitude

2007-03-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

This video compares the size of Earth, Sun, and other planets and stars placed side by side sorted in the order of the size.

Bot Arena 3

2007-03-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

A nice flash strategy game with good graphics and sound to keep you busy for a while.

JetSpeed

2007-03-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

Jetspeed - you have to accelerate and shoot trucks to get more lives and missiles while Dodge the drones.

Jedi Trainer

2007-03-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

Another simple but addictive time waster with very good sound and visual effects.

Telepathy with Robot

2007-03-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

Scientists have created a way to control a robot using telepathy. The robot can only pick up objects and move to specific locations, but this is just proof of concept. Don't believe me? Read the following article!

Make 3D Snowflakes with paper

2007-03-11T22:46:00.000-07:00

Should be easy and fun to do... if I've time and nothing else to do I might give it a try.

Winterbells

2006-12-25T21:35:00.000-08:00

Another nice game from Orisinals.

Merry Christmas!

Torch that can light fire

2006-12-17T02:59:00.000-08:00

Here is a torchlight powerful enough, so that it can light up the substance on which it flashes!

One Laptop per child

2006-12-17T02:58:00.000-08:00

This is a project being developed by a group of people, who aim to provide a laptop for a very low cost ($100), which will be durable, power-efficient and responsive and fit well as a learning tool for kids of poorer countries.

Google Map: Amsterdam jewel

2006-12-17T02:14:00.000-08:00

This a real picture folks... this phenomenon in Amsterdam is large enough to be noticed from the space, or Google map!

Old Earth

2006-12-17T02:11:00.000-08:00

Google Earth can now display the world as ancient cartographers plotted it. You can view this tribute to history on your latest version (4.0.2416 onwards) of Google Earth by choosing Layers -> Featured Content -> Rumsey Historical Maps.

The Fairest

2006-12-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

This site features some of the most stunning and breathtaking images updated I have seen. The content is powered by a voting system open to all, and hence updated regularly.

Car drawn in MS Paing

2006-12-03T11:37:00.001-08:00

Yeah, this sports car is drawn starting from scratch, in Paint that comes with Windows. No fancy stuffs, nothing.

Base Jumping

2006-12-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

Start jumping when the whistle blows, and reach the ground before the other three competitors. Oh, and don't forget to open your para suite. Sounds easy, huh? Well... judge yourself :)

Fake iPods

2006-12-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

"Designed by Apple in California; Assembled in China"
See it to believe it! According to people, the UI is completely different and scrolling through songs happen through buttons.
http://digg.com/apple/Yes_fake_iPods_will_go_this_far

'OWZAT!

2006-12-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

An addictive game where you catch the ball hit by the batsman.

The Future

2006-12-02T00:02:00.000-08:00

Are you ready to witness our fate in the distant future? Then wait no more as this presentation takes you through the important landmarks of the future and gives you a view of what is going to befall us.

Start looking for new grounds

2006-11-30T22:06:00.000-08:00

Stephen Hawking (author of Brief History of Time) urges that we move to another planet in another star-system to save humanity from being wiped out by an unfortunate calamity. In his words, "the human race must move to a star outside the solar system to save the future of the species."

Find out if you are an engineer

2006-11-25T20:30:00.000-08:00

All of these (whichever applicable) hold for me!

What is 78 x 23?

2006-11-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

The author makes a point by asking the question, which I am sure all of you will appreciate. (Food for thought.)

Orbit

2006-11-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

Nice game where you set a comet in motion amidst a set of planets fixed in space. Your objective: to place the comet thus, that it remains in motion till the blue timer bar runs off. I bet Newton would win this game every time if he played :)
Very addictive!

The Shell Game

2006-11-18T00:56:00.000-08:00

Keep an eye on the ball as the pot containing it is being shuffled!

Who is looking?

2006-11-15T02:38:00.000-08:00

Check out these cute looking (yes!) insects in this photographs. Well I never thought insects look cute, but this set of pictures made me change my mind.

Lunar Lander

2006-11-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a remake of a game that you might have already come across in your life.
The objective is simple, to use the thrusters on the shuttle so that it can land on the various pods without breeching the safety limit velocity.
The original version was known to have caused quite a few missed appointments.

Dice Mogul

2006-11-10T01:06:00.000-08:00

A nice little game of Monopoly with very cool effects like moving clouds and buildings which upgrade. Might help kill some of your time for those who like this kind of games :)

The end of sea fish is near

2006-11-10T01:05:00.000-08:00

According to this article in BBC, in 50 years from now there will be hardly any sea fish left. Bad news for sea food lovers... and that also probably explains why the prices on sea foods are outrageous!

Beer can art

2006-11-10T01:04:00.001-08:00

This webpage shows some very artistic usage of beer cans!

Cool matchbox trick

2006-11-10T01:04:00.000-08:00

Here is a nice little trick that you can try next time you have access to match boxes. Put two sticks with the matchbox to support a third string, with the black part touching each other. Then light up the black portion, to see the third match rising on it's own! See the video for better explanation...

Puki the swarm

2006-11-08T02:21:00.000-08:00

Another online shooting game with nice music... this one is a nice stress buster.

Pinman Mafia

2006-11-05T05:37:00.000-08:00

Play a mafia and carry out various missions in this online underworld themed shooter game.

Turbocharged Penguins

2006-11-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

I have no idea why they have chosen penguins as the main article of the game... but I like it. A real stress reliever :) Let's see how high you can go!

Scary Movies

2006-10-30T14:28:00.000-08:00

Remember the scene from Poltergeist, where the main female character is chilled with fear when she sees the chairs stacked up on the table after she turned around for a few seconds? Click on the picture to remember 99 more such scenes from the scariest flicks.

Happy Halloween!

How big is the Earth?

2006-10-30T13:46:00.000-08:00

Click the picture to compare the size of Earth with other planets and stars in our Universe. Makes me feel humble... very humble!

"Color of the Cross" portrayes Jesus as black

2006-10-30T02:51:00.000-08:00

The movie Color of the Cross (October 27, 2006), which deals with last 48 hours in the life of Jesus, is the first movie that diverts from the popular image of Jesus and depicts Jesus as a black person.
Is it at all possible, that despite the popular belief, despite the fact that he is always shown as a white man with blond hair and blue eyes, Jesus was actually black? The answer comes from a branch of science, called forensic anthropology. Click here to find out what scientists think Jesus might have looked like.

The elephant who fell in to a Black Hole

2006-10-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

Stephen Hawking admitted he was wrong in his belief on black hole radiation. It was due to the ground breaking work of a young theorist named Juan Maldacena.
Do black holes really consume the information?
Is the entire universe an enormous cosmic hologram projected from its boundary? Is the location and fate of the elephant different based on where is the observer? This short article written in a lucid and comprehensive manner aims to answer all these questions.

Hover Ball

2006-10-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

We all know the most addictive games are the simplest ones. This is one such, where the objective is to keep the ball hovering in between the floor and the ceiling as long as you can. And hey, the game is accompanied with some loud jazzy music too! So start clicking, and keep the ball in the air!

The New Periodic Tables!

2006-10-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

After 140 years since the periodic table was first laid down, new formats are being proposed. Among the newer proposals, there are spiral and even 3D models. Click the picture to see a snapshot of some of the newer models and judge if they can compete with the periodic table yourself.

Hebrew University devices cure for Malignant Brain Tumor

2006-10-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

A group of researchers in Hebrew University of Jerusalem develop a way to cure the most lethal Brain Tumor - mode of application being through an injection. They have effectively developed a vaccine containing double stranded RNA, which will be absorbed by the tumor and finally cause the tumorous cells to "commit suicide". They have observed 100% success rate on mice on which human tumors were grown. The therapy also has potential for applying to cancer patients.

Click here to read the entire story.

Clockz

2006-10-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

Lots of nice innovative, amazing, futuristic, and cool clocks here in this site. All of them can be viewed online, or downlaoded for personal use. My personal favourite is the Micky Mouse watch. Nice work :)

Face on Earth

2006-10-25T00:39:00.000-07:00

Remember the Face on Mars? It made news when Viking 1 took a photograph of a place in Mars, which had surprising amount of resemblance to human face. It was explained that human eyes are trained to find patterns whenever they look at something. Among hundreds and thousands of natural formation, some will resemble elements that are familiar. So the face on Mars was dismissed as nothing more than a random rock formation. Later inspections proved that the lighting in that region at the point of time when the photograph was taken was critically responsible for the resemblance.Thanks to Google Earth now we can make similar discoveries on Earth. The picture shows a rock formation which can be seen in a region in Canada. Doesn't it remind you of ancient cave sculptures?! Click to view it directly in Google Map.

Carl Sagan on Evolution

2006-10-24T00:26:00.000-07:00

An amazing 8 minute animated video where Carl Sagan (late American astronomer, astrobiologist, author of numerous popular science books) summarizes our evolution, spanning 4 billion years.

Sand Arts

2006-10-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

Be a part of the audience as this artist mesmerizes you with a handful of sand. The accompanying music score works very well to create the mood!

Bet your life

2006-10-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

Remember the scenes in the movies where the hero bets his life with another person? Both of them sweating... and the suspense is unbearable! This is the same game replicated here in the form of flash. A really addictive flash game, although not recommended for the light hearted! The background music adds to the environment.

Juggle with 3 balls

2006-10-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

A very nice video by Jason Garfield, one of the professional jugglers in the world, who teaches you step by step, how to juggle with three balls. Watch and learn the art on Google Video.

Variations of Wikipedia

2006-10-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't know about the Wikipedia?
Yes, it's the web based encyclopedia that is free for everyone to use, and contribute. Given the fact that anyone can change almost any article in it, it is truly amazing that the quality of the information in it well rivals commercial encyclopedias. Kudos to Wikipedia!

Here are the other interesting Wikis that I have encountered.

Encyclopedia Dramatica - Another parody of Wikipedia, apparently the Wikipedia admins got so irritated with it that they "took it personally", and subsequently deleted the Encyclopedia Dramatica entry from their site!
Uncyclopedia - "Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, is a satirical parody of Wikipedia, though Uncyclopedia claims the reverse." - Wikipedia
Simple Wikipedia - This a simpler version of the Wikipedia designed for slower (mentally challenged) people.
Memory Alpha - And finally here it comes, the Star Trek Wikipedia.

Pong 2.0

2006-10-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

Here's another addictive web game... what's different about it is that two players on the same computer can play it. Play for a while and then you will also get the hang of spinning the ball... then the fun level doubles! Bewarned... it can kill lots of time.
One player controls the pad with 'W' and 'S' , the other controls it with Up key and Down key.
And also, for the single player mode, the high scores are stored online.
Have fun!

Teacher sets young minds on fire

2006-10-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

This chemistry teacher shows that sometimes the safety limits should be broken to ignite the minds of the young people. I only wish I had a teacher like him!
Click on the picture to read the full story.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

2006-10-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

What is the most weird grammatically correct sentence that you know? Brace yourself because it may put you in a spin for a while. The following is a proper English sentence...
"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."

Here Buffalo is used with three different meanings.
a) Buffalo, New York the city
b) The animal buffalo, in plural - equivalent to buffaloes
c) To deceive

So what it means is Buffaloes in buffalo who are buffaloed by buffaloes in Buffalo,buffalo buffaloes in Buffalo.

It is a grammatically correct sentence used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated constructs. It has been known to exist since 1972 when the sentence was used by William J. Rapaport, currently an associate professor at the University at Buffalo. It was posted to Linguist List by Rapaport in 1992. It was also featured in Steven Pinker's 1994 book The Language Instinct.

Sentences of this type, although not in such a refined form, have been known for a long time. A classical example is a proverb "Don't trouble trouble until trouble troubles you".

Visit Wikipedia for more information on this sentence, including the detailed grammatical construct and other similar examples.