allscan.org

This is a great little brain teaser site, any idea what 7 “W of the W” is or “32 is the T in D F at which W F”? See how you score (http://intelligence-test.net/part1/?m=2). I got 16 before I had to turn to Google.

The New York Times has a great feature today about the cost of inflation and they did it all with an innovative and interactive graph. Check it out.

On October 14, 1947, Brigadier General Charles “Chuck” Yeager became the first human to ever break the sound barrier.

The aircraft that General Yeager flew was the Bell-X1 which he named after his wife. His X-1 was called “Glamorous Glennis.”

Sound is described as vibration that travels through an elastic medium as a wave

Speed of Sound – describes how much distance such a wave travels in a given amount of time. This can only be done in dry air with a temperature of 21 C or 70 F

The actual speed of sound is: 344m/s OR 1230km/h OR 770mph OR 1130ft/s

I found some amazing pictures of different aircraft actually breaking the sound barrier. ENJOY!!

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Ok, so I was playing around on Google Maps a few days ago looking for someplace different to eat, when I noticed there were blue lines on some of the roads around my apartment. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that my area of very Northeast Maryland was visited by the Google Van. See for your self:

View Larger Map

On the left is Wawa, on the right is a kick ass BBQ place, and straight forward is my apartment complex (once you go through the ghetto). Anyone else’s area covered on Google Maps Streetview yet?

I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to die. Of course slipping away in your sleep may be most people’s idea of the perfect way to go, but not me. I would rather go out with a bang–decapitation is nice–but what would something like that feel like? New Scientist has done just that with Death special: How does it feel to die?.

Some highlights:

• Drowning – The “surface struggle” for breath
• Heart attack – One of the most common forms of exit
• Bleeding to death – Several stages of hemorrhagic shock
• Fire – It’s usually the toxic gases that prove lethal
• Decapitation – Nearly instantaneous
• Electrocution – The heart and the brain are most vulnerable
• Fall from a height – If possible aim to land feet first
• Hanging – Speed of death depends on the hangman’s skill
• Lethal injection – US-government approved, but is it really painless?
• Explosive decompression – It takes your breath away