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It turns out there’s a weird convergence of planets going on right now. If you time it right, you can see Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury with the naked eye. That won’t happen again for more than 30 years. I may need to take a trip into the desert next weekend and do a little star planet gazing. More Info

By the way, if anybody has any pointers on how to go into the desert without you know dieing, that would be great. Just drop me a comment or something.

A recent study indicates that eating half a grapefruit with each meal helps to facilitate weight loss and reduces insulin levels. It’s too bad I find the stuff so vile. I wonder if other large fruits would have a similar effect. Does the grapefruit really do something or is it just that people tend to eat less of food that’s bad for them if they fill up on food that’s good for them?

Boy, when I first came across a toilet that flushed itself, I thought I was living in the future. Then I discovered the sinks that turn themselves on (which I still find to be indescribably cool). But, now I see that those were all just old-school tech. Forget about self-flushing. How about no flushing?

The way it works is more involved and interesting that you might expect. I figured it was a vacuum type deal that just sucked it somewhere. Nope, it turns out there’s much more to it than that.

Coolest Site Ever:

Make toys at home with common household materials, often in only a few minutes, that demonstrate fascinating scientific principles.

Via

Now, wait just a minute. You’re saying that A * B != B * A?

That just doesn’t make any sense at all. They have to be equal. They just have to be! But, according to the Scientific American article: The Future of String Theory, they may not be at very, super, ridiculously small sizes. It turns out my entire world view may be a bit blurry. The stuff I can actually see is so big it doesn’t matter, but Damn!

Pyramids, Stonehenge - these construction projects are nothing compared to what the United Arab Emirates are doing. They’re building Massive Islands. They’re just raising them right up out of the sea like magic or something.

It’s taken years of planning, and enough fill materials to circle the globe about 3 times. It is just so amazing and unbelievable what you can do if you have enough money. Thanks Boing Boing.

Nice to see medical science making progress with understanding Alzheimer’s. If there is a disease out there that scares me to no end it would have to be that one. I can’t even imagine how frustrating it must be to have something as fundamental as yourself betray you like that.

The Wired article also has this to say

In contrast, medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating Alzheimer’s merely boost a patient’s remaining brainpower.

Anybody know how I could get some of those. I’d like to boost my remaining brainpower. Can they also make a pill that will make me pretty and charming?

Stupid Luddites:

The 241-155 vote approved a ban on both reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning, a procedure many researchers believe could lead to treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes and other diseases. Violation of the ban would be punishable by $1 million in fines and up to 10 years in prison.

Tomorrow, I understand they will be voting on a resolution to support the burning of all witches. Seriously, I need to find a new country to go live in. This one is embarrassing me to no end.

10 Emerging Technologies That Will Change the World - The future is going to be so cool. I can’t wait for it. I have to admit, I nurture a core of extropian values down under my layers of jaded, world-weary cynicism. I just wish all that magic would hurry up and get here so that I can relax, self-assured in the knowledge of my own immortality. In the mean time knees we can grow in the body, wireless sensors the size of dust mites. How cool is that. The future looks so bright. Sure, it can look pretty dark at times too, but sometimes - it just gleams with promise.

Scholars have learned that all the colors in the universe originate from a mere fifteen fundamental physical causes. Read about them here.