Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Geek Links of the Week - 28NOV2011

Returning to a feature that I though up a while back, I bring you...

My Geek Links of the Week!

Link #1: How your brain cells might be sabotaging your diet
"It might be tough to stick to a diet because of the activity of self-cannibalizing neurons in the brain. "

That's the word from a new study that essentially says that when you dramatically reduce your food intake, hunger-causing neurons in the brain start to canabalize each other which, in turn, makes you incredibly hungry. So when you go on a binge diet your body turns against itself and you eat more, which makes you gain weight or break your diet. Yes, you are hard wired to fail at fad diets.

Sidenote: Earthsky.org is one of my favorite websites for all things science but them seem to specialize in natural and astronomical sciences.

Link #2: Seven Questions for Seagate CEO Steve Luczo About the Effects of the Thailand Floods
"By the end of 2012 you’re back to being close to industry demand. But even then, you’ve not included the impact of that missed 100 million units. And that will take another year to absorb, because it’s not like the industry is building new factories to chase that demand." -Steve Luczo, Seagate

AllThingsD.com has a good interview with the CEO of Seagate, maker of various types of disk drives and data storage systems, to find out the impact of the floods in southeast Asia. The main point of the article is that supply chain and inventory shortages are going to persist well into 2012 and possibly even until 2013. This holiday season will be somewhat affected by the shortages (i.e. low inventories and higher prices on some electronics items) but the next holiday season could be even worse unless people start working NOW to find alternatives or make repairs to existing facilities. You can't exactly build a new fabrication facility in 10 months.

Link #3: Ham Radio Licenses Top 700,000, An All-Time High
“As technology changes and advances, it is especially vital to keep up or be at the forefront, I believe that Amateur Radio has done just that! The measurable results are our indisputable license numbers. It amazes me after all these years how important and relevant Amateur Radio remains. I am proud to be one of the 700,221 licensees and to see this historic and important milestone.”

-ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma

It's 100 years later and we just hit an all-time high for Ham radio licenses. It's amazing how, even with the internet and mobile smartphones, Ham radio continues to increase in popularity, not decrease. Granted, they only added 17,000 over the last 10 years but that number is up over 200,000 in the last 20 years. If you look at the numbers we have leveled off but it's amazing how an old-school tech continues to thive.

Link #4: 10 Mesmerizing Time-Lapse Videos
"With the use of high-quality DSLR cameras, computer-driven timers and tripods, it’s never been easier to achieve these images. Professionals and hobbyists alike are creating stunning views of our world — from the cosmos to the Truckasaurus."

These videos are astounding. It isn't just the ability to capture these videos that makes them so cool it is the framing, lighting, pacing, and sync to music that seems to transcend the normal, natural world. The "Stars in Motion" and "Metal Heart" videos are my favorites.

Link #5: The 2011 InfoWorld geek IQ test
"Dust off your pocket protector, suck face with your closest Ewok doll, and dig into your Bag of Holding to bring forth the answers to our nerdiest set of 20 questions yet"

Infoworld is one of the quintessential geek trade rags. Leave it to them to come up with a test like this that only the incredible uber-dorks could pass. I only scored 16/20.

KE7UYN, clear.

}B^)