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Great to know that the scientific community has published another study to confirm what many of us have always known. Birds that eat too many mountain ash berries in the Fall get drunk! Ever since a young boy I have enjoyed watching flocks of evening grosbeaks gorge themselves on berries and get drunk. I guess this research study confirms we need designated flyers when the birds head out partying!
Research on Drunk Cedar Waxwings
Engineering Super Heros! Have to love it ... move over Fantastic Four!
Huge accolades go out to the School of Engineering and Applied Science at George Washington University which just created ... drum roll ... RobotronMan! By day, Professor Ben-Tzvi is a mild mannered mechanical engineering professor, but when calamity threatens the world, it's RobotronMan to the rescue.
I first learned about this comic strip which features engineers as super heros via the Scientific American Blog. In their blog they mention and link to a study from Intel which notes: "only 28 percent of teenagers had ever considered becoming engineers and that only 5 percent associated engineering with the word “cool.”"
One week from Saturday my youngest son will graduate from Rose-Hulman with his BSEE. His senior design project was a robotic manufacturing arm which was sponsored and will be used by a local Indiana company. When I'm down in Terre Haute next weekend for graduation, I'll look for budding new superheros! In our family's case ... the creation of a new engineering superhero ... it all began with Legos! As parents and adults we all need to set examples. I coached a Lego Robotics Team for five years. This Spring is very rewarding as many of these young men are graduating from college and starting their first professional engineering jobs.
Please do your part to encourage our children to at least consider the sciences. Here are the first three screens from the Adventures of RobotronMan. I hope you'll link and read the entire series!
Screen #1: RobotronMan (click to maximize)
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Screen #2: RobotronMan (click to maximize)
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Screen #3: RobotronMan (click to maximize)
Read the rest of the Adventures of RobotronMan!
Every once and a while a new web based tool comes along which not only solves a need, but in a fantastic and unobtrusive manner. Doodle is that kind ot tool. Let me level set the scenario for you ...
How many times have you experienced this situation?
I never want to be the meeting coordinator. However, while planning a test of Google Hangout with a number of colleagues from other large corporations, one peer suggested using Doodle. I decided why not, let's give the service a try ...
Doodle allows you to create possible meeting scenarios and quiz everyone online at to their availability. Your co-meeting participants give their feedback, which everyone can see. Finally, the meeting host picks the date which works for the most people.
Finally, Doodle is free, and does not even require an account to test and try the service. You will need to give your email address if you want to be sent links which allow you admin rights for your meeting. In short, in one test I've become a Doodle believer.
Here are a few screenshots from Doodle. I personally think it's worth creating an account, but it is not necessary. Click upon any image to view at full size.
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And the other two tabs ...
(image comment: Doodle actually allows for more than three date options!)
There is an art to looking at the world through eyes different from everyone else. If you can combine this ability with practical business sense, the world will be at your feet. While I don't normally just re-post what I view via other blogs, this is worth every moment of your time.
One of most cliche photos in the world is a tourist at the Tower of Pisa. The learning tower just screams out with a photo opportunity which says ... "I'm holding up the tower!" However, what if what all these people are really doing is just "trolling for high fives".
Thanks for Laughing Squid and the Romanian blog, Jeg. Take a look at the photo given below, and then watch the video. Jeg truly sees creativity! The video immediately follows the photo.
And the video! Enjoy, think, learn and be creative!
I've used Picasa for some time now, but decided it was about time I also had a Flickr photostream. I love to take photos either on long bike rides through the northwoods, or as SkiCam Man during cross-country ski races. Here are two photos from today's bike ride. The weather was nasty (42F with 20 mph winds off Lake Superior). However, there is often beauty during ugly weather. Click upon either image to view at full size.
The Red Barn was just screaming at me to stop from my ride and take its photo. The red really stands out against the nasty sky. For the second photo my bike outlines the Lakewood Plunge. In the next 2.9 miles I'll lose 525 in elevation ... super fun. Albeit I had to climb many rolling hills on back roads to first reach that peak.
Both photos utilize HDR photography where I combine three exposures into one finished picture.
NorthStar Nerd Flickr Photostream
