TechKnowLedge

WRFU-LP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:19:15 -0400

WRFU-LP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Wikipedia page for 104.5 FM, “Radio Free Urbana” — Who knew?

dreambeam: Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to...

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:28 -0400

Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this image in no way endorses a belief in the “JIF” pronunciation.

Towel Day - Celebrating the life and work of Douglas Adams

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:45:09 -0400

Towel Day - Celebrating the life and work of Douglas Adams:

Towel Day is an annual celebration on the 25th of May, as a tribute to the late author Douglas Adams (1952-2001). On that day, fans around the universe proudly carry a towel in his honour.

laughingsquid: GIF Inventor Steve Wilhite: It Is Pronounced...

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:33:02 -0400

laughingsquid:

GIF Inventor Steve Wilhite: It Is Pronounced ‘Jif’

[SALT] De-extinction begins (Stewart Brand talk)

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:57:30 -0400

The new tools of synthetic biology, I began, are about to liberate conservation in a spectacular way. It is becoming possible to bring some extinct species back to life.

A project within Long Now called “Revive & Restore” is pushing to make de-extinction a reality, starting with the fabled passenger pigeon and moving on to the woolly mammoth. The project’s director, Ryan Phelan, organized a series of three conferences bringing together molecular biologists and conservation biologists to see if “resurrection biology” is becoming a field and how it might proceed responsibly. (The most viewable of the conferences was “TEDxDeExtinction” in Washington DC this March.)

At those conferences we heard about cloning efforts that are already partially successful. Alberto Fernández Arias in Spain temporarily brought back an extinct ibex called the bucardo. Michael Archer, from Australia, reported reviving an early stage embryo of the extinct gastric brooding frog. Using traditional back-breeding, Henri Kerkdijk-Otten, is rebuilding the European aurochs (extinct in 1627) from a variety its descendent modern cattle. William Powell is showing how the nearly extinct beloved American chestnut tree is being brought back by a combination of back-breeding and sophisticated genetic engineering.

Robert Lanza (Advanced Cell Technology), Oliver Ryder (The Frozen Zoo), and Michael McGrew (Roslin Institute) showed miracles that can now be accomplished with advanced cloning and induced pluripotent stem cells. Beth Shapiro (UC Santa Cruz) and Hendrik Poinar (McMaster University) explained how complete genomes are being read from the “ancient DNA” of fossils and museum specimens. George Church (Harvard) spelled out his allele replacement technique that will allow editing the genes from an extinct species into the genome of its closest living relative—-from the passenger pigeon into the band-tailed pigeon, for example—-thereby bringing back to life the extinct animal.

Ben Novak is working full-time for Revive & Restore on the passenger pigeon and is now in the thick of sequencing work and comparative genomics in Beth Shapiro’s ancient-DNA lab at UC Santa Cruz.

Conservation biologists like Stanley Temple, Kent Redford, and Frans Vera regard de-extinction as “a game-changer for conservation.” On the one hand, it dilutes the stark message “Extinction is forever!” while on the other hand it offers a message of hope that conservation can build on.

I concluded, “The fact is, humans have made a huge hole in nature over the last 10,000 years. But now we have the ability to repair some of the damage. We’ll do most of the repair by expanding and protecting wild areas and by expanding and protecting the populations of endangered species.

“Some species that we killed off totally, we might consider bringing back to a world that misses them.”

—Stewart Brand - sb@longnow.org

PS… Revive & Restore is hiring a Project Coordinator. Details here. It’s going to be a dream job for somebody.

Ion Torrent chip Sequences Complete Genome in Three Hours

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:41:49 -0400

Ion Torrent chip

Sequences Complete Genome in Three Hours

1801: Jacquard loom Not only was the Jacquard loom the first...

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:37:03 -0400

1801: Jacquard loom

Not only was the Jacquard loom the first programmable machine of any kind, it was the first programmable picture-making machine.

yearoftheglitch: Transcoding raw binary data into fabric at 100...

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:55:00 -0400

yearoftheglitch:

Transcoding raw binary data into fabric at 100 threads/cm using 8 colors and 32 different weaving patterns. @ the TextielLab in Tilburg, NL.

http://www.textielmuseum.nl/textilelab/techniques/techniques/weaving.html

The machines
There are two different weaving machines in the TextielLab, each used for making a different type of fabric.Jacquard gripper weaving machine On this Jacquard weaving machine continuous patterns can be woven up to a width of 170 cm. It is possible to use eight different yarns in one design. The machine is computer-controlled.

Dobby weaving machine
A dobby weaving machine is capable of selectively raising a number of warp threads in a fixed pattern. This machine is especially suited to weaving small structures. By varying the weft threads, stripes, diamonds and fishbone motifs can be woven.

The design
A design can be provided in different ways. The design can be provided on an usb-stick, CD or by email. The digital file is read in and converted by a special computer program.

NASA is funding a 3D food printer, and it'll start with pizza

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:33:58 -0400

NASA is funding a 3D food printer, and it'll start with pizza:

NASA is funding research into 3D-printed food. Mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor received a $125,000 grant from the agency to build a prototype 3D printer with the aim of automating food…

Justice Department Seizes AP Journalists' Phone Records

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:36:54 -0400

Justice Department Seizes AP Journalists' Phone Records:

NEW YORK

beconinriot: Yahoo poised to buy Tumblr for rumoured...

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:08:03 -0400

beconinriot:

Yahoo poised to buy Tumblr for rumoured $1.1bn

Hmm, where’s my piece of that? I created some of the content here.

shapeways: at Shapeways LIC

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:36:40 -0400

shapeways:

at Shapeways LIC

[SALT] Extinct species perk up next TUESDAY May 21

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:33:08 -0400

The Long Now Foundation is working on bringing back some extinct species, starting with the iconic passenger pigeon. Eventually the roster of revived species could include the woolly mammoth, the dazzling Carolina parakeet, the Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), the ivory-billed woodpecker, the great auk (penguin of the north seas), and hundreds of others, including potentially the massive Steller’s sea cow that used to graze our kelp forests and the storied dodo.

Thanks to the accelerating capabilities of medical biotech, it is becoming possible to take the DNA of extinct species in museum specimens and some fossils (no dinosaurs) and bring it back to life via the genomes of the closest living relatives of the extinct animals. Molecular biologists and conservation biologists are collaborating on ways to bring the creatures all the way back to where they belong—-in the wild.

Long Now’s project, called Revive & Restore, began formally this year, co-founded by me and my wife Ryan Phelan, who heads the enterprise. We’ve convened some 50 scientists at a sequence of three conferences on “de-extinction,” the last one a highly public TEDxDeExtinction hosted by National Geographic in March. We’ve hired a full-time revivor of passenger pigeons (and are looking to hire a project coordinator).

Next Tuesday, at a brand new venue in San Francisco, the SFJAZZ Center, I’ll report on the story so far and where it is heading over the next century or two.

“Reviving Extinct Species,” Stewart Brand, SFJAZZ Center, Hayes Valley, San Francisco, 7pm, Tuesday, May 21. The show starts promptly at 7:30pm.

To be sure of a seat:
• Long Now Members can use the discount code on the Brand Seminar page to reserve 2 free seats.
• You can purchase tickets for $15 each.
• Tune into the live audio stream for Long Now Members at 7:30 PST - become a member for just $8 a month.
Share this talk: Stewart Brand, “Reviving Extinct Species” Long Now talk on 5/21 http://goo.gl/d1qDp

http://blog.longnow.org/category/revive-restore/

glennz: Tetris Club - Now Voting Visit Glennz Tees | Twitter ...

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:29:47 -0400

glennz:

Tetris Club - Now Voting

Visit Glennz Tees | Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | Behance | Dribbble

Harvard cracks DNA storage, crams 700 terabytes of data into a single gram | ExtremeTech

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:53:50 -0400

Harvard cracks DNA storage, crams 700 terabytes of data into a single gram | ExtremeTech:

xiindika:

A bioengineer and geneticist at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have successfully stored 5.5 petabits of data — around 700 terabytes — in a single gram of DNA, smashing the previous DNA data density record by a thousand times.

This! just this! I can’t wait for this to be available and the bio hacks that can come from it.

3D Scanner By Smackall Games Pvt Ltd Capture yourself in 3D...

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:10:00 -0400

3D Scanner

By Smackall Games Pvt Ltd

Capture yourself in 3D Space. App scans surfaces in 3 dimensional space using Kinect, and stores the 3d mesh into specified file format. The file can then be viewed or imported to other 3D softwares like Blender and Meshlabs to be used for other applications like games and movie making.

DrGlassDPM via googlegroups.com

10:18 PM (Sunday, May 12, 2013)

to freesideatlanta

> This app turned out to be a mistake. I’m not sure if it wants a Xbox only

> Kinect or what, but I’m not alone in not being able to make it work..

> “Ouch” says my pride,

FBI says it doesn't need a warrant to snoop on private email, social network messages | ZDNet

Sat, 11 May 2013 17:25:53 -0400

FBI says it doesn't need a warrant to snoop on private email, social network messages | ZDNet:

flawsinthevoodoo:

An FBI guidance manual says the law enforcement agency is able to access U.S. residents’ email, Facebook and Twitter messages, and private documents, without breaching the Fourth Amendment.

This disturbs me greatly

Australian Museum Biodiversity Volunteer Portal

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:11:59 -0400

Australian Museum Biodiversity Volunteer Portal:

science-junkie:

The Australian Museum in partnership with the Atlas of Living Australia (www.ala.org.au) has created a crowdsourcing website that allows volunteers to assist the museum in transcribing its collections, anywhere anytime.

· The Biodiversity Volunteer Portal (http://volunteer.ala.org.au/) is where volunteers can transcribe specimen labels, field notes, and expedition diaries.

· Volunteers on the site say they feel that it is a rewarding experience knowing that the information they capture becomes accessible to scientists, conservation agencies and government departments across the country who can then work together to better understand, manage and conserve our precious biodiversity.

We are seeking…

… dedicated detail oriented people who are willing to join the community of volunteers who are helping with the daunting task of digitising the Museum’s large natural history collections.

Get involved …

… go to http://volunteer.ala.org.au and start transcribing historical labels and field notes now.

proofmathisbeautiful: calliblcarver: Staples is selling 3D...

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:09:29 -0400

proofmathisbeautiful:

calliblcarver:

Staples is selling 3D printers

For $1,300 you can start printing three-dimensional objects.

*Editor note: This is not a sponsored…

View Post

My birthday is coming up guys…

The search is over: Fermilab chooses new director The Doctor...

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:10:46 -0400

The search is over: Fermilab chooses new director

The Doctor will take over as Fermilab’s director beginning July 1.