"The 8 Most Common Sci-Fi Visions of the Future (And Why They'll Never Happen)"

"Water forms floating 'bridge' when exposed to high voltage"

"33 Different Ways To Lace Shoes". And "16 Ways To Lace Shoes With Lugs". (Via Found On The Web.)

The first mobile phone:

Motorola's DynaTAC (Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) 8000X was the world's first commercially released mobile phone -- making its debut in 1983 at the price of $3,995.

...The company spent over $100-million and 15 years developing the technology. At 13 x 1.75 x 3.5 in., the DynaTAC 8000X featured an LED display and up to 30-minutes of talk time when fully charged. It was available in three different color combinations, which included tan/gray, tan, and dark gray.

"Minesweeper: The Movie"

Privately owned missile silos:

There's a hot market for demilitarized ICBM silos. There are three of them on offer at eBay right now, with the asking price of $500,000 per silo, which includes underground and above ground support facilities. Hundreds of ICBM silos have been sold off in the last twenty years, as new missile forces were reduced with the end of the Cold War, and the enactment of arms reduction treaties. Most of these are located in remote areas. For example, the three silo complex being offered on eBay sits on 57 acres in central Washington State.

This one is kind of prime because, unlike most of the others, it is dry. Your typical missile silo complex sits under the water table, and needs pumps to keep the water out. When these silo complexes are demilitarized, most electrical and mechanical gear (including a lot of the plumbing) is removed. The water, and some wildlife, return.

The growing use of MRI machines is contributing to the world helium shortage, as well as hurting the party supply business. (Via Fark.)

Classic essay on nerds and tact filters:

All people have a "tact filter", which applies tact in one direction to everything that passes through it. Most "normal people" have the tact filter positioned to apply tact in the outgoing direction. Thus whatever normal people say gets the appropriate amount of tact applied to it before they say it. This is because when they were growing up, their parents continually drilled into their heads statements like, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all!"

"Nerds," on the other hand, have their tact filter positioned to apply tact in the incoming direction. Thus, whatever anyone says to them gets the appropriate amount of tact added when they hear it. This is because when nerds were growing up, they continually got picked on, and their parents continually drilled into their heads statements like, "They're just saying those mean things because they're jealous. They don't really mean it."

When normal people talk to each other, both people usually apply the appropriate amount of tact to everything they say, and no one's feelings get hurt. When nerds talk to each other, both people usually apply the appropriate amount of tact to everything they hear, and no one's feelings get hurt. However, when normal people talk to nerds, the nerds often get frustrated because the normal people seem to be dodging the real issues and not saying what they really mean. Worse yet, when nerds talk to normal people, the normal people's feelings often get hurt because the nerds don't apply tact, assuming the normal person will take their blunt statements and apply whatever tact is necessary.

So, nerds need to understand that normal people have to apply tact to everything they say; they become really uncomfortable if they can't do this. Normal people need to understand that despite the fact that nerds are usually tactless, things they say are almost never meant personally and shouldn't be taken that way. Both types of people need to be extra patient when dealing with someone whose tact filter is backwards relative to their own.

(Via Mental Floss.)

Dog Flowchart. (Via Neatorama.)

Dueling Wikis: The Unencyclopedia on Wikipedia and Wikipedia on the Unencyclopedia. (Via GMSV.)

Can I legally prevent people from putting flyers under my door or on my windshield?

"The top 10 hand gestures you'd better get right". (Via GMSV.)

If you stand far enough away from this image you will see the Mona Lisa. (Via BBspot.)

The politics of time zones. (Via SciTechDaily.)

Positive review of tonight's premier of Bionic Woman.

"The Man Who Saved the World by Doing... Nothing"

More interesting discussion on the legal aspects of ringtones, copyright, fair use, and iTunes.

"New GPS Wartime Restrictions":

The U.S. announced that it can now degrade the GPS signal in a small area, and will no longer buy GPS satellites equipped to degrade the signals planet wide. The degraded signal (originally the "civilian" signal) is only accurate to within 100 meters, while the most accurate signal (originally the "military" signal) is accurate to ten meters (31 feet) or less (with additional ground equipment.) The newly announced capability can degrade the civilian signal to a different degree. Since 2000, the only signal available has been the military one, so that more commercial applications could be implemented. To access the military signal, you need special codes. But since 2000, everyone got the military grade signal, without needing special access codes.

Russia, the European Union and China have been developing competitors for GPS, but so far these efforts have spent a lot of money, and not produced any real competition. This new announcement about GPS accuracy was meant to reassure non-U.S. users that they would never have to worry about losing the 10 meter signal. The U.S. Department of Defense has also spent a lot of money on developing ways to deal with enemy attempts to jam the GPS signal, and creating the ability to degrade the signal for non-U.S. users in a combat zone.

Was the Star Trek Federation essentially "one big protection racket"?

A journalist tries the nonlethal US Army pain generator:

...It is a bit like touching a red-hot wire, but there is no heat, only the sensation of heat. There is no burn mark or blister.

...When turned on, it emits an invisible, focused beam of radiation -- similar to the microwaves in a domestic cooker -- that are tuned to a precise frequency to stimulate human nerve endings.

It can throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile.

Because the beam penetrates skin only to a depth of 1/64th of an inch, it cannot, says Raytheon, cause visible, permanent injury.

But anyone in the beam's path will feel, over their entire body, the agonising sensation I've just felt on my fingertip. The prospect doesn't bear thinking about.

"I have been in front of the full-sized system and, believe me, you just run. You don't have time to think about it -- you just run," says George Svitak, a Raytheon executive.

It sounds like a real-life version of the neural pain stimulator from Dune. And of course, there's one more obvious application:

Perhaps the most alarming prospect is that such machines would make efficient torture instruments.

They are quick, clean, cheap, easy to use and, most importantly, leave no marks. What would happen if they fell into the hands of unscrupulous nations where torture is not unknown?

The agony the Raytheon gun inflicts is probably equal to anything in a torture chamber -- these waves are tuned to a frequency exactly designed to stimulate the pain nerves.

I couldn't hold my finger next to the device for more than a fraction of a second. I could make the pain stop, but what if my finger had been strapped to the machine?

(Via Boing Boing.)