How to get around the "No wishing for more wishes" rule (click on image to see full size):

"Acoustic cloak to hide ships from sonar":

"Invisibility cloaks" have been in the news since 2006, when scientists proposed that they could design synthetic materials that would bend light in ways that made the objects under them appear invisible. Three years ago, Steve Cummer at Duke University figured out that the same principle could be applied to sound waves, and his lab has now brought out their first physical proof of the idea.

Popular Mechanics: "101 Gadgets That Changed The World".

Update on the mathematics of the Rubiks' Cube.

In particular MIT computer scientist Erik Demaine and colleagues have shown:

...[T]hat the maximum number of moves required to solve a Rubik's cube with N squares per row is proportional to N^2/log N. “That that’s the answer, and not N^2, is a surprising thing,” Demaine says.

(Via Reid A.)

Hilarious spoof of drug ads:



(Via E.D.P.)

"Did the Chinese really practice 'death by a thousand cuts'?"

"ShouldIChangeMyPassword.com has been created to help the average person check if their password(s) may have been compromised and need to be changed."

("This site uses a number of databases that have been released by hackers to the public. No passwords are stored in the ShouldIChangeMyPassword.com database.")

"Academic Article Title of the Day"

Really, really big viruses

Off topic: The 6/29/2011 edition of PajamasMedia has just published my latest OpEd, "Why the 'Unexpected' Keeps Happening".

"Is the ATM Cash-Dispensing Sound Fake?" (Via Tyler Cowen.)

DNA testing to catch dog poop scofflaws.

How fatigue affects the brain-mouth filter. (Via @KevinMD.)

12 proposed space shuttle missions that never got off the ground. (Via SciTechDaily.)

The Wall Street Journal asks Ray Kurzweil, "When will man merge with machines?"

"WSJ's Andy Jordan talks with futurist Ray Kurzweil about what he fears in terms of technology, why he thinks humans will one day live forever, what the job of the future is, and even what post-"singularity" sex will be like."

Searle discusses Damasio on consciousness: "How do neurobiological processes in the brain cause consciousness?"

(Amazon link to Damasio's book, Self Comes To Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain.)

"10 Super Cool Jobs You Can Get At Apple Right Now"

If Sauron Had Been a Lego Enthusiast.

"What You Learned About Static Electricity Is Wrong"

Barcode art: