Did an Omnifidel Steal Your Obscenometer? A Nonce-word-a-palooza

The longest entry in the enormous online edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is for the verb put. If I wanted to burn out my toner, I could print all 198 pages, which contain definitions and quotations for hundreds of meanings and variations of that little word. As far as its place in the language, put is well-put-together, and this entry is a mega-put-fest.
Did an Omnifidel Steal Your Obscenometer? A Nonce-word-a-palooza

Angels & Demons - The science behind the story

In Angels & Demons Tom Hanks plays Harvard academic Robert Langdon, who discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood called the Illuminati - the most powerful underground organization in history. When Langdon finds evidence that the Illuminati have stolen antimatter from a secret laboratory at CERN, which they plan to use as a devastating weapon to destroy the Vatican, he and CERN scientist Vittoria Vetra begin a race against time to recover the antimatter and prevent catastrophe. But what is antimatter? Is is real? Is it dangerous? What is CERN?
Angels & Demons - The science behind the story

Bumpology: Can old wives' tales tell me my baby's sex?

Deciding whether or not to find out the sex of our unborn child was a dilemma that plagued us for weeks. Would it spoil the surprise? Even without getting a definitive ultrasound examination to tell us the sex, there are any number of folklore prediction methods – but is there any science behind them?
Bumpology: Can old wives' tales tell me my baby's sex?

[How to] Convert PDFs to Word Documents for Free?

PDF has become a standard format for documents, eBooks and others. But the problem with PDF files is that you can edit them easily. But if you can convert PDF into a word document, you can easily edit whatever you like. So what is the easiest way to convert PDF to word doc for free? The answer is – by using AnyBizSoft PDF to Word Converter.
[How to] Convert PDFs to Word Documents for Free?

Airport Screeners: Beware Intentional Contraband

Shhh, keep this podcast a secret. Because new research points to a possible blind spot in airport security screening: it may be easier to sneak something dangerous past security–a box cutter, for example–by also including an obvious and innocuous banned object, like a water bottle, into the mix as a distraction.
Airport Screeners: Beware Intentional Contraband

Computer Network Information Tool

Network Information Center displays various network related information in its interface upon startup. The computer network information
tool will automatically list the external and internal IP address, default gateway and physical address. All information can be copied to the clipboard individually.
Computer Network Information Tool

9 Habits of the World's Healthiest People

The United States is facing a health crisis of unprecedented proportions: Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Diabetes and heart disease rates are on the rise. For the first time in living history, the life expectancy of America’s children is less than that of their parents. In other parts of the world, however, people are living longer, healthier lives. In certain areas known as Blue Zones, people tend to live well into their 90s and beyond while remaining mentally and physically vibrant. It’s no coincidence that people in these regions share several lifestyle traits.
9 Habits of the World's Healthiest People

How to Quit Facebook, Twitter

Need to disappear from Facebook or Twitter? Now you can scrub yourself from the Internet with Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, a nifty service that purges your online presence from these all-consuming social networks. Since its Dec. 19 launch, Suicide Machine has assisted more than 1,000 virtual deaths, severing more than 80,500 friendships on Facebook and removing some 276,000 tweets from Twitter.
How to Quit Facebook, Twitter

Auditory Illusions: Scientific American Podcast

First up a classic illusion from Diana Deutsch at the University of California, San Diego. It's a recording of repeating sounds, which our brains perceive as specific words. Listen to this.
Auditory Illusions

Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 9/2010

The latest issue of new Family Friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 9/2010

Satellites Will Issue Speeding Tickets from Space

UK drivers had better stay under that speed limit, because the traffic authorities are watching… from outer space. According to The Telegraph, an American company called PIPS Technology has developed a system that uses two cameras on the ground and one satellite in orbit to catch speeders.
Satellites Will Issue Speeding Tickets from Space

Google Confirms Free Turn-by-Turn Directions Coming to iPhone

Free turn-by-turn Google Maps Navigation has already threatened an entire industry of GPS navigation companies whose livelihood depends on selling paid versions of what the search giant is now giving away for free. Currently Google Maps Navigation is available for Android phones only, but in a London press conference Google said it will bring free navigation to the iPhone along with other platforms.
Google Confirms Free Turn-by-Turn Directions Coming to iPhone

How Do You Know If Your Download Really Has a Virus?

Antivirus and anti-malware apps fill an important need on our computers, but they're not foolproof (*ahem*, McAfee). More often than you'd think, they're just plain wrong. Here's what to do when you're not sure whether a download has a virus.
How Do You Know If Your Download Really Has a Virus?

Government requests directed to Google and YouTube

Like other technology and communications companies, we regularly receive requests from government agencies around the world to remove content from our services, or provide information about users of our services and products. The map shows the number of requests that we received between July 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009, with certain limitations.
Government requests directed to Google and YouTube

USGS Photo Glossary of Volcanic Terms

From aa to Vulcanian eruption. With images.
USGS Photo Glossary of Volcanic Terms

The Oddest English Spellings, Part 16: Wistful Whistplayers and Other Wherry Important Words

The number of people in the English speaking world who distinguish in pronunciation between witch and which, wine and whine, wen and when is relatively small, and those who make this distinction do not say w-hitch, w-hine, and w-hen, but rather hwitch, hwine, and hwen. What follows is a breathtaking story of the hw-sound and the wh-spelling.
The Oddest English Spellings, Part 16: Wistful Whistplayers and Other Wherry Important Words

Windows Maintenance Tips: The Good, Bad And Useless

Everybody’s got an opinion on how to keep a Windows system running fast and smooth. Some tips are timeless, others are bunk but always recirculating. Here’s a closer look at what really helps and hurts your Windows PC.
Windows Maintenance Tips: The Good, Bad And Useless

Nepal to send Sherpas to "death zone" to rescue the dead

The Nepalese government is sending a team of 20 Sherpas to Everest's "death zone" to clean up the dead bodies of those who never made it back from their expeditions. 300 people have died there since 1953; there is also a lot of garbage from spent oxygen tanks and other crap that people couldn't or didn't want to take down with them because of the extra weight. The plan is to leave on May 1st, set up camp at 26,240 feet, and climb up to the most dangerous crux of the ascent.
Nepal to send Sherpas to "death zone" to rescue the dead

How Do I Find My IP Address

If you ware working in tech support you keep hearing questions very often. One of these questions is “How do I find my IP address”. The IP, or Internet Protocol, address is assigned to devices in a computer network for identification and addressing purposes. The current version of the Internet Protocol, IPv4, knows public and private addresses. Public IP addresses are unique while private ones do not need to be. The main reason for this is to conserve public IPs as IPv4 reaches exhaustion.
How Do I Find My IP Address

“Houston, we’ve had a problem”

The now famous words spoken by Jim Lovell in 1970 in the ill-fated Apollo 13 flight. There was a reunion of astronauts and control crew to celebrate the 40th anniversary. NASAimages has many great photos and video from the flight. Here are a few favorites.
“Houston, we’ve had a problem”