Archive for June, 2010

When Chicago began planning for the World’s Columbian Exhibition of 1893, the city’s planners asked George Ferris to build something “original, daring, and unique.” Tune in to learn more about his invention — and why it’s considered the Stuff of Genius.

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Everyone’s familiar with the idea of UFOs, those mysterious airborne objects often linked with extraterrestrials — but what if there weren’t any aliens involved? Tune in and learn why some people believe Nazis may be responsible for modern UFO sightings.

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23 Tips for Buying the Best HDTV – “Buying the right HDTV is actually much harder than simply walking into a store and laying down some plastic – and certainly much harder than it should be. There are quite a few cautions but also quite a few things that you can do to prepare yourself. Virtually identical issues apply to buying computer monitors, so keep the following info and tips in mind the next time you’re in the market for a monitor as well…”

UK paper requires free Web accounts; traffic plunges – “In the UK, The Times is rolling out its paywall and now demands that anyone intent on reading its content register an account. According to research done by the traffic metrics firm Hitwise, simply demanding registration has already cut into traffic at The Times…”

More than 160,000 Android phones activated every day – “Speaking on Wednesday at the Droid X event,, Google VP Andy Rubin stated that there are more than 160,000 Android devices sold and activated every day. That’s almost two every second of the day. Even more impressive is that Android has grown 60 percent since roughly one month ago…”

Attack of the Cosmic Rays! – “A few weeks ago, though, I encountered some bizarre behavior on my desktop, that honestly just didn’t make sense. I spent about half an hour digging to discover what had gone wrong, and eventually determined, conclusively, that my problem was a single undetected flipped bit in RAM. I can’t prove whether the problem was due to cosmic rays, bad RAM, or something else, but in any case, I hope you find this story interesting and informative…”

And much more…

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Note: This post contains spoilers for “Treme” and “The Wire.”

A few days ago, I fired up the DVR to finally watch the penultimate episode of the HBO series “Treme.” I danced to the opening credits as I did every prior Sunday, but stopped short toward the end when I noticed the words “Written by George Pelecanos” flit across the screen. Uh oh. Time to put the Abita down and get serious. As a fan of creator David Simon’s previous series, “The Wire,” I knew that this was going to be one heavy episode.

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You Asked:

How many pounds of french fries do Americans eat each year? — Joshua, Santa Maria, Calif.

Marshall Brain Answers…

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Are you addicted to the sound of the vuvuzela yet?

Well, the media isn’t.

NewScientist will tell you there are legitimate reasons for World Cup 2010’s buzzing accompaniment to annoy you.

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Ferris Wheels have been around since George Ferris invented them in the late 1800′s. The first one itself was massive for the time – over 250 feet tall. The biggest Ferris Wheel (also known as an Observation Wheel) today is in Singapore, as shown here…

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Since Molly and I were already in the South, we decided to keep driving down the map into the southern-but-not-to-be-confused-as-Southern state called Florida. The Sunshine State is home to Disney World Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston.

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This article is extremely optimistic about the prospects for solar panels in the years to come…

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The following video appears to show oil that has come from rain falling in Louisiana.

This seems hard to believe until you realize that all sorts of things can get sucked up into thunderstorms, including fish, as seen here…

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