{"id":2288,"date":"2012-02-05T09:41:58","date_gmt":"2012-02-05T16:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2012-02-05T09:41:55","modified_gmt":"2012-02-05T16:41:55","slug":"odd-lots-181","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/?p=2288","title":{"rendered":"Odd Lots"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Very cool: <a href=\"http:\/\/gizmodo.com\/5881214\/brilliant-wire-stripper-lights-up-when-youve-cut-deep-enough\" target=\"_blank\">a home-made wire stripper<\/a> that tells you when you&#8217;ve cut the insulation <em>precisely<\/em> as far as necessary.<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;ve of two minds about the genre of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Information_graphics\" target=\"_blank\">infographics<\/a>, but this one appears to capture a pretty complicated business in a fairly small space: <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.massivehealth.com\/infographics\/Carbs_are_killing_you\/\" target=\"_blank\">That fat does <em>not<\/em> make you fat<\/a>. (Thanks to <a href=\"http:\/\/apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Apostle of Eris<\/a> on LiveJournal for the link.)<\/li>\n<li>Jim Strickland showed me something startling when I was up in Denver this past Monday: A cylindrical neodymium magnet slowly tumbling as it drifts down a 2&#8242; length of copper pipe. Drop it at the top, and then watch it (against a reasonably bright floor) as it goes. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G7ysnXH53Wo\" target=\"_blank\">Videos are on YouTube<\/a>. No mystery; just physics, courtesy <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lenz's_law\" target=\"_blank\">Lenz&#8217;s Law<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Also from Jim is a link to <a href=\"http:\/\/allthingsd.com\/20120119\/apples-new-math-or-why-a-15-ebook-equals-a-75-paper-book\/\" target=\"_blank\">some discussion about why McGraw-Hill seems willing to accept $15 iPad-based secondary-ed ebooks instead of $75-a-pop print textbooks<\/a>. Most of it comes down to eliminating the resale market, and receiving that $15 from every student who ever uses that book. Expect resistance from many quarters, including this one.<\/li>\n<li>Those who remember the Steeleye Span song &#8220;Seven Hundred Elves&#8221; from the 70s may be interested to know that <a href=\"http:\/\/mudcat.org\/thread.cfm?threadid=25288\" target=\"_blank\">it was only the first part of a much longer and much older poem<\/a>. (Long forum thread; read it all.)<\/li>\n<li>Here are <a href=\"http:\/\/flickriver.com\/photos\/roadsidepictures\/tags\/toothpaste\/\" target=\"_blank\">some peculiar ways to deliver toothpaste<\/a>, including Crest-flavored pudding and pie filling. No, I don&#8217;t understand that one either, unless it falls under the category of &#8220;business development.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wikinfo.org\/index.php\/UMMOA\" target=\"_blank\">This certainly sounds like a hoax to me<\/a>, but whether it&#8217;s a hoax or not, it might be seed corn for some interesting fiction. (Thanks to Bishop Sam&#8217;l Bassett for the link.)<\/li>\n<li>Read <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Graham_cracker\" target=\"_blank\">the Wiki piece<\/a> carefully, and you&#8217;ll discover that Graham crackers were invented circa 1829 by a preacher who thought that eating them would discourage masturbation. Oh&#8230;<a href=\"http:\/\/psychcentral.com\/lib\/2007\/do-kelloggs-corn-flakes-help-control-masturbation\/\" target=\"_blank\">ditto corn flakes<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>In conclusion, don&#8217;t forget to watch <a href=\"http:\/\/animal.discovery.com\/tv\/puppy-bowl\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Puppy Bowl<\/a> later today! (Football? Wazzat?)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Very cool: a home-made wire stripper that tells you when you&#8217;ve cut the insulation precisely as far as necessary. I&#8217;ve of two minds about the genre of infographics, but this one appears to capture a pretty complicated business in a fairly small space: That fat does not make you fat. (Thanks to Apostle of Eris [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[21,37,39,49,72],"class_list":["post-2288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oddlots","tag-electronics","tag-food","tag-health","tag-music","tag-weirdness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2288"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2289,"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions\/2289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.contrapositivediary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}