Myke's Weblog

Down on the Farm, in the Barn...

This was filmed in 1944. Amazing athletes.

Link: For Your Entertainment: Oh My

Starts a little slow, then all hell breaks loose around 1:15, combining Hee Haw with Cirque.

Like a Flying Squirrel

Here's a guy who likes BIG thrills. (Those who need life insurance the most probably can't get it.)

Loïc Jean-Albert developed a one-wing design which was manufactured and marketed by Parasport Italia as the Crossbow in 2000. Loic has since set up the wingsuit company Fly Your Body (Wikipedia).

via Ray Ganssle

The first 5Mb hard disk

This is a 5 Meg Hard Disk in 1956.

In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the first computer with a hard disk drive (HDD). The HDD weighed over a ton and stored 5MB of data.

via Scott Williams

UVa.'s One-Year Wonder

Wow. When will Google hire him?

Link: U-Va.'s One-Year Wonder - washingtonpost.com

David Banh, an 18-year-old from Annandale, just graduated from the University of Virginia in one year. With a double major.

His college education, almost entirely covered by a patchwork of scholarships, cost him about $200. And he sold back textbooks for more than that. Now he's starting graduate study at U-Va. with a research grant.

He was helped by the fact that U-Va., as a public school, costs a lot less than most private colleges. And that the university accepted many of his Advanced Placement credits from high school; many of the most selective private schools wouldn't. As it was, he doubled up on course credits and took more physics over the summer to finish his second major.

Still, "I've never seen anything like that before," said Donald Ramirez, professor and associate chairman of mathematics at U-Va.

"He's one of a kind," said Vicki Doff, his counselor at the competitive magnet Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County. "Absolutely amazing kid academically, incredibly persistent, bright, focused and determined. His academic record was second to none. I've been here over 20 years, and I've never had a student take the course load he did in his years here."

She used to worry he was doing too much. "And he usually proved me wrong."

Banh was born and grew up in Fairfax, the eldest son of parents who came to the United States from Vietnam in the 1980s.

via Steve Pavlina

Monsanto Files Patent for the Pig

When greed overrides common sense, life gets strange. Thanks to Chris Gupta for uncovering unearthing this mutation of law and science.

Link: "The Earth is flat, pigs were invented by Monsanto, and genetically modified organisms are safe. Right." - Share The Wealth.

Monsanto Corporation is out to own the world's food supply, the dangers of genetic engineering and reduced biodiversity notwithstanding, as they pig-headedly set about hog-tying farmers with their monopoly plans. We've discovered chilling new evidence of this in recent patents that seek to establish ownership rights over pigs and their offspring. In the crop department, Monsanto is well on their way to dictating what consumers will eat, what farmers will grow, and how much Monsanto will get paid for seeds. In some cases those seeds are designed not to reproduce sowable offspring. In others, a flock of lawyers stand ready to swoop down on farmers who illegally, or even unknowingly, end up with Monsanto's private property growing in their fields.

One way or another, Monsanto wants to make sure no food is grown that they don't own -- and the record shows they don't care if it's safe for the environment or not. Monsanto has aggressively set out to bulldoze environmental concerns about its genetically engineered (GE) seeds at every regulatory level. So why stop in the field? Not content to own the pesticide and the herbicide and the crop, they've made a move on the barnyard by filing two patents which would make the corporate giant the sole owner of that famous Monsanto invention: the pig.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno > Headlines

Source: NBC.com > The Tonight Show with Jay Leno > Headlines

Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams Come True

Watch this video to see pure joy.

Link: CBS News | Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams Come True | February 28, 2006?14:49:17.

When the autistic team manager of a high school basketball team got his chance in the spotlight, he shattered everyone's expectations by scoring 20 points in four minutes.

Video of Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams

Thanks to Will Pannill for the link

Optical Illusions

Atanu points to some interesting optical illusions. There's some impressive web programming behind these images.

Link: Atanu Dey on India’s Development ? Optical Illusions.

Want to have some fun and waste time and learn all at the same time? Check out these optical illusions.

When I come across these sorts of things, I cannot stop marvelling at the amazing power of the world wide web.

Another (Cat)Fish Tale

Source: Wichita Kansas Eagle (no link found)

A resident in the area saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange in a nearby pond and went to investigate. It turned out to be a flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a child's basketball which became stuck in its mouth!

The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The resident tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful. He finally cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry catfish.

Kind people.

Thanks to Roy

Fish whopper: 646 pounds a freshwater record

Caught in Thailand.... Now I know why Siamese cats avoid swimming.

Source: Fish whopper: 646 pounds a freshwater record - Environment - MSNBC.com.

Thai fishermen netted a catfish as big as a grizzly bear, setting a world record for the largest freshwater fish ever found, according to researchers who studied the 646-pound Mekong giant catfish as part of a project to protect large freshwater fish.

via Kristen