Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

I wonder if this will mess up anyone’s birthday? 🙂

Before atomic timekeeping, clocks were set to the skies. But starting in 1972, radio signals began broadcasting atomic seconds and leap seconds have occasionally been added to that stream of atomic seconds to keep the signals synchronized with the actual rotation of Earth. Such adjustments were considered necessary because Earth’s rotation is less regular than atomic timekeeping. In January 2012, a United Nations-affiliated organization could permanently break this link by redefining Coordinated Universal Time. To understand the importance of this potential change, it’s important to understand the history of human timekeeping.

via The Future of Time: UTC and the Leap Second » American Scientist.

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

A very well done video showing what happens to your body when you drink

BBC News – James May explains science behind hangovers.

Wow – its all showmanship…

With its airy layout, glass staircases, and iHappy atmosphere, the typical Apple Store is a very, very pleasant place. That is, of course, no coincidence. A new Wall Street Journal report uses confidential Apple Store training materials and interviews with former store employees to give a behind-the-scenes look at just how the gadget giant stealthily shapes every customer’s experience.

via Revealed: 10 big Apple Store secrets – The Week.

Ah the Brits always have an opinion about proper dressing… 🙂

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted on Natuba

I guess i’ll have to go check my detergent…

… low-phosphate and phosphate-free detergents just don’t work as well as the higher phosphate content detergents. They don’t rinse the grime and food away as well as the older detergents. Because the change was made suddenly and without much fanfare, owner first suspected that something was wrong with their dishwasher because (a) the dishes weren’t getting as clean, and (b) the dishwasher was malfunctioning in odd ways because the grime and food weren’t being rinsed away effectively.

via Think your dishwasher is broken? Think again | Mighty Bargain Hunter.

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

I did this same rough math a little while ago and came to the same conclusion… glad someone did the work in spelling it out – LED’s are neato, but way too expensive…

Shop lighting upgrade: T5 vs T8 fluorescent vs LED

I am in the process of upgrading the lighting in my shop. It currently has a number of 4-lamp and 2-lamp T12 4-foot fluorescent fixtures. The best solution is to replace the ballast in each of these fixtures with high-efficiency electronic ballast ($15), and replace the lamps with T8 high-CRI bulbs. This will save energy, and greatly improve the quality of the light. LEDs and T5 fluorescent are MUCH more expensive to install, and their energy savings are not nearly enough to justify the cost. Remember that running a T8 with an electronic ballast will provide more light than it’s nominal rating, which is for magnetic ballasts. T5 are always rated for electronic ballasts, so it is not a fair comparison.

For new fixtures in my shop, the cheapest/best solution is to buy $10 "shop lights" and replace the ballast. The total fixture cost is $25, and efficiency is 96 lumens/watt for a total output of almost 6000 lumens. It can’t be beat! Commercially-available T8 fixtures with electronic ballasts are more expensive, and the quality of the ballast is suspect.

via YouTube – Shop lighting upgrade: T5 vs T8 fluorescent vs LED.

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

I guess I need to stop doing this… yuck

It’s Not OK to Eat That: Mold Goes Deeper than the Surface

Most of us have done it at least once, you see the smallest spot of mold on the crust of a loaf of bread, and you figure that if you just cut that little part off then there’ll be nothing to worry about. The problem here is that the mold we see on food is really just surface spores. Like plants, mold has roots and branches—and they travel deep.

By the time we see mold growth on food, it’s already pretty heavily embedded (it’s quite tiny, after all). The USDA has an entire page set up just for mold

via It’s Not OK to Eat That: Mold Goes Deeper than the Surface.

Looks good… really good…

YouTube – Building “Windows 8” – Video #1.