Schmid blog 2009 jan-jun

Schmid 17:25, 13 March 2009 (UTC) Wikipedia Books
I Just wanted to tell about a new feature of Wikipedia, the Book tool.

It's a powerful tool with an extremely simple interface. When browsing Wikipedia, you can click an 'Add wiki page' button when viewing an article to add it to your very own book. When you have selected a set of wiki pages, you select 'Show book', and you can download and print a nicely typeset PDF with your selected articles.

And now for the crazy part: you can even order a printed physical book with a nice cover from PediaPress for 8.90 USD (7 EUR, 50 DKK = dirt cheap).

Sweet.

Schmid 16:42, 13 March 2009 (UTC) Go Water Bears!


Water bears (Tardigrada) are some of my new favourite animals (still surpassed by sheep). They are adorable little creatures, about 1 mm long, with puffy little bodies and eight legs with little claws at the end.

And it seems that Evolution got water bears right the first time, because the things have existed since The Cambrian (about 500 million years ago, when dinosaurs were only a glint in God's eye).

Cute as they may be, water bears are right little bad-asses - certainly not to be underestimated. They live in every single place on the earth, from the highest mountains to the deepest seas; they can withstand being frozen and boiled; they can live almost a decade without water, and they can survive 500 times(!) more radiation than the average human.

The little critters can even withstand being in space, as was demonstrated during a space launch in 2008. Cockroaches are ridiculous pushovers compared to the hardy water bears. When the Third World War finally is here, all humans may mutate into hideous monsters, sheep may lose their wool, and even cockroaches may be roasted by 500,000 rads of x-rays - but water bears will just go: 'yeah, whatever', and go about their usual business.

The rare combination of cuteness and imperviousness makes water bears an unstoppable, as well as adorable, force of nature. So - join the ranks of the water bears now - or face eventual extinction!