Trabant Goes Green

Wired reports on a German consortium that are going to bring back the Trabant as an electric vehicle, complete with solar panels on the roof for airconditioning. The Trabant stole western hearts after the fall of the Berlin Wall when the East-German made car epitomised the reunion of the divided city. Since the old version was famous for being smelly, cold and unreliable, one hopes that the eco-Trabbi will not inherent all of the charms it´s ancestor.

Fear And Surprise

Glasgow University have demonstrated that recognising facial expressions is not the same all over the globe, says the BBC. Westerners tend to look at the entire face for visual cues whereas Asian populations focus much more in the eyes alone. As a result expressions that use similar eye expressions like fear and disgust are misinterpreted. The best part of the article was where they showed how emoticons in Asian populations are the right way up and focus specifically on the eyes, unlike the Western equivalent that includes the mouth.

Japan Here We Come!

Since I´m visiting Japan for the first time next week and there have been two large earthquakes in the last week in the Japan region, I thought I would see just how active it has been there recently. Other colleagues have said that it shakes regularly there, but in the past week we have this, this, this, this and this (links may be broken after 10 days because I´m not sure the US Geological Survey maintains them), and to top it off it is cyclone season.
There are plenty of cultural differences of course as well as a language barrier, but at least I´m not going alone. I had better get round to reading that guide book as soon as possible and brush up on any tips it might have to offer. Apparently our GSM phones do not work, but on the plus side broadband internet is like running water, so it will be primarily email communications from the looks of things. My impression of a city´s liveliness, architecture and atmosphere always leave an impression on me and I am kind of expecting the culture shock, but excited at the same time because I do not quite know how I will perceive it. It will also give me a chance to use the mobile phone I recently purchased with built-in camera. I know that sounds old fashioned, but I never followed the mobile hype and can´t say I miss it, so for me it´s new. Of course that means I am not used to having it so I hope I do not forget to use it! I´m hoping I can use it to update this blog with photos in combination with my netbook.
I´m looking forward to going and I hope I can give our Japanese colleagues sufficient information to provide support for both their domestic and international projects.

RIP Les Paul

Joe Satriani called him the orginal guitar hero. Not only famous for inventing the hard body electric guitar, he was also a pioneer of multi-track recording which revolutionised studio recording. The BBC reports on various tributes here, including Slash who´s Sweet Child Of Mine intro must be one of the most famous Les Paul guitar pieces in rock history. Thanks Les - you´re legacy will live on.

Hackers Succeeed On A Sequoia Voting Machine

There seems to have been a lot of discussion about electronic voting machines, which seems to have got kick started following Bush´s dubious win in Orange County Florida. Ars Technica reports on a security research group who were able to compromise the Sequoia AVC Advantage electronic voring machine. The hackers were able to obtain such a machine second hand to use a test bed and together with off the shelf documentation were able to create a hack that could be programmed into a plug-in results card that could switch votes from one candidate to another. Another good reason to stick with good old pencil and paper, even if it does take longer to count.

Bald Penguin Gets Protective Wetsuit

A lovely story from the BBC about a Humboldt penguin that moulted its feathers too quickly and risked getting sunburn. The solution was to create a protective suit for the penguin from the leg of a wetsuit. At first Ralph´s buddies were curious but soone enough accepted him.

Antarctic Glacier Thinning

Following the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf there is a lot of attention being paid to the accelerated melting of ice in the Antarctic. The BBC reports on the Pine Glacier that is melting and indication of how rapidly the West Antarctican ice sheet is melting. The volume of water contained in this sheet could form a danger to coastal cities as a result of rising sea levels.