Chad's News

Did you know that the Earth’s north magnetic pole isn’t fixed, and it moves about 40 miles per year? In fact, several years ago it left Canada and is now over international waters, heading towards Siberia. And since compasses point “north” towards the magnetic pole (versus the real north pole) this movement can have a tangible effect on compass readings. For example, the Tampa, FL airport recently changed its runway designators to account for the changes to magnetic north. This NOAA article shows the locations of the magnetic pole from 1831 to 2007.

Long-time Chad’s News readers will recall this post, where we learned that a dog’s tongue bends down instead of up when drinking water. If that wasn’t weird enough, the linked article explains how a cat drinks—turns out that its tongue doesn’t even penetrate the surface of the water.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

Rhymes With Orange is an offbeat, syndicated comic strip that periodically comes up with some real gems. The December 31st strip gives a peek at how children view books in the age of the Kindle and iPad, and the January 2nd strip spoofs life in the age of Google.

The linked article has an amazing picture of a supercell thunderstorm over Montana. It’s so good that it looks fake.

Link: http://apod.nasa.gov/…

Here’s the perfect gift for the geek who has everything: a toilet paper holder that also serves as an iPod dock. Yes, it’s the “iCarta Stereo Dock for iPod® / iPhone with Bath Tissue Holder”. It’s a pretty fancy gadget, with music controls, various connectors, and embedded speakers.

Thanks to Josh for this topic.

Link: http://www.atechflash.com/…

Google is known for the unusual questions it asks job applicants, the most famous of which is “Why are manhole covers round?” The linked articles answer 15 of the actual questions, from a list of 140 collected by a professional interview coach. I was flying high when I knew the answer to “Explain the significance of ‘dead beef’?”, but felt pretty stupid for not getting “How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?”

Link #1 (questions): http://www.businessinsider.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

Link #2 (answers): http://www.businessinsider.com/…

Link #3 (main article): http://www.businessinsider.com/…

I’m not quite old enough to remember when phone numbers were something like “WHItehall 1212”, but I’ve seen references to that nomenclature in older movies and books. I do, however, remember only needing to dial the last 5 digits (e.g., 6-4085 versus 856-4085) after moving to Wyoming in 1976. How things have changed in a few short decades—these days I have to dial the full 10 digits because Denver has two area codes. For those like myself who are curious about these types of things, the linked article explains the older numbering system and its history.

Link: http://scheong.wordpress.com/…
(via Neatorama)

Back in 1956, test pilot Tom Attridge managed to shoot himself down while flying a fighter jet. He fired the bullets during a dive, went beneath them, then flew through them at Mach one as they slowed and their trajectory changed. The damage was bad enough that the plane crashed.

Link: http://www.aerofiles.com/…
(via Neatorama)

A bit on the pricey side, but this Jedi-styled bathrobe is pretty neat! Wish it had been available when I was purchasing a robe last year. There’s also a Sith version.

Link: http://shop.starwars.com/…

This year’s Ig Nobel prizes were awarded on September 30^th. Once again it was a fairly weak field, but here are some of the better ones (see the linked article for the full list):

• Management Prize: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo of the University of Catania, Italy, for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random. [Related: The Peter Principle]
• Peace Prize: Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston of Keele University, UK, for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.
• Medicine Prize: Simon Rietveld of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Ilja van Beest of Tilburg University, The Netherlands, for discovering that symptoms of asthma can be treated with a roller-coaster ride.

Link: http://improbable.com/…
(via Slashdot)

Knee Defenders are rubber grips that attach to the arms of an airplane tray table and prevent the person in front of you from reclining the seat, thus giving you more space to breath and move. Especially useful for big or tall people.

Link: http://www.gadgetduck.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

Nerf toys have come a very long way since I was a kid. The Nerf N-Strike Stampede ECS is a fully-automatic Nerf gun that shoots Nerf darts. It comes with three 18-dart magazines and another that holds 6, for a total of 60 darts (included). It also has a riot shield and bipod. See the Hasbro website for a demonstration video showing it in action.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…