Between The Lines | Just another WNCN MyNC Blogs Network weblog

Education For A Song….

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on September 12, 2008 at 3:15 am

Recently—there’s been a lot of talk about the Large Hadron Collider—and what it may or may not do..

There seem to be two main story lines.

It’ll help us understand the big bang
- It’ll blow up the planet.

In past posts, we’ve talked about both.

But EXACTLY WHAT are those folks trying to do?

Well— the answer comes from Katie McAlpine.

The 23-year -old a science writer is working at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland on a one-year journalism position at the facility..

Her job is to write articles explaining different aspects of the Collider project.

At one point—she put it into terms ANYONE can understand.

She wrote a rap video explaining what it does.

(And yes it’s captioned so you can understand ALL the scientific terms !)

She’s not the first to use music to explain science.

Back in the 60’s Tom Lehrer wrote a series of satirical political songs that predated the style of comedian Mark Russell.

He recorded several albums and appeared frequently singing his own works on the program That Was The Week That Was (The program was known as TW3 to the more hip at the time)

A mathematician by training— Lehrer’s work poked fun at many of society’s ills..

But he also wrote a pretty funny song about the periodic table of the elements .

Back in high school—my 10th grade Chemistry teacher offered extra credit to anyone who could memorize the entire periodic table.

Being the smartass that I am—I showed up after class one day singing Tom Lehrer’s song.

I got the extra credit—but my chemistry teacher got his revenge.

I was forced to perform the song in front of the ENTIRE class in order to receive FULL credit for my deed..

—Steve

Link to the video and the story Steve covered today on NBC-17

Click on this map to see details on where readers are located

KudoSurf Me! _uacct = “UA-2987504-1″; urchinTracker();

Blog Information Profile for instanteye

Recent Readers to Between The Lines via KEOTAG

View Entire Community Provided by MyBlogLog

Cern song, Conservative Brain, Large Hadron Collider, Large Hadron Collider rap, Steve Sbraccia, The elements song, Tom Lehrer, funny musical songs, katie McAlpine

This blog entry has no comments.

SEE post comments or MAKE a comment

Bad Science, Mad Science…

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on September 11, 2008 at 2:50 am

There’s bad science— and there’s mad science— both of which have got me going today…

Let’s start with the bad science..

A MISTAKE FOR CERN-tain…

I’m throughly angry at the scientists who are working at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva…

They have switched on their particle accelerator without nary a blip in the fabric of space.

As you might recall from this post—we were positive the engagement of this device at CERN was going to end all life on earth as we knew it—as well destroy the planet and about a gazillion miles of surrounding space by creating an unstoppable black hole.

Because I was SO certain the world would end— I decided to stop paying all my bills—didn’t watch what I ate, refused to go into work— was rude and disgusting to everyone I met—and generally acted like I had no cares in the world—because they’d be no world any more.

Now these fools have gone on and left the world JUST THE WAY IT WAS before they switched on their huge machine.

Do they have ANY IDEA how long it’ll take me to fix everything in my life now?

Thanks guys.

FANGS FOR THE BEAUTY TIP….

For years snake oil salesmen have peddled phony medicinal potions that would cure everything from shortness to itchy eyelashes…

Now it seems there’s a REAL beauty cream that uses REAL snake oil to work..

Actually, it’s more like snake venom—but it’s close enough for this blog.

Planet Skincare has come up with a wrinkle cream that uses the venom of the Temple Viper snake to “stun the skin” in order to get rid of wrinkles.

As you can read here, the amino acids in the venom block nerve signals telling the muscles to contract, helping to stop wrinkles forming…

And, like any good snake oil—the stuff’s not cheap—selling at about $120 bucks a jar…

But it’s slithering off the store shelves as fast as they can stock it.

The makers say it gives Botox like results—without the injection..

SSSSSwell… SSSSSSounds SSSSSSentational …

—Steve

Link to the video and the story Steve covered today on NBC-17

Click on this map to see details on where readers are located

KudoSurf Me!

&lt;span>&lt;span> _&lt;span>&lt;span>uacct&lt;/span>&lt;/span> = “UA-2987504-1″; &lt;span>&lt;span>urchinTracker&lt;/span>&lt;/span>(); &lt;/span>&lt;/span>

Blog Information Profile for instanteye

&lt;span> body .&lt;span>mblrr&lt;/span>_v{width:160&lt;span>px&lt;/span>;overflow:hidden;background-color:white;font-family:&lt;span>tahoma&lt;/span>,sans-serif;border:1&lt;span>px&lt;/span> solid teal;} body .&lt;span>mblrr&lt;/span>_v &lt;span>img&lt;/span> {border:0;} body .&lt;span>mblrr&lt;/span>_v h2 {font-size:16&lt;span>px&lt;/span>;margin:0;color:white;background-color:teal;} body .&lt;span>mblrr&lt;/span>_v h2 span {padding-left:5&lt;span>px&lt;/span>;color:white;} body .&lt;span>mblrr&lt;/span>_v a {font-size:10&lt;span>px&lt;/span>;text-align:center;display:block;color:black;} body .&lt;span>mblrr&lt;/span>_v a:visited {font-size:10&lt;span>px&lt;/span>;text-align:center;display:block;color:black;} body .&lt;span>mblrr&lt;/span>_v a &lt;span>img&lt;/span> {border-top:1&lt;span>px&lt;/span> solid teal;} body .&lt;span>mblrr&lt;/span>_v div {border-top:1&lt;span>px&lt;/span> solid teal;} &lt;/span>

Recent Readers to Between The Lines via KEOTAG

View Entire Community
Provided by MyBlogLog

Bad science, Blowing up the earth, Destroying the universe, Large Hadron Collider, Steve Sbraccia, destroying the planet, temple viper wrinkle cream

This blog entry has no comments.

SEE post comments or MAKE a comment

Ring Of Truth…

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on September 10, 2008 at 2:51 am

They say marriage is for better or worse….

And having been lucky enough to make it to the 20 year mark—I guess I’ve had more “Better” than I’ve had “Worse” days…

But for some of these folks—you gotta wonder how long the marriage might last if you start of with some “Worse” moments…

THE NAME GAME….

Is this couple is starting a hamburger chain…

Let’s hope the Groom’s not also named Ronald…

A bride’s gotta be crazy to marry a man with this last name…

Perhaps this couple intends to split everything down the middle….

SINKING YOUR TEETH INTO IT…

After the wedding—there’s always a few things the bride and groom learn about each other that they didn’t know during the engagement process…

But, I’m not sure the groom knew this bride’s smile was quite as wide as this BEFORE he said “I do..”

FLUSHED WITH SUCCESS…

I know some couples like to have a lot of informal–or candid photos taken at their wedding to avoid that stilted “posed” look..

But—do you think this is REALLY a moment the bride wants to remember?

—Steve

Click on this map to see details on where readers are located

KudoSurf Me!

_uacct = “UA-2987504-1″; urchinTracker();

Blog Information Profile for instanteye

body .mblrr_v{width:160px;overflow:hidden;background-color:white;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;border:1px solid teal;} body .mblrr_v img {border:0;} body .mblrr_v h2 {font-size:16px;margin:0;color:white;background-color:teal;} body .mblrr_v h2 span {padding-left:5px;color:white;} body .mblrr_v a {font-size:10px;text-align:center;display:block;color:black;} body .mblrr_v a:visited {font-size:10px;text-align:center;display:block;color:black;} body .mblrr_v a img {border-top:1px solid teal;} body .mblrr_v div {border-top:1px solid teal;}

Recent Readers to Between The Lines via KEOTAG

View Entire Community
Provided by MyBlogLog

Steve Sbraccia, You can't make this stuff up, funny marriage pictures, funny marriage videos, funny wedding announcements

This blog entry has no comments.

SEE post comments or MAKE a comment

The End Of The World As We Know It…

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on September 9, 2008 at 11:49 am

This could be the last post ever for this blog—and for the rest of the world.

Tomorrow—they switch on the Large Hadron Collider—a device designed to recreate the big bang.

But, as we told you in the post below which ran back in March—some fear it will destroy the planet.

So, if you wake up tomorrow and we’re all dead— don’t say you weren’t warned.

*** ORGINALLY POSTED MARCH 18, 2008 ***

We’re getting closer to the day when scientists switch on a giant machine that will either tell us lots of new things about the universe—or destroys the planet—as well as several million miles of space surrounding what used to be Earth.

This device is called the Large Hadron Collider.

It’s in a 16 and a half mile long oval shaped tunnel, buried 300 feet underground in Geneva, Switzerland.

They’ve been working on it for over a quarter of a century—getting it ready to do it’s job.

And just what IS its job? It smashes atomic particles together at high speed.

This video takes you on a tour of the place.

As you saw—-those working on the project have high hopes that the Collider will reveal all sorts of answers to questions that have deep thinkers for years. You can read a detailed and highly scientific explanation here.

Researchers have been smashing particles together for years—but never at the speeds that this device hopes to create.

And there-in lies the worry.

Some scientists think the chain reaction will be so intense—it’ll be unstoppable, creating an event that won’t end until a black hole is created here on earth.

If that happens, the gravitational mass of the black hole will suck everything into it—including the planet as well as a good hunk of the neighboring galaxy around us.

Of course, similar fears were expressed by some before we tested the first atomic bomb. They worried the explosion might be so hot—it would set Earth’s atmosphere on fire.

They expect to energize the Large Hadron Collider in May of 2008.

Let’s hope we can look back on the event as just another scientific milestone.

—Steve

Link to the video and story Steve covered today on NBC-17

Click on this map to see details on where readers are located

KudoSurf Me!

_uacct = “UA-2987504-1″; urchinTracker();

Blog Information Profile for instanteye

Recent Readers to Between The Lines via KEOTAG

View Entire Community
Provided by MyBlogLog

Bad science, Dark matter, Destroying the universe, Large Hadron Collider, Steve Sbraccia, destroying the planet

This blog entry has no comments.

SEE post comments or MAKE a comment

That Just Doesn’t Work….

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on September 8, 2008 at 2:35 am

Sometimes there are things that just don’t work—no matter how hard you try.

Just ask those involved in these little enterprises…

IT’S A CRIME…

Remember the days when mobsters were feared—and had scary nick-names like “The Undertaker,” or “The Widowmaker?..”

But these days—it seems even the mob has fallen on hard times–and those Cosa Nostra guys are not like the gangsters we watched on The Sopranos..

The cops report some members of the Boston-area mob are so hard up for cash they’ve taken to shoplifting— or in the case of one mafioso— seen peddling electric toothbrushes on street corners.

You can read here how mob’s being affected by the tough economic times…

And it’s gotta be embarrassing for guys like the fellow trying to make his monthly nut as a street peddler…

Can’t you hear that guy trying to collect a loan-sharking debt—”youse better pay me the money youse owes me—or i’m gonna take away your dental floss!”

IT’S KIND OF A THIN MARKETING PLOY….

These days everybody’s health conscious—and lots of manufacturers of food products are looking to find ways to cash in on the health craze…

But — what EXACTLY did they do to this water to make it DIET water?

THIS JUST DOESN’T WASH…

I’m sure this guy loves his car—and wants to keep it clean..

But, really — this appears to be overkill..

Perhaps he’s trying to wash off the acid rain…

SIGNS OF CONFUSION…

Lots of folks complain about poorly marked roads where you just can’t figure out where you are because there are no signs….

But, in Concord, North Carolina they appear to have gone overboard on the signage…..

Note to the N.C. Department of Transportation guys: too much is as bad as too little…

—Steve

Click on this map to see details on where readers are located

KudoSurf Me!

_uacct = “UA-2987504-1″; urchinTracker();

Blog Information Profile for instanteye

body .mblrr_v{width:160px;overflow:hidden;background-color:white;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;border:1px solid teal;} body .mblrr_v img {border:0;} body .mblrr_v h2 {font-size:16px;margin:0;color:white;background-color:teal;} body .mblrr_v h2 span {padding-left:5px;color:white;} body .mblrr_v a {font-size:10px;text-align:center;display:block;color:black;} body .mblrr_v a:visited {font-size:10px;text-align:center;display:block;color:black;} body .mblrr_v a img {border-top:1px solid teal;} body .mblrr_v div {border-top:1px solid teal;}

Recent Readers to Between The Lines via KEOTAG

View Entire Community
Provided by MyBlogLog

NC, Steve Sbraccia, diet water, econmy hurts the mob, mobster sells toothbrushes on the street, strange road signs, too many signs in Concord

This blog entry has no comments.

SEE post comments or MAKE a comment

That Can’t Be Good…

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on September 4, 2008 at 2:33 am

We all make mistakes—but most of the time our mistakes aren’t posted on the Internet for the world to see.

What follows are a few hands over the mouth—oh my goodness—oops moments that I’m sure the perpetrators wished hadn’t happened in front of a rolling video camera…

NO TANKS NECCISARY….

This young fellow apparently thought he was going to impress the world with his weight lifting abilities as he set his camera to record..

But it would appear his confidence wasn’t the only thing he shattered that day…

HE FOULED OUT….

This guy apparently thought his fiance would have nothing to say but “yes” when he proposed to her in front of a stadium full of people…

I’m not sure what hurt him more—her reaction—or the live play-by-play from the two announcers…

THEY’LL BE NEEDELING HIM ABOUT THIS FOR YEARS…

This fellow had what’s known as a cylinder record in his hands… This particular piece of technology was designed by Thomas Edison—and used for some time before someone else figured records ought to be made flat instead of cylindrical…

I bet he wishes he could have destroyed the videotape that recorded him as easily as he destroyed this artifact…

And you thought YOU had a bad day now and again?

—Steve

Click on this map to see details on where readers are located

KudoSurf Me!

_uacct = “UA-2987504-1″; urchinTracker();

Blog Information Profile for instanteye

Recent Readers to Between The Lines via KEOTAG

View Entire Community
Provided by MyBlogLog

Steve Sbraccia, funny accident videos, man breaks priceless antique on tv, that can't be good, weighlifter breaks fishtank, woman rejects proposal on live tv

This blog entry has no comments.

SEE post comments or MAKE a comment

Weird Science….

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on September 3, 2008 at 3:15 am

We’ve all heard of mad scientists—but sometimes it’s not the scientist whose mad—but rather it’s the science itself that’s just plain weird…

WIRE IS THIS HAPPENING….

For almost two decades an Indonesian woman says she’s been afflicted by a bizarre condition—-metal wires are growing out of her body.

The 40-year-old kindergarten teacher has wires protruding from her chest and belly.

X-Rays indicate there are many more wires inside of her body.

As you can read here—when she tries to trim the wires—they allegedly recede back into her body and pop out somewhere else…

This video is from an Indonesian TV news report… Although it’s untranslated and uncaptioned—you can certainly get a good look at her condition as she and her doctor discuss it…

LET THE FUR FLY…

Have you ever seen butter fly? Or a horse fly? Probably not…

But, if you you take a trip to China’s Qingyan province you may JUST see a cat fly..

That’s right..

A woman there claims her cat has sprouted furry wings.

As you can read here, the cat’s owner claims the wings began as tiny bumps during a dry spell–and are now fill fledged wings.

Vets say the cat ought to live a normal life —all nine of them—even with its wings.

YOU EXPECT US TO BELIEVE THAT TAIL?

Cats are supposed to have tails.

Humans are not.

But don’t tell that to a man from Alipurduar in West Bengal, India…

Seems a lot of the folks in the area are worshiping Chandre Oram because of his unusual appendage..

But, as you can read here—although the tail may be good for attracting worshippers—it’s not so good attracting women.

The poor guy says he’s had at least 20 women turn down marriage offers—because the tail turns ‘em off—much like the reaction of this female TV reporter when she gets a load of his extra piece of anatomy.

I don’t think anyone can top THAT tale !

—Steve

Click on this map to see details on where readers are located

KudoSurf Me!

_uacct = “UA-2987504-1″; urchinTracker();

Blog Information Profile for instanteye

Recent Readers to Between The Lines via KEOTAG

View Entire Community
Provided by MyBlogLog

Steve Sbraccia, You can't make this stuff up, cat with wings, man with tail, weird science, wires grow from woman's body

This blog entry has no comments.

SEE post comments or MAKE a comment

A Legandery Voice Is Stilled…

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on September 2, 2008 at 2:47 am

You may not have known his name—but your certainly knew voice.

Don LaFontaine—the king of voice over work—died suddenly in Los Angeles following complications from elective surgery he underwent earlier this year.

Back in March, we ran this post which included an in-his-own-words account of how he nearly died after botched elective surgery…

* * * ORIGINALLY POSTED MARCH 26, 2008 * * *

~~~~~~

JUST LIKE IN THE MOVIES…..

The man who has the “voice of doom delivery” that has narrated thousands of movie previews almost ended up on the great cutting room floor in the sky…

Don LaFontaine—who gained on-camera fame with the general public as the “movie announcer guy” in a Geico commercial—was one of several famous voice over artists we profiled in this post last year…

Don’s voice was silenced—and his life almost cut short after a routine bit of elective surgery went bad.

You can read his own words here about what happened—and how he’s now recovering ..

Just like the movies he promotes—Don’s on his way toward a happy ending…

~~~~~

Unfortunately—this movie did NOT have a happy ending. His wife said a blood clot in Don’s lung suddenly appeared last week, and he was unable to recover from it.

Don was the kind of guy who didn’t mind poking fun of himself—as you can see in these clips..

Don was 68 years old.

—Steve

Click on this map to see details on where readers are located

KudoSurf Me!

_uacct = “UA-2987504-1″; urchinTracker();

Blog Information Profile for instanteye

Recent Readers to Between The Lines via KEOTAG

View Entire Community
Provided by MyBlogLog

Steve Sbraccia, don lafontaine, voice over artists

This blog entry has no comments.

SEE post comments or MAKE a comment

Bits & Pieces, Odds & Ends Version18.0

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on August 29, 2008 at 1:47 am

We’ve just come through a week with a lot of serious and imposing news… So, it’s time to take a break, and lighten our loads… And that’s what we’re doing in this version of:

PRINTER’S DEVILS…

Back in the day when type was set by hand—mistakes that cropped up were blamed on printer’s devils—the young apprentices who actually mixed the ink, scrubbed rollers and fetched the type …

These days newspaper pages are now computer generated—but it seems printers still have a devil of a time keeping mistakes out of ‘em…

WASH AWAY MY TROUBLES….

Was the driver of this car blinded by the blast from high pressure hose the attendant squirted into his car twice—-or was he just taking out his revenge at the attendant for soaking the inside of his automobile??

WASH AWAY MY TROUBLES #2

The driver of this car apparently didn’t get the concept of put it in neutral—and take your foot off the gas….

“Our perceived enemies will change over time. First it will be the Russians. When that doesn’t work, it will be terrorists. When that is played out, the threat will be killer asteroids. When that no longer works, they will say our enemies will be aliens from space. It is all a lie.”

—Wernher Von Braun, father of the American Space program, as related to Dr. Carol Rosen when he was dying of cancer in the early 70’s.

—Steve

Click on this map to see details on where readers are located

KudoSurf Me! _uacct = “UA-2987504-1″; urchinTracker();

Blog Information Profile for instanteye

Recent Readers to Between The Lines via KEOTAG

View Entire Community Provided by MyBlogLog

Steve Sbraccia, bits & pieces, dr. carol rosen, funny car wash videos, funny newspaper headlines, wernher von braun\'s prediction

This blog entry has no comments.

SEE post comments or MAKE a comment

Steps To The Future…

Posted by Steve Sbraccia

on August 27, 2008 at 2:38 am

He was never supposed to walk again—but after 20 years confined to a wheelchair, Radi Kaiof has the freedom to step anywhere he wants…

Kaioff accomplishes this by using a human exoskeleton suit developed by an Israeli high-tech firm.

The device is called ReWalk—and it was developed by another wheelchair bound man.

Amit Goffer is the founder of Argo Medical Technologies—and the creator of ReWalk.

Ironically, Goffer CAN’T use his own invention—because as you can read here, his paralyzing injury left him without the use of his arms.

As this corporate video clip below shows—ReWalk is only for those who are paralyzed from the waist down—because it’s operated by a control panel worn on the arm.

But it’s a start.

Hope for many other more severely paralyzed folks could come from many other human exoskeleton devices which are being developed.

Here’s a look at some of them which we talked about in this post—earlier this year.

* ORIGINALLY POSTED MAY 16, 2008 *

~~~~~~

Back in 1983, The band STYX had a big hit with their song Mr. Roboto..

The tune was part of the rock opera “Kilroy Was Here”.

Mr. Roboto tells the story of a rock and roll performer who escapes from a futuristic prison by overtaking a roboto prison guard and hiding inside the emptied-out metal shell…

Now—it looks like Mr. Roboto may come alive as the result of some pretty cool scientific research into exoskeletons …

Once a term that referred only to the outer skeletons that protected bugs and similar creatures, science has been working on finding ways to use powered exoskeletons to help we humans do stuff…

AN ARMY OF ONE….

This unit here has been under development for the U.S. Army for more than 6 years—and has cost millions of research dollars to date..

GARAGE BAND…

Lots of the stuff we use today began it’s life in someone’s garage workshop—and so it is with this Roboto…

Canadian inventor Troy Hurtubise has spent two years, and about $150,000 to create his exoskeleton suit he calls Trojan.

Useful for military, police and other applications—this invention shows you don’t have to have a big budget, or a fancy research lab to execute a great idea..