Perpetual Ocean – NASA recreates the ocean currents of the world

This visualization shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through Decemeber 2007. The visualization does not include a narration or annotations; the goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience. This visualization was produced using NASA/JPL’s computational model called Estimating the Circulation and Climate …

Historical and Recreational Map of Los Angeles – by Jo Mora, 1942

“Historical and Recreational Map of Los Angeles,” designed by Jo Mora in 1942 and dedicated to his “buen amigo” Charles Lummis. The map squeezes in an extraordinary amount of historical facts and figures onto its 23- by 30-inch surface, depicting almost the entire history of Los Angeles up to that point, while looking toward the …

iTunes University – free online education – is booming with 100s of millions of downloads

This month both Stanford and Open University reached 50 million downloads of their iTunes U content, a major milestone for online education. Altogether, the service from Apple reached 700 million downloads in January 2012.   Stanford News: In subjects ranging from human behavior to linguistics, Stanford lectures…have been downloaded a whopping 50 million times. The …

Journalists are becoming very popular in Facebook

In September 2011, Facebook introduced the Subscribe feature, allowing anyone to subscribe to the updates of anyone else. For public figures, like journalists, with thousands of followers this has turned out to be a boon. Since its launch, thousands of journalists have enabled Subscribe, with news organizations like Washington Post (90+ journalists using the feature) and The New …

Ballona Wetlands – 600 acres of Los Angeles coast will soon be restored

In a first step toward restoring one of Southern California’s few remaining wetlands and opening it to the public, the state has approved spending $6.5 million for planning a massive restoration of the degraded Ballona Wetlands. (In the plan) initial proposals call for spending $100 million to remove concrete levees and truck out tons of …

Energy 101 – Electric Vehicles

This edition of Energy 101 highlights the benefits of electric vehicles, including improved fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, and lower maintenance costs. Electric Vehicle = EV “80% of drivers travel less than 40 miles round-trip for their daily commute. Which is just right for an EV.” “Many of today’s EV’s can go up to 100 miles …

Apple has staged a massive comeback, stopping Android…for now

In the past three months, Nielsen says, Apple has grabbed a 43% share of the smartphones sold in the U.S. Android’s share has increased versus a year ago–it still leads the market with 48%–but Android’s share gains appear to have stalled. Apple’s gains are the result of a few key factors, all of which demonstrate …

Why doesn’t brainstorming work?

From an interview with Jonah Lehrer, author of Imagine: How Creativity Works. Why doesn’t brainstorming work? What should we do instead? I think the failure of brainstorming is inseparable from its allure, which is that it makes us feel good about ourselves. A group of people are put together in a room and told to free-associate, …

Myth = 100% of our energy cannot come form renewable sources

100% of Minnesota’s electricity generation needs can be met by wind and solar sources combined with improvements to the state’s electric grid system and energy efficiency policies, according to a report released today. Renewable Minnesota: Aanalysis of a 100% renewable-energy based electricity system for Minnesota Researched and written by Dr. Arjun Makhijani and Christina Mills …

Nerdist Channel – you have to have an excessive knowledge of nerd culture

This is one of the most entertaining press conferences I’ve ever seen. “You have to have an excessive knowledge of nerd culture, a little bit of desperation, and I believe there is an element of being socially ostracized.”   The Nerdist Channel   Featured shows: Ain’t It Cool with Harry Knowles – the TV version …