Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Interactive Flash map of the Nazi USSR invasion

http://english.pobediteli.ru/flash.html

Pobediteli (Russian: Победители) is a free and non-profit Russian project, celebrating the 60th anniversary of World War II, with the goal of congratulating those who won the Great Patriotic War for the Soviet Union. The project is aimed at reminding people of what they owe to the soldiers in the past who fought for Russia and the deserved recognition of surviving veterans living today. (Wikipedia)

There's a little bit of download time, but that balances out with the amount of time you'll spend on the site.



This is incredible. Via Kottke.

Kids in the Hall tonight

Some wine, some cheese, and some Kids in the Hall. Now, anyone have a tv?



New eight part mini-series starts tonight!

Seterra

Best damn geography quiz program ever.






Review: http://download.cnet.com/Seterra/3000-2056_4-10009970.html

The shit.

What is wind chill?

Wind chill is the apparent temperature felt on exposed skin due to wind. The degree of this phenomenon depends on both air temperature and wind speed. (Wikipedia).

In 2000, the National Weather Service brought together a large group of experts to revise the old Wind Chill Chart that was found to offer inaccurate wind chill values that were often far lower than they should have been. (Accuracyproject)







Other than the weather outside, this new interest in the wind chill came from this recent Slate article via Geekpress.

--

Its ignoble history began with a pair of Antarctic explorers named Paul Siple and Charles Passel. In 1945, the two men left plastic bottles of water outside in the wind and observed the rate at which they froze.

...statements like "it's 5 degrees outside, but it feels like 40 below." What exactly did these phrases mean? The meteorologists would figure the rate of heat loss in watts per square meter and then try to match it up to an equivalent rate produced in low-wind conditions. For example, the rate of heat loss in 5-degree weather and 30 mph wind matched up with the one for minus-40-degree weather and very little wind. So, 5 degrees "felt like" 40 below.

(as above) - The updated model patches over the worst flaws of the old wind chill system, but it's not anything close to perfect. Osczevski and Bluestein made a set of new assumptions to determine wind-chill-equivalent temperatures. Namely, they geared their calculations toward people who are 5 feet tall, somewhat portly, and walk at an even clip directly into the wind. They also left out crucial variables that have an important effect on how we experience the weather, like solar radiation. Direct sunlight can make us feel 10 to 15 degrees warmer, even on a frigid winter day. The wind chill equivalent temperature, though, assumes that we're taking a stroll in the dead of night.

It doesn't tell you how cold your skin will get; that's determined by air temperature alone. Wind chill just tells you the rate at which your skin will reach the air temperature. If it were 35 degrees outside with a wind chill of 25, you might think you're in danger of getting frostbite. But your skin can freeze only if the air temperature is below freezing. At a real temperature of 35 degrees, you'll never get frostbite no matter how long you stand outside. And despite a popular misconception, a below-32 wind chill can't freeze our pipes or car radiators by itself, either.

Adam Radwanski on The Agenda



From the OLG to the LCBO, what are the pros and cons of divesting Ontario's Crown corporations?

Originally aired Thursday January 7th, 2007.

Guests

Adam Radwanski reports on provincial affairs from Queen’s Park for The Globe and Mail.

Peter Tabuns is the NDP MPP for Toronto Danforth. Visit petertabuns.ca.

Norm Miller is the PC MPP for Parry Sound – Muskoka. For more information see normmillermpp.com.

Niels Veldhuis is director of fiscal studies and a senior economist at the Fraser Institute. He has co-authored 4 books and 34 studies on taxation, productivity, entrepreneurship, labour markets, and government performance.

Philip Dewan was Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Official Opposition, Dalton McGuinty, from 1999 to 2003. Today he is president of Counsel Public Affairs.

I haven't watched it yet, but plan to tonight...


http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=779687&ts=2010-01-07%2020:00:00.0

Streetcars vs. bicycle

Not sure if you had a chance to read this article last week:

"For some people a day off is a time to relax, but for Simon Pulsifer, Wikipedia's former number-one contributor, it's "a chance to explore the city, spend a day with friends, see the new St. Clair line, salute the soon to be retired CRLVs, [and] do something that has (probably) never been done before."

Last Sunday, Pulsifer, his brother (and former Torontoist contributor) Andrew, and two of their friends rode all of the TTC streetcar lines in a day (minus the sections of the St. Clair and Roncesvalles lines that are still under construction and the Kingston Road Tripper, which doesn't run on weekends). In total, the foursome traveled approximately 104 kilometres in eight hours and rode on twenty different cars.


(click to enlarge)

Anyway, pretty cool trip. Approximately 104 km, and it took just under 9 hours, lunches and breaks included.

So, who wants to try this route out by bike? Maybe this Sunday? Meet at St. Clair station at 11AM? On bike, with lunch, photos and logging breaks (not those kinds of logging breaks), it shouldn't take more than 5-6 hours.



Can't make it on Sunday? I plan to try to GPS track the day.. details to follow!