Monthly Archives: January 2010

Once Again, Cold Weather Doesn’t Disprove Global Warming | 80beats

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snowstormWhen the Copenhagen climate summit ended in disappointment and finger-pointing, we saw again just how difficult it would be to get the world’s nations on board for an agreement to lower greenhouse emissions and slow global warming. This week brings another reminder of how far away we are from meaningful action: We can’t even get past the difference between weather and climate.

It’s bitter cold this week, even for January. Beijing had its coldest morning in almost 40 years and its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap since 1981 [AP]. The southern United States is in the grip of freezing weather; the Midwest has seen dangerously cold wind chills far below zero. Trying to stave off the inevitable “where’s your global warming now” chants, the AP and other news sources rushed to run pieces trying to get across—one more time—that weather isn’t climate. The chants came, inevitably. But despite pundits and columnists who try to conflate the two to take the same old swings at global warming, a single bout of cold weather—or hot, for that matter—doesn’t actually say diddly squat about long-term climate patterns.

However, if one can set aside for a moment climate politics as usual and this weather-is-climate misunderstanding, the short-term weather patterns at play in our current spell of frigidity are pretty interesting. Whatever happened to this year’s El Niño, for instance? Shorter-term, naturally variable patterns such as El Niño account for seasonal differences — making one winter warmer or colder than another. But it takes a strong El Niño to dominate the pattern of a U.S. winter with unusually warm and dry conditions across the northern tier of the country, and cooler and wetter weather across the south, and the current El Niño is not strong [Discovery News].

In addition, there’s the curious case of the current Arctic Oscillation, which is rather out of sorts. Essentially, air pressure is measured at various places across the Arctic and at the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere – about 45 degrees north, roughly the latitude of Milan, Montreal or Vladivostok. The difference between the average readings for the two latitudes gives the state of the Arctic Oscillation index [BBC News]. A positive reading means high pressure in the mid-latitudes and low pressure at the pole; a negative reading means it’s the opposite. And what we see right now is an “extraordinary negative plunge” to levels not seen since at least 1950, Andy Revkin shows at his New York Times blog. What these conditions mean is that cold air spills out of the Arctic down to mid-latitudes, which this time round includes much of Europe, tracts of the US and China [BBC News].

As you can see in the historical chart of the Arctic Oscillation, it’s a pretty scattershot phenomenon. But it’s an important one, which could help to explain why it’s frigid in the continental United States but unseasonably nice in some far northern locales. In 2001, after analyzing its impact on Northern Hemisphere winters, University of Washington researchers suggested that effects of the Arctic Oscillation on weather patterns “appear to be as far-reaching as those triggered by El Niño in the South Pacific” [Discovery News]. Jack Williams has more about this.

Related Content:
80beats: The New Murder-Mystery Game: Who Killed Copenhagen?
The Intersection: Fox News Presents a Classic “He Said, She Said” on Climate Science
The Intersection: Sounds Familiar
The Intersection: How the Global Warming Story Changed, Disastrously, Due to “ClimateGate”
DISCOVER: The Next Ice Age

Image: flickr / bsabarnowl


Smog Rules Could Cost Industry $90B–and Save $100B on Health Costs | 80beats

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la-smog-webThe Environmental Protection Agency has announced its proposal to toughen up the standards for smog-causing pollutants, which would replace the standards set during the Bush administration.

The Obama administration’s proposal sets a primary standard for ground-level ozone of no more than 0.060 to 0.070 parts per million, to be phased in over two decades. Regions with the worst smog pollution, including much of the Northeast, Southern and Central California and the Chicago and Houston areas, would have more time than other areas to come into compliance [The New York Times]. The previous standard was 0.075 parts per million, set in 2008 despite government scientists’ objection that it was not strict enough. Smog is formed when a stew of nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, and methane is baked in sunlight.

The new standard won’t be cheap, but proponents say it will save money, and lives, in the long run. The EPA estimates that by 2020 the proposal will cost $19 billion to $90 billion to implement and will yield health benefits worth $13 billion to $100 billion. The proposal would result in 1,500 to 12,000 avoided premature deaths by 2020, though the precise number depends on what limit the agency adopts [Washington Post]. Smog is linked to a wide variety of heart and respiratory diseases. Currently, a majority of the counties that are required to monitor ozone levels would not meet the new standard. If the 0.070 limit is adopted, 515 of the 675 counties that monitor ozone levels would be out of compliance.

Factories, oil and gas refineries, and power companies would be required to clean up their acts. “Coal-burning power plants are the 800-pound gorilla in the room,” John Walke, a clean air lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said about the industry that could get hit hardest. He said airplanes, ships, locomotives and off-road vehicles would also be targeted, perhaps more than automobiles, which have had to cut pollution since the 1970s [Reuters].

If approved, the new rules wouldn’t be phased in for several years. Whatever limit is selected, by the end of 2013, states must submit plans showing how areas that do not attain the new standard will be brought into compliance. The new rules would be phased in between 2014 and 2031, with deadlines depending on how dirty the air is in a given region [The New York Times]. The EPA will announce the new standard at the end of a 60 period to allow for public comment.

Related Content:
80beats: Asia’s Great Brown Cloud Is Spewed by Millions of Wood-Burning Hearths
80beats: When Laws Save Lives: Cleaner Air Increased Life Expectancy by 5 Months
DISCOVER: The Smoking Torch explains what smog does to an athlete’s lungs
DISCOVER: Air Pollution Linked to Genetic Mutations
DISCOVER: Fetuses Take Air Pollution to Heart

Image: flickr / jonlclark


New Villain in the Obesity Epidemic: Mean Gym Teachers | Discoblog

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gym-teacherMy high school physical education teacher had a nickname for everyone. (Mine was “Little One” because I was the runt of the class. Better than “Chicken Bones,” as one scrawny boy was dubbed.) It didn’t bother me, but according to research recently published in Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, I dodged a bullet–or maybe the dodgeball.

Billy Strean, a professor at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, says “a negative lifelong attitude towards physical activity can be determined by either a good or a bad experience, based on the personal characteristics of the coach or instructor. For example, negative experiences may come from a teacher who has low energy, is unfair and/or someone who embarrasses students.”

One person in Strean’s study shared this: “I am a 51-year-old-woman whose childhood experiences with sports, particularly as handled in school, were so negative that even as I write this my hands are sweating and I feel on the verge of tears. I have never experienced the humiliation nor felt the antipathy toward any other aspect of life as I do toward sports.”

To help combat the obesity epidemic and give people a healthier attitude towards exercise, Strean suggests coaches and teachers emphasize fun and, until kids are in their teens, consider not keeping scores.

Not sure how my high school classmate “Ace” would have felt about that….

Related Content:
Discoblog: Musical, Fahrvergnügen-Inspired Staircase Makes Commuters Less Lazy
80beats: Despite Exercise, Zero-G Makes Astronauts as Wimpy as 80-Year-Olds
80beats: All Gain, No Pain: New Drugs Could Mimic the Effects of Exercise

Image: iStockphoto


African skeptic needs our help! | Bad Astronomy

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Leo Igwe is a skeptic in Africa who has tirelessly and heroically fought the forces of unreason. He is director of the Centre for Inquiry in Nigeria and executive director of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, and has battled against female genital mutilation, the oppression of women in Africa, witch hunters, and all manners of religious-based (generally Sharia law) woe in that continent.

But he’s in trouble. Igwe accused a man of raping a ten-year-old girl in Nigeria. This man has turned around and accused Igwe and his father of murdering another person — an apparently false charge, since the man was examined and found to have died due to an HIV/AIDS related illness. Igwe was arrested, temporarily imprisoned, and then let out on bail. But the pressure is on, and the Nigerian government is not doing a whole lot to help.

Please note all this is alleged, but is coming from multiple sources. You can find more information on on the Think Humanism forum. Also, Kylie Sturgess has been on this since it started, and has more information on this case with updates and what can be done to help.


Please Send "Gordo" Fullerton Your Get Well Wishes – Update

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- Keith's note: Linn LeBlanc, Executive Director, Astronaut Scholarship Foundation sent a note out to a bunch of people who, in turn sent it to other people. I eventually got 7 copies. I posted it here - as I have in the past in similar situations thinking it would be nice for readers to also send in wishes. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation then called me to complain that it was posted with contact information so I removed it. I certainly wish Mr. Fullerton well and hope that he has a speedy and full recovery. However, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation really needs to take a few PR lessons i.e. if a family (understandably) wants privacy then the Foundation should not send out an email to people that contains home addresses and emails and openly ask people to send cards and messages.

Sensors and Imagers Improve Short-Term Weather Forecasts

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Advanced Baseline Imager & sounder instruments
ITT Space Systems Division
Rochester, NY
585-269-5600
http://www.ssd.itt.com

Imager and sounder instruments
designed and built by ITT Space
Systems Division were launched last
June aboard the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Geostationary Operational Environ -
mental Satellite-O (GOES-O). These
core instruments provide crucial data to
the National Weather Service for severe
weather forecasting. Images from the
weather satellite instruments are used
for tracking and forecasting hurricanes
and other severe weather.

Hands On Casio’s EX-FH100 High Speed Exilim Camera: Slow Mo Tech is Maturing [Cameras]

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I love Casio slow motion cameras, even if their stills are generally not all that great. The new EX-FH100 is pocketsized, has a 10x zoom and a new 120frame per second mode that doesn't have low light issues. Love it.

Older cameras would be impossible to use at 300FPS indoors, because the grain and exposure would become an issue. A quick test on the floor of CES showed that even zoomed in, the 120FPS mode, benefiting from the highly light sensitive backlit CMOS, did really well. And truthfully, 120FPS is better for sports, etc than 300FPS, in my opinion. The 120FPS mode also has another benefit — 640 x 480 pixel res, which is more usable than the old 300FPS mode's 512 x 384 res. It has modes up to 1000FPS, though.

I'm getting one of these, without a doubt.







Do You Have Enough Friends For D-Link’s DIR-632 802.11n Router? [Routers]

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D-Link's giving your popularity the benefit of the doubt by offering 8 Ethernet ports on their new DIR-632 802.11n router. If you're worried about all those open ports bumming you out, D-Link has 3 other new devices to check out.

If the DIR-632's 8 ports seem like overkill, there's the D-Link Rush (DAP-1560), the Touch (DAP-865), and a new 802.11n pocket router that has no epithet.

The Rush is a secure, powerful access point designed to beef up your current home network for bandwidth intensive content, like HD movies. The Touch, as its name suggests, has a 3" touch screen for, you know, changing all those settings you change on your router. The pocket router can function as its own router or as an access point, extending an existing network.

The new routers will be available in the first half of 2010, and prices will be announced at launch. In the case of the DIR-632, that gives you just a few months to secure your LAN party RSVPs. [GDGT]

D-LINK ANNOUNCES THREE NEW 802.11n
WIRELESS HOME ROUTERS FOR GREATER SPEED,
DISTANCE AND PORTABILITY

The D-Linkâ Rush™ and D-Link Touch™ in Fast Lane of Home Connectivity; Wireless N Pocket Router
Provides Unlimited Mobility

LAS VEGAS, CES Booth 36232, South Hall, LVCC, Jan. 6, 2010 - D-Link today announced three innovative 802.11n wireless devices for the home - one that boosts network speeds to unprecedented levels for existing routers, another that combines high speed and range with stylish functionality in the digital home, and yet another that offers convenient wireless connectivity on the go.

The D-Linkâ Rush™ (DAP-1560) is D-Link's fastest, most far-reaching and most secure wireless device yet. It takes home networking to a new level of performance for homeowners who demand the fastest streaming possible of high-definition content, such as movies, HD video and photos. There is no need to replace the home router - its unique 4x4 antenna design helps boost the power of any existing 802.11 a, b, g or n router with up to 600Mbps* speed and greater signal coverage.

The dual-band selectable device transmits in 2.4GHz wireless band for applications such as surfing the Internet or in 5GHz wireless band for HD media streaming, online gaming and large data file transfer. The latest D-Link AP can also be used as a wireless client to Ethernet-enabled media devices such as video game consoles, Digital Video Recorders (DVR), and Digital Media Adapters (DMA) for seamless access to the Internet.

The D-Link Touch™ (DIR-865) blends power, speed, range, security, functionality and energy efficiency into one economical and attractive router for homes or small businesses with ever-growing multimedia applications. It sports a 3-inch interactive touch screen for easy setup, configuration and management of the router and Internet traffic.
Its concurrent dual-band capabilities and three data streams support data transfer rates up to 450Mbps*, allowing users to stream HD content faster than ever before in the 5GHz wireless band, while surfing the Internet without lag-time and checking email on the 2.4GHz band. The 802.11n Wi-Fi router is backward compatible to earlier standards (802.11 a/b/g).

The D-Link Wireless N Pocket Router is an ideal travel companion featuring multi-mode functionality. It can be used either as a wireless router to create an 802.11n Wi-Fi network anywhere one is needed, or as an access point (AP) to add Wi-Fi to an existing wired network. It is small enough for travellers to carry with them, includes a travel case for convenience and SharePort™ technology to enable users to share USB devices. The device also can be used to connect an Ethernet-ready device, such as a desktop PC or Xbox 360®, to a Wi-Fi network for increased flexibility and convenience.

Lightweight and compact with its own travel case, the Pocket Router is small enough to carry while traveling and sets up easily to share an Internet connection or connect to an existing wired network in a conference room, hotel room or anywhere a Wi-Fi network is needed. It delivers powerful 802.11n performance and offers the latest wireless security features to help prevent unauthorized access.

Price and Availability

The D-Link Rush, the D-Link Touch and the D-Link Wireless N Pocket Router will be available in the first half of 2010 through the company's network of retail and etail outlets, and at D-Link's online store, http://www.dlinkshop.com. Pricing will be announced when the products ship.



Taser Wants to Help Stop the Sexting Craze [Taser]

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Taser, not content just helping cops electrocute old people and the handicapped, has decided to focus some of its energy on stopping sexting and texting while driving. Not with electrocution, sadly.

The tech itself is pretty ho-hum: it lets parents monitor texts and control when they can use their phone. Why the hell they're doing this when they normally make, you know, tasers, is beyond me. But hey, power to you, Taser.



At CES? Join Wilson For a Talk About the Future of GPS Navigation [Announcements]

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Quick heads up that I will be moderating what promises to be a great panel on the future of GPS navigation, starting in a little under an hour here at the Las Vegas Convention Center—3pm, North Hall N260. We've got amazing people from TomTom, Garmin, Nokia, TeleNav and SiRF/CSR on the panel, and my guess is that Apple and Google will come up at least once each—every 3 minutes. Here are some more details: [CES]



The City of Ordos Is the Ghost City of the Future [Architecture]

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China keeps growing like a giant red octopus fed by nuclear power and monosodium glutamate, a country that keeps spending money in pharaonic projects. Some useful, like the fastest train in the world. And some eerie and worthless, like Ordos.

The city of Ordos was founded on February 26, 2001. Ordos means "palaces" in Mongolian, and it's richer than Beijing. In fact, with a $14,500 GDP per capita, it's one of the richest in the whole country. With 1,548,000 inhabitants, Ordos is not exactly empty. But much of its modern architecture, sometimes awesomely futuristic, sometimes nafftastically overdeveloped and underdesigned, remains completely empty. The density of this city is only 17.8 people per square kilometer. By comparison, New York City has 157.91 habitants per square kilometer, San Francisco has 6,688.4, and Madrid 5,293.69. Even the city of Dubai, which has only grew in recent years, has 408.18 people per square kilometer.

And yet, the city of Ordos keeps growing like its motherland, with no control and making little sense at times. If at all. [Wikipedia]



The Best of CES [Ces2010]

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CES week meant one thing: Absolute gadget overload. Here's the best of Gizmodo's dispatches from gadget hell, all in one place.

Monday—The Pre-Pre-Pre-Show


This is the day that the press starts to show up, and when the conference begins to assume its horrible shape. It's not really CES, but it's starting to feel that way.

• MSI's lineup semi-leaked, including a dual-screen ereader and a 3D laptop. These, nt coincidentally, will be concepts and words you'll be unbelievably tired of by the end of the week. GET READY FOR 3D EREADERS, Y'ALL.

• There was a washer/dryer with Android. Why? Why not? (But really, why?)

• And we did a little recon on the main CES building. What we found: 3D, 3D, 3D, 3D.

Tuesday—Day Zero


The show floor isn't open yet, but the press conferences are starting in full force. This means interesting announcements! And gadget spam. But mostly announcements.

• Lenovo dumped the first true banner products of the show, with the IdeaCenter 300a ultrathin AIO, the first Snapdragon smartbook, and a capacitive multitouch netbook tablet.

• Iomega figured out how to make your entire PC portable.

• This is kind of inevitable: A 24-hour 3D channel is coming in 2011. It will show Avatar on loop, I think.

• Vizio's aiming upscale for once, with 480Hz, locally dimming LED 3D TVs. And a bizarrely wide 21x9 TV, which is proportioned roughly like a billboard.

• A pico projector with a projection you can actually manipulate with your fingers.

• Asus confirmed their commitment to Bamboo-trimmed faux-eco-laptops, designer netbooks for the lay-deez, and ridiculous giant desktop replacements with dual trackpads. They also predicted the future, and gave it a stupid name: Waveface.

• We got to play with the Lenovo IdeaPad hybrid tablet...thing. It's got a ton of potential.

• An HDTV in a polar bear.

• I ran Spring Design's dual-screened Android ereader through its paces. It's a geekier Nook.

• We heard rumblings about a multitouch HP tablet, codeveloped with Microsoft. It sounds a little Courier-y, but almost definitely not the Courier.

Wednesday—Day One


The show floor still isn't open, but the new hardware is coming fast and hard.

• Sling unveiled three new ways to share your TV with yourself (it's what they do!), including a USB Slingbox. Their new remote control is supremely sexy, but also only available from your cable or sat provider.

• LG assured Plasma fans that they're still in the game, and put their LED TVs on a dangerous crash diet. Then they threw a hard drive into their top-line Blu-ray player, because nobody stopped them. Meanwhile, set-top boxes inched closer to obsolescence.

• Netgear's new wireless-N routers can receive and share both 3G and WiMax. Meanwhile, dedicated 3G and WiMax sharing hardware inched closer to obsolescence.

• Philips' Research Labs is making good on the color ebook reader promise, one tech demo at a time.

• AT&T will finally get some Android phones, courtesy of HTC, Dell and Motorola. They're also getting two webOS (Palm) phones, which could mean a lot of things right now. Hopefully more that just the Pre and Pixi.

• Toshiba claims that their new cell TVs can convert 2D content into 3D in real time. It may or may not look terrible.

• Samsung's LED TV line is pornographically thin.

• Panasonic showed us their dual-eyed 3D camcorder. It'll be $22,000 when it comes out in Fall. Speaking of 3D!

• More Panny news, but this definitely earns its own bullet: They've released another mega TV, this time at 152 inches—the largest ever—and with 4x by 2k resolution and 3D support. Awesome.

• Microsoft's Project Natal is coming in time for Christmas! Which is basically as far away as it could be, in 2010.

• Sony's BDP-S770 Blu-ray player Has 3D, Wi-Fi and Netflix. And you can control it with an iPhone.

• We got a hands-on with with Sony's Dash, a slick 7" internet viewer.

• Sony—they got busy this year—also released GPS and Compass enabled cameras. So your pictures will know where you are, even if you don't.

• We checked out the first 3D DirecTV broadcast, and it looked as good as any home theater 3D we've seen.

• We got the chance to flip the Motorola Backflip, the first folding Android phone. It is..interesting.

• Steve Ballmer's keynote! The moment everyone was waiting for! There was a Windows 7 HP "slate," but no Courier.

• We got our paws on Nvidia's tablet, an as-of-yet unnamed, 7" Android-running affair.

• We tried out Kodak's Waterproof Playsport pocket cam. It might be our favorite one yet.

• Sprint is really, totally, officially launching WiMax with the Sprint Overdrive hub, allowing five people to suck down some serious bandwidth.

• We saw a laptop with a transparent OLED screen. We don't know how useful that is, but it sure is futuristic.

• Samsung's 3D OLED display brings us ever closer to being actually, literally paper-thin.

Thursday—Day Two


• We got a hands-on with the Skiff reader. The verdict: Kindle and Nook, get scared.

• Alienware showed off the M11X, a sub-$1000 netbook, which is about as alien to their usual line-up as you can get. We got to try it out.

• We love the slate concept from Dell (even though it sort of looks like a big iPod Touch). We got a quick look in a dark corridor. Very cloak and dagger.

• Here's how Plastic Logic's Que Reader felt to our hands: tall, slender, and blissful. The price tag, however? Not so slender.

• We were the first to get touchy feely with the Sling Touch Control 100 DVR remote.

• The Else Emblaze is a touchscreen smartphone David in a industry packed with Goliaths. But the underdog always has a shot, and there was a lot to like about the Else.

• We oohed and ahhed over Intel's double multitouch, Tweet-displaying wall. Once we picked our jaw up off the floor, we shot some video.

• The new wood-bodied Polaroid PIC-1000 might give you splinters, but it works with Polaroid 1000 Instant film.

• We got the first hands on with Skype TV and it seems like it's going to be a great way to keep in touch with your family. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to you.

• The Palm Pixi Plus and Palm Pre Plus were announced! They're coming exclusively to Verizon on January 25. We tried out the Pre Plus and the Pixi Plus and found that the updates were welcome, if not as extensive as we might like.

• We got to peer through the transparent-screened Samsung IceTouch PMP and couldn't help but appreciate its utter weirdness.

• We also scoped out Samsung's C9000 Ultra-thin TV, as well as their Wi-Fi-enabled, touchscreen, video-playing remote. It was just about as cool as it sounds.

• Haier cut the wires—all of em—on a prototype wireless TV, thanks to MIT's WiTricity and WHDI wireless video. Freedom!

• There's a lot of sadness going on at CES, in many different forms, but this karaoke-singing Sisyphus was doomed to sing for eternity. Or at least all of CES.

• If you only watch one four minute recap video of CES this year, make it Joel Johnson's four minute recap video of CES.

• ioSafe burned, drowned and crushed a hard drive to show that it was tough as nails. Afterward, it worked!

• Hard drives weren't the only things that we tried to break this year at CES. Gorilla Glass showed off their unbreakable, unscratchable panels.

• We tried out the $199 Freescale tablet and thought the UI was decidedly last-gen. One insulting example: you have to flick the browser's scroll bar to move down a web site.

• The Lenovo Skylight smartbook, despite its frisbee form factor, showed some promise despite not being quite so smart, yet.

• With all these new 3D TVs being announced, everyone's rocking 3D specs. Our gallery shows that some wear them better than others.

Friday—Day Three

• The As Seen On TV Hat, as seen on TV, blocks out all that boring real life stuff going on around you so you can focus on watching video on your iPhone.

• We got a real hands on with the 5" Dell tablet, and while we're not sure why we need it, we are sure that we like it.

• Pixel Qi's transflective LCD display gives you the best of both worlds: full LCD color and E-Ink-esque readability. E-Ink should be shaking in its boots.

• We took a look at Navteq's laser-based rig for 3D mapping. Suck it, street view.

• This year, mutant camcorder rigs popped up everywhere at the convention. We put together a gallery of the most mutantest we encountered.

• We put PR people on the spot by giving them 10 seconds to shill their product in a little segment we call Justify Your Gadget .

• We checked back in with the Saddest Man at CES on video and were happy to report that morale had improved at his karaoke stage.

• Fittingly, both being things that intrigue and disturb us, Taser and Sexting are now official enemies.

• Casio's Exilim EX-FH100, a slow-mo shooting point and shoot, is improving its tech and making us happy in the process.

• The meanest thing we did at CES this year wasn't very mean. The press room didn't have enough boxed lunch, so we ordered a bunch of pizza.

We do some moaning and groaning about CES and all of misery it entails, but in the end it's still a great time to see old friends, make new ones, and, of course, check out some really exciting gadgets. Here's Brian's post on the happiest moments of CES.



Winter swimming rules at Den Haag’s beaches.

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denhaag

The beach in Den Haag, Netherlands.

Most don’t think of the Netherlands‘ Den Haag (the Hague) as a beach town.  Most probably wouldn’t put the words “beach” and “the Netherlands” in the same sentence at all.  But behind the Holland Casino Scheveningen, one of Den Haag’s most famous buildings, you’ll find 11 kilometers of gorgeous beach and coastline.  And if you possess an adventurous spirit (and cold-blooded nature), you don’t have to wait until summer to indulge.

No matter what time of year you visit Den Haag, you’ll find people on the beach.  Some walk.  Some lay out when the sun pokes out its sleepy winter head.  Some just take a glance and head back into the casino to play the slots.  But many – many more than you’d ever think – swim.  Even when the weather seems much too cold to even consider the notion.

During my last trip to Den Haag, I was saddened that I had missed New Year’s Day.  A festive time of year in the Netherlands, Den Haag’s beach hosts a Polar Bear Swim event that’s quite popular.  I wanted to see with my own eyes just how many people would come out for it.  Especially since that year, it was absolutely freezing outside.  Alas, I was two weeks late and could only see the highlights on television – it looked like a great turn-out despite the weather.  But when I finally did arrive and went to walk along the coast line, I found that several people were swimming in the water just for their own sake.  Even though it was only 5 degrees Celcius outside.  And a few weren’t even wearing wetsuits.

While I don’t think I’ll be doing any winter swimming soon – at least, not without a wetsuit and a dare – and can’t necessarily endorse the activity, I do recommend getting out to Den Haag’s beautiful coastline.  If only to enjoy the gorgeous scenery and shake your head at the winter swimmers.

———-

Photo of Den Haag courtesy of soroll.

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Smartphone Touch Screen Analysis Tests Finger Fidelty [Touchscreens]

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MOTO Development Labs devised a simple method of analyzing capacitive touch screens using drawing programs. They put the iPhone, the Nexus One, the Droid, and the Droid Eris through the paces and proved not all touch screens are created equal.

Using only your fingers and a drawing app, MOTO shows how you can test out the accuracy of your smartphone's touch screen. The test is simple: draw some slow, steady lines across the screen with your finger. If they're smooth and straight, your touch screen is tracking with relative accuracy. If they're wavy or jagged, your phone might not be giving your fingers the attention they deserve.

MOTO's test showed the iPhone tracking the most accurately of the four, with smooth, straight lines. The Motorola Droid fared worst of the bunch, its crossing lines tracking so jaggedly that the screen looked like a jigsaw puzzle. The Eris and the Nexus One landed somewhere in between.

If jagged lines are the symptoms of a subpar touch screen, MOTO suggests that the affliction can be any combination of too large a sensor, too low a touch-sampling rate, or too inaccurate an algorithm. [MOTO Development Labs - Thanks Sabrina]



Sun, sand and history found in Bodrum, Turkey

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bodrumHistory buffs may know Bodrum as the spot where the famed city of Halicarnassos once stood.  That was home to the Mausoleum, one of the original 7 Wonders of the World, and birthplace of Herodotus, the father of History.  The Hospitallers also stood guard here for a while during medieval times and built an impressive stone fortress called the Bodrum Castle.  But these days, folks flock to this peninsula in Turkey to enjoy sun, sea and sand without the hustle and bustle you find in so many other towns along the  Mediterranean and Aegean.

For years, Bodrum was an undiscovered spot – considered to be very much off the beaten path.  It was popular for sponge diving and fishing but it wasn’t as easy to get to as some of the larger cities along the Turkish coast – and so, for a long time, it remained anonymous but to a few.  But word of mouth travels eventually – and Bodrum’s tranquility and beauty (as well as its historical significance) aren’t something visitors soon forget.  And it’s those things that keep people coming back again and again.  Today, Bodrum is a thriving coastal town with a new local airport.   Yet, it remains small and unassuming enough to allow visitors to truly kick back and relax.

Although Bodrum is largest city on the peninsula, there are villages dotting the coastline that are ready and willing to host you.  It is the perfect place to pick up a gulet, or wooden sailboat, to tour the many coves and beaches nearby or to simply walk and get into the rhythm of a small, peaceful town.

Like the other beaches along the Med and Aegean, the beaches in the area are a mix of sand and stone.  But many of the private resort beaches offer pristine white sand along the crystal blue water.  Bodrum’s location, tucked away in the nestles and coves of the Bodrum Bay, offers only lulling, gentle waves.  It’s a perfect beach destination for families with small children.  Water sports like boating, water skiing, jet skiing and kayaking are also readily available.  And with the town’s resurgence, you can find plenty of resort options, from budget to luxury, to enjoy its many offerings.  All you have to do is show up and enjoy.

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Photo courtesy of Kayt Sukel.

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