via http://www.booooooom.com/2008/09/24/aaron-noble/
Million Dollar Idea: Umbrella Today?
24
Sep
Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins via Mashable!
shared by 4 people
Sometimes, all it takes is a simple and seemingly stupid idea. Any geek worth their salt knows this, because they’ve watched Office Space, and thus know the difference between the “Jump to Conclusions Mat†and the Pet Rock (â€It made a million dollars!â€).
On FriendFeed today, I was alerted to Web 2.0’s version of the Pet Rock by prolific purveyor of cool Mona, a site called “Umbrella Today?“. The site takes the simplicity and utility of sites like “Is it down for everyone or just me?†and the question we all really want to know while we sit through the goofy antics of the local weather guy for seven minutes and combines the two into a quick answer so we can get on with our day.
For those for whom typing in a web address and a zip code is too much work, they also have the weather report boiled down to a yes or no answer available for daily SMS receipt.
It doesn’t get much simpler than this. It’ll probably make a million dollars.
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Drupal Developer’s Toolbox
24
Sep
This post covers essential resources related to Drupal — the basics, modules, Drupal design inspiration, Drupal themes, tutorials, starter themes, blog editors and Drupal-projects.
Chinese Create First Warp Drive [Impossible Drive]
24
Sep
It may sound like something that would transport the Heart Of Gold in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, but the "impossible drive" may soon be racing our explorers to Mars and powering our satellites. More formally known as the "electromagnetic drive," or "emdrive" for short, this steampunk-looking device converts electrical energy into thrust via microwaves, in a way that some physicists believe is impossible. But the Chinese claim they're building a prototype right now.
British scientist Roger Shayer caused a stir when New Scientist highlighted his claims that an em drive could violate strict Newtonian physics, thanks to an effect of Einsteinian relativity. The drive works by filling a "tapering resonant cavity" with microwaves. Critics have dismissed Shayer's idea as another perpetual motion machine, and the British government cut off his funding. But his assocation with China's Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an paid off, and the NPU team has been able to confirm Shayer's work independently. They also claim they're building a a thruster based on Shayer's theories.
If it works the emdrive could create almost as much thrust as the ion thruster NASA currently uses, but using a quarter of the power, Shayer tells Wired. Says Wired:
The possibilities are phenomenal: Instead of going out of service when they run out of fuel, satellites would have greatly extended endurance and be able to move around at will. (We wouldn't have to shoot them down because of the risk from toxic fuel either.) Deep space probes could go further, faster –- and stop when they arrive. Shawyer calculates that a solar-powered Emdrive could take a manned mission to Mars in 41 days. Provided it works, of course.
If this actually pans out, and the Chinese government reaps the benefits, it'll be an object lesson in the dangers of dismissing new scientific ideas out of hand. It could have been Britain building the next-generation fleet of super-fast Mars explorers, after all. Mostly, though, a Chinese breakthrough in the "impossible drive" could spark a new space race — especially if, as Wired hints, the emdrive stands to give China a decisive military advantage in space. [Wired]
Reason’s guide to legal immigration
24
Sep
Mark Frauenfelder via Boing Boing
shared by 5 people
Reason put together this excellent flow chart (beautifully illustrated by Suck.com alum Terry Colon!) that describes the various paths of the US immigration process.
I would love to see an entire book of flowcharts like this, explaining everything from how the Federal Reserve works to how tritium zipper pulls are made.
Drupal Developer’s Toolbox
24
Sep
Steven Snell via Smashing Magazine
shared by 4 people
After publishing the recent WordPress Developer’s Toolbox, there were several Drupal developers calling out for equal coverage. In this post you will find a thorough collection of all kinds of resources that will aid designers and developers working with Drupal-powered websites. This collection is intended to simplify your tasks and save you time when working with Drupal.
This post covers essential resources related to Drupal — the basics, modules, Drupal design inspiration, Drupal themes, tutorials, starter themes, blog editors and Drupal-projects.
1. The Basics
Just getting started with Drupal? Looking for some general resources to have bookmarked for when you need them? These resources will help you cover the basics of Drupal and provide documentation for much of your future work with the platform.
Drupal.org
The Drupal home page and location for downloading the latest version.
Drupal Handbooks
If you’re new to Drupal or just looking to learn something new, this is a collection of helpful handbooks to keep at your side. A good place to start if you’re new to Drupal (written for Drupal 5).
Theme Developer’s Cheat Sheet (for Drupal 5)
A helpful PDF that you may want to refer to from time to time.
Drupal API Reference
Get everything you need concerning the API from the official API reference.
Drupal Taxonomy, Drupal Nodes and Other Terms - What Do They Mean?
Confused by some of the terms you’re reading about Drupal development? This post may clear some of that up.
Drupal Code Search
A helpful resource for developers. You’ll be able to search the source code of thousands of Drupal modules and themes.
Drupal Whitepapers, Cheat Sheets and Free Books
This post is a collection of other useful resources that may interest you. Some of them are written for older versions of Drupal.
WordPress vs. Drupal
When should you use WordPress and when should you use Drupal?
2. Modules
Drupal developers and users alike need to be familiar with modules (plug-ins). There are countless modules available for a wide variety of purposes. The collection here includes some basic resources for working with modules, and also some links to various popular and useful modules.
Drupal Modules
The main page for finding available modules, according to category.
Core Modules
Get the documentation on the modules that ship with Drupal core.
DrupalModules.com
A community-powered rating and review service dedicated to helping you find the best Drupal modules for your project.
Drupal e-Commerce
An open-source package of modules to help you set up an e-commerce website with Drupal.
Top 10 Drupal Modules
One user’s choice of favorite modules.
Nice Menus
If you’re looking for an easy way to create drop-down or expandable menus, try Nice Menus.
TinyMCE
This module integrates Moxiecode’s popular TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor into a Drupal website for editing advanced website content.
Front Page
This module makes it possible for users to show a different front page or splash page to visitors.
Clean URLs
If you’re creating Drupal websites, you’ll want to be able to create friendly URLs. This module can help.
FlashVideo
FlashVideo will expand the upload module to accommodate video uploads, plus it will automatically convert it to Flash format.
Content Construction Kit (CCK)
CCK allows you to add custom fields to nodes using a Web browser.
Global Redirect
Help your website’s SEO with Global Redirect, which makes some subtle, but important, redirects.
Webform
Easily create contact forms, questionnaires, registration forms, surveys and polls with Webforms.
Module Developer’s Guide
If you plan on developing modules, this is a must-read resource that will get you started.
3. Drupal Design Inspiration
When working on a Drupal-powered website, you may find it helpful and inspiring to see what others are doing with Drupal. Fortunately, there are some great resources for showing off the work of other designers.
DrupalSites.net
The best source of Drupal design inspiration, with over 2,000 websites being showcased.
DrupalSN
A social network to showcase Drupal-powered websites.
Dries Buytaert
The blog of Dries Buytaert includes a number of inspirational Drupal websites.
31 Remarkable Drupal Powered Websites
Earlier this year, Six Revisions published a mini-gallery of inspirational Drupal websites.
4. Themes
Whether you’re looking for free themes to customize, premium themes to take your projects to the next level or places to distribute your own themes, the Drupal community has several options available.
Themes at Drupal.org
Drupal.org includes a gallery of free themes that are available for download.
OSSKINS
A marketplace of Drupal and WordPress themes, both free and premium.
All Drupal Themes
Nine free themes to choose from.
Top Notch Themes
Sells themes for Drupal 5 and 6.
20 Great 2-Column Drupal Themes
A nice collection put together by Mashable.
20 Great 3-Column Drupal Themes
If three-column themes are what you’re after, Mashable has another collection for you.
5. Tutorials
The Drupal community provides plenty of tutorials to teach you just about anything you want to learn about development with Drupal. Here is a categorized list of some excellent tutorials.
5.1 Developing Themes
How to Make a Drupal Theme
This tutorial will explain the basic files that make up a Drupal theme and will help you code your first theme.
Drupal Theming for Designers
This is another tutorial that looks at the basics of building a Drupal theme and the files that are involved.
Create a Killer Band Site with Drupal: A Six-Part Tutorial Series
An awesome, in-depth tutorial from GoMediaZine that takes you the whole way through by building an example website for a band.
Drupal Theming
A standards-based approach to custom Drupal theme creation.
From HTML Mockup to a Full Drupal Site: A Tutorial - Part I: Introduction and Installation
This is the first of a three-part series on taking a design from mock-up to fully-functional Drupal theme. Also see Part II: Site Setup, Content and Modules, Part III: Template Theming, Integration and Finishing Touches
5.2 Modules
How to Install/Enable Drupal Modules
If you’re a Drupal developer, chances are you’re familiar with installing modules. If you’re a new Drupal developer, here is a basic tutorial.
Drupal’s Forum Module
A look at how you can avoid duplicate content when using the forum module.
Turn a Plain Jane HTML Template into a Drupal Theme with the Theme Generator Module
Instructions for using the theme generator module, which may save you a lot of time in development.
5.3 Performance
Scaling Drupal - An Open-Source Infrastructure for High-Traffic Drupal Sites
For those developing larger websites, scaling will often be a concern. This tutorial goes through some of the things you can do to help Drupal’s performance under pressure.
Improving Drupal’s Page Loading Performance
Looking to speed up a Drupal website? Try following these steps.
5.4 Taxonomy
Taxonomy: A Way to Organize Content
Learn how to better organize your content and use vocabularies, terms, menus and more.
Drupal Taxonomy Tutorial
An introduction on how to use Drupal’s taxonomy system.
5.5 SEO
Basic Drupal SEO: On-Site Optimization
SEO should be a consideration for any developer, and this post takes a look at how it applies specifically to Drupal-powered websites.
Drupal SEO: How Duplicate Content Hurts Drupal Sites
Learn about a few potential areas of duplicate content and how you can solve the problem.
Drupal and Robots.txt
A look at some customizations that can be made to the standard Drupal robots.txt file.
5.6 Forums and Wikis
Private forums in Drupal: Forum Access vs. Taxonomy Access vs. Taxonomy Access Control Lite
If you want to take Drupal a bit further and use it to power a forum, read this tutorial.
How to Create a Wiki with Drupal
This post takes you through the basic steps of setting up your own wiki.
5.7 Galleries
How to Make a Photo Gallery with Thumbnails in Drupal
A 10-step process for setting up a simple photo gallery.
How to Build Flickr in Drupal
This tutorial will show you how to build a Flickr clone powered by Drupal. (Note: this tutorial is 2 years old, but still interesting.)
Building a Better Drupal Photo Gallery
A gallery that is built to be used by clients who need to create new galleries and upload images.
5.8 Navigation
Tutorial on Basic Nav, Hierarchy Nav, Blogroll, Separate Blocks for Nav for Newbies
Effective navigation is key to any website. Here are some Drupal-specific tips for improved navigation.
Theming Drupal Primary Links with Child Sub-Menus
A simple tutorial for improving the navigation on your website.
5.9 General Tips
50 Drupal Tips and Tricks
A nice, big collection of quick tips on theming, development, JavaScript and more.
45 Screencasts to Get You Kicking Ass with Drupal
This post contains links to screencasts on a variety of subjects on working with Drupal.
Take Control of Your Drupal Theme
Learn how to use a custom front page, a stand-alone log-in page and more.
5.10 Other Tutorials
Customising the User Profile Layout
A useful tutorial if you want to use Drupal to build an online community.
Creating a Custom Homepage in Drupal Using Views
On many projects, you may want to use a custom home page. This tutorial takes a look at a solution.
6. Drupal Starter Themes
Starter themes can save you a lot of time in development by eliminating some of the common tasks that you do with each new theme you create. If you’re always starting from scratch or customizing an existing theme, give a starter theme a shot and see if it improves your workflow and productivity.
Blueprint
Blueprint is a starter Drupal theme meant to make development of custom themes faster; alternative: Zengine Starter Blueprint Grid Theme
7. Blog Editors
ScribeFire
A Firefox extension that will give you a blog editor within your browser.
BlogJet
BlogJet is a Windows blog client for managing multiple blogs. The cost is £29.95.
BlogDesk
A popular free offline editor that supports a number of blogging platforms, including Drupal.
Ecto
Ecto is a feature-rich desktop blogging client for Mac OS X. The price is $17.95, but there is a 21-day trial version.
8. Projects Related to Drupal
Ubercart
If you’re building an e-commerce website, Ubercart is an open-source solution that fully integrates your online store with Drupal.
Acquia
Acquia is dedicated to making Drupal more useful for developers by providing value-added software products and services. One of their projects, Carbon, focuses on social publishing applications and making it easier to develop community-oriented websites.
About the Author
Steven Snell is a Web designer and blogger. He actively maintains his own blog at Vandelay Design, where he publishes frequent articles about design, collections of resources and inspirational galleries. (al)
Longevity Drug May Protect Against Radiation
24
Sep
The longevity drug resveratrol may also protect against radiation damage.
Next we'll find out that it cleans carpets, too.
Resveratrol has shown promise in extending the healthy lifespans of lab animals. It's now in clinical trials for treating diabetes -- and if approved, it could be the first longevity drug.
Now University of Pittsburgh oncologist Joel Greenberger has found that resveratrol protects against radiation damage in mice. If it can do the same in humans, resveratrol could also be the first anti-radiation drug -- and it's non-toxic to boot.
"The research was designed to defend against radiation terrorism. People exposed to radiation from a terrorist attack could take it," said Greenberger. He said that it might also protect against other forms of radiation damage.
Resveratrol targets a gene responsible for regulating mitochondria, the cellular power generators that provide bodies with chemical energy. The process produces so-called free radicals, a type of oxygen molecule that damages DNA.
The same mitochondrial rejuvenation that improves animal health is also responsible for its radiation-protective effects.
Greenberger did make a slight chemical tweak: he acetylated the resveratrol, extending its half-life.
Scientists have yet to discover a drug that protects against radiation.
Greenberger's research was reported at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology annual meeting on Sep. 23.
Image: HeffTech
Note: Resveratrol is found red wine. As a result, every research advance prompts headline writers to conflate it with wine. The latest research is no exception. However, getting a therapeutic dose from wine would entail drinking 750 bottles daily. There are many reasons to drink heavily in the event of an atomic explosion or nuclear meltdown or terrorist attack, but protecting yourself against radiation isn't one of them.
See Also:
- Searching for Fountain of Youth in a Pill
- Who Owns the Fountain of Youth?
- Pharmaceutical Fountain of Youth Could Cost Pennies
- Caloric Restriction Comes in a Pill
- Anti-Aging Drug Stories Get Tipsy
- Longevity Drug Could Affect Biological Clock
WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook.