American Revolutionary war letters

Clements Library at the University of Michigan has posted a large number of scanned letters from the Sir Henry Clinton collection. The letters are all reports detailing troop movements and strategic information gathered by spies on both sides of the war. Really amazing stuff.

Check it out: Spy Letters of the American Revolution

Via Presurfer

Friday Morning fun: Groovy Dancing Girl

The dance moves that this girl runs through are amazing. Really cool to watch. And of course, I like Techno.

:)

Light drawing

Using long exposures and light sources ranging from sparklers to Christmas lights, Eric Staller has created light drawings in photographs. The coolest thing is that these were all done using ordinary film back in the 70s. No computer enhancement or modifications required.

Check out a whole gallery at Centripedal Notion: Eric Staller: Light Drawings

An illustrated coffee chart

Did you ever wonder what was in those fancy coffees? Or for that matter, how to spell or pronounce them? Well, then the illustrated coffee chart is for you. Lokesh Dhakar has kindly made up the above chart for your comparison. Now you can easily tell what it is you are ordering at that Starbucks down the street.

Coffee Drinks Illustrated

The Manhattan of the desert

Shibam, Yemen is home to some of the oldest skyscrapers in the world. Some of them date back over 500 years. The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud bricks. There are about 500 surviving tower houses, rising 5 to 9 stories high. the city has been in existence for about 2,000 years. But most of the city's houses come mainly from the 16th century.
The city was first settled as a result of ancient incense trade routes. Later it became the capital of the Hadramawt under Islamic rule. Because of it's location on an elevated piece of ground in the river floodplain, and a desire of it's inhabitants to live within a protective wall, houses were built vertically.

Via DeputyDog: the world’s first skyscrapers

The Future of Image networking

I just watched the most amazing video of a new product called Photosynth from Microsoft. This post may be a little more technical than most of my posts here, but I was so blown away by the possibilities of a system like this, that I had to post about it. In the video a Microsoft Live Labs Architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas gives a demonstration of Photosynth.
The Photosynth application uses algorithms to interpret, categorize image data and create links between related images and other data from anywhere on the net. Basically it's building a "Visual Web" on top of the existing Internet.



For the original source of the video above go to TED: Talks Blaise Aguera y Arcas: Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo

A Bubble Bath in the Ocean?

Yesterday the shore front of New South Wales Australia was transformed into a mass of bubbles.

From Daily Mail:

Foam swallowed an entire beach and half the nearby buildings, including the local lifeguards’ centre, in a freak display of nature at Yamba in New South Wales. One minute a group of teenage surfers were waiting to catch a wave, the next they were swallowed up in a giant bubble bath. The foam was so light that they could puff it out of their hands and watch it float away.

Sea foam is not actually that uncommon of a sight. Here in my hometown of Pensacola Florida, you can often find bubbles and foam on the beaches. What is uncommon is the sheer quantity of foam produced.

Check out the article at Daily Mail: Cappuccino Coast: The day the Pacific was whipped up into an ocean of froth

Via Neatorama

Dust storms around the world

Dark Roasted blend has an interesting article on dust storms. It has a ton of pictures, mostly from the Middle East and Northern Africa. The picture above is of a dust storm advancing in the Negev Desert of southern Israel. It's advancing at a speed of 40 miles per hour and is over 4,000 feet high.

Check out the article for a lot more pictures.

Dark Roasted Blend: Dust Storms!

For some more pictures of dust storms, check out my previous post of dust storms over Iraq.

Taking your dog skydiving?

Xtreme pug skydiving is the title of this video. And it's pretty interesting. This guy thought he would take his dog skydiving with him. LOL
I'm not sure what would posses you to do that. It just doesn't look fun to me. Though the dog looks like he is having a great time.

How snakes survive without eating

Just read this fascinating article on PhysOrg about snakes. Snakes can survive up to two years in the wild without eating anything. They do this by lowering their metabolism and using stored fat. The amazing thing is that they can lower their metabolism up to 72%. And this is on an animal that already has an extremely low metabolism to start with.
The scientists conducting the study, examined three species of snakes. The python, the rat snake, and the rattlesnake. While examining them, they starved the snakes for 6 months. The amazing thing, is that even though the snakes lowered their metabolism, they continued to grow in length for the entire period.

Personally I hate snakes. I can't imagine ever having one as a pet. But articles like this one and the one about the rattlesnake bite I posted a few weeks ago, really interest me.

Check out the article: How Snakes Survive Starvation

YouTube having trouble this morning

Not really sure what is going on, but it seems that YouTube is having some type of outage this morning. So the posts on this blog that point to YouTube, are not working right now.
Hopefully whatever is wrong will be resolved shortly.

Ordinary guys send a camera into space

A group of guys in Alberta, Canada sent a balloon 22.27 miles up. Right to the edge of space. The balloon had a Nikon Coolpix P2 camera attached. The camera was set to take one picture a minute. Once the balloon reached the edge of the atmosphere, it burst. Coming down to a soft landing due to an attached parachute. The pictures they were able to take are amazing.

Check out their site: Southern Alberta Balloon Launch Experiment #3
Via Gizmodo: Ordinary Guys Send Picture-Taking Balloon 22.27 Miles High

It seems like lately Canada is the place to be if you are interested in fun space projects. First we had the skydive from space, and now the balloon project.

Ron's Slip n' Slide Extravaganza

It seems that building home made slip n' slides is the thing to do these days. First you had the 535 foot slide and now you have Ron's Slip n' Slide. It's only 60 feet long, but personally I think this slide is way more dangerous.
In fact, I'm not sure I would want to get on it. That whole jump and the end of the slide just doesn't look that safe.

Via Gizmodo: How to Mod your Parents' House into a 60-Foot Slip 'n' Slide

Coin Stacking hobby site

Mitch Fincher a Civil Engineering student at Texas Tech University has created a site devoted to penny stacking. On the site there are numerous pictures of elaborate structures made with pennies and other various coins. All of the structures are made by simply stacking the coins. No glue or other stabilizers are used. The weight of the pennies holds the entire structure up.

Check out his site for some amazing pictures of stacked coins. And if you have a large quantity of coins laying around, read his directions on how to get started with your own coin structures.

Mitch Fincher: Coin stacking

Art from straws and paper plates

Tara Donovan is an artist who makes massive sculptures from small items found in everyday life. The picture above is made from thousands of clear plastic drinking straws. Other art installations are made from Styrofoam cups, pencils, paper plates, and buttons. All of the art is really amazing.

Check it out at Ace Gallery: Tara Donovan
Via Neatorama: Tara Donovan’s Mega Sculptures Made From Everyday Objects

What I'm listening to: FlyLeaf

This week I went back to a favorite from last year. Not exactly old, but not the latest release either. I really love the single, Fully Alive. In fact, I like pretty much the whole CD. It's a little darker than some CDs I have, but not so dark that it is depressing. Its almost the exact opposite of the Matisyahu CD I was listening to just a few weeks ago. This group is one of those very rare metal groups with a female lead singer.




And if you want to buy the CD, its for sale on Amazon right now for $12.98.

Redheads going extinct

Fewer than 2% of the worlds 6.5 billion people carry the gene for red hair. Because of this, scientists think that red hair may be extinct by 2060.

Red hair is a result of a mutation in northern Europe thousands of years ago. The mutation is recessive. So red hair is rare unless both of the parents have the gene. Due to increased globalization, it is becoming less likely that a person carrying the gene will partner with another who also carries the gene.

The only place where the gene is still prevalent is in Scotland. it's estimated that 40% of Scots carry the gene, with about 13% actually having red hair. So if you are a redhead, like those in the Redhead Wendys protest, you have a much better chance of passing that gene down if you move to Scotland.

Via Neatorama: Redheads Face Extinction

Catching Spider webs

Rocky Fiore is an artist who captures spider webs. He captures them and mounts them on glass for display. Some of the webs that he has captured are truly amazing. What caught my eye, was a video he did for Cool Hunting. in the video, he shows how he captures the webs, using only varnish, spray paint, and glass. Check out the video below.



For pictures of Rocky's art check out his site: World Wide Webs

Deer jumps over a biker

Found this video of a deer jumping over a biker. It's amazing that no one got hurt. Thought this was interesting enough to post, even though lately I seem to be posting a lot of wildlife videos. There was the tiger leap, the lion buffalo brawl, and the hammock bear. Oh, and I almost forgot the sheep surfing goat.

A stapler that doesn't use staples

If you are like me, you are always pulling staples out of documents and reports. The things are pretty annoying to take out. So that is what interests me about this item. this is a stapler that doesn't use any staples. Instead it cuts a little flap in your document and folds it in on itself. Doing what a staple would do, but without the staple. Pretty cool.

Check it out at ThinkGeek: Staple Free Stapler

An animated Picasso painting

Michael Tavarez has created this incredible animation of Picasso's girl with a violin. The animation is really amazing.

For more animation by Michael Tavarez, check out his site: The Work of Michael Tavarez

What happened today in the past?

The History channel website has a great page that will tell you what significant events happened on this date in the past. It automatically shows you today's date, but it also allows you to enter any date you want.
For a big history fan like me, I was a history minor in college, this site is great! Did you know that on this date in 1911, the first around the world telegram was sent? Or that on this date in 1975 the Viking 1 probe to mars was launched?

Check it out: This Day In History

535 foot slip 'n slide

SomethingAwful forum member Bruiser, has gone and created a 535 foot Slip 'n Slide on some property he owns. The thing looks awesome! I wish I had the resources and the land to put up something like this.
Check out the pics of the slid in action at the SomethingAwful forums: I built a 535 ft. Slip 'n Slide

Rattlesnake bite horror

This post is a little more on the gross and gruesome side. Justin Schwartz was bitten by a rattlesnake while on a hiking trip in Yosemite National Park, California. He was bitten very badly on the palm of his hand. The venom of the snake bite ate away and killed the flesh of his palm and lower arm. It took over 13 surgeries to restore his hand an lower arm back to usefulness after the bite.
At each step, Justin and his relatives documented his recovery with pictures and descriptions of what had been done to his hand. The pictures are amazing, though they are also a little gross looking.
Check out his story here:Justin's Rattlesnake bite, and for the pictures look here: Justin's Rattlesnake bite pictures.

The first 100 .Com domain names

A blogger has gone through the trouble of tracking down the first 100 .Com domain names registered. So if you were wondering which companies were the first to jump on the Internet bandwagon your in luck. The list is pretty interesting, both because of who is on it, as well as who isn't.

Check it out: The 100 oldest domains on the internet.

Via WebbAlert: Webb Alert

Ice caves in Nepal and Alaska

The virtual cave has an amazing gallery of ice cave pictures from the mountains of Nepal and Alaska. Some of them are absolutely breathtaking.

Check them out at The Virtual Cave: Glacier Caves

If you want more Ice photos, check out Dry Valleys of Antarctica or the Harbin Ice Festival

Goat goes sheep surfing

Found this video on Nothing To Do With Arbroath. This little goat kid seems to think that the best place to hang out is on the back of a sheep. LOL

Crossing the Pacific in a Rowboat

Roz Savage, a 39 year old management consultant, is attempting to row across the Pacific in a souped up rowboat. Last year she rowed across the Atlantic.
This year she is attempting to cross the Pacific in a series of three steps. The first step is taking place now. Starting in California, she is going to row 2,300 miles to Hawaii. After a break to rest, she will continue the trip by rowing from Hawaii to Tuvalu, a 2,600 mile trip. From there, she will take the final step to Australia, 2,300 mile stretch. All in all, an amazing trip.
Through the whole trip she will be tracked via GPS, and will be blogging about her progress using a laptop and a satellite Internet connection.
Check out her website here: RozSavage.com
Via Neatorama: Rowing Across the Pacific Alone

Shadows and Color

In the above picture both the A and the B squares are actually the same color. But because of the way they are drawn, they appear to be different colors. Don't believe they are the same color? Click this link to see a "proof" image.
The illusion is based on a study by Edward H. Adelson, a Professor of Vision Science at MIT. The study is of light perception and the human visual system. Our eyes actually see the correct colors, but our brains reinterpret them based on the surroundings.

I found the entire study fascinating, though his paper was pretty technical. Still worth reading even if like me you don't understand all of it. So check out his paper here: Lightness Perception and Lightness Illusions

And if you want a more simplified explanation of the above picture read this: Why does the illusion work?

Skydiving from Space

Michel Fournier, a retired French army colonel is attempting to break all previous skydiving records. He will be trying to sky dive from 25 miles up into the sky. Which puts him right on the edge of space. His goal is to both set the record for the highest parachute drop ever, and to be the first person to break the sound barrier in free-fall. He will be attempting the jump over the Saskatchewan plains in Canada next month.

Pretty amazing. The description of his drop reminds me of the drop sequence from the Robert Heinlein book, Starship Troopers. In that book, an assault team of marines is inserted onto a planet by skydiving from near orbit. The book is pretty good, and I do recommend it. Just don't bother watching the awful movie that was based on it.

Man plans record skydive from edge of space

What I'm listening to: Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight

I'm a huge fan of Linkin Park's music, and lately I've been playing their new CD a lot.
I've got a 30 minute commute to work in the morning, so I get a lot of time with nothing much to do. Listening to music is about the only thing there is to do on that long boring commute. So I go through a lot of music, and am always listening to something different. Right now it just happens to be Linkin Park.

So anyway, here is their latest hit.


And if you want to buy the CD, its for sale on Amazon right now for $11.99.

UN Website defaced

It seems that a group of hackers from Turkey defaced the official UN website Sunday morning. They posted some random text attacking the US and Israel.

The interesting thing about the hack is that it was accomplished using a known and widely disseminated exploit. One that has been around for years. The hack is known as an SQL injection exploit and is accomplished by getting the database to execute SQL code out of input forms.

The vulnerability is easily countered, and these days is seldom found on a large and prominent website. So it is very surprising that an organization as big and important as the UN, would have it's website vulnerable to an attack like this.

Check out the story at BBC: UN's website breached by hackers, and for more detail at Hackademix: United Nations VS SQL Injections

Six sided columnar basalt

Found a site with some amazing pictures of columnar basalt. Columnar Basalt is formed from cooling lava flows. The cooling process of the original lava flow causes cracks to form in the rock. Subsequent immersion in water causes the cracks to cool at a faster rate than the rest of the rock. So the cracks spread downward, forming the columns seen in the formations.
The most famous formation of columnar basalt, is the Giant's Causeway in northern Ireland. But columnar basalt can be found throughout the world.

For more pictures, check out Centripetal Notion: Columnar Basalts

NATO phonetic alphabet

Did you ever wonder about the words used by military officials in movies to spell out words? They use words like "Bravo" and "Charley" to ensure the correct understanding when spelling words or codes. Well, I was curious as to what words were used and how they were chosen. So I did a little searching and found a whole wikipedia article on it. It seems that it was originally an adaptation of the flag system that was used by ships to communicate before radio.
Check it out, it is actually pretty interesting. NATO phonetic alphabet

Sunrise and sunset times anywhere in the world

Gaisma lets you see the sunrise and sunset times for your city, anywhere in the world. It will also give you the current time and relative position of the sun to your city.
If you are like me, and don't usually get up for the sunrise, this can be pretty useful. It can also be useful in planning for outdoor evening events.

Check out the current sunset/sunrise times for my home town, Pensacola Florida
Then look up your own city on the site: www.gaisma.com

Bear relaxing in a hammock

Here is a cool video of a bear in New Jersey who climbs into a hammock. He seems to be enjoying it quite a bit. Towards the end, he tries to rock it a little too hard and ends up falling out.

Find out how things are made

How products are made is a website devoted to telling you how the things we use in our modern world are made. It explains the history and modern manufacturing details of all kinds of products. Everything from paint to refrigerators. Chewing gum, to blue jeans. The site is pretty amazing. So if you ever wondered how something is made, you just might be able to find it on How products are made.

Via Presurfer: How Products Are Made

Stelvio Pass road - A scary series of hairpin turns

The Stelvio Pass is a pass through the Alps built by the Austrian Empire before WWII. It has 60 hairpin turns and is one of the highest passes through the Alps. The road is amazing, and the view incredible.
The pass is only open from June through September. During that time it is a favorite with bicyclists and sightseers. Check out the location on Google Maps.

For a lot more pictures, check out the whole story at Fognazos: Stelvio Pass road, 48 hairpin turns to the top of the Alps

Moonbase radio station in Poland

The picture above is of the RMF Radio Station in Poland. This is seriously one of the coolest building complexes I've ever seen. I found this on Make, but I also found a site with a lot of pictures of the construction. Unfortunately the site is in polish, and I can't find an online translator to translate it for me.

Via Make: The coolest (looking) radio station - RMF FM :: Radio Muzyka Fakty and DeputyDog: Most bizarre radio station in the world?

Defense Ministry logos from around the world

Found a site with a list of 23 defense ministry logos from all over the world. The one pictured above is my favorite. It's the logo for the Irish defense ministry. Pretty cool looking. My other favorite was the one from the Netherlands, pictured below.

Most of the logos have the standard scary looking bird or mythical beast holding some type of weapon. But a few like the one from Ireland are different.

Check it out: 23 Fearsome Defense Ministry Logos From Around The World

Scientists working on levitation

The same team of scientists that announced a theory that might one day lead to invisibility, has come up with a system that could lead to levitation. Physicists Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin of the University of St Andrews in Scotland have come up with a way to reverse the casimir force on nanoscale objects. Casimir force was discovered in 1948 and is the reason why very small objects "stick" together. Scientists do not fully understand why the casimir force works, but it is what causes atoms and other subatomic particles to attract each other. It's also the reason why a gecko lizard can walk up sheer walls and across ceilings. For the moment, the system that reverses the casimir force works only on the nano scale, but the theory behind it should scale up to larger objects. Such as people.

Check it out at PhysOrg: Scientist float levitation theory

Hello Kitty for bad police?

It seems that Thailand has decided to punish it's police officers who break rules, by making them wear a Hello Kitty armband. The idea seems to be that shaming and embarrassing the cops will do more for discipline than a standard type of punishment.
Pongpat, the chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok said,

"Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor"

This has to be the most bizarre and strange way of punishing someone I've ever heard of.
For the whole story read the Yahoo News report: Bad Thai cops to endure Kitty shame

Japanese DoroDango mud balls

Would you believe that the picture above is nothing more than a hand shaped and polished ball of mud? DoroDango, which translates roughly as mud dumpling, is a traditional art form in Japan. The balls are made literally out of mud that is hand dried and polished in a laborious process. It seems that nearly any type of dirt is acceptable for making DoroDangos. All that is needed is dirt, water, and a lot of time. The balls are air dried, so there is no firing or baking involved.
Up until recently, the art form was mostly confined to Japan and was slowly dying out. A professor at the Kyoto University of Education, Professor Fumio Kayo, used it in a study on the play habits of children. In the process of his study, he documented the simple process of Dorodango, and published his instructions. Now the entire art form is seeing a renaissance of interest both in Japan and the US. Seeing the result, I can understand why.

If you are interested, you can read all about it at Interesting Thing of the Day: Hikaru Dorodango - Mud balls as art
You can also read directions on how to make your own here: www.dorodango.com

Meth heads stealing copper from farmers

California farmers are increasingly having to deal with people stealing copper wiring out of irrigation systems. The thefts, which gain the thief a few hundred dollars can cost the farmers thousands of dollars to replace. And if the theft is not noticed soon enough, the entire crop can be lost.
Police say that they believe that most of the thefts are committed by methamphetamine addicts. But if the price of copper keeps rising, I doubt it will just be methamphetamine addicts stealing it.
This isn't the first time I've written about copper salvage. A few months ago, I wrote about Vietnamese fisherman who were accidentally pulling up newer fiber optic cabling when trying to salvage old copper cables. I fully expect to see a lot more stories about stolen cables and wires in the near future.

Via New York Times: Unusual Culprits Cripple Farms in California

Taking down a building from the ground up

Found this very strange looking picture of a building that is being torn down in London. It seems that due to the unique way in which the building was built, the most efficient way to tear it down is to start at the bottom. Meanwhile, the building is pretty amazing looking.

Via GizModo: Building Demolished from the Ground Up Looks Better than New

UK teachers want RateMyTeacher and YouTube shutdown

Teachers are demanding that sites like RateMyTeacher and YouTube be shutdown. The Professional Association of Teachers claims that they only want to ban the sites in an effort to stop Cyberbullying of teachers. But as many people have pointed out, banning specific sites would not stop cyberbullying. Sites like RateMyTeacher have been under attack by teachers unions from the beginning. The idea that students could rate their professors in an environment that is not controlled by the school has never been welcomed by the education industry.
RateMyteacher is a great tool for students, especially those in college, who are trying to decide which professors to take. I certainly could have used it during my college days. Unfortunately, it can also be used by disgruntled students as a place to attack professors they don't like. But that doesn't diminish the usefulness of the site.

Via TecDirt: UK Teachers Union Demands YouTube And RateMyTeacher Be Shut Down

LogMoto slogan and logo mashup

LogMoto is a site that mixes one companies logo with another companies slogan. The idea is funny. Some of the slogan/logo combination are hilarious.

Check it out: LogMoto via PreSurfer

Friday Morning fun: Amazing roller skating girl

This amazing little girl roller skates under 40 parked cars. The girl is from India, and I don't know any of the details beyond what the video shows, but it looks like a competition of some kind. Pretty amazing.

Via JapanProbe: 5-Year-Old Girl Skates Under 40 Cars

The Webb Alert

The Webb alert is a new video blog attempting to give a short summary of the latest Blog headlines and topics. There are quite a few video blogs out there to choose from, but this one is pretty interesting.

Morgan Webb, the reporter in the video, does a show on the G4 channel and has some experience as a web developer. She brings that experience from the reporting and the tech world to her presentation.

Watching the video, it becomes very obvious that she also understands the blogging world. With each video, she has links to all of the stories she reported. It's a pretty professional looking blog. If she keeps it up, I expect I will be watching her video blog pretty regularly in the future.

Check out her site www.webbalert.com
Via TechCrunch: WebbAlert: A Lot Like Rocketboom, Except It’s Interesting

US inflation calculator

The inflation calculator allows you to take any dollar amount and two years between 1800 and 2006. It then gives you an estimate of how much that money would be worth based on inflation. It calculates it both directions. So $100 in 1800 would be equivalent to $1143.21 in 2006. And $100 in 2006 would be equivalent to $8.75.

The data for the calculations comes from two US government documents, Historical Statistics of the United States and Statistical Abstracts of the United States So it is pretty accurate in it's estimates.

The Inflation Calculator

A washing machine that doesn't use soap

Haier has announced a washing machine that doesn't need soap. It separates water into its OH- and H+ ions to perform the cleaning. The OH- binds to dirt and stain molecules, and the H+ sterilizes the clothes. So there is no need for detergent. Just water and electricity.

This could be really nice for people like me who are always forgetting to buy detergent. And when I do remember to buy it, I'm never sure what kind to buy. I get to the store and look at all of the different kinds, all claiming improved, better or advanced cleaning, and I don't know what to think. So I end up randomly picking one that isn't too cheap but also isn't too expensive. The theory being that the expensive ones are probably overpriced, but the cheap ones probably don't work well. Chances are that there isn't any real difference, and I'm just deluding myself in picking one.

If I had this washer, I wouldn't have to worry about it. I could just throw my clothes in and get back to the more important things in life. Like posting to this blog.

Via FresHome: Detergentless Haier WasH20 Washing Machine

Power from controlled Tornadoes

Louis Michaud an engineer with 24 years of experience in the energy field, wants to build a power plant the harnesses man made tornadoes to generate electricity. he has several patents on his designs and many scientists claim it is at least feasible in concept. He calls his concept an Atmospheric Vortex Engine. You can look up the Wikipedia article on it here.
Currently Michaud is trying to raise the $60 million that he estimates would be needed to build a prototype. A few small scale prototypes have already been built and tested. Michaud envisions a vortex that climbs 20 twenty kilometers into the atmosphere for the finalized plant. If it works, his "power plants" would be visible to anyone in the vicinity of the plant. And they certainly would look incredible.

Via UberReview: What a Concept, Emissions Free Tornado Power

Is your cell phone ruining your life?

Wired has an interesting article by Rob Beschizza titled, "Ten Reasons To Throw Away Your Cellphone." The article lists all of the reasons why cell phones can make your life harder and more complicated. One of the reasons, and the one I identify with most, is listed below.

It makes you perpetually available
If it's on, they can get you. If it's off, they wonder why they can't get you. It's a lose-lose situation for your Zen.

Personally I think the benefits far outweigh the detriments, but obviously not everyone agrees. So I'll be keeping my phone for now. What about you?
Read the article for the rest of the reasons why Wired thinks you should throw out your phone. Ten Reasons To Throw Away Your Cellphone

Edit: I just realized how ironic it is that this post has Cell Phones ruining your life, while two posts ago cell phones were saving lives. LOL