Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Wired Magazine - October 2009


This month's Wired Magazine cover article is entitled  "The
Smart List: 12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World."

My essay, entitled "Take Smart Risks," is number 11, (between
Gregg Easterbrooks "Embrace Human Cloning" and Robert Gates
"Overhaul the Pentagon.")

You can read the entire article in the new October issue of
Wired, or online (for free!) at
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-10/ff_smartlist#create bookmark

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Today in the Washington Post

Absinthe and Flamethrowers was reviewed in today's (September 9) Washington Post in a piece entitled

"Careful! Peril Stalks the Unwary: Four books explain how to avoid life's hidden dangers"

An excerpt from that article is below:

But why live dangerously if living dangerously isn't fun? Absinthe & Flamethrowers (Chicago Review; paperback, $16.95), William Gurstelle's book about "doing interesting, exciting, edgy, and artful stuff," is a guy's Anarchist Cookbook. Inspired by Hunter S. Thompson's drug-addled, ill-advised vision of "edgework" as outlined in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," Gurstelle offers lessons in whip-cracking, Bartitsu (a lost English art of self-defense practiced by Sherlock Holmes) and even building a DIY flamethrower that would surely run afoul of the Patriot Act. . . . Gurstelle's tome . . . offers advice on recognizing good absinthe, for which van Gogh enthusiasts and visitors to Prague will be grateful.

"Thrill-seeking behavior in the real world is modeled by what statisticians call a normal curve," Gurstelle writes: Evel Knievel on one side, J. Alfred Prufrock on the other ("Do I dare to eat a peach?"). Maybe, in order to survive, it's best for us to float between these two extremes, driving 55 -- Sammy Hagar be damned -- with our seat belts fastened until, late at night on an empty country road, we can step on the gas and test our limits. Safely.


Saturday, September 5, 2009

KARE -11 Minnesota Showcase - The Water Rocket


The water rocket is one of my favorite projects. It's cheap, easy, and great for scientists aged from 8 to 80. I showed Corbin Sietz how to use one last week on KARE-11's Showcase Minnesota.

The video is available at
http://www.showcaseminnesota.com/show/client_article.aspx?storyid=823206