hobolinks :: April :: 2006

A simple Google Maps mashup to show you a 100-mile radius around your zip code.  It’s part of the 100-mile diet website, advocating a diet of locally grown foods, which I very much aspire to.

(Via Google Maps Mania)

These endangered specimens are closely watched, and the mother had not mated in two years, yet gave birth to 4 young dragons.  Genetic tests are planned to unravel the mystery.
(Via Another Chance to See)

GoBlog has a good short piece on this impressive cyclist who recently passed through Eureka, where I started my bike tour.  Only Randolph has logged nearly 90,000 miles on his bike.

Because some conventional plants are making a mess of it.

A professor at Oregon State University developed a tiny chemical reactor that produces biodiesel much faster than the conventional process, and without the byproducts.

“If we’re successful with this, nobody will ever make biodiesel any other way,” Jovanovic said.

Google seems to be pushing the API front harder than anyone else (or maybe it’s just because I use them & get the news). Their new calendar has been quickly followed by an API release, and a description of Google’s GData protocol for sharing XML data between applications. I’m sure we’ll start seeing calendar information on map mashups soon.

It’s been said before, but this article clearly spells out the factors involved in going into business with a (map or other) mashup.

(Via The Map Room)

This looks like a good index for finding geographic resources on the net.

(Via The Map Room)

Some nice ideas from Seth Duffey on map accessibility using CSS, JavaScript, and map APIs.

(Via CSS Beauty)

I haven’t used it yet, but the DOM Builder looks like a great way to clarify and shorten tedious DOM javascript.  At 1K it’s worth a shot!

(Via CSSBeauty)

I’m always curious whether “new” species have evolved recently, or just escaped detection until now.  As usual, the article doesn’t say.  It does say the species is not likely to survive long due to small numbers.

Some nice features added to Google maps - topos & aerial imagery, some coordinate tools, printing and linking.

(Via Google Maps Mania)

This study published in the journal Neurology finds that people who have had near-death experiences also report more experiences where “sleep and wakefulness blurred together”.  It’s interesting to me how even the researchers of these things devalue the experiences as “just a dream” that arises from a “primitive part of the brain”, as if we’d all be better off without dreams or brain stems.

This new study published in the Biology Conservation journal corroborates the findings of a 2004 study published in the journal Nature that predicted that a quarter of the world’s species could be extinct by 2050 due to global warming.  The new study admits many unknowns and gives a much wider range - 1 to 43 percent of species extinct in the next century, and came to this conclusion using different methods than the Nature study.

Salon.com has a couple of articles on computer recycling, one on what happens to discarded electronics, and one on how to recycle your computer.  Unfortunately half of “recycled” computers are shipped overseas to pollute poor communities.  And don’t expect the guide to present an easy way to overcome this.

It’s nice to see upon my return from Disney World that the Expedition Everest ride I enjoyed at Animal Kingdom sponsors some useful research.

I’ll have some work to do to bring my projects up to date with the version 2 API.