How to make ginger ale via del.icio.us
Sounds easy. Put sugar, yeast, grated ginger, lemon and water into a soda bottle and let it sit for a couple of days. Filtering may be necessary.
Sunset over Mars via Reddit
Like any other sunset, except the sun is so small.
How to knit a binary scarf via Boing Boing
With a whopping 122 byte capacity, this example of geek apparel is the must have on every Christmas list.
Forgotten invention: the Rolamite via Boing Boing
This thing was invented back in the 60’s and apparently never went anywhere. It is a “basic” mechanical device, the same way springs, pulleys or hinges are components in more complex machines. The Rolamite is a little difficult to get your head around. It’s two rollers in a slot and the rollers have a strip of metal wrapped around in an S shape. The metal strip is in tension and the ends of the strip are anchored to the ends of the slot. The rollers are in static equilibrium because they are pressed together from the tension in the metal strip while also being restrained within the slot. If force or torque is applied, the rollers can still roll up and down the slot while maintaining full contact with the metal strip. Since the movement relative to the strip is a roll rather than a slide, there is practically no friction to speak of.
Marv
