The Widmann Blog » discoveries

iScroll?

thomas — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:14:58 +0000

The problem with tablet computers is that they’re too big and too light at the same time: Too big to fit into a soft and safe pocket, and too light to make a hard case feasible.

So products like the iPad will probably break all the time unless people put them into big cases, in which case they might as well have bought a notebook.

So I started wondering whether the solution would be to roll up the computer instead, and my father-in-law has now sent me a video that shows that I wasn’t the first person with this idea:

It looks like a great idea, although I’m wondering whether the outer casing won’t scratch the screen when it’s rolled up — I would have thought it needed to be soft on the outside. I also wonder whether it needs to be so big. An iPad rolled up wouldn’t be much bigger than an banana, I reckon, so it would fit into a jacket pocket or a lady’s handbag.

Sadly, however, this is just a design project AFAIK, not an actual product.

But perhaps somebody will make an actual product out of this one day. If it’s Apple, they could call it the iScroll.

Folding T-shirts

thomas — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:14:58 +0000

This is an impressive way to fold your T-shirt:

Unless you’re an engineer, in which case this is the way to go:

If you like that idea, but don’t want to build it yourself, it seems to be available here.

However, it seems that if you’re in the US Army, you don’t fold, you roll:

Hvad er det?

thomas — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:31:00 +0000

Painting the ceiling
Originally uploaded by PhylB

I min barndom var der et fremragende TV-program, der hed Hvad er det? Det gik ud på, at der var to konkurrerende hold arkæologer, der gav hinanden ting, som de så skulle prøve på at tids- og funktionsbestemme.

Det forbløffede mig ofte, hvor vilde gæt de gladeligt kom med, og de tog da også ofte fejl.

Nogle gange ser jeg en moderne ting og spekulerer på, hvad fremtidens arkæologer vil tro, dens formål var.

Tag nu den kombinerede malerrulle og snorkel, som Charlotte holder på billedet. Hvis det redskab mirakuløst bliver fundet i en udgravning om 2000 år, hvad vil de så tro? At vi holdt vores malerudstyr i munden?

The God factor

thomas — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 09:41:00 +0000

Pray without ceasing…
Originally uploaded by Hotori♪.

According to this article, a Danish professor of psychology (who’s about to retire) has found out that atheists on average have an IQ that is 5.8 points higher than that of believers.

I wonder whether Harry Turtledove realised this when he wrote Between the Rivers in which believers are depicted as extremely stupid compared to the free-thinkers.

Anyway, if the article is correct, I wonder whether it’s believing that makes people less intelligent, or whether less intelligent people are more likely to believe in a god than more intelligent ones.