The single biggest problem in communication...

I've lived in a plastic bubble all my life so I don't understand why zorbing is suddenly all the rage.  Here are 109 random facts.  (#83.  It is impossible for you to lick your elbow.  However, it is possible, even perhaps likely, for me to lick your elbow.)

I bet they always keep the seat down at the Toilet Seat museum.  What is the most successful, longest running film series in Hollywood history?  The Little Rascals, of course.

CFD for everyone! The UT SimCenter at Chattanooga provides this online push-button CFD solver so you can simulate the flow over wings.  Or you can run NASA's FoilSim.  The official web site of Lockheed Martin's Code One Magazine.

See inside music with the music animation machine. This is part of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

If that's too intellectual for you, how about the fluid dynamics of spit? The ETLab at U. Alabama Birmingham has a mesh generator called MEGG3D.  Things I shouldn't have #54: Tres Generaciones tequila.  Flying car gets FAA approval.  Can it be true?

Learn how to parse any C declaration using the spiral rule.  If IdeaPaint is too difficult for you, here's another way to turn your wall into a white board.  Are you seeking a mutually beneficial relationship?

Apps, apps, apps.  They're everywhere.  Even CFD.  STAR-CCM+ has them in their JAVA Hut app exchange.  OpenFOAM 1.7.0 was released.

Why should BP have all the fun?  Create your own instant oil spill.

With it's love of statistics, baseball is a perfect match for data visualization, like this video study of Mariano Rivera's pitches.  You ever sit in on a panel discussion at a conference?  They usually suck, right?  Each panelist takes their turn a the soapbox and by the time they're done pontificating and by the time the audience warms up with some decent questions, time's up.  Here are 10 tips for panelists.  I like #3 - disagree once. 

Meet Karsten Newbury, a senior VP at Siemens PLM for their Velocity Series of CAD and CAE products.  On a related note from their recent PLM Connection user event in Dallas, comes this nugget: "CAE is at the forefront of our competitiveness - the market just doesn't know it yet."  Interesting that analysis is at the forefront of a PLM (i.e. CAD) company.  And to round out the Siemens PLM news, here's a list of 5 things you'll want to know about them.

While we're enumerating lists, here are 18 things someone wishes they'd been told at 18.  (#17 Excel at what you do.)  The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest challenges authors to write the worst possible opening sentence of a novel.   You know, "It was a dark and stormy night..."  CAD Exchanger 2.0 has been released.  Here's more detailed info how Tech Soft 3D acquired Adobe's CAD translation technology and products.

Things to do in Chicago: have dinner at Province, tour the Art Institute of Chicago.

Mondrian's Composition (No. 1) Gray-Red, 1953 was a personal favorite from the Art Institute of Chicago's collection.

...is the illusion that it has taken place. -- George Bernard Shaw