On Mythbusters tonight, they covered an interesting myth: that it is impossible to fold a piece of paper in half more than seven times. My strange brain full of trivia made me exclaim “That myth was already busted, and by a high school student!” Indeed, a few minutes with a search engine revealed the story:

Folding Paper in Half Twelve Times

Note: Britney Gallivan not only busted the myth, but also derived a mathematical model that tells you why it is so hard to fold paper, and establishing limits on the process. That is how she was able to fold a long strip of paper a remarkable 12 times. The Mythbusters glossed over this nice bit of math, which in my mind really deserves more notice.

The Mythbusters did try folding a rectangular piece in alternating directions, beginning with a piece that basically covered the floor of the huge hangars in Moffett Field. They managed a respectable, but not record breaking 11 folds. Nice.

[tags]Mathematics,Mythbusters,Paper folding[/tags]

Here are a bunch of books that are licensed under the Creative Commons and for the most part can be freely downloaded, read, and even redistributed (if non commercially). They include books that I already have in dead tree form, like Asterisk: The Future of Telephony or Lessig’s Free Culture, but also include books that guys like Tom might appreciate, such as The Book of FIve Strings: Strategies for Mastering the Art of Old Time Banjo or The How and Tao of Old Time Banjo, or The How and Tao of Folk Guitar. Good stuff.

I like to read old science books. They serve as a reminder of how far we’ve come, or just as often, how ignorant we remain. This book is nicely illustrated tome, briefly covering topics of astronomy, biology, and particle physics. It’s coverage of evolution seems particularly interesting to me, especially for its (admittedly brief, and altogether erroneous) acceptance of Piltdown Man, but also includes interesting bits on the possibility of life on other planets and other fun. Lots of illustrations and photos, lots to enjoy. So enjoy!

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Outline of Science, Volume 1 of 4, by J. Arthur Thomson.

[tags]Gutenberg Gems,Public Domain,Science,Evolution[/tags]

Every once in a while, you encounter a person who collects something truly odd. This guy has a website dedicated to the insulators that are used on telegraph poles along British railways. That’s… just… Wow. How niche can you get?

Teleramics – Insulator collecting UK