Fun with Nitroglycerin and Nitrogen Triiodide

Warning: Do NOT attempt to do any of these experiments at home. Doing so could result in serious injuries or even worse. You’ve been warned!

Nitroglycerin is moderately easy to detonate, and a hammer is more than enough. Nitrogen triiodide will detonate if it is breathed on. It is an explosive with no use other than a novelty.

A few factoids –

Nitric acid, the acid shown in the beginning of the video, will cause very deep chemical burns that take weeks to heal after contact of just five seconds. It also fumes, and the vapor is very choking. The red gas in the flask is nitrogen dioxide, a very toxic gas that can produce, and be produced from, nitric acid. Sulfuric acid is also dangerous and very reactive to flesh, but is not close to the danger of nitric acid.



Microsoft agrees to free repairs on E74 Xbox bug

Microsoft has agreed to extended the warranty on the Xbox 360 to cover the ‘E74’ error.

This bug is different to the much-publicized ‘red ring of death’. It’s indicated by one quadrant of the power indicator glowing, and an on-screen message displaying the error code E74 and informing users to contact Xbox customer support. Once this happens, the machine is pretty much useless without repair, though there have been some claims of temporary solutions.

The exact cause of the problem is still uncertain. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern of manufacturing dates among the affected machines, making it unlikely it’s down to a rogue batch of components. The most popular theories are that it’s related to either the audio-video cable or to the scaler chip.

Originally Microsoft classified it as simply a ‘general hardware failure’ which was not covered by the product’s warranty. That left users having to pay for repairs unless they were prepared to take legal action under local consumer laws.

Microsoft says it is now satisfied the problem is related to the ‘red ring of death’ closely enough that it’s prepared to include it in the warranty program announced in 2007 to cover that fault. Users hit by the E74 error can now get a free repair or replacement for three years after purchase.

Those who’ve already paid Microsoft for an E74 repair will get a refund of those costs. These should be automatically paid in the next four to twelve weeks. Customers who haven’t had the money back by 1 July should visit www.xbox.com/support to lodge a formal claim, which must be received by November 1st.



‘Facebook = low college grades’ study hardly an A+

A study by Ohio State University claims Facebook users spend less time studying and get lower grades than classmates who don’t use the site. But there are some serious flaws in the study’s logic.

A survey of 219 students found that 85% of undergraduates use Facebook. Those who do have grade-point averages between 3.0 and 3.5, while those who don’t have averages between 3.5 and 4.0. Facebook users averaged one to five hours a week of studying, while non-users averaged 11 to 15 hours. Students disagree with the conclusions, with 79% of Facebook users claiming the site didn’t affect academic performance.

The problem with studies such as this is that they assume a link between two facts: as the saying goes, correlation does not equal cessation. It’s entirely possible that the type of students who use Facebook are the type of people who are less likely to study in the first place and that Facebook is simply how they choose to fill the time that comes from not studying.

To be fair to the study author, Aryn Karpinski, she does state that “It cannot be stated (that) Facebook use causes a student to study less. I’m just saying that they’re related somehow, and we need to look into it further.”

The figures themselves are also pretty vague. The study report doesn’t give specific figures about the grades and simple says the students’ results “generally” fitted into the stated ranges. That makes it tough to tell exactly how significant the differences between Facebook users and non-users was.

It’s also worth nothing that 85% of the 102 undergraduate students were regular Facebook users. That means that the comparison for undergraduate students is the behavior of 87 people against that of just 15. That leaves a pretty significant margin of error.

The study didn’t break down the results for either study time or grades between undergraduates and graduates. That provides further room for misleading results as of the non-Facebook-users, barely a fifth were undergraduates. It’s not exactly a fair comparison to stack up undergraduate grades against those of graduates, or to compare the commitments to putting in the hours of studying.

About the only conclusion you can be reasonably confident about from this study is that people who study for longer generally get better grades. But that’s hardly news worth posting a status update about.

Feature: Wait, did you say “Flamethrower”? – The Robogames Combat Robots

Texas Heat Combat Robot

Combat robots aren’t exactly new – the first season of the Comedy Central show “Battlebots” aired in 2000 and the games had been going strong since 1997.

What’s interesting, however, is how 11 years of robot evolution have affected the sport. Back in 2002, the spinners ruled the day. But today’s robots are meaner than ever; and the sport’s fans just as obsessed. Why do they do it? Because for three glorious minutes, the world melts away.

I took the best fight footage we had and put it in this short video – I’ll try to have some outtakes up soon, as I know you love to see robots kicking ass.

If you’d like to see the video in full HD resolution, just hit this link, which will take you to the video’s high-def page on YouTube.

If you’d like to get more information on the Robogames, you can head to the Robogames Web site.

Dork Yearbook

Dork Year Book

A few years ago, these kinds of pictures in your past may have been embarrassing. Now that you are gainfully (maybe even successfully) employed in the tech industry, and those bullies that used to steal your lunch money are standing in the employment line and dodging restraining orders, they seem kind of cute. Dork Yearbook is a collection of youthful photographs submitted by those who have come to terms with their inner dorkiness. The anonymous author says:

Send me your own dorky pictures so I may laugh at them! Ha ha!

[via Metafilter]

[GAS] Resource Center: Free IT and Business Books Summaries

We have an amazing offer for you guys today. In partnership with tradepub, the folks who help us with our IT resources center, we can now offer you access to a multitude of free IT and business-related books summaries.

A Summary isn’t merely a digest or excerpts strung together. It’s a seamless document that reads (and holds your interest) like a magazine article. And you retain more of the content when you read a Summary than when you read a book. A major university study proved that a few years back.

Among the list, there’s a few great titles such as “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People“, “Revolutionizing IT“, and “Does IT Matter?“.

I invite you to check them all out right here and here.