Imperial Holding Out

Here's a map of countries officially NOT using the metric system.



Beauty. Credit to ZME Science.

How NASA Retrieves Booster Rockets

Surprisingly never revealed before, NASA has released a video of the procedure of retrieving the two solid core rocket boosters post space shuttle launch. For the space buffs, fascinating stuff. (via Gizmodo)

Bill Gates TED on Education

Teachers have a significant impact on education, but little has been done to identify how the best teachers teach from a strategic stance.

Bill Gates talks about education after malaria (also worth a listen). The Education section starts at the 8 minute mark if you want to jump.

First Person Video of the Japan Tsunami

When most people think of a Tsunami hitting land, they imagine the Hollywood style massive wave crashing down... when in reality, it's a much more gradual build up of tension and destruction. This first person view of the Tsunami, hosted by Gizmodo, shows what happened to hundreds of thousands on March 13, 2011.

What starts looking like some flooding grows steadily. Near the 5 minute mark, the true destructive power is realized. Watch it through to see how it builds towards a devastating climax. Be hopeful for those who survived, and saddened for those who didn't.

Back Up Your Cloud

As a big proponent of cloud based computing, the one issue has always been backing up. While I have great trust in massive cloud organizations, recent mis-steps by Flicr and Google have me looking for ways to back up data.

Most secure is to run a desktop email client for your cloud email, enabling pop based settings, then including this in your desktop/laptop backup strategies.

A more simple method is using one of the many cloud-based backup services. Of the 3 I took a closer look at, I'm going to use Backupify.

Backupify quietly backs up many of your cloud based activities, whatever you choose, for free or as a paid service. I've started with the freebie, and will report if there are any issues.