The US presidential election, of course! Oh, wait. Sorry. That was for an entirely separate blog post…

Leap Year Day, February 29th, of course! February, normally the shortest month of the year, on leap years remains still the shortest month of the year only one day less short. If only all planetary orbital time adjusting could be this fun!

And so, to help all you folks caught off-guard with this extra day and wondering how to fill it, we in Computing Services have been saving up a truckload-full of interesting links, news, articles, and general internet hoohaa to help make this rarest of February days that much more fun.

At long last we present….The Friday Feed, Leap Year Day Edition:

• Montana Girl Wins Planet Mnemonic Contest Geekdad from Wired.com
• Phun – a 2D physics playground
• Engineering students Airbrush not just for artists
• Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences goes Open Access
• Video Data recovery when your computer’s drive is lifeless
• The NEXT that hosted the world’s first website
• Intel shows off Tukwila, first 2 billion transistor CPU
• The Neuron
• Stop sharing spreadsheets, start collecting information
• Unboxing an Apple 2c – a photoset on Flickr
• Cable Break Causes Wide Internet Outage
• Scientists create ‘no tears’ onions
• Swarm approach to photography
• Frozen Grand Central at Improv Everywhere
• The Orrery has landed
• Google to Host Terabytes of Open-Source Science Data
• The “Google generation” not so hot at Googling, after all
• Bubblegum Sequencer – Making Music With Candy
• Origami spaceplane to launch from space station
• Team Aquaduct wins Innovate or Die competition – Official Google Blog

Freshly unboxed Apple IIc

• World’s cheapest car goes on show – BBC News – The vehicle, called the Tata Nano, will sell for 100,000 rupees or $2,500 and enable those in developing countries to move to four wheels.
• Electric grid meets Web 2.0, savings results
• The CandyFab Project – The Revolution will be Caramelized.
• Video Gallery Best Vintage Tech Commercials
• How We Localize Surround Sound
• Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories – One Hundred Percent EDIBLE Googly Eyes! – Could not pass this one up…
• Fluorescent Chinese pig passes on trait to offspring
• 5 unbelievably cool research facilities
• Tinker, Tailor, Robot, Fly (January-February 2008) – Harvard builds a robotic fly.
• The Minor Candidate Report New Hampshire Presidential Primary 2008 – Most media outlets only talk about the top 16 candidates running for President. However, there are (were) 42 people on the New Hampshire ballot. This Web site profiles the candidates who are ignored by the mainstream media.
• Mac Virtualization Benchmarking – How do Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, and VMware Fusion stack up?
• Pedal Power MIT Cyclists Set Record for Pedal-Powered Supercomputing
• Dash Express beta hands-on – hands on look at the GPS device with two-way wireless connectivity.

An important breakthrough by the Experimental Foods division of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories: the production of Edible googly eyes!

See the whole archive of Friday Feeds at our Computing Help Pages.

Luckily, we found a last minute stand-in, and offer apologies from the brevity:

• Googling yourself Not as vain as some think, say researchers
• Internet Archive to store researchers’ notes,
• Scientist Employs ‘Circuit Theory’ to Protect Endangered Species
• UPS Using Software To Eliminate Left Turns
• NASA Probes Isolate Energy Source of Northern Lights
• Open Yale Courses – Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to seven introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn.

A band of Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, stretches over the Chugach Range near Palmer, Alaska in this February file photo. Scientists think they have discovered the energy source of the spectacular color displays seen in the northern lights. (AP Photo/Bob Martinson, FILE)

Full Feed archives at Thayer Computing Services Bookmarks

• Google Chart API – Developer’s Guide – Google Code – The Google Chart API lets you dynamically generate charts
• Tourist Remover – Neat online digital photo utility to remove those pesky tourist from your vacation shots
• Homemade Cellphone-Based Surveillance Camera Is SMS-Controlled, Irresistibly Retro
• Scientists use web video to explain and demonstrate research experiments
• Amazing Finnish Dorm Room Tetris in Video – Students turn a multi-windowed facade of their hi-rise dorm into a ginormous game of tetris
• Rare Mummified Dinosaur Unearthed Contains Skin, and Maybe Organs, Muscle
• Learn and Use LaTeX Online with MonkeyTex

Full archives at the Computing Help Bookmarks page

We are truly sorry, and the Feed promises that this will never happen again…

And, so, the first post-Thanksgiving Holiday edition:

• Shoogle – Shoogle is a novel, intuitive interface for sensing data within a mobile device, such as presence and properties of text messages or remaining resources. It is based around active exploration: devices are shaken, revealing the contents rattling around “inside”.
• New magical blue circle on your map – Google released a version of Google Maps for mobile with a new beta technology called My Location, which provides approximate location information for those without GPS
• Books On Demand – the Machine who Killed ILL
• New plastic optical fiber could solve the “last mile” conundrum
• ISO Recorder – Super-easy ISO burning in Windows
• Catalog Choice – Eliminate unwanted catalogs you receive in the mail
• VectorMagic The Online Tool for Precision Bitmap to Vector Conversion
• Layers of Time – the paint equivalent of a road cut.
• GPS Letter Logger promises to keep tabs on mail
• Free DSP compiler available
• Star Trek’s 10 Cheesiest Classic Creatures
• Google may get its open-access wishes after all will bid in 700MHz auction

Photo credit: Cassidy Curtis
Full FF archives available at Bookmarks in Computing Help space

• Google may get its open-access wishes after all will bid in 700MHz auction
• hardcore boat-lifts – Not your piddly canal locks, these.
• Microcontroller design final projects from Cornell University
• Did NSA Put a Secret Backdoor in New Encryption Standard?
• Colossus cracks codes once more
• Baseball Pitches Illustrated
• The Cute Show – Sometimes you just need a little Cute. [disclaimer: The Cute Show can be watched by a 5 year old, but there are a few links on the site that point to some pages of a more mature nature. Navigate away with forewarning.]
• Most Radical Car Movie of All Time – Don’t try this at home – or, more likely, on vacation.
• New Method Uses Bacteria to Generate Hydrogen Gas
• Top ten off switches
• howstuffismade.org – HowStuffisMade is a visual encyclopedia documenting the manufacturing processes, labor conditions and environmental accounts of contemporary products.
• New bill would punish colleges, students who don’t become copyright cops

The Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk, Scotland – photo by flickr user kevinzim

Full archives at Bookmarks in Computing Help

• Internet2, LambdaRail can’t even agree to disagree merger called off
• Glamorous Insects!
• Run Windows apps– without Windows– using Crossover
• Blitz – The problem is software, not infrastructure – TheDartmouth.com
• Better YouTube Firefox Extension
• Google at the gas pump translates to happy motorists, retailers
• flyback – Google Code
• Free Clip Art at the Open Clip Art Library
• We’re only Human after all – a review of Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon
• New Breakthroughs in Mathematics
• Australian Researcher Boosts ADSL Speeds

And a special guest appearance: Balloon-only links!

• Balloon modelling – The Wikipedia entry
• Mo the Clown – The master balloon buffoonist himself
• Addi’s Inflatable Minute – A regular video series on YouTube about all things balloony. Hosted by Addi.
• Balloon Manor – An interactive balloon funhouse haunted house – Our good friend Mo was on the construction team
• Balloon-dog anatomy

Full Friday Feed Fiesta archived at Bookmarks in Computing Help.

• Weekend Projects with Bre Pettis Make a Joule Thief
• Who programs the Ask.com search algorithm?
• The Most Beautiful Planetary Maps Ever
• Ubuntu Developer Summit lays out vision for strong Hardy Heron release
• Committee to consider outsourcing Dartmouth e-mail – TheDartmouth.com
• Click and Clack Detroit Can Reach 35 MPG in 5 Years – Wired.com
• Mythbusters to test “plane on conveyer belt” riddle on December 12 episode
• Vroom, Vroom Formula 1 Orders Teams to Go Green
• Privacy Groups Mull ‘Do Not Track’ List for Internet
• 10.5 Set the Time Machine backup interval – macosxhints.com
• MATT STUART PHOTOGRAPHER FRAMES STRANGERS
• Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard the Ars Technica review
• Adium to get video chat support… sometime

Or when they’re not: Bookmarks in Computing Help space

• The TV remote control
• Thoughts on Open Source Hardware at the Austin Maker Faire
• Massive balloon takes solar telescope sky high
• Homebrewed helicopter
• IPhone’s Security Rivals Windows 95 (No, That’s Not Good)
• PriceDrop – A Firefox Extension
• Windbelt elegant non-turbine wind generator

Solar telescope reaches 120,000 feet on jumbo-jet-sized balloon. Photo credit: Carlye Calvin

• Secrets Excerpt Getting your Mac ready for OS X 10.5
• Gallery o’ strange vehicles
• Scooterdesk to Open New Office Chair Racing Era
• Macs gain ground on campus
• Opt Out of Junk Mail and Prevent Credit Snooping
• Logo’s 40th birthday
• Apple’s Jobs says third-party iPhone apps coming in February One More Thing – CNET News.com
• The Monkey Chow Diaries
• US House Votes To Renew Internet Tax Ban
• What single book is the best introduction to your field (or specialization within your field) for laypeople? Ask MetaFilter
• Human-Robot Love and Marriage
• OSX Leopard Ships On October 26th
• High Def on Vimeo
• Halloween links – over 250 things to make, hack, build and do for “DIY Halloween”
• Tektronix oscilloscopes could catch fire due to volatile Li-ion
• GanttProject.org – a free and easy to use Gantt chart based project scheduling and management tool

Topsy-Turvy Bus built by Tom Kennedy