According to NRKbeta, the Norwegian Broadcasting Channel NRK has a company-internal award for innovation each year. Personally after studying tv and multimediaproduction I can relate to the need of several of these inventions. I will point out one of the nominated inventions that I found especially interesting based on a recent lecture.

When it comes to recording sound, especially dialogue for documentaries and film, the rule of closeness applies. You want to place the microphones as close to the source as possible. You therefore often put the microphone on a boom, a metallic rod, which the boom-operator can hold and direct towards the source. However this several meter long boom becomes heavier by the minute, and lecturers as well as guest speakers warn of the physiological risk. That is why I like the idea that this sound-guy developed together with a physiotherapist. See the original post and pictures here (NRKbeta).

Basically from what I understand they add a weight to create a balance and take the strain off ones shoulders with customized braces. The see-saw effect.

Going through Del.icio.us’ popular bookmarks this morning I came across the column: 20 Things You Didn’t Know About… at Discover Magazine.
Basically there are several categories, of 20 Things You Didn’t Know About, ranging from topics like Aliens or Skin to Lab Accidents.

The articles I read are written in a light and humorous manner. Though they also portray some very interesting and important facts: “No, you’re not less of a man if you let a garage do the work: One quart of motor oil, improperly disposed of, can pollute 250,000 gallons of drinking water.” – 20 Things You Didn’t Know About… Garbage.
The series is not new at all, but obviously took me almost a year to find.

Well if you didn’t check the new stories Wired released in their human enhancement series that I briefly mentioned before: Season to be Jolly… Geeks and Health. They are now publicly available and some rather interesting reads. As part of How to Hack a Human there is Joshua Green’s My 4-Week Quest: Be Smarter provides some interesting challenges to how you can actually improve your mental health. Apparently you can develop your brain by showering with your eyes closed and brushing your teeth with your opposite hand.

Geekwise nicely compares different foods and drinks that contain the same amount of calories, with a colorful calorie comparison: What Does 200 Calories Look Like?. In previous posts (Helping the Overwieght Internet &  Season to be Jolly… Geeks and Health) I have pondered about different habits that would help keep you healthy, so I think this “chart” should be a nice and informative display of food and their energy contents. I especially find it amusing, although comepletely believable, that merely 40 grams of M & M’s contains as much “energy” as 1425 grams of celery!

All these colorful pictures of different foods could perhaps make you hungry, but hopefully it will also be able to enlighten you.

During the celebration of Christmas and the surrounding Holiday season, we do take part in a great deal of dinners, and that means enjoying a lot more food than normal. What could be better than a little exercise following the festivities. Perhaps taking a quick winter or summer jog (depending whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere), or simply going for a refreshing walk or to the gym.

Activities surrounding the internet can make it feel like you are running out of time, and it may also contribute to deteriorating health conditions. Wired Magazine is running the cover story for their first(?) January 2007 Issue: The Science of Human Enhancement.

Wired’s first released story, which I found rather amusing was The Ultramarathoner. Joshua Davis interviews Dean Karnazes, the guy behind 50 marathons in 50 days, and tries to find out some of Karnazes’ secrets. If you don’t have time to read the articles here are some Dean Karnazes’ secrets (though rather ciphered without the explenations):
Be audacious, Go Laceless, Flirt with disaster, Cut back on sleep, Show your body who’s boss, Learn to love Krazy glue, Get used to it, Break it down, Avoid kryptonite.

I previously wrote about Helping the Overweight Internet, but today I also stumbled across an article at AlterNet about the dangers of soda drinks. And from what I have observed soda drinks is almost synonymous with computers and geeks. The AlterNet article More Dangerous Than Smoking? Death by Soda is written by Joshua Frank.