Benjamin Thompson » Technology http://www.benjaminthompson.net An Orlando, Florida resident's views on science, travel, cinema, technology and more. Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:57:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 A Flying Dream Come True http://www.benjaminthompson.net/a-flying-dream-come-true/ http://www.benjaminthompson.net/a-flying-dream-come-true/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:00:42 +0000 Benjamin http://localhost:8888/BenjaminThompson/?p=13 Read the rest of this entry »]]> Skydiving, base-jumping and bungee have never appealed to me. I can imagine the motivation for doing these activities, but never thought I would be able to kill the fear and jump.

But then my friend Antonio Macedo, a skydiving adrenaline addict, showed me some videos of wingsuit proximity flying.

POV:

Good Compliation:

These images seemed familiar to me. I fly like this all the time in my dreams! It seems so natural!

Ueli Gegenschatz was the prolific jumper who helped design the wingsuit. He spoke at the TED conference in 2009 about the evolution of the sport.

Ueli died in November 2009 jumping off a building in Zurich, Switzerland when a gust of wind pushed him as he landed.

What do you think of wingsuit flying?

]]> http://www.benjaminthompson.net/a-flying-dream-come-true/feed/ 0 My Favorite Google Tricks http://www.benjaminthompson.net/my-favorite-google-tricks/ http://www.benjaminthompson.net/my-favorite-google-tricks/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:00:50 +0000 Benjamin http://localhost:8888/BenjaminThompson/?p=10 Read the rest of this entry »]]> 1.    Calculator: type an equation into the search bar to solve it.

•    simple arithmetic: 1 + 1
•    calculating a tip: 42.12 * .20
•    calculating a car payment: 20000 * ( 0.005 / (1 – (1 + 0.005) ^ -60))
•    Gravity times pi: G * pi
•    speed of light – speed of sound

2. Unit Converter: ask Google a question to convert units.

•    7 cups = ? ounces
•    How many liters in one gallon

3. Website search engine: search a website without visiting it.

•    site:nytimes.com “winter olympics”

4. Movie times: find movies playing at a theater near you.

•    movie times 32830

5. Shipment tracker: just type any tracking number into the search bar

•    729445714998577

6. Flight tracker: type in a flight number to see the real-time status.

•    DL 1884

7. Link tracker: see how many pages link to another page.

•    link:nytimes.com
 •    link:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/us/politics/05elect.html

8. Dictionary: type a word or abbreviation into the search bar to define it.

•    define:seo
•    define:quantum mechanics

]]> http://www.benjaminthompson.net/my-favorite-google-tricks/feed/ 0