The Ziegler-Natta Process is the polymerization method used to make HDPE. My inimitable sister was talking about plastics protesting earlier today, and it reminded me of my fairly longstanding interest in plastics (and the Gyre, but that's another story). HDPE ("#2") and its sibling LDPE ("#4") are some of the most widely used and least threatening plastics. They're thermoplastics, so they can be repeatedly recycled pretty easily, and they don't contain the dreaded Bisphenol-A. They're typically made from petroleum, though, so it's not all roses. But if you MUST use plastics, they're not AS bad as others. Anyway, the Ziegler-Natta Process itself is totally beyond my chemistry skills, but the introduction on that page made me laugh.
TED talks were also good this week: Hans Rosling has this neat graphic statistics tool at gapminder.org, and he gives a fun little demo that also reveals some happy global trends of convergence. Another video that's been quite popular this week is Dan Pink's talk on workplace motivation, and how incentives kill creativity.
The Slew - It's All Over from The Slew on Vimeo. Kid Koala and Dynamite D.
The His Dark Materials Trilogy. I'm late to the game by a few years, but man, that was awesome. I burned through the books in 3 days, and I thought they were great. Which says a lot, I guess... the plot has some deep gnostic themes which are probably only enjoyable for people who have a complicated past with an Abrahamic religion. But it's also got science! It's got philosophy, psychology, dark matter, quantum mechanics, particle physics, the many-worlds theory, polarizers, a solar mill, and linguistic jokes involving deviations from ancient Greek words like "electrum" and "naptha". It's just a great sci-fi/fantasy blend. I watched the Golden Compass movie when it came out, and all I really remember is the armored bears. It doesn't do justice to the books.
Stellarium is still totally wicked. I had kinda forgotten. It's free, open source, available for Windows/Mac/Linux, and totally amazing amateur astronomy software.
That is quite a pool heater. There, I Fixed It has been rapidly catching up to FAILblog and its associated LOL brethren in popularity. They usually brighten up my day a bit.
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