The Physics of Medieval Archery

No more than 6000 soldiers in the service of the English king faced about 50,000 French soldiers. Apart from the gross disparity in numbers, the other substantial difference between the two armies was in their use of the longbow. The English army was composed largely of bowmen (about 80%), whereas the French used virtually none.

http://www.stortford-archers.org.uk/medieval.htm

The 70 coolest free applications in existence

"...the purpose is to collate some of the best free applications (and sometimes online services) that can be found on the Internet."

http://www.seopher.com/articles/the_70_coolest_free_applications_in_existence

Writertools

Writer’s Tools is an all-around tool designed to help OpenOffice.org users to perform a wide range of tasks. It makes easier to backup documents, look up and translate words and phrases, manage text snippets, and keep tabs on document statistics.

http://code.google.com/p/writertools/

MeeTimer - How to Reduce Online Procrastination

The Web is replacing the TV as the #1 time-thief in our lives. And, unlike the TV, the Web cannot be shared with friends; nor does it respect the boundaries of work. Thus you spend more time 'working' and less time socialising. This ramps up stress for everyone; but particularly affects those who charge by the hour (and thus actually lose money to procrastination, in addition to less free time).

Thus we wrote MeeTimer, a Firefox extension that uses a two-pronged attack to curb your (misplaced) time online. First it makes you aware, explicitly showing you which activities and sites are taking up most of your time... you will be surprised! Second, it actively deters you from using a site, in case your willpower is not up to the task!

http://getmeetimer.com/how_to_reduce_online_procrastination.htm

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

"It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points."

"You should give your ten slides in twenty minutes. Sure, you have an hour time slot, but you’re using a Windows laptop, so it will take forty minutes to make it work with the projector. Even if setup goes perfectly, people will arrive late and have to leave early. In a perfect world, you give your pitch in twenty minutes, and you have forty minutes left for discussion."

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html

Free map, Printable world map, blank map

"You can find the nice free map, printable world map, free United States map and free blank map in this section.
You can use the maps in this web site as you like. You don't need spend money. All free map in this web site are free of charge."

http://english.freemap.jp/

Stixy: For Flexible Online Creation Collaboration and Sharing

Think of Stixy as your online bulletin board. Create as many Stixyboards as you like, one for each project. Use Stixy to easily organize and share:

• Your family's schedule
• Projects at work
• An upcoming holiday with your friends
• Your photos from your last bike trip
• Or share a file or two with a friend

http://www.stixy.com/

Tool use by shy crows caught on camera

Tiny cameras attached to New Caledonian crows' tail feathers are offering new insights into the birds' behaviour in the wild.

The crows, famous for their impressive tool-making and using abilities, are also notoriously difficult to observe in their native environment because they live in forests and are very shy.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12738-tool-use-by-shy-crows-caught-on-camera.html

New currency for space travellers

scientists have come up with a new currency designed to be used by inter-planetary travellers.

It is called the Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination, or Quid.

It is designed to withstand the stresses of space travel and has no sharp edges or chemicals that could hurt space tourists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7029564.stm

Lessons to Learn from the OLPC

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is by no means a success yet, but its development has taught us a great deal about mobile design and what people want from a laptop. Their XO-1 notebook was not developed with the American consumer in mind- it is intended for children in developing countries- but any time that this much effort is put into designing a laptop (especially one this small and inexpensive) it is going to have an impact on the industry.

http://www.geek.com/lessons-to-learn-from-the-olpc/