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Ancient acoustic engineers used stucco, drugs, and architecture to rock and confuse audiences
It's always fun when scientists discover new stuff about really old cultures, especially when it has to do with getting weird and rocking out. Recent research suggests temples built around 600 A.D. in Palenque, Mexico were designed with projection rooms that shot the sound of voices and instruments 300 feet away with the help of stucco-coated surfaces. 1600 years before that, in the Peruvian Andes, a pre-Incan society in Chavín was constructing a nightmarish Gallery of Labyrinths to play "strange acoustic tricks" during cult initiations: animal-like roars from horns, disorienting echoes, and maybe even choirs designed to produce otherworldly effects. And all of this while the poor inductees were being fed psychedelic San Pedro cacti. Yikes! To a certain extent this is all speculation, but we can tell you that if we were ancient priests with this kind of gear at our disposal we'd be using it for mind-controlling purposes too. Just because! [Photo adapted from Jenny Pansing's flickr]
Peru receives first Windows based OLPC XO laptops
The long wait is up, and Peru is first in line to receive the new Windows flavored XO through the OLPC program. Though not as cute as the bubbly Sugar interface, it will pack more of a real world punch where apps are concerned -- each XO is fitted out with an assortment of MS goodies, including Office 2003 and Learning Essentials 1.0 for Office, served on a bed of XP Pro. Now before you get all teary eyed, keep in mind that Sugar lives on, and there's an emulator out there with your name on it.[Thanks, Patrick]
