A secret look at the back of web sites

Ever wonder what the back of a website looks like? Wish your monitor was transparent so you could look in from behind? Well this awesome website gives you a fun look at what you might hope to see. I've posted the Twitter and Facebook views;  go to  http://backofawebpage.com/ to see the rest.

World's last typewriter plant shuts ceases production

Image via Wikipedia

Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd has shut down its factory in Mumbai, the last plant in the world producing mechanical typewriters. To most of us, these machines are curious antiques, but they had been quite popular in India where 400 million Indians still lack reliable electricity. As well, they were widely used in courts and government agencies.

In the 1990s, the company made 50,000 machines a year. This declined to 12,000 units in 2009.  

The company still has 500 units of its Prima brand in inventory, the last of its kind. General manager Milind Dukle told India's Business Standard newspaper, "We are not getting many orders now," he said. "This might be the last chance for typewriter lovers."

One country that might be on the look out for these machines is Italy, where graduating journalists must take a typing test on manual typewriters. At one point there was a movement to modernize the test, but the government worried that it would  put the government employed typewriter repair personnel out of work.

Related articles

• Typewriters about to become a page in history (business-standard.com)
• The end of the typewriter era (i-programmer.info)

Nasty brown recluse spider could be headed your way

Image via Wikipedia

Science News is reporting that a new study shows the brown recluse spider is likely heading north in the United States into states as far north as Michigan. When provoked, the spider injects a powerful venom into the victim, (i.e.you!) that tends to kill the tissues around the site of the bite, leading to a painful deep sore and possible scarring. Not a friendly little chap.

Researchers are using s predictive mapping technique called "ecological niche modeling". When they applied this model to the brown recluse spider they concluded that its range might be expanding northward, to Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, South Dakota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

In other spider related news, according to superherohype:   "Twitter user @mikecanadate (via On Location Vacations) has posted some tweets about what's going on for the preparation of filming for The Amazing Spider-Man in New York"
See his photos here.