Tag: ScienceChildren:
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Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived - The Oatmeal (via). Sheesh!
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Tags: [History, Science]
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Radioactive man? Milford resident pulled over by state police - Connecticut Post:
Apatow, 42, was entering Interstate 84 in Newtown when the cruiser appeared, and he had no idea what he'd done to merit police attention. It turns out he didn't do anything.
But earlier that day, Apatow, who'd experienced a recent spike in his blood pressure, had a nuclear stress test at Cardiology Associates of Fairfield County in Trumbull. In the test, a small amount of a radioactive material is injected into the veins and used to help track blood flow to the heart.
Though the amount of radioactive material used in the test is relatively low -- equal to a few X-rays or a diagnostic CT scan -- it was enough to set off a radioactivity detector in the state police car. The detectors are used to help identify potential terror threats.
"I asked the officer 'What seems to be the problem?' " Apatow said. "He said 'You've been flagged as a radioactive car.' "
Apatow's doctor had given him a document attesting that he'd had a medical procedure involving a small amount of radioactive material that he handed to the officer. A Stratford firefighter, Apatow was more curious than annoyed by the incident.
"I had no idea the police even had devices like that," he said. "I imagined it being like a cartoon -- like I'm driving down the street and my car was glowing."
That's awesome.
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Tags: [Science, Security]
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Kolmogorov Complexity – A Primer (via). To finish reading.
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Tags: [Computer science, Mathematics]
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Human-made earthquakes reported in central U.S | Reuters.
The average number of earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater in the U.S. midcontinent - an area that includes Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas - increased to six times the 20th century average last year, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey said in an abstract of their research.
The abstract does not explicitly link rising earthquake activity to fracking - known formally as hydraulic fracturing - that involves pumping water and chemicals into underground rock formations to extract natural gas and oil.
But the wastewater generated by fracking and other extraction processes may play a role in causing geologic faults to slip, causing earthquakes, the report suggests.
"A remarkable increase in the rate of (magnitude 3) and greater earthquakes is currently in progress," the authors wrote in a brief work summary to be discussed Wednesday at a San Diego meeting of the Seismological Society of America.
"While the seismicity rate changes described here are almost certainly manmade, it remains to be determined how they are related to either changes in extraction methodologies or the rate of oil and gas production," the abstract said.
Pretty clear evidence that frakking is bad for the environment in yet another way - it causes earthquakes!
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Tags: [Environment, Science]
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Physicists Create First Long-Distance Quantum Link.
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Tags: [Science]
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The psychology of morality: Time to be honest | The Economist (via):
“IS SIN original?” That is the question addressed by Shaul Shalvi, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam, in a paper just published in Psychological Science. Dr Shalvi and his colleagues, Ori Eldar and Yoella Bereby-Meyer of Ben-Gurion University in Israel, wanted to know if the impulse to cheat is something that grows or diminishes when the potential cheater has time for reflection on his actions. Is cheating, in other words, instinctive or calculating?
They wanted to find out whether people were more likely to lie about the result of a die roll when asked that result immediately, or when given time to think.
A second experiment confirmed this result. A different bunch of volunteers were asked to roll the die just once. Again, half were put under time pressure and, since there were no additional rolls to make, the restriction was changed from 20 seconds to eight. The others were allowed to consider the matter for as long as they wished.
In this case the first half reported an average roll of 4.4. Those given no time limit reported an average of 3.4. The second lot, in other words, actually told the truth.
The conclusion, therefore, at least in the matter of cheating at dice, is that sin is indeed original. Without time for reflection, people will default to the mode labelled “cheat”. Given such time, however, they will often do the right thing. If you want someone to be honest, then, do not press him too hard for an immediate decision.
Interesting!
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Tags: [Psychology]
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How Not To Sort By Average Rating (via). Apparently this is how reddit sorts. Discussion on HN too.
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Tags: [Computer science, Mathematics]
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The Best Birth Control In The World Is For Men | Techcitement* (via):
If I were going to describe the perfect contraceptive, it would go something like this: no babies, no latex, no daily pill to remember, no hormones to interfere with mood or sex drive, no negative health effects whatsoever, and 100 percent effectiveness. The funny thing is, something like that currently exists.
The procedure called RISUG in India (reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance) takes about 15 minutes with a doctor, is effective after about three days, and lasts for 10 or more years. A doctor applies some local anesthetic, makes a small pinhole in the base of the scrotum, reaches in with a pair of very thin forceps, and pulls out the small white vas deferens tube. Then, the doctor injects the polymer gel (called Vasalgel here in the US), pushes the vas deferens back inside, repeats the process for the other vas deferens, puts a Band-Aid over the small hole, and the man is on his way. If this all sounds incredibly simple and inexpensive, that’s because it is. The chemicals themselves cost less than the syringe used to administer them. But the science of what happens next is the really fascinating part.
The two common chemicals — styrene maleic anhydride and dimethyl sulfoxide — form a polymer that thickens over the next 72 hours, much like a pliable epoxy, but the purpose of these chemicals isn’t to harden and block the vas deferens. Instead, the polymer lines the wall of the vas deferens and allows sperm to flow freely down the middle (this prevents any pressure buildup), and because of the polymer’s pattern of negative/positive polarization, the sperm are torn apart through the polyelectrolytic effect. On a molecular level, it’s what supervillains envision will happen when they stick the good guy between two huge magnets and flip the switch.
See original article for links.
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Tags: [Health, Science]
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Double-Slit Experiment Carried Out with 114-Atom Molecules | Hacker News
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Tags: [Science]
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Man Successfully Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings (via). Lots of HNers are claiming fake. Who knows. Cool video if real.
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Tags: [Science]
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The lobster pot (via):
how torturous must it be to face at some point the realization that you are demonstrably not good enough at the thing you are best at?
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Tags: [Psychology]
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Bayes' Theorem Illustrated (via). To read. Also, a poster on HN links another example of Visualizing Bayes' Theorem.
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Tags: [Computer science, Mathematics]
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My Algorithm for Beating Procrastination - Less Wrong (via). I like the methodical approach.
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Tags: [Psychology]
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Teller Reveals His Secrets (via). To finish reading.
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Tags: [Penn&Teller, Psychology]
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Aging of Eyes Is Blamed in Circadian Rhythm Disturbances - NYTimes.com (via). Interesting.
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Tags: [Health, Science]
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Did You Hear We Got Osama? | roshfu (via). A manifesto against information overload.
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Tags: [Psychology]
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Genius Chimp Is Smarter Than You
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Tags: [Animals, Science]
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The 10 rules of a Zen programmer « Grobmeier on Dart, Java, Struts, PHP and more (via). To read.
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Tags: [Programming, Psychology]
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Some climate change links on Drudge today I'd like to read:
Will reduced solar activity counteract global warming in the coming decades? That is what outgoing German electric utility executive Fritz Vahrenholt claims in a new book. In an interview with SPIEGEL, he argues that the official United Nations forecasts on the severity of climate change are overstated and supported by weak science.
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Tags: [Global Warming]
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You've been tying your shoes the wrong way your whole life. : videos. My sneakers come untied constantly and it makes me feel like I'm five years old. Gonna try that method, or the Ian Knot other people in the thread recommend.
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Tags: [Science, Videos]
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A Moment of Clarity in the Pursuit of Happiness (via). To read, and maybe check out the books mentioned.
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Tags: [Psychology]
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Sixteen Concerned Scientists: No Need to Panic About Global Warming - WSJ.com (via). To read.
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Tags: [Global Warming]
Cats can't comprehend mirrors. Dolphins can. I wonder what things humans can't comprehend that would be clear to a more intelligent species. (Heck, maybe dolphins.)
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Trillion-frame-per-second video | Hacker News. Crazy. Captures light in-motion.
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Tags: [Science]
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Google can be used as a graphic calculator. Neat!
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Tags: [Google, Mathematics]
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Report: Obama, UN to tax US for Green Climate Fund:
President Obama's team of negotiators at the United Nations Climate Change Conference may agree to a tax on foreign currency transactions, designed to pay for a "Green Climate Fund," that would fall disproportionately on American travellers and businesses, according to a group attending the conference that is skeptical of the UN position on global warming.
Negotiators at the conference are considering "a new tax on every foreign currency transaction in the world," according to the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). "Every time you travel abroad, you'll have to pay a climate tax," explains CFACT, the group that released the "Climategate" emails. "More importantly, every time we import goods, every time we export our fine products (think jobs) we will do so with a climate tax skimming off the top."
European countries would evade much of the tax burden, however, because "transactions within the Eurozone won't have to pay this new tax."
CFACT suggests that Obama is open to implementing this tax and similar policies in the absence of a full climate treaty, which would require congressional approval. "We have learned that while many have discounted this conference, knowing that a full climate treaty is difficult to achieve especially with a U.S. Senate that will not vote to ratify," CFACT says. "Obama and his fellow climate travelers are working around the Senate and planning to stick America with the bill."
Fuck everything about this.
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Tags: [Barack Obama, Global Warming, Government, United Nations]
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Bizarre health ruling from the EU:
In a scarcely believable ruling, a panel of experts threw out a claim that regular water consumption is the best way to rehydrate the body. The bizarre diktat from Brussels has far-reaching implications for member states, including Britain, as no water sold in the EU can now claim to protect against dehydration.
Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are, highly paid, highly pensioned officials trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.
“If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”
O.o
Edit: Here's an article on this from the Telegraph.
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Tags: [Europe, Health, Science]
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Jedi Mind Tricks: 17 Lesser Known Ways to Persuade People - ConversionXL (via). To read.
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Tags: [Psychology]
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Modern Love - Those Aren’t Fighting Words, Dear - NYTimes.com (via):
You see, I’d recently committed to a non-negotiable understanding with myself. I’d committed to “The End of Suffering.” I’d finally managed to exile the voices in my head that told me my personal happiness was only as good as my outward success, rooted in things that were often outside my control. I’d seen the insanity of that equation and decided to take responsibility for my own happiness. And I mean all of it.
My husband hadn’t yet come to this understanding with himself. He had enjoyed many years of hard work, and its rewards had supported our family of four all along. But his new endeavor hadn’t been going so well, and his ability to be the breadwinner was in rapid decline. He’d been miserable about this, felt useless, was losing himself emotionally and letting himself go physically. And now he wanted out of our marriage; to be done with our family.
But I wasn’t buying it.
When life’s knocked us around. And our childhood myths reveal themselves to be just that. The truth feels like the biggest sucker-punch of them all: it’s not a spouse or land or a job or money that brings us happiness. Those achievements, those relationships, can enhance our happiness, yes, but happiness has to start from within. Relying on any other equation can be lethal.
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Tags: [Love, Psychology]
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TED Talk: Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liar (via).
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Tags: [Psychology]
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Tuesday, May 15, 2012
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new⇒Acknowledging the Arrival of Peak Government
In many ways, Peak Oil isresponsible for this newuselessness of the big g...
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