Is there a point to Belgium?
The Economist looks at how an entrenched biculturalism is never transcended. It's always the butt of European jokes for it's not-really-anything-to-speak-of status, isn't it?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Vitamin D increases life expectancy
From a metastudy:
We had a reduction in all-cause mortality after a follow-up of about six years. So it means that may represent something like an increase of two to three years of your life expectancy...From what I remember, vit D is fat soluble, so that damage from overdosing is a real possibility. The studies covered went up to 2000 IUs.
Monday, September 17, 2007
UNEP bringing solar power into India's rural mainstream
Well, rather than burning all that kerosene for indoor lighting microfinancing is allowing for photovoltaic kits to be installed.
OQO model 2 gets a solid-state harddrive
Remember, this UMPC has the power of a laptop, but fits in a jacket pocket. The big deal about an SSD, which is only 32GB at this point, is the lower power consumption. The battery on this thing doesn't last too long, so this should help some. Also, CPU specs are being bumped up and price is being brought down.
I would imagine that if they could get something like Intel's ultralow voltage chip, the battery would perform more respectably. But maybe that's negligible against the screen.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologizes for massacre 150 years ago
The official apology for the Mountain Meadows massacre of Arkansas immigrants on their way to California.
Previous post of trailer for September Dawn here.
Writing, sharing and protecting your life's story
Create timelines with milestones to note significant events in your and your family's life story.
Photonic laser thruster may shorten trip to Mars down to 1 week from 6 months
Still just proof of concept.
"For decades, rocket scientists have tried to overcome the inefficiency of photon thrusters by amplification based on optical cavities separated from laser sources, but failed," the institute said. "In contrast, Bae’s PLT (patent pending) places the laser medium within a resonant optical cavity between two platforms to produce a very stable and reliable thrust that is unaffected by mirror movement and vibration -- ideal for spacecraft control or propulsion."
Fading superpower? -- LA Times
Becoming mainstream now.
Empires have come and then most certainly gone. Why not America? That doesn't mean it has to completely disappear; some wisdom will guarantee at least some kind of decent place among the other nations.
More parallels here, like Athens pushing its democracy on others.
Residential and commercial hydrogen generation from electrolysis for heating fuel
In the U.K.
... the ITM electrolyser is designed to utilize off-peak or renewable electricity sources to create its own hydrogen fuel which can then be stored and used as a conventional gas to burn in central heating boilers as well as a fuel for cooking.
Stored hydrogen can also be reconverted to electricity using domestic fuel cells or generators to power lighting or other electrical appliances...
Antidepressant as good as antipsychotic for aggressive behavior in those with dementia
For Alzheimer's patients:
The researchers were surprised to find that the two drugs had similar efficacy in reducing psychosis (hallucinations, delusions, suspicious thoughts) and agitation. Overall, there was a 32 per cent reduction of symptoms with citalopram [the antidepressant] and a 35 per cent reduction with risperidone.
But citalopram was associated with significantly fewer side effects, such as sedation, tension and apathy. Total side effect burden scores increased 19 per cent for risperidone and decreased by four per cent with citalopram.
Bubbles in space
The floating blob of water goes wild when the antacid tablet is placed in it.
via videosift.com
Russian armor-piercing grenade proving very effective in Iraq
Links to a CBS video on the weapon. It has a parachute to get it vertical, allowing the blast to go down.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Buildersite -- tradesmen and contractors put up profiles and get feedback
This one is just for the U.K., but it's certainly a fine idea for anywhere.
Hospital cutting deadly infection rate
Pre-admission screening ends up being cost-effective. Too many hospitals believe infections at hospitals just come with the territory.
OrbitzTLC Traveler Update -- real-time travel conditions provided by real travelers
U.S. only for major airports.
An internet romance gone loopy
A rather extreme variation on a theme. Speaks to general issues of cognition and epistemology. I am quite tired of hearing of falling in love as having to do with some intuited essence, soulmates and such.
Yakuza Moon -- memoirs of a Japanese gangster's daughter
Apparently, displaying your gang's name in a sign on your storefront window is old school and just not done anymore. Times are getting more desperate with public officials in the mood for crackdown. Ergo, the assassination of the mayor of Nagasaki.
Russian scientists discover radiation-absorbing material
They just call it 27-4, and it extracts radioactive substances from any water-based solution. Only a few grams so far. We need tonnes of the stuff, so they're hoping to chemically reproduce it to that scale.
13-step method for buying a car
You need to know exactly what you want, have already decided what you're going to pay and walk in essentially with an ultimatum. Be prepared to actually walk away.
The suicides and mysterious accidents of British SDI (Star Wars) scientists
Who knew that working on the Strategic Defense Initiative through the '80s would have been so dangerous?
Fence Defence for construction site security
So it seems that 75% of theft from residential and commercial building sites occurs at night or on weekends. The system presented here goes beyond fencing:
Additional zone boxes can be purchased to monitor inputs other than fencing, these include temporary house alarms; smoke detectors; site plant alarms; tilt alarms; and laser trip wire. For added protection each zone box incorporates an anti-tamper mechanism that guards against unauthorized interference.These are the same people who sell the system that drives teenagers away with the 18-20kHz that only they can hear.
Cognitive therapy for mild cog impairment and pain
With the right stimuli and feedback (computer-mediated in these cases), use the brain's plasticity to heal itself.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
SNL's TV Funhouse take on GE not being so nice
Shown only once. GE is the parent corp of NBC, SNL's network.
Monday, September 10, 2007
White supremacists pwned by clowns
A rally in Knoxville, TN falls for some choreographed ridicule. I always thought Anti Racist Action was a militant, violent group that eventually disbanded.
List of conversion resources
Not only video and document formats, but also drafting docs, scripts, clothing sizes, and Gregorian to Julian calendar.
Fusion with lasers
The extremely high temperatures at which the reaction takes place cost large amounts of energy to generate, and require magnetic containment facilities, as terrestrial materials would melt in contact with the reaction. Lasers can be used to create these temperatures efficiently, at the point of fusion, so that containment of the reaction becomes less of a problem.
Third generation Atlas Devices Rope Ascender
Motorized climbing. Can handle much more load than the first generation. Very simple trigger operation.
Ways your resume irk the hiring manager
I thought hobbies and interests were supposed to communicate something!
What causes flatulence?
Goes over the sugars that are the input for the microbes which create the gas.
Dangerous Knowledge -- suicidal mathematicians
Have not watched myself. It's a 90-min video doc from BBC.
Learn more, study less
It is true that how you absorb information is important to its persistence. The author sketches out steps to improve holistic learning.
World's wackiest holidays and festivals
A photo gallery of craziness from around the world. This one is of the mascot for the Redneck Games in front of the mud pit.
Scan viruses before your download with Dr. Web
It's a Firefox extension that applies for any directly linked file.
How to never get in trouble for recording calls with customer service
You state what you are going to do, but make it seem like a joke.
World's smallest 1080p camcorder from Sanyo -- the Xacti DMX-HD1000
Onto SDHC cards, the max of which is 8 GB which is about 1 hour and 25 minutes at full rez. There's enough charge for that.
Mothers' reading style affect children's later understanding of other's minds
A more detailed breakdown of the mothers' reading style showed that it was particularly references to story characters' mental states and explaining their thoughts and actions using 'think' terms (e.g. Mother says: “...this boy sees so many people and thinks, 'I'll pretend I don't know what's going on and I'll push to the front of the queue'”) that was predictive of their children having a more advanced understanding of mental states a year later.
Monty Python Day
It appears that the third Monty Python has just passed at that castle in The Holy Grail. People get to act the scene out.
Third generation schizophrenia drugs look promising
Fewer side effects. Manages the glutamate-NMDA receptor mediation path.
Economics and culture of Google
Best is the inside dope on the disparity from the hype of the utopian culture as dished by Xooglers (ex-Google employees).
People sensitive to disgust are more likely to hold right-wing views
Yet more evidence that political stance is derived less from truth of principle and more from a general cognitive effect.
Interpersonal disgust sensitivity – not wanting to wear clean second hand clothes is another example - continued to predict racist attitudes even after fear of disease was taken into account.Also, self-declared liberals' EEGs of the anterior cingulate cortex where self-regulation is highly associated exhibited "'significantly greater conflict-related neural activity' when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in the routine". Conservatives, less so. Article here.
Bluetooth headset roundup
From Australian company BlueAnt, the Z9 uses an audio algorithm to distinguish voice signals from everything else to cancel out external noise.
Jawbone's solution to noise cancellation is to increase mic volume when you're speaking, and lower it when you're not.
The Plantronics Voyager 855 does not have noise cancellation, but two connected earpieces for stereo listening. So it handles both phone and Bluetooth-enabled media player.
Energy infrastructure map in the U.S.
Covers not just oil, but nuclear, natural gas and even renewables. Has interesting factoids as well as links to price histories.
Schlitzie, the Pinhead
This story made me pause when I learned that this guy with microcephalus and the intelligence of a four-year-old lived mostly as a carnival freak until the age of 71. All my struggles against deep financial suffering -- being on the street, let's say, which may lead to an early death -- seem overwrought when a simple, decent guy like this can go on for that many decades.
Implanting the brain with cells containing genes that will produce amyloid plaque-busting enzymes
In mice for the moment, but another treatment possibility for Alzheimer's. They injected skin fibroblasts containing the gene that produces the amyloid-busting neprilysin enzyme.
Do parents really love adopted children differently than their own offspring?
Not always idyllic, but from the believers of the nurture side of the equation:
... much of growing up is about choosing a story, one that explains what made us who we are. This is a culture that increasingly fetishizes one shard of that story, the blood connection ...
Refrigerate with no electricity, just magnets
It's silent and a prototype should be out in 2010. Air conditioning overtaxing the grid can be a thing of the past.
The underbelly of some great men in history
One example is not extreme enough: Gandhi's misjudgement was due to a lack of data. It's not a stable prejudice like the one he had against the untouchable caste, however much he talked the talk in that case.
FDR, too, had worse aspects than just being in a wheelchair -- mostly to do with racism, but that one's pretty easy for any figure going into the past.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
The Biontague folding electric bike
Forty-three pounds and can go 60 miles on a charge. There's also some conversion kit available to make your present bike electrically-assisted.
Really bizarre experiments
Including that isolated live dog head. Although, this is at the Museum of Hoaxes site, the author makes clear that he just didn't want to start up an entirely new site for just this list.
Cooline vest to prevent heat stress
I think it's just fleece that's supposed to wick away hot moisture from your body.
PC Mag's undiscovered websites of 2007
I'm not going to name it, but the annoying cat one shouldn't be there -- you hear of it everywhere.
Pano Logic's all-hardware virtualization device
Any network geeks out there? Trying to replace the PC:
The Pano Logic devices contain no CPU, no memory and no OS; they include audio-in and audio-out ports, as well as three USB connections, a VGA video connection, 10/100 Ethernet, and a power connector. Inside each device is a custom Pano Logic chip that manages the virtualization.
Bullet Proof Baby -- you care about your kid, don't you?
You know: riot gear, personal armor, bulletproof stroller for your baby.
World's smallest camera
Like that commando item in that terrorist movie with Judy Davis. However, also useful for pipe inspection and medical procedures.
Facebook's app economy
Coders are making real money riding the Facebook phenomenon. It's been the simple apps that have gone wildly viral.
Movie cliches
Does anybody know how to do accents from different languages in Blogger? Anyways, cliches one finds in the movies, like #11: Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family every morning, even though the husband and children never have time to eat them.
60 second test could help early diagnosis of common brain diseases
Differences in magnetic charge patterns between healthy and unhealthy brains show in magnetoencephalography. Right now, it's a lot of asking questions and reading behavior -- very time-consuming and not necessarily that accurate.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Stretching crystals promises flexible color displays
The beauty of the device is that it can produce the whole spectrum of colours, even ultraviolet and infrared light, using only incident light. As a result, the expensive colour filters used in every other colour display on the market today, are no longer needed. And because the displays use only reflected ambient light, no power is wasted on backlighting, as in today's mobile phones, for example.
Web development tool kit
You smell the freshness of the morning, and whipping up some html, CSS and trying out some new AJAX programming. You're stuck on something! You wish you had a quick cheat sheet to get you back on track. Look no further if you're a web developer! This is the Ultimate Web Development Cheat Sheet Guide!
Albert Ellis -- father of modern cognitive behavioral therapy
Says he's just a modern Diogenes trying to get us to change mental habits.
Bulletproof backpack
A daypack/bookbag which provides level II ballistic protection, as found in most police body armor, at 1/10 the weight.
Neuroscience of making decisions
The findings also hint at why people with Parkinson's disease taking dopamine replacement therapy often develop compulsive behaviours such as overeating, hypersexuality and pathological gambling – the value of the end results (whether food, sex or winning) are overinflated. It may also shed light on the role of dopamine in other diseases characterised by aberrant decision-making, such as impulse control and obsessive–compulsive disorders, or chronic schizophrenia, which leads to a lack of decision-making.
CulinaryPrep -- removing food's microbes
... involves placing the food in a vacuum drum and mixing it with a natural solution containing salt, vitamin C or citric acid, and water. The process takes only minutes, yet it increases the shelf life, sanitation, and even the flavor, of food.
Personality of early risers
In contrast to morning types, evening people preferred the symbolic over the concrete, were creative and risk-taking, and tended to be non-conformist and independent.
Medeco deadbolt lock vulnerability
Any new locks are not vulnerable, but there's plenty of the old ones out there -- two decades worth.
Taleb on low hit rate of medical research
If the success rate of directed research is very low, though, it is true that the more we search, the more likely we are to find things "by accident," outside the original plan.We need a lot of lower cost tinkering instead of large budget research projects. Research design strategy needs to change.
Developing countries need to compete with rich countries' products
... what you need to do to converge [the income levels of the rich countries] is to get a foothold in the goods that rich countries produce ...
Universal increased IQ caused by hybrid vigor?
Just a theory, but increased breeding between genetically distinct populations is helping to raise IQ. So having kids with someone within your race is mildly like marrying your first cousin.
Thorium fuel for reactors to avoid transuranics
Transuranics are the nuclear waste products that last tens to hundreds of thousands of years. Norway's nuclear generation is going in this direction.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Running a spy agency in the game EVE Online
"EVE is considered by many to be a 'sandbox' MMO, and in such a place, only the ruthless survive. The list of nasty things you can do is only limited by your creativity and your capacity for cruelty." In a persistent world where all deaths are final, ruining someone's day often becomes necessary on the path to glory.From sophistication on the economics front to this. It sounds like an intriguing game.
Sky in Google Earth -- mapping the stars
For amateur astronomers, a celestial version of Google Earth.
Vertical rotation turbine design
This vertical rotation feature gives a slower speed, "which allows the turbine to capture more energy from turbulent air flow, common to urban environments. It also means quieter operation." Can realistically provide 1.2kW, three times more than what present turbines of similar size actually provide (although, they claim 1kW).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
