Well, "social science", at least.

Well, "social science", at least. The thing is, most of these are questions from Western culture, and really they may either be the "wrong" questions, or culturally loaded. It might not matter in the end if there is an after life or not, provided you make an effort in this one.

Also of course, if say we all live in an "ancestor simulation", then things like numbers and afterlife's might just be part of the substrate, the program running it. It may not matter what the answers are also, because the important this is actually the questioning.
http://io9.gizmodo.com/5945801/8-philosophical-questions-that-well-never-solve?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Nice

Nice

Originally shared by Polynomial -C

https://benice-equation.blogspot.com.es/2012/01/fractal-spirograph.html

This is a cool analysis of this issue.

This is a cool analysis of this issue.
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-disk-formats-of-star-wars-rogue-one-spoilers

Not the talk you'll be expecting.

Not the talk you'll be expecting.
http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-talk-3

No, Tesla Autopilot Didn't 'Predict a Crash'

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/videos/a32073/no-tesla-autopilot-didnt/

I have friends and family "along the spectrum".

I have friends and family "along the spectrum". Most are often more reliable than "normal" folk, once you reach common ground. It's only the framing of things, including extreme portrayals in media, that makes any group an outsider group.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/feature/different-way-thinking

One of the open source rippers that's actually understandable. Doesn't rip protected disks.

One of the open source rippers that's actually understandable. Doesn't rip protected disks.
http://lifehacker.com/handbrake-finally-leaves-beta-improves-presets-gets-a-1790520699

Cool!

Cool!
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/14-amazing-gravitydefying-funiculars?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=atlas-page

This one step closer.

This one step closer.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/harvard-scientists-think-they-might-have-pinpointed-the-source-of-human-consciousness?utm_content=buffer4e989&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Hmmm

Hmmm
http://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-just-discovered-a-second-state-of-liquid-water

Nice list.

Nice list.

Originally shared by GIMP
https://opensource.com/article/16/12/yearbook-top-open-source-creative-tools-2016

Actually they all look like more of the same...

Actually they all look like more of the same...
https://www.scienceabc.com/innovation/latest-eye-popping-inventions-that-you-didnt-know-about.html

Might be a while off yet.

Might be a while off yet.

Originally shared by The Grateful-3000

If only.......

I use Cyberlink Power Director, myself, but that costs $$ and only works on Windows.

I use Cyberlink Power Director, myself, but that costs $$ and only works on Windows. This is open source (free) and will work on Win, Mac, and Linux.  It looks like 2.2 has some really good improvements.
http://www.openshotvideo.com/2016/12/openshot-22-released-4k-video-editing.html

Urk!

Urk! I got a mysterious "error 1" message when trying to run Photoshop CS6 (and later Illustrator as well) this morning. I followed the procedure to fix this but nothing worked, so I'm reinstalling both versions again today. Annoying. I just want to use it to redo a comic of mine from  2000. :(

“Privacy Bed” That Converts Into A Fort Is A Dream Come True For People With Anxiety

http://www.boredpanda.com/tent-bed-privacy-pop/

Downloaded and installed the Clip Studio Paint upgrade to 1.62.

Downloaded and installed the Clip Studio Paint upgrade to 1.62. New features include (somewhere) direct access to online materials, new blend modes, the opacity of the brush can be adjusted according to pen pressure, and a whole host of other changes and fixes I probably won't find for a while.
http://www.clipstudio.net/en/dl/release_note

Ah, the pre Internet era!

Ah, the pre Internet era!

Originally shared by Sarraute Sebastien

Souvenir...
http://68.media.tumblr.com/9474d22e6b857f4a467b31c42e67235d/tumblr_oghc7eMM9y1tr4l5uo1_1280.jpg

The singularity just called, and wants to know what you're doing Sunday.

The singularity  just called, and wants to know what you're doing Sunday.

Originally shared by Jeff Dean

An inside look at the Google Brain team

For the past few months, we've had NY Times Magazine reporter Gideon Lewis-Kraus visit the Google Brain team several times and hang out with us for a few days at a time, with an eye towards writing an article about how our research team operates and what we're working on. We gave him pretty open access to our building, the people in the team, many of our meetings, etc., and over the course of several visits, he decided to focus his story on the origins of the Brain team, and on our in-progress collaboration with the Google Translate team to replace the old phrase-based translation system with a neural machine translation system (essentially part of the article is a behind-the-scenes look at how the scientific work in https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.08144 and https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.04558 came about).

This long article is the result of his visits and synthesis of what he learned. Gideon, I think the article turned out really well!



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/magazine/the-great-ai-awakening.html?_r=0

I think this was inevitable, but is it enforceable?

I think this was inevitable, but is it enforceable?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-15/federal-court-orders-pirate-bay-blocked-in-australia/8116912

An interesting idea, but don't we have enough paranoia already?

An interesting idea, but don't we have enough paranoia already?
https://curiosity.com/topics/the-zoo-hypothesis-says-aliens-are-secretly-studying-life-on-earth-from-afar-curiosity/?utm_source=facebookSCAL&utm_campaign=2016q4xxfbk03SCALzoohyp&utm_medium=social

Sorry, but I think this article is a WANK. "Ideal"?

Sorry, but I think this article is a WANK. "Ideal"?
http://www.mydomainehome.com.au/attractive-traits

An interesting concept.

An interesting concept. Many people may not even conceive of their future selfs, let alone have empathy for them. I never thought I'd live past 30.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/self-control-is-just-empathy-with-a-future-you/509726/

Well this is a surprise - the networked drives are a LOT faster when they're on the RecRoom PC.

Well this is a surprise - the networked drives are a LOT faster when they're on the RecRoom PC. They used to be on the Lounge PC and were only half as fast. Wahoo!

I moved the server to my RecRoom PC.

I moved the server to my RecRoom PC. As it's all based on N and J network drives, it was a smooth transition. Now to find my external backup drives and see what space I have left. 

Extra thought:
It occurred to me that when I get some extra $$$, I could get a dedicated server box built, one that was ultra reliable, and with very FAST storage. That would be the place to put a hypergrid-connected grid.

Well, my Lounge Room PC stopped working, and that was that!

Well, my Lounge Room PC stopped working, and that was that! I think it's the power supply. It spontaneously rebooted twice in the last two months, and on one occasion gave an error message about the power supply. I was going top wait until I got back from New Zealand to replace that - which I still might do. Trouble is that the Lounge Room PC is also my home network server. Oops!

UPDATE:
I flicked switch at the back OFF and then ONE, and pressed the "On button" on the front again, and it booted! However, that switch is part of the power supply, so I think my diagnosis is still correct. Time to backup while I can, and move the stuff on the server to another PC.

If this is practical and affordable I can see plenty of applications in Australia!

If this is practical and affordable I can see plenty of applications in Australia! The "won't corrode" part is what interests me.
http://themindunleashed.com/2016/11/sustainable-salt-water-battery-wont-corrode-and-can-power-your-home-for-10-years.html

Be impressed.

Be impressed.

Originally shared by Kevin Clift

Triple Pendulum Control

A few years ago Dr. Tobias Glück from Technische Universität Wien, found that along with his mathematical insights, computers and numerical methods were now fast enough to swing-up and balance a pendulum, on a pendulum, on pendulum on a sliding rail under computer control.

IEEE CSS Video Clip Contest 2014 Submission

Triple Pendulum on a Cart (YT ~1 min.): https://goo.gl/XkKxHL


The presented work deals with the swing-up of the triple pendulum on a cart. The swing-up maneuver is accomplished within a two-degrees-of-freedom control scheme consisting of a nonlinear feedforward controller and an optimal feedback controller. Based on a precise mathematical model, the feedforward controller was obtained by solving a nonlinear two-point boundary value problem with free parameters. A time-variant Riccati Controller was developed in order to stabilize the system along the nominal trajectory and an Extended Kalman Filter was used to estimate the non-measurable states. The overall control strategy for the swing-up maneuver was successfully implemented and tested on an experimental test bench. Up to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first contribution so far providing numerical and experimental results of the swing-up maneuver for a triple pendulum on a cart.

Paper (open pdf): https://goo.gl/oT1cQY

Tobias Glück: https://goo.gl/RZtSte


Here is an easy to follow and graphic explanation of Kalman filters due to Tim Babb, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is Lighting Optimization Lead for Pixar Animation Studios.

Related Post: https://goo.gl/5X2ZpV

Image: https://goo.gl/nt6jPW

The blue bits on toothbrushes was about the only thing I didn't already know. Now it makes sense.

The blue bits on toothbrushes was about the only thing I didn't already know. Now it makes sense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWo_tYF0nAc&feature=share

This is an old article.

This is an old article. I should imagine that the same analysis could be used on any MMO as well. I have also (some years back) come across an online calculator that would calculate what a second life avatar's carbon footprint was. However, it seemed to "double count" the cost for the linden servers and  on home computers, and I suspect that's an error, because it fails to account for the other uses of the home computer. 

Also see:
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/researchers-use-second-life-to-gauge-peoples-green-attitudes.html and
http://www.roughtype.com/?p=611
https://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2007/11/10/second-life-avatars-arent-as-eco-friendly-carbon-neutral-as-first-thought/

Looks like Open Canvas is getting an update, which includes adding GIF animation capability.

Looks like Open Canvas is getting an update, which includes adding GIF animation capability. I can't help thinking that this is in response to Clip Studio Paint getting animation capability. I used OC for a while a few years back, but committed to Manga Studio for various reasons. Open Canvas is very popular with anime/manga fans and has a replay function where you can see how an image was drawn.
http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/oc/

How the Way You Breathe Affects What You Remember -- Science of Us

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/12/how-the-way-you-breathe-affects-what-you-remember.html

The repeat of a Star Trek: The Next Generation mentioned that this "still hadn't been solved after 800 years".

The repeat of a Star Trek: The Next Generation mentioned that this "still hadn't been solved after 800 years". Oh dear, sometimes TV shows date unexpectedly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr7NuyvBzfE&feature=share

This is incredibly important and the reactor that could one day maintain a controlled nuclear fusion reaction.

This is incredibly important and the reactor that could one day maintain a controlled nuclear fusion reaction.

I think they still have a long way to go to a commercial fusion reactor.
https://www.slashgear.com/german-nuclear-fusion-machine-creates-3d-magnetic-fields-as-predicted-06466533/

More images of lighter-than-air craft, both real and imagined.

More images of lighter-than-air craft, both real and imagined.
http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?topic=28095.60

I had to chase down more info on the futures of airships which never happened.

I had to chase down more info on the futures of airships which never happened.
http://www.airships.net/futurism/

If you DON'T build it, will they come? I so love the idea of lighter-than-air warships, though really I think...

If you DON'T build it, will they come?  I so love the idea of lighter-than-air warships, though really I think they'd be downed pretty quickly.

Originally shared by Yonatan Zunger

A few weeks ago, I posted (goo.gl/mE052w) about one of the stranger legacies of the Cold War – a never-launched (for obvious reasons) American plan involving an Atomic Zeppelin fleet, which would patrol over the world's oceans 24/7, carrying Minuteman ICBM's on board.

Now, this plan was raised as part of a fairly transparent ploy by various groups at the Department of Defense to claim that they had "thought through all options" and could therefore justify the M-X Missile program.

So I have no idea what the excuse is behind this thing, a description of a plan for nuclear-powered Zeppelins to be fielded by the Soviet Union. I'm suspecting that this appeared in Tekhnika Molodezhi for much the same reason that bizarre designs show up in Popular Mechanics: that is, as an "imagine this neat future!" gimmick rather than serious engineering.

But I'm oddly pleased to discover that both sides of the Cold War had people that looked at nuclear reactions, looked at Zeppelins, and immediately thought these are two great tastes that taste great together.

This really strange bit of lore brought to you by @PulpLibrarian over on Twitter.

Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Internet is Good for Society

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNIHBEBsoKg&feature=share&list=PLZxWJ6CTr63Z4OYR3gdMEEog5Zju5ihyu&index=2

Very handy on dual boot systems, though usually I put the data on the NTFS partitions.

Very handy on dual boot systems, though usually I put the data on the NTFS partitions.
http://www.howtogeek.com/112888/3-ways-to-access-your-linux-partitions-from-windows/

Floating trains eh? Gosh, what a cliched prediction.

Floating trains eh? Gosh, what a cliched prediction.
http://thefutureishere.economist.com/blogs-future-transportation.html

Free MIT courses, including videos, audio, simulations, lecture notes, and exams.

Originally shared by Phorcyte X

Free MIT courses, including videos, audio, simulations, lecture notes, and exams.
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/

also see

also see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3aQDHP-7Ao

BIG DOG, as you've never seen him before! ;)

BIG DOG, as you've never seen him before! ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXI4WWhPn-U

Maths is an art as much as a science, at least for anyone into it. :)

Maths is an art as much as a science, at least for anyone into it. :)

Originally shared by alias inkhorn

"People who appreciate the beauty of mathematics activate the same part of their brain when they look at aesthetically pleasing formula as others do when appreciating art or music, suggesting that there is a neurobiological basis to beauty.

Beautiful formula
There are many different sources of beauty - a beautiful face, a picturesque landscape, a great symphony are all examples of beauty derived from sensory experiences. But there are other, highly intellectual sources of beauty. Mathematicians often describe mathematical formulae in emotive terms and the experience of mathematical beauty has often been compared by them to the experience of beauty derived from the greatest art.

In a new paper published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to image the brain activity of 15 mathematicians when they viewed mathematical formulae that they had previously rated as beautiful, neutral or ugly.

The results showed that the experience of mathematical beauty correlates with activity in the same part of the emotional brain – namely the medial orbito-frontal cortex – as the experience of beauty derived from art or music.

Activity in the brain is strongly related to how intense people declare their experience of beauty to be – even in this example where the source of beauty is extremely abstract.
Professor Semir Zeki (Wellcome Laboratory of Neurobiology at UCL)..."
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0214/13022014-Mathematical-beauty-activates-same-brain-region-as-great-art-Zeki

Including, but not exclusively, Gernsback's “Teleyeglasses”which were meant to give a stereoscopic image, and...

Including, but not exclusively, Gernsback's “Teleyeglasses”which were meant to give a stereoscopic image, and apparently his “headphone TV,” where images would be transmitted to an individual’s mind! Gernsback was a much better magazine editor and more less invented the term Science Fiction.
http://blog.fyitelevision.com/2015/03/tv-technology-history-involved-some.html#sthash.P3vUKVeg.dpbs

Frankly I'm disappointed.

Frankly I'm disappointed. There was some talk a while back about naming an element after either David Bowie or Lemmy Kilmister. But Tennessine?  It just makes me think that "Unobtainium" was a reasonable name! :P
http://phys.org/news/2016-11-tennessine-element.html

there’s no way of knowing that you’re infected, but it’s been associated with a number of mental disorders, such as...

there’s no way of knowing that you’re infected, but it’s been associated with a number of mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

So my cats really have driven me crazy.
http://www.sciencealert.com/we-finally-know-how-the-mind-altering-cat-parasite-controls-our-immune-response

Not sure just how secure this would be.

Not sure just how secure this would be.

Originally shared by Amy McGarity (German Pearls)

How to use microsoft excel as a password keeper. An easy to follow tutorial and free template to store your passwords in one, safe location.
#microsoftexcel #excel #tutorial #password
http://www.germanpearls.com/excel-password-keeper
http://fpme.link/OuJYhG

Supposed to be QUICKER to use. Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_multiplication.

Supposed to be QUICKER to use. Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_multiplication.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/RussianMultiplication.html

Yesterday's ideas of the future tend to date rather quickly, because they usually miss the unexpected developments...

Yesterday's ideas of the future tend to date rather quickly, because they usually miss the unexpected developments that come  next. I was struck how there's no television as they knew it in 1967, but there is private (3D?) recordings of performers. Also, in almost the whole of the house, there only seems to be one device with a QWERTY keyboard, and when the man of the house decides to send a message, he WRITES one using a stylus. Why wouldn't he just do a video recording?

I know this actress's voice from somewhere but I can't place it. I thought maybe Diana Muldaur? But surely that can't be her? I love the computer voices as well. :P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1p6fmPzoJk&feature=share

I was trying to link to a Doctor Who image (see http://asset-d.soupcdn.com/asset/3247/6306_d652_500.jpeg) and I got...

I was trying to link to a Doctor Who image (see http://asset-d.soupcdn.com/asset/3247/6306_d652_500.jpeg) and I got THIS message instead! Geez, never seen one of these before, and hope not to see another either!

Interesting choices.

Interesting choices.
http://www.guidingtech.com/31357/notepad-plus-plugins/

And here's an unusual idea, It converts TextMate (see http://macromates.com/) to NotePad++ themes!

And here's an unusual idea, It converts TextMate (see http://macromates.com/) to NotePad++ themes! Seems a bit like cheating. I guess this was originally made for someone who used to use TextMate and moved on the NPP.
http://framework.lojcomm.com.br/tmTheme2nppStyler/

I've used Notepad++ quite a bit and hadn't realised today that it had themes.

I've used Notepad++ quite a bit and hadn't realised today that it had themes. Here's an online page that can make one of those for you.
https://notepad-kobzar-editor.appspot.com/editor.html

Io: Facts about Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon

http://www.space.com/16419-io-facts-about-jupiters-volcanic-moon.html

The pure dream of space exploration.

The pure dream of space exploration.

Originally shared by Ian FS

A peculiar property of all these high-temperature superconductors is that just before they enter the superconducting...

A peculiar property of all these high-temperature superconductors is that just before they enter the superconducting state, they invariably first enter the pseudogap state, whose origins are equally, if not more, mysterious than the superconducting state itself.

gosh.
http://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-have-discovered-a-new-state-of-matter-in-superconducting-materials

This is a day to potter around on a webcomic, and fuck about with social media.  Time for lunch.

I do like the Windows free file and font managers that are available here.

I do like the Windows free file and font managers that are available here. The file manager is yet another Norton's Commander inspired dual pane thingamie. While I prefer FreeCommander, this one's OK. The Font Manager does the basics - it shows installed fonts, but also allows you to browse other fonts and keep them in both groups and sets. You can also compare several fonts at the same time. Very handy when choosing a font for a design purpose, like webcomics.
http://www.xiles.net/

So is a South Park episode coming true?

So is a  South Park episode coming true?
https://techcrunch.com/video/airspace-can-catch-high-speed-drones-all-by-itself/582f2ddf869ea92525d252eb/

I'm all for this.

I'm all for this. I would have thought that inventing a new language would be a sure fire sign of intelligence, whether organic or not

Originally shared by Karl Hansen (a2brute)

TechCrunch: Google’s AI translation tool seems to have invented its own secret internal language. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIwoLLDoDI
http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIwoLLDoDI

You never know when this might come in handy.

You never know when this might come in handy.
http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/number/ascii-to-binary.htm

I came across this in a TechLife magazine.

I came across this in a TechLife magazine. I'm less interested what's currently shown on the curve than the curve itself. It's about like an inverted "grief cycle: Innovation Trigger; Peak of Inflated Expectations; Trough of Disillusionment; Slope of Enlightenment; and Plateau of Productivity.

I had assumed that things went like this: Initial idea; proof of concept demonstration; promotional prototype; initial (but flawed) execution; second wave versions; finalized versions (including cheap knockoffs and unintended limits/applications).  :P
http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3412017

I see a vast potential for robot fart jokes.

nailed it! :P

nailed it! :P

Originally shared by Saqib Abdullah Azhar

An alternative to AddBlockPlus, which I've used for years. Am trying this now. The dashboard has MANY options.

An alternative to AddBlockPlus, which I've used for years. Am trying this now. The dashboard has MANY options.
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock

Music to code by...

Music to code by...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lAfMT5FIZE&feature=share

Ha ha ha - drawing with the mouse for an Artificial Intelligence!

Ha ha ha - drawing with the mouse for an Artificial Intelligence!
https://quickdraw.withgoogle.com/shared/Z0aUFaP9uT3R

I didn't know about the screen capture and conversion functions!

I didn't know about the screen capture and conversion functions!
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/awesome-vlc-features-know/

Can't this be a bit sooner?

Can't this be a bit sooner?

Originally shared by Tomasz Nowakowski (Astro Watch)

Sticking words in dead scientist's mouths is a long established practice online.

Sticking words in dead scientist's mouths is a long established practice online. Sometimes it's hard to spot the difference.
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/huffpo-science-section-engages-in-dishonest-quote-mining/

A more rigorous discussion of this.

A more rigorous discussion of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZacggH9wB7Y

There's more than one way (superposition) to interpret what and why something will happen in Schrodinger's animal...

There's more than one way (superposition) to interpret what and why something will happen in Schrodinger's animal cruelty experiment. What was really just a thought experiment about quantum mechanics, has become a ubiquitous explanation instead, and often gets quoted as FACT rather than just one interpretation (the Copenhagen one) of many. See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZacggH9wB7Y for a more academic list of these.

So you could say that there's a "superposition of interpretations"!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIQzAHxD2KM&feature=share

I mostly us Notepad++ nowadays, but PSPad can be a useful raw HTML editor.

I mostly us Notepad++ nowadays, but PSPad can be a useful raw HTML editor.
http://www.pspad.com/en/

I feel dense just looking at this!

I feel dense just looking at this!

Originally shared by John Bowdre

Neutron stars are fascinating.

This cool infographic provides a visual approximation of their incredible density (hint: smash 500,000 Earths into a sphere ~20km across and you'll be close), but their story is actually even more interesting than that.

Neutron stars are born, so to speak, from the supernova death and subsequent gravitational collapse of a large star with 10-30 times the mass of our sun. That gravitational collapse squeezes the core of the star tighter and tighter - beyond the density found in a white dwarf star, to that found in atomic nuclei.

At its surface, the neutron star is composed of ordinary atomic nuclei (likely iron) crushed together into a solid lattice, with a sea of electrons flowing through the gaps between them. Deeper down, the nuclei hold ever-increased numbers of neutrons - so many that the usual nuclear forces would not be enough to hold the nuclei together. Only the absolutely insane gravitational force is able to hold the neutrons together in this configuration. (If you could, hypothetically, scoop up a teaspon of this stuff, it would not only weigh 900 times as much as the Great Pyramid of Giza, but also (more problematically) explode apart with such force that it would obliterate the unfortunate planet you attempted to weigh a chunk of neutron star on. Whoops!)

Of course, the rules of the universe do still apply to neutron stars. Stars rotate (our sun rotates once every ~24.5 days), and when the core of a massive star compresses and collapses into a neutron star it retains most of its angular momentum. You've seen a figure skater pull their arms in toward their body and thus spin faster? The same applies here: as the mass of the core pulls in tighter, it reduces the star's radius (and thus its moment of inertia) causing the neutron star to spin incredibly fast - often several hundred times per second.

Neutron stars are generally detected from their electromagnetic radiation, which is thought to be caused by particle acceleration near the neutron star's magnetic poles. Those poles aren't necessarily aligned with the neutron star's rotational axis, resulting in a directional beam of radio waves and other radiation. And, remember, these things are spinning fast, sweeping that beam across the universe like a rotating red or blue light atop an old police car. When seen from Earth, such beaconing neutron stars appear to rapidly pulse - which is why they get called pulsars.

This is seriously cool stuff! Be sure to dip into the linked Reddit thread to learn more about these incredible objects.

(h/t Jason England)
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/5a0xad/just_made_a_visual_representation_on_how_dense/

Being a tailor or seamstress just became more complicated.

Being a tailor or seamstress just became more complicated.

Originally shared by ScienceDaily
http://dlvr.it/Mg0J8G

The next round in this saga.

The next round in this saga. A few days ago it was rumoured that IT ACTUALLY WORKS and allegedly the paper on it was leaked - see http://www.news.com.au/…/n…/757094f568430af8139264e60b3a9d2f.

Thing is though, that that paper hasn't officially been released yet, and the leaked details may be out of context or plain ol' faked. Talk to me again when it's confirmed.
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/nasa-emdrive-warp-drive

You should see the non-compact version!

You should see the  non-compact version!

Originally shared by Ed S

We all want compact, reliable and efficient computers, don't we? Here's a quick trip from the Jacquard loom to the attack of the mutant camels. (About that - be sure to check out Jeff Minter's site with a bio and history of llamasoft:
http://minotaurproject.co.uk/jeff.php
)
If you need more, click through to the interactive documentary of Jack Tramiel: Jack and the Machine.
https://medium.com/@dschmudde/a-brief-history-of-machine-personalities-f7116c85c2ed#.qkbu4u1h7

This is an old 2010 article.

This is an old 2010 article. It may have been either discredited or updated by now. But the idea that young adults (ages 18-25) can be affected by this is intriguing, because it might support the suppression of derogatory terms and names    But does the same thing happen after that age range?

It's also the sort of report that gets grabbed and quoted by folk for their own agendas.. Quantum Mechanics (usually called Quantum Physics" by its appropriators)  used to be one of these, used to support all kinds of unlikely conclusions. In practice it's akin to quoting the 10% of the brain" myth - an appeal to authority  which relies on people's ignorance of the the source.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-new-brain/201010/sticks-and-stones-hurtful-words-damage-the-brain

UltiCast 3D printer add-on allows users to easy cast silicone for soft robotics

Originally shared by 3ders.org

UltiCast 3D printer add-on allows users to easy cast silicone for soft robotics
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20161110-ulticast-3d-printer-add-on-allows-users-to-easy-cast-silicone-for-soft-robotics.html #3dprinting
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20161110-ulticast-3d-printer-add-on-allows-users-to-easy-cast-silicone-for-soft-robotics.html

Aussie boffins up to - well good - again.

Aussie boffins up to - well good - again.

Originally shared by Engadget

Australians researchers have built a better qubit http://engt.co/2fBGkk0
http://engt.co/2fBGkk0

Want a list of Australia's gangsters ??

Originally shared by Aymii keegan

Want a list of Australia's gangsters ??
Here they are !!!
Some of these bad boys and girls will stop apipeline ..
Freeway ..housing construction .. U name it ..
Lot of them need paparazzi too ..
lots and lots of missing photos folks ..

Check out who in ur town .. The real celebrities .. 👍🏽😎
http://www.ala.org.au

And lastly (for now).

And lastly (for now).
https://elainthemiddle.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/learning-styles/

Citations

https://elainthemiddle.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/citations/

Should I buy Poser 11?

Should I buy Poser 11? Smith Micro have a sale on at the moment (ends 13th Nov), and I can upgrade from Poser 9 to Poser 11 for $US 49.99.

I bought Poser 9 some years back as part of a package with other SM products. I use Manga Studio (now Clip Studio Paint) a lot, but I never got around to using Poser at all. I was going to use it mainly for creating both avatars, poses and animations for Second Life / Open Simulator. What happened was that in-between when i bought it and now, I completed a Masters in Fine Art, and really didn't have the time to explore Poser at all. But now I do. I already have a version of DAZ as well, but haven't done anything with that for the same reasons.

So for the purposes mentioned above - avatars / poses / animation - is it worth my while upgrading from 9 to 11? What do I gain by doing that? I already use Qavimator and I have_ DAZ_, so is i9t worth it?

Comments please.
http://my.smithmicro.com/poser-11.html

Pepakura Designer is a Windows application which makes unfolded patterns from 3D data.

Pepakura Designer is a Windows application which makes unfolded patterns from 3D data. Pepakura Designer features to automatically unfold 3D polygon-mesh models, and allow you to edit them. Pepakura Designer allows you to create real paper craft models from digital data!

Seems a bit specialized!
http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/index.html

At the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a new threat has emerged: "brain jacking".

At the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a new threat has emerged: "brain jacking". With the increase of brain implants, so comes the threat of unauthorized control of those brain implants.

Shades of certain Doctor Who episodes.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/10/brain-plasticity-yes-you-really-can-change-your-brain/

This will keep the physicists occupied for a while.

This will keep the physicists occupied for a while.

Originally shared by Ethan Siegel

“During the last decade, when neutrino masses were constrained for the first time (via neutrino oscillations), it surprised many that they were found to be very low in mass, but to have definitively non-zero masses. Why is that? The general way of explaining this — the see-saw mechanism — typically involves additional, very heavy particles (like, maybe a billion or a trillion times more massive than the Standard Model particles) that are extensions to the Standard Model; without a new particle, their tiny, tiny masses (just a billionth of an electron’s mass) are completely unexplained. Whether see-saw-type particles exist or there’s some other explanation, these massive neutrinos are almost definitely, in some way, indicative of new physics beyond the Standard Model.”

When you think about the Standard Model of particle physics, you very likely think about all the matter, energy, particles, antiparticles, forces and interactions of the Universe. And you might legitimately worry that this is all there is. With the LHC confirming that there’s no low-scale supersymmetry or collider-accessible extra dimensions, and that all the decays and branching ratios align with the Standard Model’s predictions, that worry seems well-founded. Never fear; we know there’s more! The Standard Model may be wonderful for what it does predict, but we know with absolute certainty that it can’t be everything. From dark matter to massive neutrinos, from the strong CP problem to baryogenesis and more, there are five very strong pieces of independent evidence that show there’s more to the Universe than what we presently can explain.

Come see if you can identify all five independent lines of evidence for new particles and interactions beyond the Standard Model!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2016/11/04/five-independent-signs-of-new-physics-in-the-universe/

Three GIFs That Make Pi Instantly Understandable | Nerdist

http://nerdist.com/three-gifs-that-make-pi-instantly-understandable/

Apparently you can still buy and put together a MICROBEE!

Apparently you can still buy and put together a MICROBEE!
http://www.microbeetechnology.com.au/classic-plus-kit-computer.htm

Has plenty of things that it generates, especially dungeon maps for the very lazy.

Has plenty of things that it generates, especially dungeon maps for the very lazy. There's also a weird names generator. They look pretty weird to me, or my name's Cthyophoggua!.
http://donjon.bin.sh/

Does what it says.

Does what it says.
http://donjon.bin.sh/scifi/world/

Yet another free texture generator!

Yet another free texture generator!
http://www.breatharian.eu/TexiGen/

IsometrIcon is a free Photoshop plugin that helps to transform shapes into isometric orientation.

IsometrIcon is a free Photoshop plugin that helps to transform shapes into isometric orientation. Build simple isometric icons and other elements in seconds with only a few clicks. A true time saving tool for graphic artists and icon build

Interesting idea, but you need to watch the tutorials first! For Photoshop CS5 and above.
http://www.the-orange-box.com/portfolio/isometricon-free-photoshop-plugin/

A series of plugins for Photoshop, from CS3 up.

A series of plugins for Photoshop, from CS3 up.
http://www.the-orange-box.com/portfolio/free-seamless-textures-generator-v-2/

I've been listening to this for years. Thirty three different streams for your enjoyment.

I've been listening to this for years. Thirty three different streams for your enjoyment.
http://somafm.com/

#photography #cellPhoneTowers #fake #trees #mobile #technology

Originally shared by Nuno Luciano

#photography #cellPhoneTowers #fake #trees #mobile #technology

The Fake Cell Phone Towers

The creative attempt to disguise Cell Phone Towers of the mobile infrastructure as something natural (almost insulting).
Photographer Dillon Marsh has documented some of the most egregious examples.

Dillon Marsh, a South African photographer, has created a photo series of the incongruous pieces of infrastructure. They’re from various places around that country: Durbanville, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Eerste River. Amazingly, it seems as though the problem is even worse there: the giant trees are made even more surreal by their total misplacement.

Marsh says he became "intrigued by [their] peculiar nature" after a tower went up near where he grew up. Then he started seeing more of them, and he became hooked:

"In 2009, when I came across another one, I decided to track down and photograph as many of them as I could find around Cape Town. This proved to be way more than I expected and in the end I decided to limit the series to 12 photos so that I could concentrate on new projects."

And while I'm mentioning Photoshop plugins...

And while I'm mentioning Photoshop plugins...
https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-texture-works-plugin

"A collection of texture tools generating normal maps, texture compression, mip map generation and cube map...

"A collection of texture tools generating normal maps, texture compression, mip map generation and cube map formatting packaged as a plugin for Adobe Photoshop 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 7.0, CS, CS2, CS3, CS4, CS5 and CS6."
https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop

Haven't tested this yet, but I think it's an import/export filter for Photoshop for DDS (DirectDraw Surface) format.

Haven't tested this yet, but I think it's an import/export filter for Photoshop for DDS (DirectDraw Surface) format.
http://www.instructables.com/file/F32PNWBF11S8SYA/

Apparently Micro$oft made .Net open source, and now this - who'd a thunk it?

Apparently Micro$oft made .Net open source, and now this - who'd a thunk it?
http://venturebeat.com/2016/08/18/microsoft-open-sources-powershell-and-extends-it-to-linux/

That one simple difference between Windows users and Linux users

That one simple difference between Windows users and Linux users

A more sophisticated theoretical framework accounting for the observation that the universe is not exactly...

A more sophisticated theoretical framework accounting for the observation that the universe is not exactly homogeneous and that its matter content may not behave as an ideal gas - two key assumptions of standard cosmology - may well be able to account for all observations without requiring dark energy. Indeed, vacuum energy is something of which we have absolutely no understanding in fundamental theory.

D'OH!
http://phys.org/news/2016-10-universe-rateor.html#jCp

This looks clever, but I'm not so sure about the prefab nature of these.

This looks clever, but I'm not so sure about the prefab nature of these. I have a friend up north who lives in a geodesic dome, but she designed and built it herself.
http://inhabitat.com/prefab-smartdome-homes-can-pop-up-in-degraded-hard-to-reach-areas/

How to build a hotel for wild bees | MNN - Mother Nature Network

Originally shared by Rob Jongschaap

How to build a hotel for wild bees | MNN - Mother Nature Network

'Want a fun activity that benefits native bees and that the entire family can do right in your backyard? Build a bee hotel.

A bee hotel is a place you create for native bees — particularly mason bees and leafcutter bees — to make a nest. "The thing about a mason bee home is that it gets people to understand that there are a lot more bees out there than just honeybees," said Becky Griffin, community and school garden coordinator at the Center for Urban Agriculture and University of Georgia Extension for the Northwest District of Georgia.'

http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/how-build-hotel-wild-bees
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/how-build-hotel-wild-bees

Cognitive offloading: How the Internet is increasingly taking over human memory

Originally shared by Ward Plunet

Cognitive offloading: How the Internet is increasingly taking over human memory

Our increasing reliance on the Internet and the ease of access to the vast resource available online is affecting our thought processes for problem solving, recall and learning. In a new article, researchers have found that 'cognitive offloading', or the tendency to rely on things like the Internet as an aide-mémoire, increases after each use.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160816085029.htm

Bricasso Lego Printer by JK Brickworks

Originally shared by Richard Wooding

Bricasso Lego Printer by JK Brickworks 
The final version of JK Brickworks  LEGO mosaic printer. It uses the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 to scan an image and recreate it as a LEGO mosaic using 1x1 LEGO plates. Here I have it scanning and printing the LEGO logo.

Via The Brothers Brick 
http://www.brothers-brick.com/2015/06/26/lego-mosaic-printer/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4neo4fRw2M

My understanding is though, that this was a "dry run" to test the landing technique.

My understanding is though, that this was a "dry run" to test the landing technique. They may learn more from failure than success.

Originally shared by Guido Bibra

Well, that's it then... ESA's Schiaparelli Demo Lander has reached Mars, but made a hard landing and probably even exploded on impact. But the important thing to remember is that the actual orbiter part of the mission is absolutely fine and working!
http://www.universetoday.com/131611/schiaparelli-gone-smashed-surface-mars/

Just a page I found.

Just a page I found.
http://prideout.net/archive/projects.html

So far as I know, this is legit.

So far as I know, this is legit.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/linux-kernels-4-8-3-4-7-9-4-4-26-lts-out-to-patch-dirty-cow-security-flaw-509495.shtml

Boffins!

Boffins!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-21/energy-scientists-accidentally-turn-carbon-dioxide-into-ethanol/7954546?section=science

I remember that was the BIG worry, before it was 2000. Remember all those planes falling out of the sky?

I remember that was the BIG worry, before it was 2000. Remember all those planes falling out of the sky?

Originally shared by Johannes Fritz (Mr. Rar)

1999 + 1 = 1900 (Y2K millennium bug)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=356452454692980&set=a.242051209466439.1073741829.100009846848732&type=3

Originally shared by Dominic Crespi

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=356452454692980&set=a.242051209466439.1073741829.100009846848732&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=356452454692980&set=a.242051209466439.1073741829.100009846848732&type=3

What Happens Inside a Dying Mind?

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/387946/the-science-of-near-death-experiences/

Computer weirdness today. I have two computers in the Studio and they seem to have opposite problems.

Computer weirdness today. I have two computers in the Studio and they seem to have opposite problems.

The first is the new version of the Studio PC. Win 7 installed on perfectly. Connects to the Internet and the Home Network. I installed Linux Mint KDE 17 on it as a dual boot, but it only boots straight to Win 7 (/dev/sdb2) unless I use the Supergrub 2 live disk to boot it to Mint. But then I find that Mint has no connection to either the Internet or the Home Network, and neither does the Mint KDE 17 live disk! This is odd, as I thought it had connected to both while in the RecRoom (on another LAN cable). Most peculiar, but it also means I can't install the Grub update for KDE either.

The other is the ex-University Laptop. I did a dual boot install of Mint KDE on that one as well, with Win Vista. The dual boot works perfect and both OSs boot fine. But Win Vista doesn't access either the Internet or the Home Network, whereas Mint accesses both. Not only that, it shows up as a computer on the Home Network and I can share locations on that as well!

I expect it's the same problem on each, in that on the Studio PC Mint doesn't have a driver for the network adapter, where on the Laptop (an older Dell model) it did, whereas when the IT department re-imaged the laptop that didn't include up-to-date drivers for the adapter! Luckilly I have all the original disks that came with the laptop, and the manuals, so I should be able to find the driver somewhere there and get that working. And for the Studio PC, which has a Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller, I should be able to download the linux drivers from  the manufacturers site, and somehow install those (have not done too many manual installs under Linux).

But it's just bloody awkward on both. Of course I could just leave the Laptop as it is, and use the Win Boot to check suspicious disks and memory sticks, et cetera. Then if safe I could swap to Mint and copy the files to the network. Or not. This is the sort of task where I attempt to follow up in the most straight-forward manner, and find myself getting lost very quickly. D'Oh!

Yet another natural media painting program for Mac / Windows.

Yet another natural media painting program for Mac / Windows. The web site allows you to paint in the browser. I'd almost be interested if I didn't already have Paint tool SAI and Clip Studio Paint.
http://www.escapemotions.com/products/rebelle/

The thing is, in Australia at least there's several legal databases which you can search for REAL court cases and...

The thing is, in Australia at least there's several legal databases which you can search for REAL court cases and decision - see http://www.austlii.edu.au/databases.html. So it's likely that there'd be the same in the USA. The hosts these scams are aimed at, just need to do a simple human check on these scam pages.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/10/10/dozens-of-suspicious-court-cases-with-missing-defendants-aim-at-getting-web-pages-taken-down-or-deindexed/?postshare=5221476198702515&tid=ss_gp&utm_term=.6c217fa6cc67

And here's that on video...

And here's that on video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emvEsm9n_w0&feature=share

I'm about to repair a wind toy like this that I bought in Phuket back in 2000. Long overdue repairs.

I'm about to repair a wind toy like this that I bought in Phuket back in 2000. Long overdue repairs.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Flapping-Bird-Toy-out-of-Cardboard/

An OS for lego !!!!!!

An OS for lego !!!!!!
http://brickos.sourceforge.net/

Having installed Linux Mint as a dual boot (with Win Vista) on my old uni laptop, I've discovered that the LAN and...

Having installed Linux Mint as a dual boot (with Win Vista)  on my old uni laptop, I've discovered that the LAN and wireless connections work flawlessly under Min (in fact it's listed in my Win7 home network, but that Vista doesn't (the drivers were all under XP) I'm tempted to remove Win Vista entirely. The  question then becomes, do I just reallocate space on the laptop so that Mint uses it all, or maybe instead install something else in the space that Win Vista occupies now? 

Maybe I could give that Google OS a ago? Thoughts on this?

Consul: The educated monkey:

Originally shared by Maurici Carbo (nummolt apps)

Consul: The educated monkey:
(a mechanical multiplication device)
http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/consul-educated-monkey-or-inventions-william-h-robertson
(Peggy A. Kidwell)
But see also the  comments for the dangers of table-driven computation.

As just seen on ABC Breakfast. Definitely NOT COOL tech.

As just seen on ABC Breakfast. Definitely NOT COOL tech.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/5/13175000/samsung-galaxy-note-7-fire-replacement-plane-battery-southwest

I've still been a bit shy of making things in blender.

I've still been a bit shy of making things in blender. This video shows me how easy it would be to make air-conditioning ducts (and lots more).

Also, this silent video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyph2GK85vo
and:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMXcQ2V-VGA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhLdPSZuNac&feature=share

Free online normals utility. Is there anything one CAN'T do online?

Free online normals utility. Is there anything one CAN'T do online?

Originally shared by Hicks Adder

http://cpetry.github.io/NormalMap-Online/
http://cpetry.github.io/NormalMap-Online/

Windows only - OF COURSE!!!!

Windows only - OF COURSE!!!!
http://www.moo0.com/?top=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.moo0.com%2Fsoftware%2F

An uncomfortable truth suggested by the Roman bot is that many of our flesh-and-blood relationships now exist...

An uncomfortable truth suggested by the Roman bot is that many of our flesh-and-blood relationships now exist primarily as exchanges of text, which are becoming increasingly easy to mimic. Kuyda believes there is something — she is not precisely sure what — in this sort of personality-based texting.

To me it inicates just how much of our "internet connections" are mostly in our heads. Of course this was someone she knew IN PERSON rather than only via the net. At best this is a way of coping with grief. At worst, it's a travesty that puts words in the mouths of the dead (which is something I hate and why I dislike bogus quotes).
http://www.theverge.com/a/luka-artificial-intelligence-memorial-roman-mazurenko-bot

More social media?

More social media?
https://stampsy.com/about

ha ha.

ha ha. i watched the demo video on the page and it made me think of Mythbusters (just look at that train derail)! Smash 'em ups!
http://rigsofrods.org/

This looks really good.

This looks really good.
http://www.nikse.dk/subtitleedit/

I'm out hunting wild software tonight. This software simulates Skyscrapers!

I'm out hunting wild software tonight.  This software simulates Skyscrapers! I was reading on the wikipedia page (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyscraper_(software)#Features) that there are "fan made scripts" to create escalators! Oh joy. Some of the screenshots remind me of scenes from The Shining..

With the image below I have to wonder why they built the skyscraper on the Deathstar.
http://www.skyscrapersim.com/screenshots.shtml

Interesting concept.

Interesting concept.
http://scenari-platform.org/projects/scenari/en/pres/co/

I've tried using Font Forge before and been stopped in my tracks because of a high learning curve.

I've tried using Font Forge before and been stopped in my tracks because of a high learning curve. But this looks just the thing that might help.   You can find FontForge (Win/Mac/Linux) at http://fontforge.github.io/en-US/.
http://designwithfontforge.com/en-US/index.html#

Not sure if I understand this exactly, but it seems to be the OPPOSITE of Skynet found in the Terminator films.

Not sure if I understand this exactly, but it seems to be the OPPOSITE of Skynet found in the Terminator films. Rather than achieving sentience, it uses seriously flawed algorithms to suggest people to slaughter with drones. If people used the same algorithms on USA population and sent in the drones afterwards, what would be the result?!
http://arstechnica.co.uk/security/2016/02/the-nsas-skynet-program-may-be-killing-thousands-of-innocent-people/

Uh, if you say so...

Uh, if you say so...
http://phys.org/news/2016-05-space-three-dimensional.html

What the!!!!

What the!!!!

Originally shared by Colin Sullender

Generating plasma inside a microwave

Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter (others are solid, liquid, and gas) and the most abundant form of matter in the Universe. It is comprised of ionized atoms with either a positive or negative charge and free electrons. 

As the match burns, electrons are torn from their atoms when chemical bonds break within molecules. Normally those electrons would immediately be re-captured to form the byproducts of combustion. However, the energy provided by the microwave radiation causes this cloud of intermediate ions and free electrons to persist in a semi-stable state. The intense light is a result of these high-energy particles losing energy before being re-energized by the microwave. When the microwave is turned off, the plasma will immediately dissipate since it no longer has the requisite energy to exist. 

WARNING: Doing this could damage your microwave! Also, if you're going to record a video of your microwave, please clean it beforehand.

Source: https://youtu.be/G7lfzA7WzVI

#ScienceGIF   #Science   #GIF   #Plasma   #Microwave   #Match   #Flame   #Electrons   #Energy   #Radiation   #Molecules   #Electromagnetic   #Ions

I couldn't resist doing some browsing. Found this strange beast.

I couldn't resist doing some browsing. Found this strange beast.
 Might logout (for real) now. :P
http://www.cribr.com/

How soon before a "Mad Max environment"?

How soon before a "Mad Max environment"?
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/goodbye-world-weve-passed-the-carbon-tipping-point-for-good

I just booted up my returned Laptop and discovered...

I just booted up my returned Laptop and discovered...
 ...Windows Vista! Not Win XP as expected. Of course this is almost as out of date. But it works fine. Will think about replacing it with Linux Mint or Lubuntu, but there's no rush yet. I mean mostly, this'll be used to take motion videos and stop motion shots, and or delayed photos in the Studio, and maybe to show presentations on elsewhere. I don't need anything too advanced for any of that.

Cross platform and also online vector drawing software.

Cross platform and also online vector drawing software.
https://vectr.com/

Free wood pack texture

http://3dericdesign.deviantart.com/art/Free-wood-pack-texture-193590616

This is a free e-book that I just finished writing about how to design paper models (card models).

This is a free e-book that I just finished writing about how to design paper models (card models). It is based mainly on the freely available open source program Blender 3D and an illustration program of your choice but it teaches a lot of the most important fundamentals of 3D paper model design that have the tendency to give a wee bit of trouble to new designers. It is 227 pages long and has hundreds of full color illustrations to help you understand the concepts of the e-book better.

Ooooh.
http://pixeloz.deviantart.com/art/Free-Paper-Model-Design-eBook1-158441085

Aussie-designed thrusters could power journey to Mars

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-29/australians-revolutionising-space-travel/7885998?section=science

I never got on LIVE JOURNAL until 2004 (and still am).

I never got on LIVE JOURNAL until 2004 (and still am). WinAmp, waiting (for XP to stop hiccuping) and burning CDs, YES!
http://au.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/12/things-you-were-doing-on-computer-in-2001

A year old story, though I think I read about this a few years before that.

A year old story, though I think I read about this a few years before that.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/theres-30-year-old-commodore-amiga-still-controlling-heat-ac-19-public-schools/

Went to my graduation. It was great. Photos next week.

A bvh animation editor for creating Second Life animations (Win only).

A bvh animation editor for creating Second Life animations (Win only). Last update listed as 2013-04-03 and still in beta?
https://sourceforge.net/projects/free-bvh-editor/

An open-source texture maker. I still haven't figured out how to make it work.

An open-source texture maker. I still haven't figured out how to make it work.
http://neotextureedit.sourceforge.net/

My immediate thought was Synthahol from Star Trek!

My immediate thought was Synthahol from Star Trek!
See http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Synthehol
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/new-hangoverfree-alcohol-could-replace-regular-booze-by-2050-a3352116.html

I sometimes wonder if , on the whoe, humans have a preference for over complexity.

I sometimes wonder if , on the whoe, humans have a preference for over complexity. If you look at the geocentricism side of this animation, it looks like a crazy ballet dance, a mad spirograph of the skies. How much mre simple and elegant the model to the left.

Originally shared by Colin Sullender

Heliocentrism vs Geocentrism

The geocentric model is an outdated description of the solar system where the Earth is at the center of all the celestial bodies. The stars were thought to be fixed points on a celestial sphere that rotated around the Earth once a day while the planets followed complex orbits. This concept served as the predominant cosmological system in many civilizations for centuries until being replaced by the heliocentric model in the late 16th century. In contrast to geocentrism, heliocentrism claimed the Earth and other planets rotated around the Sun.

While the heliocentric model was proposed as early as 300 BC, it was not until the 16th century when a geometric mathematical model presented by Nicolaus Copernicus ushered in the Copernican Revolution. Over the course of the next century, observations by Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei helped solidify the heliocentric model as scientific fact. Further observations revealed that the Sun, although the center of the Solar System, was not the center of the galaxy or the Universe.

Source: http://goo.gl/6yw5jO

#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #Heliocentric #Geocentric #Solar #SolarSystem #Orbit #Earth #Planets #Centric #Galileo #Copernicus

It all started in the early 1970s, when the psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky conducted an influential...

It all started in the early 1970s, when the psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky conducted an influential series of experiments showing that all of us, even highly intelligent people, are prone to irrationality. Across a wide range of scenarios, the experiments revealed, people tend to make decisions based on intuition rather than reason.

But really it's both a fallacy and over-simplification that a "high intelligence" leads to a high rationality. There's reason to believe hat there may be several types of intelligence (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences) and being intelligent in one of these is no guarantee of being intelligent in another. Reason is a tool, and not the same as being rational. My mother, who has dementia is quite rational, but only within the parameters of her dementia. She will crate theories about her environment, based on her perceptions, but those perceptions are affected by her condition, and are not always reliable.

Also, I don't think that intuition is the opposite of rationality or reason. Reason relies on the pars of our brain that relate to language, but not everything we know or feel connects to that, and intuition, which comes from those bits, relates to us via an emotional chord. The trouble with rely on only on intuition is that it's easy to confuse one's hopes and fears (especially paranoia) with it. To use intuition properly, you have to be both open to your emotions, but at the same time not be totally driven by them.

Originally shared by Theodore A Hoppe

Good news!
"It is, of course, unrealistic to think that we will ever live in a world where everyone is completely rational. But by developing tests to identify the most rational among us, and by offering training programs to decrease irrationality in the rest of us, scientific researchers can nudge society in that direction."
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/opinion/sunday/the-difference-between-rationality-and-intelligence.html?_r=0

Round about 4:30, it looks like he almost goes into "warp drive".

Round about 4:30, it looks like he almost goes into "warp drive".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_2QptP0uB4&feature=share

In particular, the email I got yesterday was from Yahoo@communications.yahoo.com.

In particular, the email I got yesterday was from Yahoo@communications.yahoo.com. Seems this is NOT an official Yahoo address, not for the reasons shown in this, but because back at https://au.help.yahoo.com/kb/sln2070.html (whish IS an official help page) it notes that "Legitimate emails from Yahoo7 include a Yahoo7 icon next to the subject or sender in your Inbox."

Now I have seen that icon before, and it wasn't on the message yesterday, nor the one today. That address is going to be added to my "KILL ON SIGHT" filter!
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20160608015706AAYs25V

The start of a set of video tutorials for Substance Painter.

The start of a set of video tutorials for Substance Painter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d819Y_-mLKo&list=PLB0wXHrWAmCx994Cb7iRFSmupYHFw5DTx

I just had an email from Yahoo. The essential part said:

I just had an email from Yahoo. The essential part said:

A recent investigation by Yahoo has confirmed that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from our systems in late 2014 by what we believe is a state-sponsored actor.

A "state sponsored actor?!

I may have sorted my issues with Studio monitor.

I may have sorted my issues with Studio monitor. For some reason the brightness was set really high which meant the contrast was set high as well. But also, After reading the pdf manual that I found for it, I discovered that I can tilt the screen (or rather the stand it's on) back up to 20°! I did that and things were a bit clearer. Lastly, I went into an "advanced" display mode list and changed it from 30Mhz to 30Mhz.

Everything looks a lot less blurry now.

Here's a Pretty Legit Gibsonian Cyberdeck

http://gizmodo.com/heres-a-pretty-legit-gibsonian-cyberdeck-1787039243?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Generated latin verse?!!!!

Generated latin verse?!!!!

Originally shared by Maurici Carbo (nummolt apps)

The Strange Victorian Computer That Generated Latin Verse:
It may have influenced Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace.
by Amanda Kolson Hurley
(Atlas Obscura - sep 2016)
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-strange-victorian-computer-that-generated-latin-verse

The Flight Deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour

Originally shared by Corina Marinescu

The Flight Deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour
What would it be like to fly a space shuttle? Although the last of NASA's space shuttles has now been retired, it is still fun to contemplate sitting at the controls of one of the humanity's most sophisticated machines.

Pictured below is the flight deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour, the youngest shuttle and the second to last ever launched. The numerous panels and displays allowed the computer-controlled orbiter to enter the top of Earth's atmosphere at greater than the speed of sound and -- just thirty minutes later -- land on a runway like an airplane.

Image & info via APOD
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120418.html
Image Credit & Copyright: Ben Cooper (Launch Photography), Spaceflight Now

#space   #nasa   #spaceshuttle

The Chemistry of the Solar System

Originally shared by Corina Marinescu

The Chemistry of the Solar System
This chart shows a comparison of the atmospheric compositions and pressures of the planets in our Solar System.

Source & further reading:
http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/07/25/planetatmospheres/

#infographic  via Compound Interest.

#science   #universe   #chemistry   #space

well, now I have the Studio PC setup in the Studio again, I have the same problem with that I had before - it's...

well, now I have the Studio PC setup in the Studio again, I have the same problem with that I had before - it's extremely difficult to use it for internet stuff. Running applications like Photoshop, no problem, everything's very clear. Browse Facebook and some other sites and the highlighting seems back to front, and the text very unclear.

I have an AOC e2343F 23" and you either have to use the buttons on the base to change the settings (urg - very frustrating to use), or run something called i-Menu. Only the program version only allows you to change half the settings. Very odd. I had endless trouble with this when I was doing the Masters. I suppose I should think about swapping the monitors around, though this one has a larger resolution of 1920x1080.

What I use to listen to Net Radio (Win only). I just found out it got updated - in 2014!

What I use to listen to Net Radio (Win only). I just found out it got updated - in 2014!
http://www.radiosure.com/

I was surprised to see that this free utility for Windows actually works on Win7!

I was surprised to see that this free utility for Windows actually works on Win7! What it does is allow you to disable the caps lock, disable the insert key, and make changing to CAPS ONLY via pressing Shift+Caps at the same time.
http://www.brainsystems.com/capsunlock/

Very Cool.

Very Cool.

Originally shared by Richard Green

Knot mosaics

This picture by Samuel J. Lomonaco Jr and Louis H. Kauffman gives some examples of knot mosaics. A knot mosaic is the result of tiling a rectangular grid using the 11 types of symbols listed in the diagram, in such a way that (a) the connection points between adjacent tiles are compatible, and (b) there are no connection points on the outer boundary of the rectangle.

A natural combinatorial question is: how many ways are there to inscribe a knot mosaic in a rectangular grid of a given size? To make things slightly easier, we may assume that the grid is an n by n square, rather than an m by n rectangle. For a 1 by 1 grid, we have no choice other than to use the blank tile. For a 2 by 2 grid, we can either use four blank tiles, or we can arrange four tiles to draw a circle in the middle of the grid. For a 3 by 3 grid, there are a lot more possibilities: it turns out that there are 22 in all. As n increases, the number of knot mosaics grows very quickly. The first few values are 1, 2, 22, 2594, 4183954 and 101393411126.

To get an idea for how quickly this sequence might be growing, consider the much easier problem of filling a square grid with tiles that do not have to fit together compatibly at their edges. There are 11 types of tiles, and n^2 spaces in the grid, so the total number of ways to fill the grid is 11 to the power n^2. The great majority of these do not lead to knot mosaics, but the recent paper Quantum knot mosaics and the growth constant by Seungsang Oh (http://arxiv.org/abs/1609.00517) proves that there exists a constant δ, called the knot mosaic constant, with the property that the number of knot mosaics in an n by n grid, for large n, is approximately δ to the power n^2. Because there are 11 types of tiles, it follows immediately that δ must be less than 11. The paper gives a much better estimate, namely that δ lies between 4 and 4.303.

Although knot mosaics might seem like an isolated curiosity, they have applications to knot theory and quantum physics. If one imagines the left and middle knot mosaics in the diagram as physical loops made out of an elastic material, it is possible to see that it would be possible to deform one of these links into the other without breaking the material. Mathematically, there is an operation on knot mosaics that has the effect of interchanging these two knots. However, the third knot turns out not to be equivalent to the others, in a way that can be made mathematically precise.

In their 2008 paper Quantum Knots and Mosaics (https://arxiv.org/abs/0805.0339) Lomonaco and Kauffman use the knot mosaics as a basis for a Hilbert space called the quantum knot state space. The paper defines a group of symmetries generated by mosaic versions of the Reidemeister moves and mosaic versions of planar isotopies, and this group acts on the mosaics. The Hilbert space is meant to capture the quantum embodiment of a closed knotted physical piece of rope, and the group represents all the possible ways to move the rope around, without cutting it or letting it pass through itself. However, unlike classical knotted pieces of rope, quantum knots can model superpositions of several pieces of rope, as well as quantum entanglements.

Relevant links

The picture comes from the arXiv version of Lomonaco and Kauffman's paper.

The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences has a longer list of values for the numbers of n by n knot mosaics. This one goes up to 11: http://oeis.org/A261400

Here's another post by me with more details on the Reidemeister moves: https://plus.google.com/101584889282878921052/posts/4e4STv3FLa4

#mathematics #scienceeveryday