So I missed several opportunities last night to make some money on the GOP Senate control options. It swung wildly between 50-70% in favor of GOP control during the evening, and was at 86% when I went to bed. This morning, it's at 15%. This is based on the outstanding races in VA and MT, both of which are very close. VA I'm predicting will go for the Dems based on the uncounted absentee ballots which were tending strongly Dem. MT, no prediction.
Many opps to short the GOP last night, but alas, I let them slide.
BTW, the Diebold people were a little worried yesterday. I think today they are going to be more so. In VA and MT it's going to go to a recount, both of which in the past have worked to GOP advantage. In their paperless machines, "recount" just means re-checking the totals. I suspect if the GOP starts losing recounts, we are going to see bipartisan calls for the re-tooling of the Diebold machines.
It was an interesting night
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Odds
Currrently tradesports has the election handicapped as a 80-85% chance of a Dem house and a 30% chance of a Dem Senate. So, assuming these probabilities are independent (they are not) and that the Central Limit Theroem holds, (it definately does not), the odds of a Dem Congress are .8*.3 = .24 or about 4 to 1 against. The odds for a GOP Congress is .2*.7 = .14 or about 7 to 1 against. That leaves a 62% (.56 for Dem house, GOP Den, .06 for GOP House, Dem Senate)chance of a split congress.
I can live with that.
Unfortuantely all the assumptions of independence are wrong.
I can live with that.
Unfortuantely all the assumptions of independence are wrong.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Diebold
Looks like I will be spending Election Day with the Diebold security team. Should be very, very interesting. Details Wednesday.
Wired
I've been on he road all week and had exhausted the two books I brought with me, The Laides of Grace Adieu and Fragile Things. With 3 hours of plane travel ahead of me, I picked up a bunhc of magazines including the seldom read(by me) Wired. Not too shabby actually. I bought it for the article on atheism, but was delighed by the following: 6 word stories
The online article has a bunch of versions which didn't get printed, but the print version has them presented in some very interesting artisitic styles. Overall, I think the print version wins.
The online article has a bunch of versions which didn't get printed, but the print version has them presented in some very interesting artisitic styles. Overall, I think the print version wins.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Worst Websites... Ever!
We get suchs gems as:
An endoresement from a dog
ALL CAPS TEXT
A nice picture of a pig's nose (I think)
bareass HTML
and a recipe for "Easy, Killer Margaritas"
My Space? no. AOL? Perish the thought. Craig's list? they wish they were this sophisticated. No, these are people running for office!
An endoresement from a dog
ALL CAPS TEXT
A nice picture of a pig's nose (I think)
bareass HTML
and a recipe for "Easy, Killer Margaritas"
My Space? no. AOL? Perish the thought. Craig's list? they wish they were this sophisticated. No, these are people running for office!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Michael J Fox Ad
I've always had a secret affinity for Michael. We're about the same age, approximately the same build and he's always played characters I could relate to. I was more than a little surprised and saddened when I found he's got Parkinson's, then a few years later was more than surprised when it became a possible diagnosis for me.
He's running an ad in Missouri on an issue he backs, stem cell research, to which I say, "good for him". The question in the media is, was he off his meds when he did it?
The answer is: absolutely not. This is what you look like when the treatment for Parkinson's is successful. When it's not, you look much, much worse. Depending on how far down the path he is, he might not be able to move or speak at all if he were off his meds.
Take a good look, this is the difference between a treatment and a cure. Just like diabetes, just like Alzheimer’s, just like MS (but unlike ALS where there isn't even a treatment), it's a long term, disabling disease, and the treatments are quite crude.
Will stem cells cure him? No. Will they help? No. Do we know that they will ever work? No. Stem cells might be a dead end, like so many other kinds of scientific research. Still, it's the best we have at the moment.
Do I think he should have made the commercial? Sure, why not? It's a cause he believes in, presented in an honest way. Let the marketplace decide.
And, btw, I think the whole "meds" question is a red herring. The presumption is that if he were "on meds" he'd look just fine and that if he were off he'd be somehow "faking". This is the Fallacy of False Choice. Off meds he looks bad, on meds he looks bad differently, either way there is no deception here, just his choice of how to appear.
He's running an ad in Missouri on an issue he backs, stem cell research, to which I say, "good for him". The question in the media is, was he off his meds when he did it?
The answer is: absolutely not. This is what you look like when the treatment for Parkinson's is successful. When it's not, you look much, much worse. Depending on how far down the path he is, he might not be able to move or speak at all if he were off his meds.
Take a good look, this is the difference between a treatment and a cure. Just like diabetes, just like Alzheimer’s, just like MS (but unlike ALS where there isn't even a treatment), it's a long term, disabling disease, and the treatments are quite crude.
Will stem cells cure him? No. Will they help? No. Do we know that they will ever work? No. Stem cells might be a dead end, like so many other kinds of scientific research. Still, it's the best we have at the moment.
Do I think he should have made the commercial? Sure, why not? It's a cause he believes in, presented in an honest way. Let the marketplace decide.
And, btw, I think the whole "meds" question is a red herring. The presumption is that if he were "on meds" he'd look just fine and that if he were off he'd be somehow "faking". This is the Fallacy of False Choice. Off meds he looks bad, on meds he looks bad differently, either way there is no deception here, just his choice of how to appear.
E.T., Where are You?
There is an interesting debate over at PZ Myers site on the development of extraterrestrial intelligence. It's quite illuminating in a lot of ways, but I was struck by this insight:
What Percentage of Planets on Which Life Has Originated Will Produce Intelligent Life?
Physicists, on the whole, will give a different answer to this question than biologists. Physicists still tend to think more deterministically than biologists. They tend to say, if life has originated somewhere, it will also develop intelligence in due time. The biologist, on the other hand, is impressed by the improbability of such a development.
Personally, I remain optimistic about the chances of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations, especially in light of progress in the last century on gravity. I would like to believe (but cannot objectively prove) that we're only a few decades away from a theory of inertial mass. Should such a formalism arise, we'd be well placed to build vehicles capable of interstellar flight.
However, this is an article of faith, not one of reason. The full critique is interesting and, although I can pick apart some of it, I reach a similar conclusion when I rebuild the argument with my corrections: i.e. intelligent, space-faring civilizations may not overlap in terms of space and time. The galaxy may only hold one or two at a time, separated by vast stretches of astronomical time. A million years is nothing in terms of astronomy, yet I can't imagine what future, if any, the human race has in that timeframe.
They may be out there, and they may be far more advanced than us, but if so, I can’t imagine them wanting to talk.
What Percentage of Planets on Which Life Has Originated Will Produce Intelligent Life?
Physicists, on the whole, will give a different answer to this question than biologists. Physicists still tend to think more deterministically than biologists. They tend to say, if life has originated somewhere, it will also develop intelligence in due time. The biologist, on the other hand, is impressed by the improbability of such a development.
Personally, I remain optimistic about the chances of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations, especially in light of progress in the last century on gravity. I would like to believe (but cannot objectively prove) that we're only a few decades away from a theory of inertial mass. Should such a formalism arise, we'd be well placed to build vehicles capable of interstellar flight.
However, this is an article of faith, not one of reason. The full critique is interesting and, although I can pick apart some of it, I reach a similar conclusion when I rebuild the argument with my corrections: i.e. intelligent, space-faring civilizations may not overlap in terms of space and time. The galaxy may only hold one or two at a time, separated by vast stretches of astronomical time. A million years is nothing in terms of astronomy, yet I can't imagine what future, if any, the human race has in that timeframe.
They may be out there, and they may be far more advanced than us, but if so, I can’t imagine them wanting to talk.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Chuck Norris isn't as dumb as a Brick, He's as Dumb as ALL the Bricks in Boston!
Appearently, Chuck doesn't get it:
"While I have as much fun as anyone else reading and quoting them, let’s face it, most “Chuck Norris Facts” describe someone with supernatural, superhuman powers. They’re describing a superman character. And in the history of this planet, there has only been one real Superman. It’s not me."
Sadly, he’s not talking about Superman. Though I suppose he could be, since the rest of this article is how he believes in magic because he saw it in a book somewhere. Just not a comic book. Though it might have had illustrations.
Chuck Norris Facts
(via)
"While I have as much fun as anyone else reading and quoting them, let’s face it, most “Chuck Norris Facts” describe someone with supernatural, superhuman powers. They’re describing a superman character. And in the history of this planet, there has only been one real Superman. It’s not me."
Sadly, he’s not talking about Superman. Though I suppose he could be, since the rest of this article is how he believes in magic because he saw it in a book somewhere. Just not a comic book. Though it might have had illustrations.
Chuck Norris Facts
(via)
Monday, October 23, 2006
and Any Day in Which You Learn Something Cant Be Bad
so any day in which you learn more, must be better!
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Antimatter Driven Sail for Deep Space Missions
NIAC was one of the projects I worked on in grad school in my Advanced Planetary Sciences class. My proposal was a combination of 3-body gravity assits (i.e. slingshot effects) and solar sails. It got you to the outer solar system in about 3 years and to the ISM in about 15.
This idea though, seems exceedingly clever and takes the solar sail idea up a notch. The basic idea is to build a sail embedded with fissile uranium, build an antimatter source and then throw antiprotons at the sail to cause the uranium to undergo fission. Total amount of antimatter needed to reach the ISM? 30 milligrams. (that seems small, but truthfully it's an enormous amount. 30 milligrams is ~ 2x10^21 antiprotons, and a typical accelerator will produce 10^5 or so per reaction).
The primary question relative to the performance of this concept is the momentum delivered to the sail by the fission of the uranium. If just the two fission products are released then the momentum is determined by the velocity and mass of one of the products. The antimatter induced fission of uranium produces a spectrum of masses. The width of this distribution, however, is relatively narrow and can be approximated by using palladium-111 as the average fission product. The energy released in the fission is taken to be 190 MeV. Thus, the velocity of the fission product is 1.39x10^7 m/s and the mass is 1.85x10^-25 kg/atom. The velocity would equate to a specific impulse of 1.4 million seconds.
It's actually more complicated than that, and the proposal goes into much more detail. I have some questions though about the secondary particle decay chains.
It's an interesting concept.
This idea though, seems exceedingly clever and takes the solar sail idea up a notch. The basic idea is to build a sail embedded with fissile uranium, build an antimatter source and then throw antiprotons at the sail to cause the uranium to undergo fission. Total amount of antimatter needed to reach the ISM? 30 milligrams. (that seems small, but truthfully it's an enormous amount. 30 milligrams is ~ 2x10^21 antiprotons, and a typical accelerator will produce 10^5 or so per reaction).
The primary question relative to the performance of this concept is the momentum delivered to the sail by the fission of the uranium. If just the two fission products are released then the momentum is determined by the velocity and mass of one of the products. The antimatter induced fission of uranium produces a spectrum of masses. The width of this distribution, however, is relatively narrow and can be approximated by using palladium-111 as the average fission product. The energy released in the fission is taken to be 190 MeV. Thus, the velocity of the fission product is 1.39x10^7 m/s and the mass is 1.85x10^-25 kg/atom. The velocity would equate to a specific impulse of 1.4 million seconds.
It's actually more complicated than that, and the proposal goes into much more detail. I have some questions though about the secondary particle decay chains.
It's an interesting concept.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Candidate seeks textbooks as shields
wow
OKLAHOMA CITY --A candidate for state superintendent of schools said Thursday he wants thick used textbooks placed under every student's desk so they can use them for self-defense during school shootings.
"People might think it's kind of weird, crazy," said Republican Bill Crozier of Union City, a teacher and former Air Force security officer. "It is a practical thing; it's something you can do. It might be a way to deflect those bullets until police go there."
Crozier and a group of aides produced a 10-minute video Tuesday in which they shoot math, language and telephone books with a variety of weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9mm pistol. The rifle bullet penetrated two books, including a calculus textbook, but the pistol bullet was stopped by a single book.
---
Crozier's experiment began with shots fired at a calculus textbook from an AK-47 Russian-style assault rifle. The shot penetrated two textbooks at once.
"We need to look at protection of young people that sometimes people may think you are a little smarter than everybody else or a higher IQ or whatever. They need to look at what the end result would be," Crozier said.
My suggestion: Give the candidate a calculus book, give his opponent a gun, and test this! Seems only scientific!
Video of Republicans shooting science books here
I have a better idea, lets give them bibles for this instead.
OKLAHOMA CITY --A candidate for state superintendent of schools said Thursday he wants thick used textbooks placed under every student's desk so they can use them for self-defense during school shootings.
"People might think it's kind of weird, crazy," said Republican Bill Crozier of Union City, a teacher and former Air Force security officer. "It is a practical thing; it's something you can do. It might be a way to deflect those bullets until police go there."
Crozier and a group of aides produced a 10-minute video Tuesday in which they shoot math, language and telephone books with a variety of weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9mm pistol. The rifle bullet penetrated two books, including a calculus textbook, but the pistol bullet was stopped by a single book.
---
Crozier's experiment began with shots fired at a calculus textbook from an AK-47 Russian-style assault rifle. The shot penetrated two textbooks at once.
"We need to look at protection of young people that sometimes people may think you are a little smarter than everybody else or a higher IQ or whatever. They need to look at what the end result would be," Crozier said.
My suggestion: Give the candidate a calculus book, give his opponent a gun, and test this! Seems only scientific!
Video of Republicans shooting science books here
I have a better idea, lets give them bibles for this instead.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
She can Eat Nails and Shit Lightning
Well, actually, it's half true....
MONDAY, OCTOBER 9 This week of emasculating pastels, incriminating tattoos, and glorious and surprising triumph kicks off today with a blast of lightning from a Croatian lady's anus. Details come from the Associated Press, which reports 27-year-old Natasha Timarovic had just finished brushing her teeth in the bathroom of her home in the Croatian city of Zadar when lightning struck. "I had just put my mouth under the tap to rinse away the toothpaste when the lightning must have struck the building," said Timarovic to the Zadar news channel 24 Sata. "I don't remember much after that, but I was later told that the lightning had traveled down the water pipe and struck me on the mouth, passing through my body. It was incredibly painful. I felt it pass through my torso and then I don't remember much at all." What Timarovic can't recall, an emergency worker supplies: "She was wearing rubber bathroom shoes at the time and so instead of earthing through her feet it appears the electricity shot out of her backside," said the unnamed medic to 24 Sata. "It appears to have earthed through the damp shower curtain that she was touching as she bent over to put her mouth under the tap." Despite suffering great pain and severe burning to her anus, Ms. Timarovic remains a lucky woman. "If she had not been wearing the shoes she would probably have been killed by the blast."
MONDAY, OCTOBER 9 This week of emasculating pastels, incriminating tattoos, and glorious and surprising triumph kicks off today with a blast of lightning from a Croatian lady's anus. Details come from the Associated Press, which reports 27-year-old Natasha Timarovic had just finished brushing her teeth in the bathroom of her home in the Croatian city of Zadar when lightning struck. "I had just put my mouth under the tap to rinse away the toothpaste when the lightning must have struck the building," said Timarovic to the Zadar news channel 24 Sata. "I don't remember much after that, but I was later told that the lightning had traveled down the water pipe and struck me on the mouth, passing through my body. It was incredibly painful. I felt it pass through my torso and then I don't remember much at all." What Timarovic can't recall, an emergency worker supplies: "She was wearing rubber bathroom shoes at the time and so instead of earthing through her feet it appears the electricity shot out of her backside," said the unnamed medic to 24 Sata. "It appears to have earthed through the damp shower curtain that she was touching as she bent over to put her mouth under the tap." Despite suffering great pain and severe burning to her anus, Ms. Timarovic remains a lucky woman. "If she had not been wearing the shoes she would probably have been killed by the blast."
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Second Life News
Reuters has dispatched a full time reporter into Second Life to... well.... report I guess.
Mr. Pasick, a Reuters technology reporter who was formerly earthbound with the news agency, is heading up Reuters’ first virtual news bureau inside the online role-playing game Second Life. While many independent journalists and bloggers have published inside such virtual worlds, Reuters is the first established news agency to dispatch a full-time reporter to do so.
“This is a very serious, old brand that stands for things and has principles, but that doesn’t take itself so seriously that it wouldn’t play in a gaming space,” Mr. Glocer said. “This appeals to a younger demographic. Even for people who don’t go in and play in Second Life, it shows Reuters has a certain with-it-ness.”
I've tinkered around in Second Life and, frankly, found it wanting. The interface would have been considered sub-par in the 90's, movement, object creation and interaction are all surprisingly difficult and, there is very little to do, apart from struggle with the application.
I passed on playing for any length of time, give me City of Heroes or even WoW anyday. I'm guessing the half-life of the Reuters reporter is about 3 months.
Mr. Pasick, a Reuters technology reporter who was formerly earthbound with the news agency, is heading up Reuters’ first virtual news bureau inside the online role-playing game Second Life. While many independent journalists and bloggers have published inside such virtual worlds, Reuters is the first established news agency to dispatch a full-time reporter to do so.
“This is a very serious, old brand that stands for things and has principles, but that doesn’t take itself so seriously that it wouldn’t play in a gaming space,” Mr. Glocer said. “This appeals to a younger demographic. Even for people who don’t go in and play in Second Life, it shows Reuters has a certain with-it-ness.”
I've tinkered around in Second Life and, frankly, found it wanting. The interface would have been considered sub-par in the 90's, movement, object creation and interaction are all surprisingly difficult and, there is very little to do, apart from struggle with the application.
I passed on playing for any length of time, give me City of Heroes or even WoW anyday. I'm guessing the half-life of the Reuters reporter is about 3 months.
Coffee Spitting Quote
I need to time my coffee drinking better or I need waterproof monitors. I ran across this quote today, which I found very funny:
Dumbest Congresscritters countdown Radar profiles the ten dumbest nose-pickers in Congress, awarding top prize to Katherine Harris, a Republican from Florida:
If dumb Congress members were the X-Men, Harris would be their Wolverine
Dumbest Congresscritters countdown Radar profiles the ten dumbest nose-pickers in Congress, awarding top prize to Katherine Harris, a Republican from Florida:
If dumb Congress members were the X-Men, Harris would be their Wolverine
Buddy Jesus Serves in Iraq
I would never have thought of this, but it's a complex, highly interactive world.
As a result, his visage -- with a "ceramicized" or cartoon-like countenance -- earned an afterlife as a sticker, t-shirt, poster and dashboard figure. Not content with that action, however, Buddy acquired a recent feature role in an all-too-real drama starring the Mahdi of Sadr City and the U.S. military.
Carolyn O'Hara of the FP blog is not sure how the whole thing got started. One possibility is that the Iraqi's inserted Buddy into a forged U.S. pamphlet outlining potential abominations to be inflicted on the local militias. The other possibility is that U.S. soldiers had been circulating Buddy as a joke, or even an article of incitement. Either way, Buddy made the rounds, with the terrible result that the locals mistook him for one of their holy own.
As you can tell from the image, the mistake -- once discovered -- was not appreciated.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Key to the Extraterrestrial Messages
From Bruce Schnier's Cryptogram. I've done some contract work for the NSA as part of what we were working on at CertCo, but I never got access to Crypto Quarterly.
Indexes to NSA Publications Declassified and Online
In May 2003, Michael Ravnitzky submitted a Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request to the National Security Agency for a copy of the index
to their historical reports at the Center for Cryptologic History and
the index to certain journals: the NSA Technical Journal and the
Cryptographic Quarterly. These journals had been mentioned in the
literature but are not available to the public. Because he thought NSA
might be reluctant to release the bibliographic indexes, he also asked
for the table of contents to each issue.
The request took more than three years for them to process and
declassify -- sadly, not atypical -- and during the process they asked
if he would accept the indexes in lieu of the tables of contents pages:
specifically, the cumulative indices that included all the previous
material in the earlier indices. He agreed, and got them last month.
The results are online.
This is just a sampling of some of the article titles from the NSA
Technical Journal: "The Arithmetic of a Generation Principle for an
Electronic Key Generator" - "CATNIP: Computer Analysis - Target Networks
Intercept Probability" - "Chatter Patterns: A Last Resort" - "COMINT
Satellites - A Space Problem" - "Computers and Advanced Weapons Systems"
- "Coupon Collecting and Cryptology" - "Cranks, Nuts, and Screwballs" -
"A Cryptologic Fairy Tale" - "Don't Be Too Smart" - "Earliest
Applications of the Computer at NSA" - "Emergency Destruction of
Documents" - "Extraterrestrial Intelligence" - "The Fallacy of the
One-Time-Pad Excuse" - "GEE WHIZZER" - "The Gweeks Had a Gwoup for It" -
"How to Visualize a Matrix" - "Key to the Extraterrestrial Messages" -
"A Mechanical Treatment of Fibonacci Sequences" - "Q.E.D.- 2 Hours, 41
Minutes" - "SlGINT Implications of Military Oceanography" - "Some
Problems and Techniques in Bookbreaking" - "Upgrading Selected US Codes
and Ciphers with a Cover and Deception Capability" - "Weather: Its Role
in Communications Intelligence" - "Worldwide Language Problems at NSA"
In the materials the NSA provided, they also included indices to two
other publications: Cryptologic Spectrum and Cryptologic Almanac.
The indices to Cryptologic Quarterly and NSA Technical Journal have
indices by title, author, and keyword. The index to Cryptologic Spectrum
has indices by author, title, and issue.
Consider these bibliographic tools as stepping stones. If you want an
article, send a FOIA request for it. Send a FOIA request for a dozen.
There's a lot of stuff here that would help elucidate the early history
of the agency and some interesting cryptographic topics.
Thanks, Mike, for doing this work.
http://www.thememoryhole.org/nsa/bibs.htm
In reality, I suspect the NSA salted the list. It's what I would have done in their position.
FTR: I shot my resume over to them. You know, just in case...
Indexes to NSA Publications Declassified and Online
In May 2003, Michael Ravnitzky submitted a Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request to the National Security Agency for a copy of the index
to their historical reports at the Center for Cryptologic History and
the index to certain journals: the NSA Technical Journal and the
Cryptographic Quarterly. These journals had been mentioned in the
literature but are not available to the public. Because he thought NSA
might be reluctant to release the bibliographic indexes, he also asked
for the table of contents to each issue.
The request took more than three years for them to process and
declassify -- sadly, not atypical -- and during the process they asked
if he would accept the indexes in lieu of the tables of contents pages:
specifically, the cumulative indices that included all the previous
material in the earlier indices. He agreed, and got them last month.
The results are online.
This is just a sampling of some of the article titles from the NSA
Technical Journal: "The Arithmetic of a Generation Principle for an
Electronic Key Generator" - "CATNIP: Computer Analysis - Target Networks
Intercept Probability" - "Chatter Patterns: A Last Resort" - "COMINT
Satellites - A Space Problem" - "Computers and Advanced Weapons Systems"
- "Coupon Collecting and Cryptology" - "Cranks, Nuts, and Screwballs" -
"A Cryptologic Fairy Tale" - "Don't Be Too Smart" - "Earliest
Applications of the Computer at NSA" - "Emergency Destruction of
Documents" - "Extraterrestrial Intelligence" - "The Fallacy of the
One-Time-Pad Excuse" - "GEE WHIZZER" - "The Gweeks Had a Gwoup for It" -
"How to Visualize a Matrix" - "Key to the Extraterrestrial Messages" -
"A Mechanical Treatment of Fibonacci Sequences" - "Q.E.D.- 2 Hours, 41
Minutes" - "SlGINT Implications of Military Oceanography" - "Some
Problems and Techniques in Bookbreaking" - "Upgrading Selected US Codes
and Ciphers with a Cover and Deception Capability" - "Weather: Its Role
in Communications Intelligence" - "Worldwide Language Problems at NSA"
In the materials the NSA provided, they also included indices to two
other publications: Cryptologic Spectrum and Cryptologic Almanac.
The indices to Cryptologic Quarterly and NSA Technical Journal have
indices by title, author, and keyword. The index to Cryptologic Spectrum
has indices by author, title, and issue.
Consider these bibliographic tools as stepping stones. If you want an
article, send a FOIA request for it. Send a FOIA request for a dozen.
There's a lot of stuff here that would help elucidate the early history
of the agency and some interesting cryptographic topics.
Thanks, Mike, for doing this work.
http://www.thememoryhole.org/nsa/bibs.htm
In reality, I suspect the NSA salted the list. It's what I would have done in their position.
FTR: I shot my resume over to them. You know, just in case...
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Super Snark
Kieth Olbermann is fast becoming my favorite commentator on current events.
I sometimes dispare that I am one of the few Americans who remembers what the constitution says.
I sometimes dispare that I am one of the few Americans who remembers what the constitution says.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
In a Parallel Universe...
If Ayn Rand wrote comic books about TJICistan, they would look a lot like this.
It's not bad, but I have a pretty low tolerance for utopianists, be they liberal, conservative or libertarian.
It's not bad, but I have a pretty low tolerance for utopianists, be they liberal, conservative or libertarian.
Why Software Sucks
Dennis and I had lunch with David Platt last year and, as a joke, suggested he write a book on why software is just so bad.
The book comes out this month :)
The book comes out this month :)
The Point of Government
This is pretty good and I generally agree with his points. Its surprising how far the pendulum has swung towards the Faith Based Nanny State.
At least, I hope it's a pendulum...
At least, I hope it's a pendulum...
Saturday, October 07, 2006
The Inner Life of a Cell
This is awesome, truly.
This is going on, all the time in each of us. A symphony of motion, energy and coordination playing in the background to which we are all deaf. If I had seen this as a kid instead of the Moon landing, I might have gone into biology instead of astrophysics.
This is going on, all the time in each of us. A symphony of motion, energy and coordination playing in the background to which we are all deaf. If I had seen this as a kid instead of the Moon landing, I might have gone into biology instead of astrophysics.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Getting on with it
This is the essential debate between the two types of atheists. I have to admit, I used be the first kind but am now (almost) completely in the second. Afterall, that's the whole point. Squirrels!
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Off on a Technicality
Today is the Big Chili Festival at Microsoft. I've cooked 2 gallons of turkey chili (i.e. I opened 16 can's of Hormel Brand Turkey Chili, added garlic, paprika, chili powder and whole shi... heaploads of beans) shreded cheese and chopped onions, and I will be serving little 2 oz cups of the stuff in the cafeteria in about an hour.
I know what you are thinking.
Just let me say that the while Judge said I wasn't allowed to *eat* chili, she said nothing about me *making* chili, so I beleive the terms of my probation are still in tact.
At least, that's what I am going to tell the officers.
I know what you are thinking.
Just let me say that the while Judge said I wasn't allowed to *eat* chili, she said nothing about me *making* chili, so I beleive the terms of my probation are still in tact.
At least, that's what I am going to tell the officers.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
A Shitstorm, literally
I mentioned this to Geoff today and then had to go look it up:
The Baghdad Police College, hailed as crucial to U.S. efforts to prepare Iraqis to take control of the country's security, was so poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in student barracks. Floors heaved inches off the ground and cracked apart. Water dripped so profusely in one room that it was dubbed "the rain forest."
The Baghdad Police College, hailed as crucial to U.S. efforts to prepare Iraqis to take control of the country's security, was so poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in student barracks. Floors heaved inches off the ground and cracked apart. Water dripped so profusely in one room that it was dubbed "the rain forest."
Yes, Just Like This
This is really good. I must admit, I'm a little disappointed it's just an art project.
I'm Going to Be a Big Star Someday
From the World's Finest News Source:
Don't cry for me, though: My legacy will extend far beyond your lifetime. After my spectacular collapse due to hot-and-fast living, you'll look up, and I'll be as bright as ever. No one will even know I'm gone.
Don't cry for me, though: My legacy will extend far beyond your lifetime. After my spectacular collapse due to hot-and-fast living, you'll look up, and I'll be as bright as ever. No one will even know I'm gone.
Top Ten Reasons Religion is Like Pornography
Top Ten Reasons Religion is Like Pornography
10. It has been practiced for all of human history, in all cultures
9. It exploits perfectly natural, even commendable, impulses
8. Its virtues are debatable, its proponents fanatical
7. People love it, but can't give a rational reason for it
6. Objectifies and degrades women even when it worships them
5. You want to wash up after shaking hands with any of its leaders
4. The costumes are outrageous, the performances silly, the plots unbelievable
3. There's nothing wrong with enjoying it, but it's nothing to be proud of, either
2. It is not a sound basis for public policy, government, or international relations
1. Its stars are totally fake
Via
10. It has been practiced for all of human history, in all cultures
9. It exploits perfectly natural, even commendable, impulses
8. Its virtues are debatable, its proponents fanatical
7. People love it, but can't give a rational reason for it
6. Objectifies and degrades women even when it worships them
5. You want to wash up after shaking hands with any of its leaders
4. The costumes are outrageous, the performances silly, the plots unbelievable
3. There's nothing wrong with enjoying it, but it's nothing to be proud of, either
2. It is not a sound basis for public policy, government, or international relations
1. Its stars are totally fake
Via
"Going to Be"
As if! I'm doing this now! "casue I'm the shiznitx!
(I can see my son's eyes rolling back into his head as I write this. This makes up for *so many* poopy diapers!)
(I can see my son's eyes rolling back into his head as I write this. This makes up for *so many* poopy diapers!)
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
So Much for the Afterlife
Looks like science has finally put the last nail in the coffin of the afterlife. In the last few years a number of mystical experiences have been sufficiently explained by brain function, e.g. ghosts, night terrors, religious euphoria, feeling the divine, near death experiences etc. Each one can be duplicated now in some way. The last one was Astral Projection, leaving one's body, looking down at it and flying around. This has happened to me several times and it's really, really weird. Even cranky, skeptical me was not so sure that there wasn't *something* to it.
Now, this can be duplicated as well and, of course, it's brain function:
“The research shows that the self can be detached from the body and can live a phantom existence on its own, as in an out-of-body experience, or it can be felt outside of personal space, as in a sense of a presence,” Dr. Brugger said.
Scientists have gained new understanding of these odd bodily sensations as they have learned more about how the brain works, Dr. Blanke said. For example, researchers have discovered that some areas of the brain combine information from several senses. Vision, hearing and touch are initially processed in the primary sensory regions. But then they flow together, like tributaries into a river, to create the wholeness of a person’s perceptions. A dog is visually recognized far more quickly if it is simultaneously accompanied by the sound of its bark.
That's pretty much it. There is no afterlife, just the experiences generated by a dying brain trying to keep itself alive.
I can't say this is an inspiring discovery, but it is a comfort to know we live in world of our own design.
Now, this can be duplicated as well and, of course, it's brain function:
“The research shows that the self can be detached from the body and can live a phantom existence on its own, as in an out-of-body experience, or it can be felt outside of personal space, as in a sense of a presence,” Dr. Brugger said.
Scientists have gained new understanding of these odd bodily sensations as they have learned more about how the brain works, Dr. Blanke said. For example, researchers have discovered that some areas of the brain combine information from several senses. Vision, hearing and touch are initially processed in the primary sensory regions. But then they flow together, like tributaries into a river, to create the wholeness of a person’s perceptions. A dog is visually recognized far more quickly if it is simultaneously accompanied by the sound of its bark.
That's pretty much it. There is no afterlife, just the experiences generated by a dying brain trying to keep itself alive.
I can't say this is an inspiring discovery, but it is a comfort to know we live in world of our own design.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Been A While
Sorry all, this has been a busy week at work. Hopefully things will calm down a little next week and I can get back to being amusing and leveling my Blaster.
Passing this along as it's been awhile since I mocked the religious. It has an interesting origin here. Hank (not the story protagonist) is one of the folks I see in City of Heroes on a regular basis.
Passing this along as it's been awhile since I mocked the religious. It has an interesting origin here. Hank (not the story protagonist) is one of the folks I see in City of Heroes on a regular basis.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Economics and Rational Decisions
It turns out that emotion really is a key factor, equal to or sometimes greater than reason.
This is a very interesting article in which a team did brain scans of people making economic decisions to see how their minds work.
Cohen and several colleagues organized a series of ultimatum games in which half the players—the respondents—were put in MRI machines. At the beginning of a round, each respondent was shown a photograph of another player, who would make the respondent an offer. The offer then appeared on a screen inside the MRI machine, and the respondent had twelve seconds in which to accept or reject it. The results were the same as in other, similar experiments—low offers were usually vetoed—but the respondents’ brain scans were revealing.
When respondents received stingy offers—two dollars for them, say, and eight dollars for the other player—they exhibited substantially more activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area associated with reasoning, and in the bilateral anterior insula, part of the limbic region that is active when people are angry or in distress. The more activity there was in the limbic structure, the more likely the person was to reject the offer. To the researchers, it looked as though the two regions of the brain might be competing to decide what to do, with the prefrontal cortex wanting to accept the offer and the insula wanting to reject it. “These findings suggest that when participants reject an unfair offer, it is not the result of a deliberative thought process,” Cohen wrote in a recent article. “Rather, it appears to be the product of a strong (seemingly negative) emotional response.”
This doesn't bode well for the communist/libertarian utopias that are sure to come this century. If people don't make rational decisions, it implies that markets are not all that rational either (housing bubble anyone?) and may not always produce the best result.
Unfortunately, while interesting, the results point more toward what *doesn't* work than to what will.
This is a very interesting article in which a team did brain scans of people making economic decisions to see how their minds work.
Cohen and several colleagues organized a series of ultimatum games in which half the players—the respondents—were put in MRI machines. At the beginning of a round, each respondent was shown a photograph of another player, who would make the respondent an offer. The offer then appeared on a screen inside the MRI machine, and the respondent had twelve seconds in which to accept or reject it. The results were the same as in other, similar experiments—low offers were usually vetoed—but the respondents’ brain scans were revealing.
When respondents received stingy offers—two dollars for them, say, and eight dollars for the other player—they exhibited substantially more activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area associated with reasoning, and in the bilateral anterior insula, part of the limbic region that is active when people are angry or in distress. The more activity there was in the limbic structure, the more likely the person was to reject the offer. To the researchers, it looked as though the two regions of the brain might be competing to decide what to do, with the prefrontal cortex wanting to accept the offer and the insula wanting to reject it. “These findings suggest that when participants reject an unfair offer, it is not the result of a deliberative thought process,” Cohen wrote in a recent article. “Rather, it appears to be the product of a strong (seemingly negative) emotional response.”
This doesn't bode well for the communist/libertarian utopias that are sure to come this century. If people don't make rational decisions, it implies that markets are not all that rational either (housing bubble anyone?) and may not always produce the best result.
Unfortunately, while interesting, the results point more toward what *doesn't* work than to what will.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Yellow Book, not that Other Book
Cool! Springer, makers of the famous series of yellow mathematics books, is offering free access to their archives, going back to 1869.
If you're as thrilled about this as I am, you... *really* need to get a life!
If you're as thrilled about this as I am, you... *really* need to get a life!
How to Hack the Diebold Voting Machine: the Video
Complete instructions on how to make a Diebold Voting machine throw votes anyway you want regardless of what the users actually put in.
it's a little slow getting started but worth the time.
Also note, as reported in other venues, the standard administrator password is 2 letters. The flaws in this machine have been known in the crypto community since 2002. To date, Diebold has fixed exactly zero of them.
On a personal level, I know some of the folks at Diebold. They are *very* hesitant to talk about this at all, however the one time we had a serious security discussion one of the guys floored me with this line:
"The real problem is that the machine votes are *too accurate*. It embarasses a lot of customers when their districts come out as being strongly in the other party, so they call and complain"
Weird
it's a little slow getting started but worth the time.
Also note, as reported in other venues, the standard administrator password is 2 letters. The flaws in this machine have been known in the crypto community since 2002. To date, Diebold has fixed exactly zero of them.
On a personal level, I know some of the folks at Diebold. They are *very* hesitant to talk about this at all, however the one time we had a serious security discussion one of the guys floored me with this line:
"The real problem is that the machine votes are *too accurate*. It embarasses a lot of customers when their districts come out as being strongly in the other party, so they call and complain"
Weird
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
"Claptrap"
Greg Easterbrook reviews Lee Smolin's book on what's wrong with String Theory.
The Upfront:
Lee Smolin is a brilliant theoretical physicist who has worked for many years in the bowels of string theory. His book and Peter Woit's Not Even Wrong are interesting and important, and the point they make is quite possibly correct.
I've read a lot on strings, worked through the math at about a graduate (but not professional) level, understand the main concepts, (at least from the period between the 1920's and the early 1990's) and have tried to form an intelligent, well reasoned opinion on it. I've kind of failed in this. There is a point in string theory past which it is simply black to me. If someone like Smolin, Hawking or Page sketches out a proof for me in some of the really abstract stuff, I might get a glimmer of how this fits in, but I'm incapable of doing this on my own from scratch.
The parts of string theory I understand make sense. I can easily show a unification of gravity and EM in a few as 5-dimensions (hint: Einstein and Kaluza did this in the '30s. It's not rocket science by today's standards). I have no clue if it's right, but I do understand that we're missing something fundamental in physics, much like we missed photon quantization in the 19th century.
The Gripe:
This review is awful.
C'mon who uses the "claptrap"? String theory may be off the rails, it may be overly complex, it might even be wrong, but it's not useless claptrap. It's a fairly useful theoretical framework for understanding the otherwise totally inexplicable.
Then there is this interesting paragraph:
And consider this. Today if a professor at Princeton claims there are 11 unobservable dimensions about which he can speak with great confidence despite an utter lack of supporting evidence, that professor is praised for incredible sophistication. If another person in the same place asserted there exists one unobservable dimension, the plane of the spirit, he would be hooted down as a superstitious crank.
There is so much wrong with this collection of words, so many confabulations of things which don't go together, so many little straw men standing in a wheat field, I don't even know where to begin. He's brought together religion, science, some math he clearly doesn't understand and (seemingly) a general grudge against science into a one entangled knot of ego-satisfying word-salad. How can an editor let this through?
Then there is a whole 'graph on the word "theory" and for the second time a comparison to Darwin and creationists:
Really, string theory isn't a theory at all. Creationists who oppose the teaching of Darwin have taken to deriding natural selection as "just a theory," and Darwin's defenders have rightly replied that in science, "theory" does not mean idle speculation. Rather, it is an honored term for an idea that has been elaborately analyzed, has not been falsified, and has made testable predictions that have later proven to be true. The ordering of scientific notions is: conjecture, hypothesis, theory. Pope John Paul II chose his words carefully when in 1996 he called evolution "more than a hypothesis." Yet the very sorts of elite-institution academics who snigger at creationists for revealing their ignorance of scientific terminology by calling evolution "just a theory" nonetheless uniformly say "string theory." Since what they're talking about is strictly a thought experiment (just try proving there are no other dimensions), from now on, "string conjecture," please.
String Theory is a theory. some of it's aspects are testable, but not yet tested. It's not that people don't want to test them, or are arguing that they shouldn't be tested. I freely grant that the whole of the theory is not testable or for that matter expressible as a simple set of axioms accessible to the general public). It's disingenuous for Easterbrook to suggest that they are unprovable.
Ugh. String theory can be criticized on a lot of points and may quite well be wrong, however Easterbrook doesn't use any of them instead settling for some gratuitous science bashing and equating science and religion.
His review is a piece of shit.
The Upfront:
Lee Smolin is a brilliant theoretical physicist who has worked for many years in the bowels of string theory. His book and Peter Woit's Not Even Wrong are interesting and important, and the point they make is quite possibly correct.
I've read a lot on strings, worked through the math at about a graduate (but not professional) level, understand the main concepts, (at least from the period between the 1920's and the early 1990's) and have tried to form an intelligent, well reasoned opinion on it. I've kind of failed in this. There is a point in string theory past which it is simply black to me. If someone like Smolin, Hawking or Page sketches out a proof for me in some of the really abstract stuff, I might get a glimmer of how this fits in, but I'm incapable of doing this on my own from scratch.
The parts of string theory I understand make sense. I can easily show a unification of gravity and EM in a few as 5-dimensions (hint: Einstein and Kaluza did this in the '30s. It's not rocket science by today's standards). I have no clue if it's right, but I do understand that we're missing something fundamental in physics, much like we missed photon quantization in the 19th century.
The Gripe:
This review is awful.
C'mon who uses the "claptrap"? String theory may be off the rails, it may be overly complex, it might even be wrong, but it's not useless claptrap. It's a fairly useful theoretical framework for understanding the otherwise totally inexplicable.
Then there is this interesting paragraph:
And consider this. Today if a professor at Princeton claims there are 11 unobservable dimensions about which he can speak with great confidence despite an utter lack of supporting evidence, that professor is praised for incredible sophistication. If another person in the same place asserted there exists one unobservable dimension, the plane of the spirit, he would be hooted down as a superstitious crank.
There is so much wrong with this collection of words, so many confabulations of things which don't go together, so many little straw men standing in a wheat field, I don't even know where to begin. He's brought together religion, science, some math he clearly doesn't understand and (seemingly) a general grudge against science into a one entangled knot of ego-satisfying word-salad. How can an editor let this through?
Then there is a whole 'graph on the word "theory" and for the second time a comparison to Darwin and creationists:
Really, string theory isn't a theory at all. Creationists who oppose the teaching of Darwin have taken to deriding natural selection as "just a theory," and Darwin's defenders have rightly replied that in science, "theory" does not mean idle speculation. Rather, it is an honored term for an idea that has been elaborately analyzed, has not been falsified, and has made testable predictions that have later proven to be true. The ordering of scientific notions is: conjecture, hypothesis, theory. Pope John Paul II chose his words carefully when in 1996 he called evolution "more than a hypothesis." Yet the very sorts of elite-institution academics who snigger at creationists for revealing their ignorance of scientific terminology by calling evolution "just a theory" nonetheless uniformly say "string theory." Since what they're talking about is strictly a thought experiment (just try proving there are no other dimensions), from now on, "string conjecture," please.
String Theory is a theory. some of it's aspects are testable, but not yet tested. It's not that people don't want to test them, or are arguing that they shouldn't be tested. I freely grant that the whole of the theory is not testable or for that matter expressible as a simple set of axioms accessible to the general public). It's disingenuous for Easterbrook to suggest that they are unprovable.
Ugh. String theory can be criticized on a lot of points and may quite well be wrong, however Easterbrook doesn't use any of them instead settling for some gratuitous science bashing and equating science and religion.
His review is a piece of shit.
Aspartame
Wow.
So, a concerned and intelligent friend of mine send me an article on the side effects of Aspartame, which include a host of fuzzy neurological symptoms, many of which I sometimes seem to display. I read the article, decided I didn't really know much about the chemical other than the fact that it pops up from time to time as having caused "health problems"
Turns out, the note she sent me was already listed as an Urban Legend.
Okay, not a promising start, but also not really evidence either way.
Turns out it's surprisingly hard to get a decent review of Aspartame that isn't sponsored by someone with a clear interest in it being safe/unsafe. Even the wiki entry is surprisingly unscientific claiming:
"Some point to the rapid breakdown of aspartame causing spikes of phenylalanine and aspartic acid which can upset chemical balances and cross the blood-brain barrier, as well as unnatural spikes in levels of methanol in places the body does not normally encounter it (like within metabolic processes), raising concerns as to its safe containment and elimination."
There are victim groups, lawsuit groups, consipracy groups etc. etc. Jesus Christ folks! It's not like the want to put floride in your water!
After digging through a couple of dozen sites, I finally found a decent one with some science in it.
Bottom line: You're at more risk from fruit juice than aspartame.
So, a concerned and intelligent friend of mine send me an article on the side effects of Aspartame, which include a host of fuzzy neurological symptoms, many of which I sometimes seem to display. I read the article, decided I didn't really know much about the chemical other than the fact that it pops up from time to time as having caused "health problems"
Turns out, the note she sent me was already listed as an Urban Legend.
Okay, not a promising start, but also not really evidence either way.
Turns out it's surprisingly hard to get a decent review of Aspartame that isn't sponsored by someone with a clear interest in it being safe/unsafe. Even the wiki entry is surprisingly unscientific claiming:
"Some point to the rapid breakdown of aspartame causing spikes of phenylalanine and aspartic acid which can upset chemical balances and cross the blood-brain barrier, as well as unnatural spikes in levels of methanol in places the body does not normally encounter it (like within metabolic processes), raising concerns as to its safe containment and elimination."
There are victim groups, lawsuit groups, consipracy groups etc. etc. Jesus Christ folks! It's not like the want to put floride in your water!
After digging through a couple of dozen sites, I finally found a decent one with some science in it.
Bottom line: You're at more risk from fruit juice than aspartame.
Ripped From the Headlines: Woman pleads guilty in fake penis case
Here
MCKEESPORT, Pa. --A woman pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with a bizarre incident in February that resulted in a fake penis being microwaved at a convenience store.
Leslye Creighton, 41, of Wilkinsburg, entered the plea Wednesday, and authorities dropped the same charge against Vincent Bostic, 31, of Pittsburgh, who has agreed to help pay $425 to replace the store's microwave, police and the couple's defense attorney said.
Police in McKeesport, about 10 miles east of Pittsburgh, said the Feb. 23 incident began when Bostic filled a fake penis with his urine that they said Creighton planned to use to pass a drug test to get a job.
The two stopped at a GetGo! convenience store and, after wrapping the device in a paper towel, asked a store clerk to heat it up in a microwave, police said. Authorities said they believe Creighton wanted the device heated so the urine inside would be at body temperature during the drug test.
The clerk, however, believing the lifelike device to be a severed penis, called police.
Defense attorney William Difenderfer said Creighton faces a maximum punishment of $300 and 90 days in jail when she is sentenced Nov. 15 by McKeesport District Judge Doug Reed. Difenderfer called it "a humorous, but weird, case."
Embarassing Disclaimer: I went to high school not far from there.
MCKEESPORT, Pa. --A woman pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with a bizarre incident in February that resulted in a fake penis being microwaved at a convenience store.
Leslye Creighton, 41, of Wilkinsburg, entered the plea Wednesday, and authorities dropped the same charge against Vincent Bostic, 31, of Pittsburgh, who has agreed to help pay $425 to replace the store's microwave, police and the couple's defense attorney said.
Police in McKeesport, about 10 miles east of Pittsburgh, said the Feb. 23 incident began when Bostic filled a fake penis with his urine that they said Creighton planned to use to pass a drug test to get a job.
The two stopped at a GetGo! convenience store and, after wrapping the device in a paper towel, asked a store clerk to heat it up in a microwave, police said. Authorities said they believe Creighton wanted the device heated so the urine inside would be at body temperature during the drug test.
The clerk, however, believing the lifelike device to be a severed penis, called police.
Defense attorney William Difenderfer said Creighton faces a maximum punishment of $300 and 90 days in jail when she is sentenced Nov. 15 by McKeesport District Judge Doug Reed. Difenderfer called it "a humorous, but weird, case."
Embarassing Disclaimer: I went to high school not far from there.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Things We Want to Become True
An interesting debate between Mitchell Kapor and Ray Kurzweil on whether or not the statement "By 2029 no computer - or "machine intelligence" - will have passed the Turing Test. " is true. Obviously I am on Kapor's side, althought I admit a) I'd like to lose and b) it's at least theoretically possible I will.
What I think is interesting is their styles of arguement. Ray is arguing like a SciFi fan, glossing over the hard truths to get to the visionary statement, then turning around and saying that, becuase the vision is so compelling, it *must* be true. Kapor is arguing more about the science involved, and one statement in particular has been key in my own arguments:
Additionally, part of the burden of proof for supporters of intelligent machines is to develop an adequate account of how a computer would acquire the knowledge it would be required to have to pass the test. Ray Kurzweil's approach relies on an automated process of knowledge acquisition via input of scanned books and other printed matter. However, I assert that the fundamental mode of learning of human beings is experiential. Book learning is a layer on top of that. Most knowledge, especially that having to do with physical, perceptual, and emotional experience is not explicit, never written down. It is tacit. We cannot say all we know in words or how we know it. But if human knowledge, especially knowledge about human experience, is largely tacit, i.e., never directly and explicitly expressed, it will not be found in books, and the Kurzweil approach to knowledge acquisition will fail.
In one of his books, Charlies Stross has the ship AI of a starship crossing space reach a critical point and transcend. It figures out enough physics to build an instantaneous network and cuts it's journey short. This has always struck me as the fundemental problem with how AI is protrayed and seems to be the strength of Ray's arguement. It will just happen. OTOH, those of us who have done scientific research know it's a messy business. Lots of mistakes, lots of errors and, most importantly, lots and lots of experiments. This is what Kapor is arguing, and it seems far more grounded in reality.
Will we have computers as fast or faster than the human brain by 2029? Possibly. Will they have human intellect? Well, it takes a human brain, interacting with the world many years to get to concrete operational thinking (indeed, many never do. There is much less difference between your brain and a person with an IQ of 50 than there is between your brain and chimps). It seems very unlikely that we'll have the ablity to do the soft skills, the reasoning by that point.
Much as I want it to be true, I have to put my money with Kapor.
What I think is interesting is their styles of arguement. Ray is arguing like a SciFi fan, glossing over the hard truths to get to the visionary statement, then turning around and saying that, becuase the vision is so compelling, it *must* be true. Kapor is arguing more about the science involved, and one statement in particular has been key in my own arguments:
Additionally, part of the burden of proof for supporters of intelligent machines is to develop an adequate account of how a computer would acquire the knowledge it would be required to have to pass the test. Ray Kurzweil's approach relies on an automated process of knowledge acquisition via input of scanned books and other printed matter. However, I assert that the fundamental mode of learning of human beings is experiential. Book learning is a layer on top of that. Most knowledge, especially that having to do with physical, perceptual, and emotional experience is not explicit, never written down. It is tacit. We cannot say all we know in words or how we know it. But if human knowledge, especially knowledge about human experience, is largely tacit, i.e., never directly and explicitly expressed, it will not be found in books, and the Kurzweil approach to knowledge acquisition will fail.
In one of his books, Charlies Stross has the ship AI of a starship crossing space reach a critical point and transcend. It figures out enough physics to build an instantaneous network and cuts it's journey short. This has always struck me as the fundemental problem with how AI is protrayed and seems to be the strength of Ray's arguement. It will just happen. OTOH, those of us who have done scientific research know it's a messy business. Lots of mistakes, lots of errors and, most importantly, lots and lots of experiments. This is what Kapor is arguing, and it seems far more grounded in reality.
Will we have computers as fast or faster than the human brain by 2029? Possibly. Will they have human intellect? Well, it takes a human brain, interacting with the world many years to get to concrete operational thinking (indeed, many never do. There is much less difference between your brain and a person with an IQ of 50 than there is between your brain and chimps). It seems very unlikely that we'll have the ablity to do the soft skills, the reasoning by that point.
Much as I want it to be true, I have to put my money with Kapor.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Also, in Theme with Creating a Lighter Mood
Here's an interestign link to an article on Breast Physics.
One of my cohorts in grad school at UMass, James Case, left the astronomy department, went over to physics and did a successful Ph.D. thesis on the physics of high energy radiative transfer in human female breasts.
Who knew how ahead of the game he was at the time??
One of my cohorts in grad school at UMass, James Case, left the astronomy department, went over to physics and did a successful Ph.D. thesis on the physics of high energy radiative transfer in human female breasts.
Who knew how ahead of the game he was at the time??
9/11 Rememberance
Frankly, I'm disgusted. Rather than a day of sober reflection, rememberance and thought, 9/11 has become a campaign event/holiday.
This note, posted on The Big Picture, a Capital Markets blog I read, summerizes it best for me.
I've been assembling this weekend's linkfest -- and I started to feel a little quesy. I couldn't figure out what it was, and then it dawned on me: 9/11 overdose.
We are in for a total excess of "celebrations" -- is that the right word? -- of the 5th anniversary of 9/11.
That would be Wood, for you married couples. Instead of wood, we get tasteless Mini-series, crass comedic novels, fictionlized dramatizations, front page columns, magazine stories galore: The U.S. media, following the ugly lead of politicians, is about to engage in a full on festival of September 11th commericalization.
Its already cloying; 9/11 is now at risk for becoming another holiday, like Halloween or Columbus day. Macy*s will have a white sale, halftime at football games will do a video montage (aftr the 9/11tailgate party in the parking lot), speeches will be given, barbecues consumed. Take what has been already been done to Christmas: Sterilize, mass produce, fictionalize, and repackage it into one giant opportunistic shopping orgy.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I don't want to see any of these things -- don't want to buy the book, see the mini-series, read the column. Shit, I don't even want write about it. I already told my own personal recollection from a day of horror. That's more than enough.
What asshole thought up making a commerative 9/11 coin? -- and would they please choke on their own vomit in their sleep? (Thanks). A fictionlized version of events? Fictionlized? Are you shitting me? Can't we have a more dignified way to honor our dead?
The greatest tragedy of the post-9/11 period has been the failure of our nation's leaders to bring the country nation together. There was an enormous opportunity to take advantage of the crisis to unify the population and work together. That moment was lost. When the history of this period gets written 50 years from now, and blame gets apportioned for that, it will be none too flattering the collection of buffooons and incompetents (of both parties).
This note, posted on The Big Picture, a Capital Markets blog I read, summerizes it best for me.
I've been assembling this weekend's linkfest -- and I started to feel a little quesy. I couldn't figure out what it was, and then it dawned on me: 9/11 overdose.
We are in for a total excess of "celebrations" -- is that the right word? -- of the 5th anniversary of 9/11.
That would be Wood, for you married couples. Instead of wood, we get tasteless Mini-series, crass comedic novels, fictionlized dramatizations, front page columns, magazine stories galore: The U.S. media, following the ugly lead of politicians, is about to engage in a full on festival of September 11th commericalization.
Its already cloying; 9/11 is now at risk for becoming another holiday, like Halloween or Columbus day. Macy*s will have a white sale, halftime at football games will do a video montage (aftr the 9/11tailgate party in the parking lot), speeches will be given, barbecues consumed. Take what has been already been done to Christmas: Sterilize, mass produce, fictionalize, and repackage it into one giant opportunistic shopping orgy.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I don't want to see any of these things -- don't want to buy the book, see the mini-series, read the column. Shit, I don't even want write about it. I already told my own personal recollection from a day of horror. That's more than enough.
What asshole thought up making a commerative 9/11 coin? -- and would they please choke on their own vomit in their sleep? (Thanks). A fictionlized version of events? Fictionlized? Are you shitting me? Can't we have a more dignified way to honor our dead?
The greatest tragedy of the post-9/11 period has been the failure of our nation's leaders to bring the country nation together. There was an enormous opportunity to take advantage of the crisis to unify the population and work together. That moment was lost. When the history of this period gets written 50 years from now, and blame gets apportioned for that, it will be none too flattering the collection of buffooons and incompetents (of both parties).
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Video
I made a video this morning for my SG. This is about 4 mins edited down from 25. The group attacked a giant cephalopod that was attacking part of the city.
I'm holding the camera, so I am not in the shots.
This was modestly complicated to produce, although having done this once, I see how it works.
I'm holding the camera, so I am not in the shots.
This was modestly complicated to produce, although having done this once, I see how it works.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
A Lesson Wherein The Protagonist Learns Why 4 = 3
I have 4GB of memory for my computer. 4 Gleaming, shiny artistically designed, deep green, heat sink enshrouded memory chips. This is cool. However, A mystery appears.
When I power up the computer, it does a physical memory check and says it sees 4GB. Good. When it's up and running however, I look ask taskmon and clearly see only 3GB allocated. Nost so good. My page file is 3145196K and my total Limit is 6126444K. Very nice, but not 4GB.
Assuming a hardware problem, I dicked around a while in the case and convinced myself I figured out that one of the chips was bad. [Red Flag: it seemed to be the last oneI tested]. I ordered a new chip. It came yesterday, and I installed it this morning. I was excited because, well, I paided for 4GB and damn it, I want 4GB (despite teh fact I'll never use it all). Closed the case, powered up, BIOS check saw 4GB, started windows, and...... 3GB
Jesus McFuck
It's got to be the OS. Googgle, google, sure enough:
The range of an address space is defined by the native word size of the operating system. For Windows NT based systems, this value has a size of 32 bits, which corresponds to an address space of 2^32 bytes or approximately 4 gigabytes of memory. Thus, all processes on Windows NT platforms are limited to having access to only 4 gigabytes of memory (This limit will be expanded to a range of 2^64, with the introduction of Win64 platforms in the future).This is not the only limitation placed on processes on Windows platforms, though. System addresses are mapped into this address space, so the available address space is further reduced. The amount of address space is utilized by the system is dependent on the version of Windows NT being used. For Windows NT and 2000 Workstation and some versions of Windows NT Server, the upper 2 gigabytes of the address space is reserved for the system. This leaves only 2 gigabytes available to the process for use. For certain Windows Server-class systems (including versions of NT/2000/2003 Server and also Windows XP Professional), the system can be configured such that only the upper 1 gigabyte of the address space is reserved for the system, leaving 3 gigabytes of address space available for use by the process. These limitations are summarized in the following table. (Please consult your system administrator, system documentation or Microsoft for information about configuring your system to use more than 2 GB of memory for process use.)
Operating System
Available Address Space
Windows NT Workstation and Windows Server-class systems
2 Gigabytes
Certain Windows Server-class systems (including NT/2000/2003 Server and XP Professional)
3 GigabytesTo the best of our knowledge, Windows XP also has these same limits. As you will read below, IDL, as a window-based application, does not have access to this full 2 - 3 GB in one contiguous block.SolutionThe only solution for this type of limitation is for the operating system to change. For Windows, a user could move to Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition (or other systems mentioned above) or a 64 bit version of Windows. Of course, a user could also try another platform such as Linux (32-bit) or Solaris (64-bit).
I'll be dead in the cold, cold ground before I go back to Solaris. There *must* be some tweak I can pull to get the memory count up.
Technically, I have 4GB available, but 1GB is reserved for the OS. It does explain why the system is so damn fast, but ... I want my memory!
Damn those facist Redmond bastards aand their, "I know what's best for you mentaility"!
When I power up the computer, it does a physical memory check and says it sees 4GB. Good. When it's up and running however, I look ask taskmon and clearly see only 3GB allocated. Nost so good. My page file is 3145196K and my total Limit is 6126444K. Very nice, but not 4GB.
Assuming a hardware problem, I dicked around a while in the case and convinced myself I figured out that one of the chips was bad. [Red Flag: it seemed to be the last oneI tested]. I ordered a new chip. It came yesterday, and I installed it this morning. I was excited because, well, I paided for 4GB and damn it, I want 4GB (despite teh fact I'll never use it all). Closed the case, powered up, BIOS check saw 4GB, started windows, and...... 3GB
Jesus McFuck
It's got to be the OS. Googgle, google, sure enough:
The range of an address space is defined by the native word size of the operating system. For Windows NT based systems, this value has a size of 32 bits, which corresponds to an address space of 2^32 bytes or approximately 4 gigabytes of memory. Thus, all processes on Windows NT platforms are limited to having access to only 4 gigabytes of memory (This limit will be expanded to a range of 2^64, with the introduction of Win64 platforms in the future).This is not the only limitation placed on processes on Windows platforms, though. System addresses are mapped into this address space, so the available address space is further reduced. The amount of address space is utilized by the system is dependent on the version of Windows NT being used. For Windows NT and 2000 Workstation and some versions of Windows NT Server, the upper 2 gigabytes of the address space is reserved for the system. This leaves only 2 gigabytes available to the process for use. For certain Windows Server-class systems (including versions of NT/2000/2003 Server and also Windows XP Professional), the system can be configured such that only the upper 1 gigabyte of the address space is reserved for the system, leaving 3 gigabytes of address space available for use by the process. These limitations are summarized in the following table. (Please consult your system administrator, system documentation or Microsoft for information about configuring your system to use more than 2 GB of memory for process use.)
Operating System
Available Address Space
Windows NT Workstation and Windows Server-class systems
2 Gigabytes
Certain Windows Server-class systems (including NT/2000/2003 Server and XP Professional)
3 GigabytesTo the best of our knowledge, Windows XP also has these same limits. As you will read below, IDL, as a window-based application, does not have access to this full 2 - 3 GB in one contiguous block.SolutionThe only solution for this type of limitation is for the operating system to change. For Windows, a user could move to Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition (or other systems mentioned above) or a 64 bit version of Windows. Of course, a user could also try another platform such as Linux (32-bit) or Solaris (64-bit).
I'll be dead in the cold, cold ground before I go back to Solaris. There *must* be some tweak I can pull to get the memory count up.
Technically, I have 4GB available, but 1GB is reserved for the OS. It does explain why the system is so damn fast, but ... I want my memory!
Damn those facist Redmond bastards aand their, "I know what's best for you mentaility"!
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Know Your Demographic: Males 16-35
Clever
Weeds
To advertise comedy "Weeds", there was created a billboard that had attached three 6-foot high bags filled with giant sandwiches and massive prop marijuana. This latter billboard had a security camera trained upon it and when inevitably the marijuana was stolen, the footage was released as a viral video which received 50,000 views and wide-spread press coverage.
Video 1, Video 2.
Weeds
To advertise comedy "Weeds", there was created a billboard that had attached three 6-foot high bags filled with giant sandwiches and massive prop marijuana. This latter billboard had a security camera trained upon it and when inevitably the marijuana was stolen, the footage was released as a viral video which received 50,000 views and wide-spread press coverage.
Video 1, Video 2.
Political Science Thesis
with references!
Check this out
1. Eco and textual materialism
“Consciousness is part of the stasis of art,” says Debord. In a sense, in The Name of the Rose, Eco reiterates the subcultural paradigm of discourse; in Foucault’s Pendulum, however, he analyses Sontagist camp.
The characteristic theme of Drucker’s[1] analysis of the subcultural paradigm of discourse is the paradigm, and eventually the economy, of textual sexuality. Derrida uses the term ‘the precapitalist paradigm of reality’ to denote the common ground between class and art. Thus, the example of postcultural narrative depicted in Eco’s The Island of the Day Before emerges again in The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas, although in a more textual sense.
Lacan promotes the use of the precapitalist paradigm of reality to read and modify sexual identity. It could be said that Wilson[2] suggests that we have to choose between Sontagist camp and constructivist desituationism.
Derrida uses the term ‘the precapitalist paradigm of reality’ to denote the fatal flaw, and subsequent genre, of postcultural consciousness. However, the subject is interpolated into a Sontagist camp that includes culture as a totality.
Several theories concerning patriarchial feminism exist. Therefore, Baudrillard suggests the use of the precapitalist paradigm of reality to deconstruct capitalism.
Check this out
1. Eco and textual materialism
“Consciousness is part of the stasis of art,” says Debord. In a sense, in The Name of the Rose, Eco reiterates the subcultural paradigm of discourse; in Foucault’s Pendulum, however, he analyses Sontagist camp.
The characteristic theme of Drucker’s[1] analysis of the subcultural paradigm of discourse is the paradigm, and eventually the economy, of textual sexuality. Derrida uses the term ‘the precapitalist paradigm of reality’ to denote the common ground between class and art. Thus, the example of postcultural narrative depicted in Eco’s The Island of the Day Before emerges again in The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas, although in a more textual sense.
Lacan promotes the use of the precapitalist paradigm of reality to read and modify sexual identity. It could be said that Wilson[2] suggests that we have to choose between Sontagist camp and constructivist desituationism.
Derrida uses the term ‘the precapitalist paradigm of reality’ to denote the fatal flaw, and subsequent genre, of postcultural consciousness. However, the subject is interpolated into a Sontagist camp that includes culture as a totality.
Several theories concerning patriarchial feminism exist. Therefore, Baudrillard suggests the use of the precapitalist paradigm of reality to deconstruct capitalism.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Oldie, but Goodie
Last year Geoff and I filled out half of a scientologist's survey. It's actually pretty amusing.
Geoff, when are we going to finish this?
Geoff, when are we going to finish this?
Something I Didn't Know
This is kind of interesting:
Scientists are trying to stop fetal sharks from eating each other in the womb. A mother gray nurse shark carries 40 or so embryos in her two wombs. But once an embryo develops jaws, it starts eating its siblings. Results: 1) Only one embryo survives in each womb. 2) The species is endangered. Solution: Scientists are developing "artificial uteruses" so each embryo can grow without being eaten by others. Crunchy spin: We're saving another of nature's creatures. Extra crunchy spin: This shark's been around for 70 million years. Don't you think nature knows what it's doing? Anti-crunchy spin: This is even dumber than paroling repeat felons.
#include STD_Yuppie_Bashing_Joke.h
Scientists are trying to stop fetal sharks from eating each other in the womb. A mother gray nurse shark carries 40 or so embryos in her two wombs. But once an embryo develops jaws, it starts eating its siblings. Results: 1) Only one embryo survives in each womb. 2) The species is endangered. Solution: Scientists are developing "artificial uteruses" so each embryo can grow without being eaten by others. Crunchy spin: We're saving another of nature's creatures. Extra crunchy spin: This shark's been around for 70 million years. Don't you think nature knows what it's doing? Anti-crunchy spin: This is even dumber than paroling repeat felons.
#include STD_Yuppie_Bashing_Joke.h
Saturday, September 02, 2006
New Art
It's been awhile, but I finally finished a piece I've been working on for a few months now. Actually, it turned out to be 2 pieces and may eventually wind up as four.
This one is done, and is in a different mode than I usually use. More "artsy" but I really like it.
Seattle One
This one is a late draft, but not yet complete. It's what I imagine *should* happen every time I see the space needle.
Seattle Two
Constructive criticism is alway welcome.
This one is done, and is in a different mode than I usually use. More "artsy" but I really like it.
Seattle One
This one is a late draft, but not yet complete. It's what I imagine *should* happen every time I see the space needle.
Seattle Two
Constructive criticism is alway welcome.
Friday, September 01, 2006
No Really, I Thought this Was a Joke
They are kidding, right?
Welcome to the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home.
The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.
``I prop him up in a chair, or sometimes put him on the couch and cover him up with a blanket," said Kay Judkins of Caribou, whose husband, Jim, is a minesweeper mechanic in Afghanistan. ``The cat will curl up on the blanket, and it looks kind of weird. I've tricked several people by that. They think he's home again."
So they think what? Human children are like baby birds? That they can't tell the difference? This seems shallow, stupid and little mean.
And what happens when the parent comes home? It could freak the kids out! It could break down their sense of reality!
Besides, it will make Wire Mommy very angry.
Welcome to the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home.
The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.
``I prop him up in a chair, or sometimes put him on the couch and cover him up with a blanket," said Kay Judkins of Caribou, whose husband, Jim, is a minesweeper mechanic in Afghanistan. ``The cat will curl up on the blanket, and it looks kind of weird. I've tricked several people by that. They think he's home again."
So they think what? Human children are like baby birds? That they can't tell the difference? This seems shallow, stupid and little mean.
And what happens when the parent comes home? It could freak the kids out! It could break down their sense of reality!
Besides, it will make Wire Mommy very angry.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
More Pluto
I keep getting email about Pluto and planets. Let me clear this up. As an example, lets compare 3 objects against the IAU criteria and see how they classify: The International Space Station, Earth and Pluto
1) does it orbit the Sun?
ISS: orbits NASA funding source
Earth: Orbits Sun
Pluto: Orbits Sun most of the time, stops by Neptune for chinese take-out every now and then
2) Does it clear it's neighborhood of debies?
ISS: Cans and newspapers in yard, rusted '76 firebird in driveway
Earth: Has large Moon, many satellites, Counter-Earth on opposite side of Sun but otherwise free of debris
Pluto: Neptune constantly sweeping up Pluto poop and storing in sanitary bag
3) Does it have sufficient mass to overcome rigid body forces and become sphereical?
ISS: Good god, lets hope not! There are people in there!
Earth: Round, firm, fully-packed
Pluto: Round but with limited parking
4) Would Galactus eat it?
ISS: No, ISS would get caught under front bridgework and under crowns
Earth: Packed with donut-stuffed americans and germans! Yum!
Pluto: Yes, but it's 30K above absolute zero and would stick to his tounge like a popscile from a cold freezer. Not so good.
Conclusion: ISS: Not a planet, Earth: Planet, Pluto: frozen taste treat for world-devouring cosmic force.
1) does it orbit the Sun?
ISS: orbits NASA funding source
Earth: Orbits Sun
Pluto: Orbits Sun most of the time, stops by Neptune for chinese take-out every now and then
2) Does it clear it's neighborhood of debies?
ISS: Cans and newspapers in yard, rusted '76 firebird in driveway
Earth: Has large Moon, many satellites, Counter-Earth on opposite side of Sun but otherwise free of debris
Pluto: Neptune constantly sweeping up Pluto poop and storing in sanitary bag
3) Does it have sufficient mass to overcome rigid body forces and become sphereical?
ISS: Good god, lets hope not! There are people in there!
Earth: Round, firm, fully-packed
Pluto: Round but with limited parking
4) Would Galactus eat it?
ISS: No, ISS would get caught under front bridgework and under crowns
Earth: Packed with donut-stuffed americans and germans! Yum!
Pluto: Yes, but it's 30K above absolute zero and would stick to his tounge like a popscile from a cold freezer. Not so good.
Conclusion: ISS: Not a planet, Earth: Planet, Pluto: frozen taste treat for world-devouring cosmic force.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
“…My kidney belongs to Christ. It will never be Pagan.”
Amazing.
“TUPELO — Aleta Smith, who donated her kidney to a 20-year-old college student last year, wants it back now that the student has changed religions.Smith, a self-described “on-fire Christian,” gave her kidney to Hannah Felks, a Lutheran and regular Christian camp counselor, last year after seeing Felks on the local news.“She was going to die unless she got a kidney,” Smith says, sitting on the porch at her home. “They portrayed her as this nice Christian girl who works with kids. I saw it as a great opportunity to help a sister in the Lord.”The surgery grabbed headlines and Smith was lauded for her selflessness. But shortly after the surgery, Felks embarked on a “spiritual journey” to try out other religions, and settled on a blend of Pagan and Hindu beliefs.“I wanted to get away from the belief system I was raised in and find the truth for myself,” she says. She took a semester off to travel the world visiting spiritualists on three continents.Smith was aghast when she heard of the conversion, and she quickly wrote a letter asking Felks to re-convert to Christianity or return the organ, saying it was donated under false pretenses.“I feel helpless,” she says. “Part of my body, my DNA, is stuck inside a person who’s going to hell.”Smith suffers nightmares of her former organ filtering “strange Asian teas, pig blood and witch doctor brews in Africa,” she says. She wonders if the Lord really wanted her to donate the kidney, or if she acted on a “triple-espresso high” she had that morning. She is also concerned that when her body is resurrected, it might be incomplete.Felks frets that Smith is an “Indian giver,” and says religious affiliation was never an issue.“The kidney’s working fine,” Felks said by phone from Thailand. “I feel bad for Aleta. She did something wonderful for me, but that doesn’t mean she gets to control my life.”In the meantime, Smith has alerted several dozen prayer chains, and her women’s Bible study group is praying 12 hours a day for the re-conversion of Felks — and Smith’s former kidney.“I’m all for spiritual curiosity,” she says, “but you’ve got to settle these things beforehand…”
As with most Christian religions, it all about control. I also find it interesting that the person in question can happily and without dissonance believe her actions were either inspired "by God" or by a "triple espresso". In neither case does she believe her actions are her own.
(via)
“TUPELO — Aleta Smith, who donated her kidney to a 20-year-old college student last year, wants it back now that the student has changed religions.Smith, a self-described “on-fire Christian,” gave her kidney to Hannah Felks, a Lutheran and regular Christian camp counselor, last year after seeing Felks on the local news.“She was going to die unless she got a kidney,” Smith says, sitting on the porch at her home. “They portrayed her as this nice Christian girl who works with kids. I saw it as a great opportunity to help a sister in the Lord.”The surgery grabbed headlines and Smith was lauded for her selflessness. But shortly after the surgery, Felks embarked on a “spiritual journey” to try out other religions, and settled on a blend of Pagan and Hindu beliefs.“I wanted to get away from the belief system I was raised in and find the truth for myself,” she says. She took a semester off to travel the world visiting spiritualists on three continents.Smith was aghast when she heard of the conversion, and she quickly wrote a letter asking Felks to re-convert to Christianity or return the organ, saying it was donated under false pretenses.“I feel helpless,” she says. “Part of my body, my DNA, is stuck inside a person who’s going to hell.”Smith suffers nightmares of her former organ filtering “strange Asian teas, pig blood and witch doctor brews in Africa,” she says. She wonders if the Lord really wanted her to donate the kidney, or if she acted on a “triple-espresso high” she had that morning. She is also concerned that when her body is resurrected, it might be incomplete.Felks frets that Smith is an “Indian giver,” and says religious affiliation was never an issue.“The kidney’s working fine,” Felks said by phone from Thailand. “I feel bad for Aleta. She did something wonderful for me, but that doesn’t mean she gets to control my life.”In the meantime, Smith has alerted several dozen prayer chains, and her women’s Bible study group is praying 12 hours a day for the re-conversion of Felks — and Smith’s former kidney.“I’m all for spiritual curiosity,” she says, “but you’ve got to settle these things beforehand…”
As with most Christian religions, it all about control. I also find it interesting that the person in question can happily and without dissonance believe her actions were either inspired "by God" or by a "triple espresso". In neither case does she believe her actions are her own.
(via)
Monday, August 28, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Square Orbits
Why do some galaxies have barred centers?
Because the stars at the center are in an orbit which closely approximates a square. It a not-all-that-uncommon solution to the restricted three body problem.
Edit: I started to do some drawing for how this works but, of course, the web knows all. Here is a treatment done much better than mine of some of the complicated shapes an orbit can assume in the 3-body problem. One bar producing solution is the Ice Cream Spoon orbit
Unfortunately, the orbits themselves aren't all that stable. What you see in a galatic bar is a statisitical sample of a large number of stars, most of which spend some of their time in a bar-like orbit, but none permanently so.
The best analogy in every day life for square orbits is the Tilt-A-Whirl. There is a central point point around which the arms orbit, and a second point further out around which the cars rotate.
If the central rotation were o
ff, but the roation of the cars was on, you'd just spin in circles. Add it the central roation though, and you get a little circle, swinging around the end of a great big circle. The result is a pattern that, for large parts of the motion, is a nearly straight line followed by corners of high curvature (and high g-forces!). The pattern of this motion strongly resembles the orbits of galactic bar stars.
Which, all in all, is pretty cool. And, these kinds of orbits are not limited to squares. In general almost any polyhedreon can be simulated with the right set of masses and forces, although orbital stability in the general case is not assured.
Because the stars at the center are in an orbit which closely approximates a square. It a not-all-that-uncommon solution to the restricted three body problem.
Edit: I started to do some drawing for how this works but, of course, the web knows all. Here is a treatment done much better than mine of some of the complicated shapes an orbit can assume in the 3-body problem. One bar producing solution is the Ice Cream Spoon orbit
Unfortunately, the orbits themselves aren't all that stable. What you see in a galatic bar is a statisitical sample of a large number of stars, most of which spend some of their time in a bar-like orbit, but none permanently so.
The best analogy in every day life for square orbits is the Tilt-A-Whirl. There is a central point point around which the arms orbit, and a second point further out around which the cars rotate.
If the central rotation were o
ff, but the roation of the cars was on, you'd just spin in circles. Add it the central roation though, and you get a little circle, swinging around the end of a great big circle. The result is a pattern that, for large parts of the motion, is a nearly straight line followed by corners of high curvature (and high g-forces!). The pattern of this motion strongly resembles the orbits of galactic bar stars.Which, all in all, is pretty cool. And, these kinds of orbits are not limited to squares. In general almost any polyhedreon can be simulated with the right set of masses and forces, although orbital stability in the general case is not assured.
Except Yours Of Course
From the viewpoint of the outsider, every religion looks pretty silly or awful:
A little heavy handed. I dont see this as persuasive so much as in the category of "feeling good about a decision you have already made, not adding anything new, and making fun of the people you disagree with"
This must be what it feels like for those people who read Instapundit. Except with more words.
(Heh! Watch the whole thing)
A little heavy handed. I dont see this as persuasive so much as in the category of "feeling good about a decision you have already made, not adding anything new, and making fun of the people you disagree with"
This must be what it feels like for those people who read Instapundit. Except with more words.
(Heh! Watch the whole thing)
Pluto
I'd find it hard to care any less than I already do that Pluto got moved to "dwarf Planet" status. It's had the same impact on my life as say, finding out that owners of Walt Disney's Cryotube have switched from regular liquid nitrogen coolant to decaf.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
What kind of Training? Army Training, Sir!
I have avoided posting this, in part because I thought I might be able to change things, and in part because I wanted to avoid dealing with it.
Geoff has finally managed to cajole his way into the Army. He is canceling his co-op work and starting ROTC next semester, joining for 2 more years after he graduates in June 2008. Short of poisoning him and causing him to have a massive asthma attack, there is little I can do to change this course of events.
I’m happy for him in that he’s found a way to do what he wants to do in a way which will make him happy. I am… somewhat less than thrilled that he’s risking his life in a war started for the sole purpose of expanding presidential authority, but it’s his choice.
My advice to him was this, “Negotiate your position up front. Tell them you’ll join but you want to come in as a Major. Now, in the back of your head, be prepared to take Captain or something. Do they still have Sergeant Major?”
“Dad…They..”
“I’m just saying! It much harder to negotiate after you’ve signed a contract. Do the work up front. You wont regret it it”
“No Dad. I will be a second Lieutenant. That’s how it works”
“Screw that! That how it works for other folks. Negotiate now!”
“No. It’s non-negotiable”
“Really?”
“Yes”
“Oh. Then we’ll go with plan B. I’ll get the paper work started”
“No! What’s plan B? What paper work? No! No!”
“You can’t say ‘No’ before you hear the plan!”
“I can with your plans Dad”
“I’m not sacrificing my only son to presidential power-grabs…”
“Fine! Fine! Not again with this! What’s your plan?”
“It’s simple! We’re going to change your name!”
“No!”
“ You’ll like it, it’s very clever!”
“No!”
“Very clever…!!”
”Change it to what?”
“Colonel Powers”
“I told you I can’t be a Colonel! I’ll be a lieutenant.”
“Yes!, but yout first name will be Colonel! They will call you Lieutenant Colonel Powers! Then later, Major Colonel Powers, then Colonel Colonel…”
“Dad! No!”
"Why not? That one guy chnages his name to Optimus Prime for Christ's sake!"
"... you have a valid point but ..."
“Oh! Wait! Forget that! I have a better idea! We’ll change it to General Relativity! That works even better!”
We debated this pros and cons’ of this a while longer. The name change will not be occurring immediately, but I am still hopeful.
Geoff has finally managed to cajole his way into the Army. He is canceling his co-op work and starting ROTC next semester, joining for 2 more years after he graduates in June 2008. Short of poisoning him and causing him to have a massive asthma attack, there is little I can do to change this course of events.
I’m happy for him in that he’s found a way to do what he wants to do in a way which will make him happy. I am… somewhat less than thrilled that he’s risking his life in a war started for the sole purpose of expanding presidential authority, but it’s his choice.
My advice to him was this, “Negotiate your position up front. Tell them you’ll join but you want to come in as a Major. Now, in the back of your head, be prepared to take Captain or something. Do they still have Sergeant Major?”
“Dad…They..”
“I’m just saying! It much harder to negotiate after you’ve signed a contract. Do the work up front. You wont regret it it”
“No Dad. I will be a second Lieutenant. That’s how it works”
“Screw that! That how it works for other folks. Negotiate now!”
“No. It’s non-negotiable”
“Really?”
“Yes”
“Oh. Then we’ll go with plan B. I’ll get the paper work started”
“No! What’s plan B? What paper work? No! No!”
“You can’t say ‘No’ before you hear the plan!”
“I can with your plans Dad”
“I’m not sacrificing my only son to presidential power-grabs…”
“Fine! Fine! Not again with this! What’s your plan?”
“It’s simple! We’re going to change your name!”
“No!”
“ You’ll like it, it’s very clever!”
“No!”
“Very clever…!!”
“Colonel Powers”
“I told you I can’t be a Colonel! I’ll be a lieutenant.”
“Yes!, but yout first name will be Colonel! They will call you Lieutenant Colonel Powers! Then later, Major Colonel Powers, then Colonel Colonel…”
“Dad! No!”
"Why not? That one guy chnages his name to Optimus Prime for Christ's sake!"
"... you have a valid point but ..."
“Oh! Wait! Forget that! I have a better idea! We’ll change it to General Relativity! That works even better!”
We debated this pros and cons’ of this a while longer. The name change will not be occurring immediately, but I am still hopeful.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Rolling My Own
My current computer is almost 4 years old (which nearly 106 in human years!). Moore’s Law seems to have broken down, so there hasn’t been the usual pressure to buy a new machine. My current server is a 3GHz Powerspec box with a lot of trimmings, 1GB mem, 600GB storage, Nvidia 7300 graphics card etc. Not bad at all by current standards, but not the powerhouse it was in 2003. Given the processor speeds are “supposed” to double every 18 months, I expected to be at 10-12 Ghz now. Instead processor speeds are still hovering between 3-5Ghz for single core systems. There are many reasons for this, but from a physics point of view, I suspect the pseudo-optic limit has finally reared it’s head and quashed further progress . The limit occurs when the frequency of electronic signals (usually in the 10s of GHz) implies a wavelength which starts to be of scale with electronics themselves, i.e. the point where things are fast enough that you need to switch from wires to wavesguides.
Intel came out with their new Duo technology which effectively skirts the issue by adding a multiple processors linked together through a high speed bus. This has a number of architectural advantages for multiapplication systems, although 2 3Ghz chips put together is not the same performance as a single 6Ghz chip. There are volumes of reasons for this, but the new technology is pretty good.
In my usual way, I designed up a state of the art system with new process, lots of memory plenty of disk space, a top-of-the-line graphics card etc.
Net cost for the system (via Dell, Gateway and HP) ~$5000
My reaction: “hmm… that’s kind of higher than I wanted to pay”
Geoff’s reaction, “No way! You’re out of your fucking mind! I *need* that money!”
So I challenged Geoff to come up with a spec that met all my criteria for less.
And… he did!
The catch: I have to assemble it myself. From scratch.
Now I haven’t actually done this since …. 1998. A while.
Can I? Probably? Should I? Definitely!
Cost of Geoff’s spec (with 2 day shipping) ~$2500
So, I am going to build a PC sometime in the next few weeks.
Spec below: I’m looking for comments or (god forbid) mistakes of commission/omission
Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017
Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115002
Processor Cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186134
Memory:
2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146118
Power:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163109
Harddrives:
3x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144423
Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133138
Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143066
Sound Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102190
DVD:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058
Intel came out with their new Duo technology which effectively skirts the issue by adding a multiple processors linked together through a high speed bus. This has a number of architectural advantages for multiapplication systems, although 2 3Ghz chips put together is not the same performance as a single 6Ghz chip. There are volumes of reasons for this, but the new technology is pretty good.
In my usual way, I designed up a state of the art system with new process, lots of memory plenty of disk space, a top-of-the-line graphics card etc.
Net cost for the system (via Dell, Gateway and HP) ~$5000
My reaction: “hmm… that’s kind of higher than I wanted to pay”
Geoff’s reaction, “No way! You’re out of your fucking mind! I *need* that money!”
So I challenged Geoff to come up with a spec that met all my criteria for less.
And… he did!
The catch: I have to assemble it myself. From scratch.
Now I haven’t actually done this since …. 1998. A while.
Can I? Probably? Should I? Definitely!
Cost of Geoff’s spec (with 2 day shipping) ~$2500
So, I am going to build a PC sometime in the next few weeks.
Spec below: I’m looking for comments or (god forbid) mistakes of commission/omission
Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017
Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115002
Processor Cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186134
Memory:
2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146118
Power:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163109
Harddrives:
3x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144423
Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133138
Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143066
Sound Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102190
DVD:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058
Monday, August 21, 2006
The Armor of God
This is eventually going to cost you or your children (or more likely Blue Cross/Blue Shield) quite a bit at $100/hour as they explain to the therapist, "yeah, my parents dressed me up in felt armor every night to make me feel better. Why do you ask Doc? Do you think that has anything to do with me being a Furry?"
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The Law of Unintended Consequences
Lemma 2) Every action will have some effect you were not expecting.
Warning: political post
The Lieberman debacle, which in my mind was a pretty transparent attempt by Lieberman to put himself ahead of his party and keep his perqs, seems to have had an unintended consequence: Other candidate are beginning to say, "to hell with a party affiliation, I don't need one to run"
Today's example come from Mr. Tom DeLay's Houston district.
At least three GOPers have thrown their hats in the ring, and the local Republican leadership is scheduled to meet Thursday to make the call. One, perceived frontrunner David Wallace -- also mayor of DeLay's (former?) hometown of Sugar Land -- says he's running no matter what party says.
This is, in my mind, an untrammeled Good Thing. The two parties have tried everything imaginable short of a constitutional amendment to entrench themselves as the only way to power. And they have had tremendous success. This has led to more than a century of kleptocratic bad government. I'd really like to see more candidates eschew party and run as independents. Who know? It might lead to better policy and a saner nation.
Naaahhhhh.....
Warning: political post
The Lieberman debacle, which in my mind was a pretty transparent attempt by Lieberman to put himself ahead of his party and keep his perqs, seems to have had an unintended consequence: Other candidate are beginning to say, "to hell with a party affiliation, I don't need one to run"
Today's example come from Mr. Tom DeLay's Houston district.
At least three GOPers have thrown their hats in the ring, and the local Republican leadership is scheduled to meet Thursday to make the call. One, perceived frontrunner David Wallace -- also mayor of DeLay's (former?) hometown of Sugar Land -- says he's running no matter what party says.
This is, in my mind, an untrammeled Good Thing. The two parties have tried everything imaginable short of a constitutional amendment to entrench themselves as the only way to power. And they have had tremendous success. This has led to more than a century of kleptocratic bad government. I'd really like to see more candidates eschew party and run as independents. Who know? It might lead to better policy and a saner nation.
Naaahhhhh.....
Monday, August 14, 2006
Saturday, August 12, 2006
The David Stone
Here's an interesting idea for keeping the Earth as an "Asteroid Impact-Free Zone" , keep a sizable stone in orbit and then swing it around to hit an incoming object.
Such an asteroid could then be moved as needed to absorb the impact of any collision that would otherwise hit the Earth. The work of Didier Massonnet and Benoît Meyssignac (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, France), the paper argues that an asteroid between 20 and 40 meters in diameter, which the two nickname ‘David’s stone,’ could destroy a much larger incoming object under proper targeting conditions. The problem becomes finding the right asteroid.
...
Another benefit is that with the installation of proper equipment, a nearby asteroid could be exploited to produce propellants for manned exploratory missions. Producing fuel like liquid oxygen in such a location would dramatically alter the lifting requirements for long-range flights and could be practical even factoring in travel requirements to retrieve the fuel.
Very cool. I leave it to the communists and libertarians to tell us how to set up utopian governments on such objects.
Such an asteroid could then be moved as needed to absorb the impact of any collision that would otherwise hit the Earth. The work of Didier Massonnet and Benoît Meyssignac (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, France), the paper argues that an asteroid between 20 and 40 meters in diameter, which the two nickname ‘David’s stone,’ could destroy a much larger incoming object under proper targeting conditions. The problem becomes finding the right asteroid.
...
Another benefit is that with the installation of proper equipment, a nearby asteroid could be exploited to produce propellants for manned exploratory missions. Producing fuel like liquid oxygen in such a location would dramatically alter the lifting requirements for long-range flights and could be practical even factoring in travel requirements to retrieve the fuel.
Very cool. I leave it to the communists and libertarians to tell us how to set up utopian governments on such objects.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Second to Last
Yes, the United States is second to last in public acceptance of the theory of evolution. OTOH the graph doesn't show african nations, so I am sure we are not seond to last in the whole wide world. PZ Myers has the full story.The total effect of fundamentalist religious beliefs on attitude toward evolution (using a standardized metric) was nearly twice as much in the United States as in the nine European countries (path coefficients of -0.42 and -0.24, respectively), which indicates that individuals who hold a strong belief in a personal God and who pray frequently were significantly less likely to view evolution as probably or definitely true than adults with less conservative religious views.
...
Second, the evolution issue has been politicized and incorporated into the current partisan division in the United States in a manner never seen in Europe or Japan. In the second half of the 20th century, the conservative wing of the Republican Party has adopted creationism as a part of a platform designed to consolidate their support in southern and Midwestern states—the "red" states. In the 1990s, the state Republican platforms in seven states included explicit demands for the teaching of "creation science". There is no major political party in Europe or Japan that uses opposition to evolution as a part of its political platform.
Are Americans really this dumb? Do they really just beleive whatever they are told at church?? I have had more confidence in my fellow americans until now, but this kind of data is pretty depresing.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Son, Can You Honestly Deny This?
Son,
I imagine you read the headline and said some form of "Good God! What's he done now!". In fact, I'd be willing to bet good money that you didn't want to read this post at all, much less this far into it. Congratulations on your courage and fortitude. I know it could not have been easy. It would have been simpler to ignore this whole post and get on with your life...
Well, simpler perhaps, but not easier. You would have been curious as to what I had done. Dreading perhaps the humiliation that could spring upon you unawares as you became a reluctant internet celebrity, or worse, having to explain to the Mormons on a bright Tuesday morning that while yes they are very nice, no you are not interested in finding out more about the Lord (as promised to them in that nice latter your father sent), and yes, he really does have some kind of brain problem about to be solved by you, your friend Remington Model 600 Magnum and the second amendment. Or perhaps it was simple curiosity to see just what the old man thinks normal adult behavior looks like these days. Certainly that discussion he had with the judge was illuminating if not, ultimately, productive.
Well, enough about that, you know how I go on. Now to the heart, as they say, of the matter.
Son, can you, in all honesty say to me that you've never done this???
Can you?
I thought not.
Ignore Me!
I imagine you read the headline and said some form of "Good God! What's he done now!". In fact, I'd be willing to bet good money that you didn't want to read this post at all, much less this far into it. Congratulations on your courage and fortitude. I know it could not have been easy. It would have been simpler to ignore this whole post and get on with your life...
Well, simpler perhaps, but not easier. You would have been curious as to what I had done. Dreading perhaps the humiliation that could spring upon you unawares as you became a reluctant internet celebrity, or worse, having to explain to the Mormons on a bright Tuesday morning that while yes they are very nice, no you are not interested in finding out more about the Lord (as promised to them in that nice latter your father sent), and yes, he really does have some kind of brain problem about to be solved by you, your friend Remington Model 600 Magnum and the second amendment. Or perhaps it was simple curiosity to see just what the old man thinks normal adult behavior looks like these days. Certainly that discussion he had with the judge was illuminating if not, ultimately, productive.
Well, enough about that, you know how I go on. Now to the heart, as they say, of the matter.
Son, can you, in all honesty say to me that you've never done this???
Can you?
I thought not.
Ignore Me!
Blogging the Bible
When I was a Freshman in college, I decided to read the Bible for myself. As a newly minted atheist, I was partly convinced that it was actually quite tolerable and it was the priesthood that screwed everything up by trying to monopolize power. In other words, I was willing to give agnosticism another go if there was some hint that god might really, objectively exist and it was religion's fault the worked was so messed.
The experiment ended a few months later with me firmly and irrevocably in the atheist camp, Having read the Bible, it seem completely unarguable that it was written by humans trying to justify their rule over other humans by playing on their fears and prejudices. Yeah, Jesus had some good ideas waaaaay ahead of his time, but he was really the first Homo Sapiens among the Cro-Magnon.
This is an interesting passage in Slate’s Blogging the Bible series that illustrates the point perfectly.
This may be the first recorded example of what has become the fundamental conflict in all religions: religious elite vs. the people. (See, for example, the pope vs. Martin Luther.) Korah asks an essential question: Why should the few priests and prophets monopolize God? What's so great about them that they control access to the divine? In the 3,500 years since, many religions have come down on Korah's side of this question, deciding that God belongs to the masses, not an anointed elite. But the Bible doesn't. It rules emphatically—smitingly—for Moses and Aaron, for the few rather than the many.
Moses challenges the rebels to a divine duel. Korah and his 250 followers are to show up (at dawn, of course) with their firepans. Then, Moses says, the Lord will choose who is holy. The next morning, they all gather outside the Tabernacle—not just the 250 rebels, but also the entire Israelite community, which now supports them. This is a very bad mistake on the Israelites' part. Again, the Chosen People face the prospect of being seriously Un-Chosen. The Lord cautions Moses and Aaron, "Stand back from the community that I may annihilate them in an instant." But Moses once more steps in to save them, rebuking God exactly as Abraham did about Sodom: "When one man sins, will You be wrathful to the whole community?" God agrees not to kill everyone but orders the Israelites to stand back from the tents of Korah and two other rebel leaders.
No question about it. Humans writing for other humans. Nothing divinely inspired here. It reminds me of a version of the crypto adage, “Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by simple stupidity”, in this case, “Never ascribe to the Divine what can be explained by the Corrupt”
The experiment ended a few months later with me firmly and irrevocably in the atheist camp, Having read the Bible, it seem completely unarguable that it was written by humans trying to justify their rule over other humans by playing on their fears and prejudices. Yeah, Jesus had some good ideas waaaaay ahead of his time, but he was really the first Homo Sapiens among the Cro-Magnon.
This is an interesting passage in Slate’s Blogging the Bible series that illustrates the point perfectly.
This may be the first recorded example of what has become the fundamental conflict in all religions: religious elite vs. the people. (See, for example, the pope vs. Martin Luther.) Korah asks an essential question: Why should the few priests and prophets monopolize God? What's so great about them that they control access to the divine? In the 3,500 years since, many religions have come down on Korah's side of this question, deciding that God belongs to the masses, not an anointed elite. But the Bible doesn't. It rules emphatically—smitingly—for Moses and Aaron, for the few rather than the many.
Moses challenges the rebels to a divine duel. Korah and his 250 followers are to show up (at dawn, of course) with their firepans. Then, Moses says, the Lord will choose who is holy. The next morning, they all gather outside the Tabernacle—not just the 250 rebels, but also the entire Israelite community, which now supports them. This is a very bad mistake on the Israelites' part. Again, the Chosen People face the prospect of being seriously Un-Chosen. The Lord cautions Moses and Aaron, "Stand back from the community that I may annihilate them in an instant." But Moses once more steps in to save them, rebuking God exactly as Abraham did about Sodom: "When one man sins, will You be wrathful to the whole community?" God agrees not to kill everyone but orders the Israelites to stand back from the tents of Korah and two other rebel leaders.
No question about it. Humans writing for other humans. Nothing divinely inspired here. It reminds me of a version of the crypto adage, “Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by simple stupidity”, in this case, “Never ascribe to the Divine what can be explained by the Corrupt”
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Pushing the Reset Button
This is a very cool animation of what would happen if the Earth were struck by a large asteroid. If anything, I think it underestimates the damage, although just about the time I thought, "hey! there won't be any liquid water left!", the seas dried up. I'm also not sure the post-collision shape of the planet is correct. The relaxation time for the collision should be a few thousand years I think.
Anyway, enjoy!
Anyway, enjoy!
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Bleaaaauuurrrrrrgh!
Here's what you should do:
1) Click the link below
2) Look at the picture
3) Study the picture to figure out why it's so familiar and notice the lacy bra on the statue
4) Realize who this is and what it means (perferably while reading the text)
5) Bleaaaauuurrrrrrgh!
6) Laugh
Ready?
Go!
You're still here. You dont trust me, do you?
Wise.
Also, if you get the Dr. Manhatten reference without clicking the link to wiki, take 2 points from my "hold them in higher esteem" jar.
1) Click the link below
2) Look at the picture
3) Study the picture to figure out why it's so familiar and notice the lacy bra on the statue
4) Realize who this is and what it means (perferably while reading the text)
5) Bleaaaauuurrrrrrgh!
6) Laugh
Ready?
Go!
You're still here. You dont trust me, do you?
Wise.
Also, if you get the Dr. Manhatten reference without clicking the link to wiki, take 2 points from my "hold them in higher esteem" jar.
Lesbian Ann Coulter
and this time I dont' mean my son's roommate*. Remember folks, you heard it here first almost 2 years ago!
Tammy Bruce — conservative writer, former president of NOW in Los Angeles, former KFI-AM radio talk show host — is said to be a lover of Ann Coulter. Bruce has always disclosed on her radio show that she is a full-on lesbian. It’s said that Coulter and Bruce were seen at a women’s bar on “little Santa Monica Blvd” called Palms just west of La Cienega in West Hollywood. For her to trash Bill Clinton about him being gay seems strange, unless you recall Newt Gingrich pushing “family values” when he has had three wives and was dating his third wife while married to his first wife.
I guess the fact that I'm quoting Wonkette isn't really a plus here, is it?
*as part of a long standing joke, I refer to my son's straight, male roommate as "Lesbian Ann Coulter". The roommate is, as far as I know, completely unaware of this name and really has nothing to do with the joke. Further proof that's it's harder than it looks to be my child.
Tammy Bruce — conservative writer, former president of NOW in Los Angeles, former KFI-AM radio talk show host — is said to be a lover of Ann Coulter. Bruce has always disclosed on her radio show that she is a full-on lesbian. It’s said that Coulter and Bruce were seen at a women’s bar on “little Santa Monica Blvd” called Palms just west of La Cienega in West Hollywood. For her to trash Bill Clinton about him being gay seems strange, unless you recall Newt Gingrich pushing “family values” when he has had three wives and was dating his third wife while married to his first wife.
I guess the fact that I'm quoting Wonkette isn't really a plus here, is it?
*as part of a long standing joke, I refer to my son's straight, male roommate as "Lesbian Ann Coulter". The roommate is, as far as I know, completely unaware of this name and really has nothing to do with the joke. Further proof that's it's harder than it looks to be my child.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Artifical Life: Breve
This simulator is very cool. I got a walker up and running on my 2proc, 2.8Ghz, Win2K3 machine in about 10 minutes. I'm waiting for it to start running.
A Joke
From a six-year-old named Clint, passed to me by his Uncle Bill
(FTR, I have not edited this in anyway)
The Joke:What did one seagull say to the other seagull???
The Answer: In the comments
(FTR, I have not edited this in anyway)
The Joke:What did one seagull say to the other seagull???
The Answer: In the comments
Monday, July 24, 2006
City of Heroes Scrapbook
My current time-wasting hobby, City of Heroes, allows me to take instant, in-game photos. I've been doing it for a few months now and finally got around to making a scrapbook.
It's unsorted, except by date. I may go in at some point and add text to a number of photos. My main 'toon, BluShield, hit the top of the game on 3/4/06. Captain Physics hit 50 on 7/5/06.
It's unsorted, except by date. I may go in at some point and add text to a number of photos. My main 'toon, BluShield, hit the top of the game on 3/4/06. Captain Physics hit 50 on 7/5/06.
My Extremely Generous Contributions at Work
As you know if you read this blog, I give a lot of money to the ACLU. There are two benefits to this; 1) the protect my freedom and 2) it annoys the boy to know the money that would otherwise go to X-box stuff is going to a "liberal" group.
You also know, if you read this, I'm no fan of Fred Phelps.
And now, my hard earned sheckles are going to defend him. Ugh.
ACLU Backs Funeral Picketers:
The ACLU has filed suit on behalf of a religious group that pickets military funerals with anti-gay messages. The suit challenges the state of Missouri's law barring picketing near military funerals. An equivalent federal measure was signed into law earlier this year.
I dont agree, but I really am fighting (at least by proxy) for his right to be a jerk.
You also know, if you read this, I'm no fan of Fred Phelps.
And now, my hard earned sheckles are going to defend him. Ugh.
ACLU Backs Funeral Picketers:
The ACLU has filed suit on behalf of a religious group that pickets military funerals with anti-gay messages. The suit challenges the state of Missouri's law barring picketing near military funerals. An equivalent federal measure was signed into law earlier this year.
I dont agree, but I really am fighting (at least by proxy) for his right to be a jerk.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Going to Pucking Fluto!
errr... sorry. I just got a little overwrought.
While deep in the internal politics of Microsoft and the external politics of Paragon City, I completely missed the fact that we've launched a probe to Pluto.
Pluto!
You can track its progress here.
Holy Sharking Fit!
While deep in the internal politics of Microsoft and the external politics of Paragon City, I completely missed the fact that we've launched a probe to Pluto.
Pluto!
You can track its progress here.
Holy Sharking Fit!
The Art of the Insult
New Street Taunts
F R O M T H E A R C H I V E S
MY NEW STREETTAUNTS, VOL. I:THE THINGS WHICH IWILL DO TO YOU,IF YOU CROSS ME.
BY AMIE BARRODALE
- - - -
I will sedate you with a drug used for sedation, then I will remove your eyes, and insert two small sparrows into the house that is your skull. Then I will replace your eyeballs, careful to see that each eye is returned into its proper respective hole. You will awake thinking nothing has happened. You will feel right as rain.
Speaking of rain, friend, spring approaches, and the songbird sets about her singing, to attract mates. The male bird finds the female bird, and then the two birds make love, many times. The female lays her eggs and sits on them, to keep them warm. When the chicks hatch, it will get weird for you.
F R O M T H E A R C H I V E S
MY NEW STREETTAUNTS, VOL. I:THE THINGS WHICH IWILL DO TO YOU,IF YOU CROSS ME.
BY AMIE BARRODALE
- - - -
I will sedate you with a drug used for sedation, then I will remove your eyes, and insert two small sparrows into the house that is your skull. Then I will replace your eyeballs, careful to see that each eye is returned into its proper respective hole. You will awake thinking nothing has happened. You will feel right as rain.
Speaking of rain, friend, spring approaches, and the songbird sets about her singing, to attract mates. The male bird finds the female bird, and then the two birds make love, many times. The female lays her eggs and sits on them, to keep them warm. When the chicks hatch, it will get weird for you.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
The Thinglonger
I'm not saying I beleive this, it seems a little hokey, and I haven't read the actual paper this is based on.
However, I did notice a few years ago that my index and ring fingers are almost exactly the same length (my index finger is just a hair longer than my ring finger), and that this is unusual.
Now, there may be an explaination.
I will also point out that both of my siblings are a little dyslexic. Actually, my brother quite a bit more than my sister.
The study drew on work in the last few years which established that the levels of estrogen and testosterone a person has can be seen in the relative length of their index (second) and ring (fourth) fingers. The ratio of the lengths is set before birth and remains the same throughout life.
The length of fingers is genetically linked to the sex hormones, and a person with an index finger shorter than the ring finger will have had more testosterone while in the womb, and a person with an index finger longer than the ring finger will have had more estrogen. The difference in the lengths can be small – as little as two or three per cent – but important.
A survey of the finger lengths of over 100 male and female academics at the University by senior Psychology lecturer Dr Mark Brosnan has found that those men teaching hard science like mathematics and physics tend to have index fingers as long as their ring fingers, a marker for unusually high estrogen levels for males.
...
(via)
However, I did notice a few years ago that my index and ring fingers are almost exactly the same length (my index finger is just a hair longer than my ring finger), and that this is unusual.
Now, there may be an explaination.
I will also point out that both of my siblings are a little dyslexic. Actually, my brother quite a bit more than my sister.
The study drew on work in the last few years which established that the levels of estrogen and testosterone a person has can be seen in the relative length of their index (second) and ring (fourth) fingers. The ratio of the lengths is set before birth and remains the same throughout life.
The length of fingers is genetically linked to the sex hormones, and a person with an index finger shorter than the ring finger will have had more testosterone while in the womb, and a person with an index finger longer than the ring finger will have had more estrogen. The difference in the lengths can be small – as little as two or three per cent – but important.
A survey of the finger lengths of over 100 male and female academics at the University by senior Psychology lecturer Dr Mark Brosnan has found that those men teaching hard science like mathematics and physics tend to have index fingers as long as their ring fingers, a marker for unusually high estrogen levels for males.
...
(via)
Billys Ballon
Interesting, funny and ...well... a little disturbing. Try not to think about this the next time you go to the circus...
Friday, July 14, 2006
Origami
Not many people would think to make a statue of Cthulhu out of a sheet of paper, and yet .... there it is!
The FSM makes an appearence as well.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Department of Buried Puns
On new, ultra-modern chemical weapons to be used against the "enemy".
Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says.
blow to morale... hahaha
So my take is... what? we have to wait for a *war* for this????? Get this on the market *NOW*! I can make a fortune at the White Party!
Or the SuperBowl!
Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says.
blow to morale... hahaha
So my take is... what? we have to wait for a *war* for this????? Get this on the market *NOW*! I can make a fortune at the White Party!
Or the SuperBowl!
Battlefield 2: (Very) Special Forces
This, btw, was my Father's Day present this year. I had no idea the uses it could find, video game, time waster, congressional evidence of terrorist activity...
Was an elite congressional intelligence committee shown video footage from an off-the-shelf retail game and told by the Pentagon and a highly-paid defense contractor that it was a jihadist creation designed to recruit and indoctrinate terrorists?It's looking more and more like that is the case.
The bizarre story began to unfold last week when Reuters reported that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was shown video footage of combat action which was represented as a user-modified version (or "mod") of Electronic Art's best-selling Battlefield 2, a modern-day military simulation which features combat between U.S. forces and those of the fictitious Middle East Coalition (MEC) as well as the People's Republic of China.
Reuters quoted a Pentagon official, Dan Devlin, as saying, "What we have seen is that any video game that comes out... (al Qaeda will) modify it and change the game for their needs."
...
According to Reuters, the U.S. government is paying SAIC $7 million to monitor Islamist web sites, which is where they apparently discovered a copy of the footage. However, the video can also readily be accessed via links found in the user forums of the popular Planet Battlefield site, operated by IGN Entertainment of Brisbane, California.
Was an elite congressional intelligence committee shown video footage from an off-the-shelf retail game and told by the Pentagon and a highly-paid defense contractor that it was a jihadist creation designed to recruit and indoctrinate terrorists?It's looking more and more like that is the case.
The bizarre story began to unfold last week when Reuters reported that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was shown video footage of combat action which was represented as a user-modified version (or "mod") of Electronic Art's best-selling Battlefield 2, a modern-day military simulation which features combat between U.S. forces and those of the fictitious Middle East Coalition (MEC) as well as the People's Republic of China.
Reuters quoted a Pentagon official, Dan Devlin, as saying, "What we have seen is that any video game that comes out... (al Qaeda will) modify it and change the game for their needs."
...
According to Reuters, the U.S. government is paying SAIC $7 million to monitor Islamist web sites, which is where they apparently discovered a copy of the footage. However, the video can also readily be accessed via links found in the user forums of the popular Planet Battlefield site, operated by IGN Entertainment of Brisbane, California.
The End of Dark Matter
To be blunt, I've always thought dark matter was a kludge. As it has grown from a weird theory in the 80s to a part of the Standard Model, I have watched with dismay. Why?
1) There is no evidence
2) The theory is ad-hoc
3) The theory has no real mathematical or physical basis (hence the constant spate of press releases about how the newest model in particle physics is dark matter
4) It is... inelegant
I have been a proponent of an alternate theory, that space is discrete not continuous and leads to a non-uniform Newtonian gravity field for mass, i.e. gravity gets weaker at long (and oddly very short) distances. This has it's own flaws of course
1) There is little evidence, and what there is is open to other explanations
2) It seems, again, ad hoc
3) it doesn't have a mathematical formalism
Until now...
This seems to be excellent progress toward turning this into actual science.
We have made the theory complete, connected the loose pieces of theory by one nice formula, and we think this formula has deep physics behind it. This theory is now fully specified so we can check it now."
This is the crucial part of any scientific theory: if it is capable of being tested and therefore falsified, it can be taken seriously. If scientists fail to knock it down, the theory gains credibility.
The new formula will be debated at a meeting at Edinburgh's Royal Observatory in April, when Dr Zhao and Dr Famaey, of the Free University of Brussels, will demonstrate their new formula on dark matter and gravity to an audience of experts from ten countries. They can expect a stormy ride.
"When people say 96 per cent of the universe is dark, that's an assumption," Dr Zhao said. "We don't need to introduce huge amounts of dark matter to explain the astronomical phenomena.
1) There is no evidence
2) The theory is ad-hoc
3) The theory has no real mathematical or physical basis (hence the constant spate of press releases about how the newest model in particle physics is dark matter
4) It is... inelegant
I have been a proponent of an alternate theory, that space is discrete not continuous and leads to a non-uniform Newtonian gravity field for mass, i.e. gravity gets weaker at long (and oddly very short) distances. This has it's own flaws of course
1) There is little evidence, and what there is is open to other explanations
2) It seems, again, ad hoc
3) it doesn't have a mathematical formalism
Until now...
This seems to be excellent progress toward turning this into actual science.
We have made the theory complete, connected the loose pieces of theory by one nice formula, and we think this formula has deep physics behind it. This theory is now fully specified so we can check it now."
This is the crucial part of any scientific theory: if it is capable of being tested and therefore falsified, it can be taken seriously. If scientists fail to knock it down, the theory gains credibility.
The new formula will be debated at a meeting at Edinburgh's Royal Observatory in April, when Dr Zhao and Dr Famaey, of the Free University of Brussels, will demonstrate their new formula on dark matter and gravity to an audience of experts from ten countries. They can expect a stormy ride.
"When people say 96 per cent of the universe is dark, that's an assumption," Dr Zhao said. "We don't need to introduce huge amounts of dark matter to explain the astronomical phenomena.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
As They Sow, So Shall They Reap
When you make it a point to try and remove and facility for incrudulity from your followers, it isn't surprising that they think everything is true.
To be honest, I'm not sure this isn't some kind of meta-parody.
I mean, *everyone* knows the Onion is a joke. Right???
here
Best comment in the comment section so far:
I'm pro life, but sweet Jesus you're an idiot. For your next post, how about a passionate speech on the need to immediately free Prince Albert from the can?
To be honest, I'm not sure this isn't some kind of meta-parody.
I mean, *everyone* knows the Onion is a joke. Right???
here
Best comment in the comment section so far:
I'm pro life, but sweet Jesus you're an idiot. For your next post, how about a passionate speech on the need to immediately free Prince Albert from the can?
Monday, July 10, 2006
The Four Most Dangerous Words in the English Language
Good advice on investing from the Cassandra class:
"The best investing advice is simple, timeless, paradoxical -- and often ignored. Yes, ignored, because so many investors cannot make decisions. Lacking self-confidence, they rely on the random flow of breaking news. That overwhelming rush of new information, all of it short-term, drowns out the investment advice to which we should be adhering. Those timeless principles demand that we ignore breaking news and take personal responsibility, a very scary idea for investors who have lost their self-confidence.
This message has been summarized by the Chinese master Lao Tzu: "Those who know do not speak, those who speak do not know." He offered this investment advice three thousand years ago in the Tao Te Ching. Test it on any guru: Gross, Siegel, Bogle, Cramer, Bernanke, Paulson, and yes, even me. Of course, if investors took Lao Tzu's advice, Wall Street would be out of business. You'd be in command!"
Those words? This time it's different.
"The best investing advice is simple, timeless, paradoxical -- and often ignored. Yes, ignored, because so many investors cannot make decisions. Lacking self-confidence, they rely on the random flow of breaking news. That overwhelming rush of new information, all of it short-term, drowns out the investment advice to which we should be adhering. Those timeless principles demand that we ignore breaking news and take personal responsibility, a very scary idea for investors who have lost their self-confidence.
This message has been summarized by the Chinese master Lao Tzu: "Those who know do not speak, those who speak do not know." He offered this investment advice three thousand years ago in the Tao Te Ching. Test it on any guru: Gross, Siegel, Bogle, Cramer, Bernanke, Paulson, and yes, even me. Of course, if investors took Lao Tzu's advice, Wall Street would be out of business. You'd be in command!"
Those words? This time it's different.
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