You bastard. You complete and utter bastard.
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-39743332/what-trump-misses
Friday, 28 April 2017
The Daedalus suit shall one day be MINE !
Shut up. Shut up and take my goddamn motherfrakkin' money.
A British inventor, who built an Iron Man-style flight suit, has flown it at the Ted (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference in Vancouver. "My approach to flight was why not augment the human mind and body, because they are amazing machines, so I just bolted on what was missing - thrust."
Mr Browning, a Royal Marine Reserve, created his flying machine using six miniature jet engines and a specially designed exoskeleton. He has a helmet with a sophisticated heads-up display that keeps him informed about fuel use.
The Daedalus suit - named after the father of Icarus by Mr Browning's eight-year-old son - takes off vertically. Mr Browning uses his arms to control the direction and speed of the flight. Mr Browning said it is easily capable of flying at 200mph (321km/h) and an altitude of a few thousand feet. But, for safety reasons, he keeps the altitude and speed low. He insisted it is "safer than a motorbike". The suit can currently fly uninterrupted for around 10 minutes..
But he insists the project remains "a bit of fun" and is unlikely to become a mainstream method of transportation.
Reminds me of a story they told us once in school. An old man wearing a backpack walks into an airport looking somewhat lost. Eventually an official asks him if he needs any help. "I've invented a flying machine," says the old man, "and I thought this might be the place to show people."
The official laughs. "Sir," he says, "we have lots of flying machines. All those things outside are flying machines. We use them all the time. Have done for years. Look, there's one taking off now."
"Ah, I see you're right," says the old man. "My invention has come too late to be of any use." With that the old man walks outside, presses a button on his backpack and flies away.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39441825
A British inventor, who built an Iron Man-style flight suit, has flown it at the Ted (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference in Vancouver. "My approach to flight was why not augment the human mind and body, because they are amazing machines, so I just bolted on what was missing - thrust."
Mr Browning, a Royal Marine Reserve, created his flying machine using six miniature jet engines and a specially designed exoskeleton. He has a helmet with a sophisticated heads-up display that keeps him informed about fuel use.
The Daedalus suit - named after the father of Icarus by Mr Browning's eight-year-old son - takes off vertically. Mr Browning uses his arms to control the direction and speed of the flight. Mr Browning said it is easily capable of flying at 200mph (321km/h) and an altitude of a few thousand feet. But, for safety reasons, he keeps the altitude and speed low. He insisted it is "safer than a motorbike". The suit can currently fly uninterrupted for around 10 minutes..
But he insists the project remains "a bit of fun" and is unlikely to become a mainstream method of transportation.
Reminds me of a story they told us once in school. An old man wearing a backpack walks into an airport looking somewhat lost. Eventually an official asks him if he needs any help. "I've invented a flying machine," says the old man, "and I thought this might be the place to show people."
The official laughs. "Sir," he says, "we have lots of flying machines. All those things outside are flying machines. We use them all the time. Have done for years. Look, there's one taking off now."
"Ah, I see you're right," says the old man. "My invention has come too late to be of any use." With that the old man walks outside, presses a button on his backpack and flies away.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39441825
Virtual Angkor Wat
This sounds fun. Via Matt Hall.
Virtual Angkor takes users back about 1,000 years into a thriving community of 25,000 virtual Cambodians living inside a model of Angkor Wat, partially mapped using geometry generated by airborne laser surveys.
Another Australian project, Virtual Songlines, takes us ten times further back into the past to look at how different tribes of the first Australians lived in places like Warrane and Meanjin (better known today as Sydney Cove and Brisbane's CBD).
Some of the detail in Dr Chandler's world has been crafted through extraordinary archaeological diligence. For instance, in order to accurately recreate flora, Dr Chandler's team had to first consult with experts on soil cores to verify which plants existed at that time, then flew over and photographed the trees before modelling and texturing the relatively geometrically complex objects.
For audio, he has travelled to remote villages to record ambient sound, a task that has become harder and harder as Cambodia develops and motorbikes, cell phones, and televisions become commonplace. Highly detailed terrain maps have been gleaned from two helicopter borne laser surveys, known as LiDAR, that were conducted by a partnership including the University of Sydney called the Khmer Angkor Lidar Consortium at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars each.
Unlike a film or book though, both Virtual Songlines and Virtual Angkor are not being built as a final product but rather just one version of worlds that will continually evolve to reflect competing historical perspectives and new archaeological discoveries in what Dr Chandler has dubbed an "iterative dialogue".
Virtual Songlines will be on display as a virtual reality experience at Brisbane Powerhouse in June, Sydney's Powerhouse Museum at the end of July and available in numerous libraries as a desktop computer experience around the same time, with a downloadable PC version expected in August.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-22/virtual-angkor-wat-and-other-3d-ancient-civilisations/8447504?pfm=ms&pfmredir=sm
Virtual Angkor takes users back about 1,000 years into a thriving community of 25,000 virtual Cambodians living inside a model of Angkor Wat, partially mapped using geometry generated by airborne laser surveys.
Another Australian project, Virtual Songlines, takes us ten times further back into the past to look at how different tribes of the first Australians lived in places like Warrane and Meanjin (better known today as Sydney Cove and Brisbane's CBD).
Some of the detail in Dr Chandler's world has been crafted through extraordinary archaeological diligence. For instance, in order to accurately recreate flora, Dr Chandler's team had to first consult with experts on soil cores to verify which plants existed at that time, then flew over and photographed the trees before modelling and texturing the relatively geometrically complex objects.
For audio, he has travelled to remote villages to record ambient sound, a task that has become harder and harder as Cambodia develops and motorbikes, cell phones, and televisions become commonplace. Highly detailed terrain maps have been gleaned from two helicopter borne laser surveys, known as LiDAR, that were conducted by a partnership including the University of Sydney called the Khmer Angkor Lidar Consortium at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars each.
Unlike a film or book though, both Virtual Songlines and Virtual Angkor are not being built as a final product but rather just one version of worlds that will continually evolve to reflect competing historical perspectives and new archaeological discoveries in what Dr Chandler has dubbed an "iterative dialogue".
Virtual Songlines will be on display as a virtual reality experience at Brisbane Powerhouse in June, Sydney's Powerhouse Museum at the end of July and available in numerous libraries as a desktop computer experience around the same time, with a downloadable PC version expected in August.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-22/virtual-angkor-wat-and-other-3d-ancient-civilisations/8447504?pfm=ms&pfmredir=sm
Thursday, 27 April 2017
Arecibo vs FAST
Another Arecibo flyer. Is this Arecibo trying to make peace with FAST or a withering put-down ? YOU decide ! :)
Fun with illegal aliens
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security opened a new office, called VOICE, to "serve the needs of crime victims and their families who have been impacted by crimes committed by removable criminal aliens".
The centrepiece is a new hotline that victims can call for support and assistance. It was set up under the authority of an executive order on immigration from President Drumpf in January. People began making clear exactly what people should not be using the line for :
"I reported seeing a bloated orange humanoid."
Well done, that man.
But why in the world would you even want a separate hotline for crimes committed by foreigners ?!?! As opposed to, oh, I don't know, calling the police ?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39731085
The centrepiece is a new hotline that victims can call for support and assistance. It was set up under the authority of an executive order on immigration from President Drumpf in January. People began making clear exactly what people should not be using the line for :
"I reported seeing a bloated orange humanoid."
Well done, that man.
But why in the world would you even want a separate hotline for crimes committed by foreigners ?!?! As opposed to, oh, I don't know, calling the police ?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39731085
Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Error propagation in action
I smell a future IgNobel.
Scientists have calculated the optimal strategy for throwing something accurately - whether it's a dart or a crumpled-up piece of paper. US researchers say the slow-is-more-accurate rule generally applies.
In a series of calculations, they looked at the physics behind releasing a projectile with the human arm. Their equations suggest a slow but accurate throw is the best strategy for getting a piece of paper into a nearby bin.
Lead researcher Madhusudhan Venkadesan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Yale University, said faster throws tend to be less accurate. This is because the ball travels in a nearly straight line, so any errors in the angle at which the object is released tend to be amplified. In slow and curved flight paths, small errors in the angle of release have little effect, he said.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39712282
Scientists have calculated the optimal strategy for throwing something accurately - whether it's a dart or a crumpled-up piece of paper. US researchers say the slow-is-more-accurate rule generally applies.
In a series of calculations, they looked at the physics behind releasing a projectile with the human arm. Their equations suggest a slow but accurate throw is the best strategy for getting a piece of paper into a nearby bin.
Lead researcher Madhusudhan Venkadesan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Yale University, said faster throws tend to be less accurate. This is because the ball travels in a nearly straight line, so any errors in the angle at which the object is released tend to be amplified. In slow and curved flight paths, small errors in the angle of release have little effect, he said.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39712282
Animals that survive being eaten (but probably wish they hadn't)
The glorious majesty of nature never fails to impress.
In 2012, biologists on an expedition to East Timor in southeast Asia spotted a brahminy blind snake wriggling out of somewhere quite unexpected: the rear end of a common Asian toad. "It's quite surprising that a vertebrate, which has lungs, was able to survive," says O'Shea.
The snake may be better equipped for the journey than most species. With a long, slender body just a few millimetres wide, it effortlessly burrows through tiny holes and crevices in its environment. Passing through the narrow confines of a toad's digestive tract should not be too much of a challenge in principle. O'Shea thinks the snake crawled through the toad's gut instead of simply being carried through by muscle contractions that move food along.
Almost certainly the biggest problem the blind snake had to deal with was a prolonged lack of oxygen. As an underground dweller and due to its small size, it needs less air to survive than many animals. But still, there is a limit to how little it can tolerate. "Theoretically, the time it takes to get through the gut would determine if it lives or dies," says O'Shea.
The researchers do not know how long it took the snake to journey through the toad's gut. But although they watched it wriggle out alive, it died about five hours later.
The brahminy blind snake, however, probably had little impact on the toad that ate it, beyond the strange feeling of having an animal move through its stomach and intestines. "The toad just appeared to be embarrassed," says O'Shea. After all, it had a snake sticking out of its bottom.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170424-there-are-animals-that-can-survive-being-eaten
In 2012, biologists on an expedition to East Timor in southeast Asia spotted a brahminy blind snake wriggling out of somewhere quite unexpected: the rear end of a common Asian toad. "It's quite surprising that a vertebrate, which has lungs, was able to survive," says O'Shea.
The snake may be better equipped for the journey than most species. With a long, slender body just a few millimetres wide, it effortlessly burrows through tiny holes and crevices in its environment. Passing through the narrow confines of a toad's digestive tract should not be too much of a challenge in principle. O'Shea thinks the snake crawled through the toad's gut instead of simply being carried through by muscle contractions that move food along.
Almost certainly the biggest problem the blind snake had to deal with was a prolonged lack of oxygen. As an underground dweller and due to its small size, it needs less air to survive than many animals. But still, there is a limit to how little it can tolerate. "Theoretically, the time it takes to get through the gut would determine if it lives or dies," says O'Shea.
The researchers do not know how long it took the snake to journey through the toad's gut. But although they watched it wriggle out alive, it died about five hours later.
The brahminy blind snake, however, probably had little impact on the toad that ate it, beyond the strange feeling of having an animal move through its stomach and intestines. "The toad just appeared to be embarrassed," says O'Shea. After all, it had a snake sticking out of its bottom.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170424-there-are-animals-that-can-survive-being-eaten
Trump practises Ferengi Rule of Acquisition no. 76
Ferengi Rule of Acquisition no. 76 : Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.
Donald Drumpf has indicated he will scrap plans to find cash for his border wall in this week's spending bill. The president's close adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said funding for the wall would be left out of a budget measure that must pass by Friday. Building the wall, paid for by Mexico, was a key campaign promise.
Democrats had threatened to block the bill if money was earmarked for the wall, so its omission may now avert a government shutdown. But the president insisted on Twitter that he still supported the wall and that it would be built.
Mr Drumpf had proposed $1.5bn (£1.2bn) for his wall as part of the spending bill, which funds federal agencies to the end of the current fiscal year. Analysts say the president is under pressure to deliver on his election pledges, few of which have been fulfilled during his first 100 days in office.
[How interesting that Trump was later offered a comparable amount but rejected it, saying he needed $5.7 billion. Presumably this figure was arrived through pure guesswork.]
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39708768
Donald Drumpf has indicated he will scrap plans to find cash for his border wall in this week's spending bill. The president's close adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said funding for the wall would be left out of a budget measure that must pass by Friday. Building the wall, paid for by Mexico, was a key campaign promise.
Democrats had threatened to block the bill if money was earmarked for the wall, so its omission may now avert a government shutdown. But the president insisted on Twitter that he still supported the wall and that it would be built.
Mr Drumpf had proposed $1.5bn (£1.2bn) for his wall as part of the spending bill, which funds federal agencies to the end of the current fiscal year. Analysts say the president is under pressure to deliver on his election pledges, few of which have been fulfilled during his first 100 days in office.
[How interesting that Trump was later offered a comparable amount but rejected it, saying he needed $5.7 billion. Presumably this figure was arrived through pure guesswork.]
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39708768
Monday, 24 April 2017
Scientists are believers too
One may make assumptions about reality yet not have a devout, unshakeable belief in anything. Or indeed one may indeed have a devout belief but still make assumptions and explore them.
Originally shared by Brian Koberlein
I Believe
What do you believe? Do you believe in fate? In love? In God? Do you believe in evolution? Global warming? The big bang?
Our beliefs — those things we hold to be true — are a central part of what defines us. They shape our lives in ways seen and unseen. They form a foundation for our ethics, values, and even our political views.
There is a popular idea among scientists that belief is not a part of science. One does not believe in evolution, one understands evolution, as if the mere comprehension of natural selection ensures one’s acceptance of evolution. If you don’t believe in evolution, you simply don’t understand it. But that’s nonsense. One can understand a concept without accepting its validity, and people can and do choose not to believe in evolution. People believe in creationism. People believe the Earth is flat. They believe there is a divine creator, or that there is no god. Those beliefs are a part of their identity, and we cannot simply declare their beliefs to be invalid. The central freedom anyone has is a freedom of thought.
The reluctance to speak of belief in science stems, I think in part, from the fact that that it is often used by trolls and the like to paint science as a religion. If scientists believe in evolution then it is no different than a belief in the Holy Trinity or the Great Pumpkin, and can be dismissed as mere dogma. In this view all beliefs are statements of faith, made piously in the absence of evidence. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe, as Christ admonishes doubting Thomas. Thus, changing one’s belief is a sign of weakness. It demonstrates a tragic loss of faith.
But there are central beliefs (tenets if you prefer) of scientific adherents. A belief that the cosmos has (at least in part) an objective reality, and that humans have the ability to understand that reality, though incomplete it may be. A belief that, despite its many flaws, the scientific method of observation and experimentation allows us to build a confluence of evidence that brings to light an emergent truth. These are not controversial beliefs, and they are held by scientists all over the world, whether they be atheist or devout, and regardless of their political persuasion. Thus, evolution, global warming, and black holes are a part of that emergent truth. Like most scientists I believe them to be true, but it is a conditional belief, supported by the scientific evidence we currently have.
With the recent March on Science this weekend, there has been a great deal of discussion about science and politics. Is science inherently political? Should it be? Or should it strive to be neutral? Individually, scientists can be politically active, and many loudly proclaim their views. As debates over the science march and related issues have demonstrated, even scientists don’t agree on their politics. But one thing they do agree upon is that the cosmos has an objective reality, and humanity is best served when we listen to what that reality teaches us. To my mind, our political discussions should start with those lessons. We should start with a recognition of the scientific evidence we currently have. If we hold that to be common ground, our political debates will still be fierce, but they will lead to the betterment of us all.
At least that is what I believe.
https://briankoberlein.com/2017/04/24/i-believe/
Originally shared by Brian Koberlein
I Believe
What do you believe? Do you believe in fate? In love? In God? Do you believe in evolution? Global warming? The big bang?
Our beliefs — those things we hold to be true — are a central part of what defines us. They shape our lives in ways seen and unseen. They form a foundation for our ethics, values, and even our political views.
There is a popular idea among scientists that belief is not a part of science. One does not believe in evolution, one understands evolution, as if the mere comprehension of natural selection ensures one’s acceptance of evolution. If you don’t believe in evolution, you simply don’t understand it. But that’s nonsense. One can understand a concept without accepting its validity, and people can and do choose not to believe in evolution. People believe in creationism. People believe the Earth is flat. They believe there is a divine creator, or that there is no god. Those beliefs are a part of their identity, and we cannot simply declare their beliefs to be invalid. The central freedom anyone has is a freedom of thought.
The reluctance to speak of belief in science stems, I think in part, from the fact that that it is often used by trolls and the like to paint science as a religion. If scientists believe in evolution then it is no different than a belief in the Holy Trinity or the Great Pumpkin, and can be dismissed as mere dogma. In this view all beliefs are statements of faith, made piously in the absence of evidence. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe, as Christ admonishes doubting Thomas. Thus, changing one’s belief is a sign of weakness. It demonstrates a tragic loss of faith.
But there are central beliefs (tenets if you prefer) of scientific adherents. A belief that the cosmos has (at least in part) an objective reality, and that humans have the ability to understand that reality, though incomplete it may be. A belief that, despite its many flaws, the scientific method of observation and experimentation allows us to build a confluence of evidence that brings to light an emergent truth. These are not controversial beliefs, and they are held by scientists all over the world, whether they be atheist or devout, and regardless of their political persuasion. Thus, evolution, global warming, and black holes are a part of that emergent truth. Like most scientists I believe them to be true, but it is a conditional belief, supported by the scientific evidence we currently have.
With the recent March on Science this weekend, there has been a great deal of discussion about science and politics. Is science inherently political? Should it be? Or should it strive to be neutral? Individually, scientists can be politically active, and many loudly proclaim their views. As debates over the science march and related issues have demonstrated, even scientists don’t agree on their politics. But one thing they do agree upon is that the cosmos has an objective reality, and humanity is best served when we listen to what that reality teaches us. To my mind, our political discussions should start with those lessons. We should start with a recognition of the scientific evidence we currently have. If we hold that to be common ground, our political debates will still be fierce, but they will lead to the betterment of us all.
At least that is what I believe.
https://briankoberlein.com/2017/04/24/i-believe/
A plausible conspiracy
One of those rarest of things : a conspiracy theory I'm prepared to entertain. Note that "entertain" does not mean, "subscribe to unconditionally body and soul until the end of time."
“Nigel Farage Just Visited the Ecuadorian Embassy in London,” the headline said. “Asked by BuzzFeed News if he’d been visiting Julian Assange, the former Ukip leader said he could not remember what he had been doing in the building.”
And that was how the world found out, by accident, that the founder of WikiLeaks, the organisation which published Hillary Clinton’s leaked emails – a decisive advantage for Donald Drumpf’s campaign – and Farage, a friend of Donald Drumpf, were mutually acquainted.
When Nigel Farage tripped down the steps of the Ecuadorian embassy – a visit that he did not expect to be photographed or documented – a beam of light was shone on a previously hidden world: a political alignment between WikiLeaks’ ideology, Ukip’s ideology and Drumpf’s ideology that is not necessarily just an affinity. It is also, potentially, a channel of communication.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/23/when-nigel-farage-met-julian-assange?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Google%2B
“Nigel Farage Just Visited the Ecuadorian Embassy in London,” the headline said. “Asked by BuzzFeed News if he’d been visiting Julian Assange, the former Ukip leader said he could not remember what he had been doing in the building.”
And that was how the world found out, by accident, that the founder of WikiLeaks, the organisation which published Hillary Clinton’s leaked emails – a decisive advantage for Donald Drumpf’s campaign – and Farage, a friend of Donald Drumpf, were mutually acquainted.
When Nigel Farage tripped down the steps of the Ecuadorian embassy – a visit that he did not expect to be photographed or documented – a beam of light was shone on a previously hidden world: a political alignment between WikiLeaks’ ideology, Ukip’s ideology and Drumpf’s ideology that is not necessarily just an affinity. It is also, potentially, a channel of communication.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/23/when-nigel-farage-met-julian-assange?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Google%2B
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