So let's say this New Scientist article is right, and we could eliminate 73% of world energy usage simply by changing a few of our habits. Here's what they suggest: To calculate how much energy could be saved through such improvements, Julian Allwood and colleagues at the University of Cambridge analysed the buildings, vehicles and industry around us and applied "best practice" efficiency changes to them.Changes to homes and buildings included triple-glazing windows and installing 300-millimetre-thick cavity wall insulation, using saucepan lids...
Monday, 31 January 2011
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Monday, 24 January 2011
In a Lawrence Journal World blog, Dave Klamet writes about changing trends in education, especially the increasing competitiveness of non-American engineering talent. And then we get a long-winded comment from Devobrun: I am an engineering graduate from KU in the 70s and 80s. 3 degrees. After running two companies over a 25 year period of time, I quit. The engineering mind and the engineering way of approaching life and its troubles is not valued in post-modern America.Engineers use math and physics to design,...
Friday, 21 January 2011
I can't possibly not mention this new type of material, metallic-glass, which has properties potentially better than steel:this new type of damage-tolerant glass has actually demonstrated a durability greater than any known material.The new metallic glass is a microalloy that features palladium, a metal with a high "bulk-to-shear" stiffness ratio that counteracts the intrinsic brittleness of glassy materials.An initially sharp impact does not develop into a fully opened crack. Those findings come from experiments conducted at the U.S. Department...
"I think that the press has been all over the iPad because Apple puts on a good show, and because everyone in journalism-land is looking for a daddy figure who'll promise them that their audience will go back to paying for their stuff. The reason people have stopped paying for a lot of "content" isn't just that they can get it for free, though: it's that they can get lots of competing stuff for free, too. The open platform has allowed for an explosion of new material, some of it rough-hewn, some of it slick as the pros, most of it targetted more...
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
"It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything." - Tyler Durden, Fight ClubI suppose this post will irritate some people. I didn't actually sit down at my laptop, just now, and think "I should write a post that will irritate the small group of readers who actually visit here."But the truth is, I've come to believe, after waffling back and forth for a long time, that Earth's biosphere is totally finished. And I don't think this...
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
I just stumbled across this page on the Canon U.S.A. website, touting their awesome achievement of 2,204 patents granted to them in 2009. Sadly, they only got fifth place in the patent-war, with winner IBM being granted 4,897 patents in 2009.How in the HELL do you submit that many patents in a single year? Between the top 5 companies on this list, 13,615 patents were awarded in a single year. And this doesn't even cover the huge percentage of patents that were rejected. It's likely that these 13,615 patents are less than 50% of the number of patent...
So I finally got my DIY sous vide cooker up and running. I actually had it "done" a few months ago, but due to moving, busy-ness at work, and life in general, I haven't gotten around to putting together this write-up, until now.The first step was to acquire, which I did for free, a cooler. I had this old one from my fraternity days with a missing handle, so it was really ready for a dissection (vivisection?).From the hardware store (McMaster-Carr in this case) I got a 120V, 1 phase, 1500W water heater heating element. I drilled a hole in the long...
Monday, 17 January 2011
Tim Lee and Robin Hanson have had a good time going back and forth on this and I added my two cents as well, but I think I'll let the topic go...well, almost... One last thought (building off my last two posts) on modeling the human brain with a computer: why would anyone want to? Perhaps one could argue that an accurate brain model on computer would allow us to create and study various illnesses that occur in the brain, and understand them better. We could "age" our computer brain, and learn just what happens to a brain as it gets old, and hopefully...
I was pleased (humbled?) to get a polite and not-angry response from Timothy B. Lee in regards to his dissent that we can model the human brain via computers. He does beg me for a reply:I agree with you that an insect brain would be a good starting place. Do you know if there are any efforts in this area? I would be surprised if anyone has succeeded in simulating an insect brain in software, but if that happens it will cause me to re-consider my argument.Here, you can find an IBM press release about trying to build a cat-sized brain. Here, ...
Friday, 14 January 2011
If you ever disagree with someone on a subject, and want to write a counterargument, the first thing you should do is argue semantics. Or at least that is what Timothy B. Lee thinks. By arguing that your opponent doesn't have a grasp of the terms used, you can effectively cut him or her off at the knees. Once you've got your reader doubting that your opponent knows what he or she is talking about, explain what word they should have used. This makes your reader automatically think you are very knowledgeable. Finally, use an analogy the reader can...
I'm cheating, this week. I'm going to post some prose! While prose and poetry are seemingly exclusive...certain segments of prose can accomplish the same purpose as a poem; invoke feelings and imagery, make the reader introspect on something, etc. Anyways, here it is:"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him...
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Forgive me while I gush, but this research is simply astounding. Apparently foxes typically pounce on prey in a northeasterly direction? Nature is unbelievable.Foxes jump high into the air before dropping onto prey. Burda's team found that when the foxes could see their prey they jumped from any direction but when prey were hidden, they almost always jumped north-east. Such attacks were successful 72 per cent of the time, compared with 18 per cent of attacks in other direction...
Friday, 7 January 2011
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Last night, the beginning of the end of the laptop officially began.Sure the iPad has been around...but with nearly 30 tablets debuting at CES, and with Android 3.0 nearing rollout, and with Microsoft announcing a tablet-friendly version of Windows 7...one has to really start to ask: why would you buy a $600 laptop when you could get a tablet for the same price that does the same stuff...bette...
Father Forgets, by Livingston LarnedListen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.There are the things I was thinking, son: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were...
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Phil Torbett: "In the just-released trailer for the third Transformers movie, the premise is that the Apollo missions were a cover to explore a downed alien spacecraft. When the moon spins and the Apollo landing area is no longer facing Earth, the astronauts climb a ridge and explore the massive alien craft which is mere feet away from the Lunar Module. When the moon spins back, the astronauts quickly return to the lander and pretend to be collecting rocks. But the moon revolves such that we always see the same side. This makes the opening premise...
People keep telling me "you should write a book."I keep responding "um, about what?"Dear readers, please email or post in comments book ideas for me. If I choose your idea and write a book about it and get filthy stinking rich, I'll buy you a Chipotle burrito for having the winning idea. Hell, I'll buy you TWO burrito...
Monday, 3 January 2011
Back in the year 2000, there were about 360 million human beings on Earth that used the internet regularly. That was about 5% of the population. In 2010, 1.9 billion people use the internet, which is approximately 25% of the people on Earth. That is a staggering increase in a mere decade, considering the infrastructure and technology required to reach certain inhospitable regions.One must wonder, however, if we'll ever reach 100%. Certainly internet access will continue to proliferate. In the last ten years, the number of new internet users has...
Last year, I called 2010 the year of the human machine interface. Turns out I was pretty accurate. From announcements that nanowires could read/write to nerve fibers to DARPA's Reliable Peripheral Interfaces program, it seems this year a lot of folks were interested in getting machines to communicate with humans more intimately.Some day soon, I believe, the efforts of scientists in 2010 in this field will yield my long-awaited USB port in my arm. TAE's Law of Bionics: All You Need is Driver...
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