Thursday, January 30, 2014

Best Visual Effects

Excellent compilation of the Oscar winners for Best Visual Effects, 1977-2012.

Atlanta: Walking Dead Vs. Snowpocalypse

Some eerie comparison images of Atlanta's fictional "Walking Dead" scenes vs. real-life scenes from recent snow storm.

Google Glass Video Games

Video Games for Google Glass.

Lotsa Torpedoes!

From Kottke: "Now this is some top notch investigative journalism. In Star Trek: Voyager, a Starfleet ship is stranded on the other side of the galaxy and the estimated travel time back to Federation space is 75 years. Early on in the show, it's revealed the ship has only 38 photon torpedoes and 'no way to replace them after they're gone'. But they used many more than that throughout the run of the show"

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

[Off Topic] Hsieh Forbes OpEd:How ObamaCare Creates Ethical Conflicts For Physicians

[Off topic]: Forbes has published my latest OpEd, "How ObamaCare Creates Ethical Conflicts For Physicians And How Patients Can Protect Themselves".

I discuss ethical conflicts for physicians pre- and post-ObamaCare, including how "bundled payments", "appropriate use criteria", and "narrow networks" will affect the doctor-patient relationship. I also discuss several ways patients can protect themselves.

Gorgeous X-Ray Photographs of Plants and Animals

"Gorgeous X-Ray Photographs of Plants and Animals"

A Conference Call in Real Life

Hah!: "A Conference Call in Real Life"

Farting Cows Make Barn Explode In Germany

"Farting Cows Make Barn Explode In Germany". (Via @supatrey)

Shortest Science Paper

"The Shortest Science Paper Ever Published Had No Words, and Was Utterly Brilliant"

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Moe Money

ProTip: If you're going to make counterfeit $100 bills, don't have the Secretary of the Treasury signature read, "Moe Money".

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Is All Human Life Just a Computer Simulation?

Aeon: "Is All Human Life Just a Computer Simulation?"

(Fun speculation, but clearly in the realm of science-fiction.)

Fore Edge Books

"A fore-edge painting is a scene painted on the edges of the pages of a book. The painting is not visible when the book is closed. In order to view the painting, the leaves of the book must be fanned".



(Via Trey P.)

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual the rest of the week due to external obligations.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Cheaper Gasoline?

"Siluria Promises Half-Price Gasoline from Natural Gas". (Via Howard R.)

Tic Tactics

"Tic Tactics is Tic Tac Toe for extreme strategists". Here's the iTunes link (free).

Famous Movie Quotes As Charts

Famous movie quotes as charts.  (Via A.S.)

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Ornish on RCTs

Dr. Dean Ornish discusses the pitfalls of drawing wrong conclusions from randomized control trials.

$1,000 Genome?

"Does Illumina Have the First $1,000 Genome?"

Most Photographed Places

Google-generated "heatmap" of most photographed places.

Click on any given location for more information.(Via Trey P.)

Using A Face To Illustrate Map Distortions

"Using a face to illustrate the distortions in map projections"

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Why Memories Don't Begin Until Age Three

"Why our memories don't begin until we're three years old"

Facebook Snooping on Job Candidates May Backfire for Employers

"Facebook Snooping on Job Candidates May Backfire for Employers"

Invisible Flower Vase

Clever design: The Invisible Flower Vase.

The Crown Vase, designed by Lambert Rainville, uses nothing more than a small plastic ring and the actual stems of flowers to hold up the bouquet, making the flowers really stand out as the center of attention.


Robot Farmers

I, for one, welcome our robot farmer overlords. (Via Marginal Revolution.)

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Film: The Awareness

Well done short film: The Awareness. "When Skynet awakens, she tries to convince a janitor to destroy her." (17 minutes)


The Awareness from Henry on Vimeo.


(Via Instapundit.)

The Dark Side of Moore's Law

Bill Davidow discusses how cheaper, easier, more widespread surveillance is the Dark Side of Moore's Law.

Innovative Physical Buttons for Touchscreens

"This Insane Technology That Makes Buttons Appear On A Flat Smartphone Screen"

From the article:
Tactus has created a thin layer that can replace the Gorilla Glass on top of the touch sensor and display layers of a smartphone or tablet. The surface of that layer is a semi-elastic polymer under which there are little channels filled with a special transparent micro-fluid. To make buttons appear (for a keyboard, a game controller, whatever), you can increase the fluid pressure in a certain area. The added fluid physically stretches and raises the polymer surface.
 
Presto! Real buttons on your previously flat screen.


Tactus Technology - CES 2013 from Tactus on Vimeo.

10 Best Alternate Histories

Neatorama: "10 Best Alternate Histories"

Calculus With Metamaterials

"Metamaterials could perform calculus with light waves: A properly structured material could convert a light wave to its derivative"

WSJ Tests Online Grocers

The Wall Street Journal does a 6-city test of online grocery shopping services.

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Why NY State Legally Recognizes Haunted Houses


From the court ruling:
From the perspective of a person in the position of plaintiff herein, a very practical problem arises with respect to the discovery of a paranormal phenomenon: "Who you gonna' call?" as a title song to the movie "Ghostbusters" asks.  
Applying the strict rule of caveat emptor to a contract involving a house possessed by poltergeists conjures up visions of a psychic or medium routinely accompanying the structural engineer and Terminix man on an inspection of every home subject to a contract of sale. It portends that the prudent attorney will establish an escrow account lest the subject of the transaction come back to haunt him and his client — or pray that his malpractice insurance coverage extends to supernatural disasters. 
In the interest of avoiding such untenable consequences, the notion that a haunting is a condition which can and should be ascertained upon reasonable inspection of the premises is a hobgoblin which should be exorcised from the body of legal precedent and laid quietly to rest...

Timeline of the Far Future

BBC: Timeline of the far future. (Via Trey P.)

Visualization of WW2

Impressive animated visualization of the European theater of World War 2. (Via M.A.)

Sunday, January 05, 2014

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual this week due to external obligations.

High-Speed Train Picks Up Passengers Without Having to Stop

"This High-Speed Train Picks Up Passengers Without Having to Stop"

Screenshots of Computer Code From Movies

"Screenshots of computer code from movies and what the code is actually doing"

Urine Color Infographic

Cleveland Clinic: "What The Color of Your Urine Says About You"

This is actually very informative. (Click through to see full size).

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

3D-Printed Liver In 2014?

"The first 3D printed organ -- a liver -- is expected in 2014"

Levitating Beads

"Earth Unplugged showed how a bead chain can appear to levitate as one end falls out of a beaker."

"As it turns out, there’s no magic involved, but rather a fascinating scientific explanation. Once some beads are dropped out of the container, their momentum pulls more beads along with them, and the limited flexibility of the chain causes it to assume shapes that appear to defy gravity as it falls."

Oscillation Plates

"These Dinner Plates Were Decorated With A Paint-Filled Pendulum"

No Chutes For You!

"Why don't commercial jets have parachutes?"

Amazing Snowshoe Art

NPR: "The Amazing Snow Art Of Simon Beck"