Monday, February 29, 2016

Wearing EnChroma’s Color Blindness-Fixing Glasses For One Month

"Life in Technicolor: One month wearing EnChroma's color blindness-fixing glasses"

New Blue

"Licensing agreement reached on brilliant new blue pigment discovered by happy accident".

Story from last year, but I hadn't heard of this until now. (Via Virginia Postrel and H.R.)


Dino Killer Update

"We Finally Know How Much the Dino-Killing Asteroid Reshaped Earth"

Milky Way Map

"Marvel at the Newest Map of the Milky Way"

(Update: Link was broken, now fixed!)

Friday, February 26, 2016

Classic Video Games Playable Via Web Browser

"13 classic video games you can play right now in your web browser"

Internet And Elections

"How the Internet flips elections and alters our thoughts".

If the internet can alter consumer shopping preferences, it's at least plausible that it could alter voter election results.

10 Breakthrough Technologies 2016

MIT Technology Review: "10 Breakthrough Technologies 2016"

Google Image Locator

"Google Unveils Neural Network with 'Superhuman' Ability to Determine the Location of Almost Any Image"

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Self-Driivng Office Chairs

"Nissan's automated office chairs are equal parts awesome and scary". (Via Tyler Cowen.)

The Robot Will See You Now

Forbes: "The Robot Is In, And It Will See You Now".

A fun piece on the future of medicine, written by one of my practice partners Dr. Jason Kelly.

Universal Translators Soon?

WSJ: "The Language Barrier Is About to Fall"

Computer Voices

NYT: "Creating a Computer Voice That People Like"

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Mini-Brains

"With a few skin cells, scientists can make mini, thinking version of your brain". (Via Dave Jilk.)

Bacteria and Cirrhosis

"What really causes hepatic cirrhosis?"

It might be gut bacteria.

Neuroscience and Free Will

"Neuroscience and Free Will Are Rethinking Their Divorce"

Papal Infallibility

"What's the deal with papal infallibility?"

Monday, February 15, 2016

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Bad Astronaut Food

"The Care and Feeding of Astronauts: Early space travelers faced darkness, danger and truly terrible food".

Plus you'll learn more than you ever wanted to know about the phenomenon of the "wet burp".

Even Virtual Assistants Are Sexually Harassed

CNN: "Even virtual assistants are sexually harassed"

Self-Refilling Water Bottle

"This Water Bottle Refills Itself From Moisture in the Air"



Low-Hanging Fruit?

"Should You Literally Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit?"

Short answer: No.

Monday, February 08, 2016

Flash Art

Nice "flash art" promotion for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. (Via R.W.)



Here "The Night Watch" painting featured in the video:


Fake Art In Museums

"Museums display perfect reproductions of fragile works and visitors can't tell the difference. Is nothing in art sacred?"

It's not much different than paying to attend a live concert, but hearing a lip-sync performance.

Not Dead Yet

Washington Post: "Wife crashes her own funeral, horrifying her husband, who had paid to have her killed".

I'm glad there was some justice at the end.

Thor's Well

Thor's Well: "On the Oregon coast there is a natural hole that seems to be draining the sea".

Sunday, February 07, 2016

Friday, February 05, 2016

Wednesday, February 03, 2016

Correlation Game

"Online Game Tests Your Statistical Abilities And It's Surprisingly Fun".

Direct link to "Guess The Correlation".

Arranging Tennis Balls

"How many ways can you arrange 128 tennis balls? Researchers solve an apparently impossible problem".

Worst Wifi Password Ever

Hah!: "Worst Wifi Password Ever".

"It's super easy, 'fourwordsalluppercase'." (Via A.O.)

Resting Bitch Face Explained

Washington Post: "Scientists have discovered what causes Resting Bitch Face"















Here's the original mock-PSA video about "Bitchy Resting Face"

Tuesday, February 02, 2016

An AI That Annoys Telemarketers

"Today's Hero Made an AI That Annoys Telemarketers For As Long As Possible". (Via H.R.)

Bonus feature:
[A]nyone can connect telemarketers calling and harassing them to Anderson’s auto-responding robot using the simple instructions he’s posted to his site:
  1. Press “add call”
  2. Dial my robot at 214-666-4321 While you’re dialing, keep chatting into your phone like you’re trying to get Mr. Jones (“yeah – phone for you”, “okay, he’s coming hang on…”, etc)
  3. Press “Add call” or “Merge call” or “Conference” or whatever will add the robot to the conversation.
  4. MUTE YOURSELF so your background noise doesn’t affect the conversation.
  5. Listen to the call, and hang up when the telemarketer hangs up.

Cell-Site Simulators And Law Enforcement

"Policing and privacy: The StingRay's tale"

Earth + Theia = Moon

"New Evidence For 4.5 Billion Year Old Impact That Formed Our Moon". (Via Alex Knapp.)

Tiny Lens

"Graphene optical lens a billionth of a meter thick breaks the diffraction limit". (Via H.R.)

Selfie Fatalities

"The Tragic Data Behind Selfie Fatalities". 

In particular, "One-third of all people who met their demise in the midst of a selfie fell from heights — most commonly, a cliff or a building."

Monday, February 01, 2016

Korean Girls Try American Barbecue For First Time

"Korean Girls Try American Barbecue for the First Time".   Yum, ribs!  (Via Instapundit.)

State Bans on Phone Encryption Are Moronic

Andy Greenberg: "Why Proposed State Bans on Phone Encryption Are Moronic"

Spam And China

"Spam Trail Leads to China's Three Largest Banks"

Earth's Winds

Near realtime map of the world's winds (updated every 3 hours).

Note: If you click on a location, you get the coordinates, wind direction, and wind speed for that location.

Fear Of Irrational Numbers

"How a Mathematical Superstition Stultified Algebra for Over a Thousand Years". (Via H.R.)