Skill Or Chance?

Illinois State Supreme Court rules fantasy sports a game of skill -- not a game of chance. (Via Michelle Minton.)

Medical AI Update

"Google's medical AI was super accurate in a lab. Real life was a different story."

Turtle Shells

Ada McVean: "Daily reminder that turtles are not 'inside' their shells. They *are* their shells."

Daily reminder that turtles are not “inside” their shells. They *are* their shells. pic.twitter.com/CS8UcDE3o2

— Ada McVean 🐢 (@AdaMcVean) April 21, 2020

McVean elaborates:

Quick guide: mollusk shells = exoskeleton (they can often leave them) veterbrate shells (turtle/tortoise) = endoskeleton (they can't leave them, it's part of their spine)

Meteorite Casualty

"We Have The First-Ever Credible Evidence of Someone Killed by a Falling Meteorite"

Stricter Rules For Hawaii Visitors

More details of the mandatory 14-day quarantine for visitors to Hawaii:

The person will also initial and sign the mandatory order for self-quarantine form confirming they are aware they must self-quarantine for 14 days. By signing the legal document, they acknowledge they understand violating the order is a criminal offense and they are subject to a $5,000 fine and/or a year imprisonment.
An airport representative will collect the two forms and begin verifying their information. First, they will call their mobile phone number to confirm it rings right in front of them. If it does not ring, the person may have listed inaccurate information and is asked to verify the number. If the person refuses to provide a phone number that can be answered on the spot, law enforcement is contacted and they are subject to citation and arrest.

After the phone number is verified, an airport representative will then check the address listed for lodging. For returning Hawaii residents, the address should match their government issued ID. For visitors, the airport representative will call their hotel to confirm they have a reservation. Processing personnel have phone numbers for every hotel in the state.

John Horton Conway

"Remembering Mathematical Magician John Conway"

Awkward

That awkward moment when your own kid tells all your underlings that he and his friends like the competition's product a lot more. (New York Times, 4/24/2020).

Daring Fireball On The iPad Magic Keyboard

Daring Fireball (John Gruber) really likes his "The iPad Magic Keyboard"

Double Space Debate

"Microsoft Word Now Flags Double Spaces as Errors, Ending the Great Space Debate". (Via H.R.)

Built-In iPhone Scanner

"Working from home and need a scanner? There's a free one built into your iPhone."

Rubber Bands Vs. Watermelon

"How many rubber bands does it take to make a watermelon implode?"

Hogwarts Training

"I Went to Hogwarts for Seven Years and Did Not Learn Math or Spelling, and Now I Can't Get a Job"

Farts And Viruses

"Can the coronavirus be spread through farts?"

Mandalorian Season 2 Trailer

Trailer for season 2 of "The Mandalorian".  I think this is a joke trailer, but I'm not entirely sure!

Protests And Lockdowns

"Zuckerberg: Organizing Anti-Lockdown Protests on Facebook is 'Harmful Misinformation and We Take That Down'"

Hsieh Forbes Column: Do Not Delay Urgent Medical Care Due To COVID-19

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "Do Not Delay Urgent Medical Care Due To The COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic".

I'm glad to be able to discuss some practical information for patients, as well as to tie our current situation back to Bastiat's famous principle of "the seen vs. the unseen."

Zoom Marriages

"Zoom marriages are now legal in New York".

As a friend noted, "Wow, so you can meet, date and now marry all online." I'm guessing there's not yet an option for online-only procreation.
 

People Delaying Emergency Care

"Patients with heart attacks, strokes and even appendicitis vanish from hospitals".

If you having a serious medical emergency, please go the the ER. Hospitals are working hard to make sure their ERs are safe. (You can always call first to make sure they are ready to receive you.)

Office Noise Generator

"Close your eyes and imagine you're in the office. Beautiful, right?"

Economical 2020 iPhone SE

"How Apple made the 2020 iPhone SE so cheap"

Lopsided Universe?

"Do We Live in a Lopsided Universe?"

AI Radiology Overiew

Nature: "Rise of Robot Radiologists"

Kawasaki Interviews Wolfram

"Stephen Wolfram: Fascinating Interview with a Modern Day Genius". (Via G.F.)

Anti-Bacterial Metal

"Now metal surfaces can be instant bacteria killers". (Via H.R.)

Privacy-Friendly Contact Tracing

"How Privacy-Friendly Contact Tracing Can Help Stop the Spread of Covid-19"

Zoom Alternatives

"The best Zoom alternatives for videoconferencing"

More Volcanos

"Awakening volcanic region in Iceland 'could cause disruption for centuries'".

Physics Of Juggling

"Scientists ponder how jugglers seem to defy limits to human reaction times". (Via H.R.)

NASA And Cats

Amber Straughn: "Actually discussed in a virtual meeting today: how to keep cats from accidentally commanding spacecraft while this work is going on in people's homes on laptops instead of inside a cat-free #NASA building".

Actually discussed in a virtual meeting today: how to keep cats from accidentally commanding spacecraft while this work is going on in people's homes on laptops instead of inside a cat-free #NASA building 🤣🐱 #catsofquarantine pic.twitter.com/JDVouGGlYy

— Amber Straughn (@astraughnomer) April 7, 2020

Early F-Word

"500-year-old manuscript contains one of earliest known uses of the 'F-word'"

Tim Urban: You Won't Believe My Morning

Clever COVID-themed science fiction story by Tim Urban of Wait But Why: "You Won't Believe My Morning".

Reading Brainwaves

BBC: "Machine translates brainwaves into sentences".

Original article in Nature: "Machine translation of cortical activity to text with an encoder–decoder framework".

Threatening Others With Virus

Japan Times: "Examining the legal definition of a virus".

More Zoom Best Practices

EFF: "Harden Your Zoom Settings to Protect Your Privacy and Avoid Trolls"

Hsieh Forbes Column: 11 Bizarre Consequences Of The Pandemic

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "11 Bizarre Consequences Of The COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic".

User Guide for SpaceX Starship

"SpaceX unveils users' guide for giant Starship rocket". (Via H.R.)

Zoom Security

"How to Keep Your Zoom Chats Private and Secure"

Novel Energy Soure

"Scientists tap unused energy source to power smart sensor networks". (Via H.R.)

Science Of Face Masks

"Face masks for COVID-19: A deep dive into the data". (Via H.R.)

Dense Earth

"This Is Why Earth, Surprisingly, Is The Densest Object In Our Solar System"

Sunflower Growth

"Time Lapse of a Sunflower Growing from Seed to Flower"

British House Names

"What Do the Names of British Houses Mean?"

Tranquilizer Dart

"What Actually Happens When a Tranquilizer Dart Hits You?"

Asteroid Deflection

"Planetary defenders validate asteroid deflection code"

Gaming For Non-Gamers

NYT: "For the Uninitiated and Bored, an Introduction to the World of Gaming"

Light Data

"Does a USB drive get heavier as you store more files on it?"

Short answer, "no". It actually gets very very very slightly lighter:

When you save data, a binary zero is set by charging the float gate of the transistor, and a binary one is set by removing the charge. To charge it, we add electrons, and the mass of each electron is 0.00000000000000000000000000091 grams. This means that an empty USB drive (which mostly holds zeros) weighs more than a full USB drive (which has ones and zeros). Add data, reduce the weight. However, you would need to weigh more USB drives than exist on the planet together at once before the difference in weight became easily measurable.

Stewart/McKellan Mysteries

"Someone Comes Up With A Mystery TV Show Starring Patrick Stewart And Ian McKellen, And Their Concept Goes Viral".

This would be a friggin' awesome show.