Monday, April 29, 2024

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Flame-Throwing Robot Dog

"You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000"

If you've been wondering when you'll be able to order the flame-throwing robot that Ohio-based Throwflame first announced last summer, that day has finally arrived. The Thermonator, what Throwflame bills as "the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog" is now available for purchase. The price? $9,420.



Young Chess Challenger

"Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju becomes youngest challenger for world chess title"

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

AI Dogfight

"US Air Force confirms first successful AI dogfight"

Voyager Update

"Voyager 1 is sending data back to Earth for the first time in 5 months"

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Scam E-Books

"Amazon is filled with garbage ebooks. Here's how they get made."

Reflections On The Past Boom

I think the coming AI boom will benefit many people and will also many people very wealthy.

Q: What's the best strategy to take advantage of this? Carefully chosen individual stocks? Broad based tech funds? Other?

And some perspective from the prior boom, "If You Invested $1000 In Apple When Macintosh Was Introduced 40 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today"



Monday, April 22, 2024

Technological Resistance Is As Old As Technology

"How Isaac Asimov Predicted the OpenAI Drama"

I discovered, to my amazement, that all through history there had been resistance... and bitter, exaggerated, last-stitch resistance... to every significant technological change that had taken place on earth.

Some things never change.


No AI Bubble

"The AI craze is no dot-com bubble. Here's why"

Friday, April 19, 2024

Planet Nine Update

"Where Is Planet Nine? Its Hiding Places Are Running Out"

Paint Drying

Great Wikipedia article on the independent film, "Paint Drying".


 

Thursday, April 18, 2024

MRI Headphones

"How do MRI Headphones work?" (Via Gus Van Horn.)

Too Many Authors

Jordan Smoller: "Letter to Science 1958 arguing that this trend of having 3 or more authors on a paper is ridiculous"


Wednesday, April 17, 2024

26-Year Old Identifies 12 New Dinosaurs

"Young researcher leads identification of new sauropod dinosaurs in outback Queensland"

Artificial Vision Update

"The Next Frontier for Brain Implants Is Artificial Vision"

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Clever Gold Smuggling Tactic

"$10 Million In Gold Disguised As Machine Parts Seized From Cargo Plane"

On March 27, [Hong Kong] customs officials x-rayed two air compressors and discovered that they contained gold that had been "concealed in the integral parts" of the compressors. Those gold parts had also been painted silver to match the other components in an attempt to throw customs off the trail.  

Acting Senior Superintendent Jason Lau Yuk-lung told the South China Morning Post that this was the first time customs officials had ever discovered gold disguised in this way. Authorities reportedly believe the smuggler went to the lengths he did in an effort to avoid Japan’s 10-percent import tariff. "Smugglers could have evaded about HK$8.4 million ($1 million) in taxes if the precious metal was successfully smuggled into the country," Lau told the SCMP.

 

Moral Panic On Beepers

"The Forgotten War on Beepers"

Monday, April 15, 2024

Friday, April 12, 2024

New AirPods

"New Apple AirPods are coming. Here's everything we know"

Electronic Traction Control

"A frozen lake and several Lamborghinis provide lessons on traction control". (Via H.R.)

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Best Muppet Guest

A great bit of Muppets history. Would love to know what she said to him!


 

Updated Scrabble

"Mattel launches new, less 'intimidating' version of Scrabble"

"The game speaks to a trend in younger people who want to avoid competitive games, instead favouring teamwork and collaboration working towards a fun goal together," Brett Smitheram, the current UK number one Scrabble player and 2016 World Scrabble Champion, said in the statement. 

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

A Long Awaited (Eclipse) Party

"A teacher promised his 1978 class an eclipse party. He just hosted it."

RIP Peter Higgs

"Peter Higgs, physicist who proposed Higgs boson, dies aged 94"

Prof Fabiola Gianotti, the director general at Cern and former leader of the Atlas experiment, which helped discover the Higgs particle in 2012, said: "Besides his outstanding contributions to particle physics, Peter was a very special person, a man of rare modesty, a great teacher and someone who explained physics in a very simple and profound way.

"An important piece of Cern’s history and accomplishments is linked to him. I am very saddened, and I will miss him sorely."

 

Wednesday, April 03, 2024

Astronaut Escape Slides

"SpaceX's workhorse launch pad now has the accoutrements for astronauts". (Via H.R.)

Secret Houses

"Ex-Caltrain employee, contractor charged with building secret homes at train stations".

As Jason Crawford says, "My main takeaway here is that you can build a home in CA for $42k as long as no one is watching."

Monday, April 01, 2024