Recognizing Faces

"The Average Person Can Recognize 5,000 Faces"

Steno

"How can stenographers keep up with a speaker"

Malaphors

It's not rocket surgery.

Micro Electron Diffraction

"Small Molecule Structures: A New World". (Via H.R.)

Design "Crimes"

Write people up for their design crimes with this ticket book

Sommelier Scandal

"The Outrageous Master Sommelier Scandal, Explained"

IPad Tipping

"You Want 20% for Handing Me a Muffin? The Awkward Etiquette of iPad Tipping"

My favorite quote:

“You can certainly walk away without tipping, but it’s hard to do, especially if you’re Canadian,” says Keir Vallance, who is 46 and teaches law in Saskatchewa

Protecting Your Financial Accounts

"Set Up Your Financial Accounts Like You're Going to Be Hacked"

The Most Important Excel Tip

WSJ: "The First Rule of Microsoft Excel -- Don't Tell Anyone You’re Good at It"

Coin Spinning

"How to spin a coin for two minutes"

Finding Hidden Cameras

"How to find hidden cameras in your Airbnb rental"

CPR Playlist

"Music Can Save Lives: A Playlist for Perfect CPR Chest Compressions"

Light Posting Notice

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

New Zealand Border Tips

For travellers to New Zealand: "What to do if a border agent demands access to your digital device"

21st Century Crime

"Bitcoin miner sent to prison for stealing electricity from train network in China"

Reunited Identical Twins

"Twins, Separated at Birth, Reunite as Adults"

They were separated as part of an unethical scientific experiment, and found one another after a documentary about that experiment helped reunite a different set of triplets.

Fitness Tracker Glitch

"Why is Xiaomi's fitness tracker detecting a heartbeat from a roll of toilet paper?"

Can Moons Have Moons?

"Guess what scientists call the moons of moons"

Fitness Trackers And The Law

"Fitbit's heart-rate tracking helped nail down a murder suspect"

Tigers Like Humans

NYT: "Once a tiger encounters a person and kills, it may develop a taste for human flesh, which, Mr. Khan says, is sweeter than other animal meat because of all the ginger, salt and spices people consume."

Flexible Electronics Update

"Study opens route to flexible electronics made from exotic materials"

Quantum Verification

"Graduate Student Solves Quantum Verification Problem"

High Teen Dolphins

"Teenage Dolphins Get High on Puffer Fish Toxin"

The Elevator-Phobes of a Vertical City

"The elevator-phobic people of New York City"

Testing Apple Watch Fall Detection

"Apple Watch Series 4's Hyped Fall Detection Put To The Test By A Stunt Woman"

Latest Banksy

"One of Banksy's paintings self-destructed just after it was auctioned"

Michigan Meteorite Used As Doorstop For 30 Years

22 pound rock used as doorstop for 30 years turns out to be meteorite worth $100,000.

Vacuum Decay

"One way the universe might end".

Related article: "Vacuum decay: the ultimate catastrophe".

Women In Art Quota

"San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously passed an ordinance requiring that women be depicted in at least 30 percent of the city-sponsored artwork contains non-fictional people." (Via Tyler Cowen.)

Unreliable Polygraphs

"The Lie Generator: Inside the Black Mirror World of Polygraph Job Screenings"

Auto-Automation

"The Coders Programming Themselves Out of a Job"

Oddly Satisfying Videos

"Oddly Satisfying Videos"

Space Radiation And GI Tracts

"Travelling to Mars and deep into space could kill astronauts by destroying their guts"

NZ Border Search Of Phones

"New Zealand: Hand over phone password at border or face $3,200 fine"

Under the Customs and Excise Act 2018, which came into force this week, officials will be able to demand travelers unlock any electronic device so it can be searched. Anyone who refuses can face prosecution and a fine of up to $3,200 (5,000 NZD). 

 

Officials can also retain devices and potentially confiscate them from travelers who refuse to allow a search at the border. 

 

The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties (CCL) described the new law as a "grave invasion of personal privacy of both the person who owns the device and the people they have communicated with."

Smart Pizza Deliveryman

"A Pizza Deliveryman Saved a Woman Who Mouthed 'Help Me'". (Via S.W.)

Stop Signs

"Why Do Stop Signs Have Eight Sides?"

Chocolate Cottage

"You Can Rent This Cottage Made Entirely of Chocolate — and Yes, You Can Eat Some of It"

Möbius Strips

"The Mathematical Madness of Möbius Strips and Other One-Sided Objects"

$100 Bills

"There are now more $100 bills than $1 bills in the world"

Emperor And Scientist

"The Emperor of Japan still publishes (even though he has tenure). He also usually gets his name first." (Via Tyler Cowen.)

Ancient Roman Comics

"Painted 'Comics' with 'Speech Bubbles' Found in Ancient Roman Tomb". (Via H.R.)

Fusion Updates

"In search of clean energy, investments in nuclear-fusion startups are heating up"

Hsieh Forbes Column: The Promise And Perils Of New Apple Watch Medical Technologies

My latest Forbes piece: "The Promise And Perils Of New Apple Watch Medical Technologies"

Flipping Water Bottles

"Hey Fellow Kids, This Is How You Flip a Water Bottle"

Mojave OS Review

"MacOS 10.14 Mojave: The Ars Technica review"

Developing The Moon

"A Japanese company has announced a long-term plan to develop the Moon"

Magnetic With A Bang

"Magnetic Field Record Set With a Bang: 1,200 Tesla". (Via H.R.)

Sexist Meme

CNN: "'Distracted boyfriend' meme is sexist, says Swedish ad watchdog".

This story, is of course, asking for a meme. Here's my own contribution.

Good Peeler

"The untold story of the vegetable peeler that changed the world"

History Of Numeric Keypad

"A brief history of the numeric keypad".

Includes interesting discussion of how the telephone and calculator keypads ended up with different layouts.

Self-Driving Homes

"Self-driving homes could be the future of affordable housing"

Saving SpaceX

"Inside the eight desperate weeks that saved SpaceX from ruin"

Blue Marble 2

"This is the best marble chain reaction video so far". (Via H.R.)

LEGO Helm's Deep

"Mind-Blowing LEGO Recreation of LOTR’s Helm's Deep Battle"

Scrabble Dictionary Update

"New Scrabble Dictionary For A New Generation":

Besides twerk and ew, notable new words include bestie, zomboid, bitcoin, sheeple, beatdown, frowny and bizjet. Unfortunately, twerkery and twerkings are still not acceptable, according to Merriam-Webster. 

Myst At 25

"'Myst' at 25: How it changed gaming, created addicts, and made enemies"

Cardiologist Recommends Steak

Dr. Bret Scher: "Want a healthier heart? Eat a steak"

I'm a cardiologist — and I encourage patients to eat red meat.

This advice defies conventional wisdom. For decades, nutritionists and physicians have urged people to limit consumption of red meat and other fatty foods, which were thought to cause heart disease.

But new studies debunk this conventional wisdom. Indeed, it now looks like low-quality carbohydrates -- not saturated fats -- are driving America's heart disease epidemic. It's time to stop demonizing steak...

Mars PD

"How Will Police Solve Murders on Mars?" 

Mars P.D. will have to deal with new blood-spatter patterns, different body decay rates, and space-suit sabotage -- and they won’t be able to fire guns indoors.

Apple Privacy

"Forget the new iPhones: Apple's best product is now privacy"

Grid Control

"When Power Lines Break, a New Control System Keeps the Sparks From Flying". (Via H.R.)

High Lobsters

"Maine restaurant to get lobsters high off marijuana smoke before killing them: 'It is more humane'"

Atomic Radio

"A new antenna using single atoms could usher in the age of atomic radio". (Via H.R.)

Unofficial English Rules

"4 Unofficial Rules Native English Speakers Don't Realize They Know"

Newscaster Hair

"Why 95.8% of Female Newscasters Have the Same Hair"

Drosophila Titanus

"The epic task of breeding fruit flies for life on Titan"

Digital 'Ownership'

"You Don't Own What You Buy From iTunes"

Ultimate Disney Meal

"A table at Disneyland's 21 Royal commands an elite $15,000 price tag for what’s billed as the ultimate in Disney wizardry"

Criminal Masterminds

"Police: Walmart shoplifters tried to steal clothes for upcoming court appearance"

Google Employees And China

"Google employees quitting over its China search project"

Videogames Causing Divorce

"Fortnite helped cause 5% of UK divorces this year"

Conversational Limits

"Why can't more than four people have a conversation at once?" (Via H.R.)

Bicycle Speed Record

"This Woman Just Biked at 184 MPH to Smash the Bicycle Speed Record"

2018 Ig Nobel Prize Winners

"Here are your 2018 Ig Nobel Prize winners". (Via H.R.)

Robotic Pants

"These Robotic Pants Could Help Some Disabled People Walk Again"

Population Map

"A Map of the World Where the Sizes of Countries Are Determined by Population"

Frames Of Reference

"This clever and stylish 1960 film is the most fun you’ll ever have at a physics lecture"

Isolating Technology

"A Vision of Isolating Technology from 1906"

Temporary Tesla Boost

"With Florence bearing down, Tesla remotely extends some cars' batteries"

Speedy Noise Cancellation

"New Wireless Noise-Canceling Tech Is Faster Than the Speed of Sound"

Tooth Mics

"The Military Now Has Tooth Mics For Invisible, Hands-Free Radio Calls"

Risky Airport Wi-Fi

"Top 5 riskiest airport Wi-Fi"

Making Rain

"When the U.S. Government Tried to Make It Rain by Exploding Dynamite in the Sky"

Spiral Stairs

Beautiful photographs of spiral staircases in Budapest.

Space Elevator Update

"Could We Take an Elevator to Space? Japan to Begin Tests Soon"

Mustard On Pizza?

"Mustard pizza divides the internet"

Medical AI Update

"We trained an algorithm to detect cancer in just two hours"

Tape?

"Why the Future of Data Storage is (Still) Magnetic Tape"

Jupiter's Magnetic Field

"Jupiter's Magnetic Field Is Super Weird and Has Two South Poles"

Mandatory Appendectomy

"The icy village where you must remove your appendix":

Imagine that you had to remove your appendix to live in your hometown – and your family had to do the same.

That’s the only option for long-term residents – even the children – of Villas Las Estrellas, one of the few settlements in Antarctica where some people live for years rather than weeks or months.

Appendix removal is a necessary precaution for the handful of people who stay longer-term because the nearest major hospital is more than 1,000km (625 miles) away, past the tip of King George Island and on the other side of the Southern Ocean’s icy swell. There are only a few doctors on base, and none are specialist surgeons.

Better Bubbles

"There's now an even more precise 'recipe' for blowing the perfect bubble". (Via H.R.)

Little Blue Pill

"How Viagra Went from a Medical Mistake to a $3-Billion-Dollar-a-Year Industry"

Oldest Blockchain

"The World's Oldest Blockchain Has Been Hiding in the New York Times Since 1995"

BSG Love

"Why Battlestar Galactica is still the greatest sci-fi TV show of all time".

I still like Star Trek: Next Generation better. But at its best, BSG was pretty damned good.

Close-up Shark Portraits

"Close-up shark portraits". More here.

Cruise Ship Hull Art

"Hull art gone wild: The crazy things cruise lines are painting on ships". (Via H.R.)

Book Review Bingo!

Paraic O'Donnell: "I made a book review bingo card. Critics are hailing it as 'a remarkable achievement'."

In Defense Of Puns

"The case for puns as the most elevated display of wit".

Hyperpolyglots

"The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages"

Birkenstocks

The unlikely return of Birkenstocks.

Infinite Mirrored Tunnels

"Infinite mirrored tunnels"