Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker. - Roald Dahl (1916 - 1990), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory what you think is not what I said. Colleges are places where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed. On my first day in New York a guy asked me if I knew where Central Park was. When I told him I didn't he said, 'Do you mind if I mug you here?' - Paul Merton Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. - Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745) - Irish author. Famous for Gulliver's Travels. If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. - Isaac Newton (English mathematician & physicist (1642 - 1727), thanks to Manish for this blog thought) People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like. - Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) for your eyes only Made in India I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included. - Bernard Manning Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. - Frank Zappa (1940 - 1993) Black holes are where God divided by zero. - Steven Wright Balle balle, Hadippa I have a theory about the human mind. A brain is a lot like a computer. It will only take so many facts, and then it will go into overload and blow up. - Erma Bombeck Good art is in the wallet of the beholder. - Kathy Lette games people play The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense. - Tom Clancy (that applies to Physics too) There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten. -Indira Gandhi (1917 - 1984) The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not Eureka! (I found it!) but 'That's funny...’ - Issac Asimov I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all. - Ogden Nash (1902 - 1971) If you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many, it’s research. - Wilson Mizner Our politics - shameless On the old trains the engineer had a lot of esteem. November 30, 2004 in Humor | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 29, 2004
Chocolate good for cough!
Theobromine in chocolate suppresses Vagus (10th Cranial) nerve activitiy that causes coughing.
An ingredient of chocolate could put a stop to persistent coughs and lead to new, more effective cough medicines, research suggests.
Scientists found the key ingredient, theobromine, is nearly a third more effective in stopping persistant coughs than the leading medicine codeine.
They say it produces fewer side effects than conventional treatment - and would not leave people drowsy.
The research, led by Imperial College London, is publshed in FASEB journal.
November 29, 2004 in Info | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
November 28, 2004
Sound solution to the pistachio problem
A device that separates ripe open pistachio nuts from unriped closed pistachios by their distinctive acoustic signatures. The new system is cheaper and more accurate than the current mechanical sorters, and as a pistachio addict I heartily applaud this development!
November 28, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 27, 2004
Amazon Theater
Welcome to Amazon Theater, a series of five original short films available exclusively at Amazon.com as a free gift to our customers. Every week for five weeks, beginning November 9, Amazon Theater will debut a new short film for your viewing pleasure.
Five original short films available exclusively at Amazon.com as a free xmas gift.
November 27, 2004 in Info | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 26, 2004
Clear Pictures of How We Think
We've all had recourse to say: "My head tells me to do one thing, but my heart says do the other." Sometimes we are forced to make a decision but we feel ourselves to be pulled in opposite directions by reason and emotion.
Thanks to an innovation that has transformed the study of the mind, scientists are now able to see precisely what happens in the brain in situations like this. For the first time in history we are getting close to answering the question of whether the heart rules the head.
The progress is due to functional magnetic-resonance imaging, or fMRI.
This technique allows the measurement of the level of oxygen in the blood, and tells scientists which parts of the brain are most active. It can show, for example, the parts of the brain that operate when we fall in love and when we have food cravings. It has even recently revealed the differences in the brains of Democrats and Republicans.
Continue reading...
November 26, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 25, 2004
G-Cans
G-Cans: Massive Underground Water Project in Japan
The underground waterway is the largest in the world and sports five 32m diameter, 65m deep concrete containment silos which are connected by 64 kilometers of tunnel sitting 50 meters beneath the surface.
November 25, 2004 in Info | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 24, 2004
Rate My Professor
Rate My Professor! A searchable database of student ratings of their college professors. In what must be a wonderful reflection of the current status of the American and Canadian higher education systems, the ratings include entries for how easy the professor is and, of course, how hot they are. So click around, visit your alma mater, and let that jerk who almost flunked you in freshman comp feel your wrath!
November 24, 2004 in Fun | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 23, 2004
New York Changing
click the image to enter.
November 23, 2004 in History, Photography, Reality | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
November 22, 2004
AstroMeeting
No, these gorgeous images are not from NASA or the Hubble telescope. They are courtesy of Stuttgart-based Stefan Seip, humble IT consultant by day and intrepid astronomy photog by night. His quest for the best images possible takes him to the depths of the Black Forest where ambient light isn't a factor. From his lonely perch he captured comets, shooting stars, the aurora borealis, and other atmospheric phenomena as well as the galactic "big guns" like supernova remnants, double stars, planetary nebulae, and pinwheel galaxies galore. Click the Perseid meteor showers and find his handy map of nearby constellations. Then click more to see what a little moonlighting can do for the soul.
November 22, 2004 in Photography, Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 21, 2004
Matrix Reloaded
Matrix Ping pong
Enjoy,
November 21, 2004 in Fun, Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
BANANA REPUBLICAN
BANANA REPUBLICAN FALL O4 CATALOG
(via Nina tunrs 40)
November 21, 2004 in Humor | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 20, 2004
Electronic eye
An electronic "artificial eye", developed for people with impaired vision, has been shown to reliably identify pedestrian crossings, determine when it is safe to walk across and even measure the width of a road.
The system, created by Tadayoshi Shioyama and Mohammad Uddin, at the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan, consists of a single miniature camera that can be clipped onto a pair of glasses and a small wearable computer that analyses video images.
The artificial eye can identify Japanese pedestrian crossings by recognising the white stripes painted across the centre of a road. It can also tell when the signal is flashing to indicate that it is safe to cross. In testing, it successfully identified a crossing 196 times out of 198 and never “found” a crossing where there was not one.
Continue reading ...
November 20, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Philosophy in Questionable Taste
Cornell students obviously have too much time on their hands.
One of the jokes circulating the internet, and eventually stuck to the wall of the grad ‘office’ concerned the putative causes of death of various philosophers. The list seems to have grown under Hugh Mellor’s supervision, and the current version is here.
In a similar spirit, Cornell students have started work on break-up lines of the philosophers.
See the list here, comments are interesting too.
November 20, 2004 in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 19, 2004
Google scholarly literature search
Stand on the shoulders of giants. Google Scholar launches.
"Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web."
November 19, 2004 in Info, Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Who knows?
It has no editors, no fact checkers and anyone can contribute an entry - or delete one. It should have been a recipe for disaster, but instead Wikipedia became one of the internet's most inspiring success stories. Simon Waldman explains how
To put Wikipedia's achievements in numerical context, at the same time it was celebrating the publishing of its one millionth entry (a Hebrew article on the Kazakhstan flag) in less than four years, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography launched its latest edition. It had taken 12 years to complete, yet contained a comparatively tiddly 55,000 biographies. It also cost some £25m to create. Wikipedia has so far been bankrolled by Wales, but the total cost so far is still around £300,000.
The current Encyclopedia Britannica has 44m words of text. Wikipedia already has more than 250m words in it. Britannica's most recent edition has 65,000 entries in print and 75,000 entries online. Wikipedia's English site has some 360,000 entries and is growing every day.
Excellent article.
November 19, 2004 in Info | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 18, 2004
What happened at Pentagon on 9/11?
It’s really interesting!!
November 18, 2004 in Reality | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Atlantis found
American researchers claim to have found convincing evidence that locates the site of the lost kingdom of Atlantis off the coast of Cyprus.
The team spent six days scanning the Mediterranean sea bed between Cyprus and Syria using sonar technology.
They believe they found evidence of massive, manmade structures beneath the ocean floor, including two straight, 2-km (1.25 mile) long walls on a hill.
They say their discoveries match accounts of the city written by Plato.
November 18, 2004 in World News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 17, 2004
Meditation and neuroplasticity
Meditation and neuroplasticity. A new study (PDF) describes the changes in the brains of Buddhist monks, using fMRI to scan their brains while they practice compassion meditation. The project was a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin and the Shechen Monastery in Nepal.
November 17, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Computer use link to eye disease
Heavy computer use could be linked to glaucoma, especially among those who are short-sighted, fear researchers.
Glaucoma is caused by increased fluid pressure within the eye compressing the nerves at the back, which can lead to blindness if not treated.
The findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, are based on 10,000 Japanese workers.
The authors and experts recommend more research, particularly because being short-sighted is a known glaucoma risk.
Continue reading ...
November 17, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Study Links Sleep Deprivation, Obesity
Weight-loss experts have a novel prescription for people who want to shed pounds: Get some sleep. A very large study has found a surprisingly strong link between the amount of shut-eye people get and their risk of becoming obese.
Continue reading ...
November 17, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Apply Current, Boost Brain Power
Sending a weak electrical impulse through the front of a person's head can boost verbal skills by as much as 20 percent, according to a new study by the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
In the study, researchers at the institute asked 103 volunteers to recall as many words that begin with a particular letter as possible. The researchers then passed a 2-milliamp current -- one-tenth of what is needed to power a small LED (light-emitting diode) light -- through electrodes attached to the surfaces of the volunteers' foreheads. When the volunteers were quizzed again while the current was still on, this time with a different letter, they were able to come up with 20 percent more words on average.
The only side effect reported was an itching or "fizzing" sensation around the scalp where the electrode was attached.
The findings could lead to new, drugless treatments for the symptoms of brain injuries and diseases, the researchers said.
"This could be a very helpful way of boosting brain function in people with brain disorders," said lead researcher Eric Wassermann, a neurobiologist with the National Institute's Brain Stimulation Unit in Bethesda, Maryland. "Drugs have more side effects and addictive potential. This doesn't seem to have those problems, at least at this point."
Continue reading ...
November 17, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 16, 2004
Autorickshaw finds place in London museum!
The "notorious" three-wheeler autorickshaw of India has found a place in London's science museum for its energy efficiency.
The gleaming yellow and black vehicle is placed right at the entrance of the second floor of the multi-storey building that houses worldwide acquisitions in the field of science. The collection forms an enduring record of scientific, technological and medical change since the 18th century.
"Bajaj autorickshaw - a familiar site in the streets of Indian cities. It has only a 145 cc two-stroke engine but can manage 68 miles per gallon even when carrying a driver and three passengers," says a plaque placed before the autorickshaw numbered DLR 6575.
London's Science Museum took birth as part of the nineteenth-century movement to improve scientific and technical education. It evolved from the South Kensington Museum which was established in 1857. The museum got a new building formally in 1928.
"The science museum strives to collect the latest information in the science field by the earliest. It had acquired a cast of the skull of the 'hobbit', the human-like animal discovered in Indonesia recently, the same day the news broke," Kirsten Harvey, Press Executive of the museum, told a group of reporters from India.
The human-like animal is only a-metre tall, she said.
About three lakh exhibits are displayed in the museum. An interesting exhibit is a genetically-engineered mouse which remains obese. It is useful in the study of obesity. The museum is run by the UK government but several leading companies also provide funds.
November 16, 2004 in Tech/Science , World News | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Bata Shoe Museum
Next time you find yourself limping at the end of the day and cursing your Manolos or Jimmys, take a virtual step into the Bata Shoe Museum to see how much worse it could have been. The museum's online collections chronicle the evolution of sandals, slippers, clogs, and boots from around the world over the past 4500 years. Check out the predecessors of super-trendy Ugg boots in the Circumpolar group, Syrian kabkabs with mother-of-pearl inlay in the Ethnologial collection, or Elton John's silver and red platforms in the Walk of Fame. Think you know a thing or two about shoes through the ages? The fun facts quiz will help determine if you're a true Imelda-in-training.
November 16, 2004 in Art, History | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 15, 2004
The Watch That Sprays
If Batman’s nemesis, Poison Ivy, was ever comissioned to create her very own watch, she’d probably come up with this stainless steel watch with a hidden spray nozzle connected to an integrated tank at the back of the case.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t exist, and the likelihood of her ever getting licensed seems pretty slim, so we’ll have to settle for the unimaginative Venexx, that could easily be the name of an Ivy like villian in a Batman knockoff TV Show.
It took a year and a half for Munich watch company Venexx to come with the Perfume Watch. Yes! - a watch that carries a flacon inside.
At the back of the watch case, there's a tiny tank to be filled with your favourite scent by using a funnel (comes with the watch). The content will last for approx. 60 uses.
Supreme sophistication: Venexx even made a special perfume that comes with each Perfume Watch.
The guys who read this blog might turn green with envy. No stress, mates, all watches are unisex!
November 15, 2004 in Info | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Anti-Molestation Jacket
A shock treatment is in store for those who try to molest women on streets.
Two students of the garment manufacturing technology programme of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) have designed a unique anti-molestation jacket, which comes with a handy protection device for the wearer if someone tries to attack her.
The jacket promises to give the wearer confidence, especially in the present scenario of rising incidents of crime against women. It weighs only 450 gm and costs Rs 855, including the cost of the gadget.
NIFT Professor Rajesh Bheda says the designers of the jacket, Kumar Roshan and Shilpi Vaish, have worked out its prototype. However, the market tie-up will be finalised only after the patent is registered.
The jacket, dark maroon in colour, has been made of Indian fabric and designed to make it look like a normal garment by blending metal rivets with embroidery.
The electric gadget concealed inside the jacket is capable of releasing a current of 70 to 100 volts and can be activated at the press of a button attached to the waistband. This results in repelling any attack by giving the aggressor a shock as soon as he comes in contact with the jacket. Provisions have been made to ensure that the wearer does not get hurt in the process. The electric circuit, hidden in a mesh of wire attached to the inner lining of the jacket, is activated only when the wearer wants it to. Insulation protects the wearer from any shock.
The two designed the jacket when they were students at the NIFT in Kolkata. They are now working as garment technologists in Gurgaon-based and Faridabad-based companies.
The technology is the one used in the electric baton, developed by the DRDO for the use of riot police.
November 15, 2004 in Reality, Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 14, 2004
How to Sell Nothing for Fun and Profit
I've recently been reading about the work of Felix Gonzales-Torres, an artist in the 1990's who made a big splash in the art world. Like many artists, he really loathed the art world and the system of galleries, museums and universities but he ultimatey realized you have to deal with the world of art professionals if you want an income or recognition for your work.
So how do you make art that will sell but at the same time says f*** you to the art world? The solution: create works of art that literally will disappear but sell the right to reproduce the work. Two of his more well known works: piles of posters that gallery visitors can take with them or chunks of candy the viewers are encouraged to eat. I always wondered how you can make money with such art, until I learned that his gallery sold a certificate giving the "owner" the right to reproduce the work anytime they want.
The work is ingenious - the materials themselves were aesthetically interesting (such as anti-violence posters) and at the same time undermined the idea that there is a single "piece of art" like a drawing or painting. It's also egalitarian - in remaking the work, the "owners" are supposed to give away the work for free. But here's the biggest irony: by selling these certificates, the artist has switched from one form of ownership to another. Gonzales-Torres stopped selling physical objects and developed intellectual property rights for his work. He passed away in the 1990s from AIDS, but I wonder if he would have taken a cue from Linux and Java to develop some kind of subversive open source art.
(via Marginal Revolution)
November 14, 2004 in Art | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 13, 2004
Cosmic doomsday delayed
You can breathe a sigh of relief: the Universe will last for at least the next 24 billion years, according to astrophysicists who have modelled the mysterious force of dark energy to work out the fate of the cosmos. Andrei Linde, a theoretical astrophysicist from Stanford University, California, leads a team who previously predicted that the Universe might end as soon as 11 billion years from now1. But the team's latest research into dark energy, published online at the preprint server arXiv2, gives us a stay of execution. The team's new calculation relies on recent observations from the Hubble Space Telescope3, which has found several supernovae that are moving away from us faster than any others seen before, implying that the Universe is expanding faster than we thought. Linde concludes that the Universe is likely to last for almost twice as long again as it has already existed, before collapsing back on itself in a 'big crunch'.
Read November 13, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A second black hole has been discovered
A second black hole lurks at the centre of our Galaxy, according to astronomers who have watched a cluster of stars spinning around it.
Just three years ago, astronomers confirmed that the Milky Way revolves around a supermassive black hole1, called Sagittarius A*, which is about 2.6 million times more massive than the Sun.
But now a much smaller black hole, just 1,300 times our Sun's mass, has been found orbiting about three light years away from its supermassive cousin.
Jean-Pierre Maillard, an astronomer from the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris, France, led a team that looked at a very bright area of the galactic core called IRS 13, previously thought by astronomers to be a single object.
Continue reading ...
November 13, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Stunning Find Deep in the Pacific Ocean
Ancient star dust found deep beneath the Pacific Ocean has led German scientists to make an astounding conclusion. They think it points to our human origins.
Researchers from the Technical University of Munich in Germany surmise that the star dust is likely debris from a supernova explosion that occurred some 3 million years ago, reports Reuters. The explosion rocked the Earth so much that it changed our planet's climate--drastically heating it up--and helped bring about human evolution just as our ancestors started to walk.
Study leader Gunther Korschinek speculates that the supernova may have caused an increase in cosmic rays for about 300,000 years, which would have warmed up the Earth's temperatures. Korschinek can tell that the star explosion occurred at the same time there was a significant climate change in Africa when drier conditions caused the forests to retreat and the savannah to emerge, reports Reuters. It's this major climate change that likely caused the hominids to emerge from the trees and begin to walk upright.
Read
November 13, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 12, 2004
masala bhangra
If you are a fitness freak and aerobics is your daily mojo, then you know Sarina Jain. To call her 'Indian Jane Fonda' is so wrong, for Jane Fonda was so yesterday. Today is Sarina's "Balle balle, Hadippa," and you better get into the rhythm. The chorus chants breathlessly, as the sweaty and bouncing group of New Yorkers moves to the rhythm of the latest workout in aerobics exercise.
They are performing bhangra, the Indian rural dance from the northern state of Punjab.
Bhangra is one of the trendiest of fitness and exercise routines, and is fast emerging as a popular alternative to regular aerobics among Americans, winning rave reviews from the fitness gurus.
Am pleased to say she is launching her 4th volumn in the series of Masala Bhangra videos. Rush to get your copy before it gets sold out like her previous releases.
November 12, 2004 in Info | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 11, 2004
cosmetic neurology
Brain-boosting "cosmetic neurology" on the horizon.
In the future, reality shows may have names such as "Extreme Makeover: Brain Edition" or "Sharp Eye for the Dumb Guy."
At the beginning of each episode, viewers could learn about one hapless soul's lifelong struggles with algebra and another's desire to stop being a worrywart. By the end of the hour, the transformed contestants would be winning chess matches and prancing carefree through fields of daisies. Don't check the TV listings yet, but the idea is not all fantasy.
Some neurologists recently have wondered whether their field is the next frontier in elective medicine. The specialty now tries to protect ailing brains from conditions such as Parkinson's disease or migraine headaches. But doctors' efforts one day may extend to normal brains.
"This is coming, and we need to know it's coming," said Dr. Anjan Chatterjee of the University of Pennsylvania.
There's even a name for the field: cosmetic neurology.
Continue reading ...
November 11, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Voice controlled unmanned jet airplane.
MIT team guides airplane remotely using spoken English Aeronautics researchers at MIT have developed a manned-to-unmanned aircraft guidance system that allows a pilot in one plane to guide another unmanned airplane by speaking commands in English. In a flight test, the pilotless vehicle, called a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), responded to sudden changes in plan and avoided unexpected threats en route to its destination, in real time. "The system allows the pilot to interface with the UAV at a high level--not just 'turn right, turn left' but 'fly to this region and perform this task,'" said Mario Valenti, a flight controls engineer for Boeing who is on leave to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. "The pilot essentially treats the UAV as a wingman," said Valenti, comparing the UAV to a companion pilot in a fighter-plane squadron. Tom Schouwenaars, a Ph.D. candidate in aeronautics and astronautics, and Valenti are principal researchers on the guidance system, which is part of the capstone demonstration of the Software Enabled Control (SEC) program. Professors Eric Feron and Jonathan How of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (aero/astro) are among the principal investigators on the SEC program.
Continue reading ... November 11, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 10, 2004
Big Price for a Small Painting
In its most expensive purchase ever, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to pay more than $45 million for a painting by the early Renaissance master Duccio di Buoninsegna no bigger than a sheet of typing paper.
The work, "Madonna and Child," merely 8 by 11 inches and painted in tempera and gold on a wood panel around 1300, is the first Duccio to enter the Met's collection, filling a gap in its Renaissance holdings that the museum had assumed it could not close, said Philippe de Montebello, director of the Met. The sale of the painting, the last work by Duccio known to be owned by a private collector, was negotiated through Christie's in London.
Works by Duccio, the pre-eminient painter of early Renaissance Siena, are extremely rare. Only a dozen or so are known to survive, including his famous "Maestà" altarpiece (1308-11) in the Museum dell'Opera del Duomo in Siena. Paintings by the artist owned by museums outside Italy are usually fragments of the "Maestà," which included nearly 60 individual narrative scenes.
The only Duccio in a New York museum, ''The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain'' at the Frick Collection, is a "Maestà" fragment.
(via New York Times)
November 10, 2004 in Art | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 09, 2004
Game Theory
Game Theory .net provides resource material to educators and students of game theory and its applications to economics, business, political science, computer science, and other disciplines. Primarily, the site is directed at less rigorous presentations of the material, concentrating more on making the lessons of game theory relevant to the student. In aiding class preparation, a list of textbooks, readers, and lecture notes used by other educators is provided. Java applets and online games demonstrate these concepts in a fun, interactive way.
Sections I liked are:
Lecture Notes,
Games and
Pop Culture November 9, 2004 in Games, Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NASA studies 'Rain Man' inspiration
NASA scientists are studying the man who was the basis for Dustin Hoffman's character in the 1988 film "Rain Man," hoping that technology used to study the effects of space travel on the brain will help explain his mental capabilities.
Last week, researchers had autistic savant Kim Peek undergo a series of tests including computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, the results of which will be melded to create a three-dimensional look at his brain structure.
The researchers want to compare a series of MRI images taken in 1988 by Dr. Dan Christensen, Peek's neuropsychiatrist at the University of Utah, to see what has since changed within his brain.
Not only are Peek's brain and his abilities unique, noted Richard D. Boyle, director of the California center performing the scans, but he seems to be getting smarter in his specialty areas as he ages.
The 53-year-old Peek is called a "mega-savant" because he is a genius in about 15 different subjects, from history and literature and geography to numbers, sports, music and dates. But he also is severely limited in other ways, like not being able to find the silverware drawer at home or dressing himself.
"The goal is to measure what happens in Kim's brain when he expresses things and when he thinks about them," said his father, Fran.
- CNN
November 9, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 08, 2004
The Watch That Sprays
If Batman’s nemesis, Poison Ivy, was ever comissioned to create her very own watch, she’d probably come up with this stainless steel watch with a hidden spray nozzle connected to an integrated tank at the back of the case.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t exist, and the likelihood of her ever getting licensed seems pretty slim, so we’ll have to settle for the unimaginative Venexx, that could easily be the name of an Ivy like villian in a Batman knockoff TV Show.
It took a year and a half for Munich watch company Venexx to come with the Perfume Watch. Yes! - a watch that carries a flacon inside.
At the back of the watch case, there's a tiny tank to be filled with your favourite scent by using a funnel (comes with the watch). The content will last for approx. 60 uses.
Supreme sophistication: Venexx even made a special perfume that comes with each Perfume Watch.
The guys who read this blog might turn green with envy. No stress, mates, all watches are unisex!
November 8, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Physics: Dose of 'Reality'
If you're one of the thousands of people who bought Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" in 1988 and then let it gather dust as it sat on the coffee table impressing your visitors, better clear some space. There's a new theory-of-everything book on the way, and it's even more likely to wow your dates—assuming you can convince them you've read it. The first 400 pages of "The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe," by Hawking's equally renowned colleague Roger Penrose, are solid math. The next 600 ... let's just say those first 400 were an introduction.
Nonetheless, the book is being hailed as a masterpiece, and parts of it (specifically, the ones that aren't equations) are eloquent and comprehensible. Even the rankest amateurs will recognize some of Penrose's references, such as the vertigo-inducing etchings of M. C. Escher. "The Road to Reality" is a British best seller, and though it won't arrive in the States until February, it's already generating orders on Amazon. And reviews: one reader with a master's degree in theoretical physics complains that the book was supposed to be "light summer reading" but instead was "really hard going," and another says that Penrose uses the book "in a polemical manner to justify his neo-Platonist view of mathematics." Yeah, we hate it when people do that.
—Mary Carmichael © 2004 Newsweek, Inc.
November 8, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 07, 2004
bloggercon
Bloggercon III commenced today with the opening session ending in a sing-along of 'This land is your land'. The sessions ranged from introductions on blogging to a comparison of bloggers and journalists. The developers at O'Reilly have provided notes, coverage, and commentary on the event.
November 7, 2004 in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
More India observations
(via
Marginal Revolution - Tyler Cowen)
1. Matters the Indian media have not forgotten: John Kerry's negative remarks on outsourcing and "Benedict Arnold" CEOs.
2. Biggest surprise about food in India: How much it draws on Chinese influences, even at the regional level. There is even a uniquely Indian version of Chinese food, which is derived from adding Indian spices and peppers to basically Cantonese dishes.
3. Delight for the eyes: Senegal (Brazil?) may have the most beautiful women in the world, but the Indian state of Rajasthan arguably has the most beautifully dressed women; here is one
photo.
4. Best opening line: An Indian gentleman approached me in the hotel lobby - "You are reading all those newspapers so furiously, one, two, three, four of them...you must be one of these so-called globalization theorists!"
5. Favorite Indian joke about the Chinese: How do we know that Adam and Eve were not Chinese? Because they ate the apple, not the snake.
November 7, 2004 in Humor | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 06, 2004
Part time roll-up pedestrian bridge.
Paddington Development Corporation has just unveiled, or rather unrolled, a startling new pedestrian bridge which crosses an inlet from the Basin in front of the new Marks and Spencer headquarters. Cool pictures!
November 6, 2004 in World News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Coolest idea in recent times!
Smart fabrics make for enhanced living
Imagine a handbag that warns you if you are about to forget your umbrella or wallet, and which you can later turn into a scarf that displays today’s pollution levels. Or how about creating a wall hanging that glows if someone tries to use your home’s wireless internet connection?
All these bizarre objects could soon be possible thanks to a system of computerised fabric patches developed by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Each patch contains a functional unit of the system - a microprocessor and memory plus either a radio transceiver, a sensor, a microphone, batteries or a display. Put the patches together in different ways and you can create a variety of information-providing or environment-sensing objects, say developers Adrian Cable, Gauri Nanda and Michael Bove at MIT’s Media Lab.
November 6, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 05, 2004
Bonsai: Worlds Within Worlds
It's not often that things found in nature are classified as fine art, but bonsai trees aren't your run-of-the-mill shrubs. If your knowledge of the little trees begins and ends with the "Karate Kid," do yourself a favor and take a walk through this site's luscious gardens. Can you feel the Zen? Photographs of the various types of bonsai serve as models for "Westerners aspiring toward bonsai art excellence." These beautiful photos certainly indicate an intense pride in craftsmanship and attention to detail. Even if you have no intention of growing and caring for your own bonsai, Worlds Within Worlds makes for a calming diversion during a hectic day.
November 5, 2004 in Fun | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 04, 2004
404: Hope not found
George has a sad but clever page up today. Sigh.
November 4, 2004 in Humor, Reality | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Andy Borowitz: canada shocker
CANADA REPORTS HUGE JUMP IN IMMIGRATION by Andy Borowitz
Over 55,000,000 Requests for Citizenship Since Tuesday Night
Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the number of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past twenty-four hours, with over fifty-five million such inquiries pouring in since late Tuesday night.
Of those fifty-five million requests, well over 99.99% of them came from U.S. citizens, the lion's share residing in such states as New York, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that he was "flabbergasted" by the fifty-five-million-plus requests for Canadian citizenship, adding that it was difficult to pinpoint the precise reasons for the staggering increase.
"My only theory is that after many years of exposure in the U.S., hockey is finally starting to catch on," Mr. Pettigrew said.
He cautioned, however, that it is impossible to know exactly what is sparking the sudden interest in America's frozen neighbor to the north: "People answering our immigration hotline say that it is hard to understand many of the American callers because they are sobbing uncontrollably."
In other news, President Bush used his acceptance speech Wednesday to reach out to supporters of Sen. John Kerry, telling them, "You can run, but you can't hide."
Meanwhile, in his first statement since being voted out of office Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said, "Do you want fries with that?"
Elsewhere, experts said that exit polls may have falsely predicted a Kerry victory because Kerry voters exited while Bush voters stayed behind and voted again.
November 4, 2004 in Columnists | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Engineers' Lymerics
Condensed Story of Ms Farad by A. P. French
Miss Farad was pretty and sensual
And charged to a reckless potential;
But a rascal named Ohm
Conducted her home -
Her decline was, alas, exponential.
Cole's Lost Soul by A. P. French
There was a young fellow named Cole
Who ventured too near a black hole.
His dv by dt
Was quite wondrous to see
But now all that's left is his soul.
And Then There Were Photons by William Rolnick
An electron, while trav'ling in space,
Met a positron there "face-to-face."
The electron then sighed,
At the sight of his bride
And they "died" in a loving embrace.
Fussy Electrons by David Morin, Eric Zaslow, E'beth Haley, John Golden, and Nathan Salwen
An electron is sure hard to please.
When spread out, it sometimes will freeze.
Though agoraphobic,
It's still claustrophobic,
And runs off when put in a squeeze.
Maxwell By Amikam Aharoni
Maxwell had plenty of time to think
While dipping his pen in the ink.
Today's computations
With Maxwell's equations
November 4, 2004 in Fun | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Blogs and Market Research
McGee writes:
In the marketing research context, blogs are a disruptive technology. Instead of having to generate data by way of surveys or focus groups with whatever artifacts the process introduces, blogs provide direct visibility into customers. Instead of having to connect potentially artificial samples back to the actual market, now you have to filter real market behavior, interpret it, and make sense of it. That presents two challenges to market research functions. First, market research staff have to develop new skills. For that, they would do well to pay attention to Dina. Second, management of market research needs to spend some quality thinking time about what to do with access to this new kind of market data. The opportunity that blogs introduce into the marketing research equation is to create the opportunity to identify and run multiple micro-experiments in the market. Those that succeed get the resources to scale, those that fail generate some useful data and are quickly shut down. There are challenges, of course, especially given how quickly ideas spread in a connected world, but that should be offset by the speed with which experiments can be identified and run. Worth thinking about.
(via emergic)
November 4, 2004 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 03, 2004
21st CENTURY LIFELESSNESS !!!
Our communication - wireless
Our business - cashless
Our telephone - cordless
Our cooking - fireless
Our youth - jobless
Our religion - creedless
Our food - fatless
Our faith - Godless
Our labour - effortless
Our conduct - worthless
Our relation - loveless
Our attitude - careless
Our feelings - heartless
Our politics - shameless
Our education - valueless
Our Follies - countless
Our arguments - baseless
Our commitment - aimless
Our poor - voiceless
Our life - meaningless
Our existence - USELESS.......
and my effort - thankLESS, because I know no one will acknowledge the hard work...
November 3, 2004 in Reality | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 02, 2004
Who's the Dude in the Silver Lamborghini? Yo, Bill Gates!
THERE comes a moment in every James Bond film, and every Bond book, for that matter, when 007 takes the wheel of a snazzy European sports car. It might be the signature Aston Martin or, in the films, a Lotus Esprit, but either way, the setting always seems to involve a sinuous stretch of coastal road with a casino and a beautiful woman at the end. Under a brilliant Mediterranean or Caribbean sun, Bond motors skillfully at top speed, one hand on the wheel, the other on the gear shift, his mind on the chemin de fer tables and a woman named Vesper or Domino.
Bond at the wheel made a deep impression on my young mind when the Ian Fleming books first came out. The films only reinforced it. For decades I dreamed of getting my hands on a top-flight Euro sports car, the kind of precision-tuned mechanical marvel that gives out a throaty, animal roar when a toe tickles the accelerator. It never happened — until a few weeks ago, when I lowered my now middle-aged frame, creaking and groaning, into a 2004 silver Lamborghini Murciélago.
Read
November 2, 2004 in World News | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack
November 01, 2004
The Children's Railway
The greatest children's toy in the world? A railway run largely by children aged 10-14 with full sized trains. The Hungarian one is perhaps the best known, but there are others in the former soviet republics.
Very many people, having heard the words "Children's Railway", immediately imagine a toy-railway with tiny locos and wagons, which they used to play with together with the daddy or elder brother. The railway which had been assembled on the floor in the room and on which the train had endlessly been travelling in a circle till the strict mum sent you to bed. Pleasant memories…
Actually, the Children's Railway is an absolutely different thing. It is a real railway, narrow-gauge though, with real wagons and locomotives. "Then, why is it "Children's?", you might ask. Because it is operated by the schoolchildren, 9-15 years old. The whole summer under the guidance of the grown-up instructors they drive trains, work as traffic controllers, assistants to station-masters, guards and conductors.
November 1, 2004 in Fun | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Steam-Powered Model Locomotive
(via TechTalk)
UK model train outfit Hornby has developed a locomotive engine that is powered by real steam, yet runs on standard '00' gauge, 12-volt track. After filling a small tank with distilled water, the locomotive slowly heats up over the next five to ten minutes, using power from the track
like a regular toy engine. Then, by sending pulsed signals down the track, an operator can open the steam valve to drive the pistons, which in turn power the wheels, just like a real steam train.
The ultimate in model train operation doesn't come cheap, though, with the starter kit (including the locomotive, control box, an oval track, and gloves to protect you when handling the steam-hot engine) priced around £500. Nevertheless, for the dedicated train modeler, a welcome addition of real, if small-scale drama and danger.
November 1, 2004 in Fun | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
