Biscotti Danesi Danish Cookies // Småkager

Sliceforms

2012-01-25T17:14:00.002+01:00

What a nice idea for calculus in 3 dimensions!''paper sliceform [ARE] models made from intersecting sets of parallel planes which slot together to generate interesting three-dimensional surfaces'' [book]

Possibly one could take a function of 2 variables, plot a few profiles, then create a sliceform out of it.[as done here]

Another nice example can be seen here.

Great list of dystopian/SCI-FI movies

2011-12-03T11:46:00.002+01:00

A game to kill numbers!

2011-12-02T21:09:00.001+01:00

''Prime Slaughter
A computer game for playful math-learning.
We have designed and developed Prime Slaughter, a computer game to play with abstract mathematical concepts, like factorization and primality.
The target group is composed of primary and early secondary school students.
Following the findings of a participatory design study about children interaction in museums, our game maps operational aspects of prime factorization onto a gameplay inspired by 2D action-adventure games, where primality and factorizaton are experienced in a visual and direct way.
The museum study also suggested to support learning by multiple play styles and goal-directed activities. ''
Authors: Andrea Valente and Emanuela Marchetti
[source]

[playable game here]

Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Roberto Capancioni for starting a stimulating discussion about prime numbers, that led to the development of Prime Slaughter; and Finn Nielsen for the valuable feedback and testing-time he volunteered during development.

Curved creases

2011-11-30T20:37:00.002+01:00

All kinds of printers!

2011-11-30T20:31:00.000+01:00

''Stick POP Portable Printer Concept: Print Your Documents Anywhere, Anytime'' [source]
''handheld printer'' [source]

''15 Amazing Concept Printers'' [source]

Giant DNA Plush Dolls

2011-11-30T18:41:00.002+01:00

[source]

Can Cold Fusion be real?

2011-11-14T17:59:00.000+01:00

'' If low-temperature fusion does exist and can be perfected, power generation could be decentralized. Each home could heat itself and produce its own electricity, probably using a form of water as fuel. Even automobiles might be cold fusion powered.
...
Moreover, according to some experimental data, low-temperature fusion doesn't create significant hazardous radiation or radioactive waste.
...
[...] some highly qualified researchers disagree.
George Miley, who received the Edward Teller medal for innovative research in hot fusion and has edited Fusion Technology magazine for the American Nuclear Society for more than 15 years: "There's very strong evidence that low-energy nuclear reactions do occur. Numerous experiments have shown definitive results - as do my own."
...
In fact, despite the scandal, laboratories in at least eight countries are still spending millions on cold fusion research. During the past nine years this work has yielded a huge body of evidence, while remaining virtually unknown - because most academic journals adamantly refuse to publish papers on it.
'' [source]

''A well respected researcher is claiming that he has replicated some of the results that Andrea Rossi is getting from his e-cat cold fusion device. This could be an important development because it could verify Rossi’s claims and silence some of his many skeptics.
...
Dr. George H. Miley a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Tsingua University in Beijing. '' [source]

Space news

2011-11-08T14:55:00.000+01:00

''Orbital Technologies' Space Hotel'' [source]
''Pentagon’s Secret Space Plane Could Be Astronauts’ Next Ride
The Air Force’s mysterious X-37B “space plane” is only on its second, eight-month-plus orbital mission, ostensibly conducting science experiments. But manufacturer Boeing has already drawn up plans for a major upgrade to the nimble, 29-foot-long robot — one that could more than double the vehicle’s size and make room for up to six astronauts.'' [source]

More info about X-37B [here]
The Boeing X-37 (also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle) is an American unmanned vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing (VTHL) spaceplane.

e-cat

2011-11-08T14:20:00.000+01:00

''1 MW E-Cat Cold Fusion Device Test Successful
On October 28, 2011, Andrea Rossi demonstrated his 1 megawatt E-Cat system to his first customer, who had engineers/scientists on hand to test/validate its performance. Due to a glitch, it provided 479 kW of continuous power for 5.5 hours during the self-sustained mode.'' [source]

There were some issues, so it couldn't be run at full power in self-looped mode, but what it did do was plenty impressive.

It ran for 5.5 hours producing 479 kW, while in self-looped mode. That means no substantial external energy was required to make it run, because it kept itself running, even while producing an excess of nearly half a megawatt. Rossi explained the reasons for this in the presentation he gave, which I videotaped and will be posting later.

I hope I will be able to buy one soon ;)

Cold fusion: 1 megawatt unit on sale

2011-11-05T19:28:00.000+01:00

''Andrea Rossi has announced that he has begun sales of what he calls 1 megawatt e-cat cold fusion units. The first was sold to the mysterious American buyer for whom he conducted the October 28, test in Bologna.'' [source]

''Andrea Rossi started the test of his 1 megawatt e-cat cold fusion device in Bologna today. The purpose of the test is to see if the low energy nuclear reaction device can generate a sustained reaction that can continuously make large amounts of heat. If it can it could theoretically be able to generate enough heat to run a steam engine to power a vehicle or an electric generator.''

See also here for more news and details.

Everybody had huge fangs in the old times... O_o

2011-11-05T19:24:00.000+01:00

''SABER-TOOTHED SQUIRREL LIVED NEAR DINOSAURS'' [source]

Scientific name: Cronopio dentiacutus.

"The new fossils provide a sort of Rosetta Stone for understanding the genealogy of early South American mammals, and how they fit in with those known from northern landmasses," Cifelli said.

Where (in the complex plane) are the solutions of an equation?

2011-11-05T17:25:00.000+01:00

First of all: a polynomial of degree N has exactly N roots (in the complex plane) [ref]
Second: since for every root there is also its complex-conjugate [ref], we can only have some combinations...

Degree Roots Possible Combinations
1 1 Real Root
2 2 Real Roots, or 2 Complex Roots
3 3 Real Roots, or 1 Real and 2 Complex Roots
4 4 Real Roots, or 2 Real and 2 Complex Roots, or 4 Complex Roots
etc etc!

Eventually, complex numbers are defined like this.

Alan Turing is turning 100 next year!

2011-11-05T17:19:00.000+01:00

[source]

Natsumi Hayashi – Tokyo’s Levitating Girl

2011-11-05T17:18:00.002+01:00

[source]

Recent Human Evolution Detected

2011-11-05T17:16:00.002+01:00

''Though ongoing human evolution is difficult to see, researchers believe they’ve found signs of rapid genetic changes among the recent residents of a small Canadian town.

Between 1800 and 1940, mothers in Ile aux Coudres, Quebec gave birth at steadily younger ages, with the average age of first maternity dropping from 26 to 22. Increased fertility, and thus larger families, could have been especially useful in the rural settlement’s early history.'' [source]

2011-10-13T21:43:00.000+02:00

Boris Artzybasheff (25 May 1899 – 16 July 1965) was an American illustrator active in the United States, notable for his strongly worked and often surreal designs.
[wikipedia]

Una bella novita'.

2011-10-09T18:08:00.000+02:00

Come si puo' leggere qui: http://www.en.aau.dk/News+and+Events/News//top-university-gets-it-help-from-esbjerg-against-academic-dishonesty.cid51041

3 degli studenti italiani che stanno facendo la laurea specialistica in informatica da noi, sono coinvolti in un progetto internazionale, tramite l'universita' di Aalborg ad Esbjerg.

L'articolo dice, tra l'altro:
"The Esbjerg group has provided an important part of the software that the Canadian university’s Department of Biological Sciences has implemented to prevent students from handing in lab reports and other material they have plagiarized."
E poi:
"According to the students’ supervisor, Akbar Hussain, Associate Professor, Department of Energy Technology, Esbjerg, it was the Canadian researchers themselves who initiated the collaboration with him and the four students Daniele Anzelmi, Domenico Carlone, Fabio Rizzello and Robert Thomsen in the master's program in software construction."

Mica male ;)

e-cat to be tested October 6 - THE TIME IS NOW!

2011-10-02T18:03:00.000+02:00

''“With reference to the subject-matter of the application in re, we wish to inform you that an experiment run by the inventor, Mr. Andrea Rossi on a module of a 1MW plant will take place on October 6th, 2011 in Bologna (IT) in a laboratory made available by the University of Bologna.
“This experiment will be attended by professors from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, as well as professors in Physics from the USA, China, Japan, France, Great Britain, Greece, Russia and Italy. An official report will be published and made available on the Internet at a later date.”
[...]
it looks like with such an invitation sent out this Bologna event is set in stone; there’s no going back now!'' [source]

I'm very excited and curious about this coming test. If it works, we are in a new era of energy abundance, otherwise perhaps the whole e-cat project is doomed.
Crossing fingers for a brighter future! :D

The million dollar space pen hoax

2011-09-20T12:19:00.002+02:00

[source]

Reactor Design Pattern

2011-08-19T20:23:00.000+02:00

Imagine you want to have a lot of processes BUT without using threads...
How to achieve something like that?

''Reactor pattern
The reactor design pattern is an event handling pattern for handling service requests delivered concurrently to a service handler by one or more inputs.
'' [source]

''EventMachine: scalable non-blocking i/o in ruby'' [source]

An application of these ideas can be found in ''Node.js'' [source]

OpenCV in Processing

2011-08-19T20:20:00.000+02:00

''OpenCV and Processing'' [source]

Arduino on TV

2011-08-19T20:19:00.000+02:00

''Arduino-tvout'' [source]

''Video Game Shield'' [source]

Mini retro game and modular gadgets

2011-08-19T20:17:00.000+02:00

''Mini Space Invaders arcade cabinet big on nostalgia, small in size'' [source]

''Modular Gadgets'' [source]

Fractal heating elements

2011-08-19T20:13:00.000+02:00

''Fractal Heat Exchanger'' [source]

''Electric Resistance Heating'' [source]

Harmonic motion and molecular assemblers

2011-08-19T20:12:00.000+02:00

''Simple Harmonic Motion'' [source]

Simple Harmonic Motion study #2a from Memo Akten on Vimeo.

''A molecular assembler is a "proposed device able to guide chemical reactions by positioning reactive molecules with atomic precision", as defined by K. Eric Drexler.'' [source]

Discussion: Andrea Rossi's 'E-cat' nuclear reactor

2011-07-12T19:42:00.001+02:00

In January 2011 Andrea Rossi demonstrated a device that purported to develop 10 kW of power from a nuclear reaction. This video discusses its credibility, the investigations that have been done on the device, and its future prospects. The participants in this discussion, Brian Josephson and Judith Driscoll, are professors of physics, and materials science, respectively at Cambridge University.

Video found via: Infinite Engergy Magazine (http://www.infinite-energy.com/images/pdfs/FleischmannWatches.pdf)

For more info: here.

Analytical Engines

2011-07-04T14:01:00.000+02:00

The machines [source]
And the first programmer: Ada [source]

Mixed news

2011-07-04T13:58:00.000+02:00

''Soldier Re-Grows Leg Muscle After Experimental Procedure'' [source]
''Lytro Camera Lets You Focus Photos After You Take Them'' [source]
''Say cheese! Taking photos with a wave of the hand'' [source]
''Hipmunk is a travel search engine that wants to reinvent the way people search for flights online [...] The service lets people browse flights by a combination of factors that include pricing, travel duration and number of stops on a given flight. It also offers creative options, like the “agony” factor, which calculates the least amount of hassle for a trip.'' [source]
''MONSTER CHINESE TELESCOPE THE NEXT ET HUNTER?'' [source]
''Bringing the real world into the brain scanner, researchers at The University of Western Ontario from The Centre for Brain and Mind can now determine the action a person was planning, mere moments before that action is actually executed.'' [source]
''100 YEARS AGO, A CHUNK OF MARS HIT EGYPT (AND A DOG)'' [source]
''Deadly animal disease that shaped history is eradicated.
It decimated herds and caused disaster, devastation and death associated with the fall of the Roman Empire, the French Revolution and the colonization of Africa.
But after years of global efforts, rinderpest -- German for cattle plague -- doesn't exist anymore. It is the first animal disease to be eradicated and only the second disease ever, after smallpox in 1980. '' [source]

Nano news

2011-06-16T20:19:00.001+02:00

''Stamping out low cost nanodevices.
A simple technique for stamping patterns invisible to the human eye onto a special class of nanomaterials provides a new, cost-effective way to produce novel devices in areas ranging from drug delivery to solar cells.'' [source]
''Viewing the Ultra-fast at SSRL: First Pump-Probe Experiments Under Way.
...
"For 40 years at SSRL, we have been taking very high-resolution photographs—photographs of atoms in molecules and crystals and of electronic structures. But now we want to make movies ...
'' [source]

2011-06-14T13:45:00.000+02:00

The first half of this video (from 2007) provides a nice "other side" argument to the Man Made Global Warming.
[video]

The second half is a bit too USA-centric to me and the rhetoric used a bit too politically loaded for my taste.

Cosa VI succede ora, dopo il referendum?

2011-06-14T11:44:00.001+02:00

Secondo me i referendum italiani sono cari, populisti, coinvolgono in modo assurdo gli italiani all'estero.

Populisti perche' tanto, anche avendo il quorum e tutto, sono solo abrogativi e cmq sono stati aggirati gia' molte volte in passato: mi pare di ricordare che quando ero in Italia il ministero dell'agricoltura e' stato abrogato 2 o 3 volte tramite referendum, ma e' sempre "risorto" con un altro nome. Ma che incredibile "potere" nelle mani dei cittadini! Ma va.

E secondo me quando uno vive da quasi 10 anni all'estero, che senso ha che voti per elezioni oppure referendum? E poi quanto costa il voto all'estero? Una vera cretinata.

Secondo questo articolo [source], ora che il referendum e' stato vinto, non cambiera' praticamente nulla O_o

"Acqua «privatizzata». L’abrogazione del decreto Ronchi è una vittoria di Pirro per i cosiddetti fautori e sostenitori dell’acqua «pubblica» ... La Comunità europea ha infatti emanato una serie di direttive che prevedono chiaramente l’introduzione del principio della concorrenza (attraverso il meccanismo degli appalti) per i servizi ai cittadini tra cui il servizio idrico (in particolare si vedano le direttive europee 92/50/CEE e 93/38/CEE), che il decreto Ronchi aveva attuato o cercato di attuare.
...
Quali saranno dunque gli effetti reali dell’abrogazione? Semplicemente che continueremo a lasciare inattuata le direttive UE, con la possibilità che l’Europa ci sanzioni, o che – per evitare le sanzioni – creeremo tante società pubbliche, costituite da capitale pubblico (e dunque dal provento delle nostre tasse), alle quali verrà affidato il servizio idrico, con buona pace dell’efficienza e del controllo dei costi."

"Legittimo Impedimento. Questo è il referendum più inutile che sia stato proposto.
...
La legge in questione (la n. 51 del 2010) era già destinata a soccombere per una previsione interna alla legge medesima, sancita al comma 1 dell’art. 2, che stabiliva che la legge avrebbe cessato di essere applicata dopo 18 mesi dalla sua entrata in vigore. E quei 18 mesi scadono proprio a ottobre 2011. Considerando i tempi tecnici per l’operatività abrogativa del referendum, la legge, per effetto della pronuncia referendaria, verrà abrogata appena un paio di settimane prima della sua naturale scadenza."

"Nucleare. Un altro Sì inutile. Abbiamo abolito la possibilità per il Governo di stabilire un piano energetico nazionale per diversificare le fonti di approvvigionamento dell’energia ...
La possibilità di costruire centrali non è stata affatto abrogata, perché la norma relativa era già stata cancellata con il decreto Omnibus."

E tristemente l'articolo conclude cosi':
"Insomma, alla fine chi ha guadagnato da questa bella prova di democrazia? I comitati promotori, che secondo la legge n. 157 del 1999, dalla consultazione positiva (il raggiungimento del quorum), incasseranno un rimborso referendario pari a 0,52 centesimi di euro per ogni firma valida del referendum."

Molto molto interessante, per gli italiani che vivono in Italia, ovviamente :)

What a bad bad article

2011-06-13T23:24:00.001+02:00

The article here [source], is (in my opinion) a load of crap. It closes with this sentence:
'' Now that you know the truth, have your opinions changed?''

which is very revealing, since in many human matters there is arguably no truth to be found, but only various opinions, with varying degree of plausibility.

The central point of this very bad article, seems to be that we humans resist to authoritative knowledge, and try to keep close to our own beliefs, even when wrong.
Is that so bad? I think the contrary would be horrible.

I would like to submit that science has been abused in the XX century, and political statements have been made into "scientific truth", time and time again. Skepticism is a virtue.

To remember what we can make science say for us, check out this discussion about eugenetics
that refers to materials from after the first world war. At that time, they had quite a different "truth" about these topics than the one we have today.

If you are interested in ALGOL68...

2011-06-13T19:11:00.000+02:00

''1976: The Run-Time structure of an ALGOL 68 Student Checkout Compiler. Master's thesis, University of Alberta - Christopher Mark Thomson.'' [source]

More Software Preservation Group projects, here.

Bacteria have a wood-digesting enzyme

2011-06-13T19:08:00.002+02:00

''identified the gene for breaking down lignin in a soil-living bacterium called Rhodococcus jostii...
By making woody plants and the inedible by-products of crops economically viable the eventual hope is to be able to produce biofuels that don't compete with food production.'' [source]

After all the XXI century was supposed to be the "bio" century :)

What does Lady Gaga's face actually look like??

2011-06-12T19:09:00.000+02:00

E se Di Bella avesse avuto ragione?

2011-06-10T15:32:00.000+02:00

''E' sorprendente constatare quante ricerche provino l'efficacia della somatostatina nella cura del cancro!

Nel 2002 durante dei congresso internazionali di oncologia, a Orlando negli Usa, e italiano a Napoli e Como, hanno individuato nella vitamina A, Retinoidi, Somatostatina, efficaci principi antitumorali, senza minimamente citare il prof. Di Bella che da oltre 20 anni ha usato e pubblicato l'impiego antitumorale di queste molecole.'' [source, e da qui]

'' E' IN ATTO UNA DITTATURA TERAPEUTICA.
Da diversi anni a continuare l’opera del professore è suo figlio, il dottor Giuseppe di Bella, insieme al fratello Adolfo.
Ammiro molto il dott. Giuseppe Di Bella il quale ha il grande merito di aver reso inattaccabile scientificamente il Metodo messo a punto da suo padre (pubblicando sulle riviste internazionali i risultati della sua applicazione); è una persona di grande umanità e umiltà, disposto ad ascoltare e a confrontarsi con i colleghi (perché sempre a differenza dei molti, crede nella sinergia che porta a migliorare continuamente). Le pressioni che riceve continuamente sono davvero troppe da parte di coloro che temono di dover ammettere che il vecchio professore ci aveva visto giusto. '' [source]

Molto + critico questo sito:
''
... rilevato che da tutti gli organismi suddetti è stata affermata la mancanza di fondamento scientifico documentato del metodo Di Bella e quindi l'insuscettibilità del medesimo all'impiego sistematico negli ammalati di tutti i tipi di tumore... (On.le Bindi, comunicato stampa 267, 23/12/97)
...
I Di Bella rispondono a "modo loro" con qualcosa che sicuramente spiazza per diversi motivi chi è dotato di una minima capacità critica ...
...
Le "evidenze scientifiche" sull’efficacia antitumorale del MDB i Di Bella le avrebbero ottenute con un motore di ricerca medico (PubMed): farmaco+cancer ed appaiono più di 7000 pubblicazioni.
Chi legge può farsi un'idea dell'attendibilità di questo metodo. Per chi non è pratico di motori di ricerca, utilizzo lo stesso sito usato dal gruppo di Modena e provo a cercare (con il loro metodo!) le evidenze scientifiche dell'"efficacia antitumorale del sesso": 58783 risultati. Molti di più di quelli ottenuti da loro.
...
E' bene ribadirlo, la percentuale di pazienti guariti o migliorati in maniera significativa tra quelli curati con il MDB fu dello zero per cento.
...
Non tutti sanno che oltre alla sperimentazione più "nota", quella nazionale, ne esiste un'altra regionale, indipendente, condotta in Lombardia su 333 pazienti: anch'essa diede risultati assolutamente negativi.
...
Il motivo principale per cui la sperimentazione sarebbe stata un fallimento, secondo i Di Bella sarebbe stato un boicottaggio voluto dai "poteri forti" della sanità, case farmaceutiche in primis ed altre figure (medici?) secondariamente.
...
Una delle critiche era basata sulla mancanza di "randomizzazione" (una scelta omogenea dei pazienti da sottoporre a sperimentazione in modo da aver meno fattori condizionanti possibili nei risultati) e nella mancanza di un gruppo di controllo (ad esempio che assumesse placebo o chemioterapici).
...
La seconda critica, forse la più importante, si basava sul fatto che secondo il gruppo Di Bella, durante la sperimentazione furono somministrati farmaci scaduti. Il fatto fu certificato da una squadra di carabinieri dei NAS di Firenze durante un'ispezione.
...
La terza critica riguardava la presenza di un composto definito tossico (e cancerogeno) da Di Bella, nei flaconi che contenevano una parte del MDB (i retinoidi). Questo composto, l'acetone, secondo il gruppo Di Bella non doveva essere presente ed esistevano metodi di preparazione (già da loro utilizzati) che lo eliminavano totalmente dal prodotto farmacologico.
...
Per farsi un'idea di quanti sostengano ancora questa pratica, nei giorni scorsi nei commenti del blog è apparsa un'interessante considerazione. Analizzando le donazioni del 5x1000 (la Fondazione Di Bella è un'associazione di volontariato) nel sito delle entrate sono state registrate:

2007: 669 donazioni (per circa 18.000 euro)
2008: 1045 donazioni (per circa 30.000 euro)
2009: 1185 donazioni (per circa 34.000 euro)

La fondazione non pubblica nel sito nè un suo bilancio nè l'impiego di queste somme di denaro.
...
Forse la storia non è maestra di vita, ma una riflessione sui fatti non è inutile. E può insegnare qualcosa. Intanto sui meccanismi scatenanti di un bagno di irrazionalità in cui emergevano antiche diffidenze verso la scienza, un oscuro potere che congiurava per impedire a un vecchietto, buono e caro, di salvare il mondo. E le difficoltà dei medici, costretti a difendersi dalle accuse dei pazienti di voler negare loro una cura salvifica per chi sa quali inconfessabili interessi. E l’ignoranza dei mass media, acuita dal desiderio di scandalismo e di mettere finalmente in angolo professori e scienziati. E le fantasie popolari, alimentate da politici indecenti (la terapia Di Bella diventa di destra!) e da giornalisti indegni (soltanto uno ha dichiarato di pentirsi per quanti morti poteva aver causato consigliando dai teleschermi quella terapia!). E la deontologia di alcuni medici seguaci più di Mammona che di Ippocrate.
'' [source]

''Discussione sui risultati ottenuti con la terapia Di Bella.
...
Per queste ragioni ritengo che con questo tipo di analisi dei risultati si sia persa l’occasione per poter realmente conoscere scientificamente efficacia e limiti di questa terapia “innovativa” che solo il contrasto feroce fra dibelliani e tradizionalisti ha potuto presentare ai più come una risorsa miracolistica.

Nonostante i suoi limiti, la terapia Di Bella deve essere considerata a tutti gli effetti una terapia antitumorale non alternativa alla chemioterapia, ma ad essa supplementare dal momento che ottiene in molti casi risultati ad essa spesso paragonabili e, per alcune neoplasie, anche superiori. Inoltre, è dotata di un'importante azione sui sintomi della malattia, cosa che deve assolutamente farla considerare come una utile ed interessante scelta di trattamento per la cura palliativa delle malattie neoplastiche in fase avanzata.

Quello che in effetti manca è una seria sperimentazione e la creazione, per quanto possibile vista la necessità di personalizzazione della cura stessa, di una scala parametrica che consenta di ottimizzare e standardizzare i risultati della cura almeno nelle casistiche più comuni.
'' 2005 [source]

''Available scientific evidence does not support claims that Di Bella’s regimen is effective in treating cancer.
There can be serious side effects. Nausea, diarrhea, higher blood sugar, low blood pressure, sleepiness and neurological symptoms have been reported.'' [source]

Quindi? :>

Comparing cultures via commercials

2011-06-08T12:59:00.001+02:00

I remember this one: in Italy the narrating voice said the opposite of what it says in the English version. The French version is closer to the English.

English:

Text: "Always wait for him... to make the first move?"

French:

Text: "Wait cleverly... that he makes the first move?" (loosely translated)

I could not find the Italian version :(

Deconstructing Walt Disney's The Lion King

2011-06-07T20:27:00.000+02:00

''DECONSTRUCTING THE WALT DISNEY ANIMATION THE LION KING: ITS IDEOLOGY AND THE PERSPECTIVE OF HONG KONG CHINESE'' [source]

By Vicky Wong.

A very nice and deep analysis of this animation movie, that I also find disturbing in the way male/female roles are depicted. I also strongly dislike the concept of "accept your fate/role", which for me goes against the right to be an individual.

DNS-Filtering Legislation (USA)

2011-06-07T19:13:00.000+02:00

''Internet-security researchers are saying Senate antipiracy legislation that would dramatically increase the government's legal power to disrupt and shutter websites dedicated to infringing activity “raises serious technical and security concerns.”'' [source]

Mixed news

2011-06-07T19:12:00.000+02:00

''A color-changing bandage reveals the state of the wound beneath it.
The invention could reduce the $500 million cost of chronic wound care in Australia.'' [source]

''A committee of international chemists and physicists has officially added two new elements to the periodic table: the ultraweighty elements 114 and 116.
...
“Element 114″ obviously isn’t a very catchy name, especially in a sea of molybdenums and seaborgiums. They have temporary titles — ununquadium and ununhexium — but final names are yet to been decided.'' [source]

''Zotac unveils new ZBOX mini-PC, powered by VIA's dual-core Nano X2'' [source]

''Chinese rice farmers 10,000 years ago were early pioneers of modern genetic breeding. Like modern breeders they seemed to realise that shorter plants would produce higher yields, and unwittingly selected for mutations in a gene that shrinks rice stems: the stalkier plants produce more grain without falling over.'' [source]

''A Rare Eclipse of the Midnight Sun'' [source]

''Quantum mechanics rule 'bent' in classic experiment'' [source]

"Softwear" :D

2011-06-02T18:05:00.001+02:00

''Readaholic: Open Softwear – wearable computing using Arduino.
...
The book ‘Open softwear’ was written during 2008 by Tony Olsson, David Gaetano, Jonas Odhner, Samson Wiklund and published under the Creative Commons license. Under the same rulez Arduino software is an open source piece of software- intended for most spread platforms: Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
...
As Tony Olsson explains it in the preface ‘Arduino has been a active part of the curriculum in Fashion, body and technology, Light Installation and in the Interaction programs at both bachelors and masters level, since 2005. The goal with Arduino was to create a prototyping platform for designers to be able to realize there ideas by them selfs.'' [source]

(free) Flash tool

2011-06-02T18:00:00.000+02:00

''FlashDevelop is a great general purpose code editor
Easy to use editor with syntax highlighting, bookmarks and tasks (TODO) handling.
Comprehensive Find and Replace Dialog.
Find in Files dialog.
Intuitive and very flexible panel based interface.
Advanced snippet completion (code templates) and integrated snippet editor.
Open plug-in based architecture.'' [source]

''Flash game creation tutorial'' An intro to ActionScript3 [source, and a nice free game here]

Groupwork tools

2011-06-02T17:57:00.000+02:00

''How To Use Google Docs As A Slick Survey Tool.
...
Google Docs, in addition to being a stellar way to write, store and manage your documents and slideshows, is also a fantastically useful way to collect survey data.
'' [source]

''Use your desktop to keep a queue of your active files and organize them by use.'' [source]

''Making a gantt in open office'' [source]

DIY in your house

2011-06-02T17:52:00.000+02:00

''DIY Design Bank Curates Basic Designs and Instructions for Building Simple Furniture'' [source]
''IKEA Hackers'' [source]

Where to go from here? (in X minutes?)

2011-06-02T17:49:00.000+02:00

''Mapumental is a collaboration between MySociety and 4iP that makes use of all the nation’s bus, train, tram, tube and boat timetables and turns them into a service that’s vastly more powerful than the traditional journey planners'' [source]

''Mapnificent shows you areas you can reach with public transport in a given time.'' [source, video]

Space news

2011-06-02T17:47:00.000+02:00

''NASA celebrates 50 years of Americans in space'' [source]
''PROJECT ICARUS: THE GAS MINES OF URANUS'' [source]
''PROJECT ICARUS: REACHING FOR INTERSTELLAR SPACE
Project Icarus is an ambitious five-year study into launching an unmanned spacecraft to an interstellar destination. Headed by the Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society, a non-profit group of scientists dedicated to interstellar spaceflight, Icarus is working to develop a spacecraft that can travel to a nearby star.'' [source]

Book a flight in space: "only" 200000 USD!

2011-06-02T17:43:00.000+02:00

''Book your place in space now and join around 430 Virgin Galactic astronauts who will venture into space.
...
If you are interested in discussing your reservation with us directly please fill in the booking form below and we will be in touch as soon as possible to answer any questions you may have. Or you can contact one of our Accredited Space Agents around the world.'' [source]

"Accredited Space Agents" now this sounds really 21st century! :D

Paper fractals, fractal sculptures and fornitures

2011-05-29T19:37:00.000+02:00

''Make a 3D cutout fractal and turn it into a pop-up card.'' [source]

''Clay fractals'' [source]

''fractal desk'' [source]

Paper, origami, printing in 3D and paper automata

2011-05-29T19:33:00.000+02:00

''Sumo Wrestling Game Papercraft'' [source]

''Make Your Own Working Paper Clock'' [source]

''Paper Automata: Four Working Models to Cut Out & Glue Together'' [source]

3D printers (plastic- and paper-based):
''Mcor Technologies of Ardee, Ireland has developed a US$22,000 3D printer that combines an eco-friendly water-based adhesive with standard A4/letter paper to create wood-like three-dimensional models.'' [source, and here]

''Cheap, portable personal 3D printer: the UP!'' [video]

''Researchers at Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) have developed a 3D printer models that are smaller, simpler and probably cheaper for the same class 3D printer.
'' [source]

Tangible interfaces, paper and more.

2011-05-26T21:25:00.000+02:00

Various interesting projects made with paper [source]

Via: The low-tech club [LoTeCLB]

Great ideas VS narrative

2011-05-24T21:58:00.000+02:00

From: Powerful Ideas Need Love Too!
''...
This way of thinking and giving meaning to one's life and society in terms of stories and narratives is universal over all cultures, and is in our basic "wiring" as human beings. It is part of what we call "common sense." And it is the way most of the college students that NSF and I talked to had "learned science"--as isolated cases, stories that would be retrieved to deal with a similar situation, not as a system of inter related arguments about what we think we know and how well we think we know it. Story thinking won out. Claude Levi-Strauss and Seymour Papert have called this incremental isolated "natural" learning "bricolage"--which means making something by "tinkering around." This is one of the reasons that engineering predates science by thousands of years; some constructions can be accomplished gradually by trial and error without needing any grand explanations for why things work.

Yet if we look back over the last 400 years to ponder what ideas have caused the greatest changes in human society and have ushered in our modern era of democracy, science, technology and health care, it should be a bit of a shock to realize that none of these is in story form! Newton's treatise on the laws of motion, the force of gravity, and the behavior of the planets is set up as a sequence of arguments that imitate Euclid's books on geometry. All scientific papers since then are likewise given as special kinds of arguments, not stories.
... '' [source]
By Alan Kay (1995)

Origami - is there anything they can't do?

2011-05-22T13:47:00.001+02:00

'' __quote here___ '' [source, video]

''Paper folds itself into a natural equilibrium form depending on its creases.'' [source] More info here.

How can I fold paper along a curve?
Examples:
[source]

''Curved Folding'' [source]

And if you can download it, check out this one: "Curvature and Creases: A Primer on Paper" [source]
And here are some examples.

Free software to create origami: tree maker.

Origami are connected to interesting and complex problems in math and also chemistry.
''Computational Origami
...
Lang had already developed algorithms to flatten a set of polygons, and he applied them to a computer simulation of how to flatten the 3-D polyhedron shape of an inflated air bag.
...
The air-bag design was based on an algorithm Lang calls the "universal molecule," which flattens a set of polygons so their edges remain aligned to one another.
...
Erik Demaine, a 22-year-old professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, started folding paper at age 6 and developed that hobby into the study of the mathematics of folded forms.
Demaine now studies folds in proteins, the basic building blocks of life. He believes that computational origami could fight diseases that are currently incurable, such as mad cow disease, which are caused by proteins that have what he calls "bad folds."
''
[source]

Marble machines

2011-05-22T13:31:00.000+02:00

[source]

Marble Machine made of PAPER!!!

Shape Memory Alloy actuators

2011-05-22T13:29:00.001+02:00

''MuscleWires'' [source]

''Green ALTernative Heat Engine'' [source]

''Muscle Wire Experiment2'' [source]

Cold fusion patented!

2011-05-15T20:49:00.000+02:00

''The Italian Patent Office, Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi, granted a patent for the energy catalyzer on April 6, 2011, valid until April 9, 2028.'' [source]

E-cat device: explained here.

''Andrea Rossi with support of scientific consultant and physicist Sergio Focardi has created a device called the “Energy Catalyzer” or “E-Cat.” The device generates a cold fusion reaction with nickel powder and hydrogen as fuel sources to generate heat energy. An initial public demonstration in January 2011 revealed that with only 1 kW of energy input into the device, it yielded 12 kW of heat energy output.
...
Sources reveal that MIT has requested plans for Rossi’s reactor to try and duplicate the experiment. However, Rossi’s reply was that they could buy it once he puts it to market. This is probably because MIT is the same University that made it a point over 20 years ago to disprove cold fusion following Pons and Fleischmann’s revolutionary discovery of the reaction, stalling its development for nearly a quarter century.''

More info here.

Great "step motion" movies

2011-05-10T15:30:00.001+02:00

''Sketching a stop motion tutorial'' [source]
''“Het Klokhuis” (Apple Core) Opening & End Titles'' [source]

What happened to the AIR car?

2011-05-10T15:27:00.000+02:00

''In 2008, India’s largest car manufacturer announced that it would begin production of world’s first commercial vehicle to run on nothing but a puff of air — compressed air, that is.

The Air Car concept, developed by the French company Motor Development International (MDI) in partnership with Indian giant Tata Motors, would have used compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons.

The car was said to achieve speeds of up to 68 mph with a range of 125 miles between fill-ups, all for less than $13,000.
...
Although the Tata version of the zero-emissions car might never make it into commercial production, a more credible version is currently being developed by a duo of mechanical engineering professors in India.'' [source, more here]

A working air engine!
''Angelo Di Pietro is an Italian engine designer who once worked for Mercedes Benz on their Wankel Rotary engine in 1969-1970, then migrated to Australia to pursue other interests, among them, as hobbyist / inventor of the Di Pietro Rotary Air Engine.
...
This very efficient, effective, non-reciprocating configuration allows the air engine to be very small and compact, yet very powerful. Any car guy worth his salt should recognize that this combination of high power and small size / weight translates into a great application for personal transportation. To that end, Di Pietro has adapted his air motor to carriers for produce markets, ATV load carriers, scooters and even boats (shown).'' [source]

DIY 3D viewers

2011-05-06T16:17:00.000+02:00

''3D with iPhone & iPod touch?!'' [source]

''Carte Lettre Stéréoscope ’Exposition Liège 1905’'' [source]

''...you can build a stereoscope from a cardboard box and some pieces of mirror'' [source, explanation]
. Here and here, the first time this technique was used]

DSL (domain-specific languages)

2011-05-04T20:38:00.000+02:00

Almost done with the book "Domain-specific languages". Great book!

To try out the ideas in the book, I implemented a simple DLS in python then in Java.

The DSL is a simple language describing image processing tasks. The user can define his/her tasks in a friendly "internal DSL" format, which is embedded in Python. That definition is used to populate a semantic model, also in Python, in which objects represent the sequence and type of the operations in the user task.

Once populated, the semantic model can be validated in various ways, and finally code is generated from Python, and a new program is created (written in Processing) that can easily be run by the user.

The same is also re-done also using Java as "host" language, for the DSL. Still the final code is generated in Processing.

The advantage of this approach is that it cleanly partitions the system in a DSL that the user can use directly, a semantic model, that the programmer can improve incrementally; then we have validation of the semantic model and code generation that can also be improved independently from the user, who will still be able to run his/her scripts.
Also, the code-generation part of the system, can be extended to create multiple executable and deploy on different machines.

Cellular automata... rule!!!

2011-05-01T20:22:00.000+02:00

''Reversible Automata / Irreversible Automata'' [source]

A very exciting book from Rudy Rucker

2011-05-01T20:20:00.000+02:00

[source]

It is not new, but since I just re-read his "Mind Tools: The Five Levels of Mathematical Reality", I'm very anxious to get and read this one too!

Mixed news

2011-05-01T20:17:00.000+02:00

''Dell's 10-inch Android and Windows tablets get names, specs, release dates'' [source]

''Digital fabrication'' [source]

''INCREDIBLE GIGAPIXEL PHOTOGRAPHY'' [source and here]
''ULTIMATE LEGO ART COLLECTION WITH USEFUL RESOURCES'' [source]

''Matrix L-system and Paper Folding with Scissors'' [paper]

''Very nice, short and visual solution of Rubik cube'' [source]

''One Size Fits Nobody: Seeking a Steady 4 or a 10'' [source]

Math and religion :D :D

2011-05-01T20:11:00.002+02:00

[source]

Pin-hole cameras and camera obscuras

2011-04-28T21:42:00.000+02:00

''DIY matchbox pinhole camera'' [source] GREAT!

''How to Build a Pinhole Camera Using a Matchbox'' [source]
''Korean Cardboard Pinhole Camera Action!'' [source]

''Camera Obscura Kit'' [source]

''We used it to turn a classroom into a camera obscura'' [source]

''home made box camera obscura thingy'' [source]

We live in the coldest period of the last 10.000 years

2011-04-20T19:06:00.000+02:00

"We live in the coldest period of the last 10.000 years" , says
glasiologist, Jørgen Peder Steffensen who take us back in time to the Grenland icecores and reveals the secrets from the past. [video circa 4 minutes]

''Svensmark's Theory.
Danish Professor Henrik Svensmark explaining the link between cosmic rays the solar magnetic field and cloud cover influencing climate on Earth.'' [video circa 6 minutes]

Space news

2011-04-20T18:44:00.000+02:00

''Pluto's Atmosphere Found Poisonous...
A British-based team of astronomers, led by Jane Greaves of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, found a strong signal of carbon monoxide gas in Pluto's atmosphere using the 15-meter James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii.
...
The atmosphere of Pluto was known to extend more than 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) above the surface, the researchers said, but the new findings raise that height to more than 1,860 miles (3,000 km) — equivalent to a quarter of the distance out to Pluto's largest moon, Charon.'' [source]
''Worlds With Two Suns May Sport Black Plants.
...
A new study finds that, to maximize energy absorption for photosynthesis, the flora on worlds that orbit two suns may have evolved to use one or more types of light-absorbing pigments that absorb across a broad range of wavelengths, which would tend to make the plant appear black or gray.'' [source]

''Solar Activity Heats Up.
Back in 2008, the solar cycle plunged into the deepest minimum in nearly a century. Sunspots all but vanished, solar flares subsided, and the sun was eerily quiet.
"Ever since, we've been waiting for solar activity to pick up," says Richard Fisher, head of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. "It's been three long years."
Quiet spells on the sun are nothing new. They come along every 11 years or so—it's a natural part of the solar cycle. This particular solar minimum, however, was lasting longer than usual, prompting some researchers to wonder if it would ever end.'' [source]

Tiles, fonts and text-based rogue-like games

2011-04-14T19:16:00.001+02:00

In a previous post [this one] I was talking about using a special font to convert rogue-like games to graphics.

Today I found this great example of this strategy:

[source]

New quantum "magic"

2011-04-12T21:54:00.000+02:00

''Broadband quantum networks inched closer to reality recently when researchers demonstrated the ability to transfer quantum-bits (qubits) from entangled photons to solid-state crystalline memory devices.
...
The University of Calgary team demonstrated that their lithium niobate waveguides, which are already widely used for fiber optic communications, can handle signals from five megahertz to five gigahertz, with a memory retention time of seven nanoseconds. Its broadband quantum memory used off-the-shelf lithium-niobate crystals which needed to be supercooled to minus 270 degrees Celsius. Next, the group plans to create a real-time read-write channel using teleportation to transfer the qubits into and out-of its solid-state memory.'' [source]

A New Rotary Engine Design

2011-04-10T22:11:00.001+02:00

A start-up, Liquid Piston, aims to greatly improve the efficiency of internal combustion (2011).
[video]

More about rotary engine [here] (2006).

Nuclear fusion by the end of the year (2010) :>

2011-04-10T21:37:00.000+02:00

Graphics and simulation

2011-04-08T21:26:00.000+02:00

Stable advection-reaction-diffusion with arbitrary anisotropy
and
Feature-guided dynamic texture synthesis on continuous flows
[source, by Ted Kim ]

[from here]

[from here]

Grooooovie Groovy!

2011-04-08T21:18:00.001+02:00

''An agile dynamic language for the Java Platform'' a primer [source]

''Groovy AST Transformations by Example'' [source]

Take a groovy program, parse it to get its Abstract Syntax Tree (AST),then visit/transform the AST, and what do you get? ... a different groovy program!

And the same mechanism can even be used to optimize (for example tail recursion):
''Tail recursion is a special case of recursion which can be changed to iteration.
...
The trick is to wrap our function into an endless loop, save the function args into local temps, replace all usages of the args with temps and replace recursive calls by setting the temps to the recursive call args.
...
Since Groovy is my favourite language on the JVM it seemed the perfect time and target to give my first shot at AST transformations. AST transformations are @nnotations that will be invoked at compile time to let you analyze and manipulate a programs abstract syntax tree.'' [source]

BTW: AST transformations are a kind of aspect-oriented programming (see here).

Galileo and physics: how where his experiments actually conducted?

2011-04-08T20:56:00.002+02:00

The equations that are typically used to explain Galileo's gravity use calculus notation, which was developed after Newton, so way later.
So how did Galileo actually did and expressed his experiments and his finds?

''Galileo's Inclined Plane Experiment reconstructed'' [video]
In this very nice video, they say that Galileo used water from a pipette to time a ball rolling down an inclined plane. I didn't know that :>

The same is explained here.

''Motion and the pendulum: how most of classic physics comes from a few simple experiments'' [source]

''Galileo: real experiment and didactic demonstration'' published in 1976 [source]

''The Role of Numerical Tables in Galileo and Mersenne
Numerical tables are important objects of study in a range of Želds, yet they
have been largely ignored by historians of science. This paper contrasts and
compares ways in which numerical tables were used by Galileo and
Mersenne, especially in the Dialogo and Harmonie Universelle.
'' [source]

More articles about Galileo's work: here.

Geography of Sex

2011-04-08T20:45:00.000+02:00

''Published in 2000, the 128 page The Penguin Atlas of Human Sexual Behavior contains a plethora of facts and data about sex and sexuality worldwide.
...
One example of an non-cited graphic is titled "Breasts Are Getting Bigger" and implies that in 1997, the average breast size in the U.K. was 36B but that it grew to 36C in 1999. A longer time period is provided for "Asia" - the graphic shows that in the 1980s average breast size was 34A and the 1990s it was 34C, not quite as dramatic as the U.K.'s single cup size increase in two years.
...
For women, the countries with the youngest average age of first intercourse are in central Africa and the Czech Republic with an average age of 15. The countries where women's first sexual experience comes at age 20 and older are Egypt, Kazakhstan, Italy, Thailand, Ecuador, and the Philippines. According to the map, the first sexual intercourse comes at 16 in the U.S. and 18 in the U.K.
...
For men, the earliest average age of first intercourse is 16 in Brazil, Peru, Kenya, Zambia, Iceland, and Portugal but the highest average age is 19 in Italy.'' [source]

A friendly syntax to define GUIs

2011-04-08T20:43:00.000+02:00

Why not having a specific syntax to define GUIs, in a programming language?
Rebol has one: REBOL Visual Interfaces (VID) [source]

VID is REBOL's Visual Interface Dialect. A dialect is an extension of the REBOL language that makes it easier to express or describe information, actions, or interfaces. VID is a dialect that provides a powerful method of describing user interfaces.

An example:
view layout [
vh1 "Style Examples"
box brick 240x2
vtext bold "There are 40 styles built into REBOL."
button "Great"
toggle "Press" "Down"
rotary "Click" "Several" "Times"
choice "Choose" "Multiple" "Items"
text-list 120x80 "this is" "a list" "of text"
across
check
radio radio
led
arrow
below
field "Text Entry"
]

Out of control - free book

2011-04-08T20:40:00.000+02:00

[source]

16 of March: super-moon

2011-03-23T17:03:00.000+01:00

[source]

Math: what is means, where it comes from? Is math narrative?

2011-03-23T17:00:00.001+01:00

''Thinking vs manipulation - by W.B.Carver'' [source] from 1937.
''Narrative Structure of Mathematical Texts.
[...]
There are many styles for the narrative structure of a mathematical document. Each mathematician has its own conventions and traditions about labeling portions of texts (e.g., chapter, section, theorem or proof ) and identifying statements according to their logical importance (e.g., theorem is more important than lemma). Such narrative/structuring labels guide the reader’s navigation of the text and form the key components in the reasoning structure of the theory reflected in the text.'' [source]
''Scientific Enlightenment, Div. Two
4. The Problem of Representation,
Chapter 1 ,
Mathematics as Representation and the Essence of Calculus.
[...]
Al-Khwarizmi then shows how to solve the six standard types of equations. He uses both algebraic methods of solution and geometric methods. For example to solve the equation x2 + 10 x = 39 he writes [...]''

[source]
''Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments have come to light only in a few locales.'' [source]

Electronics, old computers and the simplest motor in the world.

2011-03-23T16:54:00.000+01:00

''Electronics made easy - by A-Nony-Mus'' [source]
''ZX81: Small black box of computing desire'' [source]
''You have one drywall screw, one 1.5 V alkaline cell, six inches of plain copper wire, one small neodymium disk magnet, and no other tools or supplies. You have 30 seconds to make an electric motor running in excess of ten thousand RPM. Can you do it? Surprisingly enough, you can.'' [source]

Understand math via programming!

2011-03-23T16:51:00.000+01:00

''The Nature of Code (by Daniel Shiffman)'' [source]

''Processing - programming language'' [source]

Mechanical "LCD game"!?

2011-03-16T14:41:00.000+01:00

Question:
is it possible to create an hand-held game, similar to an LCD game, but purely by mechanical means? Electro-mechanical would also fine!

The main problem is how to visualize a video-game without a screen, but via a mechanical device?

Here are some findings about this idea:
- Produces animation without the use of lenses or electricity [source]

- Fractals can be used to generate multiple shapes shadows [source, and some theory about moire' patterns]
- Paul Overton at DudeCraft shows us how to make this cool analog "scanimation" style animation using a transparent sheet with black bars on it [video]
- The type of game I'm thinking about is this: where all the sprites are pre-drawn into an LCD screen [source]

My idea so far is to:
- take a screen similar to the initial screen of an LCD game (like here)
- make a transparent filter (like the one used in scan-line animation) that will make the character sprite appear and disappear in a specific sequence
- make a second transparent filter for the background objects, that possibly does not interfere with the first one
- now playing the game should simply be a matter of moving the filters left/right (or possibly also up/down); the player's filter should be moved by the player, while the background/enemies filter could be controlled by some mechanical timer, perhaps randomized in some way...

Turing, bombs, and celebrations!

2011-03-08T10:50:00.000+01:00

2012 is going to be Alan Turing Year!

''The Alan Turing Year, 2012, will be a celebration of the life and scientific influence of Alan Turing on the occasion of the centenary of his birth on June 23, 1912. Turing had an important influence on computing, computer science, artificial intelligence, developmental biology, and the mathematical theory of computability, and made important contributions to code-breaking during the second World War.'' [source]

There is also an interesting: CCS (computer conservation society) [source] that was:
"[...] founded in 1989. It is under the joint umbrella of the British Computer Society, the Science Museum in London, and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Many of the society's meetings are held at the Science Museum. The CCS is interested in the history of computer hardware in general and the conservation and preservation of early British historical computers in particular."

The CCS is repairing and maintaining the Bombs:
"The bombe was an electromechanical device used by British cryptologists to help decrypt German Enigma-machine-encrypted signals during World War II. The US Navy and US Army produced machines to the same functional specification, but engineered differently.
...
The initial design of the bombe was produced in 1939 at the UK Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park by Alan Turing, with an important refinement devised by Gordon Welchman."
[source, and a simulator]

Space news

2011-02-24T15:17:00.000+01:00

''EXOPLANET BONANZA BOOSTS COUNT BY 1,200'' [source]
''THAT GALAXY IS AS FLAT AS A PANCAKE!'' [source]
''CAN I USE A SPACE MIRROR TO MELT MY DRIVEWAY ICE?'' [source]
''Nautilus-X: the Space Station With Rockets'' [source]
''Scientists have estimated the first cosmic census of planets in our galaxy and the numbers are astronomical: at least 50 billion planets in the Milky Way.

At least 500 million of those planets are in the not-too-hot, not-too-cold zone where life could exist. The numbers were extrapolated from the early results of NASA's planet-hunting Kepler telescope.'' [source]

Mixed news

2011-02-24T15:15:00.001+01:00

''This video illustrates how several simple sorting algorithms operate, using people as the objects to be sorted. Produced by the Algorithmic Thinking class as part of Knight School 2009 at Menlo School.'' [source]
''Print from your phone with Gmail for mobile and Google Cloud Print'' [source]
''Your computer is full of garbage. No, not the hundreds of downloads cluttering up your hard drive that you keep meaning to delete, but the wasted by-products of everyday computation. The logic gates within your computer's processor constantly input and output information, but not every output ends up being useful. The energy used to generate these "garbage outputs" is lost and dissipates as heat. So why not recycle it?'' [source]
''Acer debuts education-minded Aspire One E100 with Android and Windows'' [source]
''Studio Ghibli news'' [source]
''The new proposal defines the kilogram in terms of the Planck constant h**, an important constant in quantum physics, which is expressed in units containing the kilogram. Efforts at NIST such as the watt balance experiment and determinations of the mass of one mole of silicon atoms offer new ways of determining an accurate value of h, thereby contributing to a more reliable definition of the kilogram.'' [source]
''Is there a way to halt memory loss or even reverse it? If so, could we also manipulate our brain to forget unpleasant memories?'' [source]
''Poll: Price, Not Honeycomb, Is the Key to Android Tablet Success'' [source]
''Man controls robotic arm with his mind'' [video]

Tiny Games 2010

2011-02-02T21:53:00.000+01:00

''Applets only, 40x30 pixel canvas with colours only from the EGA palette'' []

Play the games here!

AMAZING... I should try to make 1 myself, perhaps using Greenfoot :D :D

Extend Rogue-like games with "graphics" (HELP :> )

2011-02-01T13:06:00.001+01:00

I am a big fan of Diablo (and the first one is still the greatest for me!).

I recently downloaded and played Diablo Rogue-like: terrific!
Also because running the old Diablo on Windows7 is tricky, and I often get broken graphics or blue screen :( While the text-mode version DiabloRL works like a charm.
But I love the now "retro" Diablo graphics, so I was thinking about a way to fix a text-mode game with some graphics, and I remembered how things were done in ancient times with the C64 for example: one could redefine characters, and use them as graphics in a game!

And in windows you can in fact assign a different font to a console application, so imagine:
- grab the original Diablo graphics (legal issues a side for a sec)
- convert tiles and characters into elements of a font (i.e. characters),
- run DiabloRL with that font

Anybody ever tried something like this?

PS I found out that using Inkscape or GIMP it should be possible to "manually" create a font from some tiles. And there are some open/free resources to create fonts programmatically: here.

New transistors: An alternative to silicon and better than graphene

2011-02-01T12:29:00.000+01:00

''Smaller and more energy-efficient electronic chips could be made using molybdenite.
...
A discovery made at EPFL could play an important role in electronics, allowing us to make transistors that are smaller and more energy efficient. Research carried out in the Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES) has revealed that molybdenite, or MoS2, is a very effective semiconductor. This mineral, which is abundant in nature, is often used as an element in steel alloys or as an additive in lubricants. But it had not yet been extensively studied for use in electronics.
...
(It uses) 100,000 times less energy (than silicon)'' [source, and here]

Mixed news

2011-01-31T14:17:00.000+01:00

''HUMANS LEFT TREES 4.2 MILLION YEARS AGO
Wrist bones of human ancestors reveal when humans switched from living in trees to on the ground.'' [source]
''Lasers Can Chill Stuff Super Fast
Physicists proposed the idea of laser cooling 30 years ago, but until now, experiments had been largely unsuccessful and only worked with low-pressure gases. Now, German researchers have shown that bombarding high-pressure gas with a laser can produce dramatic cooling, dropping the temperature as much as 66 degrees Celsius (about 119 degrees Fahrenheit) in a matter of seconds.'' [source]
''3D Printer'' [source]
''Computer science researchers provide insight into how we understand social networking
In most cases, social network analysis today is limited to discovering friend connections, community leaders and outlines, influential people and personal friend recommendations using a static or snap-shot method. The authors say that if new factors could be taken into consideration, specifically changes across time and space, this could help social network analysis better understand why, when and how we are "friends" with people.'' [source, article]
''NASA's future
Whether or not NASA launches two or three more shuttle missions, NASA's venerable hub of operations, the Kennedy Space Center will need a new mission.'' [source]
''Astronomers claim earliest galaxy yet from Hubble
An international team of astronomers say they've glimpsed the earliest galaxy yet, a smudge of light from nearly 13.2 billion years ago — a time when the cosmos was a far lonelier place.'' [source]
''Bovine bellies yield clues for new biofuels
Researchers looking for better ways to make biofuels turned to experts at breaking down grass -- cattle -- and found more than a dozen new compounds in their guts that might help make new, cheap sources of energy. They used new genetic sequencing techniques to find microbes that make enzymes that in turn can break down tough grasses into usable products.'' [source]
''First Earth-Orbiting Solar Sail Unexpectedly Unfurls'' [source, and here]

Miyazaki rules!

2011-01-31T14:06:00.002+01:00

Ghibli World [source]

Global warming?

2011-01-29T18:39:00.000+01:00

''The Disappearing Science of Global Warming'' [source]

Great article. Summary:
there are 3 major agencies that collect temperature data from all around the planet, and they all cheat, one way or another.

So, apart that proving that global warming is our fault is difficult, how should one prove that the globe is really warming up?
And keep in mind that this is not about short term weather, but "climate", which is:
"Climate (from Ancient Greek klima, meaning inclination) is commonly defined as the weather averaged over a long period of time.[2] The standard averaging period is 30 years" [source]
and that makes it impossible for any person (no matter how expert) to assess this theory at an individual experience level.

Cold fusion (or bullshit?)

2011-01-28T18:07:00.001+01:00

''Hopes about cold fusion have been raised once again by two Italian researcher who claim to have fused atomic nuclei at room temperature.'' [source]
''Italian Scientists Claim (Dubious) Cold Fusion Breakthrough
...it’s a thrill to learn that two Italian scientists claim to have successfully developed a cold fusion reactor that produces 12,400 watts of heat power per 400 watts of input. Not only that, but they’ll be commercially available in just three months.
...
The problem is, they [Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi] haven’t provided any details on how the process works. After their paper was rejected by several peer reviewed scientific journals, it was published in the Journal of Nuclear Physics-- an online journal apparently founded by Rossi and Focardi. Further, they say they can’t account for how the cold fusion is triggered, fostering deep skepticism from others in the scientific community.
'' [source]

However, it is true that there is serious research in "trasmutation" [see here], and the researchers working in this field often lament the total lack of interest from the mainstream media.
So, as required by healthy skepticism, here you have the Infinite Energy Magazine article about the discovery: article.

To keep an open mind, while remaining a skeptic, I like to remind myself that Science does not work according to majority rule.
Often in history of Science the most absurd ideas turned out to be right (e.g. Galileo's problems with authorities, early problems about the germ theory, vaccination was considered a bit like bio-technologies today, and of course Darwin ridiculed and depicted as a monkey).

PS I was almost forgetting anesthesia, that was opposed initially, and still it seems just the most human thing to do nowadays.

Animation videos

2011-01-28T17:41:00.000+01:00

''CosmIII - Branches'' [video]
''Animation Showreel 11/08'' [video]

Recipes!! (some in Italian)

2011-01-28T17:34:00.000+01:00

''Egg White: Desserts'' [source]
''Puddings'' [source]
''Egg white foam + microwave = Vauquelin'' [source, and here]
''Perfect Panna Cotta Recipe'' [source, and here]
[source]

Italian recipes
''Il sorbetto al limone'' [source]
''Tutte le ricette con i Limoni'' [source]
''Lemon curd'' [source]
''Torta brulè al limone'' [source]

Mixed news

2011-01-28T17:26:00.000+01:00

''New “Mazinger Z” directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa coming on TV''

"Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z hen(True Mazinger Impact! Episode Z)" will be on air in 2009 spring.[source, and here]

''Park Slope Civic Council Names Prospect Park Gateway Design Comp Winners'' [source]

''Gravity Currents on Slopes'' [source]

''Boeing invention lets planes spot dangerous turbulence'' [source]

''PAPER-THIN SOLAR CELLS SHOW PROMISING EARLY RESULTS
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology do, and early results indicate you may soon start seeing these paper thin solar cells on everything from window blinds to your laptop.
...
Each cell has five layers of solid material that has been deposited onto a paper substrate. Each of those five layers serves a different action.
'' [source, and Is Solar Power Worth It]

''The challenge of the great cosmic unknowns
It is an embarrassment, to say the least. Scientists have no idea what most of the universe is made of. In fact, a whopping 96 per cent of it is made of something whose very nature we are at a loss to describe - something utterly unlike the ordinary matter that makes up stars and galaxies, planets and moons, birds and bees.'' [source]

''The Nissan Leaf ... is a five-door mid-size hatchback electric car manufactured by Nissan and introduced in Japan and the U.S. in December 2010. The Leaf is the first mass-produced electric car for sale from a major manufacturer. The United States Environmental Protection Agency determined the range to be 117 kilometres (73 mi), with an energy consumption of 765 kJ/km (34 kWh per 100 miles) and rated the Leaf's combined fuel economy at 99 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent.'' [source]

''Long-Distance Throwing Holds Key to Human Evolution
... the “size-weight illusion,” which is where someone lifts two objects that are of different size but the exact same mass. The “illusion” is that the person will perceive the larger object to be lighter. And what these scientists found is that the illusion is not only “reliable and robust,” but that the illusion is “intrinsic” to humans and that people pick objects based on their perception for how well something can be thrown. '' [source]

''Prepeat inkless and tonerless rewritable printer'' [video]

''12Blocks: A Simple Block Language that lets Kids Program Sophisticated Multi-core Robots'' [video]

Mechanical integration

2011-01-28T17:16:00.000+01:00

Mechanical Integrator [source, and here, and integraph]

What is a (visual) feature?

2011-01-28T17:05:00.001+01:00

''What is a Feature? A Fast and Frugal Approach to the Study of Visual Properties
Perceptual systems, both biological and artificial, are broadly speaking systems that can extract certain features from a sensory array and use these features for categorisation tasks, recognition and motor control. Several characterisations of the notion of ‘feature’ have been proposed so far in specific fields of vision science. Yet, a general account and tentative classification of what counts as a ‘good’ visual feature is still missing.
...
The heuristics-based approach is promising in providing a
framework for dealing with cognitive capacities that are relevant for specific environmental settings.
'' [source]

Mixed news

2011-01-23T19:53:00.000+01:00

''The Logical Leap: Induction In Physics
[this book] attempts to bridge this gap between philosophy and science by providing a philosophical explanation of how scientists actually discover things. A physicist and physics teacher by trade, he worked with philosopher Leonard Peikoff to understand the process of induction in physics, and this book is a result of their collaboration. '' [source]
''Ten Foods You Should Be Eating'' [source]
''ACID OCEANS AND NITROGEN CYCLES'' [source]
''LESS GREENHOUSE GAS FROM FARMING'' [source]
''FLING JOYSTICK INTRODUCES TACTILE FEEDBACK TO IPAD'' [source and here]
''8 Beautiful Bioluminescent Creatures From the Sea'' [source]
''Thunderstorms Make Antimatter'' [source]

''Learn the Basics of Design This Weekend'' [source]
''MAN-MADE OASIS WILL TRANSFORM THE DESERT'' [source]

''Video: Explorer Recounts Deepest-Ever Ocean Expedition'' [source]
''A swarm of autonomous, mini-helicopters have built a toy tower, demonstrating that machines could one day build structures without humans present. This could keep humans out of dangerous areas, such as when building super tall skyscrapers or even construction buildings in war zones.'' [source]
''TRUE HALLOWEEN HORROR STORIES FROM SPACE : SLIDE SHOW'' [source]
''Russian spacewalkers install gear at space station'' [source]
''Bitcoin - a Step Toward Censorship-Resistant Digital Currency''[source]

Objects, paradigms and design patterns

2011-01-23T19:37:00.000+01:00

''OBJECTS AND STATEFUL PROGRAMMING - LIFE AFTER MULTI-CORE?
Multi-core and Cloud Computing throws everyone into a world of concurrent and distributed computing. Many claim that OO isn't well suited to this new concurrent world and that functional programming is more appropriate. OO advocates argue that OO is still a good model for computation, but that we need new concurrency mechanisms and libraries are required to exploit them effectively.'' [source]

''Python Remote Objects'' [source]

''Design patterns:
... Objective Toolkit PRO provides support for an object-oriented framework called the model-view-controller (MVC) architecture'' [source]
''Interactive Application Architecture Patterns'' [source]

''Concurrent and Real Time Systems: the CSP approach'' [free book]

Query music by humming

2011-01-23T19:26:00.000+01:00

''Sloud Search music by humming'' [source]
Scholar articles: here, and here]

Actually I was thinking about a song as a timed sequence (an extension of strings with real-time information for each symbol), and querying a song by an approximation of the song (like humming) can be seen as some king of distance for timed sequences.

New claim that P==NP

2011-01-22T18:48:00.002+01:00

''Polynomial Time Code For 3-SAT Released, P==NP.
Vladimir Romanov has released what he claims is a polynomial-time algorithm for solving 3-SAT. Because 3-SAT is NP-complete, this would imply that P==NP.
'' [source, here, 3-sat cod here]

Article here.

Degree	Roots	Possible Combinations
1	1	Real Root
2	2	Real Roots, or 2 Complex Roots
3	3	Real Roots, or 1 Real and 2 Complex Roots
4	4	Real Roots, or 2 Real and 2 Complex Roots, or 4 Complex Roots
etc etc!