It’s pretty common these days for me to read something and react with “Wow, that’s like something from a science fiction story I read X years ago”. In addition to this being common, I’ve also noticed that X is decreasing. Some examples, just of things I read in the last day or two: Teleportation. OK, admittedly, it’s a very low… Read more →
Category: Science and Technology
My nocturnally-biased suprachiasmatic nuclei
For at least 20 years now, I’ve known that I’m both happiest, and most productive, with a schedule where I am awake until the wee hours of the morning (between 2 and 4AM), and sleep until roughly the crack of noon. I haven’t been able to achieve that often, and its been more than four years now since I could… Read more →
All that foil-folding work for nothing…
At some past jobs, although not so much at this one, I’ve been the guy that my co-workers referred to as “tinfoil hat security guy”. I was the one who worried about cookies and tracking before most people did (and well before we all just gave up because Google knows everything about us), who raved about TIA and Carnivore, who… Read more →
Everything(*) You Know Is Wrong
How fast does the average electron move through a copper wire? If you thought “at the speed of light” or “something close to the speed of light, but varying with the conduction medium” you are so wrong that’s it’s almost immeasurable. What’s the temperature in a complete vacuum? If you answered “near absolute zero” or “very cold”, then you might… Read more →
The key observation
Humans are essentially social animals. No man is an island. Etc. You’ve heard it all, but now there’s science that actually kind of shows it. Happiness, in short, is not merely a function of personal experience, but also is a property of groups. Emotions are a collective phenomenon. Happy people tend to cluster with happy people, and unhappy people likewise–shocking,… Read more →
Nerding It Up Tinfoil Hat Style
So, a few months back I was thinking about an upcoming trip to Boston. A trip not unlike the one I’m on right now, albeit shorter and without the 9 day, all-day meeting marathon. Anyway, I was thinking about this trip with particular reference to the USA’s apparent new policy of having border guards copy data on laptops people bring… Read more →
A Disorganized Office Is A Sign Of…
Did you see any of the new stories about John Jost and teams’s forthcoming research paper? The one about how “behavioural residue” can be used to predict political leanings? “Conservative rooms tended to be cleaner, more brightly lit, better organized, less cluttered, and also more conventional and ordinary in terms of decoration,” Jost said during a panel discussion on “The… Read more →
The research mindset
I am so jealous of all the people working at the LHC this week. However, the best thing I’ve seen that’s LHC related this week was Hawking talking about his $100 bet against the project finding the Higgs boson. Why do I think it’s the best thing? Well, look at this part of his comments: I think it will be… Read more →
Aside
Shannon worked for Bell Labs (now owned by Alcatel-Lucent).
Guess who just shut down “fundamental research” in physics?
Not quite sic transit gloria mundi, but definitely a chunk of the glory of American research.
I Just Don’t Get It.
In some ways I’m a classic information theory junkie–Claude Shannon changed the way I think about the universe just as much as any golden book. Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, is something that I keep thinking I’ve finally had my “kick from the knee” moment with, and then something comes along to make it clear to me that I… Read more →
Browser Neepery 2008 Style
So, like all the other serious geeks, I’ve been playing with Google Chrome for a the last couple of days. In general, I like it–it’s fast, and there are lots of nice little UI bits that I quite like, plus the deep nerd in me likes the multi-process architecture and the built-in memory profiling, etc. However there is absolutely no… Read more →
CERN Rap
This pleases me. That is all. Also, the Backup Dancers credit made me laugh out loud. Read more →
The Web is… um… big.
As I seem to be saying a lot this month, I’ve been using the Internet for a long time. I remember when Gopher was more useful than HTTP. I remember when with a little dedication you could surf a significant portion of the entire web. I mean, I’m not Berners-Lee or anything, but I started on the web about three… Read more →
I knew it all along!
You know, I’ve always suspected that it wasn’t just that most “nice guys” are insecure, codependent cases. And science has vindicated my suspicion: New Scientist: Bad guys really do get the most girls NICE guys knew it, now two studies have confirmed it: bad boys get the most girls. The finding may help explain why a nasty suite of antisocial… Read more →
I don’t know about ‘blessed’, but it sure makes you happier
I knew it all along, but it’s nice to have some science to back it up Spending on Happiness — HBS Working Knowledge Can money buy you happiness? Yes—so long as you spend the money on someone else. According to new research, giving other people even as little as $5 can lead to increased well-being for the giver. That’s the… Read more →
