6.04.2008
Putting an End To The Madness
Make sure to click on the picture to enlarge it. . . Still, that lizard has prime camo.
Turn Off Your PS3
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Don't blame the fridge for your steep power bills -- an Australian consumer agency study has found that videogame consoles and plasma flat-screen TVs are major electricity guzzlers, even when left on stand-by.
The recent study by Choice said Sony Corp's Playstation 3, closely followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360 and plasma television sets, consumed the most power out of a list of 16 electronic devices tested, including laptops, stereo systems and DVD players.
"Our tests found that leaving a Playstation 3 on while not in use would cost almost... five times more than it would take to run a refrigerator for the same yearly period," said the study which was published on Choice's website www.choice.com.au.
"The plasma TV set was also a power hungry device, consuming over four times more power than a traditional analogue set. The average desktop computer was third on the list." (Full Story at reuters)
Maybe I should start turning off the PC at night. . .
What 300 Calories Looks Like And Costs
Ever wonder how many calories something is? Well, here is a site that has created a nice selection of foods that are 300 calories. As a bonus, they even tallied the cost of each of these snacks/meals. Check it out. (Monetary values are listed on the site).
Feeding The Masses
Here is Norman Borlaug, father of the green revolution, from about a decade ago but highly relevant today:
Yields can still be increased by 50-100% in much of the Indian sub-Continent, Latin America, the former USSR and Eastern Europe, and by 100-200% in much of sub-Saharan Africa, providing political stability is maintained, bureaucracies that destroys entrepreneurial initiative are reigned in, and their researchers and extension workers devote more energy to putting science and technology to work at the farm level.... (Full Story at marginalrevolution)
Click to enlarge Graph
I would be interested to see the progress we have made over the past 10-20 years. Also, how much of that "Area Spared" is now being used for ethanol production. At any rate, its encouraging to see that we are continuing to get more efficient in food production (speaking strictly of plant matter of course).
Key Bottle Opener
Instructables user DoomMeister made this keychain bottle opener from an old (or prop) key. It doesn't take many tools to make this stylish opener that would fit in perfectly at your steampunk or other victorian themed party. (Instructions Linked at makezine)
You say that's a bottle opener? . . . I think that's the key to my heart.
Better Gmail
Google updated Gmail, and now we're following up with Better Gmail2, a Firefox extension that adds features to the new Gmail interface. Like its predecessor, Better Gmail 2 is a compilation of Greasemonkey user scripts that add features to Gmail, but Better Gmail 2 works with Gmail's overhauled interface. We'll maintain the original Better Gamail extension separately from Better Gmail 2, for users still rocking the older version. However, if you've got the snappier Gmail interface enabled and you're ready for some tweaks courtesy of scripters far and wide, hit the jump for the Better Gmail 2 Firefox extension download. (Download at lifehacker)
Translation: It adds cool little features that you don't necessarily see right away. It's just some tweaks that makes using Gmail a little easier (to think - that was possible). I downloaded and am still playing with it, but I like it so far.
I'm Stuck With You I Guess
ScienceDaily (Jun. 4, 2008) — The actor Sir Peter Ustinov once famously said “Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who get there first.” Psychologists now believe there is some truth to this argument. Rather than picking our friends based on intentional choice and common values and interests, our friendships may be based on more superficial factors like proximity (think neighbors) or group assignments (your department at work). . .
As reported in a recent issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, sitting in neighboring seats as a result of randomly assigned seat numbers when meeting for the first time led to higher ratings of friendship intensity one year later. The same was true even if participants were merely in the same row.
The counterintuitive finding suggests that friendships may not be as deliberate we think. “In a nutshell,” write the authors, “people may become friends simply because they drew the right random number.” (Full Story at sd)
6.03.2008
Seriously, Don't Mess With Vets
KINGSTON, Pa. (AP) - The young woman probably thought the 71-year-old Korean War veteran, whose friend was in a wheelchair, would make an easy target. She was wrong.
Harry Kopenis (ko-PEN'-is) chased and tackled the 22-year-old woman he says robbed him at an ATM in northeastern Pennsylvania. Then, with help from his friend in a wheelchair, he held her until police arrived.
"Maybe she thought I was easy prey. She didn't think I was going to get her. Well, senior citizens aren't easy prey," Kopenis said.
Police charged Erin Vanmatre, of Kingston, with robbery, harassment and other offenses. Vanmatre, who was on probation for conspiracy to commit theft, was locked up on $10,000 bail. It wasn't clear if she had an attorney.
Kopenis said he's not sure how he was able to catch Vanmatre, considering he suffered a stroke five years ago and is on various prescription medications. (Full Story at wtop)
Never Touch The Shell Casings
Researchers in the University Department of Chemistry and the Police's scientific support unit have developed the method that enables scientists to 'visualise fingerprints' even after the print itself has been removed. They conducted a study into the way fingerprints can corrode metal surfaces. The technique can enhance – after firing– a fingerprint that has been deposited on a small calibre metal cartridge case before it is fired.
Dr John Bond, Honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester and Scientific Support Manager at Northamptonshire Police said: "For the first time we can get prints from people who handled a cartridge before it was fired."
"Wiping it down, washing it in hot soapy water makes no difference - and the heat of the shot helps the process we use.
"The procedure works by applying an electric charge to a metal - say a gun or bullet - which has been coated in a fine conducting powder, similar to that used in photocopiers.
"Even if the fingerprint has been washed off, it leaves a slight corrosion on the metal and this attracts the powder when the charge is applied, so showing up a residual fingerprint.
"The technique works on everything from bullet casings to machine guns. Even if heat vaporises normal clues, police will be able to prove who handled a particular gun." (Full Story at eurekalert)
How Tall Will Your Children Be?
I realized today that my post about doing quantitative genetic back-of-the-envelopes was rather wordy. And, I have a hunch that those who "got it" already have an intuitive feel for what I'm talking about, so I thought perhaps the easiest way to get people to develop a better feel was to roll up the calculations into a small Javascript calculator. You can find it below the fold. The terms are defined in the earlier post, but I plugged in the default values (you can change them if you want). Obviously you enter in inches or centimeters depending on whether you're normal or Canadian. Finally, if you are from another dimension where heritabilities are outside of the 0 to 1 interval and heights are negative then you will encounter problems. Remember the garbage-in-garbage-out principle; I did this in a hurry so no catching your errors and throwing back intelligible warnings. (From scienceblogs)
Click on the link to calculate your child's eventual height.
Sad Kids Perform Better
ScienceDaily (Jun. 3, 2008) — Psychologists at the University of Virginia and the University of Plymouth (United Kingdom) have conducted experimental research that contrasts with the belief that happy children are the best learners. The findings show that where attention to detail is required, happy children may be at a disadvantage.
The researchers conducted a series of experiments with different child age groups who had happy or sad moods induced with the aid of music (Mozart and Mahler) and selected video clips (Jungle Book and the Lion King). The groups were then asked to undertake a task that required attention to detail -- to observe a detailed image such as a house and a simple shape such as a triangle, and then locate the shape within the larger picture. The findings in each experiment with both music and video clips were conclusive, with the children induced to feel a sad or neutral mood performing the task better than those induced to feel a happy state of mind. (Full Story at sd)
So I guess this makes Emo kids regular geniuses, eh?
The Navy Funded Finding The Titanic
The 1985 discovery of the Titanic stemmed from a secret United States Navy investigation of two wrecked nuclear submarines, according to the oceanographer who found the infamous ocean liner. . .
Ballard met with the Navy in 1982 to request funding to develop the robotic submersible technology he needed to find the Titanic. . .
Ronald Thunman, then the deputy chief of naval operations for submarine warfare, told Ballard the military was interested in the technology—but for the purpose of investigating the wreckage of the U.S.S. Thresher and U.S.S. Scorpion. . .
Once Ballard had completed his mission—if time was left—Thunman said, Ballard could do what he wanted, but never gave him explicit permission to search for the Titanic. (Full Story at nationalgeographic)
There is always a story behind the story.
Fast Food and Fat
Matsa and Anderson next looked at data on individual eating habits from a survey conducted between 1994 and 1996. When eating out, people reported consuming about 35 percent more calories on average than when they ate at home. But importantly, respondents reduced their caloric intake at home on days they ate out (that's not to say that people were watching their weight, since respondents who reported consuming more at home also tended to eat more when going out). Overall, eating out increased daily caloric intake by only 24 calories.
The researchers also find that greater access to fast food restaurants, as created by new highway construction, doesn't much matter for weight. Here is more, including a link to the original paper. (From marginalrevolution)
The article referenced suggests that fast food has nothing to do with obesity. I'm not so sure that's the proper conclusion to these statistics. Has anyone asked if maybe it's not all about the calories? Maybe it's the nutritional value. Fast food isn't exactly "healthy" food, and maybe that affects one's metabolism (not to mention increased risk for such things as diabetes ). All I'm saying is that I don't think this justifies constant intake of fast food.
6.02.2008
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
NEW YORK (AP) - Four men, one 29-foot rowboat _ and about 3,200 miles to go. A team of rowers from the United Kingdom set out from the Hudson River on Sunday to try to cross the Atlantic Ocean. They hope to end at the Isles of Scilly, a group of small islands off England's southwestern tip. The boat has an electronic tracking system, and a Web site dedicated to the effort says the rowers had gone 37 miles as of Sunday night. They hope to break a record of 55 days and 13 hours, set by two Norwegian-Americans in 1896. The rowers are expected to take turns, with two people rowing in two-hour shifts and then switching off. They range in age from 19 to 43 and have been training for more than a year. They are carrying about 1,500 freeze-dried meals and a device that can make saltwater safe to drink. (From wtop)
Guerrilla Gardening
BRIMMING with lime-hued succulents and a lush collection of agaves, one shooting spiky leaves 10 feet into the air, it's a head-turning garden smack in the middle of Long Beach's asphalt jungle. But the gardener who designed it doesn't want you to know his last name, since his handiwork isn't exactly legit. It's on a traffic island he commandeered.
"The city wasn't doing anything with it, and I had a bunch of extra plants," says Scott, as we tour the garden, cars whooshing by on both sides of Loynes Drive.
Scott is a guerrilla gardener, a member of a burgeoning movement of green enthusiasts who plant without approval on land that's not theirs. In London, Berlin, Miami, San Francisco and Southern California, these free-range tillers are sowing a new kind of flower power. In nighttime planting parties or solo "seed bombing" runs, they aim to turn neglected public space and vacant lots into floral or food outposts. (Full Story at latimes)
Wish I had this problem in my yard.
Doctored Photos
Have you ever wondered about a photo? Wondered if it had some photo editing done to it? Well here is an article that can help you spot a fake. It gives you five things to look for. Check it out.
