A book about how to live your life.
Not an easy read, but often voted one of the top ten books in the English language.
And after all, why would a book about purpose in life be an easy read? George Eliot was an absolute master of the mot juste. Every sentence is exquisite.
Middlemarch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlemarch
Available for free at
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/145
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
(as are many books that are out of copyright).
Better yet, look for a real copy, like one from the 1870s or 1880s at ebay or an antiquarian book dealer. Why pay more for a paperback printed last year? I got a first edition in one volume for two dollars! The spine is cracked, but the pages are free of foxing and just a pleasure to read (but, my, my, the typesetting used to be even stranger than the English!). And the inscription led me on a great chase! I know a lot about Mariana Alice Fletcher, to whom it was given on her twenty-first birthday.
... for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
A good New Year to those of good will!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
Epigenetics and the Epigenome
This is probably the most important thing you can learn in 2008.
Trying to understand DNA and genetics takes quite some time.
The good news is there is something much simpler and more important: epigenetics.
Each cell in your body has a complete copy of your DNA, but in any one cell, most of the genes are "turned off", and relatively few are "turned on". That is why your cells are different from each other. Different types of cells have different genes turned on.
A gene being "turned off" means that a small molecular tag is attached to the beginning of the gene, like a little peg, so the gene is physically blocked and is inactive. This is the subject of epigenetics.
When you are young, genes that should be turned on are turned on, and genes that should be turned off are turned off. That is why everything works properly and your risk of cancer is really low when you are young.
However, as you get older, extraneous "turn off" molecular tags are accidentally attached where they should not be, so over time, gene control becomes chaotic.
If we could remove the extraneous molecules, we would vastly drop our risk of cancer and would actually become physiologically younger.
Fortunately, this can be accomplished easily. Fasting one day a month or one day a week will turn all your cells into check-DNA-tags-and-rip-off-any-tags-that-don't-belong-there mode. That's it. On occasion, just do not eat from dinner one day to dinner the next day. Drink water, though. The effects are enormous.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=3985674
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/the-risks-and-rewards-of-skipping-meals/
If you don't want to do that, you can take resveratrol. Go to longevinex.com
In January 2008, a documentary called Ghost in Your Genes will become available at Amazon. It may also be rebroadcast. After you see it, you will understand why this is such a big deal.
Trying to understand DNA and genetics takes quite some time.
The good news is there is something much simpler and more important: epigenetics.
Each cell in your body has a complete copy of your DNA, but in any one cell, most of the genes are "turned off", and relatively few are "turned on". That is why your cells are different from each other. Different types of cells have different genes turned on.
A gene being "turned off" means that a small molecular tag is attached to the beginning of the gene, like a little peg, so the gene is physically blocked and is inactive. This is the subject of epigenetics.
When you are young, genes that should be turned on are turned on, and genes that should be turned off are turned off. That is why everything works properly and your risk of cancer is really low when you are young.
However, as you get older, extraneous "turn off" molecular tags are accidentally attached where they should not be, so over time, gene control becomes chaotic.
If we could remove the extraneous molecules, we would vastly drop our risk of cancer and would actually become physiologically younger.
Fortunately, this can be accomplished easily. Fasting one day a month or one day a week will turn all your cells into check-DNA-tags-and-rip-off-any-tags-that-don't-belong-there mode. That's it. On occasion, just do not eat from dinner one day to dinner the next day. Drink water, though. The effects are enormous.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=3985674
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/the-risks-and-rewards-of-skipping-meals/
If you don't want to do that, you can take resveratrol. Go to longevinex.com
In January 2008, a documentary called Ghost in Your Genes will become available at Amazon. It may also be rebroadcast. After you see it, you will understand why this is such a big deal.
Migraine headaches
A possible cure for migraines. The possible cause is quite surprising.
(However, one of my friends has said in his medial experience the pharmaceutical mentioned does not relieve migraines.)
A heart treatment produces 'spectacular' results for chronic migraine sufferers!
This was the top story at The Independent the other day.
http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article3284878.ece
(However, one of my friends has said in his medial experience the pharmaceutical mentioned does not relieve migraines.)
A heart treatment produces 'spectacular' results for chronic migraine sufferers!
This was the top story at The Independent the other day.
http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article3284878.ece
Thursday, December 27, 2007
2008
Actually, it is quite possible that the year is not 2008 but 2012 or even 2015. If the Star of Bethlehem is a conjunction of planets or other astrological event, that event could have occurred as early as 7 BC.
In the Hebrew calendar, January 2008 will be in the year 5768 as dated from one year before the Creation.
In the Chinese calendar, February of 2008 will be the Year of the Rat, 4705, dated from that morning in February 4704 years ago when the Moon and all the visible planets were grouped together in the dawn sky, the celestial clockwork's hands all set at zero.
In the Hebrew calendar, January 2008 will be in the year 5768 as dated from one year before the Creation.
In the Chinese calendar, February of 2008 will be the Year of the Rat, 4705, dated from that morning in February 4704 years ago when the Moon and all the visible planets were grouped together in the dawn sky, the celestial clockwork's hands all set at zero.
Why is Christmas on the 25th of December?
On the winter solstice, around December 22, the Sun appears to pass farthest to the south. For three days it appears to stay at that same level. Then, on the 25th, it appears to begin heading north, and so is "born".
LA Times says gas may go over $4 a gallon
The LA Times says gas may go to more than $4 a gallon next year.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gas27dec27,0,7315706.story?coll=la-home-center
Since it does look like that from here on demand will outstrip supply, we are coming to a major transition in the Age of Oil. The Oil War has been going on for a century now; it is nothing new. (The US is currently doubling its emergency reserves, even though the price is near a historic high, because they know something is coming, and that something is not good. Oil demand usually drops toward the end of the year, but this year it just kept going up.)
Major oil fields like Mexico's Canterell are seeing unbelievable drops in production, and there is little replacement capacity coming online. Mexico may cease to be a major oil exporter to the US in just a few years.
Drilling in Alaska preserves will not save us. That would run the world for a few days. Brazil recently announced a 10 billion barrel discovery. Wonderful. That would run the world for about 4 months. And there hasn't been a discovery like that in decades.
Many say that the price of oil drives the supply of oil, so don't worry: as the price goes up, the supply will go up. But I think this is clearly wrong. It is the supply that is controlling the price, not the other way around. In the 70s and 80s, technology became available that allowed a lot of oil to be discovered and pumped out. After the oil crises, the UK, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark used technology that had just become available to pump the oil and gas out of the North Sea. That oil and gas, and oil and gas that became available elsewhere due to the same technological advances, were suddenly available, breaking the stranglehold of the oil exporters. That and improved efficiency dropped the price to $10 to $20 a barrel for decades. But be careful what you wish for. I think we will come to see this as not necessarily having been a good thing in the long run. Although over the last 30 years the anomalously low price produced the biggest economic boom the world has ever seen, for the economy to continue the way it is requires that the energy supply continue to grow, or at the very least not decrease. That is looking progressively unlikely.
Basically, the nonfrozen land area of the Earth and the shallow offshore areas have all been searched, and everything huge has been found. There may be more large fields in deep water to be discovered, but compared to finding the oil that was produced for the last century, this is going to be really difficult.
Basically, oil is so useful and contains so much energy that everything around us (including us because the food that we eat is provided by using huge amounts of oil) depends on continued supply. The Population Bomb may not have been avoided, just delayed, and made very much worse by all the cheap oil.
The good news is that technological advance should really explode over the next 20 years, and we may figure out how to produce really good photovoltaic panels and batteries to run vehicles.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gas27dec27,0,7315706.story?coll=la-home-center
Since it does look like that from here on demand will outstrip supply, we are coming to a major transition in the Age of Oil. The Oil War has been going on for a century now; it is nothing new. (The US is currently doubling its emergency reserves, even though the price is near a historic high, because they know something is coming, and that something is not good. Oil demand usually drops toward the end of the year, but this year it just kept going up.)
Major oil fields like Mexico's Canterell are seeing unbelievable drops in production, and there is little replacement capacity coming online. Mexico may cease to be a major oil exporter to the US in just a few years.
Drilling in Alaska preserves will not save us. That would run the world for a few days. Brazil recently announced a 10 billion barrel discovery. Wonderful. That would run the world for about 4 months. And there hasn't been a discovery like that in decades.
Many say that the price of oil drives the supply of oil, so don't worry: as the price goes up, the supply will go up. But I think this is clearly wrong. It is the supply that is controlling the price, not the other way around. In the 70s and 80s, technology became available that allowed a lot of oil to be discovered and pumped out. After the oil crises, the UK, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark used technology that had just become available to pump the oil and gas out of the North Sea. That oil and gas, and oil and gas that became available elsewhere due to the same technological advances, were suddenly available, breaking the stranglehold of the oil exporters. That and improved efficiency dropped the price to $10 to $20 a barrel for decades. But be careful what you wish for. I think we will come to see this as not necessarily having been a good thing in the long run. Although over the last 30 years the anomalously low price produced the biggest economic boom the world has ever seen, for the economy to continue the way it is requires that the energy supply continue to grow, or at the very least not decrease. That is looking progressively unlikely.
Basically, the nonfrozen land area of the Earth and the shallow offshore areas have all been searched, and everything huge has been found. There may be more large fields in deep water to be discovered, but compared to finding the oil that was produced for the last century, this is going to be really difficult.
Basically, oil is so useful and contains so much energy that everything around us (including us because the food that we eat is provided by using huge amounts of oil) depends on continued supply. The Population Bomb may not have been avoided, just delayed, and made very much worse by all the cheap oil.
The good news is that technological advance should really explode over the next 20 years, and we may figure out how to produce really good photovoltaic panels and batteries to run vehicles.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Netherlands Pavilion, Nagoya Expo 2005
The Netherlands Pavilion at the Nagoya Expo in 2005 was really wonderful. When you entered, the room looked empty, with just a big white sunken floor. But then the dimmed the lights and suddenly the floor looked like it had turned into rippling water. The effect was stunning. These pictures do not do it justice, but there is no video I can find on YouTube or by Google.
http://www.hollandtrade.com/vko/zoeken/ShowBouwsteen.asp?bstnum=561&location=&highlight=
http://www.hollandtrade.com/vko/zoeken/ShowBouwsteen.asp?bstnum=561&location=&highlight=
Saturday, December 22, 2007
What is science?
The best answer I have heard so far:
Science is the process of learning to be less wrong.
The same could be said for a lot of things we do.
Science is the process of learning to be less wrong.
The same could be said for a lot of things we do.
British Idol
The British version of American Idol. Three of the following videos are in good quality, that is to say, much better quality than a typical YouTube clip up until now.
If you don't have time to watch them all, at least watch the third one, Paul Potts.
Very funny... High quality video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8wWncO0m00&feature=related
The Bar Wizards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oQ_q_AaPJs
Paul Potts High quality video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
And the winner is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkVnyfdGYQ
If you don't have time to watch them all, at least watch the third one, Paul Potts.
Very funny... High quality video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8wWncO0m00&feature=related
The Bar Wizards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oQ_q_AaPJs
Paul Potts High quality video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
And the winner is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkVnyfdGYQ
Monday, December 17, 2007
Dan Fogelberg, 1951-2007
米歌手 Ｄ・フォーゲルバーグ 死去
No man ever spoke so straight to my heart.
http://danfogelberg.com/news.html
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QKUBuLzDtJU&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cy3GHCy49Dw&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xAHHWb783VE&feature=related
There is a 62-track, "Portrait - The Music of Dan Fogelberg from 1972 - 1997", at iTunes for $19.99. All the old favorites are there...
There is a new CD coming out later this year, and a new song on iTunes.
http://danfogelberg.com/news.html
No man ever spoke so straight to my heart.
http://danfogelberg.com/news.html
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QKUBuLzDtJU&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cy3GHCy49Dw&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xAHHWb783VE&feature=related
There is a 62-track, "Portrait - The Music of Dan Fogelberg from 1972 - 1997", at iTunes for $19.99. All the old favorites are there...
There is a new CD coming out later this year, and a new song on iTunes.
http://danfogelberg.com/news.html
Monday, December 10, 2007
3D Movies
It is likely that there will be more and more 3D movies in the future... because they cannot be pirated easily.
I saw Beowulf in 3D. Stunning.
NOT for children.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1996446.ece
If a 3D movie has subtitles, however, having to focus back and forth from where your attention is to where the subtitles seem to be floating in midair is really tiring and annoying.
I saw Beowulf in 3D. Stunning.
NOT for children.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1996446.ece
If a 3D movie has subtitles, however, having to focus back and forth from where your attention is to where the subtitles seem to be floating in midair is really tiring and annoying.
TV from Hawaii over the internet to your TV
I knew this day would come.
I have no idea whether this is good or not, and the content is slim so far, but it is just starting out...
I often want to watch full news broadcasts from Hawaii, and there are only short news clips on the net so far, but I already have so much electronic stuff in my apartment, the last thing I want is another box. But, on the other hand, it would be great to go home to Hawaii and not turn on the news and say "Who is that?".
Actually, I would rather just pay 50 cents a day to get the broadcast over the net... I hope they do that soon.
Even if it turns out to be good, the set top box will become obsolete and the company will
either adapt or go out of business in a few years... but on the other hand, it ain't gettin any earlier... and everything is changing so fast, an electronic device going obsolete in a few years is normal... and if you have grandparents or parents living away, I think they would enjoy it...
This company seems to be offering a deal...
it is like 100 dollars cheaper than what it says at the company site itself, I think.
http://www.alohavalley.com/hawaii-iptv.html
This is the company site.
http://tvfromhawaii.com
I have no idea whether this is good or not, and the content is slim so far, but it is just starting out...
I often want to watch full news broadcasts from Hawaii, and there are only short news clips on the net so far, but I already have so much electronic stuff in my apartment, the last thing I want is another box. But, on the other hand, it would be great to go home to Hawaii and not turn on the news and say "Who is that?".
Actually, I would rather just pay 50 cents a day to get the broadcast over the net... I hope they do that soon.
Even if it turns out to be good, the set top box will become obsolete and the company will
either adapt or go out of business in a few years... but on the other hand, it ain't gettin any earlier... and everything is changing so fast, an electronic device going obsolete in a few years is normal... and if you have grandparents or parents living away, I think they would enjoy it...
This company seems to be offering a deal...
it is like 100 dollars cheaper than what it says at the company site itself, I think.
http://www.alohavalley.com/hawaii-iptv.html
This is the company site.
http://tvfromhawaii.com
Here is what some of the earliest life on Earth looked like
NewScientist is offering free wallpaper.
One of the pictures is absolutely spectacular. Living stromatolites! I had no idea they were red!
This is what life looked like on Earth for the first few billion years.
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/screensaver/2007/wallpaper/NewScientist_november_large.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolites
One of the pictures is absolutely spectacular. Living stromatolites! I had no idea they were red!
This is what life looked like on Earth for the first few billion years.
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/screensaver/2007/wallpaper/NewScientist_november_large.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolites
How to use someone else's (cable) modem
You go to your friend's house, and you want to connect your laptop to the internet, but your friend doesn't have wireless.
You unplug the modem from your friend's computer and plug it into yours, but you cannot connect.
Leave your computer plugged into the modem, then disconnect the modem from the electrical supply (that is, unplug it from the electrical socket), wait a few seconds, then reconnect the modem to the electrical supply.
The modem should now autodetect your computer, and that will be it. You will not need to imput any addresses or anything like that.
The above applies to cable modems.
Tell your friend to get WiFi.
You unplug the modem from your friend's computer and plug it into yours, but you cannot connect.
Leave your computer plugged into the modem, then disconnect the modem from the electrical supply (that is, unplug it from the electrical socket), wait a few seconds, then reconnect the modem to the electrical supply.
The modem should now autodetect your computer, and that will be it. You will not need to imput any addresses or anything like that.
The above applies to cable modems.
Tell your friend to get WiFi.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Future history of the world, 2015
Get over the first minute... the rest is fascinating... and I have read these ideas in various places... Here, all these ideas are summarized and extrapolated in a few minutes...
Most people have no idea what is coming...
http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/new-masterfs1.html
This is an updated version. The original was for 2014. This one is for 2015.
Here is the cover of Reason Magazine from June 2004... the one with a picture of "your own house" on the cover.
And here is the Reason Magazine article from that issue.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/29148.html
Most people have no idea what is coming...
http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/new-masterfs1.html
This is an updated version. The original was for 2014. This one is for 2015.
Here is the cover of Reason Magazine from June 2004... the one with a picture of "your own house" on the cover.
And here is the Reason Magazine article from that issue.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/29148.html
Thursday, November 22, 2007
One of the best sites I have seen...
I read about this site in an article by Rhodri Marsden in The Independent.
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3177183.ece
How stumbleupon.com works is not obvious from the samples on the front page. You really need to sign up and then pick say 5 to 10 categories.
I spent the first few hours saying wow to 80% of what I saw. I had never seen 95% of the sites before, even in categories in which I am very interested. I can see why it was voted one of the top 100 sites.
Basically, what it does is show you websites that are highly rated by other people with an interest in the category. You will see really surprising things. Try to resist bookmarking everything... but if you see things at the beginning that interest you, it might be a good idea to bookmark them because they will show you the most highly rated sites first. If your browser has a history, all the sites will be there.
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3177183.ece
How stumbleupon.com works is not obvious from the samples on the front page. You really need to sign up and then pick say 5 to 10 categories.
I spent the first few hours saying wow to 80% of what I saw. I had never seen 95% of the sites before, even in categories in which I am very interested. I can see why it was voted one of the top 100 sites.
Basically, what it does is show you websites that are highly rated by other people with an interest in the category. You will see really surprising things. Try to resist bookmarking everything... but if you see things at the beginning that interest you, it might be a good idea to bookmark them because they will show you the most highly rated sites first. If your browser has a history, all the sites will be there.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
New Opening for The Age of Biology
Nova used to open with, well, a nova... But the 21st century will be the century of biology, and so the opening has been substantially changed...
In fact, there doesn't seem to be a nova in it... The opening starts with a spiral galaxy, and ends with a spiral galaxy...
In fact, there doesn't seem to be a nova in it... The opening starts with a spiral galaxy, and ends with a spiral galaxy...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The Fabulous Five
To anyone who was living in Hawaii in the early '70s, just say the magic words:
HIC, Al Davis, Bob Nash, Dwight Holiday, John Penebacker, Jerome Freeman, "Red" Rocha, Chuck Lehey, the Fabulous Five...
and you will get a grin from ear to ear... The HIC never rocked like that! Everyone was glued to their TVs and radios... Probably the most fun I have ever seen... and they kept winning and winning...
http://starbulletin.com/1999/10/26/news/story8.html
http://starbulletin.com/2004/02/22/business/story1.html
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Comet Holmes a few days after its discovery in 1892
Here is a picture of Comet Holmes a few days after its discovery almost exactly a hundred and fifteen years ago in 1892!
It is the round bright object in the lower left corner.
Holmes was given a medal by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Holmes
And here is the page announcing the award!
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?journal=PASP.&year=%3F%3F%3F%3F&volume=...5&letter=.&db_key=PRE&page_ind=54&plate_select=NO&data_type=GIF&type=SCREEN_GIF&classic=YES
Comet Holmes
--William Hood Photography
The above photograph was taken near Los Angeles International Airport!
It has also just been published online by Sky & Telescope at
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/gallery/skyevents/11088956.html
Click on the link below to see some amazing framed prints! Take a look at the Sierra Sunsets and the astrophotos! Jawdropping!
http://members.aol.com/wmhoodphoto/index.htm
Monday, November 12, 2007
The Blog Turns One!
This blog is a year old... and what a year it's been!
Looking forward to little and big things... 3D movies, mobile computing, genetic therapy, first contact...
Looking forward to little and big things... 3D movies, mobile computing, genetic therapy, first contact...
Streaming radio is everywhere
If you haven't poked around iTunes or at the webpages of radio stations, you may not be aware that you can usually listen to streaming radio online... it works nearly flawlessly nowadays...
Here is Hawaii public radio... I listened to A Prairie Home Companion on this station the other day... amazing... being in Japan and listening to HPR broadcast a program from National Public Radio... for free... in real time...
http://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/hpr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=30
Here is Hawaii public radio... I listened to A Prairie Home Companion on this station the other day... amazing... being in Japan and listening to HPR broadcast a program from National Public Radio... for free... in real time...
http://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/hpr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=30
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Totally charming video
Video of the Hayabusa Mission to Asteroid Itokawa... totally charming and very intensely sweet Japanese anime sensibility... in a video about robotic probes!
I love the little robot jumping around on the surface like a Mexican jumping bean...
And it almost made it... only the sample return at the end failed... and so it remains, for a little while longer, in the realm of dreams...
I love the little robot jumping around on the surface like a Mexican jumping bean...
And it almost made it... only the sample return at the end failed... and so it remains, for a little while longer, in the realm of dreams...
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Comet Holmes
Waaay out in the asteroid belt, there are a lot of icy cometlike asteroids. They are so far from the Sun that they hardly give off any gas and dust, and so they are often indistinguishable from asteroids.
One of these is Comet Holmes, which was observed only once a century ago when it suddenly started giving off a lot of dust and gas.
Then, last week, something happened. Comet Holmes suddenly brightened a million times and is now easily visible to the naked eye! Either the outer crust cracked, or something slammed into it, exposing the more volatile gas and dust below.
I saw it last night. Even with a lot of light pollution, it is conspicuous as a fuzzy starlike object. All the stars nearby look sharp, but the comet is obviously fuzzy to the naked eye. In binoculars, it looks just like this!
IT IS NOW BIGGER THAN THE SUN!!!
http://starbulletin.com/2007/11/11/news/story04.html
Here are directions for finding it.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/10912981.html
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
How the internet has changed in just the last 10 years
The BBC started its website 10 years ago. Take a look at the graphic showing the number of views going from about a million a month to a thousand times that.
This is a good example of how explosive progress can be... and most progress that is dependent on computing is advancing like this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/7057140.stm
This is a good example of how explosive progress can be... and most progress that is dependent on computing is advancing like this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/7057140.stm
Saturday, October 13, 2007
What?!?!?!
Sometimes you come across a story that makes you say "Hmm, is it April 1?". Then you realize it isn't, and you say WHATTTTT?!?!?!
Here is one of them.
If you take the toner cartridge of an inkject printer, clean it out, sterilize it, and fill it with living cells in a carrier fluid, you can use the inkjet printer to print 3D living tissue! 95% of the cells survive being shot out of the inkjet and hitting the target!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15231206
Here is one of them.
If you take the toner cartridge of an inkject printer, clean it out, sterilize it, and fill it with living cells in a carrier fluid, you can use the inkjet printer to print 3D living tissue! 95% of the cells survive being shot out of the inkjet and hitting the target!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15231206
The world changes: Kodak's Olympic sponsorship ending
After more than a century, the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing will mark the end of Kodak sponsorship.
Everything is going digital. While film still has its inimitable qualities, the economics of digital photography are becoming overwhelming, and even Kodak realizes that most photography will be digital.
Everything is going digital. While film still has its inimitable qualities, the economics of digital photography are becoming overwhelming, and even Kodak realizes that most photography will be digital.
Patients cannot remember which medications they are taking
Half of patients taking antihypertensive drugs were unable to remember a single one of the medications they were taking. Since someone could easily be confused or unconscious when taken to an emergency room, it would be useful to keep a list of medications and dosages in your purse or wallet.
Minor transient strokes need to be treated as emergencies
By the time we reach our 80s, we typically have hundreds of small strokes. Most of these produce no symptoms.
However, if you live long enough, it is very likely you will experience at least a few transient strokes. The symptoms can be very strange (faces may disappear, speech may be unintelligible, confusion), may or may not involve paralysis, and may pass in a few hours. However, these are signs that a much more serious stroke may be coming in the next few days, weeks, or months. Going to the emergency room and treating such a mild transient stroke will reduce the later risk of a major stroke by 80%!
Here are some symptoms of strokes.
http://www.stroke.org.uk/information/what_is_a_stroke/common_symptoms.html
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/85062.php
However, if you live long enough, it is very likely you will experience at least a few transient strokes. The symptoms can be very strange (faces may disappear, speech may be unintelligible, confusion), may or may not involve paralysis, and may pass in a few hours. However, these are signs that a much more serious stroke may be coming in the next few days, weeks, or months. Going to the emergency room and treating such a mild transient stroke will reduce the later risk of a major stroke by 80%!
Here are some symptoms of strokes.
http://www.stroke.org.uk/information/what_is_a_stroke/common_symptoms.html
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/85062.php
Friday, October 12, 2007
Sukiyaki (上を向いて歩こう I look up when I walk (so the tears won't fall))
The real title of this song is Ue o muite arukou. The name Sukiyaki doesn't mean anything in the context of the song. It was renamed in English because the Japanese title was too difficult.
The song begins
I look upward when I walk
So the tears won't fall
Remembering happy days in spring
For tonight I am all alone
The singer, Kyu Sakamoto, was killed in a plane crash in 1985.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xcHysLbSk4&mode=related&search=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukiyaki_%28song%29
http://www.japanorama.com/kyuchan.html
The song begins
I look upward when I walk
So the tears won't fall
Remembering happy days in spring
For tonight I am all alone
The singer, Kyu Sakamoto, was killed in a plane crash in 1985.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xcHysLbSk4&mode=related&search=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukiyaki_%28song%29
http://www.japanorama.com/kyuchan.html
Thursday, October 11, 2007
We may know whether life exists on Mars by next summer!
The Phoenix Mars Lander will, if everything goes according to plan, land on Mars in May of 2008 and dig under the surface and perform experiments to determine whether life has existed or currently exists there.
I would bet everything there are living cells there now... and on some of the moons of Jupiter and maybe other outer planets as well.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6926880.stm
I would bet everything there are living cells there now... and on some of the moons of Jupiter and maybe other outer planets as well.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6926880.stm
First Radio Telescope Dedicated to Searching for Extraterrestrails Begins Operations
The first part of the Allen Telescope Array has started operations.
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn12771-new-radio-telescope-begins-search-for-alien-signals.html
There will soon be a flood of data requiring analysis, so if you leave your computer on all the time anyway, you could join SETI at Home to hunt for alien technological civilizations.
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn12771-new-radio-telescope-begins-search-for-alien-signals.html
There will soon be a flood of data requiring analysis, so if you leave your computer on all the time anyway, you could join SETI at Home to hunt for alien technological civilizations.
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Camelot
With clips from the original with Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, and Robert Goulet!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1GqoxJngBI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1GqoxJngBI
The funniest joke
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip. After a good dinner, they retire for the night, and go to sleep.
Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
"I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes" replies Watson.
"And what do you deduce from that?"
Watson ponders for a minute.
"Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
Holmes is silent for a moment. "Watson, you idiot!" he says. "Someone has stolen our tent!"
Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
"I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes" replies Watson.
"And what do you deduce from that?"
Watson ponders for a minute.
"Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
Holmes is silent for a moment. "Watson, you idiot!" he says. "Someone has stolen our tent!"
Saturday, October 6, 2007
How to use Skype
I am sick and tired of explaining this same damn thing over and over, so watch the damn video, and download the damn Skype software... NOW!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
October 12, 1997, Henry John Deutschendorf Jr took off in an experimental aircraft from the Monterey Peninsula Airport
John Denver was just plain a lot of fun in the 70s... he is where we get the expression "Faaaar out!"
He died flying a modified experimental Long-EZ aircraft designed by Burt Rutan. He loved to fly. Here is an explanation of what happened.
(Copy and paste the links in your browser window... there are too many of them to make them clickable... the software is confused.)
http://www.asktog.com/columns/027InterfacesThatKill.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Denver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC8nDdPM_Qk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBKOcUbHR0&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFgKkTKqh9Y&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eivZd4j5MBs&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwARpaKHx_w&mode=related&search=
And a duet with Karen Carpenter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzlpeV0gK-M&mode=related&search=
He died flying a modified experimental Long-EZ aircraft designed by Burt Rutan. He loved to fly. Here is an explanation of what happened.
(Copy and paste the links in your browser window... there are too many of them to make them clickable... the software is confused.)
http://www.asktog.com/columns/027InterfacesThatKill.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Denver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC8nDdPM_Qk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBKOcUbHR0&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFgKkTKqh9Y&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eivZd4j5MBs&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwARpaKHx_w&mode=related&search=
And a duet with Karen Carpenter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzlpeV0gK-M&mode=related&search=
Broadcast Satellite Analog Hi-Vision 9 Ends
Analog high definition broadcast satellite transmission by NHK in Japan will end tomorrow, September 30, 2007, at midnight.
This broadcast only started in 1999, but it has already been supplanted by terrestrial digital high definition broadcasting. It is just amazing to see something come in and go out so fast. The US will discontinue analog broadcasting soon. All analog broadcasting will end in Japan in 2011.
The first television broadcast in Hawaii was December 3, 1952; the last will be on February 17, 2009. The rate of technological advance is so great that you can see new things come into use, and marvels they were at the time, and go out of use in the blink of an eye... and the rate is increasing...
This broadcast only started in 1999, but it has already been supplanted by terrestrial digital high definition broadcasting. It is just amazing to see something come in and go out so fast. The US will discontinue analog broadcasting soon. All analog broadcasting will end in Japan in 2011.
The first television broadcast in Hawaii was December 3, 1952; the last will be on February 17, 2009. The rate of technological advance is so great that you can see new things come into use, and marvels they were at the time, and go out of use in the blink of an eye... and the rate is increasing...
Empress of the realm
Here is Kira, Empress, master of the many humans who devotedly wait on her hand and foot.
I had a dream that I was walking in a field, but the sky was pitch black... and there were millions of beagles walking very purposefully in the opposite direction. They flowed around me... like flocks of sheep... not in a panic, but walking quickly. I looked to the right and to the left, and all I could see were beagles...
So I called "Kiiiiraaaa", and I saw a little snout point up in the distance... after a while, she came up to me, and when I saw the white lightning bolt on her back, I knew it was Kira.
"Kira!" I yelled, and she jumped in my arms... and she was cold...
"Oh, oh. Kira, you are dead... and so am I... and we are in the beagle afterlife for some reason..."
I woke up and never figured out what the reason was.
I had a dream that I was walking in a field, but the sky was pitch black... and there were millions of beagles walking very purposefully in the opposite direction. They flowed around me... like flocks of sheep... not in a panic, but walking quickly. I looked to the right and to the left, and all I could see were beagles...
So I called "Kiiiiraaaa", and I saw a little snout point up in the distance... after a while, she came up to me, and when I saw the white lightning bolt on her back, I knew it was Kira.
"Kira!" I yelled, and she jumped in my arms... and she was cold...
"Oh, oh. Kira, you are dead... and so am I... and we are in the beagle afterlife for some reason..."
I woke up and never figured out what the reason was.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Grave of the Fireflies 火垂るの墓 (Hotaru no Haka)
Or perhaps my translation would be "Grave of the Firetrailers". The Japanese title does not use the common word for firefly and instead uses a much broader term, which in context perhaps better evokes the whole.
Truly extraordinary. If it were to be released now rather than when it was 20 years ago, it would be a sensation. Almost none of the animation since comes even close.
Here is a short description by Roger Ebert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTBS2k5qDE0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotaru_no_haka
Try going to eBay and searching for Grave of the Fireflies. See the discussion below.
Truly extraordinary. If it were to be released now rather than when it was 20 years ago, it would be a sensation. Almost none of the animation since comes even close.
Here is a short description by Roger Ebert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTBS2k5qDE0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotaru_no_haka
Try going to eBay and searching for Grave of the Fireflies. See the discussion below.
Amazingly cheap DVDs at eBay, but...
You can find amazingly cheap DVDs at eBay... sometimes for just a couple of dollars... However, there are a few things to watch out for.
THE BIDDING IS RIGGED. If it is a "Buy-it-Now" price, then if you click on it, that is the price you will pay for it. If it is a bidding price, what you are looking at is the second highest bid, not the highest bid. In other words, if there is a bid showing for 2 dollars, bidding 2 dollars and 1 cent is unlikely to win you the item because the actual current bid, which you cannot see, is already above 2 dollars. In this situation, if you try bidding $2.01, you will see the bid immediately jump, as if someone were online bidding against you. That is just because they were hiding the actual highest bid from you.
THE BUY-IT-NOW PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE SHIPPING. The shipping cost can be an important clue that something may be wrong. You will find a number of DVDs selling for only a few dollars... but the shipping is TO the US, and instead of being just a few dollars, is very high... Hmm... then look where the item is located. That may be a clue that it is a pirated copy that may not be what you are interested in.
MOST DVDs HAVE REGION CODES AND WILL ONLY PLAY IN ASIA OR NORTH AMERICA OR EUROPE. This is another clue. If it says "All regions", that is again suspicious and may indicate that it is a pirated copy.
Here is a screen shot of a DVD on eBay that I think is suspicious. Note that the starting bid is only $0.99, the Region Code lists all regions, it says it is new, and the shipping is $6.99.
THE BIDDING IS RIGGED. If it is a "Buy-it-Now" price, then if you click on it, that is the price you will pay for it. If it is a bidding price, what you are looking at is the second highest bid, not the highest bid. In other words, if there is a bid showing for 2 dollars, bidding 2 dollars and 1 cent is unlikely to win you the item because the actual current bid, which you cannot see, is already above 2 dollars. In this situation, if you try bidding $2.01, you will see the bid immediately jump, as if someone were online bidding against you. That is just because they were hiding the actual highest bid from you.
THE BUY-IT-NOW PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE SHIPPING. The shipping cost can be an important clue that something may be wrong. You will find a number of DVDs selling for only a few dollars... but the shipping is TO the US, and instead of being just a few dollars, is very high... Hmm... then look where the item is located. That may be a clue that it is a pirated copy that may not be what you are interested in.
MOST DVDs HAVE REGION CODES AND WILL ONLY PLAY IN ASIA OR NORTH AMERICA OR EUROPE. This is another clue. If it says "All regions", that is again suspicious and may indicate that it is a pirated copy.
Here is a screen shot of a DVD on eBay that I think is suspicious. Note that the starting bid is only $0.99, the Region Code lists all regions, it says it is new, and the shipping is $6.99.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Worm trying to trick you into infecting your Windows computer by fake Skype chat message
There is a worm for Skype for WINDOWS circulating. It seems to take the form of a chat message, pretending to be from someone you know. If your computer becomes infected, you will be blocked from accessing Symantec and other security sites. Just receiving the message will not infect your computer; you need to follow the link and grant permission for your machine to become infected. This is worth remembering because it is likely we will see future similar attempts.
Here is an excerpt from a PC World article:
... the worm sends chat messages that attempt to trick victims into thinking they were accidentally sent a file with messages such as "look what crazy photo Tiffany sent to me,looks cool" and "oops sorry please don't look there :S."
The displayed link attempts to download a file ending with a .scr extention, used for screen savers. If double-clicked, the malware - known variously as Skipi, Pykspa and Ramex - will first attempt to disable securty software, and then install another, data-stealing piece of malware, according to research from Symantec.
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/005384.html
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/09/windows-worm-ta.html
Here is an excerpt from a PC World article:
... the worm sends chat messages that attempt to trick victims into thinking they were accidentally sent a file with messages such as "look what crazy photo Tiffany sent to me,looks cool" and "oops sorry please don't look there :S."
The displayed link attempts to download a file ending with a .scr extention, used for screen savers. If double-clicked, the malware - known variously as Skipi, Pykspa and Ramex - will first attempt to disable securty software, and then install another, data-stealing piece of malware, according to research from Symantec.
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/005384.html
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/09/windows-worm-ta.html
Sunday, September 9, 2007
The most distant object made by humans
Thirty years ago, Voyager I was launched... it is now more than a hundred times farther away than the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
It is now more than one-half light-day away! At that rate, if it were going toward the nearest star, it is still only about 1/3,000th way there... meaning it would take nearly 100,000 years to arrive.
Voyager I is still functioning and is still sending back data! However, the power supply will run out in about 10 years.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14261627
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_I
It is now more than one-half light-day away! At that rate, if it were going toward the nearest star, it is still only about 1/3,000th way there... meaning it would take nearly 100,000 years to arrive.
Voyager I is still functioning and is still sending back data! However, the power supply will run out in about 10 years.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14261627
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_I
Thursday, September 6, 2007
It is raining cats and dogs... and the typhoon isn't even here yet!
Typhoon No. 9 is still far to the south of Honshu, but it is raining like mad outside... and it is supposed to get worse tomorrow!
http://www.tenki.jp/typ/index.html
http://www.tenki.jp/typ/index.html
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Does corn syrup cause even more problems than we thought?
Carbonyl compounds are elevated in people with diabetes and are well documented to be linked to diabetes complications such as ulcers and nerve damage.
It seems that these harmful compounds form in substantial amounts when, instead of sugar cane sugar, you use corn syrup to make soda.
If you don't know what diabetic foot ulcers look like, try Google Images. I warn you, it is pretty shocking.
It seems that these harmful compounds form in substantial amounts when, instead of sugar cane sugar, you use corn syrup to make soda.
If you don't know what diabetic foot ulcers look like, try Google Images. I warn you, it is pretty shocking.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Another example of improved computing making the impossible into the practical and routine
A decade ago, the peak intensities of many meteor showers were difficult to predict and were often just guesstimates. Meteor storms were predicted, and observers saw nothing. No one was looking, and surprise showers appeared. That is why the Aurigid meteor shower is known to have been observed by only three people before yesterday. (I woke mom up at 1:20, and she saw one in a few minutes even though it was nearly completely overcast!)
Improved computing now allows much better prediction of meteoroid streams. Models are so good that the predicted peak of the Aurigids was 4:33 AM PDT, and the actual peak was 4:15 AM; the predicted peak rate was right on target. A decade ago, you would have gotten tentative guesses as to whether or not one would see anything at all.
http://aurigids.seti.org
Improved computing now allows much better prediction of meteoroid streams. Models are so good that the predicted peak of the Aurigids was 4:33 AM PDT, and the actual peak was 4:15 AM; the predicted peak rate was right on target. A decade ago, you would have gotten tentative guesses as to whether or not one would see anything at all.
http://aurigids.seti.org
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
The expression "to jump the shark"
"To jump the shark" means, especially for a TV show, to do something desperate because of falling ratings... Here is where the expression comes from... Hilarious... and not in a good way...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE&mode=related&search=
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Oh, oh... the power supply is barely above the power demand
After the earthquake last month north of Tokyo, the largest nuclear power plant in the world went offline. It will probably be offline for a year. That power plant supplied a substantial fraction of the electricity in Tokyo.
Over the last few weeks, the temperature around Tokyo has gone as high as 40 degrees C (about 105 degrees F). When the temperature in downtown Tokyo reaches 36 degrees C (97 degrees F), electricity use peaks at about 62 million kilowatts... the total supply, even bringing power from as far away as Hokkaido, is 63 million kilowatts. The supply is only a few percent above the demand, which is really risky... the supply is usually 20% or more above demand.
Wednesday, August 22, was really hot, and The Daily Yomiuri newspaper reports that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) narrowly avoided the worst-case scenario. By one method of estimating demand, supply exceeded demand by only 1.6 percent.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/20070824TDY03002.htm
The risk of a blackout will be relatively high over the next few days because the temperature is forecast to again hit 36C (97F).
Update: Great! This morning, the forecast highs for the next few days has been reduced by several degrees! Maybe we will be OK!
One longterm solution to this problem is to raise the albedo (reflectivity) of the city as much as possible by applying elastomeric roof coatings and paints containing titanium oxide ceramic powders to as many surfaces as possible. This will reduce the heat-island effect. It can be done quickly and cheaply. Planting trees would also help, but that would be much more expensive and would take a long time.
Update, Saturday, August 25: The forecast is for above 95F today.
Take a look at the first episode of Connections by James Burke. The series is excellent. You will see why this pertinent.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2010590024183774407&q=connections&total=23594&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
And here is an explanation of the Northeast Blackout of 1965.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_1965
Over the last few weeks, the temperature around Tokyo has gone as high as 40 degrees C (about 105 degrees F). When the temperature in downtown Tokyo reaches 36 degrees C (97 degrees F), electricity use peaks at about 62 million kilowatts... the total supply, even bringing power from as far away as Hokkaido, is 63 million kilowatts. The supply is only a few percent above the demand, which is really risky... the supply is usually 20% or more above demand.
Wednesday, August 22, was really hot, and The Daily Yomiuri newspaper reports that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) narrowly avoided the worst-case scenario. By one method of estimating demand, supply exceeded demand by only 1.6 percent.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/20070824TDY03002.htm
The risk of a blackout will be relatively high over the next few days because the temperature is forecast to again hit 36C (97F).
Update: Great! This morning, the forecast highs for the next few days has been reduced by several degrees! Maybe we will be OK!
One longterm solution to this problem is to raise the albedo (reflectivity) of the city as much as possible by applying elastomeric roof coatings and paints containing titanium oxide ceramic powders to as many surfaces as possible. This will reduce the heat-island effect. It can be done quickly and cheaply. Planting trees would also help, but that would be much more expensive and would take a long time.
Update, Saturday, August 25: The forecast is for above 95F today.
Take a look at the first episode of Connections by James Burke. The series is excellent. You will see why this pertinent.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2010590024183774407&q=connections&total=23594&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
And here is an explanation of the Northeast Blackout of 1965.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_1965
Monday, August 20, 2007
Carrots used to be... purple???
Orange carrots were an invention of the Dutch in the 1500s... for the House of Orange...
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html
You can buy purple carrot seeds from Park Seed
http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=5074&PrevMainPage=textsearchresults&scChannel=Text%20Search&SearchText=carrots&OfferCode=TH1
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html
You can buy purple carrot seeds from Park Seed
http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=5074&PrevMainPage=textsearchresults&scChannel=Text%20Search&SearchText=carrots&OfferCode=TH1
Sunday, August 19, 2007
HurriQuake nails seem to be widely available now
When HurriQuake nails first came out last year, they could not make them fast enough to satisfy demand, and they were generally available only in the Gulf states to help with rebuilding.
Now, it seems they are widely available at hardware stores, although you might want to search on the net first. You can also buy them from Amazon, but there were a lot of complaints at the Amazon site, so maybe it is better to inspect at a store before buying.
We are going to have hurricane straps installed and use the HurriQuake nails to reinforce structural joins. People seem to be concerned about their windows, but I think that is secondary to the roof... intact windows won't do much good if you don't have a roof.
Now, it seems they are widely available at hardware stores, although you might want to search on the net first. You can also buy them from Amazon, but there were a lot of complaints at the Amazon site, so maybe it is better to inspect at a store before buying.
We are going to have hurricane straps installed and use the HurriQuake nails to reinforce structural joins. People seem to be concerned about their windows, but I think that is secondary to the roof... intact windows won't do much good if you don't have a roof.
Skype was out of service for a day
Skype was out of service for a day or two due to a software problem. The amount of screaming from users was, I think, more a reflection of how good Skype usually is... it is so good, so useful for 200 million users that when it is gone they are in shock.
For me, I missed it on that one day (I had to actually use the telephone to make a phone call!), but I am thankful for the 729 other days it worked fine over the last two years.
Once you get Skype, you too will be unable to get along without it!
For me, I missed it on that one day (I had to actually use the telephone to make a phone call!), but I am thankful for the 729 other days it worked fine over the last two years.
Once you get Skype, you too will be unable to get along without it!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Why do people of other races "all look alike"?
The answer is surprising. It seems it is not a difference in race per se. Even if everyone is of the same race, it is more difficult to distinguish faces of out-groups rather than faces of in-groups... even if that distinction is made up!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/afps-wwa081407.php
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/afps-wwa081407.php
Thursday, August 16, 2007
30 years ago, the "Wow!" signal from aliens?
In 1977, at the Big Ear Radio Observatory in Ohio, a very strong signal was detected, perhaps from outer space. For the last 30 years, researchers have been trying to figure out if it was terrestrial interference or an equipment problem, but the principal researcher concludes that that is unlikely. That part of the sky from which the signal came has been monitored from time to time, but nothing...
Now, the Allen Telescope Array is about to come online, and it will be devoting some of its time to searching that area of the sky...
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/15/319127.aspx
You can use your computer to search for transmissions from extraterrestrials by going to
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
Now, the Allen Telescope Array is about to come online, and it will be devoting some of its time to searching that area of the sky...
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/15/319127.aspx
You can use your computer to search for transmissions from extraterrestrials by going to
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The last 50 years
Yikes. Things used to be so bad... take a look back over the last 50 years.
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/classic-articles
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/classic-articles
Forecasts about the Next 50 Years
Take a look at these forecasts about the next 50 years.
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/science-forecasts
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/science-forecasts
Most people want to stay at home and out of a care home for as long as possible
Every year you can stay out of a care home is worth 50,000 dollars or more. Almost everyone wants to stay at home for as long as possible, but very often people move into a care home earlier than they need to because of relatively minor problems like being unable to do small repairs to their houses or being unable to drive. Groups of people are banding together to solve these kinds of problems so they can stay in their own homes as long as possible.
Everyone needs to read this. One way or another we are all going to have to confront these problems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/health/14aging.html
Everyone needs to read this. One way or another we are all going to have to confront these problems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/health/14aging.html
The perils of denying human nature
When I was about seven years old, I started to play with fire. My grandfather, knowing that children who are told not to play with fire sometimes hide and set the house on fire, and recognizing that this was a normal part of learning and would stop when the skill had been mastered, said: "If you want to play with fire, you can do whatever you want as long as you do it in front of me; if you hide and play with fire, you are gonna get a lickin'..."
True to his word, I played with fire for years, burning all kinds of things, until one day, when I was thirteen, it was no longer interesting...
One night while making a bonfire at a beach house near Mokolii Island, I burned my finger and there was a big blister. My mom started to get her keys, and my uncle said to her, "Where are you going?" And my mom said, "To buy aspirin." And the only time I have ever seen my uncle angry, he said to my mom, "No! The kid got burned and it is supposed to hurt!" I could not sleep all night. But uncle was right. It is supposed to hurt. That's why I remember to this day exactly what happened, and I haven't burned my finger again... so far...
True to his word, I played with fire for years, burning all kinds of things, until one day, when I was thirteen, it was no longer interesting...
One night while making a bonfire at a beach house near Mokolii Island, I burned my finger and there was a big blister. My mom started to get her keys, and my uncle said to her, "Where are you going?" And my mom said, "To buy aspirin." And the only time I have ever seen my uncle angry, he said to my mom, "No! The kid got burned and it is supposed to hurt!" I could not sleep all night. But uncle was right. It is supposed to hurt. That's why I remember to this day exactly what happened, and I haven't burned my finger again... so far...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Interview with Neil Armstrong
I guess the hero worship must get tiring pretty fast. Very rare interview.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1722270428583799532
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1722270428583799532
The solution to Alzheimer's disease?
In Alzheimer's disease, abnormal proteins accumulate in brain cells and cause the cells to stop functioning properly and die, so the focus of a lot of research has been on the brain cells themselves.
But what if that is not the true underlying problem?
The abnormal proteins are not found only in brain cells. There are substantial amounts in the bloodstream. What if that is the real problem?
It seems that increasing the rate at which the abnormal protein is removed from the blood will stop the progress of Alzheimer's and even reverse some of the symptoms.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/uorm-dab080907.php
But what if that is not the true underlying problem?
The abnormal proteins are not found only in brain cells. There are substantial amounts in the bloodstream. What if that is the real problem?
It seems that increasing the rate at which the abnormal protein is removed from the blood will stop the progress of Alzheimer's and even reverse some of the symptoms.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/uorm-dab080907.php
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The spam is REALLY becoming sneaky and annoying
I just got this spam... it is a trick... if you use Windows and you click on it, it will infect your computer with a virus.
This spam is reported at, for example
feed://www.indigomoonsystems.com/status/status.php?/feeds/index.rss2
The author says if you follow the link, then your Windows machine will likely be attacked.
From: hhs@ppower.net
Subject: School mate sent you greeting card from greetingcard.com!
School mate has created a greeting ecard for you at greetingcard.com,
the Internet's most popular greeting card service.
Your greeting card ID is: 68412571d7d419
To see your custom greeting card, simply click on the link below: http://121.141.137.125/?6847d41977b9ea
Send greeting cards from greetingcards.com whenever you want by visiting us at: http://greetingcard.com/
Copyright (c) 1996-2007 greetingcard.com All Rights Reserved
Wasting more and more of everyone's time...
This spam is reported at, for example
feed://www.indigomoonsystems.com/status/status.php?/feeds/index.rss2
The author says if you follow the link, then your Windows machine will likely be attacked.
From: hhs@ppower.net
Subject: School mate sent you greeting card from greetingcard.com!
School mate has created a greeting ecard for you at greetingcard.com,
the Internet's most popular greeting card service.
Your greeting card ID is: 68412571d7d419
To see your custom greeting card, simply click on the link below: http://121.141.137.125/?6847d41977b9ea
Send greeting cards from greetingcards.com whenever you want by visiting us at: http://greetingcard.com/
Copyright (c) 1996-2007 greetingcard.com All Rights Reserved
Wasting more and more of everyone's time...
Friday, August 10, 2007
Spam filters now reject real emails you really want
Spam now makes up 19 out of 20 emails.
This is due to a certain software company that has never paid all that much attention to security because it makes more money that way. According to the New York Times, 50,000 Windows computers are taken over in the US EVERY DAY and turned into spam-spewing zombie computers; no other types of computers have this kind of problem.
So now, because there is so much spam, spam filters regularly reject what they should not and send work emails and other real emails into junk folders, and these real emails are not read or are discarded.
And we have to spend a lot of time being careful of wording because the inclusion of one wrong word (like "stock") can cause a spam filter to reject an email as spam.
And this does not even include all the emails that are outright blocked before they even get to you and you never even see.
I have had work emails sent to clients' junk folders.
Yesterday, I got an email from one of my cousins. It was labeled as spam.
I have to manually delete dozens of emails per day after checking each one to be sure it is not a real email.
Thank you very much, certain software company, for wasting so much of my and everyone else's time for so many years.
This is due to a certain software company that has never paid all that much attention to security because it makes more money that way. According to the New York Times, 50,000 Windows computers are taken over in the US EVERY DAY and turned into spam-spewing zombie computers; no other types of computers have this kind of problem.
So now, because there is so much spam, spam filters regularly reject what they should not and send work emails and other real emails into junk folders, and these real emails are not read or are discarded.
And we have to spend a lot of time being careful of wording because the inclusion of one wrong word (like "stock") can cause a spam filter to reject an email as spam.
And this does not even include all the emails that are outright blocked before they even get to you and you never even see.
I have had work emails sent to clients' junk folders.
Yesterday, I got an email from one of my cousins. It was labeled as spam.
I have to manually delete dozens of emails per day after checking each one to be sure it is not a real email.
Thank you very much, certain software company, for wasting so much of my and everyone else's time for so many years.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Honolulu, North Carolina
I thought there was something wrong with a NASA database... when I searched for "Honolulu", it said, "Which one?" "The one in Hawaii or the one in North Carolina?" But there really is a Honolulu in North Carolina!
By the way, "hono" means bay, and "lulu" means "sheltered" or "calm".
http://starbulletin.com/2002/07/14/news/story3.html
By the way, "hono" means bay, and "lulu" means "sheltered" or "calm".
http://starbulletin.com/2002/07/14/news/story3.html
Astronomers make crude map of planet in another star system!
Scientist have created a crude temperature map of a planet about the size of Jupiter 60 light-years away!
Earthlike planets to come in a few years!
http://astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2329&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Earthlike planets to come in a few years!
http://astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2329&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
If people don't write checks in Japan, how do they pay their bills?
Of course there is automatic transfer, but it is really easy to pay bills at any convenience store. Gas, electric, water, and phone bills all have barcodes on them. You just take the bills to a convenience store, they scan the barcodes, and you pay. If you phone was cut off because you were late paying, the phone will be turned on within a few minutes of paying. And there is no charge for paying at a convenience store!
William Topaz McGonagall
Called the World's Worst Poet, William McGonagall's poems are hilarious. Listen to this story and then read a few of them.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1145681
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McGonagall
Now read this essay; all might not be what it seems.
http://www.geocities.com/williamtopazmcgonagall/
Perhaps he was the Andy Kaufmann of the 19th century.
If you have not see Man on the Moon, it is worth seeing once... I had no idea...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125664/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1145681
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McGonagall
Now read this essay; all might not be what it seems.
http://www.geocities.com/williamtopazmcgonagall/
Perhaps he was the Andy Kaufmann of the 19th century.
If you have not see Man on the Moon, it is worth seeing once... I had no idea...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125664/
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Whispering strokes
By the age of 80, we will have had hundreds of small strokes.
Sometimes, strokes are transient. These "whispering strokes" may pass in a few minutes to a few hours, and many people ignore them. However, it seems that even when a stroke seems to pass quickly, in fact, some damage is being done, and medical attention can minimize the damage.
Having a stroke of any kind indicates a higher risk of another stroke over the next few days or weeks or years.
http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2007/08/02/hscout606918.html
Sometimes, strokes are transient. These "whispering strokes" may pass in a few minutes to a few hours, and many people ignore them. However, it seems that even when a stroke seems to pass quickly, in fact, some damage is being done, and medical attention can minimize the damage.
Having a stroke of any kind indicates a higher risk of another stroke over the next few days or weeks or years.
http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2007/08/02/hscout606918.html
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Undercooked beans are toxic
Many beans contain natural insecticides called lectins. The lectins are destroyed by cooking. This is why eating raw or undercooked beans, such as lima beans, can make you sick.
https://my.mcg.edu/portal/page/portal/News/archive/2007/Scientists%20find%20why%20red%20beans%20and%20rice%20can%20be%20nauseating
https://my.mcg.edu/portal/page/portal/News/archive/2007/Scientists%20find%20why%20red%20beans%20and%20rice%20can%20be%20nauseating
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Grapefruit and grapefruit juice seem to be causing problems
It seems that consumption of just a quarter of a grapefruit per day increases a woman's risk of breast cancer by 30%.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6900482.stm
Grapefruit also seems to interfere with many drugs.
https://secure.pharmacytimes.com/lessons/200303-02.asp
Oranges and orange juice and other citrus fruits do not seem to cause these problems.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6900482.stm
Grapefruit also seems to interfere with many drugs.
https://secure.pharmacytimes.com/lessons/200303-02.asp
Oranges and orange juice and other citrus fruits do not seem to cause these problems.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Maybe a surprise meteor storm?
A meteor storm produces more than 1,000 meteors per hour. They are very rare, happening only a few times per century, but when they happen, they can change history. People think the world is ending. In the early 1800s, meteor storms on the east coast of the US produced more than 100,000 meteors per hour, many brighter than the full moon! This was described as silent lightning.
On September 1, 2007, the Earth will pass through a dense ribbon of material from Comet Kiess, producing the Aurigid meteor shower.
The peak will only last about 2 hours, with the true peak being much shorter, and the time can be off somewhat from the estimate since the location of the ribbon is not known precisely.
The west coast of the US, Alaska, and Hawaii are best placed to see the peak.
On the west coast, the peak should be visible at approximately 4:30 in the morning of Saturday, September 1.
Hawaii is even better positioned. The peak will be at 1:30 in the morning of Saturday, September 1.
See Figure 5.
http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/aurigids.html
On September 1, 2007, the Earth will pass through a dense ribbon of material from Comet Kiess, producing the Aurigid meteor shower.
The peak will only last about 2 hours, with the true peak being much shorter, and the time can be off somewhat from the estimate since the location of the ribbon is not known precisely.
The west coast of the US, Alaska, and Hawaii are best placed to see the peak.
On the west coast, the peak should be visible at approximately 4:30 in the morning of Saturday, September 1.
Hawaii is even better positioned. The peak will be at 1:30 in the morning of Saturday, September 1.
See Figure 5.
http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/aurigids.html
Real celestial fireworks
Probably the best meteor shower of the year. The Perseids have been recorded for nearly 2,000 years. This year will be particularly favorable because there will be no moonlight to interfere.
On the evening of August 12, look for them overhead. The number of meteors you see will increase until dawn, so the later you look, the more you will see. After midnight, look toward the northeast.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/11jul_greatperseids.htm
On the evening of August 12, look for them overhead. The number of meteors you see will increase until dawn, so the later you look, the more you will see. After midnight, look toward the northeast.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/11jul_greatperseids.htm
The Sumidagawa fireworks began in 1732
One of the best fireworks displays in Tokyo. Like a two-hour finale! But is so crowded, it is scary. You cannot move on the street... if you are planning on going, ask someone who has been there. You will not believe the one million people packed along the Sumida River...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumidagawa_Fireworks_Festival
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumidagawa_Fireworks_Festival
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Why do fruits and vegetables taste crummy these days?
This is not just about peaches... it explains how agriculture has changed over the last century... and why suburbs are even more detrimental than you thought...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12125929
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12125929
A solar tower is completely different from what I thought
I though a solar tower for generating electricity was some incredibly hot awful thing in a desert that would produce really hot air and would suck you up the tower if you were not careful... Ha, ha. It is nothing like that at all. At least this one isn't. You will be surprised.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=C-EvV90MeDY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=C-EvV90MeDY
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Hans Rosling explains the state of the world
Two of the best talks at TED. Probably the best place to start.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/140
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/140
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Greatest collection of liberal videos ever
If edge.org is the greatest salon the world has ever seen, here are the videos. Liberal, visionary, and optimistic. Exhilarating. A perfect antidote to all the nonsense, all the hate, all the destructive and unhelpful people.
www.ted.com
www.ted.com
Monday, July 16, 2007
TED
Technology Entertainment Design (TED) annually brings together some of the world's greatest thinkers. Their lectures are available online for free. Sorta like a video edge.org.
http://www.ted.com
http://www.ted.com
How to play a broken record
Suppose you have a very old recording that is so fragile it cannot be played without damaging it, and suppose it was actually broken. How could you play it?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11851842
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11851842
The Big Question: Why are We Here?
Richard Dawkins explains in 23 minutes why we came to be, what our purpose is, and where we are going.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=13NPZ5Nv_fc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=13NPZ5Nv_fc
The quake was not so bad in Tokyo
There was a pretty big quake in Niigata, about 150 miles north of Tokyo. It was a strong 6 on the Japanese scale, which suggests there may be structural damage in Niigata.
The Japanese scale is a measure of actual shaking at the surface, so it is a better indicator of damage than magnitude. While magnitude does tell you how big a quake is, it does not tell you how deep it is. There are many quakes with magnitudes of 8 or even 9, but if they happen deep under the ground, the shaking at the surface may not be very bad.
Initial reports by the BBC made it sound as if a 6.6 quake happened in Tokyo. The shaking here was moderate, and some people in Tokyo said "What quake?"
Depending on how your software is set up, you can see a short video clip of some of the damage at
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy
The Japanese scale is a measure of actual shaking at the surface, so it is a better indicator of damage than magnitude. While magnitude does tell you how big a quake is, it does not tell you how deep it is. There are many quakes with magnitudes of 8 or even 9, but if they happen deep under the ground, the shaking at the surface may not be very bad.
Initial reports by the BBC made it sound as if a 6.6 quake happened in Tokyo. The shaking here was moderate, and some people in Tokyo said "What quake?"
Depending on how your software is set up, you can see a short video clip of some of the damage at
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The Rattleback
This is a really surprising toy. It seems to behave in a totally unexpected way when you spin it.
Go to www.newscientist.com
and search for rattleback.
There is a good video of it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcQMoZr_x7Q&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enewscientist%2Ecom%2Fblog%2Fshortsharpscience%2F
Go to www.newscientist.com
and search for rattleback.
There is a good video of it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcQMoZr_x7Q&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enewscientist%2Ecom%2Fblog%2Fshortsharpscience%2F
The creation of artificial life
We just learned how to read DNA easily a decade ago. Now, it is routine and cheap and becoming cheaper by the day.
But just reading DNA still does not yield the ultimate prize: artificial organisms, constructed from inanimate pieces, designed for specific purposes.
That era has begun.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/28/nlife228.xml
But just reading DNA still does not yield the ultimate prize: artificial organisms, constructed from inanimate pieces, designed for specific purposes.
That era has begun.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/28/nlife228.xml
Why people behave the way they do?
Have you ever noticed that people who don't know what they are doing are going gangbusters to do it? On the other hand, people who are well versed in the complexities of an issue have a hard time making a final decision and are not very confident that the decision is the best possible.
It is all summed up in this Darwin quote.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge...
It is all summed up in this Darwin quote.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Just three glasses of fruit or vegetable juice per week reduces risk of Alzheimer's by 76%!
Our food has become really distorted. We are now missing huge numbers of chemicals that had always been part of our diet. The distortion is so great that some people now eat nearly no fruits and vegetables, and fruits and vegetables used to make up the majority of our diet because there was nothing else to eat.
Here is a good example. Some people almost never drink fruit/vegetable juice. Other people drink three or more glasses per week. Hundreds of people were followed for 10 years, and those who drank three or more glasses per week were found to have had a 76% lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease!
We can expect to live to our 90s or more. By the age of 95, the risk of developing Alzheimer's is 50%.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=50938
Here is a good example. Some people almost never drink fruit/vegetable juice. Other people drink three or more glasses per week. Hundreds of people were followed for 10 years, and those who drank three or more glasses per week were found to have had a 76% lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease!
We can expect to live to our 90s or more. By the age of 95, the risk of developing Alzheimer's is 50%.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=50938
Video clips show you how to do anything
Reading directions and trying to figure out how to do something can be really annoying. Suppose someone would just show you instead?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19638199/site/newsweek
videojug.com
Watch "Brushing Your Dog's Teeth", for example.
expertvillage.com
Watch "The Spoon Bending Trick Explained". Uri Geller. Ha!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19638199/site/newsweek
videojug.com
Watch "Brushing Your Dog's Teeth", for example.
expertvillage.com
Watch "The Spoon Bending Trick Explained". Uri Geller. Ha!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Planny Aloha Make Mo Planny Aloha
Translation: Lots of generosity makes more generosity.
Ever wonder why some groups are cooperative and some groups are full of backstabbing dirty rats?
It turns out that even rats (real ones) can be taught to be cooperative, and they will continue to be cooperative as long as everyone else is.
However, if too many start cheating, the cooperation will stop.
This can lead to groups in which there is a lot of cooperation and groups of backstabbing dirty rats.
Since we can see this kind of behavior even in rats, we know that the roots of altruistic behavior go back many millions of years.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526115.100-rats-influenced-by-the-kindness-of-strangers.html
Ever wonder why some groups are cooperative and some groups are full of backstabbing dirty rats?
It turns out that even rats (real ones) can be taught to be cooperative, and they will continue to be cooperative as long as everyone else is.
However, if too many start cheating, the cooperation will stop.
This can lead to groups in which there is a lot of cooperation and groups of backstabbing dirty rats.
Since we can see this kind of behavior even in rats, we know that the roots of altruistic behavior go back many millions of years.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526115.100-rats-influenced-by-the-kindness-of-strangers.html
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
The First Emperor of China
Reenactment of the reign of the first Emperor of China.
Let us say he was not a nice man from a family that was not very nice... complete with substance abuse.
Wait until you see the computer graphics of what is under the mound!
Using the radar technique described in the documentary below, an enormous room 100 feet high has just been discovered above the Emperor's tomb.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070200577.html
The documentary is in 9 parts of about 10 minutes each. You can go to Google, Video, and search for "The First Emperor The Man Who Made China" and choose "(Part 1)". If you click on the small rectangle below the picture at the right, the video should go full screen.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6143591406633956594&q=The+first+emperor+the+man+who+made+china&total=21&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4
Let us say he was not a nice man from a family that was not very nice... complete with substance abuse.
Wait until you see the computer graphics of what is under the mound!
Using the radar technique described in the documentary below, an enormous room 100 feet high has just been discovered above the Emperor's tomb.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070200577.html
The documentary is in 9 parts of about 10 minutes each. You can go to Google, Video, and search for "The First Emperor The Man Who Made China" and choose "(Part 1)". If you click on the small rectangle below the picture at the right, the video should go full screen.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6143591406633956594&q=The+first+emperor+the+man+who+made+china&total=21&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4
We eat insects every day
Bread, pasta, and many other foods contain substantial amounts of insects such as mites.
Figs are pollinated by small wasps.
In the 1980s, Nature had an entire episode on tropical figs, showing that many wasps died inside. The producers of Nature were no doubt "encouraged" at the end to have a disclaimer that said "The figs shown in this program are tropical figs and are not the figs grown for human consumption."
Of course this implied that the figs we eat do not have wasps in them.
Ha.
I bought some Fig Newtons, put a little of the filling under the microscope, and lo and behold: wasp parts everywhere.
You can probably see them with a hand lens.
A lie of omission.
Figs are pollinated by small wasps.
In the 1980s, Nature had an entire episode on tropical figs, showing that many wasps died inside. The producers of Nature were no doubt "encouraged" at the end to have a disclaimer that said "The figs shown in this program are tropical figs and are not the figs grown for human consumption."
Of course this implied that the figs we eat do not have wasps in them.
Ha.
I bought some Fig Newtons, put a little of the filling under the microscope, and lo and behold: wasp parts everywhere.
You can probably see them with a hand lens.
A lie of omission.
The World Clock
The World Clock is fascinating. It gives running estimates of world population, the temperature of the Earth, species extinction, deaths, etc.
The numbers are, of course, estimates and depend on whose estimates are used, but the rates at which they tick by give a feeling of how fast things happen.
http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf
The numbers are, of course, estimates and depend on whose estimates are used, but the rates at which they tick by give a feeling of how fast things happen.
http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Sun is a variable star
All stars are variable in their energy outputs. Sometimes their outputs vary by a little, and sometimes by a lot.
The Sun is a variable star. Its output normally varies by about a tenth of a percent over several years, and it can sometimes suddenly become much brighter when a solar flare is aimed straight at the Earth.
Although we have managed to raise the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere higher than they have been in 600,000 years (which sounds like a really really bad idea to me) by burning so much gas, oil, and coal, it seems the Sun may go through one of its low-output phases over the next decade or so, and give us some breathing room... Of course, if we keep burning fossil fuels as we have been and the concentrations of greenhouse gases go up even more during this lull, the problem will just be all the worse when the Sun brightens up again...
The Sun is a variable star. Its output normally varies by about a tenth of a percent over several years, and it can sometimes suddenly become much brighter when a solar flare is aimed straight at the Earth.
Although we have managed to raise the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere higher than they have been in 600,000 years (which sounds like a really really bad idea to me) by burning so much gas, oil, and coal, it seems the Sun may go through one of its low-output phases over the next decade or so, and give us some breathing room... Of course, if we keep burning fossil fuels as we have been and the concentrations of greenhouse gases go up even more during this lull, the problem will just be all the worse when the Sun brightens up again...
The June Solstice, June 21
Today, the northern hemisphere of the Earth is most tipped toward the Sun. It is the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere, and the first day of winter in the southern hemisphere. The northern hemisphere is receiving the most sunlight at this time of year, so it is warming up, even though we are actually farther from the Sun now than in our winter.
This day is often called the Summer Solstice, but since it is also the Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere, that can be confusing. Sky and Telescope therefore now refers to it as the "June Solstice" to avoid confusion.
This day is often called the Summer Solstice, but since it is also the Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere, that can be confusing. Sky and Telescope therefore now refers to it as the "June Solstice" to avoid confusion.
Friday, June 15, 2007
The end of the control of knowledge as a commodity
A huge change is coming to the way information is accessed and used. Information is already essentially free and can be found on demand.
With free information, what will remain will be the eternal problems of what to look at, deciding what it means, and distinguishing what is likely to be true from what is not. That will still take a lifetime.
See "The End of the Commoditization of Knowledge" and at least read the first paragraph.
http://www.edge.org/q2007/q07_4.html
With free information, what will remain will be the eternal problems of what to look at, deciding what it means, and distinguishing what is likely to be true from what is not. That will still take a lifetime.
See "The End of the Commoditization of Knowledge" and at least read the first paragraph.
http://www.edge.org/q2007/q07_4.html
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
40 ago, whites were allowed to marry nonwhites in the US
Sometimes the unfairness of the world is just breathtaking.
Richard and Mildred Loving were not allowed to marry in 1958 in Virginia by anti-miscegenation laws. They married in Washington DC where it was legal for them to do so. When they returned to Virginia, they were arrested and banished from the state.
Judge Leon Bazile wrote: "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. ... The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."
On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned their conviction and the Lovings were allowed to go home to Virginia.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10889047
Richard and Mildred Loving were not allowed to marry in 1958 in Virginia by anti-miscegenation laws. They married in Washington DC where it was legal for them to do so. When they returned to Virginia, they were arrested and banished from the state.
Judge Leon Bazile wrote: "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. ... The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."
On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned their conviction and the Lovings were allowed to go home to Virginia.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10889047
Saturday, June 9, 2007
"Spontaneous" Human Combustion Really Does Happen!
Unfortunately, it is not like on the X-Files where people burst into flames. Darn. (Otherwise there would be quite a number of piles of ash here and there.)
When a person or animal with a sufficient amount of body fat is covered in clothing or cloth, and if the material is set alight under certain conditions, the material can act like a wick and the body will burn slowly over many hours. Sometimes only a leg is found with everything else reduced to ash.
Here are some picturs. WARNING: They are quite gruesome.
http://paranormal.about.com/library/blclassic_shc.htm
http://www.weird-websites.com/weird_news/spontaneous-human-combustion-death-weird-accidents-strange-tales.htm
http://www.castleofspirits.com/shc.html
And for a good summary, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wick_effect
When a person or animal with a sufficient amount of body fat is covered in clothing or cloth, and if the material is set alight under certain conditions, the material can act like a wick and the body will burn slowly over many hours. Sometimes only a leg is found with everything else reduced to ash.
Here are some picturs. WARNING: They are quite gruesome.
http://paranormal.about.com/library/blclassic_shc.htm
http://www.weird-websites.com/weird_news/spontaneous-human-combustion-death-weird-accidents-strange-tales.htm
http://www.castleofspirits.com/shc.html
And for a good summary, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wick_effect
For a good laugh from old TV shows
Go to www.youtube.com
You can find lots of clips of TV shows you haven't seen or thought about in decades!
I had a great time with friends finding clips of Room 222, F Troop, Hollywood Squares, Mary Tyler Moore Show (including the episode voted the number one comedy episode of all time, Chuckles Bites the Dust)... and it is just the beginning... you can expect full episodes broadcast over the net in the near future, with commercials.
You can find lots of clips of TV shows you haven't seen or thought about in decades!
I had a great time with friends finding clips of Room 222, F Troop, Hollywood Squares, Mary Tyler Moore Show (including the episode voted the number one comedy episode of all time, Chuckles Bites the Dust)... and it is just the beginning... you can expect full episodes broadcast over the net in the near future, with commercials.
Bird of Paradise Dance
If you have never seen a bird of paradise display, it is incredible... you would think it was a robot or something...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEh-zclVo44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEh-zclVo44
A search for El Dorado finds something far more valuable than gold
El Dorado was the fabled city of gold deep in the Amazon. It was reported once by Spanish explorers, but no trace of it was ever found...
Archaeologists looking for it recently found something beyond their wildest dreams... and a treasure far greater than gold...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2809044795781727003&q=bbc+el+dorado
Archaeologists looking for it recently found something beyond their wildest dreams... and a treasure far greater than gold...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2809044795781727003&q=bbc+el+dorado
Friday, June 8, 2007
Huge Comet Exploded Over Canada
About 12,900 years ago, many strange things seemed to have happened in North America, including the extinction of many mammals and the disappearance of many human cultures. The cause may have been the explosion of a comet over the Canadian ice shield.
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn11909-did-a-comet-wipe-out-prehistoric-americans.html
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn11909-did-a-comet-wipe-out-prehistoric-americans.html
Vitamin D reduces cancer risk by 60 percent
Many people are vitamin D deficient.
The best way to get vitamin D is to go out in the sun every day for say 10 minutes.
The second best way is to take a supplement.
This needs to be done daily because the vitamin D level drops off fast.
The Canadian Cancer Society is now recommending that all adults take a vitamin D supplement daily.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070608.wvitaminD08/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
The best way to get vitamin D is to go out in the sun every day for say 10 minutes.
The second best way is to take a supplement.
This needs to be done daily because the vitamin D level drops off fast.
The Canadian Cancer Society is now recommending that all adults take a vitamin D supplement daily.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070608.wvitaminD08/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
Extraterrestrial Life!
The answer to The Question of the Ages.
We are on the verge of discovering extraterrestrial life. There will be evidence or will be confirmed as early as 2008, and within 10 years at most, I think.
NASA is launching a probe to land near the north polar ice cap on Mars. The Phoenix Mission probe will dig down under the ice and hopefully retrieve samples that show signs of life.
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/phoenix_water.html
Further in the future, sample return missions from Mars will probably return live bacteria, or at least fossil evidence of such bacteria.
But the discovery could come much sooner. Our ability to detect planets around other stars is increasing very quickly, and nearly 250 planets are now known outside our solar system. Our ability to analyze the light from such planets is increasing even faster, and some scientists have said they would not be surprised to detect light reflected by chlorophyll from one of these planets. Chlorophyll is only made by living cells. If we then look at the light from the planet and see that it has a nitrogen oxygen atmosphere like the Earth does, that would be nearly conclusive.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2096474,00.html
We are on the verge of discovering extraterrestrial life. There will be evidence or will be confirmed as early as 2008, and within 10 years at most, I think.
NASA is launching a probe to land near the north polar ice cap on Mars. The Phoenix Mission probe will dig down under the ice and hopefully retrieve samples that show signs of life.
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/phoenix_water.html
Further in the future, sample return missions from Mars will probably return live bacteria, or at least fossil evidence of such bacteria.
But the discovery could come much sooner. Our ability to detect planets around other stars is increasing very quickly, and nearly 250 planets are now known outside our solar system. Our ability to analyze the light from such planets is increasing even faster, and some scientists have said they would not be surprised to detect light reflected by chlorophyll from one of these planets. Chlorophyll is only made by living cells. If we then look at the light from the planet and see that it has a nitrogen oxygen atmosphere like the Earth does, that would be nearly conclusive.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2096474,00.html
Sunday, May 27, 2007
The Second of the Three Most Important Events of the 21st Century
I think the second of three of the most important events so far in the 21st century just happened a few days ago.
The first important event was Google becoming useful at the turn of the century
We have forgotten just how useless the internet was before we could find information. (I remember trying to guess website addresses because there was no good way to look them up!) The genius of Google is they realized that although computers do not understand the information, people looking for the information do, so every time a human looked up a particular search term, Google noted which items the human clicked on, and moved those choices up in the ranking. Now, after just a few years, Google searches in English produce really useful results almost every time for almost any topic.
The second important event was Google becoming useful in May 2007 for speakers of major languages other than English
Only about 5% of the people on Earth have English as their primary language.
Being native English speakers, we take for granted that most of the information on the internet is in English. We also take for granted that we have no problem guessing which search terms might be useful in finding the information we want and no problem in evaluating webpage summaries at a glance. For those for whom English is not the first language, imagine trying to guess what useful English search terms might be. Deciding which webpages to look at in a search is slow and wastes a lot of time since they cannot easily scan in English.
For native speakers of Arabic, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, this problem is more or less coming to an end.
Google now provides search pages in more than 10 major languages.
These search pages allow input of search terms in these languages, with automatic searching of equivalents in some other languages, including of course, English.
The search results are automatically translated from any of these languages into the language being used. (The rankings and translations are not very good yet, but hey, it just started yesterday! Once the search engine and translating software have learned, they will be much better. And it is not necessary for the translation of results to be perfect; they just have to be good enough for the searcher to get the gist of the information and to find relevant passages. Entire documents can be automatically translated by Google language tools in seconds into any major language, often to the point where you can guess what it says, or at least decide if you want to read the original.) It is still in testing, so not all the functions are currently available.
See this new tool at
http://translate.google.com/translate_s
So, instead of only 400 million native English speakers being able to easily search for information, now 3,000 million people can do so.
The third important event will be Google using artificial intelligence to look for patterns not apparent to humans in all the digital information that already exists or is being scanned in
Imagine doing research on a particular disease. There is no way you could read the thousands of papers on the subject in a reasonable amount of time, and what if there were relevant information outside the field that you wouldn't have even considered looking at? Within a few years Google will have ordered and associated the information so that you can find every mention in any information in digital form. Google could help you find terms which are often equivalent (such as "ischemia" and "heart attack" and their equivalents in major world languages). Google could then help you look for patterns no human could possibly find in a reasonable amount of time. Ultimately, Google will itself look for patterns that have escaped the attention of humans. This will accelerate research so much that I expect truly explosive advances by 2020.
The intellectual resources of the planet are about to go through the biggest leap ever, dwarfing anything that has come before. We could easily see advances equivalent to 10 times the 20th century by 2020.
And what will be left for humans? What is always left: those things that a machine cannot do. We understand concepts and can ask certain questions that computers will be unable to mimic for several decades. Our abilities are about to be magnified beyond our wildest dreams... and they had better be before the oil starts to run out...
The first important event was Google becoming useful at the turn of the century
We have forgotten just how useless the internet was before we could find information. (I remember trying to guess website addresses because there was no good way to look them up!) The genius of Google is they realized that although computers do not understand the information, people looking for the information do, so every time a human looked up a particular search term, Google noted which items the human clicked on, and moved those choices up in the ranking. Now, after just a few years, Google searches in English produce really useful results almost every time for almost any topic.
The second important event was Google becoming useful in May 2007 for speakers of major languages other than English
Only about 5% of the people on Earth have English as their primary language.
Being native English speakers, we take for granted that most of the information on the internet is in English. We also take for granted that we have no problem guessing which search terms might be useful in finding the information we want and no problem in evaluating webpage summaries at a glance. For those for whom English is not the first language, imagine trying to guess what useful English search terms might be. Deciding which webpages to look at in a search is slow and wastes a lot of time since they cannot easily scan in English.
For native speakers of Arabic, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, this problem is more or less coming to an end.
Google now provides search pages in more than 10 major languages.
These search pages allow input of search terms in these languages, with automatic searching of equivalents in some other languages, including of course, English.
The search results are automatically translated from any of these languages into the language being used. (The rankings and translations are not very good yet, but hey, it just started yesterday! Once the search engine and translating software have learned, they will be much better. And it is not necessary for the translation of results to be perfect; they just have to be good enough for the searcher to get the gist of the information and to find relevant passages. Entire documents can be automatically translated by Google language tools in seconds into any major language, often to the point where you can guess what it says, or at least decide if you want to read the original.) It is still in testing, so not all the functions are currently available.
See this new tool at
http://translate.google.com/translate_s
So, instead of only 400 million native English speakers being able to easily search for information, now 3,000 million people can do so.
The third important event will be Google using artificial intelligence to look for patterns not apparent to humans in all the digital information that already exists or is being scanned in
Imagine doing research on a particular disease. There is no way you could read the thousands of papers on the subject in a reasonable amount of time, and what if there were relevant information outside the field that you wouldn't have even considered looking at? Within a few years Google will have ordered and associated the information so that you can find every mention in any information in digital form. Google could help you find terms which are often equivalent (such as "ischemia" and "heart attack" and their equivalents in major world languages). Google could then help you look for patterns no human could possibly find in a reasonable amount of time. Ultimately, Google will itself look for patterns that have escaped the attention of humans. This will accelerate research so much that I expect truly explosive advances by 2020.
The intellectual resources of the planet are about to go through the biggest leap ever, dwarfing anything that has come before. We could easily see advances equivalent to 10 times the 20th century by 2020.
And what will be left for humans? What is always left: those things that a machine cannot do. We understand concepts and can ask certain questions that computers will be unable to mimic for several decades. Our abilities are about to be magnified beyond our wildest dreams... and they had better be before the oil starts to run out...
Saturday, May 26, 2007
High Fructose Corn Syrup
While it may be only part of the problem, I would guess consumption of a lot of high fructose corn syrup is not a good idea...
http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/health/13331929/detail.html
http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/health/13331929/detail.html
Arthritis could soon be a thing of the past
This is really amazing, and since my knees bother me sometimes, none too soon...
Note the line "one injection of a newly designed gene therapy relieved 100 percent of osteoarthritic pain"
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-05/uorm-egt052507.php
Note the line "one injection of a newly designed gene therapy relieved 100 percent of osteoarthritic pain"
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-05/uorm-egt052507.php
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Amazing potential treatment for genetic diseases
Each cell in the body must make thousands of protein molecules to function properly. From start to finish, the protein molecules must be correct and complete.
Thousands of genetic diseases are caused by mutations that produce an erroneous stop signal in the production process of just one type of protein molecule in a cell. The cell needs to make the entire protein molecule, but comes to an erroneous sequence that tells it to stop prematurely, and so it makes just the beginning part of the protein molecule, which is useless. Since one type of protein molecule performs a specific job in a cell, that job is not done, resulting in disease.
Suppose there were a way to make the cell ignore the erroneous stop signal. The cell would then produce the complete protein molecule, and it could then do its specific job in the cell. The disease should theoretically be greatly relieved. And it seems that one drug may do just that for some fraction of thousands of genetic diseases!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-04/uops-fdo041807.php
Thousands of genetic diseases are caused by mutations that produce an erroneous stop signal in the production process of just one type of protein molecule in a cell. The cell needs to make the entire protein molecule, but comes to an erroneous sequence that tells it to stop prematurely, and so it makes just the beginning part of the protein molecule, which is useless. Since one type of protein molecule performs a specific job in a cell, that job is not done, resulting in disease.
Suppose there were a way to make the cell ignore the erroneous stop signal. The cell would then produce the complete protein molecule, and it could then do its specific job in the cell. The disease should theoretically be greatly relieved. And it seems that one drug may do just that for some fraction of thousands of genetic diseases!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-04/uops-fdo041807.php
Monday, April 23, 2007
If you've never heard of Joost, I think you soon will
The inventors who made Skype (free or really cheap internet telephone calls) sold it to eBay for 2.6 billion dollars.
Their next project is Joost. TV shows, on demand, on your computer, for free with just a few commercials (certainly fewer commercials than you see on broadcast TV now).
If you don't have broadband, now is the time to get it.
If you don't have a computer that can handle video easily, you should consider that when you buy your next one. The internet has already transitioned into video, and video demands are only going to increase, so you have to buy your computer for the world of 2009, not 2007. You will find that a 20-inch iMac for 1,500 dollars is more than satisfactory and is in fact cheaper when you consider what it includes (like a built-in camera). Macintoshes are designed to handle video and run much cooler than many other computers.
www.joost.com
It is now in beta testing and is expected to be available soon.
I signed up a while ago and am now one of the testers. There are only a few hundred programs available during the testing, but you can expect tens of thousands in a year or so.
It is just amazing. The quality is comparable to what you would purchase on iTunes. When you click, it starts playing in just a few seconds in full screen mode. I have so far watched six episodes of various programs and only one had a glitch. For free. In Japan. Showtime! scifi and documentaries...
This kind of change is happening in broadcasting around the world. The BBC is planning on making one million hours of audio and video available online on demand. Some of it is available in the UK now, and the only thing blocking worldwide release is they have to figure out how to collect subscription fees or license broadcast outside the UK. Imagine. NHK and many other channels are planning on making their content available. In a few short years, nearly every program that still exists will be available online, for free or for a subscription, on demand.
Their next project is Joost. TV shows, on demand, on your computer, for free with just a few commercials (certainly fewer commercials than you see on broadcast TV now).
If you don't have broadband, now is the time to get it.
If you don't have a computer that can handle video easily, you should consider that when you buy your next one. The internet has already transitioned into video, and video demands are only going to increase, so you have to buy your computer for the world of 2009, not 2007. You will find that a 20-inch iMac for 1,500 dollars is more than satisfactory and is in fact cheaper when you consider what it includes (like a built-in camera). Macintoshes are designed to handle video and run much cooler than many other computers.
www.joost.com
It is now in beta testing and is expected to be available soon.
I signed up a while ago and am now one of the testers. There are only a few hundred programs available during the testing, but you can expect tens of thousands in a year or so.
It is just amazing. The quality is comparable to what you would purchase on iTunes. When you click, it starts playing in just a few seconds in full screen mode. I have so far watched six episodes of various programs and only one had a glitch. For free. In Japan. Showtime! scifi and documentaries...
This kind of change is happening in broadcasting around the world. The BBC is planning on making one million hours of audio and video available online on demand. Some of it is available in the UK now, and the only thing blocking worldwide release is they have to figure out how to collect subscription fees or license broadcast outside the UK. Imagine. NHK and many other channels are planning on making their content available. In a few short years, nearly every program that still exists will be available online, for free or for a subscription, on demand.
Eating lots of bacon, ham, hot dogs, and coldcuts containing nitrite preservative
People who eat cured meats more than 14 times per month had a 78% higher risk of a developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease such as chronic bronchitis.
These kinds of lung diseases are very common as we age.
Even those who ate cured meats 5 to 13 times per month were found to have a 50% higher risk.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=study-ties-cured-meats-to
These kinds of lung diseases are very common as we age.
Even those who ate cured meats 5 to 13 times per month were found to have a 50% higher risk.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=study-ties-cured-meats-to
Monday, April 16, 2007
The Mind of Leonardo Exhibit and the Annunciation at the Tokyo National Museum until June 17, 2007
There is a great exhibit of da Vinci's inventions and works at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno. The highlight is the earliest known painting attributed to Leonardo: Annunciation.
Go to the Heisei Hall and see Parts I and II of the inventions and works exhibit. At the end of Part II, there is a short film that will show you some of the secrets of the Annunciation.
Tickets are easiest to purchase at the ticket window just inside the Ueno Park Exit gate of JR Ueno Station or at the Museum itself. Tickets are for one day only, but are undated. When you enter the Heisei Hall exhibit, they will stamp the ticket with the date, and when you enter the Annunciation room in the Main Hall, they will tear off a stub. However, you can later reenter both exhibits on that day by showing the ticket.
I went early on Sunday morning, but this was a mistake. It was really crowded in the morning, but nearly empty just before closing.
This is what I suggest.
Have lunch somwhere.
Go to the museum after lunch.
Walk around the garden and see the other exhibits.
Go to the inventions and works exhibit, which will take about one hour (explanations in Japanese and English; audio guide in Japanese only).
Go to see the Annunciation in the last hour before closing. (There were only a few dozen people viewing the painting at the end of the day, whereas there were thousands in lines stretching all the way to the front gate in the morning! Closing times vary.)
Closed Mondays (but open Monday, April 30, until 20:00, or at least that's what the website says)
Tuesdays to Fridays 9:30 to 17:00
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays 9:30 to 18:00
Golden Week special hours, April 27 to May 6, 9:30 to 20:00
YouTube video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5H8-NuKuTcY
Information in English
http://www.tnm.jp/en/servlet/Con?pageId=A01&processId=02&event_id=3859
Information in Japanese
http://www.tnm.jp/jp/servlet/Con?pageId=A01&processId=02&event_id=3859
Sunday, April 8, 2007
When will we have electric or electric plug-in hybrid
Great Science Friday show about future cars. It will take 20 years to replace the US auto fleet... even the most optimistic estimates anticipate the oil beginning to decline 20 years. I think the cheap oil will start to decline much sooner.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9428253
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9428253
Saturday, April 7, 2007
20 million stoves in the US are unstable and can tip over with just a push
20 million stoves in the US are so unstable that they can topple forward with a little weight on the open oven door. So far, more than 100 people have been burned, lost limbs, or been crushed to death. A very dangerous situation is a child standing on the open oven door. In another incident, a woman lost her balance and grabbed onto the stove for support, and the stove flipped over onto her and killed her.
The only video of this I can find is currently at CNN. It is absolutely shocking. The reporter pushes down on the open oven door, and the whole stove comes crashing forward! If there is hot food on the stovetop, you can imagine what will happen.
Go to: cnn.com
Click on: video
Search for: stove tip over
Here are some quotes from various sources.
“There have been more than 100 reported cases of death and injury from scalding and burns due to hot foods and liquids spilling from the stove top, and from the weight crushing anyone in the path of the tipping ranges,”
This design flaw has particularly affected children and the elderly. CPSC accident reports include cases of a 24-pound toddler who stood on an open oven door, tipping the range so that boiling chicken soup spilled over him, causing severe burns; a 3-year old who climbed onto the range door and was killed when the stove fell over on him; and an 88-year old woman who slipped as she was cleaning her range and grabbed the oven door for support – which caused the oven to flip over and crush her in her own kitchen with her upper body wedged into the hot oven in which she had just finished baking cookies.
And the solution is simple: Install brackets to hold the stove down. They cost less than a dollar. (And that should also help in case of an earthquake.) Even if you don't have children around often, you yourself could still lose your balance from time to time or slip... imagine leaning on the door while cleaning the oven or putting food in it...
You can see more info at
http://www.killerstoves.com/
Really try to see the CNN video... words just don't convey how easy it is to make a stove tip over.
The only video of this I can find is currently at CNN. It is absolutely shocking. The reporter pushes down on the open oven door, and the whole stove comes crashing forward! If there is hot food on the stovetop, you can imagine what will happen.
Go to: cnn.com
Click on: video
Search for: stove tip over
Here are some quotes from various sources.
“There have been more than 100 reported cases of death and injury from scalding and burns due to hot foods and liquids spilling from the stove top, and from the weight crushing anyone in the path of the tipping ranges,”
This design flaw has particularly affected children and the elderly. CPSC accident reports include cases of a 24-pound toddler who stood on an open oven door, tipping the range so that boiling chicken soup spilled over him, causing severe burns; a 3-year old who climbed onto the range door and was killed when the stove fell over on him; and an 88-year old woman who slipped as she was cleaning her range and grabbed the oven door for support – which caused the oven to flip over and crush her in her own kitchen with her upper body wedged into the hot oven in which she had just finished baking cookies.
And the solution is simple: Install brackets to hold the stove down. They cost less than a dollar. (And that should also help in case of an earthquake.) Even if you don't have children around often, you yourself could still lose your balance from time to time or slip... imagine leaning on the door while cleaning the oven or putting food in it...
You can see more info at
http://www.killerstoves.com/
Really try to see the CNN video... words just don't convey how easy it is to make a stove tip over.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Cool 360 degree volumetric display
Amazing volumetric display lets you walk around it and appears to show video floating in midair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YynD1BVaus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YynD1BVaus
The weather is strange this year
The winter was unusually warm. The cherry trees were confused and started blooming early. Then it turned really cold again. Today, April 4, 2007, a huge high pressure system swept into Japan from Asia, bringing with it dust from the deserts in China and a lot of cold air. By 3:00 pm, it was dark like twilight, the sky was yellow-green, there was thunder and lightning... and there was snow and hail in downtown Tokyo!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
You need to KEEP CHECKING ABOUT PET FOOD RECALL
The pet food recall story keeps changing, so you should check Google News often.
Some DRY CAT food has now been added to the recall list! Up until now, it was only wet canned and pouch food that was under recall.
First they thought it was rat poison, but the amounts are so tiny that that cannot be the cause of death. Now they are saying it might be a plastic additive.
Hill's Pet Nutrition has now recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline DRY CAT food.
This does not involve Prescription Diet or Science Diet products.
So far...
Until the situation is better understood, it would probably be a good idea not to feed your pets the same thing every day.
Some DRY CAT food has now been added to the recall list! Up until now, it was only wet canned and pouch food that was under recall.
First they thought it was rat poison, but the amounts are so tiny that that cannot be the cause of death. Now they are saying it might be a plastic additive.
Hill's Pet Nutrition has now recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline DRY CAT food.
This does not involve Prescription Diet or Science Diet products.
So far...
Until the situation is better understood, it would probably be a good idea not to feed your pets the same thing every day.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Huge cat food and dog food recall
According to some reports, 60 million packages of cat food and dog food are now under recall because of concerns of possible renal failure and death. It is very difficult to figure out which items should not be used because they were sold under 90 brands.
The food was manufactured between December 3, 2006, and March 3, 2007, and was sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico at major retailers, including Wal-Mart and Safeway.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/US/story?id=2960127&page=1
Cat product recall
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html
Dog product recall
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html
The food was manufactured between December 3, 2006, and March 3, 2007, and was sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico at major retailers, including Wal-Mart and Safeway.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/US/story?id=2960127&page=1
Cat product recall
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html
Dog product recall
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html
Friday, March 16, 2007
Getting a new passport could take 12 weeks!
Since January 2007, US citizens entering the US by air from Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda are required to have a valid US passport. From January 2008, US citizens entering the US by land or sea (including ferries) will be required to have a valid US passport.
This has caused a huge increase in the number of applications for US passports and substantial delays due to the backlog.
In some cases, it has taken up to 3 months to get the passport, and it has even taken up to 1 month to get an expedited passport (at substantially higher cost).
Therefore, if you are planning to go abroad, it would be a good idea to obtain a passport or renew your old one well in advance of your trip.
This has caused a huge increase in the number of applications for US passports and substantial delays due to the backlog.
In some cases, it has taken up to 3 months to get the passport, and it has even taken up to 1 month to get an expedited passport (at substantially higher cost).
Therefore, if you are planning to go abroad, it would be a good idea to obtain a passport or renew your old one well in advance of your trip.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Reasonable fruit juice consumption decreases risk of Alzheimer's by 76%
Drinking fruit juice more than three times a week was found to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 76%!
As measured by the amounts of polyphenolic antioxidants, the best juices are
Purple grape juice
Cloudy apple juice
Pomegranate
Cranberry
It would be best to drink several types of juice per week.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2359093.ece
As measured by the amounts of polyphenolic antioxidants, the best juices are
Purple grape juice
Cloudy apple juice
Pomegranate
Cranberry
It would be best to drink several types of juice per week.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2359093.ece
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Why you should floss and have a cleaning
Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes have recently been linked to low level inflammation. One source of the inflammation? Chronic infection of the gums. In other words, gum disease. It seems the bacteria in infected gums slowly leak into the bloodstream and can cause infections of the blood vessels. Over time, this can cause hormonal changes that can lead to prediabetes (elevated levels of blood sugar that may lead to full-blown diabetes). 54 million people in the US have prediabetes.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/aaop-pdm031307.php
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/aaop-pdm031307.php
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The best magazines ever published
Most I know, but there were a number I had never heard of.
http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/the_best_magazines_ever
http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/the_best_magazines_ever
Our perception of time
Michio Kaku has a great series of four episodes on BBC about Time.
This is the full Episode 2. It is about our perceptions of time and the possibility of extreme longevity... 1,000 years...
At least watch the experiment he does with a stopwatch beginning around time index 03:10. It is really surprising, and it is happening to all of us.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5634490469902803358&q=bbc&hl=en
This is the full Episode 2. It is about our perceptions of time and the possibility of extreme longevity... 1,000 years...
At least watch the experiment he does with a stopwatch beginning around time index 03:10. It is really surprising, and it is happening to all of us.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5634490469902803358&q=bbc&hl=en
Pompeii: The Last Day
The Discovery Channel recently broadcast a BBC production "Pompeii: The Last Day" (not to be confused with "The Last Days of Pompeii".
See a 5 minute clip here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V_tDy4dMD8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii:_The_Last_Day
See Pompeii and Vesuvius from space! Zoom in and you can see the individual houses!
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.75,14.486111&spn=0.3,0.3&t=h&q=40.75,14.486111
See a 5 minute clip here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V_tDy4dMD8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii:_The_Last_Day
See Pompeii and Vesuvius from space! Zoom in and you can see the individual houses!
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.75,14.486111&spn=0.3,0.3&t=h&q=40.75,14.486111
40 dollars off the digital-to-analog converter you may need
If you have an old TV and have a regular TV antenna (not cable. satellite dish, or other device like a VCR with a digital tuner)...
On February 19, 2009, regular TV broadcasting, which has been using an analog signal since 1928, will come to an end in the US.
By that date, you will have to have cable, a satellite dish, a digital decoder, a device like a VCR with a digital decoder, or a newer TV with a digital decoder. If you have no digital decoder and have a regular antenna on your roof and just an old TV, your TV will not receive any broadcast, just static.
Beginning January 1, 2008, coupons for 40 dollars will become available to buy a digital decoder (which costs 50 to 70 dollars). The government's money for the coupons may run out, so if you decide you want to get the coupon, you should do it soon at the beginning of January 2008.
On the other hand, it might not be worth the hassle, and if you are planning on buying a DVD player anyway, you might just want to buy one that receives digital signals.
On February 19, 2009, regular TV broadcasting, which has been using an analog signal since 1928, will come to an end in the US.
By that date, you will have to have cable, a satellite dish, a digital decoder, a device like a VCR with a digital decoder, or a newer TV with a digital decoder. If you have no digital decoder and have a regular antenna on your roof and just an old TV, your TV will not receive any broadcast, just static.
Beginning January 1, 2008, coupons for 40 dollars will become available to buy a digital decoder (which costs 50 to 70 dollars). The government's money for the coupons may run out, so if you decide you want to get the coupon, you should do it soon at the beginning of January 2008.
On the other hand, it might not be worth the hassle, and if you are planning on buying a DVD player anyway, you might just want to buy one that receives digital signals.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Daylight Saving Time Sunday March 11 !
Daylight Saving Time is three weeks earlier this year. The clock will advance by one hour at 2:00 AM, which will immediately become 3:00 AM, on Sunday, March 11.
Because this change was decided recently, many computers, phones, and other devices may not make the switch correctly on March 11. If you have to set your clock manually on that date, then you will have to check again three weeks later to make sure the automatic switch does not happen and put your clock another hour ahead!
Your computer may be OK, but other people's may not be, so even Microsoft says to reconfirm meetings during the 3 week period after March 11.
Because this change was decided recently, many computers, phones, and other devices may not make the switch correctly on March 11. If you have to set your clock manually on that date, then you will have to check again three weeks later to make sure the automatic switch does not happen and put your clock another hour ahead!
Your computer may be OK, but other people's may not be, so even Microsoft says to reconfirm meetings during the 3 week period after March 11.
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