May 2011
69 posts
April 2011
91 posts
If Universities Were Democracies →
chronicle.com
If universities were democracies, then students would always have their way, since they are invariably the largest constituent group in any institution. Undoubtedly, grades would be abolished, classes would be optional, and the curriculum would be a matter of student choice.
» via The Chronicle of Higher Education (Subscription may be required for some content)
“And you are talking about democratizing culture, this is not in our interests. It really isn’t my interest.”
—
Slightly out of context, but also very revealing. Just what is this culture that you want governments and people to be so protective of? And why not Creative Commons?
MPAA VP Greg Frazier, being remarkably candid in Brazil, per TorrentFreak. (via arlpolicynotes)
“New psychological research out of the University of Buffalo demonstrates how, “When we read, we psychologically become part of the community described in the narrative—be they wizards or vampires. That mechanism satisfies the deeply human, evolutionarily crucial, need for belonging.” Experiments conducted by the research team indicated that after reading books like Harry Potter and Twilight, subjects felt themselves to be more closely associated with the community of characters in the books. “Belonging” to these communities, although they are make-believe, gave subjects feelings of satisfaction associated with having real human relationships.”
—
Very cool, though I do doubt the level of immersion they mention works for everyone. But then, it could just be in my subconscious.
How Reading Expands the Sense of Self | IdeaFeed | Big Think (via infoneer-pulse)
Veil of Shadows →
fanfic.theforce.net
Very well written. A nice dark-ish AU. Only wish there was a sequel. If there is a sequel, let me know!
A strange tale where the good guys are bad, the Empire has won, and a Sith adept pursues the girl of his nightmares.
Is This The Start of Foreign Ground Troops in Libya? | Danger Room | Wired.com →
wired.com
Not the best of news. Mission creep indeed.
“3. Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple.” —
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple.” —
So yeah, overblown much?
A Simple Math(s) Problem →
forums.spacebattles.com
Welcome to the internet. The question posed to us today is:
what 48÷2(9+3) equals
I now open the debate. Feel free to investigate the entire (10 pages) or 248 posts on the topic.
The answer is 288, by the way.
“
Our civilization prides itself of its technological achievements. We are proud to achieve more with less thought, effort, and technique. We are so proud of our machines that only few people realize that other civilizations had invented them way before our civilization had even formed. Here the thing: The old Greeks for instance already had steam engines. However, they were not used for practical purposes.
Why didn’t they build railways, cars, and rockets? They didn’t dare. Using automats for pragmatic tasks seemed just too much, over the top, inhuman. What held them back? Being as smart and inventive as they were, they definitely could have come up with a concept as obvious as wheels on rails. It was not the lack of steel or the missing pistons but the fear of hubris that prevented them to use the steam engine for more practical tasks. It was the fear of hubris.
” —A stirring call for wisdom in design and a consideration on the role of technology in modern society. All sparked by the nuclear disaster in Japan.
Glasses Free 3D via iPad2 →
tuaw.com
This just looks cool, and the best part is that it seems like it could be scaled to any Apple (due to objective C) or other computing device with a front facing camera. But it still isn’t holograms.
Transparent Wood? →
fastcodesign.com
This wood does not look like traditional wood, because it’s made of a plastic. Still, I like the dark wood better.
Tea is not Tea →
booksatoz.com
Orwell can tell you when tea is not tea. I found the article to be quite amusing.
Inside Job →
daringfireball.net
I agree. A very well done movie.
Finally saw Inside Job, Charles Ferguson’s documentary on the 2008 global financial crisis. So good, but so angering. Clearly political, but, in a strong sense, utterly bi-partisan: both Republican and Democratic administrations have been equally in thrall to the Wall Street investment banks over the last 30 years.
In addition to serving as an excellent explanation of a complex story, photographically the movie is quite beautiful. Really well-done. Available to rent on iTunes.
Expert System →
asymco.com
Horace Dediu gives some advice on how to become an expert and what it actually means to be one.
