One Of The Guys Who Works At Your Car Wash Is Hiding In The Back Seat Of Your Car Day!
One Of The Guys Who Works At Your Car Wash Is Hiding In The Back Seat Of Your Car Day!
April 22, 2009 – 3:19 pm
These Toes Were Made for Running
April 21, 2009 – 7:56 am
These Toes Were Made for Running
If you’ve ever wondered why humans don’t have long, prehensile toes that would turn our feet into extra hands, here’s an answer: stubby toes may be custom-made for running. Biomechanical analysis shows that long toes require more energy and generate more shock than short toes, making them one of many adaptations that may have helped our savannah-dwelling ancestors chase their prey. “Longer toes require muscles to do more work, and exert stronger forces to maintain stability, compared to shorter toes,” said University of Calgary anthropologist Campbell Rolian. “So long as we were engaged in substantial amounts of running, natural selection would favor individuals with shorter toes.”
The painful truth about trainers: Are running shoes a waste of money?
April 21, 2009 – 7:55 am
The painful truth about trainers: Are running shoes a waste of money?
Thrust enhancers, roll bars, microchips…the $20 billion running – shoe industry wants us to believe that the latest technologies will cushion every stride. Yet in this extract from his controversial new book, Christopher McDougall claims that injury rates for runners are actually on the rise, that everything we’ve been told about running shoes is wrong – and that it might even be better to go barefoot…
Oracle Buys Sun
April 20, 2009 – 8:18 am
Sun = Poorly run company with great products
Oracle = Masterfully run company with shitty products
I wonder how that DNA is going to come together…
100 W LED
April 19, 2009 – 7:27 pm
This is a hugely powerful LED made from a 100 x 1W LEDs. It cost AUD$500 from China on an eBay store here. It produces 7000 lumens and runs on 34 V 3.2 A. It needs to have a heatsink capable of perhaps 90W.
Real Life Tron on an Apple IIgs
April 19, 2009 – 11:20 am
Real Life Tron on an Apple IIgs
One day, when Marco and I were playing against two computer opponents, we forced one of the AI cycles to trap itself between its own walls and the bottom game border. Sensing an impending crash, it fired a missile, just like it always did whenever it was trapped. But this time was different – instead of firing at another trail, it fired at the game border, which looked like any other light cycle trail as far as the computer was concerned. The missile impacted with the border, leaving a cycle-sized hole, and the computer promptly took the exit and left the main playing field. Puzzled, we watched as the cycle drove through the scoring display at the bottom of the screen. It easily avoided the score digits and then drove off the screen altogether. Shortly after, the system crashed. Our minds reeled as we tried to understand what we had just seen. The computer had found a way to get out of the game. When a cycle left the game screen, it escaped into computer memory – just like in the movie. Our jaws dropped when we realized what had happened.
Plato and Turing Walk into a Bar…
April 19, 2009 – 11:19 am
Plato and Turing Walk into a Bar…
So I was at Pages with a friend last Saturday browsing through some books and oddities while trying to kill some time, and found this book called Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar…. The premise of the book seemed intriguing enough, so I impulsively bought it. I’ve always been curious about what Philosophy really is all about besides drooling over the Dalai Lama on a regular basis, so I thought that spending $13 on a paperback beats an $800 course registration for an Intro to Philosophy course anytime.
If Philosophers Were Programmers
April 19, 2009 – 11:18 am
If Philosophers Were Programmers
Although not obvious, philosophy actually has a strong relation with programming, at least for me. If you think about it, software code reflects much of how the developer perceives the problem and its solution. Before starting to program, developers spend some time thinking over the problem, identifying important properties and their underlying connections, a process that reveals their philosophy as the way they perceive real-word situations. Likewise, philosophers are constantly trying to identify the most important properties of the issues they reflect on, like life, conscience or God.
In Anlehnung an einen Vorfall im Berliner Zoo
April 17, 2009 – 5:57 pm
In Anlehnung an einen Vorfall im Berliner Zoo
In Anlehnung an einen Vorfall im Berliner Zoo neulich schlug mir gerade jemand per Email vor, Frau von der Laien in einem Raubtiergehege auszusetzen, mit einem Stopp-Schild um den Hals, dass die Tiere zum Abstand-Halten auffordert. Klar, das würde das eigentliche Problem nicht lösen, aber es würde die milliardenschwere Raubtierindustrie schwächen. Studien in der Karibik haben gezeigt, dass sich 80% der Raubtiere von solch simplen Sperren beeindrucken lassen.
Das Müll-Traumschiff
April 17, 2009 – 5:29 am
Auf 12.000 Plastikflaschen über den Pazifik: Der Öko-Aktivist und Bankiersohn David de Rothschild will mit einem Katamaran aus Müll ein Zeichen setzen – gegen die Verschmutzung der Weltmeere und für Recycling. SPIEGEL ONLINE hat den Abenteurer in seiner Werft besucht.
Health risks of shipping pollution have been ‘underestimated’
April 17, 2009 – 12:55 am
Health risks of shipping pollution have been ‘underestimated’
Confidential data from maritime industry insiders based on engine size and the quality of fuel typically used by ships and cars shows that just 15 of the world’s biggest ships may now emit as much pollution as all the world’s 760m cars. Low-grade ship bunker fuel (or fuel oil) has up to 2,000 times the sulphur content of diesel fuel used in US and European automobiles.
Understanding Version-Control Systems
April 13, 2009 – 6:52 pm
Understanding Version-Control Systems
A guide to the history and taxonomy of version-control systems available on Unix-family operating systems. This document is meant to help readers make sense of the version-control landcape and the conflicting claims flying around it, and to help the reader make informed choices. VCS designs analyzed include SCCS, RCS, DSEE/ClearCase, CVS, Subversion, Arch, ArX, monotone.
Certified Application Security Specialists
April 13, 2009 – 6:26 pm
Certified Application Security Specialists
The Institute is the industry’s leading authority for Certified ASS’s. Our curriculum complies with the highest industry standards while still reflecting the operational realities of securing applications in the modern enterprise. For far too long there’s been no standard certification for those securing our most essential applications; the institute was created to fill this dangerous gap. By hiring Certified ASS’s employers can be assured their critical applications are protected by experts meeting the top industry standards. Individuals can advance their careers and personal development by obtaining validated proof of their skills as an ASS.
Visualising Sorting Algorithms
April 13, 2009 – 6:21 pm
Visualising Sorting Algorithms
I dislike animated sorting algorithm visualisations – there’s too much of an air of hocus-pocus about them. Something impressive and complicated happens on screen, but more often than not the audience is left mystified. I think their creators must also know that they have precious little explanatory value, because the better ones are sexed up with play-by-play doodles, added, one feels, as an apologetic afterthought by some particularly dorky sportscaster. Nevertheless I’ve been unable to find a single attempt to visualise a sorting algorithm statically (if you know of any, please drop me a line). So, presented below are the results of a pleasant evening with some nice Scotch and the third volume of Knuth.
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