Science is not about what’s true or what might be true; science is about what people with originally diverse view points can be forced to believe by the weight of public evidence.
Dr. Lee Smolin on the panel of the 2011 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate
Category: English
Advice to newcomers and veterans of the Free and Open Source software communities
François Marier shares his notes on a collection of essays called Open Advice titled “Advice to newcomers and veterans of the Free and Open Source software communities.” There is also LWN book review for the book.
Why choose the lesser evil?
There was a really funny column in the Washington Post right after Bush’s reelection in 2004 titled “An Off-Color Rift” … but the topic seems oddly familiar:
Besides, running away is never the answer, unless you are a teenage boy who has just blown up a mailbox. As Americans, we need to stay here in America and work things out, because regardless of what color or hue of state we live in, we are all, deep down inside our undershorts, Americans. And as Americans, we must ask ourselves: Are we really so different? Must we stereotype those who disagree with us? Do we truly believe that all red-state residents are ignorant, racist, fascist, knuckle-dragging, NASCAR-obsessed, cousin-marrying, roadkill-eating, tobacco juice-dribbling, gun-fondling, religious-fanatic rednecks; or that all blue-state residents are godless, unpatriotic, pierced-nosed, Volvo-driving, France-loving, left-wing communist, latte-sucking, tofu-chomping, holistic-wacko, neurotic, vegan, weenie perverts?
So this bears one question: why even bother choosing the lesser evil? 😉
“The Wikipedia Redefined”
There are folks who have worked their magic and tried to imagine how a redesigned and (visually) cleaned up Wikipedia would look like … I must say I like it very much. 😀
The Thing About Global Warming
If you ever wondered why there seems to be no motivation to do anything (substantial) about global warning (on a political level) … have a look at Wikipedia’s list of companies by revenue … especially in the “primary industry” column.
Meanwhile there are (terrifying) numbers that say we should. :/
Learning at the Expense of Sleep is Bad
It seems learning at the expense of sleep is actually bad … I had a feeling this might be the case 😉
No More LFMF Updates
Well … it seems there will be no LFMF updates any more. This is a sad day for internet wisdom. 🙁
Amplifiying Subtle Changes in Videos
I was pointed to an awesome piece of research titled “Eulerian Video Magnification for Revealing Subtle Changes in the World.”
They have developed algorithms that allow them to amplify subtle changes in videos (color, movement) … and select desired frequencies at that. They have an awesome demonstration video:
Ken Edgett is excited
We can do focus now! … and in Color!
Ken Edgett seems really excited about Curiosity’s capabilities. 😉
TextMate 2 on Github
woot? o_O Macromates released the source code for TextMate 2 on GitHub. 😀