Alexander Kruel

News for 2010-03-18

XiXiDu — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Passing Stars and Interstellar Speculations http://ff.im/-hJEk6 #
TED Talk: Suspended animation is within our grasp http://ff.im/-hJFsE #
Singularity: Nanotech or AI? http://ff.im/-hJFx2 #
Do “polar bears” exist? http://ff.im/-hJFyO #
Blind soldier uses tongue device to 'see' http://ff.im/-hJLXF #
Video: Sarah moves beyond the Standard Model (via seancarroll) http://tumblr.com/xzu7k0ady #
Google TV Is Coming Soon to a Living Room Near You http://ff.im/-hJUvm #
Polymath Reflections « A collective open way of doing mathematics http://ff.im/-hJUNG #
Photo: (via littleteaspoon) http://tumblr.com/xzu7k0hy9 #
Photo: fringesofmind: http://tumblr.com/xzu7k0kv6 #
Photo: theantidote: http://tumblr.com/xzu7k0ly2 #
Photo: fringesofmind: http://tumblr.com/xzu7k0mpy #
Photo: Detroit, Michigan, USA (via NASA Goddard Photo and Video) http://tumblr.com/xzu7k0r6g #
Photo: Day 54/365: flower power! (via Miss Nicole ☮) http://tumblr.com/xzu7k0sg1 #
In Praise of Genocide http://ff.im/-hKIQa #
The Evolution Of Symbolic Language http://ff.im/-hKIQ7 #
China Considers High Speed Rail Line Connections to Europe http://ff.im/-hKIQb #
Avatars in Space http://ff.im/-hKIQ8 #
Coping with Streams http://ff.im/-hKIQ9 #
Quantum Physics’ Big News: Weird Quantum State Observed in the Largest Object Yet http://ff.im/-hKIQ6 #
Why is Helium so Scarce? http://ff.im/-hKIQ5 #
GM Develops Augmented Reality Windshield http://ff.im/-hKIQc #
Quantum Smoothing Measurement is Two Times Better than standard quantum limit. http://ff.im/-hKIQj #
Pregnant male pipefish abort babies from unattractive females http://ff.im/-hKIQi #

News for 2010-03-17

XiXiDu — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Rutgers plans online course on the Singularity http://ff.im/-hDnJ6 #
Updated: The Ultimate Collection of Scaling Visualisations http://bit.ly/di5w7t #
Photo: Phobos from Mars Express http://tumblr.com/xzu7if5jl #
Hey Perp: That Facebook Friend Request May Come From the FBI http://ff.im/-hEY5m #
Study: Climate Hacking Scheme Could Load the Ocean With Neurotoxins http://ff.im/-hEYj8 #
How extraverted is honey.bunny77@hotmail.de? Inferring personality from e-mail addresses. http://ff.im/-hEYko #
A little bit of the Others in Us http://ff.im/-hF0rA #
Quote of the day « Why Evolution Is True http://ff.im/-hF3pL #
Web sites that can take a punch http://ff.im/-hF4XV #
Justin Bieber and the Rising Importance of Accelerating Media http://ff.im/-hF5ed #
Knowing What You Don’t Believe http://ff.im/-hF5ri #
One Universe Too Many? String Theories, The Multiverse And The Future Of Physics. http://ff.im/-hF7af #
Photo: Amazing amazing picture…. « Optical Illusion http://tumblr.com/xzu7ign37 #
German researchers preparing “Qur’an: The Critical Edition” http://ff.im/-hF8Ir #
Why did it take so long for humans to have the Industrial Revolution? http://ff.im/-hFblE #
Framing and World of Warcraft’s Rest System « The Psychology of Video Games http://ff.im/-hFc06 #
Wind farms could cause an increase of .15 degrees Celsius over the entire global surface. http://ff.im/-hFcDg #
First Creation of Anti-Strange Hypernuclei http://ff.im/-hFcTu #
Video: Michael Jackson – Beat It http://tumblr.com/xzu7ihmcq #
Reasoning isn't about logic (it's about arguing) http://ff.im/-hFgyh #
Wednesday Round Up #107 http://ff.im/-hGftD #
25 million people have gone Google http://ff.im/-hGfWb #
fMRI Reads the Images in Your Brain – We Know What You’re Looking At (Video) http://ff.im/-hGgi1 #
Ants vs. Crabs, a surprising conclusion. [VIDEO] http://ff.im/-hGgs0 #
Mixed-gender dorm rooms are gaining acceptance http://ff.im/-hGhgr #
Photo: Planck Reveals Giant Dust Structures in our Local Neighborhood Dust has never looked so beautiful!… http://tumblr.com/xzu7irow2 #
Is that a Bat or a Bot? | Parrot AR.Drone is Controlled by an iPhone http://ff.im/-hGhWy #
Usenet Physics FAQ http://ff.im/-hGieE #
Quantum Sensor Developed by LSU Researcher Breaks New Limits http://ff.im/-hGiGp #
Math Challenge http://ff.im/-hGj85 #
@hmsteinman1 Math Challenge http://bit.ly/aPRc2s #

News for 2010-03-16

XiXiDu — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Photo: Explanation: Only in the fleeting darkness of a total solar eclipse is the light of the solar corona… http://tumblr.com/xzu7h2k1c #
Is The Human Mind Algorithmic? http://ff.im/-hASj9 #
The Dropout Economy – 10 Ideas for the Next 10 Years – TIME http://ff.im/-hASEs #
Video: Shady Optical Illusion 6 http://tumblr.com/xzu7h2oiz #
Scopolamine Lifts Depression In A Few Days http://ff.im/-hAT1m #
Stanford Computational feat speeds finding of genes to milliseconds instead of years http://ff.im/-hATmy #
Rydberg Quantum Simulator – A Quantum Simulator that Can be Made With Current Technology http://ff.im/-hATp7 #
Video: Star Trek: How It Should Have Ended http://tumblr.com/xzu7h2ut9 #
Bacteria on your keyboard point to your identity but forensic value is unlikely http://ff.im/-hAUuw #
Video: Recoil Music Video http://tumblr.com/xzu7h2yn7 #
1 gene lost = 1 limb regained? Scientists demonstrate mammalian regeneration through single gene deletion http://ff.im/-hB0VD #
Photo: Exploration (via Goddard Photo and Video Blog) Exploration: Past, Present and Future – As the LRO… http://tumblr.com/xzu7h3ybr #
Photo: factorygirl-photography: http://tumblr.com/xzu7h3yy8 #
Photo: Type a phrase into Google and it will attempt to auto-complete the phrase for you. An incidental… http://tumblr.com/xzu7h4490 #
Photo: How Safe Is Your Password?| Information Is Beautiful http://tumblr.com/xzu7h46d3 #
Web Seer – Compare Google Suggest results. http://ff.im/-hB3QE #
Einstein in 60 Seconds (or 40 Hours) http://ff.im/-hB5Ep #
A planetary mood ring http://ff.im/-hB5E0 #
Bloop – Extremely powerful underwater sound – The Bloop is the name given to an ultra-low frequency and… http://tumblr.com/xzu7h4jy2 #
Dotcom web address celebrates silver anniversary http://ff.im/-hB6zr #
Video: Bedroom Formula 1 http://tumblr.com/xzu7h4r5c #
"Take the case of Nigeria. The country’s per-capita G.D.P. last year was about fourteen hundred dollars…." http://tumblr.com/xzu7h4vww #
Apartheid of Iberian Neandertals & modern humans http://ff.im/-hBzoS #
Richard Dawkins: Growing Up in the Universe – The Genesis of Purpose http://ff.im/-hBzoT #
Less Wrong: Undiscriminating Skepticism http://ff.im/-hBXmd #
Open Data Pointers http://ff.im/-hC9BC #
metaphorically speaking – James Geary http://ff.im/-hC9Ee #
…and now for some flogging and quartering of scientists http://ff.im/-hC9Qx #
Electronics 'missing link' brings neural computing closer http://ff.im/-hCedW #
Books which have influenced me most http://ff.im/-hCeHL #
NASA Finds Shrimp Where No Advanced Life Should Be: 600 Feet Beneath Antarctic Ice http://ff.im/-hCf7O #
Robot Surgery, Thy Name is DaVinci http://ff.im/-hCfVv #
Celestial Mechanics and a Geometry Based on Area | Video Lectures http://ff.im/-hCgpc #
Adam The Robot Scientist Makes Its First Discovery http://ff.im/-hCgcc #
Explained: Regression analysis http://ff.im/-hCkaS #

The Relativity of Wrong

XiXiDu — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:22:35 +0000

News for 2010-03-15

XiXiDu — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Psychopathic Brains Driven To Seek Rewards http://ff.im/-hyhEX #
Evogrid: simulating the chemical origins of life on Earth http://ff.im/-hyhXF #
Plenty of new airports but few passengers in China http://ff.im/-hyiYd #
The advantage of sizing down one dimension http://ff.im/-hyjdf #
Photo: New Images of Phobos from Mars Express Flyby http://tumblr.com/xzu7g1p5s #
Julius Caesar Gets Clipped 2054 Years Ago Today http://ff.im/-hykQm #
Geoengineering: Global Salvation or Ruin? http://ff.im/-hylrV #
US Air Force X-37 Robot Mini Shuttle To Launch into Space April 2010 http://ff.im/-hylxX #
Competition for Google: A German Library for the 21st Century http://ff.im/-hylKx #
Photo: Construction workers and organizers in Shanghai, China are busily completing tasks ahead of the… http://tumblr.com/xzu7g3c6h #
Photo: Shanghai prepares for Expo 2010 – The Big Picture http://tumblr.com/xzu7g3d6w #
Why HTML5 is worth your time http://ff.im/-hyvBs #
Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants – NYTimes.com http://ff.im/-hyE4f #
D-Wave Systems’ Quantum Computing Aims at Human Level AI | h+ Magazine http://ff.im/-hyGle #
Startups Focus on AI at South by Southwest http://ff.im/-hyGu5 #
God is too cute to be a literalist http://ff.im/-hyHRx #
Photo: Fibonacci Spiral http://tumblr.com/xzu7g6sjl #
Photo: Joey Lawrence http://tumblr.com/xzu7g6xld #
Photo: Joey Lawrence http://tumblr.com/xzu7g6z9r #
Photo: Joey Lawrence http://tumblr.com/xzu7g7188 #
Photo: http://www.joeyl.com http://tumblr.com/xzu7g72ww #
Human Cells Exhibit Foraging Behavior Like Amoebae and Bacteria http://ff.im/-hz1Z7 #
Watch This 5 Minute Video Explain Why Stem Cell Research Has to Take so Long. http://ff.im/-hz1Z6 #
Online Status Anxiety http://ff.im/-hz1YS #

News for 2010-03-14

XiXiDu — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Free Energy and the Meaning of Life http://ff.im/-hueJS #
Campaign stunt launches a corporate 'candidate' for Congress http://ff.im/-hufqc #
Brain scans read memories http://ff.im/-hufVE #
Overcoming Bias : Parable of the Multiplier Hole http://ff.im/-huj0X #
Photo: nihilnoetia: http://tumblr.com/xzu7eg12o #
Photo: Binary Black Hole in 3C 75 http://tumblr.com/xzu7eg1f3 #
Photo: factorygirl-photography: http://tumblr.com/xzu7eggu7 #
Strogatz Unravels the Complexities of Complex Numbers http://ff.im/-hukYq #
Photo: (via allinone) http://tumblr.com/xzu7egjfh #
Bootstrapping Safe AGI Goal Systems [PDF] http://bit.ly/cRvo6h http://ff.im/-huoh7 #
Photo: nihilnoetia: http://tumblr.com/xzu7ehf1b #
Addiction « Meteuphoric http://ff.im/-huoMF #
Overcoming Bias : Motivated Legal Bias http://ff.im/-hupw2 #
Photo: NASA Blue Marble 2007 West (via Goddard Photo and Video Blog) http://tumblr.com/xzu7ehrw3 #
intendix brain-computer interface http://ff.im/-huq81 #
Video: Electromagnetic Rail Gun from the United States Navy http://tumblr.com/xzu7eigtm #
Challenging Neuroscience to Explain Cognition http://ff.im/-huthr #
Photo: (via satashi, swallowgod) http://tumblr.com/xzu7ein92 #
It seems we're all more human than average http://ff.im/-hutJu #
Theory of optimal punishment, Stanley Kubrick edition http://ff.im/-huu2g #
Outliers Complexity – Or, The Risk of Extrapolating Linear Trends Against Non-Linear Systems. http://ff.im/-huulQ #
Photo: what radiation does in comics/cartoons http://tumblr.com/xzu7ejq7w #
Photo: Spectrum of the Sky (via Dominic Kamp, nihilnoetia) http://tumblr.com/xzu7ejskd #
Photo: Maldevian Starry Sky (via Dominic Kamp) http://tumblr.com/xzu7ejtgo #
Video: A day in the life of New York City (HD: Vimeo) http://tumblr.com/xzu7ejvls #
Brain scans read memories : Neurophilosophy http://ff.im/-huy8a #
Evolutionary game theory: Temporal and spatial effects beyond replicator dynamics http://ff.im/-huCsY #
Photo: factorygirl-photography: http://tumblr.com/xzu7el207 #
Photo: nihilnoetia: http://tumblr.com/xzu7el75a #
Photo: Carl Sagan’s Apple Pie http://tumblr.com/xzu7emcbh #
The Importance of Goodhart's Law http://ff.im/-huPwQ #
Photo: (via littleteaspoon) http://tumblr.com/xzu7epr7a #
Cloud Computing Explained http://ff.im/-huPXH #
Odds Are, It's Wrong – Science fails to face the shortcomings of statistics http://ff.im/-huQiq #
"In fact, if you believe what you read in the scientific literature, you shouldn’t believe what you read…" http://tumblr.com/xzu7eq3f3 #
Case study: abuse of frequentist statistics http://ff.im/-huRdw #
Photo: factorygirl-photography: http://tumblr.com/xzu7eqqj0 #
Photo: nihilnoetia: http://tumblr.com/xzu7eqv3s #
Photo: factorygirl-photography: http://tumblr.com/xzu7eujiq #

Christopher Hitchens’s Ten Commandments

XiXiDu — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:24:29 +0000

Christopher Hitchens deconstructs the ten commandments and adds a few of his own for the April issue of Vanity Fair.

News for 2010-03-13

XiXiDu — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

World-wide Campaign Sheds New Light on Nature's "LHC" http://ff.im/-hpXLI #
What’s Happening—and Where? http://ff.im/-hpXLL #
Friday Videos — The Lost Episode http://ff.im/-hpXM5 #
Photo: APOD: 2010 March 13 – Centaurus A http://tumblr.com/xzu7d2pm7 #
Spooky “Dark Flow” Tracked Deeper Into the Cosmos; No Word on What’s Tugging at Galaxies http://ff.im/-hrRlf #
Should the Internet Win the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize? http://ff.im/-hrRzN #
What kind of erotic film clips should we use in female sex research? An exploratory study. http://ff.im/-hrRMv #
Orange Dwarf Star Set to Smash into The Solar System http://ff.im/-hrS2N #
This is the Way the World Ends http://ff.im/-hrUCg #
Decoding Mental States http://ff.im/-hrURH #
Solar 'Current of Fire' Speeds Up http://ff.im/-hrV5v #
Bloggingheads.tv – Science Saturday: What’s Wrong With Transhumanism? http://ff.im/-hrVgk #
Photo: On the Spot with Kim Jong-il – The Big Picture – (31 photos total) http://tumblr.com/xzu7db6ju #
Learning Bioinformatics http://ff.im/-hrXqs #
Photo: As Close As You’ll Get To Holding a 35,000 Year Old Lion-Man Figurine http://tumblr.com/xzu7dbk04 #
Reduction of human intelligence as global risk http://ff.im/-hrXSP #
The remote rural community that thinks letting someone die is as bad as killing them http://ff.im/-hrYox #
Photo: The Great Sperm Race: The Most Extreme Race on Earth http://tumblr.com/xzu7dbqeh #

News for 2010-03-12

XiXiDu — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

2 of oldest people in US die – Japan’s Kama Chinen Still World’s Oldest at 114 http://ff.im/-hmORR #
‘Dark Flow’ Pushes Deeper into the Cosmos http://ff.im/-hmORP #
Cooperative behavior cascades in human social networks — PNAS http://ff.im/-hmORN #
What Alcohol Does to Your Mind: Attentional Myopia http://ff.im/-hmORM #
Rob Glaser Defines the Superphone and Predicts the Mobile Future http://ff.im/-hmORO #
Dark Pools http://ff.im/-hmORQ #
Genetically Modified for the People http://ff.im/-hmOSm #
BART partners with junaio to visualize transit data through augmented reality http://ff.im/-hnotU #
Subliminal flag shifts political views and voting choices http://ff.im/-hoH4r #
Who Reads Journals? http://ff.im/-hoHnh #
Deep Brain Stimulation – A New Frontier in Psychiatry http://ff.im/-hoHni #
Computers One Step Closer To Reading Your Mind http://ff.im/-hoHng #
Recognizing courage, securing online freedom http://ff.im/-hoHnf #
People Consider More Possibilities For Past Than Future? http://ff.im/-hoHne #
Google Translate Progresses to the Real Time Global Voice Translating Phone http://ff.im/-hoHnk #
Vaccinating School Kids Can Protect the Whole “Herd” of Community Members http://ff.im/-hoHnl #
Reading minds with computers and fMRI http://ff.im/-hoHnj #
How should we think about brains? http://ff.im/-hp3Mr #
Flickr Flow / The relative proportions of different colors seen in photos taken in each month of the year. http://ff.im/-hp3QZ #
Video: Captain Kirk deals with a strange alien culture http://tumblr.com/xzu7c8psr #

News for 2010-03-11

XiXiDu — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:00:00 +0000

The Speculist: Posthuman Rules http://ff.im/-hjPQq #
The Last Digit of Pi http://ff.im/-hjQeL #
The sun rises more surely with Jeffreys than Laplace http://ff.im/-hjRGh #
Photo: factorygirl-photography: http://tumblr.com/xzu7ak3hg #
Photo: (via factorygirl-photography) http://tumblr.com/xzu7ak5eg #
Photo: fringesofmind: http://tumblr.com/xzu7akag4 #
Photo: fringesofmind: http://tumblr.com/xzu7akc63 #
Photo: theantidote: http://tumblr.com/xzu7akisd #
Photo: View of the entire near-infrared sky Distant galaxy clusters mysteriously stream at a million miles… http://tumblr.com/xzu7akllq #
Photo: A Distant Progression via nihilnoetia http://tumblr.com/xzu7aktsy #
Jurassic Park Science: DNA of Extinct Bird Extracted From Eggshells http://ff.im/-hjYzb #
Gallery: The Complete UAV Field Guide http://ff.im/-hjZ68 #
An Island, Sucked Into a Giant Whirlpool http://ff.im/-hjZIB #
Photo: The Biggest Ships in the World, Part 2 http://tumblr.com/xzu7al5dq #
Video: Pink Terror Hawking http://tumblr.com/xzu7al8or #
Photo: (via littleteaspoon) http://tumblr.com/xzu7alfsd #
Video: Epibulus insidiator, the slingjaw wrasse http://tumblr.com/xzu7alimw #
hybrid medical animation 2010 reel http://ff.im/-hk3ts #
Photo: (via theantidote, mfs) http://tumblr.com/xzu7alno2 #
Is Twitter… http://ff.im/-hk52Q #
Professors banning computers http://ff.im/-hk52X #
Photo: Global warming: temporal pattern of public opinion http://tumblr.com/xzu7alvzt #
Finding awesome stuff online with Google Reader Play http://ff.im/-hk5kY #
Photo: (via fringesofmind, jamooo) http://tumblr.com/xzu7alzy0 #
Coffee: When it helps, when it hurts http://ff.im/-hk6oJ #
Can We Rely on fMRI? http://ff.im/-hk6Vh #
Every cell in a chicken has its own male or female identity http://ff.im/-hk6VN #
Cowpea Virus Delivers Drugs to Kill Cancer Cells http://ff.im/-hk6VI #
Photo: What do you see when you look at this? http://tumblr.com/xzu7am807 #
Marijuana and Divergent Thinking http://ff.im/-hk7NH #
Scientists learning how monkeys fend off "monkey AIDS" http://ff.im/-hk8Ec #
The trials of Catherine Ashton http://ff.im/-hkbV2 #
An Incredible New Video Series From Composer Steven Bryant http://ff.im/-hkcur #
Photo: theantidote: http://tumblr.com/xzu7an4bn #
Photo: Screen Grabs, Blog Jabs http://tumblr.com/xzu7an71u #
Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management http://ff.im/-hke69 #
Visualising the internet – Mapping the growth of the internet http://ff.im/-hke7j #
Photo: Scenes from Kenya – The Big Picture http://tumblr.com/xzu7ancd8 #
Museum 2.0 | The Participatory Museum Process Part 1: Overview and Statistics http://ff.im/-hkeJL #
Photo: Não é fácil… « Aliciante via theantidote http://tumblr.com/xzu7anefo #
Picking Your Guildies: The Role of Attraction, Selection, and Attrition http://ff.im/-hkfXI #
Cautionary Tale From Chechnya | Anna Badkhen | Boston.com | 11 March 2010 http://ff.im/-hkgoj #
Language according to Pinker http://ff.im/-hkgpj #
Photo: Black penguin!!! « Why Evolution Is True http://tumblr.com/xzu7annbs #
"A while ago, I was talking to a young man looking for a job, and asked him why he didn’t look online…." http://tumblr.com/xzu7anqnx #
Photo: theantidote: http://tumblr.com/xzu7ansvt #
Photo: Myke Preuss via nihilnoetia http://tumblr.com/xzu7anuhf #
If you could know only one statistic about an alien civilization http://ff.im/-hknPs #
"I see it, but I don’t believe it!" – Georg Cantor, on discovering that the set of points on the interval [0,… http://tumblr.com/xzu7aotku #
Photo: fringesofmind: http://tumblr.com/xzu7apdvg #
Basics: Finding pin 1 – Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories http://ff.im/-hktcX #
When Kurt met Tazio http://ff.im/-hkulD #
"No system can understand itself for that the very understanding would evade itself forever. A bin trying…" http://tumblr.com/xzu7apr06 #
Photo: Hawaiian Volcano Landscape post by jchip8, rd67 http://tumblr.com/xzu7aq6m3 #
Video: A year of seasonal changes at a public park http://tumblr.com/xzu7aq9vj #
Your Computer Really Is a Part of You http://ff.im/-hkzLO #
"The person and the various parts of their brain and the mouse and the monitor are so tightly intertwined…" http://tumblr.com/xzu7aqci0 #
Photo: theantidote: http://tumblr.com/xzu7aql5h #
"Probabilities do not describe reality — only our information about reality." – E. T. Jaynes http://tumblr.com/xzu7aqqvm #
Ergodic theory – Wikipedia http://ff.im/-hkDLU #
Photo: (via littleteaspoon) http://tumblr.com/xzu7ar5yp #
"Even though there are these different flavors of randomness, it is impossible to make clean distinctions…" http://tumblr.com/xzu7arcpq #
Search for Randomness | Video Lectures http://ff.im/-hkHJS #
The Audience as Prisoner: Reflections on the Activity of the Object http://ff.im/-hkIJJ #
"Whenever we try to describe or to control (or to grasp) a physical process, randomness reflects effects…" http://tumblr.com/xzu7arreg #
"An electron is not a billiard ball, and it’s not a crest and trough moving through a pool of water. An…" http://tumblr.com/xzu7as1u8 #
Photo: nihilnoetia: http://tumblr.com/xzu7au7iz #
Why choose the future over the present? http://bit.ly/aJkCRk #
Photo: chinchowdoll: http://tumblr.com/xzu7awayf #
"One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from…" http://tumblr.com/xzu7azeer #
First Look at SnapGroups: A Delightful Tool For Lightweight Discussion http://ff.im/-hltYb #