Why Your Friends Have More Friends than you Do
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=6158303"the mean number of friends of friends is always greater than the mean number of friends of individuals." (reddit once removed, as the reddit linkee is annoying)
CREATURES FROM PRIMORDIAL SILICON
http://www.cs.nyu.edu/courses/fall08/G22.2965-001/geneticalgexThe hardware evolution article I mentioned before. "Although the configuration program specified tasks for all 100 [FPGA] cells, it transpired that only 32 were essential to the circuit's operation. Thompson could bypass the other cells without affecting it. A further five cells appeared to serve no logical purpose at all--there was no route of connections by which they could influence the output. And yet if he disconnected them, the circuit stopped working." Amazing.
Researchers accidentally create strain-specific antibiotic
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/02/researchers-accidentally-create-strain-specific-antibiotic.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rssEnding up with unexpected specialisation via evolution. Reminds me of a similar experiment with evolution of a circuit on an FPGA. In that case, experimenters ended up with a circuit much smaller than expected, but that only worked within a very small temperature range--that of the lab in which they were evolved.
Zero Copy I: User-Mode Perspective | Linux Journal
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6345Clear article, most obtuse diagrams I've ever seen
Preferred number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_numberI always suspected there was conspiracy, and now the sinister truth is revealed.
Neil Dawson's Horizons | Alan Gibbs' sculptures | The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/gallery-0-1225793577164?page=1mind=blown
Barbie® I Can Be...™ Computer Engineer Doll - Shop.Mattel.com
http://shop.mattel.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4032107&cp=3719989.3771360Stupid Mattel isn't shipping these until December?!
Grace Hopper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper"1969 – She won the first "man of the year award from the Data Processing Management Association." Good job, Data Processing Management Association.
Original IBM Fortran manual from 1956
http://www.fortran.com/FortranForTheIBM704.pdf"The IBM Mathematical Formula Translating System FORTRAN is an automatic coding system for the IBM 704 EDPM. More precisely, it is a 704 program which accepts a source program written in a language -- the FORTRAN language -- closely resembling the ordinary language of mathematics, and which produces an object program in 704 machine language, ready to be run on a 704." World's second compiler (and first resembling a modern compiler).
Roman Mythology - Crystalinks
http://www.crystalinks.com/romemythology.htmlGreek god narrative was much more focused on god-as-person than Roman god narrative.
Rice Pudding - ABC TV: The Cook and the Chef
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef/txt/s1733687.htm"This is what success tastes like" - Bryn
4 Ingredient Sloppy Lentils - Longevity Girl
http://longevitygirl.typepad.com/longevity-girl/2010/02/4-ingredient-sloppy-lentils.htmlGiven I wrote a satirical post about "omitting needless ingredients" today, I feel I ought to try this recipe. ... wait, ketchup and molasses? (reddit)
SPERMEX: Hagat
http://www.spermex.de/134.0.html?&L=1The very good udder texture of Hagat-daugthers definitely above average udders was impressively shown. Fore udder attachment is a bit weak but this can be compensated with a very distinctive suspensory ligament.
70% support "gays and lesbians" in the military; 59% support "homosexuals" in the military
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/new-poll-shows-support-for-repeal-of-dont-ask-dont-tell/facepalm
My big fat geek wedding: Tears, joy and oxytocin - life - 10 February 2010 - New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527471.000-my-big-fat-geek-wedding-tears-joy-and-oxytocin.htmlBride-to-be plans pilot science experiment on herself and her groom during her wedding: "to measure blood levels of oxytocin in the bride, groom, three close members of our families and eight friends both before and after the ceremony." Awesome (Wired <- Fark)
Interview with a scammer: Part Two | Scam Detectives
http://www.scam-detectives.co.uk/blog/2010/01/26/interview-with-a-scammer-part-two/"We had something called the recovery approach. A few months after the original scam, we would approach the victim again, this time pretending to be from the FBI, or the Nigerian Authorities. The email would tell the victim that we had caught a scammer and had found all of the details of the original scam, and that the money could be recovered. Of course there would be fees involved as well." Ouch. (Bruce Schneier)
Keep your 20-sided dice, I have D&D on the Surface | Crave - CNET
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10451247-1.htmlI hate everything.
A Few Billion Lines of Code Later: Using Static Analysis to Find Bugs in the Real World | February 2010 | Communications of the ACM
http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2010/2/69354-a-few-billion-lines-of-code-later/fulltext"Parsing is considered a solved problem. Unfortunately, this view is naïve, rooted in the widely believed myth that programming languages exist." Very entertaining account by the Coverity people of the differences between "works in the lab" and "works in a commercial setting". (Bryn)
Joseph Ducreux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_DucreuxThe "disregard females, acquire currency" guy painted some entertaining self-portraits. In the 1700s.
Parsing C/C++ code without preprocessing
http://www.springerlink.com/content/gwn8x54521l5021p/This is a neat trick. Or, rather, a collection of neat tricks.
Measuring Complexity
http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/neurobio/land/PROJECTS/Complexity/index.htmlComplexity of EEG and ECG signals could be used to predict various disorders (depression and schizophrenia; and heart disease). One measure of complexity is "Lempel-Ziv algorithmic complexity". Yes, that Lempel-Ziv: one respectable way to measure the complexity of such a signal is to gzip it.
YouTube - Vampire Squid from Hell (3200 Feet Under Sea Level)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5ZQH2UzpewIt's the vampire squid (from Hell).
Jumpcut: Minimalist Clipboard Buffering for OS X
http://jumpcut.sourceforge.net/Remembers previous clipboard contents for later pasting.
if you lay all the blood vessels in your body end to end by jeak
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38030176Nice. Bit expensive. (reddit)
Everything you always wanted to know about female ejaculation (but were afraid to ask) - life - 28 May 2009 - New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227101.200-everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-female-ejaculation-but-were-afraid-to-ask.html?full=trueIt's that most mysterious of all female tissue masses: the prostate! (This is related to the recent censorship debate in Australia)
SPUDWORKS - The Abridged Atlas Shrugged
http://www.spudworks.com/article/66/2/It sure is hard to find good men now-a-days. I wonder what the hell is going on. (Bryn)
my immortal - Chapters 1 - 22
http://myimmortalrehost.webs.com/chapters122.htm"Then he put his thingie into my you-know-what and we did it for the first time." The world's best fanfic, via /lit/
No True Scotsman - RationalWiki
http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/No_True_ScotsmanLogical fallacy in which an assertion shown to be incorrect is justified by redefining the terms post hoc. No true Scotsman would do such a thing.
Index of /pdfs/hardcore.computist
http://computist.applearchives.com/HC-2.htmlInteresting collection of old Apple II newsletters containing descriptions of how to crack the copy protection of specific games so they could be backed up. The cracks all need the original game, so piracy was obviously not the point of this magazine.
Egil's Saga: Index
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/egil/index.htmThis is an epic Icelandic saga from a long time ago.
Instructions of Shuruppak - www.GatewaysToBabylon.com
http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/texts/life/instructionshruppak.html(Extreme) precursor to various religious moral texts, written around 3000 BC.
RealityStudio » Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, and the Computer
http://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/charles-bukowski-william-burroughs-and-the-computer/with an Apple Macintosh / you can’t run Radio Shack programs / in its disc drive. (via Bryn)
If Albert Einstein's so smart, how come he's dead? - Yahoo! Answers
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091101082303AAf6rzk"He was alive and when he was alive he was smart." I love Yahoo! Answers.
[android-porting] Re: What is GL_DIRECT_TEXTURE_2D_QUALCOMM used for?
http://www.mail-archive.com/android-porting@googlegroups.com/msg03302.htmlHello. The referenced "EGL_image_base" doesn't exist. I suspect Mathias means CreateImageKHR() and friends.
MyUSABox
http://www.myusabox.com/Default.aspxGet a P.O. box in the US which re-ships overseas.
Tapioca pearls
http://www.bubbleteasupply.com/index.php?page=recipes.htmlTapioca pearls: how to cook them for bubble tea.
UK Border Agency | UK ancestry
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/uk-ancestry/This looks promising.
SpamAssassin 2010 bug | Mike Cardwell
https://secure.grepular.com/blog/index.php/2010/01/01/spamassassin-2010-bug/This bit me, I misplaced a bunch of email, and this bug is just a bit too stupid for me to be able to justify using SpamAssassin any more.
The weird and wonderful CIC
http://hackmii.com/2010/01/the-weird-and-wonderful-cic/The NES lockout chip: "To save chip area, “incrementing” works by shifting the PC by one bit to the right, and setting the the top bit to 1 if and only if the bottom two bits were the same." A sequential path goes 0, 0x40, 0x60, 0x70, 0x78... aargh, my brain!
Flattery Will Get You Far: Scientific American
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=flattery-will-get-you-farOf course, you already knew this, because you're smart.
Wolbachia Resources
http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/wolbachia/resources.htmlWolbachia is a bacteria that is very common in insects. Among other things, it can allow females to reproduce without males, can kill all infected males of a species, and can (through "cytoplasmic incompatibility") prevent infected males from successfully fertilising uninfected females -- thus conferring a reproductive advantage to infected females, because only infected females can mate with all males. Offspring of infected females are themselves infected. Clever! (ars technica)
Platform
http://kafkaskoffee.com/junk/Platform.htmlCollect the coins! (via Bryn)
Download Bergensbanen in HD
http://nrkbeta.no/2009/12/18/bergensbanen-eng/Via Catie, the trip from Bergen to Oslo. All 6 hours and 23GB of it. It's very pretty and relaxing.
Nationaltheatret to Bergen, Norway - Google Maps
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Nationaltheatret&daddr=bergen&hl=en&geocode=FeI5kgMdJrujACnL2Ks-fm5BRjEZU0b7XBydeA%3BFehymQMdi1tRACmr3sBxv_g8RjEgKbMoJncBBA&mra=ls&dirflg=w&sll=59.894448,8.591309&sspn=4.178922,6.624756&ie=UTF8&ll=59.778522,9.645996&spn=8.397812,13.249512&z=6Walking directions from Oslo to Bergen. 4 ferries (cheating?) and 1 day, 4 hours.
Vertex Buffer Objects - OpenGL.org
http://www.opengl.org/wiki/Vertex_Buffer_ObjectsHelpful VBO tutorial
dilettante: The Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Belgium" in a Serious Screenplay.
http://oaklanddilettante.blogspot.com/2007/08/most-gratuitous-use-of-word-belgium-in.htmlI had to explain to Catie why "Belgium" is the most horrifying word in the known Universe.
Palladio's Italian Villas-Home
http://www.boglewood.com/palladio/It's Palladio's Italian villas.
Lightning prods shiitake to multiply | The Japan Times Online
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100101f3.html'Inspired by the saying "lots of lightning gives a good harvest of mushrooms," the high-voltage experts in the city of Morioka developed a device...' I love this saying. Lots of lightning gives a good harvest of mushrooms. As they say in Japan.
Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes | blasphemy.ie
http://blasphemy.ie/2010/01/01/atheist-ireland-publishes-25-blasphemous-quotes/Bjork, 1995: “I do not believe in religion, but if I had to choose one it would be Buddhism. It seems more livable, closer to men… I’ve been reading about reincarnation, and the Buddhists say we come back as animals and they refer to them as lesser beings. Well, animals aren’t lesser beings, they’re just like us. So I say fuck the Buddhists.”
'The Inferno' for iPhone shows how to adapt Dante's Inferno
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/29/the-inferno-for-iphone-shows-how-to-adapt-dantes-inferno/#continued"They made the timeless classic into Frogger. How enlightened."