DARPA: Dream Research
February 26th, 2014Via: Medium:
Today, Onur Varol and Filippo Menczer at Indiana University in Bloomington, use network science to study the similarities between dreams reported in English, Chinese and Arabic—research that is funded in part by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA.
They say their results provide a new window into the cultural links between dreams experienced by people in different parts of the world.
…
Just how this work fits in to DARPA’s broader mission to create breakthrough technologies for national security is rather obscure.
‘Magic Formula of Physics Moves Every Kind of Animal on Earth’
February 25th, 2014Via: Houston Chronicle:
A magic formula of physics is propelling animals across the planet, from birds and sharks to jellyfish, according to a new discovery by researchers at Texas A&M Univeristy.
While people struggle with fixed-wing aircraft and solid propellors, animals triumph with flexible wings, fins and tails and now we know that despite their other vastly differing characteristics, they are all moving in essentially the same way.
“We found insects, birds, bats, whales, fish, dolphins, even smaller molluscs are all using the same basic mechanics,” said Marine Biologist Nathan Johnson from A&M at Galveston who did the study with colleagues from Harvard, California Institute of Technology, Indiana University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
It shows just how advanced Mother Nature’s designs are compared to human engineering. Scientists hope their findings will help technology catch up with millions of years of evolution.
They found that the animals all flex their wing, tail or fin within a “magic range” of 30 to 60 degrees, and they all bend just 30% of whatever their relevant propulsor is.
Sounds obvious, but it’s something humans have yet to replicate by relying only on stiff wings for aircrafts and similar non-flexible propellors for boats. Thus missing out on nature’s discovery of a potentially perfect universal design.
“The best reason we can think that these similarities are there in nature is that they are the most energy efficient,” said Johnson.
Research Credit: alvinroast
Electronics Retailer Checks Customers’ Names Against U.S. Watch List
February 25th, 2014Via: EEV Blog:
If your name happens to be fairly common like mine, then you may end up having your orders flagged and put on hold by Element 14, at least here in Australia. Because, well, their system sucks arse, and it seems like they are licking the arse of the United States government to boot. Am I pissed? You betcha!
I placed an order for some innocuous parts from Element 14 in Australia the other day and their system automatically “flagged” my order and put it on hold based on my name being on some US Government watch list!
Yep, you read that right.
My delivery address in Element 14?s system has “David Jones” on it, and apparently the US government are watching someone called David Jones, so you know, a parts distributor in Australia has to flag that and put my order on hold. Makes sense huh?
Hopefully, MtGox Is Finally Dead
February 25th, 2014MtGox has needed to die for years. I sincerely hope they they are down for the count this time. That thing was the bitcoin exchange from hell.
Via: cNet:
Embattled Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has largely vanished from the Internet amid accusations that the exchange is insolvent after a years-long theft that resulted in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Web site for the Tokyo-based exchange has been wiped clean, as has its official Twitter feed. A screen shot posted by a Reddit user indicates that trading on the exchange has been halted.
Comcast’s Deal with Netflix Makes Network Neutrality Obsolete
February 23rd, 2014Via: Washington Post:
For the past two decades, the Internet has operated as an unregulated, competitive free market. Given the tendency of networked industries to lapse into monopoly—think of AT&T’s 70-year hold over telephone service, for example—that’s a minor miracle. But recent developments are putting the Internet’s decentralized architecture in danger.
In recent months, the nation’s largest residential Internet service providers have been demanding payment to deliver Netflix traffic to their own customers. On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Netflix has agreed to the demands of the nation’s largest broadband provider, Comcast. The change represents a fundamental shift in power in the Internet economy that threatens to undermine the competitive market structure that have served Internet users so well for the past two decades.
The deal will also transform the debate over network neutrality regulation. Officially, Comcast’s deal with Netflix is about interconnection, not traffic discrimination. But it’s hard to see a practical difference between this deal and the kind of tiered access that network neutrality advocates have long feared. Network neutrality advocates are going to have to go back to the drawing board.
Use of Prescription Drugs in Kentucky and West Virginia [???]
February 23rd, 2014I was reading this piece about the most miserable states in the U.S. when I came across this sentence in the section on Kentucky:
The state’s population was the nation’s most reliant on prescription drugs, with 19.3 prescriptions filled per capita in 2011, tied with West Virginia.
😯
Would that be a world leading statistic? In other words, where in the world are people using more prescription drugs than in Kentucky and West Virginia?
Mysterious Polio-Like Illness Affects Kids in California
February 23rd, 2014Via: USA Today:
A mysterious polio-like syndrome has affected as many as 25 California children, leaving them with paralyzed limbs and little hope of recovery.
…
While there haven’t been reports of the illness outside California, Van Haren thinks that’s only because no one is looking for it. He believes once doctors nationwide begin to, they’ll find other cases.
“My goal is to get the word out to other neurologists, to make them aware of this,” he said.
At Newark Airport, the Lights Are On, and They’re Watching You
February 23rd, 2014Via: New York Times:
Visitors to Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport may notice the bright, clean lighting that now blankets the cavernous interior, courtesy of 171 recently installed LED fixtures. But they probably will not realize that the light fixtures are the backbone of a system that is watching them.
Using an array of sensors and eight video cameras around the terminal, the light fixtures are part of a new wireless network that collects and feeds data into software that can spot long lines, recognize license plates and even identify suspicious activity, sending alerts to the appropriate staff.
The project is still in its early stages, but executives with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, are already talking about expanding it to other terminals and buildings.
…
The light fixtures are outfitted with special chips and connect to sensors, cameras and one another over a wireless network. Data that is collected — say, a particular car pulling up to the terminal — can then be mined and analyzed for a broad range of applications. Systems like the Port Authority’s, developed by a company called Sensity Systems, could soon be more widely available. Under a recent agreement, Amerlux, a leading lighting manufacturer, will start using the technology in its LED fixtures.
“We are opening up an entirely new area in lighting applications and services,” said Chuck Campagna, Amerlux’s chief executive, “including video-based security and public safety, parking management, predictive maintenance and more.”
Other companies, including giants like Cisco Systems and Philips, are racing to grab a share of that market.
Las Vegas is testing a street lighting system that can broadcast sound, and plans to use it mainly to control lighting and play music or to issue security alerts at a pedestrian mall.
St. Mary’s College Considers Basing President’s Salary Off That of Cleaning Staff
February 22nd, 2014My position on this is here.
Via: Washington Post:
How much should a college president make compared to the worker who cleans his office?
According to a proposal put forward by students and faculty at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, the answer is: no more than 10 times as much.
On Thursday afternoon, the faculty senate will review this proposal to tie the president’s salary to that of the school’s lowest-paid employees. Such workers at the public liberal arts college currently make $24,500 a year, which would translate into a $245,000 salary cap for the president — roughly $80,000 less than Ian Newbould, the college’s interim president, presently makes.
The move comes at a time of budget difficulties for the college, which lost roughly $3.5 million in expected tuition this academic year when it failed to fill enrollment numbers for its freshman class. It also comes at a time when higher-ed costs are ballooning across the United States and when executive pay is under increased scrutiny. This fall, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to propose a rule requiring companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay compared to their median worker’s. In 2012, according to the Economic Policy Institute, that ratio was 273-1.
This Man’s $600,000 Facebook Disaster Is a Warning for All Small Businesses
February 22nd, 2014I figured this out after blowing only $10 on Facebook advertising. It’s incredible that companies are wasting tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on this breathtaking scam.
Via: Business Insider:
Recently, however, Brar has fallen out of love with Facebook. He discovered — as Business Insider reported recently — that his Facebook fanbase was becoming polluted with thousands of fake likes from bogus accounts. He can no longer tell the difference between his real fans and the fake ones. Many appear fake because the users have so few friends, are based in developing countries, or have generic profile pictures.
At one point, he had a budget of more than $600,000 for Facebook ad campaigns, he tells us. Now he believes those ads were a waste of time.
Facebook declined multiple requests for comment on this story.
Brar’s take is a cautionary one because Facebook has 25 million small businesses using its platform for one marketing purpose or another. Many of them are not sophisticated advertisers — they are simply plugging a credit card number into the system and hoping for the best. This is what can happen if you don’t pay careful attention to contract language, or the live, real-time results your campaigns on Facebook are having.
Related: Company Finds Facebook Advertising Results in Clickthroughs That Are 80% Bots
