When a child is young and does not know much in the way of the world, he must engage on the assumption that he is wrong and the world is correct. Evolution has provided significant reinforcement of this approach. For example, assuming the other way around, that he is right and the world is wrong […]
DMCA and the Internet of Things - Schneier on Security
"In theory, the Internet of Things promises to make your life easier and your work more efficient, ... saving you time, money, and energy... except when the companies that make these connected objects act in a way that runs counter to the consumer's best interests -- as the technology company […]
Articles: The Quiet Revolution: How the New Left Took Over the Democratic Party
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/08/the_quiet_revolution_how_the_new_left_took_over_the_democratic_party_.html Gramsci argued that communists’ route to taking power in developed, industrialized societies such as Europe and the United States would be best achieved through a “long march […]
The declining half life of secrets
If I had time I'd write a book on this immediately and expect it would sell well -- there is a hungry audience for this kind of analysis. Bruce Schneier linked to this, and I find it fascinating. It's a powerpoint, so to make it easy for you, I'm including a few screenshots below. The title is: […]
Visual Studio breakpoints break in the wrong place
This is obscure, so I'm posting it here to save someone the few hours I just spent. I recently clicked "Tools/Options/Debugging/Require source files to exactly match the original version." A little later, without realizing it was related to this config change, I discovered my debugging […]
Ten things to give your children (DRAFT)
Children natively love both parents no matter what, as a force more powerful than just about any other they carry. This is the essence of what we destroy in children to make them into grumpy grownups like us -- it is what was destroyed in us, remember? (Oh child of the Cold War where everybody […]
It's simple. If we can't change our economic system, our number's up
Monbiot "buries the lede" in this story, but it's a good one from this point forward: The Ecuadorean government decided to allow oil drilling in the heart of the Yasuni national park. It had made an offer to other governments: if they gave it half the value of the oil in that part of the […]
Walking away
My father taught me well how to walk away from what I love. I have since learned that this is not the best use of the skill of walking away. I am now learning how to walk away from what I hate. I believe it is a much more sustainable use of this difficult skill.
Thoughts on whether homeopathy operates at a quantum mechanical level
We know by the dual slit experiment that consciousness operates directly on matter and transforms it from wave to particle at the quantum mechanical level. We have proven that consciousness does this at least four times faster than the speed of light, and in fact quite possibly instantaneously. […]
On pursuing perfection and never finding it
The following excerpt from Simple Tools for Clarity, Understanding and Betterment by Stephen Pirie reminds me of an almost identical conversation I had with someone I used to look up to... until this conversation happened. Now I look across at him as an equal; the illusion is gone (lightly edited […]
Resilience: How to Preserve Structure
The term “resilience” comes from Latin resilere, “to spring back, start back, rebound, recoil, retreat”, and is often intended and defined as the ability to cope with or recover from change. Resilience is defined as: “the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing […]
Phillip K. Dick on the intersection of time, fiction and reality
The following excerpt from "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" is interesting, good reason to re-evaluate the meaning of some of the more peculiar episodes of my own life: One afternoon I was talking to my priest - I am an Episcopalian — and I happened to […]
Interesting simplicity in a sheepdog's herding technique
The interesting simplicity inherent in a sheepdog's movements: The research group outfitted a herd of 46 three-year-old female merino sheep with small backpacks containing GPS transmitters. The sheepdog was also given a GPS tracker. For each trial, the dog was simply verbally instructed to move the […]
NASA melds vacuum tube tech with silicon to fill the terahertz gap | Ars Technica
This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time. I think the moment of transformation from digital to analog, or vice versa, is a fascinating moment to understand philosophically and practically. Here is the invention of vacuum tube technology at the nano scale. Fun not only for the […]
Inception is no longer just a cool fictional idea -- it's now actually possible
Rarely does the mind get blown by something which is literally capable of blowing the mind. This qualifies: Researchers have been able to induce lucid dreaming at will with gamma waves. Even in this initial article, they're already talking about using this technique to hack the psyche. Check it out: […]
Neonicotinoid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mode of action: Neonicotinoids, like nicotine, bind to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors of a cell and triggers a response by that cell. In mammals, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are located in cells of both the central and peripheral nervous systems. In insects these receptors are limited to […]
Hands on with the OnePlus One Cyanogenmod phone | Ars Technica
Finally. Here's the first phone I've ever wanted to buy. A nice review of it by Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/04/flying-the-custom-flag-hands-on-with-the-oneplus-one-cyanogenmod-phone/ Stereo recording and tri-microphone noise cancelling technology are incorporated directly into […]
You can't parse HTML with regex (funny)
Developer humor here: You can't parse [X]HTML with regex. Because HTML can't be parsed by regex. Regex is not a tool that can be used to correctly parse HTML. As I have answered in HTML-and-regex questions here so many times before, the use of regex will not allow you to consume HTML... via html - […]
What Happens to Your Brain on Sugar, Explained by Science - PolicyMic
Notice that the normal brain has a lot more red stuff highlighted in it — called Dopamine. This chemical is produced in the part of the brain that is associated with reward. When someone experiences a reward — say while eating a really good meal — their Dopamine (red stuff) level spikes. For […]
Researchers discover a new layer of happiness
Instead of dampening neuron firing found with stress-induced depression, researchers demonstrated for the first time that further activating these neurons opens a new avenue to mimic and promote natural resilience. The findings were so surprising that the research team thinks it may lead to novel […]