August 2015
Selfie sticks stick
When the selfie stick burst on the scene a couple of years ago, I assumed it was an elaborate Internet hoax. It seemed like one of those fake products that was a social commentary on narcissism, consumerism, or some such thing. It turned out that they’re real and becoming more popular.
One billion people
Mark Zuckerberg announced that one billion people used Facebook in a single day for the first time.
On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family. […] I’m so proud of our community for the progress we’ve made. Our community stands for giving every person a voice, for promoting understanding and for including everyone in the opportunities of our modern world. A more open and connected world is a better world. It brings stronger relationships with those you love, a stronger economy with more opportunities, and a stronger society that reflects all of our values.</blockquote>
Real life first-person video game
Cyborg Enhancements: Wheels and Pedals
The best technologies are the ones that enhance your natural abilities rather than replace them. These are the innovations that have historically had the biggest impact on what humanity can accomplish, and this is the factor to watch for when deciding what emerging technologies to get excited about. Sep Kamvar, writing about the power efficiencies of a human brain and body vs. that of a super computer, points out how energy efficient a car is compared to a person on a bike.
A midsized car gets a little over half a mile per kilocalorie of energy. A human walking gets 10 miles per kilocalorie. Even if we exclude the cost of the car, the cost of the road, and the cost of the infrastructure we build for fueling, walking is still 20 times as efficient as driving.
Making up numbers as needed
Tom Fishburne, the Marketoonist, tweeted this cartoon today:
The joke in the comic is too true. Numbers in a PowerPoint are rarely called into question—even though challenging the assumptions of a presentation is an easy way to appear smart and insightful. However, there is little incentive to question any data that doesn’t conflict with one’s currently held beliefs. On the other hand, if there is conflict, even additional evidence beyond the charts and graphs will rarely change someone’s mind, so the numbers—even if accurate—may as well be made up.
Sail Week In Amsterdam
Rocking Tauntaun
Emoji Mosaic
I made this emoji-based-mosaic of my avatar using this clever JavaScript tool by Eric Lewis.
Wine causes and prevents cancer
According to articles published in the Daily Mail, one surefire way to affect your odds of developing cancer is to drink wine. Here are a few examples of articles against drinking wine:
…and here are a few in favor of the beverage:
I first came across the Kill or Cure list of Daily Mail cancer articles back in 2010 and was amazed to see all the expert research pointing to the adverse or beneficial effects many ”inanimate objects” have on one’s chances of developing cancer.
Timelapse of Earth from the ISS
This video edited by Dmitry Pisanko compiles times lapses shot from the International Space Station.
There is also a collection of high resolution gifs from this video on Imgur that loop details of the 4K footage.
The ISS is impressive to behold, and the images of Earth taken from it are truly captivating. Seeing the world from this perspective is very eye-opening. The world is big and we take up such a very small part of it.
Chess Academy For iOS
Chess Academy is the latest addition to my phone’s home screen. The app is an addictive tactics trainer that presents a series of chess puzzles to solve. There is no time limit for each puzzle. If you enter the correct series of moves, you gain points, and if you make a wrong move you lose points. After making a mistake, you can try to solve the puzzle again, but if you’re still stuck after trying every combination you can think of, you can ask to be shown the solution.
The current feature set in the app is quite limited. While the Chess Academy website has multiple interactive lesson tracks, tactical training, and practice games, the iPhone app only lets you practice tactics. I don’t know if their development roadmap includes adding more of the desktop features. It would be a nice touch, but even if they don’t add them, the tactical training has plenty to keep me busy and entertained.
National Geographic photo contest winners
Alan Taylor from the Atlantic posted the winning pictures from the 2015 Traveler’s photo contest.
NASA captures photos of the Moon passing in front of the Earth
NASA recently published an amazing set of images from the far side of the moon. The photos show the moon passing in front of the sunlit surface of the earth.
This animation features actual satellite images of the far side of the moon, illuminated by the sun, as it crosses between the DSCOVR spacecraft’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and telescope, and the Earth - one million miles away. Credits: NASA/NOAA</blockquote>
