BBC News - Why do people often vote against their own interests?
Topic: Miscellaneous
9:10 am EST, Jan 30, 2010
The Republicans' shock victory in the election for the US Senate seat in Massachusetts meant the Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate. This makes it even harder for the Obama administration to get healthcare reform passed in the US.
BBC News - Laser fusion test results raise energy hopes
Topic: Science
8:30 am EST, Jan 29, 2010
A major hurdle to producing fusion energy using lasers has been swept aside, results in a new report show.
The controlled fusion of atoms - creating conditions like those in our Sun - has long been touted as a possible revolutionary energy source.
However, there have been doubts about the use of powerful lasers for fusion energy because the "plasma" they create could interrupt the fusion. ...
"For the first time ever in the 50-year journey of laser fusion, these laser-plasma interactions have been shown to be less of a problem than predicted, not more," said Mike Dunne, director of the UK's Central Laser Facility and leader of the European laser fusion effort known as HiPER.
"I can't overstate how dramatic a step that is," he told BBC News. "Many people a year ago were saying the project would be dead by now."
Voltage, Current, and Resistance - three of the most important electrical properties, are elegantly intertwined by way of a the simple equation - V = IR, better known as Ohm's Law.
This is the most basic concept in electronics presented for those of you who read this blog who have taken an interest in circuitry but don't happen to be operating with a degree in engineering...
New York Times Best-Selling Authors Unveil Secrets of The Lost Symbol
Topic: Miscellaneous
6:46 pm EST, Dec 22, 2009
Elonka Dunin, America’s leading code-breaker, who “appeared” in The Lost Symbol as Nola Kaye, teases readers with a puzzle that helps drive the plot: "Is the secret to the infamous and as-yet-unsolved Kryptos sculpture at the CIA truly 'buried out there somewhere'?"
Whee, "America's leading code-breaker"? Publicity's nice and all, but that's a bit much. "World's #1 expert on Kryptos", sure, but for a modern code-breaker, I'd be more inclined to list someone such as Bruce Schneier.
The way Rage Against The Machine were propelled to the top of the charts in place of the latest manicured X Factor act shows a quality that runs through British life like a stick of rock. But why do people like to be so bloody-minded?
BBC News - Human-like fossil find is breakthrough of the year
Topic: Science
12:54 am EST, Dec 18, 2009
The discovery of a fossilised skeleton that has become a "central character in the story of human evolution" has been named the science breakthrough of 2009.
evil begets stupidity. An organization that wins by exercising power starts to lose the ability to win by doing better work
two things struck me -- well more but I just wanted to say ... I WANT a hand held dev machine and
from the Hustler
Fast Eddie: How should I play that one, Bert? Play it safe? That's the way you always told me to play it: safe... play the percentage. Well, here we go: fast and loose. One ball, corner pocket. Yeah, percentage players die broke, too, don't they, Bert? [he makes the shot and the spectators applaud] Fast Eddie: How can I lose?
fast and loose "launch-fast-and-iterate" yeah baby
BBC News - Ahmed Rashid: Pakistan conspiracy theories stifle debate
Topic: International Relations
5:41 am EST, Nov 24, 2009
Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid reports on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories.
Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan.
You will be bombarded with talk show hosts who are mostly obsessed with demonising the elected government, trying to convince viewers of global conspiracies against Pakistan led by India and the United States or insisting that the recent campaign of suicide bomb blasts around the country is being orchestrated by foreigners rather than local militants.
