It seems that The Machines are much in the news lately. I’ve seen several articles on increasing uses for drones and other UAVs in domestic “security” applications, not to mention the prospects of arming them for bona fide warfare. On a much less violent front, we have this item from the Wall Street Journal, which describes how a seemingly innocuous …
Go With the Flow
A recent report addresses what appears to be a long-observed phenomenon in some circles: That bubbles in stout often sink, rather than rise. No, this is not an effect enhanced by increased consumption of the imbibable under discussion; rather, it is a very real phenomenon, seen even by those who are not inclined to see what is not there. It …
Dragons Exist!
Activities in space and on Earth today continued the opening of a new chapter in spaceflight. An uncrewed capsule, hight Dragon, containing a nominal mass of otherwise expendable and relatively unimportant cargo, docked with the International Space Station (ISS). This it the first time a commercial construct has docked with the ISS; previously, only capsules officially from governments have done …
Perceived Powerlessness?
The news in several places that the recently released movie, The Avengers broke the $1 billion mark for ticket sales (see here, for example) left me wondering, Why? What is it about this movie that has knocked earlier blockbusters (such as the Harry Potter canon) off their pedestals? I mean, I love a good movie, and may even set things …
An Intolerable Situation
Yesterday the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly (248-168) to pass the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (H.R. 3523), known as CISPA. I don’t usually express opinions per se here, but this time I will: I find this intolerable I acknowledge that things are getting very dicey in the cyber world, and that there is increasing need for …
What Would You Do If You Could Not Fail?
I came across this question recently via two different communications channels (Wired magazine and a YouTube video), both referring to the same person. That person is Regina Dugan, who—until March 2012—was director of the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, or DARPA. She left DARPA to move to Google, and faced lots of criticism for the way she allocated work to …
Cleaning Up an Error
Back in September 2011 there was a report from the OPERA experiment at the Large Hadron Collider that neutrinos could travel faster than the currently universally accepted limit of the speed of light. I described my own reactions to this report here. As noted then (and to cite Carl Sagan’s popularization of the phrase and concept), “extraordinary claims require extraordinary …
Interaction Modes
Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. -William Arthur Ward, college administrator, writer (1921-1994) Questions: How do you interact with others? What do you do to get others to change their behavior? What makes you …
Functional Fixedness
What do a flock of starlings (known as a murmuration) and ferromagnetism have to do with each other? On the surface, probably nothing. Nothing, that is, unless you are a team of scientists with a perspective and approach that goes outside what their nominal area of study seems to call for. A team headed by William Bialek at Princeton University …
It Must Be Magic
A little item has crossed my desk twice in the past week. As is often the case, it came from two different correspondents, a continent apart. How and why such things spread is worthy of another post, but for now, allow me to point you to this: A little thought and some research that confirmed my hypothesis was very satisfying, …