November 2010
Has NASA discovered extraterrestrial life? →
NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Jason Kottke has a thorough breakdown on the intervenants. Thursday is going to be an interesting day.
EDIT: RT from Jason’s twitter :
I’m sad to quell some of the @kottke-induced excitement about...
“The French observed that some in Russia have concluded their interests are...”
– A/S Gordon’s meetings with policy-makers in Paris, The US embassy cables
“Diplomats, like politicians and journalists, are also human. They too love to...”
– Former US-Ambassador John Kornblum on cablegate.
US embassy cables: browse the database |... →
Great infographic portal for the released wikileaks cables from the guardian. Makes you feel like you’re one of those incredibly sexy baddie in the Bourne trilogy.
“we know, ladies and gentlemen, as it happens, we’re the first generation...”
– Christopher Hitchens, The Munk debate
New Statesman - Christopher Hitchens vs. Tony... →
And here I was getting ready for bed. Grabbing ipad and glass of scotch.
(via Instapaper)
Large Hadron Collider detects Quark-Gluon Plasma →
Ok ok hold on : they found evidence of jet quenching which is explained by the theoretical framework behind the Quark Gluon Plasma. It still has to be peer reviewed by an insanely high and large number of IQs.
Keep your pants on.
But still.
“online dating sites assume that people are easy to describe on searchable...”
– Dan Ariely
The Insanity Virus | DISCOVER Magazine →
Schizophrenia has long been blamed on bad genes or even bad parents. Wrong, says a growing group of psychiatrists. The real culprit, they claim, is a virus that lives entwined in every person’s DNA.
The facts of schizophrenia are so peculiar, in fact, that they have led Torrey and a growing number of other scientists to abandon the traditional explanations of the disease and embrace...
Four major sins of news design :: 10,000 Words →
Sin No. 1: The swamp of “share” buttons.
This, this is what bumps a notch my anger meter.
procatalepsis →
in which the speaker brings up and immediately refutes the anticipated objections of his or her hearer.
When someone says “I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but…” they are maneuvering to keep you from saying “I don’t believe you — you’re just trying to hurt my feelings.”
“Given the many ways the Web is crucial to our lives and our work, disconnection...”
– Tim Berners-Lee
Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open... →
Tim Berners Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, in Scientific American :
The Web as we know it, however, is being threatened in different ways. Some of its most successful inhabitants have begun to chip away at its principles. Large social-networking sites are walling off information posted by their users from the rest of the Web. Wireless Internet providers are being tempted to slow...
Maxwell's demon demonstration turns information... →
Scientists in Japan are the first to have succeeded in converting information into free energy in an experiment that verifies the “Maxwell demon” thought experiment devised in 1867.
“This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the...”
– Joss Whedon on the Buffy remake
