Clipmarks | Silkweaver's clips

The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:12:11 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: "Speaking at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference this past March, Peter Norvig, Google's research director, offered an update to George Box's maxim: "All models are wrong, and increasingly you can succeed without them."

Clip Source: www.wired.com

"All models are wrong, but some are useful."

So proclaimed statistician George Box 30 years ago, and he was right. But what choice did we have? Only models, from cosmological equations to theories of human behavior, seemed to be able to consistently, if imperfectly, explain the world around us. Until now. Today companies like Google, which have grown up in an era of massively abundant data, don't have to settle for wrong models. Indeed, they don't have to settle for models at all.

Sixty years ago, digital computers made information readable. Twenty years ago, the Internet made it reachable. Ten years ago, the first search engine crawlers made it a single database. Now Google and like-minded companies are sifting through the most measured age in history, treating this massive corpus as a laboratory of the human condition. They are the children of the Petabyte Age.

Tags: theory, data, scientific model, computation cloud, google

Neural implant learns with the brain

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:22:35 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: nextbigfuture.com

University of Florida researchers have taken the concept of brain machine interfaces a step further, devising a way for computerized devices not only to translate brain signals into movement but also to evolve with the brain as it learns. This is a huge step forward to transhuman and technological singularity goals. The computer and the user co-evolve to learn to work together more effectively.

Until now, brain-machine interfaces have been designed as one-way conversations between the brain and a computer, with the brain doing all the talking and the computer following commands. The system UF engineers created actually allows the computer to have a say in that conversation, too, according to findings published this month online in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

"In the grand scheme of brain-machine interfaces, this is a complete paradigm change,"

Tags: brain, neaural implant, evolution

Evidence for Evolution (III)

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:12:38 GMT

clipped by: AcesLucky
clipper's remarks: Easy to watch.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: evolution, creationism

The Amazon Book Map (by Chris Harrison)

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:21:08 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.chrisharrison.net

Book Cover Version - Download Full Resolution JPG (10,296 x 15,444)

Dot Version - Download Full Resolution JPG (8580 x 8580)

Close-up of Book Cover Version

Super Close-up of Book Cover Version

Color Coding Key - Amazon Book Categories

a whopping 10,316,775 connections (edges) between books Amazon believed were related

10,316,775 connections (edges) between books Amazon believed were related

Items that were noted as being similar had attractive forces, bringing them together, often into large groups. Unsurprisingly, when we color coded by Amazon book category, there was an obvious coalescence. The way various high-level categorizations mix and meet also seems fairly logical.

The first visualization is a huge mosaic of book covers, tinted by their respective category colors. I can't produce this in one go at full resolution because the memory requires are enormous. The second version uses color-coded dots.

Tags: visualization, amazon, book, books, map, literature, chris harrison

How To Think

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:52:35 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: With the internet saturating ever deeper into our busy lives, humans are navigating uncharted informational and attentional waters these days. MIT neuroengineer, Ed Boyden, put together these rules of thumb to managing brain resources in an age of complexity.

7. Make your mistakes quickly. You may mess things up on the first try, but do it fast, and then move on. Document what led to the error so that you learn what to recognize, and then move on. Get the mistakes out of the way. As Shakespeare put it, "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."

(Via Kottke.)

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

1. Synthesize new ideas constantly. Never read passively. Annotate, model, think, and synthesize while you read

2. Learn how to learn (rapidly). One of the most important talents for the 21st century is the ability to learn almost anything instantly, so cultivate this talent.

3. Work backward from your goal. Or else you may never get there. If you work forward, you may invent something profound--or you might not.

4. Always have a long-term plan. Even if you change it every day. The act of making the plan alone is worth it.

6. Collaborate.

8. As you develop skills, write up best-practices protocols. That way, when you return to something you've done, you can make it routine. Instinctualize conscious control.

9. Document everything obsessively. If you don't record it, it may never have an impact on the world.

10. Keep it simple. If it looks like something hard to engineer, it probably is. If you can spend two days thinking of ways to make it 10 times simpler, do it.

Tags: howto, guide, advice, think, brain, mind, goals, life

Beyond Wikipedia...reference sites you can''t do without

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:08:04 GMT

clipped by: Newfman

Clip Source: dailyrevolver.com

Encylopedia Britannica

Scholarpedia

JSTOR

Oxford English Dictionary

Wikiseek

WikiMindMap

Online Education Database - This is a strange site, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it - but this link lists over 100 specific search and research tools, often relevant to specific subjects.

MathWorld - if you have the great misfortune of having to take math, then this site can be of great help. Everything mathematics from Geometry to Calculus is covered by this site in great detail.

GeoHive and Fedstats - These are both statistics sites, so if you need to know how many people. Fedstats allows public access to public agency statistics. Geohive is a bit cooler, primarily providing global statistics (gender populations, coal reserves, etc). I know, it’s so exciting I can’t stand it.

Theoi and Encyclopedia of Mythology - Both excellent resources on the subject of mythology and ancient religions. This is useful information all across the humanities.

Tags: research

Human 2.0 - Creating Gods

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:12:29 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster
clipper's remarks: Documentary about the upcoming technological singularity.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: science, technology, future, neuroscience, transhumanism, artificial intelligence, singularity, quantum mechanics

Communicating in Cyberspace (MITOpencourseware)

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:08:11 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: ocw.mit.edu

» MIT OpenCourseWare » Writing and Humanistic Studies » Communicating in Cyberspace, Fall 2003

21W.785 Communicating in Cyberspace, Fall 2003

This class covers the analysis, design, implementation and testing of various forms of digital communication based on group collaboration. Students are encouraged to think about the Web and other new digital interactive media not just in terms of technology but also broader issues such as language (verbal and visual), design, information architecture, communication and community. Students work in small groups on a semester-long project of their choice.

Clip Source: ocw.mit.edu

Download this Course

21W-785Fall-2003.zip

Clip Source: ocw.mit.edu

Debby Levinson: the development process, audience/client/developer relationship (PDF), websites as metaphors (PDF); student project formation.
Hagan Heller: large-scale project development, starting your own business.

Courtesy of Jonathan Grall: design concepts (PDF); student project formation continued. Used with permission.
Student elevator speeches and show and tell - students present their initial ideas for a project in the form of a 1-min sales-pitch.

Nicole Hennig: Writing for the Web presentation.
Stephani Roberts Lincoln: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance issues (PDF), ATIC Lab.

Clip Source: ocw.mit.edu

Related Resources

Tags: mit, opencourseware, resource, communicating in cyberspace, education, technology, science, cyberspace, communication, internet, web, community, design

ENERGY 2020: A VISION OF THE FUTURE

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:15:27 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: an interesting vision

Clip Source: lifeboat.com

ENERGY 2020: A VISION OF THE FUTURE —
A REPORT RETRIEVED FROM THE YEAR 2020
VIA A WORMHOLE

By Lifeboat Foundation Scientific Advisory Board member José Luis Cordeiro ¹

OVERVIEW

In 2020, world population has grown to 7.5 billion people, the global economy is approaching $80 trillion, and the wireless Internet 4.0 is now connecting almost half of humanity. Synergies among nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science (commonly known as NBIC technologies) have dramatically improved the human condition by increasing the availability of energy, food, and water and by connecting people and information anywhere, anytime. The positive effects are to increase collective intelligence and to create value and efficiency while lowering costs.

The acceleration of technological development has opened the door to continuous and rapid worldwide economic growth and has in fact allowed the world to achieve energy sustainability using many different energy sources. The NBIC technologies are proving to be the key to a very bright future, in which machines work increasingly efficiently so that the cost of goods continues to plummet and tremendous wealth is created faster and faster for everybody. All basic necessities, as well as intellectual and physical luxuries, can be accessible to even the poorest societies, thanks to a political system that has managed to keep world peace. Space exploration, artificial intelligence, and robotics are close to a takeoff point that some experts refer to as a "technological singularity".

In fact, already some cyborgs and clones are becoming accepted and normal in some societies, and their numbers are increasing faster than those of the so-called naturals. Biological evolution, which is slow and erratic, will be overtaken by technological evolution, which is faster and directed. Humans will never be the same, and all thanks to the great new energy mix.

THE PROPER ENERGY MIX

Tags: science, technology, vision, future, energy

Know where to search, No where to hide

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 12:34:13 GMT

clipped by: antiw

Clip Source: bhandler.spaces.live.com

Know Where to Search, No Where to Hide

We all have our favorite search engines tips, and use Google, MSN, and Yahoo! – but there are times when these search engines don't have the information you're looking for, so you'll need to venture down the road to know where!

STANDARD SEARCH

About – Comminity Help Search

Accoona – artificial intelligence for “better” searches

AddAll – book search

AltaVista

Answers – searches for answers (aka Guru)

AOL

Ask Jeeves

BookFinder – Book Search

Brainboost – searches for answers using “natural” language

dmoz – Open Directory Project (ODP)

Exalead – still in Beta

Excite

Kazazz! – Combines Search Engine and Social Networking

Lycos

Microsoft Search Result Clustering – still a research project, uses "clustering" to group results.

Snap

METASEARCH - Metasearch engines gather information from many other search engines and provide consolidated search results. Most metasearch engines combine the results from: Ask Jeeves, Google, MSN, & Yahoo! and more.

Clusty – uses "clustering" to group results

Dog Pile

gada.be – My new favorite

Gigablast

Kartoo

MyriadSearch

QKsearch

Walhello

WebCrawler

GENERAL RESEARCH

Apple’s Advanced Computation Group

AT&T Labs – Research

Google Tools and some not ready for prime time.

IBM Research

Intel Technology & Research

Lucent Technologies (Bell Labs)

Macromedia Labs

Microsoft Research and Sandbox Prototypes.

Sony-Kihara Research Center

Sun Research

Xerox – Palo Alto Research Center

Yahoo! Research

ACADEMIC & SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

ArXiv – Scientific Journal Archive

CiteSeer – Scientific Literature Library

Google Scholar Search

Scirus – Scientific Information

SmealSearch – Academic Business Literature

NEWS

All Headline News

FeedsFarm

Plazoo – still in Beta

BLOGS

Bloglines

Feedster

Google Blog Search

Pubsub

NEW! Talk Digger

Technorati

NOTE: I didn’t include many search engines like A9, AllTheWeb, Teoma etc because they have too close ties to commercial entities!

Tags: search, tips, links

The Naturalness of Homosexuality

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 05:58:45 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: "Homosexuality is as much a part of God's creation as heterosexuality. And those who refuse to acknowledge this are denying ... reality."

Clip Source: time.blogs.com

The Naturalness of Homosexuality

Homosexual bonding and sex are ubiquitous in nature, despite the ignorant attempts of the far right to describe it as "unnatural". A new exhibition in Norway finally presents the evidence in full, inspired by Bruce Bagemihl's ground-breaking book, "Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity." Money quote:

Bagemihl had scoured every scientific journal and paper he could lay his hands on for references to homosexuality in animals. Tucked away at the end of long and erudite texts, or consigned to footnotes and appendices, he found that homosexuality had been observed in no fewer than 1,500 species, and well documented in 500 of them. The earliest mention of animal homosexuality probably came 2,300 years ago when Aristotle described two female hyenas cavorting with each other.

Bagemihl's book provided the inspiration for this exhibition, and any notion that homosexuality is a uniquely human trait is quickly disposed of. You are greeted by a pair of swans — the very symbols of romantic love — who turn out to be a female couple. "Up to a fifth of all pairs are all male or all female," reads the accompanying text.

Then you come to the photograph of the whales "penis fencing" above which hang — for no apparent reason — two actual whale penises, both several feet long and looking like stretched and desiccated turnips. Some of the male whales meet year after year, says Bockman, while their relations with females are fleeting at best.

Homosexuality is as much a part of God's creation as heterosexuality. And those who refuse to acknowledge this are denying ... reality.

Tags: homosexuality, life

Freeware library

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:52:04 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.giveawayoftheday.com

Freeware library

Looking for quality free software? Go no further! Freeware Library is the perfect place for you to download free software from. Here you can find and enjoy free programs from virtually any category. We check all software carefully for viruses, trojans, spyware etc., so you can rest assured that all programs are pure freeware and safe to download and install.

Tags: software resources

Encyclopedia Of Spices

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 04:08:14 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.theepicentre.com

Ajowan

Chervil

Chile - Chili- Chilli
(general info)

Melegueta Pepper
(Grains of Paradise)

Nigella

Parsley

Rosemary

Sage

Tarragon

Thyme

Turmeric

Vanilla

Zedoary

African and Middle Eastern Spice Blends: Baharat, Berbere, Chermoula, Dukkah, Harissa, La Kama, Ras el Hanout, Tsire, Za'atar (Zahtar)

American Spice Blends: Apple Pie Spice, Cajun Blackening Spice, Chili Powder, Old Bay Seasoning, Pumpkin Pie Spice

Asian Blends: Chinese 5-spice, Chinese Seasoned Salt, Shichimi-togarashi

British Blends: Mixed Spice (Pudding Spice), Pickling Spice

Classic French Herb and Spice Blends: Bouquet Garni, Fines Herbes, Herbes de Provence, Quatre Epice

Indian Masalas: Chaat Masala, Garam Masala, Green Masala, Madrasi Masala, Panch Phoron, Sambar

The Spice Trade, A Taste of Adventure from the Economist is a fascinating accounting of how the history of the spice trade is the history of commerce and modern civilization.

Spices, or the Dawn of the Modern Age from Tastes of Paradise, a social history of spices, stimulants and intoxicants.

Pepper: King of Spices tells how pepper virtually changed the course of history by playing a key role in the development of trade and conquest.

Books on the Spice Trade and Food History reviews some excellent books on the subject. Included: Spice: The History of a Temptation, Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices, Nathaniel's Nutmeg, True History of Chocolate, Vanilla: Travels In Search of the Ice Cream Orchid, Salt: A World History, Bittersweet: The Story of Sugar, and History of the World in Six Glasses .

Tags: spices, food, cooking

XP - Alt Key Symbols

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:19:38 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: How to make all those special symbols easily.

Clip Source: www.mesweet.net

PRINTABLE ALT KEY SYMBOLS FOR REFERENCE

Alt Key + Calculator Number = Symbol

Hold the ALT key & type the number next to the symbol you want on the CALCULATOR part of the keyboard, then release Alt Key. Symbol will appear.

`¤ = 15`	`¶ = 20`	`§ = 21`	`Ç = 128`	`ü = 129`
`é = 130`	`â = 131`	`ä = 132`	`à = 133`	`å = 134`
`ç = 135`	`ê = 136`	`ë = 137`	`è = 138`	`ï = 139`
`î = 140`	`ì = 141`	`Ä = 142`	`Å = 143`	`É = 144`
`æ = 145`	`Æ = 146`	`ô = 147`	`ö = 148`	`ò = 149`
`û = 150`	`ù = 151`	`ÿ = 152`	`Ö = 153`	`Ü = 154`
`¢ = 155`	`£ = 156`	`¥ = 157`	`ƒ = 159`	`á = 160`
`í = 161`	`ó = 162`	`ú = 163`	`ñ = 164`	`Ñ = 165`
`ª = 166`	`º = 167`	`¿ = 168`	`¬ = 170`	`½ = 171`
`¼ = 172`	`¡ = 173`	`« = 174`	`» = 175`	`ß = 225`
`µ = 230`	`± = 241`	`÷ = 246`	`• = 249`	`· = 250`
`² = 253`	`^ = 350`	` = 352	`~ = 382`

Tags: xp, tips, how to

Gender Difference in Grammar

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 13:05:01 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Gender Difference in Grammar

Most children make adorable slip-ups in grammar when they’re learning to speak. Now scientists say the mistakes could vary by gender.

Boys and girls tend to use different parts of their brain to learn some fundamental parts of grammar, according to a new study.

“Sex has been virtually ignored in studies of the learning, representation, processing and neural bases of language,” said lead author Michael Ullman, a neuroscientist at Georgetown University. “This study shows that differences between males and females may be an important factor in these cognitive processes.”

For the study, published in Developmental Science, researchers investigated the different brain systems that children used when they made mistakes like “Yesterday I holded the bunny.” They found that girls tended to use a process that dealt with memorizing words and associations between them, whereas boys used a process governing the rules of language.

Research has shown that women tend to be better at tasks that employ what is called declarative memory, such as memorizing word lists. They use what is called a “mental lexicon” to memorize and remember words. Procedural memory, controlled by a different part of the brain, is used to combine words in sentences—research has shown both genders may use this process equally well.

“Although the two sexes seem to be doing the same thing, and doing it equally well, they are using two different neurocognitive brain processes to do it,” Ullman said.

Men and women may process words differently because of different levels of the hormone estrogen, which is much higher in females and affects brain processing, according to Ullman.

Tags: science, research, grammar, gender differences