Clipmarks | splendidus's clips

Seeing in four dimensions

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:20:23 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The videos are all available free at www.dimensions-math.org. The videos go on to show how we can visualize imaginary numbers geometrically, how fractal patterns emerge in the Mandelbrot set and Julia sets, and how beautiful and complex shapes can be built up from circles.

Clip Source: www.sciencenews.org

Mathematicians create videos that help in visualizing four-dimensional objects

Three dimensions can be so limiting.

There is the minor difficulty that our nervous systems are only equipped to conjure images in three dimensions. But that doesn’t stop Étienne Ghys of the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France, from visualizing the four-dimensional dynamical systems he studies: “I live in dimension four,” he says.

And you can too. Ghys has now created a series of videos teaching others to visualize four dimensions the way he does.

in four dimensions, there are six regular solids, including one with 600 faces! Each of those 600 faces is itself a three-dimensional tetrahedron, and 20 of them meet at each vertex.

How on earth can we visualize such a thing?

Still, they could try. We depict three-dimensional objects on a page all the time, essentially by drawing their outlines.

a third method called “stereographic projection,” which is less intuitive but much more helpful.

Tags: mathematics, visualization

"Travel" Faster than Light?

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:11:15 GMT

clipped by: splendidus
clipper's remarks: Interesting Theory...

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

The warp engine is based on a design first proposed in1994 by Michael Alcubierre. The Alcubierre drive, as it's known, involves expanding the fabric of space behind a ship into a bubble and shrinking space-time in front of the ship. The ship would rest in between the expanding and shrinking space-time, essentially surfing down the side of the bubble.

The tricky part is that the ship wouldn't actually move; space itself would move underneath the stationary spacecraft.

the ship would arrive at its destination faster than a beam of light traveling the same distance

without violating Einstein's relativity

since the ship itself isn't actually moving

The fabric of space has moved faster than light before, says Cleaver, right after the Big Bang

"We're recreating the inflationary period of the universe behind the ship,"

how

manipulating the 11th dimension

Exactly how

is still unknown

the amount of energy necessary

: about 10^45 joules

the entire mass of Jupiter into pure energy via E = mc^2

Tags: warp, drive, alcubierre drive, light

An Illustrated Guide to Every Cable You Need

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:08:15 GMT

clipped by: splendidus
clipper's remarks: A Comment:
"I hear Job's is working on the one cable to replace them all. Supposedly once you plug it into a device, it makes that device infinitely more powerful, then becomes invisible so there's no mess.
One cable to rule them all, one cable to find them. One cable to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."

Clip Source: gizmodo.com

Giz Explains: An Illustrated Guide to Every Stupid Cable You Need

USB Type A

USB Type B

Mini USB

Micro USB

IEEE 1394 (aka FireWire)

FireWire 800

RJ45

eSATA

HDMI

DVI

Mini and Micro DVI

DisplayPort

Gann at 03:15 PM on 07/30/08

@humanporkrind: I hear Job's is working on the one cable to replace them all. Supposedly once you plug it into a device, it makes that device infinitely more powerful, then becomes invisible so there's no mess.

One cable to rule them all, one cable to find them. One cable to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.

Tags: fun, computer, cable

NASA To Live Stream Total Eclipse

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:22:12 GMT

clipped by: splendidus

Clip Source: www.webpronews.com

NASA To Live Stream Total Eclipse

Tomorrow a total solar eclipse will darken part of the Earth. Unless you're hanging out in Outer Mongolia, though, you won't get to see it. Luckily there's NASA, which will stream a good shot of it from a special website.

You're not supposed to stare at the sun, anyway, as a few dozen people in India just found out.

NASA has even prepared a Google Map showing the "Path of Totality." Can't help but think that sounds like a scary path, one with Gandalf at the end of it shouting at a fire demon.

Tags: total eclipse, 2008, nasa, live, stream

Don S. Davis passed away

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:14:01 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator
clipper's remarks: Services for Don S. Davis will be small and private, in both Vancouver and Los Angeles. His Web sites will be updated this week, and his obituary has been published in the Vancouver Sun newspaper. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family requests that donations be made to the American Heart Association in Don's memory.

Clip Source: www.donsdavisart.com

Clip Source: www.coolscifi.com

Don co-starred on Stargate SG-1 for the show's first seven years, helping to launch the enduring science fiction franchise. Davis played Major General George Hammond, base commander and a father figure to many of the show's characters.

He is also well-known for his portrayal of Major Garland Briggs in Twin Peaks.

With great sadness we must report that veteran actor Don S. Davis passed away on June 29, 2008. He was 65 years old.

Tags: don s. davis, passed away, stargate sg1, twin peaks, artist, painter, actor

Dictionary of the History of Ideas

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:11:52 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: etext.lib.virginia.edu

ABSTRACTION IN THE FORMATION OF CONCEPTS

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

AGNOSTICISM

ALCHEMY

ALIENATION IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

ALIENATION IN HEGEL AND MARX

ALLEGORY IN LITERARY HISTORY

AMBIGUITY AS AESTHETIC PRINCIPLE

ANALOGY IN EARLY GREEK THOUGHT

ANALOGY IN PATRISTIC AND MEDIEVAL THOUGHT

ANARCHISM

ANCIENTS AND MODERNS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

ANTHROPOMORPHISM IN SCIENCE

ANTINOMY OF PURE REASON

APPEARANCE AND REALITY

ATOMISM: ANTIQUITY TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

ATOMISM IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

BAROQUE IN LITERATURE

THEORIES OF BEAUTY TO THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY

THEORIES OF BEAUTY SINCE THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY

BEHAVIORISM

BIOLOGICAL CONCEPTIONS IN ANTIQUITY

BIOLOGICAL HOMOLOGIES AND ANALOGIES

BIOLOGICAL MODELS

BUDDHISM

C-D

TED Talks - 2 years, 50 million talks, top 10

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:25:38 GMT

clipped by: Fast T friend
clipper's remarks: To celebrate two years and 50 million TED talks, we're releasing for the first time the list of the Top 10 TED talks

Clip Source: www.ted.com

These are the Top 10 TEDTalks in our first two years of posting TED video free to the world. Watch the highlights video, or dive in to the talks, using the links at right.

Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks
05:40 Apr 2008

David Gallo shows underwater astonishments
05:21 Jan 2008

Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos Photosynth
07:42 May 2007

Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do
22:30 Jun 2006

Al Gore on averting climate crisis
16:18 Jun 2006

Jill Bolte Taylor's powerful stroke of insight

Arthur Benjamin does "Mathemagic"
15:15 Dec 2007

Jeff Han demos his breakthrough touchscreen
09:32 Aug 2006

Hans Rosling shows the best stats you've ever seen
20:35 Jun 2006

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity
19:29 Jun 2006

Tags: ted, talks, top

Dynamic Architecture

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:57:18 GMT

clipped by: splendidus
clipper's remarks: Rotating towers...

Clip Source: www.dynamicarchitecture.net

DYNAMIC TOWER | DUBAI

Clip Source: www.dynamicarchitecture.net

ABOUT DR. DAVID FISHER

Dr. Fisher's professional activity has always been focused on two concepts: an industrial approach involving the use of prefabricated units, and Dynamic Architecture, where the traditional three-dimensional design meets a fourth dimension: Time. With his new Dynamic Towers, he is transforming time to herald a New Era of Architecture.

Clip Source: www.dynamicarchitecture.net

A NEW ERA OF GREEN BUILDING

The building generates electricity from wind turbines mounted horizontally between each floor

Another environmentally green element of the Dynamic Tower is the photovoltaic cells that will be placed on the roof of each rotating floor to produce solar energy, approximately 20% of each roof will be exposed to the sun, so a building that has 80 roofs will equal the roofing space of 10 similar size buildings.

Clip Source: www.dynamicarchitecture.net

Moscow Rotating Skyscraper

Clip Source: www.dynamicarchitecture.net

PREFABRICATION

The prefabricated units arrive at the building site ready for quick and efficient installatio

Tags: dynamic architecture, architecture, rotating towers

Top Blogs on technorati - by no. of fans

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:57:20 GMT

clipped by: Fast T friend
clipper's remarks: An interesting reflection on the scope of interest

Clip Source: technorati.com

Blogger Central / top 100 blogs

sort blogs

Boing Boing

Boing Boing is a weblog of cultural curiosities and interesting technologies. It's the most popular blog in the world, as ranked by Technorati.com, and won the Lifetime Achievement and Best Group Blog awards at the 2006 Bloggies ceremony.

Blog Tips to Help You Make Money Blogging - ProBlogger

Helping Bloggers Earn Money. Blog Tips and News for the Professional and Hobby Blogger.

TechCrunch

Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done

Engadget

Tags: blogs, technorati, top, interest, fans

Firefox 3 - User's Guide - 1

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:34:08 GMT

clipped by: splendidus
clipper's remarks: Power uses, tricks, and customizations...

Clip Source: lifehacker.com

Shrink the Super-sized Back Button

Just right-click on Firefox's toolbar, and choose Customize. In the dialog box, select "Use small icons."

Adjust the Smart Location Bar's Number of Suggestions

Enter about:config into the address bar and hit Enter.

Press the "I''ll be carefull. I promise!" button. (Because you will be.)

Enter browser.urlbar.maxRichResults in the Filter field to reach this preference.

Set it to your desired number of suggestions. Three shown here.

Shift+Delete Mistyped URL Suggestions

To remove a mistyped URL from your suggestion list forever, key down to the suggestion and type Shift+Delete.

Revert the "AwesomeBar" with Oldbar

the Oldbar extension can revert the "AwesomeBar" to something less awesome

Trick Out Your Smart Bookmarks

Smart Bookmarks are dynamic lists of URLs generated by certain search criteria

Here's how to create your own collections of Smart Bookmarks using search parameters

Say Hello to the Firefox Robots

Type about:robots

list of robot pop culture references

Tags: firefox 3, guide, tips, tricks, customization

Field Guide to Firefox 3 : What's New and Improved?

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:04:27 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Since today is Firefox 3 Download day, here's a field guide on its new features.

I see you cannot download it yet, but you should be able to shortly.

Clip Source: www.dria.org

Field Guide to Firefox 3

Here’s a list of the features covered in this Guide.

Add-on manager

For more, see Get Add-ons in Firefox 3 by Madhava Enros.

Bookmarks

For more, see Firefox 3: Bookmarks by Deb Richardson.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

For more, see Some new CSS features in Firefox 3 by David Baron.

Color profile support

For more, see Firefox 3: Color profile support by Deb Richardson.

Download manager

For more, see Download Manager in Firefox 3 by Madhava Enros.

Font and text rendering

For more, see Firefox 3: Fonts and text by Stuart Parmenter and Deb Richardson.

Full page zoom

For more, see Full Page Zoom by Seth Bindernagel.

History

For more, see Firefox 3: History by Deb Richardson.

HTML Canvas

For more, see HTML Canvas in Firefox 3 by Vlad Vukićević.

Location bar UTF-8 support

Malware protection

For more, see Mal-what? Firefox 3 vs. Bad People by Johnathan Nightingale.

Microformats API

how to use the new microformats API in Firefox 3 extensions, and Where are the microformats in Firefox 3?

Tags: howto, firefox, ff, list, links, help, browser

Firefox 3 Download Day - Today

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:19:57 GMT

clipped by: splendidus

Clip Source: blog.mozilla.com

Our Guinness World Record attempt will start when Firefox 3 is officially launched at approximately 10:00 a.m. PDT (17:00 UTC) on Tuesday, June 17th.

At that time, please check out the official Download Day site to download Firefox and for a map of worldwide downloads!

Tags: firefox 3, download, download day

Napping is Good and How to Do It

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:52:24 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Tags: napping, sleep

Mathematics

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:14:41 GMT

clipped by: splendidus
clipper's remarks: "It is the application of a logically consistent set of rules and grammatical constructions to create more intricate rules and constructions. These constructions are used to model the world of external observation, and they do so with remarkable precision."

Clip Source: www.polimetrica.eu

Mathematics is the manipulation of abstract symbols according to specific rules

As such, mathematics is a language

A mathematician is a linguist who constructs symbols and words from their conceptual roots

Mathematics is the objective science of pure reason

Its moral stance is that of truth: If one accept the axioms, then one must accept the conclusions

The purposes of these mathematical endeavors are manifold

The primary purpose is to solve real world problems

The secondary purpose is to construct a mathematical world whose internal consistency is so devastatingly beautiful that its intrinsically simple internal structure will shed light on the inner complexities of the external world

Mathematical truths transcend the thinker

Once a truth is established and articulated within the language of mathematical symbolism, it is universally true — or true within the axiomatic system upon which we agree

Mathematics is the language of abstraction

Tags: mathematichs, math

The Future is now - Dr. Kurzweil's Predictions

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:14:10 GMT

clipped by: splendidus
clipper's remarks: Dr. Kurzweil is so confident in these curves that he has made a $10,000 bet with Mitch Kapor, the creator of Lotus software. By 2029, Dr. Kurzweil wagers, a computer will pass the Turing Test by carrying on a conversation that is indistinguishable from a human's.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The Future Is Now? Pretty Soon, at Least

Worried about greenhouse gas emissions? Have faith.

within 20 years all our energy will come from clean sources

Are you depressed by the prospect of dying?

hang on another 15 years

be around for the Singularity

start evolving into immortal beings with ever-improving software

At least that’s Dr. Kurzweil’s calculation. It may sound too good to be true, but even his critics acknowledge he’s not your ordinary sci-fi fantasist. He is a futurist with a track record and enough credibility for the National Academy of Engineering to publish his sunny forecast for solar energy.

He makes his predictions using what he calls the Law of Accelerating Returns

“Scientists imagine they’ll keep working at the present pace,”

“They make linear extrapolations from the past. When it took years to sequence the first 1 percent of the human genome, they worried they’d never finish, but they were right on schedule for an exponential curve.

Tags: future, technology, science, brain, kurzweil