Positive

"The most common bit of critical feedback I got in response to “Herd Mentality” is an argument that..."

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:37:00 -0500

“

The most common bit of critical feedback I got in response to “Herd Mentality” is an argument that goes like this: “You don’t want a world with several additional desktop OSes. It would make for a compatibility and interoperability nightmare. We were there before, in the early days of the personal computer, and it was a mess.”

I say two things to that. First, it may have been a mess, but it was a beautiful mess. It was glorious. It was fun. The Apple II, the IBM PC and DOS, Commodore, Atari, Acorn. The TI-99/4A.

”

- Daring Fireball: The OS Opportunity

"Your problem is simplified because the “far future” isn’t that far. If that half..."

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:11:59 -0500

“

Your problem is simplified because the “far future” isn’t that far. If that half life of something is very long, then it isn’t very radioactive — by definition. (you don’t have to be a scientist to realize that decay rate is inversely proportional to half life).

In other words, long-lived isotopes decay slowly (few decays per unit time), or they’d be short-lived isotopes. Your biggest worry with plutonium is not that some isotopes decay slowly, but like other (non-radioactive) heavy metals, it is poisonous. That worry has been very, very exaggerated for various reasons (scare people about dirty bombs, anti-nuclear power, you name it).

Lead is poisonous, too, and stable isotopes last forever. How do we package our old fishing weights and car batteries?

Most nuclear waste (by volume) are materials contaminated with short lived isotopes of iron, molybdenum, cobalt, etc. Some of it is pretty nasty stuff, but for a very short time.

Spent fuel is highly radioactive at first. All sorts of very radioactive (i.e., short half life) fission-product nastiness. After a few hundred years, the hazard is on the same order as that of uranium ore.

”

- Marginal Revolution: How do you convince someone to stay away?

I love thinking about this problem. This answer is probably the most significant I’ve read. Neal Stephenson’s in Anathem though, is my favorite.

The sound of an MRI machine, if I’m not...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:32:27 -0500

The sound of an MRI machine, if I’m not mistaken.

Abfackeln! - Einstürzende Neubauten

QR Code Bookmarklet

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:55:00 -0500

I have a new HTC Hero and sometimes I want to easily look at something on my phone that I’m currently looking at on my computer. Here’s a simple bookmarklet for doing exactly that. Drag the link below to your toolbar and enjoy.

QR Code Page

(If you’re in the Tumblr Dashboard, click through to the real page to see the link.)

jwz - Club Med, Dune Sea.

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:17:14 -0500

jwz - Club Med, Dune Sea.

"It was cross-platform: it ran on both Unix and VMS."

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:33:44 -0500

“It was cross-platform: it ran on both Unix and VMS.”

- Why do we have an IMG element? [dive into mark]

I think it’s just my lingering Battlestar Galactica...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:39:00 -0500

I think it’s just my lingering Battlestar Galactica fanboyness, but “Ares I” seems like the perfect name for a rocket.

Launch of the Ares I-X - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Happy Halloween!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:20:09 -0400

Happy Halloween!

GUIdebook > Screenshots > Workbench 2.04

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:06:41 -0400

GUIdebook > Screenshots > Workbench 2.04

IceBlink Sail - Picture This documentary is airing frequently on...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:26:02 -0400

IceBlink Sail - Picture

This documentary is airing frequently on WYBE right now. It’s so so good. Inspirational in the best sense of the word.

Lena laughing: “He never grow up!” Lev and Lena...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:03:52 -0400

Lena laughing: “He never grow up!”

Lev and Lena (via grisha_21)

Look at all of his stuff. Absolutely amazing.

Saturn at equinox - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:16:48 -0400

Saturn at equinox - The Big Picture - Boston.com

"Yo momma so weak physicists have unified her with electromagnetism."

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:13:40 -0400

“Yo momma so weak physicists have unified her with electromagnetism.”

- The Nerdy Dozens - Boing Boing

(via amyyy)

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:48:29 -0400

(via amyyy)

Graffiti Eyes (via stellastarrofficial) Great video.

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:39:55 -0400

Graffiti Eyes (via stellastarrofficial)

Great video.

"As long as future robots remain well integrated into society, and become more powerful gradually and..."

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:33:24 -0400

“As long as future robots remain well integrated into society, and become more powerful gradually and peacefully, at each step respecting the law we use to keep the peace among ourselves, and also to keep the peace between them, I see no more reason for them to exterminate us than we now have to exterminate retirees or everyone over 100 years old. We live now in a world where some of us are many times more powerful than others, and yet we still use law to keep the peace, because we fear the consequences of violating that peace. Let’s try to keep it that way.”

- Overcoming Bias : Let’s Not Kill All The Lawyers

(via peth)

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:34:02 -0400

(via peth)

"It is interesting how many people look at the world and conclude: the people who do not believe as I..."

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:27:41 -0400

“It is interesting how many people look at the world and conclude: the people who do not believe as I believe do not really believe what they believe; the people who do not think as I think do not really think what they think.”

- Who Is IOZ?: What Do You Know?

Carl Sagan - ‘A Glorious Dawn’ ft Stephen Hawking...

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:52:57 -0400

Carl Sagan - ‘A Glorious Dawn’ ft Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed) (via jwz)

wowwowwowwowwow!

First Families (via KrazyDad » Blog Archive » First...

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:53:00 -0400

First Families (via KrazyDad » Blog Archive » First Families)

Barack Obama’s like MFing statue.