Ruben: I know you loved this

"According to Transformers' director Michael Bay, in a story over on Electronista, Microsoft is deliberately feeding into the HD disc format wars to ensure that its own downloads succeed where physical copies fail, he says in a response to a question posed through his official forums. The producer contends that Microsoft is writing "$100 million dollar checks" to movie studios to ensure HD DVD exclusives that hurt the overall market regardless of the format's actual merit or its popularity, preventing any one format from gaining a clear upper hand."

GO MS!!!! monopoly king!

Powered by ScribeFire.

grr

http://www.smart-kit.com/games/baby-duck-puzzle/

Crayon Physics..

¿Cómo se podrá aplicar esto para cambiar como aprenden nuestros hijos?

Animusic - 05 - Pipe Dream

Sweet!

...The King is Dead

Odiemos todos a Ricardo Arjona...

Bugman escribió:

Grasa o mersa en Argentina, naco en México, hortera en España, ordinario en cualquier país, eso es lo que pienso de Ricardo Arjona. Me parece un individuo tan pringoso, que si por casualidad se diera una ducha provocaría una catástrofe ecológica que ríase del Exxon Valdez. No me gusta como canta, sus melodías no tienen ni siquiera la simplicidad y la alegría que permita ser motivo de solaz en casamientos y fiestas de cumpleaños. Cuando desgraciadamente su excesiva difusión me expone a sus balidos me siento cubierto por una sustancia cochambrosa y dulzona, como si fuera un candidato a la presidencia obligado por la exigencias de la campaña a besar niños atiborrados de manzanas cubiertas de caramelo.

Beto M responde:

Bugman: te me adelantaste! yo planeaba redactar un post sobre lo ridículamente naco que son las letras de las canciones de Arjona, con metáforas pseudoprofundoas y dizque inteligentes que le funcionan con la gran masa, pero que en realidad son insultos a la inteligencia común.

Y yo estoy al punto de decir que "metáforas pseudoprofundas" es todo un elogio inmerecido para el artista... En sus canciones prácticamente NUNCA aparece una metáfora, sus letras son más bien: similes pseudoprofundos salpicados con metáforas ordinarias y a lo sumo burdas ó toscas... Mantengo firmemente mis siguientes opiniones:

• Arjona representa el borde superior de la mediocridad, de una manera casi espeluznante, tanto líricamente como musicalmente esta al borde de lo apenas soportable
• la popularidad del artista demuestra tan solo la pobreza intelectual de la masa
• el individuo escribe sus canciones con un diccionario o la lista de sinónimos de Word
• existe la posibilidad de que la múscia/letras de Ricardo Arjona son secretamente producidas por el primer sistema de inteligencia artificial capaz de burlar al ser humano y verdaderamente es un testimonio a las capacidades de lo que ha alcanzado la ciencia computacional (a pesar de que le falte tanto para verdaderamente acercarse al verdadero potencial humano)

United Nation Report the Worlds current state and its ability to continue sustaining life as we know it.

"The human population of planet Earth is, in effect, maxed out on its credit cards and soon will have problems paying the mortgage. Unless concerted global efforts are made to address these mounting problems, GEO-4 concludes that we shall shortly pass the point of no return."

The authors—388 scientists reviewed by roughly 1,000 of their peers—view the report as "an urgent call for action" and decry the "woefully inadequate" global response to problems such as climate change. "The amount of resources needed to sustain [humanity] exceeds what is available," the report declares.

"The systematic destruction of the earth's natural and nature-based resources has reached a point where the economic viability of economies is being challenged," Achim Steiner, UNEP's executive director, said in a statement. "The bill we hand our children may prove impossible to pay."

Can you hear the cries of rationalized hate!

World-renowned geneticist draws fire for claims that Africans are intellectually inferior: Sciam Observations

Nothing like stirring the pot--not to mention selling books--with an incendiary claim, in this case that one race is intellectually superior to another. Dr. Watson, we presume? Bingo. World-renowned geneticist James Watson, 79, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his role in helping break the DNA code, is being widely criticized after telling The Sunday Times of London that he's "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours--whereas all the testing says not really." He went on, reports the newspaper, to say that "people who have to deal with black employees find...it is not true" that all humans are equal.

The Independent reports today that Watson is currently on a swing through Britain to publicize his latest book Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science due out next week in which he apparently makes similar such claims. "There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically," the London newspaper quotes from the upcoming book. "Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so."

Opinions? Beware the Cyber Communists Plotting Red Revolt...
Update:

• Employer disassociation from the statement
• Scientist Apologizes

As you can see with the Home DNA test kit soon to be out, the last thing humanity needs is to fuel fascism...

Then again, doing an actual study and concluding once and for all, race does not determine intelligence would be very useful! Just as studies point out that race does not determine height... I mean science should not be scared of taboos, in my opinion scientists, or science in general, has a very delicate subject in its hands...

From a comment to the apology article:

When scientists are influenced by the fear of being labeled as racist, politically incorrect, socially inappropriate, or any of a multitude of other labels an often overly sensitive public is poised to slap onto them at first sign of error, they stop being scientists and start being 'yes men' to political correctness. Whatever Watson's intent in making the statements he was quoted as making, the net effect of those statements will be for all scientists to check their scientific results against what they perceive the public wants to hear. To me, this is just a feeding frenzy on scientific opinion at the expense of an open scientific forum. Given Watson's peer group's inclination towards political correctness over scientific pursuit, maybe he should have devoted his life to comedy instead. Obviously his peer group's priority is whether Watson can make them feel good as opposed to Watson's contribution to the mundane, such as genetics.

lol!4

As you may know... MS bribed countries to enter ISO and vote for their format... read ahead:

"Microsoft's OOXML did not get enough votes to be approved the first time around in ISO/IEC — notwithstanding the fact that many countries joined the Document Format and Languages committee in the months before voting closed, almost all of them voting to approve OOXML. Unfortunately, many of these countries also traded up to 'P' level membership at the last minute to gain more influence. Now the collateral damage is setting in. At least 50% of P members must vote (up, down, or abstain) on every standard at each ballot — and none of the new members are bothering to vote, despite repeated pleas from the committee chair. Not a single ballot has passed since the OOXML vote closed. In the chairman's words, the committee has 'ground to a halt.' Sad to say, there's no end in sight for this (formerly) very busy and influential standards committee."

Very Interesting Study! (religious)

Living in an extremely religious society I have been confronted by people who believe atheist people are evil, uncivilized, odd and plain wrong. Its always been strange having to prove myself a moral and functional individual considering the serious deficiencies in my belief system...

Its a good thing to actually find a study that presents moral/ethical behavior as something independent (under obvious restrictions, you Muslim terrorist haters you.. although that simply discard someone as their peer and falls into another type of study...) of religion.

It seems a both religious and secular (plain civic responsibility) primers are just as effective at raising benevolence for both theist and atheist individuals. Curiously enough the religious primer only works for fresh atheists; apparently old atheists no longer associate the words God, spirit, or Jesus as reference to fairness, benevolence or justice.

Read the link if you are interested in further reading...

...You must be kidding me...

Starlings Flocking in England

There is a comment at the video's youtube page about the hand of god at work, another that says god can make anyone do anything.. I think the explanations proposed in complexity theory and the articles pointed out by Mrs. Dalcanton are all of more engaging, useful and beautiful than a mysterious hand that works in mysterious ways. Something that resembles a rhetoric cop out to justify ignorance.

Religion, Taoism, mental laziness are all well, and have their place; but truth and faith are dangerous at the tango.

Still: "They behave in a way that should be impossible"...

PS: sorry I made this into a religious debate. Enjoy the beauty of nature and marvel at what it means to be part of life however you see it. (A mystic hand, a dynamo of ever-changing, ever-dancing, entropy-balancing complex system within complex system, a dream, or 42)

Los Muertos

De Poemas de Lunes:

Los Muertos

No son los muertos los que en dulce calma
La paz reposan de la tumba fría.
Muertos son los que tienen muerta el alma
Y viven todavía.

No son los muertos, no, los que reciben
Rayos de luz en sus despojos yertos.
Los que mueren con honra son los vivos,
Los que viven sin honra son los muertos.

La vida no es la vida que vivimos
La vida es el honor, es el recuerdo.
Por eso hay muertos que en el mundo viven
Y hombres que viven en el mundo, muertos.

Ricardo Palma (ver articulo original)

Chris Abani: Learning the stories of Africa

some things to think about...

God Says we can own Hatians as slaves...

I am often amused by people who bide by God's Law

Some things are just too weird for me.

Yesterday I was talking with a group of friends about religion an such. Good Quotes from the conversation (in no particular order):

• Rodolfo: "I do have faith, i believe God doesn't exist, I believe humanity will find a loop-hole for the second law of thermodynamics, I believe humanity as a whole will someday be able to do without religions"
• Carlitos: "Apparently, when you are growing up, regarding religion you either just let it be and ignore it or continue reading, and asking yourself about it. Members of the former seem to be the only ones still believing in God by the age of 20."
• Rodolfo: "He is just too scientific, he does not like things that need to be believed. He would rather stick to the things he can test"

In any case, regarding the link above; I specially enjoyed this line:

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

Finally. For the head fake:

This man's remark (while knowing his eminent death) about death bed conversions is: 'I must confess, I have converted... I bought a mac' ... and yet.. (the 'head fake' is no that obvious, like the kids, but, think about it...)

advice

Iran's president speaks in the UN

Boston.com news reports on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran boldly challenged the American President's customary portrayal of the United States as a defender of freedom. In his address to the assembly, Ahmadinejad blasted Bush for leading "an onslaught" of aggression against weaker nations around the world.

Ahmadinejad asked "a bullying power" to "have the courage to declare their defeat and exit Iraq." ... "Some big powers still behave like the victors of the world war and humiliate other nations," ... "These powers . . . have lost the competence to lead the world." Such aggressive nations "use various pretexts to occupy sovereign states," Ahmadinejad said. He lashed out at Bush for operating "secret prisons" in other countries and detaining suspects around the world indefinitely, "without any regard to due process."

Bush avoided the opportunity to confront him in his speech before the General Assembly... Instead he concentrated on his rehearsed story of the freedom begging people of Burma. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, however, declared that Iran's potential acquisition of a nuclear weapon presents an "unacceptable risk" to world stability...

World Stability ?= Who rules over who? why is it an acceptable risk for other nations to have them? how many minutes till the end of days on the dooms day clock?


On other subjects:

When asked to elaborate on his Monday remarks asserting that there are no homosexuals in Iran, Ahmadinejad said, "I don't know any . . . give me an address so we can be aware."

When a reporter from Fox news asked him to clarify his position on Israel, Ahmadinejad asked, "Where are you from?"
After the reporter answered "I'm an American citizen," Ahmadinejad laughed and turned his eyes heavenward before repeating his stated belief that Israel is an illegal occupying power of Palestinian land.

lol!3 slightly funny?

quien me hace un wallpaper de esto?! :D

The Rise of the Surveillance Society—“Big Brother” or Common Sense?

Daily Galaxy has an article about using surveillance as a preventive means in a society.

As some of you know, I have been openly ('pro-surveillance' ?) and go as far as saying we might be soon close enough to do without this holy sin - heaven hell - fear governing bullshit to keep disturbances in track, and maintain functional, efficient societies.

In any case, apparently those who are already being monitored agree...

Here is the article


Albeit for all the wrong reasons... these nations are exerting the vilest form of fear mongering, and to be honest although I agree all relevant public interactions should be monitored, privacy is a a very valuable commodity, and I think we should somehow end-up with some sort of relative-incognuity where the data / record was processed by an uninterested 3rd party (preferably a machine) and discarded or stored away... well, in any case.. i still think the benefits outweigh any problems we might face..

to live forever: starve

Scientists have known for more than 70 years that the one surefire way to extend the lives of animals was to cut calories by an average of 30 to 40 percent. The question was: Why?

Have any of you played Parasite Eve? Apparently it was a novel first?!

If you read both articles you may find a link, and think about this interaction from an evolutionary standpoint... Its a fun mind game, that takes place in the proverbial primordial soup where resources might become dominated by a powerful cell type, that soon acquires parasites, and eventually leads to be symbiosis where the exponential reproduction Must be kept in check... No? Will the mitochondria come and get us? Will we get control it and live for ever? lets see how Squaresoft plays it out first??? :p

lol!2 - how did they know?

According to reports, the man talked on an IP phone for 40 hours, and was apparently still deeply involved in the conversation when reporters started showing up.

... ...

When asked what he had talked about for over 40 hours, Tony said (while twirling his hair), "Well, I heard that Bobby had dumped Lisa, and I was like, No way! And then Jenny said that everyone knew that Bobby was a dirtbag from the start, and I just thought..."


just like me.... one question though? who was monitoring him, that they just happened to notice?! Ok, my bad, the article says it was a VoIP publicity stunt, still he beat the record, people took 1hr turns just to speak to him.... Ok, who was willing to spend 1 hour speaking with an idiot about nothing?

Study revealing exercise just as effective as an anti-depressant.

This site comments on a study revealing exercise is just as effective as an anti-depressant.
47% and 45% 'better' scores on the HAM-D on a side-not placebos get you 31% better, which quite simply means: stop moaning!!! its all in your head! your only as fu**ed up as you want to be... ...

Although depression is a serious problem, the solution is relatively simple... all you have to do is change your whole perception of reality... you loosers! (I use this word with double meaning (doble sentido))

lol! - what do you do with the dead?

Family Member: “I am calling to tell you she died in January.”
The Bank: “The account was never closed, and the late fees charges still apply.”
Family Member: “Maybe you should turn it over to collections.”
The Bank: “Since it is 2 months past due, it already has been.”
Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?”
The Bank: “Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau. Maybe both !”
Family Member: “Do you think God will be mad at her?” (I really liked this part !!!!)
The Bank: “Excuse me?”
Family Member: “Did you just get what I was telling you? The part about her being dead?”
The Bank: “Sir, you’ll have to speak to my supervisor.” !

(Supervisor gets on the phone)

Family Member: “I’m calling to tell you she died in January.”
The Bank: “The account was never closed, so the late fees and charges still apply.” (This must be a phrase taught by The Bank!)
Family Member: “Do you mean you want to collect from her estate?”
The Bank: (stammering) “Are you her lawyer?”
Family Member: “No, I’m her great-nephew.”
The Bank: “Could you fax us a certificate of death?”
Family Member: “Sure.” (fax number is given)

After they get the fax:
The Bank: “Our system just isn’t set up for death. I don’t know what more I can do to help.”
Family Member: “Well, if you figure it out, great ! If not, you could just keep billing her. I really don’t think she will care.”
The Bank: “Well, the late fees charges do still apply.”
(What is wrong with these people??!!)
Family Member: “Would you like her new billing address?”
The Bank: “Yes, that will help.”
Family Member: ” Odessa Memorial Cemetery, Highway 129, Plot Number 69.”
The Bank: “Sir, that is a cemetery!”
Family Member: “What do you do with dead people on YOUR planet?!!

Will Wright: Toys that make worlds

This is just an amazing thing... amazing...

He wants to give children a sense of what things are like in the long term... he agrees that very much of the worlds problems are due to too much short term thinking, and that this toy will help him teach what the consequences of a civilizations actions will come out to in the long run...

Oh how the future motivates me... go here and check out some of the talks from the Singularity Institute

Life...

I didn't know Schrödinger wrote about Life... and compared it to thermodynamics..

I think I'm going to read his book called: "What Is Life?" as apparently I got to very similar conclusions as him... Has anyone else worked on their personal definition of life?

Marvell Personality Test

Please Post what Superheor you are (anonymously if you need to)... & lets see who are the superheroes of the world...
:p

Wolfram, Quantum Computers and the Law of Computational Equivalence

Miren aquí!

El primer comentario de un tal Steve:

Para ustedes, a quienes les he comentado mi opinión sobre el Computational Equivalence Law de Wolfram el señor no lo pudo haber resumido de manera más clara. Aún así, entiendo que el esta sufriendo un efecto similar a alguien que diga: lás cosas se caen con una aceleración constante. Y el diga, Ahh, si, claro, eso es obvio, ya mucha gente había visto que en el vacio no parecia importar mucho cuanto pesa algo.

No quizé dar el ejemplo de la teoría especial de la relatividad, porque me pareció un poco demasiado grande, aún asi entiendo que el trabajo de Galileo es importantísimo antecedente a los de Newton... y aunque parescan obvios y poco útiles a primera vista: su utilidad llase en su simpleza, y la capacidad que podria tener como fundación para un marco teórico nuevo...

Un poeta no dudaria en decir que cómo se dice no es menos importante de lo que se dice.

"Deutsch showed that quantum computers can't compute anything going beyond ordinary Turing computable functions"

Deja en seco el argumento completo de la persona que escribio el post, pero a la vez corroboran la posible veracidad de la ley propuesta por Wolfram.


del review original de steve:

• Weak computational universality: All complex systems model classes that lead to nontrivial behaviors, lead to all possible complex behaviors – but each model class only leads to a certain class of possible complex behaviors, under the restriction to use reasonable space and time resources

Neither of these has been proved to be true, and in fact, giving a sensible rigorous mathematical formalization for either of them would be a serious undertaking (a fact which Wolfram acknowledges, and attributes to the newness of the type of science he is doing).

Les demuestro claramente el poder potencial de la ley:

Si es cierta entonces las demás frases estarán demostradas a ser CIERTAS:

• Nunca sabremos cómo funciona el universo.
• Podremos violar sistemáticamente la segunda ley de la termodinámica.
• Los sistemas y Leyes de la Física son PLUGABLE, en el séntido de que se podría encontrar otro sistema más o menos complejo (eficiente o cómo deseen adjetivisar el asunto) que sean equivalentes.

El hecho de poder ver este tipo de conclusiones tán claras a partir de haber agrupado lo conocido, en una frase tan sencilla, entiendo yo que tiene un grán mértito... ... no sé....

El crítica que Wolfram no toma en cuenta la eficiencia, complejidad en espacio y tiempo para reilzar un 'esfuerzo' comparable, pero es precisamente lograr abstraer este tipo de detalles lo que lleva a la expresión tan elegante de la ley. a poder transmitir algo tan claro y convincentemente, y es claro que el considera cada máquina como apropiada o no, para efectuar diferentes acciones... Por ejemplo es increible intentar usar la aritmetica para simular un CA... o un CA para simular la aritmetica... pero no importa; simplemente es posible...

blah... espero que no se aburran leeyendo esto...

DNA Sequence cross-referenced from parents to offspring

Scientists can now tell you whether it's your mom's or your dad's fault you are shortter, or prone to heart disease... :p


Complete DNA sequencing has grown MUCH simpler than the original project started in 2001... GATTACA is so close its not even funny! :p

Kenya... Corrupción e Internet.

En slashdot salió este artículo sobre un wiki que descubrió un acto de corrupcion en Kenya de 3 mil millones de dólares.

Hace unos pocos días estaba escuchando una conversación entre 'Adultos' sobre la situación nacional: uno comentaba como estabamos jódidos, el otro afirmaba con certeza de haber nacido en el mejor país del mundo.

Yo con toda sinceridad he llegado a concluír que es MUCHO MÁS una cuestión de personalidad que de cualquier otra cosa... con frecuencia relajaba que en el mundo hay un país para todos.

Tengo varios buenos ejemplos: Un íngles que no soporta lo rigidez de la sociedad británica, y en varias ocaciones ha deicidido excursionar a Tanzania y nuestro propio país, mi tía que 'ya no esta acostumbrada' a vivir aquí, otro compañero que va a vivir un tiempo en Utah, con mormones y gente que es puntual y no muy creativa y un poco cerrada, pero no tan fría y calculada como los alemanes.

Cuando empecé a verlo así entendí lo bónito de poder decir que mi isla tiene su lugar en el mundo! y que aburrido seria el mundo si todos fueramos alemanes.

Aún así, y apoyando ahora quien dijo que esto estaba jodido, siempre se puede trabajar para producir más y ser un poquito más organizado sin perder/cambiar la personalidad... (aunque mis experiencias personales no apoyan esto del todo, confío que Carlitos no durará en indicar que mi singular situación es insuficiente para saltar a conclusiones al respecto...)


Entiendase: ABAJO LA CORRUPCIÓN!!!!!!!

Underewater Competition.. Wet pixel Images...

Religion - Marcus Brigstocke

Chess Problems Site....

Cai via Stumbleupon a un site denominado Chess Problems, para "resolver" tableros de ajedrez....

http://www.chessproblems.com/

Calvin & Hobbes Strib browser

I just found a full-text search for calvin & Hobbes strips here!

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When is a small world not so small?

• When we don't accept our differences.
• When we try to break our ties apart.
• When we must absorb all other cultures into our own.
• When we don't realize that 9x6 != 42...

Cheers to national geographic, on this one. (I'll forget the Mexico Fiasco for now... also they corrected the article as it no longer states Mexico as a central american country... ironically enough announcing a geography competition, from a geography named magazine...)

PS: Although religious culture is refreshing; I have a serious distaste for religious preachers...

:p pal primo...

Los viajes... que se hacen.. : /

Velvet Acid Christ - Collapsed

Such Dark and Complex Compositions...

No quiere 5 mil millones

El último descendiente de la tribu Djok (Jeffrey Lee de 36 años) reusa 5 mil millones de dolares por el patrimonio de su gente. Esta trabajando para hacer su tierra sagrada un parque nacional..

Lee, a ranger in Kakadu, said incorporating Koongarra into the park is the best way to ensure that the ecologically sensitive land remains safe in the future.

"Being part of the park will ensure that the traditional laws, customs, sites, bush tucker, trees, plants and water stay the same as when they were passed on to me by my father and great-grandfather.”

As far as rejecting all that money, Lee doesn’t seem too concerned. He says that wealth holds no value.

“I’m not interested in white people offering me this or that…it doesn’t mean a thing.”

When Geek goes Cool

Geek Tattoes & more:

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poesía variada 2...

La siguiente es una edición de un poema que había escrito anteriormente:

Aveces, cuando los demás no están mirando,
corro, rápido, rápido, y pinto una flor en tu alma.

Me sorprenderá siempre ver las flores que dibujo cobrar vida,
ver como aquellos salpicos de secreta felicidad
parecen flotar en un mar de amor,
con los pétalos tiernos tornasol y un aroma hipnotizante,
que me es imposible olvidar.

Ni cuando vuelvo discretamente a lo cotidiano
entre las industrias y deberes y tareas
de aquellos otros instantes: los que no logran compartirte,
que maravillosamente nunca se extienden
porque siempre logro sujetarme de los pétalos del recuerdo
y el buque secreto de aquel canvas animado.

Las mariposas del corazón siempre tendrán albergue entre las flores de los enamorados,
siempre resplandecerán sus alas con el canto de aquellos niños jugando
y los habitarán siempre que mantengan la primavera.

light interferometry tricks a NP-complete problem into a P problem!

I just read a very interesting paper on using light interferometry to generally solve the Traveling Salesman Problem in polynomial time.

A very beautiful idea to simply emit photons and increase their lifespan until they are detected arriving at the total length of the circuit. Very creative...Although they are not the first group I hear, who points out the validity of using light interferometry to implement quantum computation, I do think they are the first to actually do an experiment and solve a known problem with the idea.

Pleo the Dinabot

How much is needed to define gender behaviour?

Al parecer los amanerados tienen una nueva escusa para explicar su comportamiento...

Esto me recuerda a una [breve] conversación con Mario Ernesto... sobre el comportamiento anormal y artificial de los seres homosexuales. Recuerdo habérselo presentado como un simple defecto... (algo falló, pero sucede muchísimo en la naturaleza, y los fallos son obviamente la cosa más natural que conozco... :p) Pero fijense que curioso lo que hace una ratona si le cortan la nariz:

Lucy in the Sky with Daimonds

• A 10 billion-trillion-trillion-carat daimond... :p
• By the way, what is greed?
• How close are we (in the production security / genetic engineering sense of the question) of getting rid of that pesky, currently self-threatening, instinct of self-preservation?
• And, who would really want such a big diamond anyway?

La Paradoja de Fermi... (donde estan nuestros vecinos galácticos?)

Al final de su libro: Dialectica del Biocosmos, abuelito mensiona la paradoja de fermi...

Él escoge estar de acuerdo con John D Barrow... Algo que se resume en la infinitesimal probabilidad de haber surgido de la nada como lo hemos hecho: La infinitesimal probabilidad de que el universo fuera este con las constantes cosmologicas apropiadas, que el sol fuera del tamaño y edad que tiene, que la tierra alla tenido la razón apropiada de carbón helio oxígeno nitrogeno, ad infinitum.
En fín, que la paradoja de fermi debe tomarse como anexo al principio antrópico, en una demostración de lo especial que somos.

Yo, por mi parte, núnca he estado de acuerdo con esa interpretación de los hechos... (me parece una inversión causal de lo que demuestra la data, el equivalente emocional a ver los números de la loteria de ayer, y encontrar con toda certeza que esos erán los numeros que hubiera jugado) Que ustedes piensan sobre la paradoja de fermí y nuestros improbables vecinos ocultos?

Post-Data: No olviden de leer los comentarios en el otro artículo... hay par buenos...

La ciencia culinaria...

Wired escribe sobre la reciente (no tanto) ciencia culinaria, y los avances matemáticos en la preparación de alimentos.... :p (en serio!)

Quijote Urbano, Dominicanos por la Integridad...

Dominicanos por la integridad! (del blog de tio Mario!)

El mal social de la corrupción se ha instalado para quedarse en nuestro entorno de tal manera que la percepción que tenemos es de que no hay solución posible: en una escala de cero a cien, donde el cero corresponde a la imposibilidad de enfrentar con éxito la corrupción y el cien corresponde a la posibilidad de la victoria total contra la corrupción, el dominicano piensa que estamos en 22, es decir, las posibilidades de ganarle la batalla definitiva a la corrupción es de 22 % en la percepción del dominicano.

Otro índice que define nuestra respuesta ante la corrupción es el Índice de Actitudes, que en una escala de coro a cien, donde el cero corresponde a la indiferencia y el cien a la denuncia y la oposición resuelta, en ese índice, los dominicanos sacamos 23%, es decir, nuestra respuesta a la corrupción es cercana a la indiferencia.

...

El Índice de Valores es una herramienta que nos permite medir, en escala de cero a cien, cuan arraigados se encuentran los valores éticos en una sociedad en particular, en donde el cero es una sociedad con valores no éticos y el cien es una sociedad con valores éticos. Ese Índice de Valores es una esperanza para nuestra sociedad, pues ese índice arrojó un valor de 60. Nuestra sociedad sabe perfectamente qué está bien y qué está mal.

Life Beneath Antartic Ice

TIME CNN has these photos on life under the antartic ice caps...

Gigantic Species of Leopard-Eating Chimps Rule the Congo Jungle

Daily Galaxy dice:

... The big chimps even seem to be unaffected by the poison arrows used by locals, which are lethal to their smaller cousins. However, Hicks is quick to point out that in spite of their strength they are not known to be aggressive towards humans. To the contrary, researchers have reported that the chimps seem to “recognize” humans as similar creatures and behave with curiosity rather than hostility ...

Anuncio..

Un anuncio que me mando Rubén...

... Paul Potts ...

Wikipedia says:

On June 9, 2007, Potts' audition of Simon Cowell's new search-for-a-star show Britain's Got Talent was televised on ITV in UK. The actual audition was held at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on March 17, 2007^[2]. Paul sang a condensed version of Giacomo Puccini's "Nessun dorma", which impressed the judges and received a standing ovation from the audience of 2,000 people. Potts' rendition of this has currently been viewed on video upload site YouTube tens of millions of times and exists among Youtube's all-time most viewed videos.

I actually found out about this at Quijote Urbano... I left a comment about how so much of humanity's Talent is hidden.... and let it be so.. :p I wish someday soon we wake up (just a bit) and revolt against this mass mechanization.... (just as soon as we have/create walking automatons... :D)

Fox Chase

A fox, 90 rods due south of a greyhound, is pursued by the hound at the rate of 5 rods to 4 of the fox, the fox running a due east course. How far will the hound run to overtake the fox?

(Triangle or Elliptical course?) How can plot me the optimal (never trust a Fox) elliptical chase?

Wikipedia Corrects Encyclopedia Britannica

En slashdot escriben:

"Despite all the controversy about Wikipedia's work model, no one can argue the potential of a project that has so effectively demonstrated the usefulness of the 'wisdom of crowds' concept. And that wisdom has detected a large number of mistakes in one of the most revered founts of human knowledge, the Encyclopedias Britannica. Among the wrong information collected on this page are the name at birth of Bill Clinton and the definition of the NP problems in mathematics."

Más adelante en los comentarios se ve como siguen las discusiones sobre la legitimidad de wikipedia:

Too bad most of the administrators think they know more than you, simply because they read an article on the subject. The others are all to happy to demonstrate the Wikipedia caste system to you.

[citation needed [wikipedia.org]]

Para mí, esta discusión es, en si misma una demostración de la credibilidad de la mayoría de la información en el sitio. Filosóficamente se podría discutir horas sobre la percepción de lo real, y la incorporación de memorias como hechos, tanto para un individuo completamente aislado como para uno en un grupo... .... .... :p

WTF... dangling pointer exploits?!

This article points to a potential technique for exploiting dangling pointers?

I have no idea how they can get something usefull from a dangling pointer... any ideas?

life after death.

Cognitive Daily ha publicado esto sobre un estudio de la percepción que tenemos de lo que sucede despues de la muerte. Despues de ver un show de títeres en el que un cocodrilo se come a un ratón, se le hicieron una serie de preguntas sobre el estado: físico - psicológico - espiritual del ratón que ya no esta vivo.




La gráfica se refiere con 'Discontinuity' a una

Este es el juguetito que yo quiero... :p

Cada vez me interesa más....

Realmente me podría conformar con cualquiera de estos jugueticos... :D, pero el XDA flame con un teclado bluetooth laser suena muuuuy interesante...

Por otro lado están los dispositivos de OpenMoko... Me encanta la idea de escribir mi propia interfaz para mi celular... y veo la capacidad de venderle a las compañías interfaces corporativas para que sus ejecutivos puedan realizar las tareas más comunes entre ellos de una manera exquisitamete personalizada...

Engadget entrevisto al pana de la supuesta energia perpetua

No se cuantos han seguido el rastro de "Steorn", la compañia de sabrá Dios donde que pretende haber hecho una máquina de movimiento perpetua... al parecer tiene varios años con este relajito...

He aqui la entrevista de esta figura magnanime... :p

Para mi abuelo Pablo.

La manera en la que me tocaste fue profunda.
Eres un farol que indicaba los caminos al aprendizaje, al cumplimiento de las metas, a la dedicación.
Eres alguien a quien admirar por sus méritos, por sus acciones.
Seguiremos desacuerdo casi por completo en nuestra visión del universo, la mía joven, optimista; la tuya serie, realista.

Pero te agradezco infinitamente todo lo que hiciste, tu incansable esfuerzo por alcanzar la excelencia es el pilar sobre el cual se sientan las maravillas del mundo. Ese esfuerzo, que encarnaste y al que tu vida aún no cesa de aportar, es tanto más que satisfacer curiosidades; es la verdadera opus magnus de la vida en sí, desafiar las fronteras de lo asequible hasta mejorar la condición global.

Tu pusiste tu grano de arena en esta obra, que parece más bien una peña. Gracias!


Hablaba hace unos días (antes de que murieras) con papí sobre el cambio ambiental, y más ampliamente sobre el cambio de manera universal y lo que podría ser simplemente una aversión propiamente humana. Pero le respondí que tenemos una responsabilidad moral, como seres racionales y consientes, de ser arquitectos del cambio, en la medida que podríamos devenir algún beneficio universal (esa reacción es gracias a ti). Y este sólo me recuerda a Asimov (que descubrí te encantaba por igual) sobre las 4 leyes de la robótica, realmente son leyes universales, las más altas e imposibles alturas morales, que solo tienen sentido gracias a la segunda ley (de termodinámica). Punto en el que nunca logre expresarte mi posición satisfactoriamente.


Y nunca pude hablar como te escribo ahora, porque se anteponían siempre otras cosas, y el dialogo se diluía a charla o presentación, creo que tengo una idea de como me veías, y como veías al mundo y no sé si podría existir tu esfuerzo sin esa visión.

Con todo mi respeto, y mi cariño nunca te olvidaré abuelito!

Who thinks of these horrible things... ?

(2007-07-13 16:30:29) Ruben Llibre: saddest thing ever http://themot.org/gallery/v/Comics/Calvin/calvin.jpg.html :(
(2007-07-13 16:32:07) Ruben Llibre: recovery: http://themot.org/gallery/v/Comics/Calvin/calvin2.jpg.html
(2007-07-13 16:32:48) Rodolfo Hansen: wow
(2007-07-13 16:32:49) Rodolfo Hansen: full
(2007-07-13 16:32:52) Rodolfo Hansen: holly shit
(2007-07-13 16:33:01) Rodolfo Hansen: fuckin a
(2007-07-13 16:33:23) Ruben Llibre: :$
(2007-07-13 16:33:27) Ruben Llibre: que ? :$
(2007-07-13 16:33:32) Rodolfo Hansen: na...
(2007-07-13 16:33:36) Rodolfo Hansen: es emocionalmente fuerte
(2007-07-13 16:33:37) Rodolfo Hansen: esa vaina
(2007-07-13 16:33:52) Ruben Llibre: full que si
(2007-07-13 16:33:58) Ruben Llibre: a mi me dio como un sadness, geez
(2007-07-13 16:35:32) Rodolfo Hansen: diablo
(2007-07-13 16:35:38) Rodolfo Hansen: eso fue horrible
(2007-07-13 16:35:48) Ruben Llibre: si.. thank god it's a fake :(
(2007-07-13 16:35:57) Rodolfo Hansen: its a fake?
(2007-07-13 16:36:04) Ruben Llibre: sips, mira el dibujo de calvin

How to sum up my field

Slashdot post:

Coryoth writes

"A new book is trying to claim that computer science is better off without maths. The author claims that early computing pioneers such as Von Neumann and Alan Turing imposed their pure mathematics background on the field, and that this has hobbled computer science ever since. He rejects the idea of algorithms as a good way to think about software. Can you really do computer science well without mathematics? And would you want to?"

Someone Responds:

"... Mathematics as a base for CS was great in the 50's and 60's, but the real problems in computer software are people problems, not algorithmic ones. Once you program a calculation correctly, it generally stays that way.

But determining the optimal layout of a form to benefit the users of the system requires observing people and their needs. Understanding what parts of a program are going to be changed because of changing user needs is more important in program design than deciding whether you need a heap sort or insertion sort. Yes, you should know the difference, but you seldom need to program it, just choose the correct one from the system library.

CS graduates tend to design programs for machine efficiency, not human efficiency. But it is humans that are expensive, not machines."

Someone else retorts:

"That's like a mechanic who is better at replacing a tie rod than the engineer that designed it.

You are a programmer, not a computer scientist. I'd hire you to write code based on a specification. I wouldn't hire you to design rendering algorithms. It is too bad they didn't teach you the difference between compsci and programming during day one of your CS program."

cognitive daily... high iq...

I've lived the reality of many things here stated...

It is very true how much self-discipline and persistence of focus is critical in achieving long term goals.

Unfortunately this seams so much easier said than done for some... : /

t-cell protien retro-virus ballet...

SciAm writes: "Defense against Ancient Virus Opened Door to HIV"

On a hyper dimensional plane, evolution dances a local optimum ballet. Predator with prey, friends, parasite and host, lovers, disease and cure; we all dance, knitting a spiraling web, to a thermodynamic beet.

Enzyme cures HIV... ?

German Scientists.... "This is the first demonstration of actual removal of the integrated virus from cells"

Kenya... Google...

This is an interesting article..

Google are looking to crack the African market but instead of making a beeline for SA, one of the most developed countries on the continent, they are setting up camp in Kenya.

They have advertised for South African personnel so the chances are good that they will also establish an office in SA but the fact remains that Kenya was their first choice.

One must wonder what made Kenya a more attractive alternative than SA?

I would hazard a guess that Google want to build their own infrastructure and after investigating the situation in SA decided that it would be easier for them to achieve their aims in Kenya.

Whilst Kenya also has an incumbent operator that holds things back somewhat, one gets the feeling that things are still happening over there in the fixed line sector with companies like Kenya Data Networks.

Perhaps Google have identified the Kenyan market as being more open for competing forces or perhaps the country is politically more favourable, whatever the case it is a sad day when SA starts to loose out to rival African players.

See http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=6695 for the full story.

Estuve en África.

Sí, estuve en África. Fue una aventura muy peculiar.

Algunos comenzarán a entender todo lo que escribí,
otros me comenzarán a entender a partir de lo que escribí.

Dança das Sombras

dayanna me lo envio... muy cool

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Curtesy of NASA:

A Hole in Mars Credit: NASA, JPL, U. Arizona

Explanation: Black spots have been discovered on Mars that are so dark that nothing inside can be seen. Quite possibly, the spots are entrances to deep underground caves capable of protecting Martian life, were it to exist. The unusual hole pictured above was found on the slopes of the giant Martian volcano Arsia Mons. The above image was captured three weeks ago by the HiRISE instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars. The holes were originally identified on lower resolution images from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, The above hole is about the size of a football field and is so deep that it is completely unilluminated by the Sun. Such holes and underground caves might be prime targets for future spacecraft, robots, and even the next generation of human interplanetary explorers.

Vicarious

Philosotainment around Human Nature.

StumbleUpon me llevo a este link con este dibujo de Scott Adams:

Siempre he dicho que me encanta la audacia de sus chistes y comentarios, y me agrada que no se tome muy en serio. Pero precisamente hablando sobre la naturaleza humana me encuentro curiosísimo como tanta otra gente SI se lo toma en serio, lo que dice... curioso, muy curioso...

Quizás la mejor alegoría esta en el ajedrez:

Tres personas encuentran en el desierto un tablero de ajedrez a medio jugar. Curiosos, los tres observan el tablero y consideran quien había estado 'ganando'.

Resulta que de los tres individuos:

• El primero solo ha jugado unas cuantas veces y sabe a penas las reglas y los movimientos legales.
• El segundo tomo el ajedrez como materia electiva en la universidad y alcanzo muy buenos honores entre sus compañeros
• El tercero ah participado en competencias internacionales del deporte

Antes de comentarse su experiencia con el juego, en turno, cada persona opina sobre quien gana:

• El primero dice: me parece que esta ganando el negro porque tiene mas piezas, y ya el blanco no tiene su alfil negro
• El segundo dice: me parece que esta ganando el blanco, su posición es muy agresiva y creo que sus sacrificios han sido muy estratégicos
• El tercero dice: no se, no les puedo decir quien esta ganando, a quien le tocaba?!

Curioso... no?

• A ver como se relaciona esto con el sentido común?
• Se puede criticar las conclusiones que podría sacar el primero si el segundo es carismático? antipático?

Perdí el hilo, aquí en el trabajo... na... que creen? PD: La idea que tenia en mi mente, y que no logre transmitir, porque me distraje antes de terminar era incluir estas dos preguntas de primera mano:

• A quien segiria el primero despues de que cada uno emitiera sus comentarios?
• Que podria llegar a pensar el primero si solo estuvieran los primeros dos en el evento?

Coin Problem.. Code

(* Coin Problem:

   A group of coin denominations is given.
   You are asked to represent a given sum with the least amount of coins.
   How do you do that? *)


(* open modules to make things shorter *)
open Printf;; open List;;



(* printf utilities *)

(* Print a coin count pair ie: "(3 of 7)" *)
let print_pair pair oc =
  output_char oc '(';
  output_string oc (string_of_int (snd pair));

  output_string oc " of ";
  output_string oc (string_of_int (fst pair));
  output_char oc ')' ;;


(* Print a path string ie: "(1 of 5),(3 of 2)" *)
let rec print_path path oc = match path with
    pair :: [] ->

      print_pair pair oc
  | pair :: tl ->
      print_pair pair oc;
      output_string oc ", ";

      print_path tl oc
  | [] -> () ;;

(* Print a path list (path strings separated by new lines *)
let print_paths paths oc =
  let rec pp paths oc =

  match paths with
    path :: [] ->
      print_path path oc
  | path :: tl ->

      print_path path oc;
      output_string oc ".\n";
      pp tl oc
  | [] -> () in output_char oc '\n'; pp paths oc ;;


(* Print a list... [1;2;3;4] *)
let rec print_list l oc =
  let rec pl l oc =
  match l with

    i :: [] ->
      output_string oc (string_of_int i);
      output_char oc ']'
  | i :: tl ->

      output_string oc (string_of_int i);
      output_char oc ';';
      pl tl oc
  | [] -> () in output_char oc '['; pl l oc ;;


(* Count how many coins are in a path *)
let path_coins path =
  let rec _c path c = match path with

    [] -> c
  | pair :: tl -> _c tl (c + (snd pair)) in _c path 0 ;;



(* Solve the coin problem.
   @parameter: coins List containing coin values
   @parameter: sum Integer of what we want to represent
   @return: A path of coin value pairs *)
let solve coins sum =
  (* Recursive helper matches 3 types
     @parameter: coins List containing coin values
     @parameter: remains Integer whats left to represent
     @parameter: current_path How many of what coins have been used in this path
     @parameter: best_path Best known path upto the current point in execution
     @returns: Best known path so far *)
  let rec gen_path coins remains current_path best_path =
      (* filter out coins that are too big *)
      let coin_opts = filter
        (fun coin -> remains  >=  coin) coins in


      (* partition posible coins between divisible and non divisible *)
      let coin_part  = partition
        (fun coin -> remains mod coin = 0) coin_opts in


      (* get the maximum coin value of each *)
      let div_max    = fold_left max 0 (fst coin_part) and
          ndv_max    = fold_left max 0 (snd coin_part) in


  match coin_part with
    (* no more coins to choose from, return best path known *)
    _ when (length coin_opts) = 0 -> best_path

    (* remaining sum is not only divisible by a coin amount,
       but also, that amount is the highest available *)

  | (divs, ndvs) when ndv_max < div_max || ndvs = [] ->

      let new_path = (div_max, remains / div_max) :: current_path in

        if (path_coins best_path) < (path_coins new_path) then
          best_path
        else
          new_path

    (* general case when we don't know which is a better choice,
       we end up simply adding a coin of each, individualy..
       @parameter: coin_optss List pf coin values we have yet to check
       @returns: Best known path so far *)

  | _ -> let rec do_coin_opts coin_opts = match coin_opts with

      (* we have already cycled through each coin,
         leave this inner loop *)
      [] -> best_path

      (* try adding one of coin and continue *)
    | coin :: tl ->

      (* keep list short; filter and fold quantities *)
      let cPath = filter
        (fun pair -> fst pair <> coin) current_path in

      let count = fold_left
        (fun c pair -> if (fst pair) = coin then (c+ (snd pair)) else c) 0 current_path in


      (* get what would have happened had we added another coin *)
      let path_a = do_coin_opts tl in

      (* finish building this path and compare it to our retrieved alternative *)
      gen_path coin_opts (remains - coin) ((coin,count+1)::cPath) path_a

    (* the general case is to go through each available coin *)

    in do_coin_opts coin_opts

  (* solve simply calls the gen_path function, with the appropriate parameters *)
  in gen_path coins sum [] [(0,sum)]
;;



(* Coin Problem Test Cases *)



let coins = [3;5;7;9];;
let sum = 4;;


(* run it *)
let path = solve coins sum;;

(* printf "test print_pair %t\n" (print_pair (4,5));; *)

printf "Problem.\nCoin Values = %t\nRequested Sum = %d\n\n" (print_list coins) sum;;


if fst (hd path) = 0 then printf "Solution:\nImposible to do" else

printf "Solution:\nCoins = %d.\nPath = %t\n" (path_coins path) (print_path path);;

enlightenment edje y un futuro precos.

Algunos habremos usado Enlightenment desde hace 6 o tal ves 10 años, y recordamos el impacto que causo en una epoca en que existia basicamente twm y acababa de salir windows 95, y poco despues winamp. El theme de Alien para e14 es un clásico y ni hablar de BlueSteel o BlueHeart para e16. Hace 2 años Carsten Haitzler

Bueno, en fin, acabo de leer este post en el grupo de noticias. Y es algo que siempre he opinado. Es traer Flash a todas las aplicaciones que podriamos comenzar a usar. Creo que es una maravillosa idea, y siempre me ha fascinado y nunca he entendido como es que raster tiene tan pocos seguidores activos. no se. sera que la licencia es X11?