Sometimes it makes you think (and Link Roundup)

[winterkoninkje]

So I've been playing around on OKCupid recently[1]. And I came across this question on a test:

27. Which of the following have you done?

• I have cheated on a significant other.
• I have been in more than three physical fights.
• I have done something unimportant to me, knowing that it would devastate someone else.
• None of the above.

That third answer gave me pause, trying to think about who could do that, what it would mean about their personality. At first I just couldn't comprehend it, the sentence itself was simply unintelligible. But, slowly, an image began to form in my mind. And despite the warm room, I shivered.

...

Once again, some of these have been sitting around too long and may be old news by now, but so it goes. So in most recent order:

A Miracle of Science

A webcomic set in the far distant future where mankind has colonized the solar system and where Mad Scientists strike fear into the hearts of all. All save the hard-boiled detective whose job it is to bring them in.

For those familiar with the setting, MoS seems to borrow wholehandedly from Transhuman Space— not it's entirety by any stretch, just enough for a backdrop. I first ran into this comic a long time ago care of The Daily Illuminator. At the time it didn't really strike my fancy. The artwork is a bit simple—especially compared to my normal fare of MegaTokyo—but don't confuse simple with unskilled. In fact, don't follow the link I gave above; start from the beginning; read through the prologue; then decide if it suits your fancy.

Secrecy Power Sinks Patent Case

Guy invents a new device, works with Lucent to get it developed. They are using it as part of a "black" project for the Department of Defense and say they don't need to pay the inventors since it's a matter of "national security". The case is quashed under an obscure state protection clause.

Pledge-A-Picket

A Planned Parenthood in Pennsylvania takes a novel approach to dealing with anti-abortion picketers: take pledges similar to sponsoring a runner in a charity marathon.

The Living Worlds Hypothesis

Because Titan is so cold, chemical reactions that we think of as explosive on Earth because they proceed so rapidly might proceed at a moderate pace on Titan. In order to have life, you want to have chemistry that's not so active that everything's just exploding and burning up, but not so unreactive that it's just sitting there. It's got to be within a certain range. And certain kinds of reactions that on Earth might be too active for biochemistry might be just right on Titan where it's colder.

Katrina: The Gathering

A (spoof) expansion for M:tG with cards for all our favorite politicians, celebrities, and more. They've already had to switch servers twice because of the popularity. Get 'em while you can!

Goth to dance! Dark dancers say cabaret law sucks life from scene

Because of New York’s cabaret laws, it’s really difficult to find places to dance, said 30-year-old Brian Stillman, the head of a nonprofit, all-volunteer group that organizes monthly Goth/industrial dance nights in Manhattan.

Researchers build world's smallest mobile robot

In a world where "supersize" has entered the lexicon, there are some things getting smaller, like cell phones and laptops. Dartmouth researchers have contributed to the miniaturizing trend by creating the world's smallest untethered, controllable robot. Their extremely tiny machine is about as wide as a strand of human hair, and half the length of the period at the end of this sentence. About 200 of these could march in a line across the top of a plain M&M.

Symphony OS

An interesting novel new GUI for Linux which reinvents the idea of how an OS should be designed. See also Jason Spisak's Laws of Interface Design. I'd love to check it out but the GUI is bundled with a distro and I already have my Linux distro of choice, maybe one day they'll offer the GUI separately, or I'll get another computer.

Can't Get it Out of My Head: Brain disorder causes mysterious music hallucinations

Janet Dilbeck clearly remembers the moment the music started. Two years ago she was lying in bed on the California ranch where she and her husband were caretakers. A mild earthquake woke her up. To Californians, a mild earthquake is about as unusual as a hailstorm, so Dilbeck tried to go back to sleep once it ended. But just then she heard a melody playing on an organ, "very loud, but not deafening," as she recalls. Dilbeck recognized the tune, a sad old song called When You and I Were Young, Maggie.

Maggie was her mother's name, and when Dilbeck (now 70) was a girl her father would jokingly play the song on their home organ. Dilbeck is no believer in ghosts, but as she sat up in bed listening to the song, she couldn't help but ask, "Is that you, Daddy?"

SUV Tax Deduction — A Hummer of a tax break

One reason the U.S. government provides tax credits is to promote consumer behavior that benefits the greater good. While not many would argue with a tax credit that allows teachers to recover unreimbursed costs of school supplies, for example, some tax credits demonstrate a failure of our national priorities. The tax break given to small business owners that allows the entire purchase price of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) to be deducted is one of the most glaring examples of a good idea going in the wrong direction.

No paradox for time travellers

The laws of physics seem to permit time travel, and with it, paradoxical situations such as the possibility that people could go back in time to prevent their own birth. But it turns out that such paradoxes may be ruled out by the weirdness inherent in laws of quantum physics.

Bacteria Pull Off Photosynthesis sans Sunlight

In the textbook description of photosynthesis, sunlight fuels the production of sugars that are in turn converted into fuel for the photosynthetic organism. But a recent discovery from the deep blue sea may force a revision of that account. Scientists have found a photosynthetic bacterium that doesn't live off the light of the sun. Instead, it uses the dim light given off by hydrothermal vents some 2,400 meters below the ocean's surface.

Invention: Electric bullets

Ammunition that delivers a big electric shock without the need for connecting wires is being developed by the international security company, The Harrington Group. Details are sketchy but parent company the MDM Group in Santa Clara recently filed international patents for a "piezoelectric incapacitation projectile" which are more telling.

[1] I got the account a long time ago for fun and time killing. But I heeded their advice about complete honesty and, since there may be/is stuff I wouldn't want getting back to prospective employers or the like, I've set it up to be unconnected to my other online presence.