This American Life: The Feather Heist

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/654/the-feather-heist

An intriguing and surprising story that takes you on a journey you'd never expect. 

Pandemic effects on society

Just as I thought. Police are worried about catching COVID from traffic stops, so policing decreases and people are feeling free to speed more. 

"The rate of crash deaths in the U.S. rose as the coronavirus pandemic erupted this spring, fueled by an increase in risky behaviors like speeding and by a reduced police presence on roadways"

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-increased-rate-of-crash-deaths-on-u-s-roads-11601582215

https://www.nsc.org/in-the-newsroom/motor-vehicle-fatality-rates-jump-14-in-march-despite-quarantines

What about STDs? I thought maybe people are isolating and not interacting with others as much...but that's outweighed by individual's reluctance to get tested (for fear of getting COVID) which fuels rampant spread from unabated sexual activity despite the pandemic, combined with a hampered ability to trace their contacts. 

STD rates appear to be quietly skyrocketing across the US, as fewer people get tested and treated during the pandemic.

https://www.businessinsider.com/std-infection-rates-may-be-on-rise-during-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-5

Trillions of Questions, How Google Search works

19:28 "We change our search algorithm six times a day [by doing] 200,000 - 300,000 experiments a year." 

https://youtu.be/tFq6Q_muwG0

An enjoyable, intriguing, deep look into how Google improves search capabilities. 

...And here is how Google presents all the above to the public in an easily digestible summary:

"Flash" graphene made from plastic waste

Sounds like a win-win: 

"at industrial scale, the process could produce graphene for about $125 in electricity costs per ton of plastic waste..."

"Rather than recycling plastic into pellets that sell for $2,000 a ton, you could be upcycling to graphene, which has a much higher value..."

"We produce considerable amount of hydrogen, which is a clean fuel, in our flashing [production]  process..."

"The nice thing about graphene is its biological degradation under many conditions is very slow, so in most cases it doesn't reenter the carbon cycle for hundreds of years..."

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-graphene-strategy-plastic.html

Hidden Brain

In this otherwise dull and slow-moving episode, he uncovers the truth that

20:38 "journalist's favor the zealous voices of the deeply involved."

That is, when you watch the news, the people you're seeing interviewed are the ones who are fanatical about the subject.

podcast link here and here.

Debussy himself plays Clair de Lune (1913)

https://youtu.be/Yri2JNhyG4k

I've always wondered this. Did Debussy want Claire de Lune played by taking liberties with the time? 

He was inspired by the impressionist painters, and, as I suspected, wants the dappled random points of light in impressionist works to infuse this piece with a random, joyful, sparkling of notes in the upper register. And, the bass is more subtle than most people play it. We are so constrained with the rigidity of many classical composers that people don't feel comfortable talking liberties with the time signature when playing this piece. Wonderful. 

At 0:34, and again at 0:54, the melody arrives at a significant bass note, and most pianists emphasize that note like the "drop" in a pop song. He artfully makes that note quite subtle, again emphasizing the random playful upper notes. 

What follows after 0:54 is usually played quite regularly and rhythmically, but he has this lovely, random cascading saltatory progression through the chords, like he's pausing to smell the roses when there's a particularly nice chord. Beautiful.

And here's a lovely rendition by Victor Borge:

And, of course, have to include that classic Victor Borge hilarious bit about spoken punctuation:

 

Artificial intelligence

https://youtu.be/-1FtMk3QnjE

Want to see Roger Federer play himself in a game of tennis? Amusing, fascinating, and a little creepy. 

Realistic Water Bubble Simulation

https://youtu.be/O-52enqUSNw

At 2:30, he marvels that adding realistic air - water interaction requires such a simple calculation: "...one unified technique to add foam, spray and bubbles..." 

3:49 " ...bubbles and foam appear at the regions where air gets trapped beneath the surface...at wave crests...by looking for regions where the curvature of local fluid geometry is high and locally complex" 

This simplification allows the bubble effect to be added or taken away in post-processing, meaning that after 40 hours of rendering, the bubbles can be added or subtracted without having to render the entire simulation again. He illustrated this at 3:14. 

Here's his subsequent video on bubbles simulation.

https://youtu.be/MD_k3p4MH-A

Starting A Drone Company

https://youtu.be/NKAS96UPeJs

Tech startup by a 22 year old makes FPV drones you assemble and upgrade yourself. Low price, configurable... what's not to like. 

https://www.beagledrones.com/drone-kit

https://youtu.be/YrbFg_X53uA

Repairing a $45,000 Tire.

https://youtu.be/MfPuNQ5kK9I

I had no idea there are so many stages of repair. I don't know what the vent cord is for... maybe to drain bubbles of air out of the deeper layers. 

Road Repair Technologies

 

https://youtu.be/8h7ivH4A2jc

2:04 infrared melting of existing pavement which 3:47 reduces materials required by half

4:09 thermoplastic "chip fill" fills gaps up to 20cm and melts to blend with asphalt. 

7:58 polylevel high pressure polyurethane foam lifts and elevates blocks of pavement with fewer small holes than previous methods. 

Statue of David

A podcast about cracks in the statue of David, and how that relates to fallibility, Dostoyevsky, opaque bureaucracy in Italy, iconoclastic Freudian urges, and a host of other things. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736?i=1000494339633

Electric shocks to tongue decreases tinnitus

How bizarre! Tinnitus relieved by simultaneous brain overload with auditory tones and electric shock to the tongue for 12 weeks. And relief later for up to a year. 

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/electric-shocks-tongue-can-quiet-chronic-ringing-ears

wasp zombifies cockroach

https://youtu.be/-ySwuQhruBo

Creepy wasp stupefies the cockroach and drags it back to its lair where it lays an egg on its live but passive body. 

Police have no special duty to protect - Radiolab

This podcast is an intriguing and rather sobering  investigation into the landmark cases that have defined what the police must do. It turns out, in order to broadly protect us all from living in a police state with severe punishment for everything, surprisingly, the police have no duty to protect you from imminent harm. Unless four (almost never true) conditions are met - you ask them to help, they perceive the threat is real, they agree to help, and you change your behavior as a result of knowing that they will help. 

It's also an extension of the fact that citizens are not legally required to help someone in need when they're passing by - it might be heroic or morally right to help them, but not legally in that you wouldn't have to cover their damages. 

As they explain, certain people have a "special relationship" with you so that they are legally bound to protect you - like a hotel owner, a transit organization when you're their passenger, or a cab driver. So they're legally bound. 

So in the contemporary angst about what the "police role" is and whether we should fund them, there isn't any fundamental specific guide or charter describing what they're legally bound to d. This surprising absence is distinctly different than the entire rest of the government like the FDA, FAA and so on. 

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLndueWMub3JnL3JhZGlvbGFi&ep=14&episode=NDAyNTY1NjAtNDU2Ny00OWM4LWFmYzktZWUwMjIwZDA4MmUw

Journalists have to refrain from protesting

This podcast begins with an interview with the journalist, who mentions that journalists are forbidden from participating in protests. This was new to me, but the ethics of journalism are pretty clear on this issue.

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLndueWMub3JnL3JhZGlvbGFi&ep=14&episode=NDAyNTY1NjAtNDU2Ny00OWM4LWFmYzktZWUwMjIwZDA4MmUw

"NPR's code, for instance, says quite bluntly that "NPR journalists may not participate in marches and rallies" concerning issues that NPR covers — which is pretty much everything."

"Reporters covering politics are at the other end of this spectrum of what may be tolerated. For them, almost no political activity is OK...If a reporter's spouse, family member or other relative — or even a close friend — runs for office, the reporter should not be covering the campaign."

Ultimately, "Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Remain free of associations that may compromise integrity or damage credibility."

https://www.spj.org/ethics-papers-politics.asp

An incredibly clear and logical explanation of why sugar molecules twist polarized light. 

Fatherhood Facts

https://youtu.be/RlSwsE22nX0

A compelling presentation about the importance of fathers.  Fatherlessness increases the chance of homelessness, the school dropout rate, and suicide - in fact, 90% of teen runaways are from fatherless homes. 

8:47 "Children with involved fathers have stronger cognitive and motor skills, elevated physical and mental health, become better problem solvers, and are more confident, curious, and empathetic."

Tech That Could Fix One of Wind Power's Biggest Problems

https://youtu.be/Wlxz-KzebbQ

Simple turbine design that prevents it from over-spinning in high winds, making it withstand harsh weather and outlast other turbines. 

Render Millions of Objects in Blender

https://youtu.be/CQ9VmCN2EsE

I would not normally have the patience for a video like this, but it's well described and illustrated every step of the way, which helps me understand what computer graphics experts do. Very enjoyable to watch through each iterative improvement. 

The carbon footprint of the internet rivals that of all the world's airlines combined

The power to run the internet emits the same amount of CO2 as the entire airline industry, through fossil fuels burned to generate the 2% of total world electricity it demands. 

Streaming one hour of TV uses the same amount of electricity as running one LED light bulb for 5 days. 

From the episode "Clouds" of the show "Connected" with Latif Nasser. 

How Accurate are Long Range Weather Forecasts?

I've often wondered about this. How accurate are weather forecasts, and are we getting better over time? 

"The average five-day forecast is as reliable as a two-day forecast 20 years ago."

https://www.longrangeweatherforecast.co.uk/how-accurate-a-long-range-weather-forecasts/