Monday, November 30, 2020
Thursday, November 26, 2020
Some incredible water art installations
Painting with water at Osaka station
Or watch from 0:33 in this one:
Intriguing art installation that prevents rain from hitting you.
Fascinating sculpture imitates moving water
And another, in Grand Central station
Sculpture with moving water
A practical application of printing on falling water - a tunnel Stop signal that was being ignored. You can skip to 0:17.
Incredible high-speed strobe photos of paired drops splashing onto water.
A dramatic crashing wave projected above a building entrance.
Some incredible sculptures, not necessarily about water.
Mesmerizing "Liquid Shard" installation in LA mimics starling murmurations.
Singapore airport's "Jewel" waterfall, especially after 1:45 in the video:
And a little more detail about the billion dollars airport complex around it:
Finally, some good news: Coronavirus pandemic leading to huge drop in air pollution
satellite images reveal marked fall in global nitrogen dioxide levels
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Rechargeable things in my home
I can remember just twenty years ago, I had just two rechargeable items in my household - my shaver and my laptop.
Now I have
Shaver
Toothbrush
Smartphone
Laptop
Portable Laryngoscope
Electric skateboard
Drone, drone controller
Bike lights
Power bank for smartphone
Noise cancelling headphones
Wireless headphones
Boiling water dispenser (seriously! It has a battery-powered pump to dispense hot water at your picnic.)
Osmo (gimbal) camera
Solar-powered lamps
Solar security light
Solar floating pool light
Lawn trimmer
Ororo heated jacket
Electric car
The number of rechargeable batteries I've purchased has gone up exponentially over time.
Sunday, November 22, 2020
Babies prefer to gaze upon beautiful faces | New Scientist
"[Researchers] showed paired images of faces to babies as young a one day old and found that they spent more time fixated on the more attractive face.
"Attractiveness is not in the eye of the beholder, it's innate to a newborn infant," says Slater."
"...[they] took pictures of a variety of female faces and asked adult subjects presented to rate them for attractiveness. Subjects scored each face on a scale from 1 to 5. The researchers then searched for pairs of photographs that were similar in all respects – in brightness and contrast, for example – but at opposite ends of the attractiveness scale.They then presented these paired photographs to newborn infants, who ranged in age from one to seven days old. All babies were still in hospital after birth. One researcher held each infant upright about 30 centimetres away from the two photos. Another stood out of view and noted where the babies eyes were directed."
Saturday, November 21, 2020
SPAC investments
"Special purpose acquisition companies" are shell companies offering venture capital as a quick shortcut to raising capital without the paperwork of an IPO. A spate of them recently NKLA, DKNG,. UTZ has made them popular.
This article offers these caveats to consider:
"
- Is the target business established and generating cash flow?
- If not, does it have a viable strategy and is it positioned to achieve its goals?
- Will the company need to make major investments in technology, talent or other resources to succeed?
- How accomplished is the management team, and are they staying with the company after its acquisition by the SPAC?
- Does the target company have a durable, competitive advantage, such as a patent or cutting edge technology, that gives them "a wide and long-lasting moat," to quote from Warren Buffet's most important factor when evaluating an investment?
- What are the target's biggest risks factors? "
Friday, November 20, 2020
Types of Bridges, Explained By an Engineer
This is the sort of video I love - going in-depth with an engineer about how they think about a bridge conceptually, what design problems and constraints they have to address, and how the different solutions differ. This video is particularly well illustrated with animations over the images to emphasizing their points.
Monday, November 16, 2020
How Delta Fixes $32 Million Jet Engines
Sunday, November 15, 2020
The Sailboat Designed to Fly
Pretty amazing sailboat design. Huge weight saving by eliminating a keel and instead having an outboard hydraulic hydrofoil generating force like a buttress holding the sailboat from heeling (heeling is lateral roll or tilt caused by force of wind on the sail versus drag of the hull in the water)
You can start at 2:19 in this video for an explanation of the "canting T-foils" that buttress the boat from the leeward side.
And you can start at 1:46 in this video for an analysis of hull design, with the lift created by the upper surface of the deck described at 5:03.
Saturday, November 14, 2020
Ex-Tesla startup engineer is now recycling batteries
The evils of concrete
3:46 manufacturing concrete requires 9% of global water usage
Is concrete destructive
The Denialist Playbook - Scientific American
"...the predictable tactics of those clinging to an untenable position:"
- Doubt the Science
- Question Scientists' Motives and Integrity
- Magnify Disagreements among Scientists and Cite Gadflies as Authorities
- Exaggerate Potential Harm
- Appeal to Personal Freedom
- Reject Whatever Would Repudiate A Key Philosophy
Sunday, November 8, 2020
Florida Releasing 750 Million GMO Mosquitoes?
Companies seeking out potential employees with autism
Autistic people can be intently focused for very long periods; they
have a different way of seeing things, of problem solving. Certain jobs are particularly attuned to their unique talents, and accordingly, employers are seeking them out.
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Creating a back alley in a virtual world
If you really want to dive deep, here's an extended version:
The Sisal Plant allowing Kenyan Farmers Prosper
Sunday, November 1, 2020
The largest medical need in the world.
"No single country has lifted themselves out of poverty without access to contraception."
"It only takes one generation to see a decline in birth rate."
-Melinda Gates, on
Quote from Warren Buffett
"I'll give my children 'enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing' "
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