Tuesday, August 31, 2021
India's Perfumers Recreate The Smell Of Rain On Earth
Sunday, August 29, 2021
Fallibility of memory
20:16 this has really important implications for criminal justice and how we question witnesses how we get information about investigations from witnesses
27:38 The fact that memory often is not an accurate depiction of what took place can help us understand how two people can have very different recollections of the same event.
29:23 Saying "this couldn't have happened because I would have remembered it" is an inappropriate interpretation of how memory works.
37:02 making a "memory palace" to help memorize something lengthy
Effective ways to study at 44:54: students can get better at retaining information... the most effective method is taking practice tests, closing your books, and forcing yourself to recall information - which turns out to be a powerful way to remember things you've learned. Another insight: Space out learning and avoid trying to cram everything in on the last night before an exam. Also try to get some sleep. Memory consolidation occurs during sleep and you have to have specific high-quality sleep in order to consolidate these kinds of memories.
Saturday, August 28, 2021
Investors Buying Up U.S. Farmland
Cricket Farm Harvests 50 Million A Week
Monday, August 23, 2021
The Interstate Highway System
Sunday, August 22, 2021
Thorcon mass-produced molten-salt reactors.
Friday, August 13, 2021
Sunday, August 8, 2021
Kites, solar cells, rigid sails reducing the carbon footprint of shipping.
Since shipping contributes about 2-3% of total CO2 emissions, the industry is looking for a better way forward. Like a kite from the bow.
This slightly tedious video describes a kite that deploys from the foc'sle and pulls the ship forward.
1:10 the kite is steered in a figure 8 pattern to increase its airspeed which increases the towing force.
It can help propel the ship forward if the wind is generally from behind the ship - at 2:16 I think he means to say "120 to 240 degrees" [from the wind direction,] so it can be deployed through 120 degrees of wind direction relative to course. If shipping lanes tend to follow favorable trade winds, I'm guessing that a majority of the time the kite could help propulsion.
I think the idea hasn't taken off because it requires 10-20 minutes to deploy and to stow it, and it would be easy to get the lines tangled, or rip the kite when stowing it in windy conditions. It probably wouldn't stow well when wet. And it seems to take a fair bit of attention to make sure it's flying properly.
My question is why they don't appear to have used the force on the tow line to generate electricity as the kite is sent aloft. This is, after all, the same company that markets land-based kite systems for power generation.
Also, here's an interesting boat that is powered by solar cells and a kite.
And here's a million dollar yacht that can cruise at 8 knots on solar alone.
And here's a massive cargo ship with rigid sails that can be retracted to navigate under bridges coming in to port.
Starts at 3:24 in this video.
How Covid Vaccine Tech Could Fight Cancer
Saturday, August 7, 2021
Reclaiming City Spaces With “Tactical Urbanism”
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Word plexer or Rebus puzzle
A brain teaser where words and their letters are arranged in a shape that provides clues to a word that must be deduced from the clues. The word comes from latin for "thing."
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
China vs US agricultural stats
China has a very similar size to the US, yet half the arable land, and 75 times more farmers. And yet China produced 7 times the weight of agricultural product in 2019.htps://www.insidermonkey.com
China has a land area of 9.3E6 km2, which is 2.2% larger than the US land area of 9.1E6 km2.
the population of agricultural producers in China is 75 times larger than the United States, but China has less than half the arable land available for farming.
the agricultural sectors in both countries face similar challenges and opportunities: farmers in both countries are aging; farm succession and access to land are common concerns; phosphorus-induced algal blooms occur in both the United States and China—in fact, Chinese farmers apply more fertilizers and pesticides than their US counterparts.
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