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Monday Links from the Bench vol. CDXXVII

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    Monday Links from the Bench vol. CDXXVII

    The snow has gone. In a few months, we'll all be complaining about how hot it is. Either way, staying on the Internet is your best bet
    • Things Fall Apart - "A feat of elegant design wowed elite architects and promised to bring education to poor children in Nigeria. Then it collapsed." Allyn Gaestel on the wretched failure of a plan to bring education to the residents of a Lagos slum.

    • If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? Turns out it’s just chance. - "The most successful people are not the most talented, just the luckiest, a new computer model of wealth creation confirms. Taking that into account can maximize return on many kinds of investment." And all this time I thought it was because I'm lazy

    • Why I Quit Google to Work for Myself - Michael Lynch on the traps laid for unwary permies: "During my two-year honeymoon phase, this system sounded great to me. Of course my fate should be in the hands of a mysterious committee who’s never met me. They wouldn’t be tainted by any sort of favoritism or politics. They’d see past all that and recognize me for my high-quality code and shrewd engineering decisions… Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work like that."

    • Sliced & Diced: The Inside Story Of How An Ivy League Food Scientist Turned Shoddy Data Into Viral Studies - "Brian Wansink won fame, funding, and influence for his science-backed advice on healthy eating. Now, emails show how the Cornell professor and his colleagues have hacked and massaged low-quality data into headline-friendly studies to 'go virally big time.'" It seems twisting the data until it suggests a hypothesis is easier than, you know, science.

    • A spectacular crater glows on the Moon's far side - Phil Plait on the crater Pierazzo: "I love this shot; the crater seems to glow… The interior of the crater is very reflective, indicating youth. Over time sunlight and micrometeorite impacts tend to dull the surface, darkening it. So the interior really is pretty bright compared to the surrounding area."

    • The Simple Algorithm That Ants Use to Build Bridges - "Even with no one in charge, army ants work collectively to build bridges out of their bodies. New research reveals the simple rules that lead to such complex group behavior." I like that the New Jersey Institute of Technology has a "Swarm Lab"

    • How flashing lights and pink noise might banish Alzheimer’s, improve memory and more - "Neuroscientists are getting excited about non-invasive procedures to tune the brain’s natural oscillations." In mice, at any rate. How come the mice get all the breaks? Was Douglas Adams right?

    • How we discovered that Neanderthals could make art - Chris Standish and Alistair Pike on their recent studies into the origins of ancient cave art, showing that Homo Sapiens was not required: "These results demonstrate that cave art was being created in all three sites at least 20,000 years prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens in western Europe. They show for the first time that Neanderthals did produce cave art, and that is was not a one off event."

    • This Glorious Madman Stuffed A Tesla Drivetrain Into A 1981 Honda Accord - "Can your Honda Accord go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.7 seconds? Jim Belosic’s can. Belosic turned a car that he bought as a replica of his high school ride into a rear-wheel-drive Gasser-style electric car using drivetrain bits from a Tesla Model S P85. He calls this roughly 536-horsepower frankencar the Teslonda, and believe it or not, he plans to turn it into a daily driveable car."

    • James Brunt Organizes Leaves and Rocks Into Elaborate Cairns and Mandalas - His land art has something in common with that of Andy Goldsworthy, featured here in October 2016, when it seems I was eagerly anticipating the imminent end of the gig I'm still on now



    Happy invoicing!

    #2
    Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
    And all this time I thought it was because I'm lazy
    Yes, me too. It seems like a lot of work, all that dedication and working 60-80 hours/week


    EDIT: Great links, Nick, thanks!
    Last edited by Platypus; 5 March 2018, 12:50.

    Comment


      #3
      Yep, I second the good links comment. Look forward to my bog time.

      Comment


        #4
        Have you found any links that would be about improving memory - I mean, even if it just worked in mice.

        I'd love to read something like that.
        …Maybe we ain’t that young anymore

        Comment


          #5
          Loads of snow round here though it's melting fast. The river unfroze too which is sad.
          Originally posted by MaryPoppins
          I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
          Originally posted by vetran
          Urine is quite nourishing

          Comment

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