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Monday Links from the Bench vol. CDLI

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    Monday Links from the Bench vol. CDLI

    Early today, as I need to head into town on matters concerning my increasing decrepitude
    • How a Transplanted Face Transformed Katie Stubblefield’s Life - "This story is difficult to look at. Yet we are asking you to go on the remarkable journey of how a young woman received a face transplant because it reveals something profound about our humanity. Our face conveys who we are, telegraphing a kaleidoscope of emotions. It’s our doorway to the sensory world, allowing us to see, smell, taste, hear, and feel the breeze. Are we our faces? Katie Stubblefield lost hers when she was 18. When she was 21, doctors gave Katie a new face. This is a story of trauma, identity, resilience, devotion, and amazing medical miracles. "

    • What Did Ada Lovelace's Program Actually Do? - "Lovelace’s program is often called the world’s first computer program. Not everyone agrees that it should be called that. Lovelace’s legacy, it turns out, is one of computing history’s most hotly debated subjects… As a programmer myself, I’m startled to see how much of what Lovelace was doing resembles the experience of writing software today. So let’s take a closer look at Lovelace’s program." Sinclair Target takes us through the famous bit of software from Lovelace's Translator’s Notes to M. Menabrea’s Memoir.

    • Are Cities Making Animals Smarter? - It's not just about foxes going through bins any more: "The pond rested at the end of a narrow driveway surrounded by tall concrete walls, so whoever was swiping the carp had either a key or the superhuman ability to bound up nearby roofs and drop in undetected… The thief was a cat. A big cat. Not a lithe house cat on the prowl, nor a bony feral cat scavenging for scraps. It looked like a miniature leopard—or a domestic cat that had gotten serious about boxing. The creature had black spots, compact ears, and burly shoulders. Under the cover of night, it had slunk along the ledges of the office complex, slipped under an awning, and descended on the pond."

    • This Ultrahot Exoplanet Has Metallic Skies - "For the first time ever, astronomers have found iron and titanium in the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system. The exoplanet, named KELT-9b, is the hottest alien world ever discovered. The planet is so scorching, it's even hotter than most stars.", So, a bit like it was here during July

    • Huge ‘hairy sea monster’ washes up on Pacific coast: what can it be? - More weird stuff on the beaches of Siberia: "A giant furry octopus? Remains of a woolly mammoth? An unknown primeval creature from the deep?"


    • Stacking concrete blocks is a surprisingly efficient way to store energy - A clever idea for storing energy generated during times of lower demand: "A startup called Energy Vault thinks it has a viable alternative to pumped-hydro: Instead of using water and dams, the startup uses concrete blocks and cranes." Handy if you don't have a Welsh mountain in which to store enough energy to make everyone a cup of tea when Coronation Street ends

    • See No Evil - Miriam Posner considers the complex systems that form modern supply chains: "How does information travel through the supply chain in such a peculiar way, so that I know to wait impatiently at my door at the exact moment my new iPhone will arrive—but no one really seems to know how it has gotten to me?"

    • How to remove stains from red wine, blood, coffee, grease, ink, and more - Finally, a use for science! "From a scientific perspective, oil on the garage floor, red wine on a white rug, and chewing gum on your pants seat all present different cleaning challenges… Let’s look at how stains work, and how we can use chemistry to remove them."

    • Inside the die of Intel's 8087 coprocessor chip, root of modern floating point - Ken Shirriff is back, and he's taking the lid off the once-coveted floating point coprocessor: "One puzzle appeared—an extra pad and wire located between pads 40 and 1, not associated with any of the chip's pins… I did some reverse-engineering and determined that this is part of the 8087's substrate bias circuit, which uses this connection to put a negative voltage on the substrate."

    • Fabulous Snapshots Of 1960s Ireland - "The National Library of Ireland is home to a terrific collection of snapshot depictions of 1960s Ireland. Thanks to readers writing in we know the names of many of the faces in these photographs. Dates and locations transport us to a vibrant Dublin city and the lush Irish countryside." Here, Seamus Johnson maintains the Gallarus Oratory in Kerry.



    Happy invoicing!

    #2
    Huge hairy monster on a beach? Just Mrs SAS guru on her holidays, one imagines

    Comment


      #3
      Irish fella looks like he's about to hobnail the dag!
      Old Greg - In search of acceptance since Mar 2007. Hoping each leap will be his last.

      Comment


        #4
        How to remove stains. So one for the females only? Do the men get a bonus Monday link?

        Apologies for my lack of trans gender appreciation.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by GreenMirror View Post
          How to remove stains. So one for the females only? Do the men get a bonus Monday link?

          Apologies for my lack of trans gender appreciation.
          Good news: with this detailed scientific explanation to hand, men can now do the cleaning AND mansplain what they're doing at the same time!

          Sorry, ladies, but that's you price you pay for finally getting him on his knees, scrubbing

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
            Good news: with this detailed scientific explanation to hand, men can now do the cleaning AND mansplain what they're doing at the same time!

            Sorry, ladies, but that's you price you pay for finally getting him on his knees, scrubbing
            Happy to scrub the stains out of the carpet but I ain't touching the curtains in the missus room.
            'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

            Comment


              #7
              Liked the cat thing, the Ada thing.

              The face thing is a prime example of how not to commit suicide with a rifle.

              The advice in that funny doctor's blog thing we were reading last month springs to mind.

              Feck a duck.

              The concrete block thing: The Subways of Tazoo.

              The See No Evil thing apparently expects me to pay money.

              That Zeity feller could have done with the stain removal thing.

              Liked the 8087 thing:

              x86 architecture is weird compared to RISC
              No tulip Sherlock.

              1978 is A Long Time Ago and Far Far Away.

              They did things differently then.

              Nice hairy blobby thing.

              That planet is a bit hot.

              Begorrah!
              Last edited by DoctorStrangelove; 20 August 2018, 12:08.
              When the fun stops, STOP.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by DoctorStrangelove View Post
                The See No Evil thing apparently expects me to pay money.
                That's odd - I don't subscribe, and it isn't badgering me

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
                  That's odd - I don't subscribe, and it isn't badgering me
                  It probably doesn't like designers of weapons of mass destruction of German extraction.

                  I'd term it racist.
                  When the fun stops, STOP.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I did love the Ada thing - interesting there was a bug in her original code. But it was only the one which is pretty good as she had nothing to test it on.

                    Comment

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