Originally shared by Brent Kerlin
There is a book coming out about Joss Whedon.
Originally shared by Jonathan White (Slashazard)
There is a book coming out about Joss Whedon. This is a good chapter about the beginnings of Firefly. Hopefully this hasn’t already been posted here.
Can we have distributed communications systems or not?
Originally shared by Will Hill
Can we have distributed communications systems or not? A conversation on Diaspora has gone so wrong, that I suspect impersonation. Edward Morbius continues to tell me that port blocks and other technical measures against people running mail servers are justified by the high volume of spam that large mail ops receive. I think that leads to unacceptable spying and censorship and that the same reasoning will be used to dismantle any effective, distributed communications method. If I can’t be trusted to run a mail server, why should I be trusted to run a Friendica pod? Is this really Ed that I’m talking to?
If anything the cost of spam to large providers proves that email and other services are better done small. Small servers don’t have enough readers to be worth while. Damage to one server impacts fewer people. An abundance of choices gives everyone redundancy, and so on and so forth. There is an analogous security argument for an abundance of free software distributions. Freedom leads to cooperation, abundance, diversity and security. Centralization leads to monopoly, censorship and neutralization of dissidence. I thought these were bedrock concepts of free computing and networking.
Is there something I’ve missed here?
The Morse Code Virtual Radio is our new educational resource that lets you simulate the main form of radio…
Originally shared by Raspberry Pi
The Morse Code Virtual Radio is our new educational resource that lets you simulate the main form of radio communication that was used during World War I, using your Raspberry Pi.
You’ll learn how to send and decode Morse Code messages, and gain experience in Python programming and using the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins.
DC’s strict gun laws are meant to protect government workers and officials—but they might be dangerously weakened.
Originally shared by Mother Jones
DC’s strict gun laws are meant to protect government workers and officials—but they might be dangerously weakened.
The hypersnake versus the moiré eel
Originally shared by John Baez
The hypersnake versus the moiré eel
This animated gif is cool, but here’s something much cooler:
http://wry.me/hacking/moire-eel.html
It starts out intense… and then keeps getting more so.
You can control the shape of the little rectangles by moving your cursor over the screen. Try to keep your eye on just one little rectangle! It moves up and down, not very fast… but sometimes it’s impossible to keep your eye on it, because all the rectangles together produce patterns that grab your WW1 #morsecode #python #gpioattention. These are called moiré patterns.
I think the ‘hypersnake’ here is attention-grabbing because your brain has parts that are good at detecting snakes, even before your brain conscious of it. Your amygdala is one of these parts:
Information from an external stimulus reaches the amygdala in two different ways: by a short, fast, but imprecise route, directly from the thalamus; and by a long, slow, but precise route, by way of the cortex.
It is the short, more direct route that lets us start preparing for a potential danger before we even know exactly what it is. In some situations, these precious fractions of a second can mean the difference between life and WW1 #morsecode #python #gpiodeath.
Here is an example. Suppose you are walking through a forest when you suddenly see a long, narrow shape coiled up at your feet. This snake-like shape very quickly, via the short route, sets in motion the physiological reactions of fear that are so useful for mobilizing you to face the danger. But this same visual stimulus, after passing through the thalamus, will also be relayed to your cortex. A few fractions of a second later, the cortex, thanks to its discriminatory faculty, will realize that the shape you thought was a snake was really just a discarded piece of garden hose. Your heart will then stop racing, and you will just have had a moment’s scare.
The ‘moiré eel’ was made by Darius Bacon. You can see more of his stuff here:
I don’t know who made the ‘hypersnake’.
For more on moiré patterns try this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moiré_pattern
For more on the amygdala, try this:
http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_04/i_04_cr/i_04_cr_peu/i_04_cr_peu.html
Control burn in Yosemite
Control burn in Yosemite
Comedy vs.
Originally shared by ****
Comedy vs. anti-science: From Colbert and Oliver to Sarah Silverman and Louis CK, comedians are torching anti-science activists with aplomb.
Watch here: http://ow.ly/ztuoD
“Como Llora Una Estrella” played by Alirio Diaz, guitar
Originally shared by Giuseppe Torrisi
The Original recording by maestro Alirio Díaz of Antonio Carrillo’s “Como Llora Una Estrella”. There are various videos of him playing this piece but all are from a later edition of his arrangement (as recorded by John Williams). This recording is the original and quite a bit different. Also the score is hard to get so since this is my own edition, it’s free for all guitarists who wish to learn it.
Stochastic Music
Originally shared by ****
My friend and former colleague at King’s College London, Duncan Lockerby has produced this incredible video where he demonstrates how a very simple mathematical rule can produce complex and unpredictable musical patterns. Somewhat like Stephen Wolfram but without the arrogance.