Showing tag results for Non-Computer

It's easy to distribute points evenly across a flat surface, but doing so over a curved surface is a much more complicated problem. Even spheres are hard. NPR's Scott Simon interviews mathematician Ed Saff who with colleague Doug Hardin has developed a new method of attacking this complex problem. Press release from Vanderbilt University. You ...

The Canadian Medical Association Journal traditionally runs an offbeat research paper in their Christmas edition, for which there is apparently huge competition. This year, Tintin goes to the neurologist. The feedback is fun to read too. (External news coverage here and here.) My first exposure to Tintin was—of course—in Sweden. ...

The International Chicken Sequencing Consortium announced that it has completed the sequencing of chicken DNA. I repeat: There is an organization called "The International Chicken Sequencing Consortium". (For some reason I want to think these people get together and decide, "Okay, Ginger goes first, then Bunty, then Babs...")

When I started studying Swedish, my web searches happened to alight upon Francis Strand's blog thanks to its wonderful title, "How to learn Swedish in 1000 difficult lessons", and I've been following his musings on life on Stockholm ever since. Wednesday morning, an apartment just a block away from his own exploded under curious circumstances. ...

In an operation straight out of a James Bond movie, a trio of gamblers used a laser range-finder hidden in a mobile phone to predict the likeliest landing spot of a roulette ball, reducing the odds from 37-1 to 6-1. Scotland Yard concluded that they did nothing illegal and were allowed to keep their winnings. I wonder how long it'll be befor...

Shortage of sleep is linked to obesity , according to research published yesterday. Lack of sleep boosts levels of a hormone that triggers appetite and lowers levels of a hormone that tells your body it is full according to the team. The scientists will now study whether obese people should sleep more to lose weight.

I enjoy poking around diploma mills. Especially the ones that spam my inbox. Like Kennedy-Western University, which describes itself like so: Since 1984 Kennedy-Western University (KWU) has provided distance and online degree programs to over 30,000 students. KWU is one of the largest non-accredited online universities in the United States. ... ...

The makers of a certain major brand of detergent which I will not name (but which for the purposes of this discussion will be called "Snide") appears to take every step to exploit inattentive customers. A box of Snide detergent powder comes with instructions indicating that for a normal-sized load, you should use 3/8 cup of detergent; for a large...

I think it is a trait common to many people that they are fascinated by how their country is viewed by others. The leftist Die Tageszeitung from Germany reacted to the result of the most recent U.S. presidential election with their list of one hundred things that are still better in the United States. Those who cannot read German can use a tra...

According to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, Article II, paragraph 6: No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage. Why are constitutional articles labelled with Roman numerals? Makes it sound like the Super Bowl or something. The state appellate court did rule a few years ago that being hospitalized...