No user-serviceable parts inside.
Name: The Rt Hon KJP
resistance is useless
today
July 2007
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[the dual phenomena of lucky and unlucky people]
Part of my life was spent in the discipline of the mathematical sciences, which provide a view of the world that expresses beauty through pattern and modelling/understanding things through basic processes.
One of the triumphs of mathematical thinking is the modelling of statistical processes, esp those with an apparently random basis.
"Luck" is seen as a manifestation of probabilities, which have a strong statistical base.
But, as JR Mooneyham suggests, what if "luck" is a personal characteristic, distributed normally like intelligence, physical strength, height etc?
Mooneyham's suggestion is that this results in there being a distribution of the population based on luck, classifiable as below
Cursed 2% Unfortunate 14% Average Majority 68% Very Lucky 14% Blessed 2%
Given his assumptions, (whcih are of course the source of the controversial conclusion), his arguments are not much worse than most arguments in the social sciences. http://www.jmooneyham.com/luck.html
From personal experience I can see examples of inexplicably lucky people. And one example of what I can only explain as unluckiness. Perhaps my impartiality is being clouded...
[real people and avatars]
Ever looked at an online gamer's avatar and wondered what the REAL person behind it was like? Is "Metal Jane" really a leather-clad Nordic woman, or a nerdy socially inept male whose best friend is his motherboard?
Photo-journalist Robbie Cooper wanted to see if people's real lives were echoed in their digital alter egos in role-playing environments. He mounted an exhibition of avatar/real person images, Alter Ego, in London. There is a selection of images on a link at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3683260.stm
This has considerable educational possibilities, including work on stereotypes, what sort of people interact online, how identity is constucted, self-image etc.
[It's all gone blurry]
http://blurry.sytes.org/: make any website look like it does after a night on the booze. No hangover.
[guide to pole climbing]
Another essential skill http://www.myinsulators.com/pole-climbing/
[Accidents]
OHSA site showing stats on (US) fatal accidents, with illustrative line drawings. Number 58 is my favourite, with 63 and 65 approaching Monty Python standards.
http://www.osha-slc.gov/OshDoc/toc_FatalFacts.html
[postal experiment]
What can be sent though the post safely? US-based experiment to test this out. Items posted included a helium balloon (really buggered up the pay-by-weight calculations), a dead fish, and a monkey-in-a-box toy that, upon shaking, shouted, "Let me out of here! Help! Let me out of here!". I want one of those.
http://www.improb.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/postal-6-4.html
[rubber band warfare]
every schoolkid needs this knowledge: the martial art of rubber band shooting. Warning: contains maths and physics. http://hometown.aol.com/morganbolt/index.html?f=fs
[50 ways to lace your loafers]
Many, many ways to lace your shoes. 22 distinct patterns, each with permutations. Will appeal to the mathematical pattern-seeking mind, or to those with a pattern-based craft bent. Or just bent. http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/lacingmethods.htm
While you're looking at patterns: wonderfully clever crop circles. How do they do it? http://www.circlemakers.org/totc2004.html
[origins of English expressions]
Ever wanted to ask how a common word or phrase evolved? Check out http://www.painintheenglish.com/ , where suc things can be discussed (without necessarily reaching an authoritative answer, based on the "it's an evolvng language" argument)
Example posting :
Irregardless?
I have heard highly educated people use this word. Where did it come from and why do people use it? It seems almost as if they are uncomfortable using just plain old regardless and feel that the word should sound more complex or something, and so they say irregardless. I have never been able to figure out how this word was created. Any ideas?
[sound from flowers]
I like flowers, and I like music. Why not use flowers as speakers? A Japanese company (Ka-On , "flower sound") has a product that does just that. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3656332.stm
Soon, the flowers will be your telephone too http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_16-9-2004_pg9_10
Must go, my geraniums are ringing.
[Rock, Paper, Scissors world championship]
http://www.worldrps.com/ Small things, small minds..... you know the connection. There is an online trainer for the seriously sad...
[elgooG: Google backwards]
http://www.alltooflat.com/geeky/elgoog/ Google's site, with everything backwards. I have no idea why either.
See also http://kenprice.motime.com/1098033179#358453 (Google turned 9 degrees sideways)
[Google's Gmail can now work as a large (1 gigbayte) personal data store]
This is very clever, yet simple.
GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google GMail account, allowing you to use GMail as a storage medium.
GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google GMail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your GMail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag'n'drop files to/from.
It does have problems with long file names, but otherwise it seems brilliant.
http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm
[Glucoboy: game technolgy and medicine converge]
Guidance Interactive Healthcare has developed GLUCOBOY, a children's blood glucose meter that can be directly inserted into a Nintendo GAMEBOY. http://www.interguidance.com/PRODOVER.htm
[Artworks of the sadistic and infamous]
Rather pleasant watercolours by some Austrian bloke called A Hitler http://www.snyderstreasures.net/pages/hartworks.htm
[I don't know art, but I know what I like...]
Art made from plastic drinking straws. http://soutosco.zip.net/arch2004-10-10_2004-10-16.html (its Brazillian, hence in Portuguese)
This has a beauty that transcends the cheap materials from which it is made. Which I guess is the case for all art, and beauty. The person you love is about 60% water....
[rear vision for yourcomputer]
http://www.imate.com.au/benefits.html. Please dont ask me why. Please....
[laptop security]
Scared of someone stealing your laptop? Maybe the new PowerPizza will provide security through obscurity. http://www.humanbeans.net/powerpizza/index.html
Unless, of course, you work in an area of extreme food shortage..
[Making baking all the while]
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/ezbake.shtml . An oven in your PC. Why? Why not?
