I seem to recall seeing something very similar, but done as a (realistic) cartoon animation. The part that sticks in my mind (I'm a biologist) was that it zoomed in to a kid fishing in a boat on a lake, then on a mosquito on his hand, then down the mosquito's proboscis into his blood.
I'm not sure, but it may have been a Canadian production. Anybody else remember this?
Not quite on-topic, I know, but I just had my Psion 3a repaired (broken clamshell hinge) after 7 years of sterling service at home (in the UK) and travelling (including 3 years installing science equipment and PCs in schools in Ghana, West Africa). It doesn't have the mobile connectivity of the Palm but it does have a perfectly usable keyboard, an agenda, word processor, spreadsheet, simple card index, games and a huge amount of shareware. Oh - and I have to change the batteries once every three months.
I did try an Agenda VR3 for a while, but fun as it was, I couldn't put up with changing the batteries on a daily basis.
I know the Palm format is popular, and if my Psion ever finally dies I'll probably make the transition, but for now I'll stick with what is probably the most useful bit of kit I ever bought.
The next thing you know, they'll be telling me that people can get information on what I'm doing, using no specialist equipment just by standing behind me and looking at the screen over my shoulder! I'll have to start doing everything using ssh (Secure SHpectacles).
Presumably Black Hawk Down would have been a far less bloody affair if Delta Force and the US Army Rangers had been able to spray this from helicopters in Mogadishu.
Try Channel 5 - I think I saw it on Thursday night.
Science for the MTV generation
on
The Rise of CSI
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I saw CSI (the episode with the animated bullet trajectories) on British TV only last week. A laudable effort to make science accessible to the mainstream, but it did seem to me that the "mainstream" they were aiming for must have the attention span of a goldfish.
The Miami Vice comparison is particularly apt - lots of jump cuts etc. The CG animation is sometimes overused (and the animation of a bullet striking a lung had me rofl).
That said, much of the basic science is sound. I particularly liked the admission that while a $10k electronic nose was very cool when it came to identifying perfume residues, the same results could be had with a bottle of adsorbant and an existing benchtop gas chromatograph).
Anyway - I'll be watching it again to see if they can get the balance of plot/science/graphics right. If nothing else, it is nice to see an attempt to incorporate some properly researched, hard science into a mainstream show. Better they labour the explanations a bit than dumb it down at the expense of veracity.
This was reported in Scientific American in 1998. I also recall seeing it in New Scientist, and on the BBC television programme, "Tomorrow's World" at about the same time.
Why are there 2 "Save Futurama" petions in the top 10? Is this a genuine effort to save a much-loved TV show, or an exercise in "my petition's bigger than your petition"?
Re:Does anyone remember there first samba load.
on
Samba Turns 10
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· Score: 1
I remember it like it was today....
Hold on - it was today. Many thanks to DrSpin for that. I am slooowly getting to grips with Linux, but still mostly use my Windows 98 box because I just have too many other things to do.
Sometimes we newbies need to be cut a little slack.
What about people who through accident of birth (or just plain accident) have less than the standard complement of digits?
The one thing that current cellphones have in their favour is that if you can hold one and have one finger or thumb spare, you can use it (sight/hearing impairments excepted).
Surely, the point is not that Opera is more or less buggy than IE or Netscape (I'm not qualified to judge), but that web pages are mostly written to take the bugs of the big two into account.
Whatever - I like Opera and find that if I write html that displays properly in it, it _always_ works in the other browsers.
The sound is just an up to date application of the sharp hissing sound used almost universally by people to attract attention.
Here in the UK it is not unknown (though considered pretty rude) to make a "psst" noise with the lips, tongue and teeth to make someone look your way (think secret agents in dark doorways!).
I spent 3 years installing science equipment and PCs in Ghana and found that the commonest way to get peoples attention (and considered perfectly acceptable) was to make a similar "tss" noise, then beckon to the person you want when everyone looks your way.
All these sounds share the broadband hiss that through a variety of mechanisms, presumably to do with the shape and dimensions of the outer ear, and the fact that some frequencies are attenuated more by passing through the head than others, are highly directional.
It can't just be attenuation through the head though, since (as the Tomorrow's World episode referred to elsewhere) it is also directional in the vertical direction - i.e. if the sound is coming from above you, you'll look up.
Slashdot Mirror
And there was me thinking it was just some pretty pictures for the audience!
Thanks for setting me straight.
..."Wait! I know this - it's Unix".
I'm not sure, but it may have been a Canadian production. Anybody else remember this?
I can't see there being many takers for the "nano-condom".
Not quite on-topic, I know, but I just had my Psion 3a repaired (broken clamshell hinge) after 7 years of sterling service at home (in the UK) and travelling (including 3 years installing science equipment and PCs in schools in Ghana, West Africa). It doesn't have the mobile connectivity of the Palm but it does have a perfectly usable keyboard, an agenda, word processor, spreadsheet, simple card index, games and a huge amount of shareware. Oh - and I have to change the batteries once every three months.
I did try an Agenda VR3 for a while, but fun as it was, I couldn't put up with changing the batteries on a daily basis.
I know the Palm format is popular, and if my Psion ever finally dies I'll probably make the transition, but for now I'll stick with what is probably the most useful bit of kit I ever bought.
Is this the first time that a case-sensitive naming convention has been used as a legal defense?
The next thing you know, they'll be telling me that people can get information on what I'm doing, using no specialist equipment just by standing behind me and looking at the screen over my shoulder! I'll have to start doing everything using ssh (Secure SHpectacles).
Presumably Black Hawk Down would have been a far less bloody affair if Delta Force and the US Army Rangers had been able to spray this from helicopters in Mogadishu.
... here overdoes the Flash, too. Especially if you're on a modem.
Try Channel 5 - I think I saw it on Thursday night.
I saw CSI (the episode with the animated bullet trajectories) on British TV only last week. A laudable effort to make science accessible to the mainstream, but it did seem to me that the "mainstream" they were aiming for must have the attention span of a goldfish.
The Miami Vice comparison is particularly apt - lots of jump cuts etc. The CG animation is sometimes overused (and the animation of a bullet striking a lung had me rofl).
That said, much of the basic science is sound. I particularly liked the admission that while a $10k electronic nose was very cool when it came to identifying perfume residues, the same results could be had with a bottle of adsorbant and an existing benchtop gas chromatograph).
Anyway - I'll be watching it again to see if they can get the balance of plot/science/graphics right. If nothing else, it is nice to see an attempt to incorporate some properly researched, hard science into a mainstream show. Better they labour the explanations a bit than dumb it down at the expense of veracity.
Yes - but we only found out about that in 1977 - 5 years after Pioneer was launched.
They told me
What they wanted
Was a sound that
Could kill someone
From a distance
Kate Bush - Experiment IX
Yes - we do identify sound in 3d see this slashdot article for discussion of why brod spectrum sounds are easier to pinpoint.
This was reported in Scientific American in 1998. I also recall seeing it in New Scientist, and on the BBC television programme, "Tomorrow's World" at about the same time.
Why are there 2 "Save Futurama" petions in the top 10? Is this a genuine effort to save a much-loved TV show, or an exercise in "my petition's bigger than your petition"?
I remember it like it was today ....
Hold on - it was today. Many thanks to DrSpin for that. I am slooowly getting to grips with Linux, but still mostly use my Windows 98 box because I just have too many other things to do.
Sometimes we newbies need to be cut a little slack.
What about people who through accident of birth (or just plain accident) have less than the standard complement of digits?
The one thing that current cellphones have in their favour is that if you can hold one and have one finger or thumb spare, you can use it (sight/hearing impairments excepted).
I have MSDOS 6.2 and Win 3.1 running in VMware express. No reason - I just thought I'd see if it worked. Seems to be fine.
Surely, the point is not that Opera is more or less buggy than IE or Netscape (I'm not qualified to judge), but that web pages are mostly written to take the bugs of the big two into account.
Whatever - I like Opera and find that if I write html that displays properly in it, it _always_ works in the other browsers.
But I like the pretty pictures!
Seriously, I thought it was an active component that was causing the problems - never thought to disable graphics.
I should mention that I'm not a developer (Linux or otherwise) but I'm slowly learning to be less of a luser. Slashdot helps.
That's Opera for Win 98 - I'll exorcise this PC just as soon as I have convinced myself I know what I'm doing...
...only the advertisement on the page keeps freezing Opera.
The sound is just an up to date application of the sharp hissing sound used almost universally by people to attract attention. Here in the UK it is not unknown (though considered pretty rude) to make a "psst" noise with the lips, tongue and teeth to make someone look your way (think secret agents in dark doorways!). I spent 3 years installing science equipment and PCs in Ghana and found that the commonest way to get peoples attention (and considered perfectly acceptable) was to make a similar "tss" noise, then beckon to the person you want when everyone looks your way. All these sounds share the broadband hiss that through a variety of mechanisms, presumably to do with the shape and dimensions of the outer ear, and the fact that some frequencies are attenuated more by passing through the head than others, are highly directional. It can't just be attenuation through the head though, since (as the Tomorrow's World episode referred to elsewhere) it is also directional in the vertical direction - i.e. if the sound is coming from above you, you'll look up.