Interesting video showing an odd assortment of gears that work.
Category Archives: Information
Could Google steal an election?
Wired poses this question? The article over states the case. Yes, of course, the results google returns can influence a voters decision. But that is the case with all media. The implicit observation is that the influence is changing. Online or “new media” has a greater influence than traditional media. But that is not really news as it has been obvious for a while.
Banach-Tarski
As a wannabe math geek, I loved this video explaining the Banach-Tarski Paradox, which illustrates the strange world of infinities. Infinity is a fascinating field that defies “common sense”. Infinity plus one is infinity. There are an infinite number of rational number and between every two rational numbers there are an infinity of real numbers. Strange, mind altering stuff.
Bad luck
Robert A. Heinlein once wrote:
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as ‘bad luck.’
You don’t own that car
A modern car only runs because of the software. GM has copyright on the software. They contend that the owner of the car only has a license to make use of the software. If they or some they hire (like an independent mechanic) tinkers with the software it is breaking the law. This doesn’t look good. The courts agree with GM, it will raise the cost of cars and reduce choice. Read more here.