In a new essay Friday, technology pundit Robert Cringely remembers the day he got his first home fax machine in 1986, arguing that broadcast television is like a fax machine — in that “they are both obsolete.” Then he offers a quick history of television, cable TV, and the rise of Netflix, concluding “I’ll be surprised if broadcast TV in the…
Tag: GoT
Want Someone’s Personal Data? Give Them a Free Donut
Technology services provider Probrand has carried out a study at a cyber expo attended by UK security professionals, where attendees voluntarily shared sensitive data including their name, date of birth and favourite football team — all to get their hands on a free donut. From a report: “We wanted to put this theory to the test and see just how willing…
Book Subtitles Are Getting Ridiculously Long. Blame it on SEO.
How many words can you fit in a subtitle? For a slew of modern books, the answer seems to be as many as possible. From a report: Just look at Julie Holland’s “Moody Bitches: The Truth About the Drugs You’re Taking, the Sleep You’re Missing, the Sex You’re Not Having, and What’s Really Making You Crazy,” Erin McHugh’s “Political Suicide: Missteps,…
Nazi Code Breaker Alan Turing Just Got an Obituary in The New York Times — 65 Years After His Death
Charges of “gross indecency” destroyed the brilliant scientist’s reputation for decades; he was finally pardoned in 2013. Source: https://www.livescience.com/65665-alan-turing-new-york-times-obituary.html
Soil eroded by glaciers may have kick-started plate tectonics
How plate tectonics got going is a mystery. Now scientists say they’ve found a key part of the story: massive piles of sediment dumped in the ocean. Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/soil-eroded-glaciers-may-have-kick-started-plate-tectonics4…
Mud ball meteorites rain down in Costa Rica
“Mud ball” meteorites – full of clays, organics and water – are unique among space rocks. And a lot of them fell in April 2019 on a small town in Costa Rica, much to the delight of scientists. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mudball-meteorite-fall-aguas-zarcas-costa-rica-2019…
A brief history of Ariane 5 launches with science missions onboard
If it wasn’t for launch capabilities we would never have delved deep into the echo of the Big Bang nor lived out the adventures of Rosetta and Philae at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Nor would we have captured some of the Universe’s most energetic phenomena, or be on our way to the innermost planet of the solar system. Some of ESA’s biggest science…
Lake Baikal: Earth’s deepest, oldest lake
Lake Baikal in southern Siberia is 25 million years old and more than 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) deep. More than 2,500 plant and animal species have been documented in the lake, most found nowhere else. Controversy surrounds construction of hydropower stations on a river that feeds the lake. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/what-is-the-worlds-deepest-lake…
#ThrillYourMind
It’s late at night. You’re burning the midnight oil. You’ve devoted hours of focus to a programming challenge, project, or problem set. And just when you’re about to stop for the night, it arrives. The discovery. The breakthrough. That moment when the lightbulb goes off. This season, we’re celebrating the learning breakthroughs that #ThrillYourMind. The […]
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Word of the week: Ecliptic
The ecliptic is the path the sun takes across our sky. It’s the Earth-sun plane, and, more or less, the plane of our solar system. Stargazing tip: Learn the whereabouts of the ecliptic in your sky. You’ll always find the sun, moon and planets on or near it. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-ecliptic-what-is-the-ecliptic…