A recent NSF study found that few Americans know their science, but most believe science fiction is true: A survey of 1,574 adults found that 60 percent agreed or strongly agreed that some people possess psychic powers or extrasensory perception, a premise that is generally discarded as unproven by most scientists. But never fear, theContinue reading “American’s ain’t needin’ nun that sai-ance”
Author Archives: Cameron Marlow
Online service my ass
Faced with a complete deficiency of customer support numbers online, I decided to use my local electicity provider’s website to sign up for new service. Heralded as a convenient alternative to talking to a real person, I received this auto-reply within seconds: The Electric Company has received your request for an application and/or discontinuance ofContinue reading “Online service my ass”
Compression to categorization
A group of Italian researchers are using simple compression to detect language, and individual voice, based on the premise that language distribution affects the compression ratio. Clever.
Health monitoring systems
Robert Cringely’s personal narrative about losing his child is heartbreaking, having realized his son Chase was dead on his lap while he wrote email. The cause of death was determined to be SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), a disorder that is little understood, or even studied for that matter, due to a lack of medicalContinue reading “Health monitoring systems”
Trading baseballs for cigarettes
Oh, Darryl Strawberry, where did it all go wrong? On his umpteeth conviction, a Florida judge finally sentenced him to 18 months in jail. The former all-star was caught “breaking the rules of the drug treatment center by smoking, having sex with a resident and trading baseballs for cigarettes.” Only Robert Downey Jr. could competeContinue reading “Trading baseballs for cigarettes”
Anthropology saved
In the doctor’s waiting room last week I was catching up on the back catalog of Atlantic Monthly, and I came across this cover story: 1492, by Charles Mann. The article is an account of the debate over what the Americas were like before it they were the “New World,” one of the more strikingContinue reading “Anthropology saved”
Did Jerry Garcia get his start in a noise band?
Last night at our weekly electronic music gig (the appliance of science) in Cambridge, we featured guests Keith Fullerton Whitman (aka Hrvatski) and Greg Davis in duo form, just back from an extended US tour. They played a set of positively nerve-racking noise, full of baby giggles and monstorous groans (someone likened them to Legend).Continue reading “Did Jerry Garcia get his start in a noise band?”
The flattest one wins
Recently released, the official rules for the Extreme Ironing World Championships: There are three components for scoring: Extreme and creative ironing style Extreme well pressed and clean clothes Extreme short time At the World Championships every ironist must use the official World Championships iron for an accurate comparison of extreme ironing performances. The iron willContinue reading “The flattest one wins”
Database of rhyme pages
Who needs a book of rhyme pages when you’ve got a high-speed rhyme database? I’m having a vision… freestylers with wearables.
The Strokes Tipped
Ben Greenman writing for the New Yorker asks: will bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes have a widespread and lasting effect on rock music? A week ago, the answer cut me off in a crosswalk: some balding 40-something was enjoying the new found spring weather, speeding around with the windows of his early-90’sContinue reading “The Strokes Tipped”
overstated 