Psychology Today, in a transparent bid to stir up a little traffic, has published ten politically incorrect truths about human nature. For example: blondes do have more fun, most suicide bombers are Muslim, beautiful people have more daughters and men sexually harass women because they’re not sexist. [slashdot]
All posts by Jeremy Lyon
The Real Bioweapons Threat Is Homegrown
In order to protect its citizens from terrorist bioweapons, the United States government has undertaken a massive expansion in bioweapons research. I recall articles several years back that worried this kind of crash program might not be in our long-term best interests. Although nothing catastrophic has happened yet, it seems the authors of those articles might have been on to something. There have been a whole series of accidents at labs in the last few years, including accidental infections or exposures to tularemia, brucellosis, Q fever, anthrax, Valley Fever and tuberculosis. [image by tedsblog]
Defense Looking For Human Scale Power System
Gargoyles and uber-geeks begarlanded with gadgets may have the Department of Defense to thank for improvements in portable power supplies. They’re sponsoring a new $1 million prize to encourage the development of a power system that weighs less than 4 kilograms and provides 96 hours of power for soldiers in the field. [image by moria] [defense tech]
Tour de Earth
Got a few centuries under your belt? Think you could handle the Tour de France some day? You might want to check out the 2007 route on Google Earth before you get too cocky. Make sure you make the appropriate cheering noises as you zoom down the Champs Elysees for the finish. [wired]
Up To The Minute Cartography
Maps have always been more like portraits than portrayals. They are historical, sketching a place at a point in time, always in the past. The MIT Senseable City Lab aims to bring maps into the present tense. Real Time Rome is a proof of concept, a series of cartographic representations of the city, updated with real-time data from public transportation systems, cellular tower usage patterns, and much more.
This is fascinating stuff, especially when you start thinking about the relationship maps have to the place they portray. The map is not the territory. A map is not a map without abstraction. But what you choose to abstract changes when your instruments allow you to portray the dynamism of real places. [oreilly radar]