Author: AMH

Star Trek fans might also like the tachyon

By AMH

If you liked Giant Microbes but are really more of a physicist (or a bit of a hypochondriac) you will love Particle Zoo’s subatomic particle plush toys. These cuddly interpretations of the basic components of matter are filled with different materials to reflect the differences in weight between, say, a top quark and a muon. The proton/neutron pairing is pretty cute, as are the quarks. I like that they have prefab gift packs of the various meaningful sets of particles that you might want to buy together. The “whole zoo” of 33 particles (quick quiz: can you name 33 subatomic … Continue reading Star Trek fans might also like the tachyon

Now I will be able to understand R2-D2!

By AMH

This is one of those do-it-on-yourself experiments that makes you realize your brain is doing all sorts of processing you have no awareness of. First, listen to this audio clip: Sine Wave Speech. Listen to it until you either make out what is being said or conclude that you will not be able to. Now, go listen to this audio clip: Clear Speech. After you listen to it once, go back and listen to the first clip…. Think that it only worked because you heard the “decoded” audio? Go listen to this second piece of Sine Wave Speech… You can … Continue reading Now I will be able to understand R2-D2!

So much fun I might start doing the off years

By AMH

As promised, I spent part of Tuesday wandering around my local area taking some photos documenting the election. I’ve put together a representative sample in this year’s election photo collection. It was interesting to note that while I went to many of the same places that I did in 2004, I came across fewer demonstrations or evidence of particular political stances this time around, besides the expected yard signs. The sentiment out there was more one of “make sure you vote”.

But what if it starts swinging independent?

By AMH

I somehow have the feeling the internet is going to be rife with election-related fun today. I won’t have time for a good websurf until later because I’m trying to get to the polls to vote before class, but this caught my eye: string red and blue lights up around your house for your election party and use this python script to scape CNN’s election results and indicate how the election is trending to change which lights are on so your lightly reflects the trending of the election. Your house will start out purple and end up…. well, slightly less … Continue reading But what if it starts swinging independent?

Copyright and Documentary through Comics

By AMH

Two Duke law professors and an expert in the public domain have written a comic, available under a Creative Commons license, about the impact of current copyright culture and its impact on creativity. They are particularly focused on how a trend towards a positive obligation to “clear copyright” and show that use of another’s work is fair use is, in reality, stifling fair use as studios refuse to take risks on including fair use content without permission and individuals cannot afford to defend legal cases if their fair use is challenged. There is example after example given of individuals filming … Continue reading Copyright and Documentary through Comics

Four more days

By AMH

Hey, did you notice there is an election in the US coming up next week? Seems like a good time to clear the queue of some election-related links! Worried about what might go wrong with eVoting? A Rice professor has been exposing the vulnerabilities in the system Texas uses, showing that brief unsupervised access to the machine can compromise the integrity of the software. In fact, while I haven’t seen any authoritative explanation for how this has happened or how widespread it is, evidence does seem to be coming in that straight party ticket voting may result in inaccurate vote … Continue reading Four more days

Cute little robots….

By AMH

if you are one of the students who came on the field trip to visit the CMU Robotics Institute two springs ago, you may recognize Dr. Wettergreen in this photo from a story about CMU’s new lunar rover. Can I say first how much it entertains me that the Post-Gazette has to translate “lunar rover” into “moon robot” for a lay audience? The technology is pretty cool though. Scarab is intended to drill into the moon’s surface to collect samples looking for water ice on the moon. This means it has to be designed sufficiently low to the ground and … Continue reading Cute little robots….

One vote per person, more or less….

By AMH

I have been reading a fair bit about electronic voting machines recently because we are talking about them in one of my classes. While I’ve waded through some pretty dry accounts of the vulnerabilities of these machines, this report with an associated video showing the ease with which Sequoia voting systems machines can be hacked using a brief exposure the the configuring computer with a USB drive. [via Boing Boing] The video also shows how various types of exploits might look to the voter and could be designed to even work in the face of physical paper-tape confirmations of the … Continue reading One vote per person, more or less….

No Boom Yet

By AMH

I had a few students express relief yesterday that the world did not end. Being the kill joy that I always am, I pointed out something that the media coverage did not seem to focus on – the risk of the world ending was only supposed to come when they started colliding particles at near-light speeds, which isn’t scheduled to happen for a few weeks still. So, if you are inclined that way, keep your panic hats on… For those interested in knowing a little more about the collider without jumping headfirst into the CERN documentation, I’d recommend checking out … Continue reading No Boom Yet