armb's journal

I've just spent long enough looking through these photos that I've forgotten where they were linked from: http://kevinvanaelst.com/art.html

Thumbnail (of thumbprint):

I haven't actually heard "if we have global warming, why's it so cold?" recently.
But just in case - it's colder than usual here, but warmer than usual in the Arctic:
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/01/why-the-us-and-much-of-europe-are-shivering-in-the-cold.ars

[EDIT: but there are people using the argument, and misrepresenting climate scientists as backing them up:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/11/climate-change-global-warming-mojib-latif
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jan/06/cold-snap-climate-sceptics

"Here's what Martyn Brown says in today's Express:

As one of the worst winters in 100 years grips the country, climate experts are still trying to claim the world is growing warmer.

There's a clue as to where he might have gone wrong in that sentence: "country" has a slightly different meaning to "world". Buried at the bottom of the same article is the admission that " ... other areas including Alaska, Canada and the Mediterranean were warmer than usual."

]

http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2009/11/30/open-vote-networ/
"... the Chancellor is seeking re-election in the Galactic Senate. Some delegates don't want to vote for him, but worry about his revenge. How to arrange an election such that the voter's privacy will be best protected?

The environment is extremely adverse. Surveillance is everywhere. Anything you say will be recorded and traceable to you. All communication is essentially public. In addition, you have no one to trust but yourself.

It may seem mind-boggling that this problem is solvable in the first place. With cryptography, anything is possible."

(Solving the problem of persuading the average voter that this really works might be trickier. One of the major advantages of a simple paper ballot election is that it doesn't require any special knowledge to see if it's working more or less as designed.)


(And on a completely different note, "Surprised kitten is surprised", just in case anyone hasn't seen it yet.)

http://www.gizmag.com/metal-muscled-robo-bat/12188/

Did Batman ever use flying robotic bat shaped surveillance devices? If not, why not?

Want: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/05/monkeylectrics-full.html

Glider guns - implemented chemically: http://arxivblog.com/?p=1183

An actual plausible looking flying car!
http://www.gizmag.com/the-parajet-skycar-britains-flying-dune-buggy-aims-for-timbouctou/9633/

(See also http://filkertom-itom.blogspot.com/2006/08/001-i-want-my-flying-car.html)