Quite a lot of smart ones there including Harshad Mehta and Ford. Of course, not all the smart moves were good for the society at large.
Author: Aditya
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3-D printers for the kitchen
A very interesting concept that has mass appeal – definitely more appetizing than 3D printed guns. Plus, people spend more on kitchen appliances than on printers, and the “ink” should be a lot more affordable:
But Contractor, a mechanical engineer with a background in 3D printing, envisions a much more mundane—and ultimately more important—use for the technology. He sees a day when every kitchen has a 3D printer, and the earth’s 12 billion people feed themselves customized, nutritionally-appropriate meals synthesized one layer at a time, from cartridges of powder and oils they buy at the corner grocery store. Contractor’s vision would mean the end of food waste, because the powder his system will use is shelf-stable for up to 30 years, so that each cartridge, whether it contains sugars, complex carbohydrates, protein or some other basic building block, would be fully exhausted before being returned to the store.
via The audacious plan to end hunger with 3-D printed food – Quartz.
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xkcd on Glass Half Empty
Read on and you’ll know:
The lesson: If the optimist says the glass is half full, and the pessimist says the glass is half empty, the physicist ducks.
via Glass Half Empty.
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Prehistoric cave animations
Looks like we’ll have to take a new look at prehistoric art. Wonder what they’ll do about movies like 10000 BC:
3D realisation has thrown up a further indication that some of the pitoti are, literally, in suspended animation.
via Major motion pictures from our prehistoric past | University of Cambridge.
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Headline of the day: Big rig carrying fruit crashes on 210 Freeway, creates jam
Headlines don’t get sweeter than this
Big rig carrying fruit crashes on 210 Freeway, creates jam – latimes.com.
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Spell to hack your Mac
Who’d have thought that Apple had such huge Harry Potter fans:
The SMC, or system management controller, is a chip used to regulate a Mac’s current and voltage, manage its light sensor, and temporarily store FileVault keys. Turns out that the SMC contains undocumented code that is invoked by entering the word “SpecialisRevelio,” the same magic words used to reveal hidden charms, hexes, or properties used by wizards in the Harry Potter series written by author J. K. Rowling.
via “SpecialisRevelio!” Macs use Harry Potter spell to unlock secret “backdoor” | Ars Technica.
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Bechdel test
Interesting way to evaluate gender bias in fiction:
The Bechdel test is used to identify gender bias in fiction. A work passes the test if it features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Commentators have noted that a great proportion of contemporary works fail to pass this threshold of representing women.
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Breakout easter egg on Google Image Search
So, now you can play breakout in Google Image Search. Just search for the words “Atari breakout” on image search.
via Digg – Do a Google Image search for Atari Breakout. You….
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Ranbaxy Fraud
You’d be forgiven for thinking that you were reading a plot from a Bollywood movie from the 1980s. Except that this happened in the US, and in this millennium, and the whistleblower walked away with $48 million instead of getting a bullet through his chest:
On May 13, Ranbaxy pleaded guilty to seven federal criminal counts of selling adulterated drugs with intent to defraud, failing to report that its drugs didn’t meet specifications, and making intentionally false statements to the government. Ranbaxy agreed to pay $500 million in fines, forfeitures, and penalties — the most ever levied against a generic-drug company. (No current or former Ranbaxy executives were charged with crimes.) Thakur’s confidential whistleblower complaint, which he filed in 2007 and which describes how the company fabricated and falsified data to win FDA approvals, was also unsealed. Under federal whistleblower law, Thakur will receive more than $48 million as part of the resolution of the case.
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iPhone camera comparison across generations
Really shows how much the iPhone camera has evolved, the biggest jump being the 3G to 3GS one. I’m sure other smartphones will have a similar trend as well. 2009-10 seems to be the time when the camera modules came of their own in smartphones.
via How does the iPhone 5 camera compare to previous iPhone cameras?.
