Based on census data from 2000, but the ratios should be similar even now.
Mapping the World’s Population by Latitude, Longitude | Design on GOOD.
Author: Aditya
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Running the red light due the Doppler Effect
Q: How fast would you have to go in your car to run a red light claiming that it appeared green to you due to the Doppler Effect?
A: Around 1/6 the speed of light
A couple more interesting Physics questions in there. Wonder whether they’ve been featured in the engineering entrance exams.
via xkcd what if: Short Answer Section.
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Hyperbole and a Half: Depression Part Two
Interesting first hand narration of depression and recovery through pictures.
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Who wants to be a programmer?
Of course, in most Indian colleges the reverse is true, where in you wind up with a job in the IT sector from campus placements irrespective of the your stream.
Coding Horror: So You Don’t Want to be a Programmer After All.
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David Foster Wallace – Commencement Speech at Kenyon University
This makes it the second interesting Kenyon commencement speech that I’ve come across (edited version on WSJ):
This is a standard requirement of US commencement speeches, the deployment of didactic little parable-ish stories. The story [“thing”] turns out to be one of the better, less bullshitty conventions of the genre, but if you’re worried that I plan to present myself here as the wise, older fish explaining what water is to you younger fish, please don’t be. I am not the wise old fish. The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about. Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude, but the fact is that in the day to day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have a life or death importance, or so I wish to suggest to you on this dry and lovely morning.
The first was of course by Bill Watterson.
via Daring Fireball
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The Man who shoots Apple
No, not William Tell, but Peter Belanger. Quite an impressive client list too. He apparently uses a Canon 5D Mk III and the 24-70 mm f/2.8 is one of his favourite lenses.
via The illusion of simplicity: photographer Peter Belanger on shooting for Apple | The Verge.
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The Broken Indian Education System
I’m sure Thane would have had even better things to write had he studied in Bengal:
Most of my friends were 3rd years, like me, and all of them were obviously very bright. I was curious about what their plans were after they graduated. With only a few exceptions, they were planning on pursuing second undergraduate degrees at foreign universities.
“Wait, what?! You are studying here for three years just so you can go do it again for four more years?” I could not grasp the logic of this. What changed my understanding was when I started taking classes at St. Stephen’s College. Except for one, they were horrible.
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This Indian defensiveness is false nationalism. It is not a stance that cares about India, it is one that cares about what others think of India, which is not nationalism. That is narcissism. -
John McAfee Slashdot Interview
I favor disguises that change character rather than looks when running from the police. The German Tourist disguise was terrific. I looked exactly like me but no-one searching for me paid me any mind. Here is another common disguise I used that would work for any well known CEO.
via Daring Fireball Linked List: John McAfee Answers Questions From Slashdot Readers.
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The Road to Artifical Intelligence
Siri and Google Now are but a tiny drop in the ocean that is going to be AI. We’re quite a few years away, but we’ll get there eventually as hardware develops further and our understanding of the brain continues to grow:
But scientists aren’t just aiming for smaller. They’re trying to build machines that do things computer have never done before. No matter how sophisticated algorithms are, today’s machines can’t fetch your groceries or pick out a purse or a dress you might like. That requires a more advanced breed of image intelligence and an ability to store and recall pertinent information in a way that’s reminiscent of human attention and memory. If you can do that, the possibilities are almost endless.
