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Kelli's never been too happy with my orange Ikea couch. After all, she has her opinions on what a couch should be. First and foremost, obviously, a couch should be comfortable. Aiding in the comfort of a couch, Kelli tells me, are things like arms and backrests and cushions made of soft fabric. All of these things work together to provide a soothing place for resting one's head and supporting one's legs after a long, tiring day in the office. My couch, however, lacks these things. To a certain degree, I'm proud of my couch for maintaining its individuality — its unwillingness to conform…
Scientists in Malta are excited about what they're learning from a mummified duck-billed brachylophosauruses. The pictures are fabulous.
The Archimedes Palimpsest suggests that the canny philosopher understood infinity not just as heuristics and mystics, but refined and defined down to the last line. Nearly two millennia before the Calculus—eureka indeed.
Huckleberry does some aggressive grooming on Bagheera. It looks cute, until you notice her exasperated expression. Usually, this is a prelude for a fight; this time it turned into synchronized napping.
Ed Quillen asks a big question that Congress ought to be asking in the rush to protect property rights.
I tried, so many times, to write a little something about the Stereophile pepper and golf-coins, but could never get the ideas to grow, could never get them to drop in the hole. See here how Kristina handles it, while kindly declining our CD case (and CDs, in general).
—SM
—SM
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I have had a Jalapeno Pepper stress-reliever at my desk now for a little over a week. I have not needed to use it to relieve any frustration but I had no choice but to finally ask Stephen, "Why on earth do we have a Jalapeno Pepper stress-reliever with Stereophile stamped along the side…
Researchers led by the Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology in Italy are developing robots that employ Embedded and Communicating Agents to evolve and develop without human "intervention." Better start making 'em three laws safe.
Actually, I'm not kidding. "Logic" without a moral compass can get pretty ugly.
As I mentioned yesterday, I had, for some time — long before acquiring a hi-fi, in fact — fought the idea of placing my couch against the rear wall of my living space. When I finally did, however, I found that things both looked and sounded different. And not only different, but: better. And I'm not confusing the two. So, what's up with this?
Well, first of all, the place is more comfy. But, besides that, I soon remembered something John DeVore told me about speaker placement, room resonances, and physics and stuff. (I believe that monkeys were also involved — John likes to talk…
Answer: You have to "attend" to an object for it to actually register. Jeff Wong sends along a couple of links on "change blindness." Click on the external link for the article and then click here for the examples.
Again from Jeff Wong—he's such a nice boy, I may take the day off and let him guest blog. This video clip shows the girl giant waking up, taking a shower from the sultan's elephant, and wandering off in St. James Park to play. It's from a site specific art work by Royal de Luxe (story here) and I think it's magical. The girl giant's face is wonderfully expressive.
Wish I'd been there. Thanks to Jeff, we get at least a few minutes of the experience.