12 Jan 2010 - permalink
Karl Fogel has a very interesting article on bugs in software, how it relates to technical dept and how to deal with them.
The number of bug reports is proportional to the number of users, not to the number of defects.
It is impossible to know the exact number of unknown bugs in a software system, yet it is easy to forget this when the reports keep pouring in.
12 Jan 2010 - permalink
Last year I wrote a short entry about the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. I mentioned the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO for short, and how it would bring new and better pictures of the moon. The Big Picture has collected some of the best and they are as always a treat.
11 Jan 2010 - permalink
Robert Sapolsky, professor of neurology, neurological sciences, neurosurgery and biological sciences, speaks on how the human species is similar to all other animals and where we differ. So inspiring.
From wikipedia I found this little gem of a quote:
I love science, and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of the subject or feel that choosing science means you cannot also choose compassion, or the arts, or be awed by nature. Science is not meant to cure us of mystery, but to reinvent and reinvigorate it.
That’s a view I too wish more would share.
7 Jan 2010 - permalink
Striking photographs of dead baby albatross chicks from stomachs full of plastic – 3200 kilometers from the nearest continent.
4 Jan 2010 - permalink
Absolutely stunning footage from the world’s 2nd largest aquarium, the Kuroshio Sea, by Jon Rawlinson. I could stand in front of that for hours. (via Kottke)
4 Jan 2010 - permalink
The Economist on the idea of progress:
The idea of progress forms the backdrop to a society. In the extreme, without the possibility of progress of any sort, your gain is someone else’s loss. If human behaviour is unreformable, social policy can only ever be about trying to cage the ape within. Society must in principle be able to move towards its ideals, such as equality and freedom, or they are no more than cant and self-delusion. So it matters if people lose their faith in progress. And it is worth thinking about how to restore it.
31 Dec 2009 - permalink
Interesting graph by the National Geographic depicting the cost of medical care per person for several OECD countries. The US spends more money than any other country. Not surprising, it seems there is little or no correlation between health care spendings and life expectancy.
22 Dec 2009 - permalink
The American Museum of Natural History has made a fantastic video showing the known universe, from the mountains of Himalaya to the deepest of space through astronomical observations. It is truly awe inspiring and a humbling reminder of just how small a space we occupy.
17 Dec 2009 - permalink
A nice look back over the year in stunning photos by the always great The Big Picture.
16 Dec 2009 - permalink
The unbelievably beautiful renderings of the Mandelbrot set is known the world over. Now, mathematicians with particular interest have attempted creating a three-dimensional version, called the Mandelbulb. Though I haven’t read through the mathematical background, the images themselves are impressive illustrations of the complex self-similarities so characteristic of fractals but with an entirely new dimension to them.
It is a marvel that the simple formula zn+1 = zn2 + c is the foundation and perhaps one of the best examples of why math is so fascinating.
Many more images and a thorough explanation in the unravelling of the real 3d mandelbulb