Wired 13.10: POSTS

Wired 13.10: POSTS: "the cycle of slaughter that follows is riddled with existential paradox and filmed with unblinking intensity. Identity may be shed at will, but it still resides deep within the brain. Memory can be shut down but not erased. Violence explodes in a nanosecond, yielding a high that dies almost as quickly. "

Gear Live | Coke Enviga: Calorie Burning Soda

Coke Enviga: Calorie Burning Soda
Related: Misc. Tech

Coke Enviga
Coke employed beverage scientists in cooperation with Nestle may be working on a disturbing miracle of sorts with Enviga, a “diet” soda that burns calories. The Enviga product they claim would increase the users metabolism and burn calories upon drinking. Although this is a great concept in theory we have seen time and time again how weight loss drugs either fail to work, or present a wild array of side effects - I can’t see it catching on. Way to go Coke - find a way to make caffeine more “peppy”, and make us even more afraid to drink your products!

A cognitive analysis of tagging

A cognitive analysis of tagging: "A cognitive analysis of tagging
(or how the lower cognitive cost of tagging makes it popular)

At the start, let me confess that I struggled with this topic. From my first encounter with tagging (on systems such as del.icio.us & flickr), I could feel how easy it was to tag. But it took me a while to understand the cognitive processes at work. What follows is Rashmi's theory of tagging - my hypothesis about the cognitive process that kicks into place when we tag an item, and how this differs than the process of categorizing. In doing so, my hope is to explain the increasing popularity of tagging, and offer some ideas regarding the design of tagging / categorization systems.

My ideas are mostly based on my observations about how people tag and relating it to on academic research in cognitive psychology and anthropology. This is a first version, which I expect to revise as I learn more. Feedback is very welcome.

The rapid growth of tagging(1)in the last year is testament to how easy and enjoyable people find the tagging process. The question is how to explain it at the cognitive level. In search for a cognitive explanation of tagging, I went back to my dusty cognitive psychology textbooks. This is what I learnt.(2)

cognitive analysis of tagging

Categorization is a 2-stage process."

National Geographic News Photo Gallery: First Live Giant Squid Photographed

National Geographic News Photo Gallery: First Live Giant Squid Photographed

The Observer | International | Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

The Observer | International | Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina: "Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

by Mark Townsend Houston
Sunday September 25, 2005
The Observer

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly."

it starts with this

All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience.
Henry Miller

Prelude to a funnel

"it now has a focus... having too many things to post but no immediate connection. Randomness, happenstance, coincidence - the inevitable correlation of seemingly unrelated events imposes meaning onto this repository"

daily mantra

"irrelevance is a fate worse than failure"

Coldplay Lyrics - Clocks Lyrics - Clocks

Coldplay Lyrics - Clocks Lyrics - Clocks: "Coldplay Lyrics

The lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead singing

Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that cant be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed singing

You are

Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know singing

Come out upon my seas,
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease, singing

You are, you are, you are

And nothing else compares

You are

Home, home where I wanted to go"

Temple of the Dog: Temple of the Dog

Temple of the Dog: Temple of the Dog: "# SAY HELLO 2 HEAVEN


Please, mother mercy
Take me from this place
And the long winded curses
I keep hearing in my head
Words never listen
And teachers never learn
Now I'm warm from the candle
But I feel too cold to burn
He came from an island
And he died from the street
He hurt so bad like a soul breaking
But he never said nothing to me
So say hello to heaven

New like a baby
Lost like a prayer
The sky was your playground
But the cold ground was your bed
Poor stargazer
She's got no tears in her eyes
Smooth like whisper
She knows that love heals all wounds with time
Now it seems like too much love
Is never enough, you better seek out
Another road 'cause this one has
Ended abrupt, say hello to heaven

I never wanted
To write these words down for you
With the pages of phrases
Of things we'll never do
So I blow out the candle, and
I put you to bed
Since you can't say to me
Now how the dogs broke your bone
There's just one thing left to be said
Say hello to heaven"

murphystopheles: Best SUV for a Zombie Attack

: "Best SUV for a Zombie Attack
We wanted to see what is the best vehicle for use in a Zombie Attack. Ford vs Chevy. The results are below."

General comments

The first is that effective learning requires purpose and meaning. This purpose and meaning can, in many instances, be obtained by concentrated self-development focused on developing combinations of abilities that enable us to make a unique contribution.



The second is that effective learning requires a long-term vision. In all organizations the short-term incentives neglect critical aspects of our development. By developing and constantly reinventing a compelling long-term vision we are able to ensure that we develop and learn in the most effective ways possible, even when those ways are in contradiction to the established short-term incentives.



The third principle is that one of the most effective ways of changing deeply ingrained habits and establishing new behaviour is to either create a social environment that will promote the behaviour we’re trying to learn.