A Brief History of the Internet
This vimeo short is a pretty solid sum up of the history of the Internet.
History of the Internet
(Via Media Influencer)
Dream Theater’s New Drummer – Mike Mangini
Dream Theater finally announced their new drummer, and I’m thrilled that it’s Mike Mangini. Mangini plays with fire, soul and technical skill in a way that few can.
If Mike Portnoy had to leave, I’m happy Mangini is is successor.
Mangini has a ton of videos on YouTube that show his drum smashing insanity, but this Discovery Channel bit does the best job of demoing the man’s range and skill… Plus it’s got some geeky information on the physics and biology of drumming.
I can’t wait to hear Dream Theater’s new album, Mangini’s presence should really change up the dynamic in a positive way.
Bobby McFerrin, Neuroscience & the Pentatonic Scale
Bobby McFerrin is a talented jazz musician who has recorded and performed with artists such as Chick Corea & Bela Fleck… Sadly he’s pretty much just known for the song Don’t Worry Be Happy.
In this nifty video McFerrin trains the audience, and turns them into a giant musical instrument over the course of about three minutes. And he does it without giving a single verbal instruction.
McFerrin has performed this same musical experiment all over the world, and there are plenty of YouTube videos to prove it. It seems that the pentatonic scale is culturally universal, and intuitively understood by humans the world-over.
Musicians like the pentatonic scale because it’s impossible to play an incorrect note with it.
If this interests you, Intellectual Pornography has a more extensive analysis.
The Next Big Thing: Self-Hacking
Geeks are perpetually in search of the next big thing.
Adriana Lukas is one of the people who is always hot on the heals of the next big thing, so when she speaks, I listen. I’ve had many conversations with her about the quantified self, or self-hacking but I cannot convey it the way she does. So I’m delighted that Christian Payne recorded a short interview with her at SxSW and posted it.
Self Hacking with Adriana Lukas
Follow Adriana on Twitter @adriana872
“Nancy Grace” Would Be Awesome if it Were Satire
Nancy Grace’s news (?) program on CNN is an abortion of justice.
Near as I can tell, the only things she accomplishes are turning real crime into entertainment, and seeing to it that the suspects she reports on cannot have a fair trial.
Now she is trying her hand at science, and it’s hilarious.
Nancy Grace, weatherman argue radiation
That’s some of the best television I’ve seen in a while.
It’s good to see CNN provide balanced reporting; they give equal weight to both the correct, and incorrect. Good for them.
(Story via BoingBoing)
(Image via XKCD)
Hubble Images & the Vastness of Space
I loved studying astronomy as a kid and enjoyed taking astronomy courses in college, but unlike most subjects I’ve studied, I cannot understand the concepts in astronomy. Sure I can memorize the size of an astronomical unit (149,598,000 kilometers) or that the Moon rotates, but in spite of my best efforts I cannot internalize most of astronomy.
It’s a problem of scale. I can’t mentally picture what 13 billion light years is. I know it’s really far, but that’s the limit of my brain’s ability to handle a number that large. Similarly I have a hard time imagining how large the Earth actually, so that makes understanding the size of Jupiter, the Sun, or any of the other mind-blowingly tremendous celestial objects downright impossible for me.
At the end of the day, I read up on this stuff and find it incredibly cool… then I try to picture it and my brain break.
Here’s one of those incredibly cool things that broke my brain.
Now I’m going to bed.
Jeopardy: Machine vs. Meatbags Day 2
Yesterday’s first round of man vs. machine Jeopardy ended in a tie. The second round was not so kind to our organic champions. To put it succinctly, they had their asses handed to them.
As of this today these are the scores
Ken Jennings: $4,800
Brad Rutter: $10,000
Watson: $35,754
Buzzer Speed
Buzzer speed continues to be Watson’s big advantage. It’s considerably quicker on the trigger than Jennings and Rutter, and they are the fastest guns in the west.
Watson’s Gambling Problems
Watson’s score of $35,754 is a strange score for Jeopardy. This is because when faced with Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy, Watson pulls some strange numbers from its shiny metal ass.
I’m sure it has some algorithm dictating its bets, but the numbers it generates are very odd.
Is this the end for our intrepid heroes?
Yeah, probably. Even if you combine the scores of the two humans, they aren’t even close to Watson’s score.
It seems to me that Jennings and Rutter are fiercely battling for second place. Rutter didn’t go all-in during Final Jeopardy, most likely because he really doesn’t want to lose to Jennings. Rutter is the only undefeated player in Jeopardy history. If he places second at least he will be able to claim that he has never been bested by a human competitor.
Who know? There’s one more day of competition, and that means that there is still time for one of our meatbag champions to go John Henry on Watson and win.
