Fascinating episode of Horizon. Breaking electrons down into quasiparticles. The creation of micro-black holes. Using the entire universe as a lens to look down into the realm of the Planck length.
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The Wire RPG
What if The Wire was made into an 8-bit RPG.
They have gotten this pretty much on the nose. I especially like the crime scene analysis bit of the game.
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Paralympic blade controversy
Oscar Pistorius has been dubbed the “the fastest man on no legs” and is an iconic figure within the world of “disabled sports” and is the face of the Paralympic 2012 Games.
When the much favoured Pistorius shockingly came second to the Brazilian Alan Oliveira in the final of the men’s T44 200m a furore was sparked.
Pistorius claimed that he was “not running a fair race” and that his rivals were artificially extending the length of their legs: “it’s very clear that the guys have got very long strides”.
But what had seemed like a reasonable if ironic claim given that there had been concerns raised about Pistorius competing in the Olympics 400m and whether his blades offered an unfair advantage over his able bodied rivals has been cast in a new light by two things.
Firstly is Ross Tucker’s scientific analysis of the race for The Guardian. The crux of the argument is that Oliveira who has indeed extended the length of his blades in recent months had done so to the extent that his stride length was now unfairly greater than that of Pistorius.
However according to Tucker’s analysis this is not at all the case and that Pistorius stride length is still greater at an average of 2.2 m to Oliveira’s 2m and taking 6 fewer strides than his Brazilian rival.
But of course racing is about much more than simply stride length and it is here that we hit a slippery slope that could undermine what the Paralympics is about. But before we go down that slope let’s look at the second moment from these games that casts Pistorius’s claim in a new light.
The second event was Jonnie Peacock’s victory in the men’s T44 100m in which Pistorius came fourth.
Peacock is missing only his right leg below the knee and consequently runs with a single blade in comparison to Oliveira and Pistorius who are missing both legs and run with twin blades. As such Peacock doesn’t have the scope to lengthen his blade as he needs to maintain balance with his left leg.
Oscar Pistorius was a pioneer and as with many other pioneers it is becoming clear that he is now getting overtaken by those who are following in his footsteps. This is partly to do with the improvements in sport technology but also to do with Pistorius’s fame and the associated interest in disabled sports. A greater number of people are recognising that their disabilities are not an obstacle to becoming great athletes.
Microsoft’s Ben Rudolph gives us the first look of the Nokia phones that will be launched with Windows Phone 8.
All in all, I’m seriously impressed with the new Lumias, both inside and out. Design-wise, they’re a nice evolution of the iconic design that Nokia introduced in the Lumia 800 and Lumia 900 – solid, ergonomic, and comfortable. And inside, they’ve added technology like PureView and PureMotion HD+ that offer up real, tangible benefits like smoother, faster, more responsive navigation and professional grade photos. Combined with the power of Windows Phone 8, they’re really something special.
Bruce Schneier is discussing his latest book Liars and Outliers on The WELL.
The discussion is still open for the next couple of days but has been very enlightening so far. I particularly like the notion of cooperators and defectors to describe individuals in relation to systems.
Also — and this is the final kicker — not all defectors are bad. If
you think about the notions of cooperating and defecting, they’re
defined in terms of the societal norm. Cooperators are people who
follow the formal or informal rules of society. Defectors are people
who, for whatever reason, break the rules. That definition says nothing
about the absolute morality of the society or its rules. When society
is in the wrong, it’s defectors who are in the vanguard for change. So
it was defectors who helped escaped slaves in the antebellum American
South. It’s defectors who are agitating to overthrow repressive regimes
in the Middle East. And it’s defectors who are fueling the Occupy Wall
Street movement. Without defectors, society stagnates.
I’m a great fan of Schneier’s writing and how his analyses has grown beyond that of computer security to the fundamental notion of what security is and how group within societies embrace or reject aspects of it.
Finished The Mongoliad: Book One (The Foreworld Saga) by Greg Bear et al. and gave it 4 stars http://t.co/9ykFhMWW #Kindle
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London 2012 Olympic Games concludes
Seventeen days of amazing competition by the greatest athletes on the planet has come and gone book-ended by Danny Boyle’s brilliant and masterful opening ceremony and a madcap and semi-incoherent closing ceremony.
This has been in my opinion the greatest ever Olympic Games and I’m disappointed with the cynicism that I’d had in the run up to the games. But I got gripped by the Olympic fever felt in the country particularly as the Torch passed through Bath and was anticipating the start of the games from that moment on.
Amy and I regret that we didn’t get more involved and didn’t attempt to get tickets for any of the events. I only hope that the Games do return to Britain and it isn’t 64 years to wait between this and the next.
In spite of that through the excellent coverage by the BBC online I was able to watch and experience many memorable moments from these games.
Bradley Wiggins doing what the nation hoped he would and winning gold in the Cycling Time Trial and in the process becoming the greatest British Olympian surpassing Steve Redgrave’s medal haul.
Michael Phelps not dominating the swimming like he had in previous games even coming fourth in one race. Then suddenly his form came good and the greatest Olympian was back winning medals finishing off the games and his career on a high with four golds to take his overall tally to 22.
Andy Murray beating Roger Federer on Wimbledon’s Centre Court to win the Men’s Singles Gold medal having lost mere weeks before in the final of Wimbledon.
Mo Farrah’s 10 000 metre win capping off what was a truly Super Saturday for Team GB and winning the sixth gold medal of the day.
Experiencing the highs and lows with Victoria Pendleton in the velodrome. The terrible disappointment for the minor infraction in the Team Sprint which resulted in relegation, the magnificent win in the Keirin and then setting a new Olympic record of 10.724 seconds in the qualifiers of the individual sprint but losing in the final to Anna Meares, after being unjustly relegated again and earning a silver medal. A fantastic cyclist!
Ben Ainslie’s medal race in the Finn class. Having lagged behind Jonas Hogh-Christensen of Denmark for most of the regatta Ainslie had clawed back the deficit and just needed to beat the Dane. The race was already tense and then came the realisation that if Ainslie and Hogh-Christensen fell too many places behind Jonathan Lobert who was currently third overall he could beat both of them to the gold. Ainslie’s win meant that he’d equalled Sir Steve Redgrave’s record of winning medals in five consecutive Olympic games.
Usain Bolt defying the naysayers and successfully defending both his 100m and 200m Olympic titles and then paying homage to Mo Farrah by doing the Mo-bot as he crossed the line to break the World record and win another gold for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay.
David Rudisha’s World Record breaking 800m run was astonishing and his performance brought out the best in all the other runners each of whom raced a personal or season’s best time.
Then we returned to the pool to watch the conclusion of the diving competition with the Men’s 10m Platform. Could Tom Daley up his game for the final having squeezed through in both the qualifying round and the semi-final? There was little to worry about though as Tom performed six magnificent high scoring dives that put him in a position of a guaranteed medal the colour of which depending on whether the competion leaders David Boudia of the USA and Bo Qiu of China held their nerve and dived well. They did and so Tom won the bronze, a result that he and his full clothed British diving teammates were clearly elated about as they all leaped into the pool in celebration.
As well as the great successes there were disappointments and failures from South Korean fencer Shin Lam’s sit-in to a seven bike pile up on the BMX track.
All in all a truly awesome Olympic Games and I am now feeling down knowing that I won’t be able to settle in tonight to watch the latest highlights as I have for the past two weeks and a bit.
Microsoft sticks to its guns, keeps Do Not Track on by default in IE10 | Ars Technica http://t.co/9Fcvk7cR
RT @KeithMayer: Get Certified on MCSE Private Cloud with this FREE Step-by-Step Study Guide! #sysctr #hyperv http://t.co/bU3k34mr
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Great Britain’s Golden Saturday
Six gold and 1 silver medals made Saturday 4th August the most successful day in 104 years for Great Britain at the Olympic Games.
The medal haul started at Eton Dorney and the British rowers with the team of Alex Gregory, Peter Reed, Tom James and Andrew Triggs Hodge winning the gold in the Men’s Four.
This was followed by Katherine Copeland & Sophie Hosking very convincingly winning the Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls.
The media seems to be full of the day’s gold medal winners but I think Zac Purchase & Mark Hunter deserve recognition for a hard fought race to the line in the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls and taking silver behind the great Danish pair.
The action then moved to the London Velodrome and the Women’s Team Pursuit. The British team of Dani King, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott added the third gold of the day, the fourth gold so far these games in the velodrome and set a new World Record in the process.
Then in the Olympic Stadium it was the turn of Great Britain’s athletes to add to the gold medal tally. After a fantastic first day Jessica Ennis was surely the favourite to win the Heptathlon but nothing is a given and she held her form to win the gold in emphatic style.
Greg Rutherford jumped very well though he never really looked happy with any of his jumps to win the Men’s Long Jump the first win in this event for Britain since 1964.
Then Mo Farah capped a historic day by winning the Men’s 10,000m in front of 80,000 jubilant spectators.
Britain has now won 29 medals overall, with Saturday’s six gold medals taking the team to a tally of 14 golds, 7 silvers and 8 bronzes so far at these Games.