March 24, 2012
SAT anyone?
Graphs of Stock Market Historical Ratios
Market Capitalization-to-GDP is an indicator described by Warren Buffet as "probably the best single measure of where [stock market] valuations stand at any given moment." Here is a historical graph of this indicator along with twenty other historical indicator charts covering the US S&P, Japanese Tokyo Stock Exchange and Indian Sensex indices. The indicators include P/E ratios and dividend yields. Also of note: which currencies are under or overvalued according to purchasing power parity.. [more inside]
"I think I just really wanted that last hold really bad"
Bouldering is a climbing sport that requires no rope, only grip strength, chalk, a crash mat, and nerve. [more inside]
For once, clouds are a good thing
One of the neater aspects of astronomy is that amateurs often make significant contributions to the field. A few nights ago Wayne Jaeschke found a strange cloud feature in his Mars images. He posted his findings to the site Cloudy Nights. It created a bit of a buzz there, as well as the wider media, (even MSNBC!). It has also piqued the interest of the pros. Researchers working with the Mars Thermal Emission Imaging System onboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft and the Mars Color Imager onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Observer are looking over their data to try to figure out exactly what it is they're seeing.
Traffic jams without bottlenecks—experimental evidence for the physical mechanism of the formation of a jam
The mathematical theory behind shockwave traffic jams was developed more than 20 years ago using models that show jams appearing from nowhere on roads carrying their maximum capacity of free-flowing traffic - typically triggered by a single driver slowing down. After that first vehicle brakes, the driver behind must also slow, and a shockwave jam of bunching cars appears, traveling backwards through the traffic. The theory has frequently been modeled in computer simulations, and seems to fit with observations of real traffic, but had never been recreated experimentally until recently (PDF of SCIENCE). The authors also released video of their experiments which has since been posted to YouTube. [more inside]
Aisle seat, please.
Tsunami Debris Field
Just a little over a year ago 20 million tons of debris were generated by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, much of that is now drifting eastward. [more inside]
A Burger, an Order of Fries, and Your Credit Card Number
"Why are small businesses such frequent targets? Because they offer hackers the easiest path to your financial information. In fact, security consultants say, there’s an entire underground industry built around extracting customers’ credit card numbers from retailers’ point-of-sale systems." Slate: Why it’s so easy for hackers to steal financial information from restaurants
Okay, I have dropbox too...
Deadmau5 makes a new artists's career on his live stream: starring deadmau5 and some dude called Chris. (SLYT; NSFW profanity)
Your patient needs you as much as the new heart.
Legend of Korra
The Legend of Korra - the sequel series to Avatar: the Last Airbender - is set to premiere on April 14. This weekend you can watch the first two episodes at Korra Nation.
Singularity, I don’t know
The American Repertory Theater presents a musical by The Lisps about the Civil War, Ada Lovelace, and the Singularity, including such songs as Singularity, which is breathtakingly terrible but ever so catchy. [more inside]
Future Noir
Richard Strauss' "Four Last Songs" sung by Jessye Norman
In the sixty-odd years since their composition, the Four Last Songs have acquired in many people’s minds an unassailable status as simply the most beautiful music known to them, to be listened to in a dimly lit room and a state of rapt meditation, surrendering to the extraordinary spell of profound, other-worldly calm that they cast. This is not surprising. They were, indeed, the last things of any significance that Strauss wrote, between May and September 1948, at the age of eighty-four. (previously) [more inside]
"Liven up your results by reporting them in furlongs, chaldrons, and fluid scruples."
A Teacher's Open Letter to Her 8th Grade Students
That German that sent Americans to the Moon
Picturing our scientific grandmothers
In honor of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, the Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA) is pleased to present a sampling of images documenting women scientists and engineers from around the world, most of whom were pioneers in their respective fields, or were the first women to receive advanced graduate degrees in their discipline (via). [more inside]
To PBS With (Tough) Love
But this season, PBS chose to move Independent Lens and P.O.V. to a new time slot -- 10 pm, ET, on Thursday nights. This may not seem like such a big deal at first, until you know that on Thursday nights stations can broadcast any program they like in prime time, whether it's part of the PBS schedule or not. Many take the opportunity to offers viewers locally produced programs, British sitcoms or reruns of Antiques Roadshow. As a result, episodes of the independent documentary series can now be run anywhere local stations choose to fit them in (here in New York, WNET airs the films at 11 p.m. on Sundays) or maybe not at all.Bill Moyers writes an open letter to PBS about scheduling changes which have ruined PBS as Tuesday night destination for documentary television.
“The Fastest Way to Tomorrow is by Giving Up On Today!”
Aim like a drunkard... jump like an idiot...
Choices?
The GOP has released their sunnily-named Path to Prosperity Budget (PDF), offering it as a stark choice in the upcoming 2012 elections. Paul Ryan makes their case in their new video "The Path to Prosperity Budget: Your Country. Your Future. Your Choice." Conservatives argue for it. Liberals argue this is the death-knell for the middle class. Has the end-game arrived?
Don't get lapped.
The Red Hook Criterium is "an unsanctioned race held at night featuring a fixed gear criterium and a 5km running race held over multiple laps of a short technical circuit. The field consists of elite athletes, track stars, amateur runners, professional cyclists, bike messengers, and urban cyclists."
First held in 2008, the Crit has steadily gained momentum, recognition and exposure. In recent years it has spread to Milan (highlights, footage).
The 5th running of the Red Hook Crit is being held tonight. Red Hook Crit website and promotional design by MeFi's own fidgets.
Lesson #1: The United States lost.
Nobody's Home(page)
The Gallery of Default Anonymity What being nobody looks like all over the web.
Stranded dolphins saved by beachgoers
What will be the next possible trend in Dystopian Literature? Robotics? Climate change? Insect overlords?
I'm sorry!
VGJUNK looks at "Gonbee no I'm Sorry", a strange Japanese arcade maze game released in 1985 by Banpresto and Sega that mocked notoriously corrupt former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei "Shogun of Darkness" Tanaka, who was convicted in 1983 of taking 1.8 million dollars from Lockheed Martin in exchange for letting them sell planes to the national airline.
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