Interesting Stuff Thread

Turtwig · 02-04-2015 3:39am

been a while since this was referenced

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sno1TpCLj6A

Andrewf20 · 02-04-2015 6:59am

Above reminded me of this...

KomradeBishop · 02-04-2015 9:07am

Good videos - you see on Boards all the time, particularly on economic topics and peoples pet political topics, some posters use constant condescension to try and create such a 'social cost' as mentioned in those videos, for holding certain views that disagree with them - and to promote conformity and 'Us vs Them' thinking within their own ranks.

That's part of (by no means the primary part/reason though) why I think that kind of non-mod-actionable condescension (which unfortunately many mods/admins engage in), is extremely poisonous to quality debate - though it's damaging for other much bigger reasons too.

robindch · 02-04-2015 9:53am

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Derp. Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors conference.

http://www.independent.ie/incoming/gardai-concerned-that-walkie-talkie-sets-pose-risks-to-their-health-31106348.html

Association vice president Willie Gleeson said Tetra was an encrypted and safe radio system, that could not be hacked. [...] The only protection for gardai using their sets in a patrol vehicle was to wind down the windows.

Unhackable too? The standards might be ok, but most security system fail at the implementation level:

http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/TETRA-digital-radio-now-for-everyone-1254088.html

oscarBravo · 02-04-2015 10:12am

...some experts had warned that using the Tetra sets indoors was similar to being in a microwave oven.

Apart from the minor detail that Tetra radios don't use microwaves.

I'd love to know who the "some experts" are.

PopePalpatine · 02-04-2015 11:50am

oscarBravo wrote: »

Apart from the minor detail that Tetra radios don't use microwaves.

I'd love to know who the "some experts" are.

The Girl Against Microwaves, with her €400 certificate qualifying her as an angel healer? :pac:

TheChizler · 02-04-2015 1:55pm

oscarBravo wrote: »

Apart from the minor detail that Tetra radios don't use microwaves.

Well, technically the microwave spectrum is very broad and is normally defined as wavelengths between 1 m and 1 mm, which corresponds to a frequency range between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. I think Tetra operates around 380 MHz so they're technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.

b318isp · 02-04-2015 2:01pm

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Above reminded me of this...

This always makes me laugh...the pressure to conform made almost silly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPobACr9oL4

oscarBravo · 02-04-2015 2:26pm

TheChizler wrote: »

Well, technically the microwave spectrum is very broad and is normally defined as wavelengths between 1 m and 1 mm, which corresponds to a frequency range between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. I think Tetra operates around 380 MHz so they're technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.

Meh. 300MHz will always be UHF to me.

Also, even if you define it as microwave, it ignores the fact that a microwave oven works by directing microwaves into an enclosed space from which they can't escape, creating standing waves that cook food by dielectric heating.

I think the risk of being cooked by your hand-held Tetra radio is waaay down the list of things the average Garda needs to worry about.

Turtwig · 02-04-2015 2:38pm

I haven't seen Theramin's video because my internet is on strike. So maybe he mentioned this. The most interesting thing about those conformity (and other human behaviour) videos is not that people conform but that most others who watch them, us, still believe we wouldn't conform. It's a common thing about us that we accept that humans behave a certain way "but not me I'm different".

I think the most interesting thing is I cannot honestly say whether I would have conformed in any of those experiments or not.

KomradeBishop · 02-04-2015 3:01pm

Really excellent article on how computer-aided-telepathy (read before judgement) could aid psychopaths, rather than be a force for good - one of the best/most-scientific breakdowns of 'empathy' that I've read:
http://aeon.co/magazine/psychology/can-we-harness-telepathy-for-moral-good/

TheChizler · 02-04-2015 4:42pm

oscarBravo wrote: »

Also, even if you define it as microwave, it ignores the fact that a microwave oven works by directing microwaves into an enclosed space from which they can't escape, creating standing waves that cook food by dielectric heating.

I think the risk of being cooked by your hand-held Tetra radio is waaay down the list of things the average Garda needs to worry about.

Well yeah, it wasn't exactly your average physicist (or LC Physics exam attendee) who came up with that one.

recedite · 02-04-2015 7:41pm

Here's the CT paper on Tetra radiation. The supposed dangers appear to be based on the cumulative effects of different types of electro magnetic radiation, making them worse than ordinary mobile phones (in an equally indeterminate sort of way)

oscarBravo · 02-04-2015 9:16pm

recedite wrote: »

Here's the CT paper on Tetra radiation. The supposed dangers appear to be based on the cumulative effects of different types of electro magnetic radiation, making them worse than ordinary mobile phones (in an equally indeterminate sort of way)

Oh dear.

Turtwig · 03-04-2015 5:38pm

3D Caméra inside a water bubble in a low gravity environment.

Would dearly love to see the 3d version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZEdApyi9Vw

Edit: might as well add this one here too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsHASky85cI

Brian Shanahan · 03-04-2015 9:43pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Derp. Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors conference.

http://www.independent.ie/incoming/gardai-concerned-that-walkie-talkie-sets-pose-risks-to-their-health-31106348.html

Well I suppose that winding down the windows would let the nasty microwaves out. That's logical. Our finest anti-criminal minds are at work here.

And someone should also clue him in on the fact that encryption doesn't endeavour to make something impossible to hack (because such encryption is impossible), but that it simply makes the endeavour so time and resource heavy that it is pointless.

Turtwig wrote: »

I haven't seen Theramin's video because my internet is on strike. So maybe he mentioned this. The most interesting thing about those conformity (and other human behaviour) videos is not that people conform but that most others who watch them, us, still believe we wouldn't conform. It's a common thing about us that we accept that humans behave a certain way "but not me I'm different".

I think the most interesting thing is I cannot honestly say whether I would have conformed in any of those experiments or not.

Oh, yes. We all do it, we think, subconsciously, that "I am the only true human", and that everybody else is essentially a 2d cardboard cut-out which runs to a rigid and regular programme. That is why we are so suprised when somebody else does something we don't expect.

obplayer · 03-04-2015 9:59pm

Brian Shanahan wrote: »

And someone should also clue him in on the fact that encryption doesn't endeavour to make something impossible to hack (because such encryption is impossible), but that it simply makes the endeavour so time and resource heavy that it is pointless.

Oh, yes. We all do it, we think, subconsciously, that "I am the only true human", and that everybody else is essentially a 2d cardboard cut-out which runs to a rigid and regular programme. That is why we are so suprised when somebody else does something we don't expect.

Well you might but as a true human I know I don't!

Hotblack Desiato · 04-04-2015 8:50pm

robindch wrote: »

Unhackable too? The standards might be ok, but most security system fail at the implementation level:

http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/TETRA-digital-radio-now-for-everyone-1254088.html

Err that seems to say that unencrypted TETRA radio (private sector) can be listened into. Who knew?

However there is a multitude of examples of badly implemented encryption which can easily be defeated or bypassed. Peter Gutmann's presentation on this topic 'Crypto Won't Save You Either' is well worth a read and I've posted it in the Info Sec forum before.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/crypto_wont_help.pdf

Hotblack Desiato · 04-04-2015 8:57pm

oscarBravo wrote: »

Meh. 300MHz will always be UHF to me.

Also, even if you define it as microwave, it ignores the fact that a microwave oven works by directing microwaves into an enclosed space from which they can't escape, creating standing waves that cook food by dielectric heating.

I think the risk of being cooked by your hand-held Tetra radio is waaay down the list of things the average Garda needs to worry about.

Well of course there are huge issues here.

The cavity of a microwave oven is specifically designed to produce a pattern of standing waves which will effectively cook food. A random vehicle interior is not.

The power level in a microwave oven is of the order of 100 times higher.

A microwave oven uses a frequency of 2.45 GHz which is an excitation frequency of the water molecule. RF energy which isn't of a frequency which affects molecules in biological tissue will simply pass through it.

Strictly speaking the above isn't correct. Any molecule with a dielectric moment is subject to heating when subjected to microwave energy. At low energy levels and at a far lower frequency (300MHz band) however no adverse effects have been demonstrated or are theoretically likely.

pauldla · 07-04-2015 9:21am

It seems atheism has a new recruiter. His name? Ted Cruz.

From the New Yorker:

“As an atheist, I naturally don’t believe in the power of Christ to transform people,” she said. “But I definitely believe in the power of Ted Cruz to transform people into atheists.”

robindch · 09-04-2015 3:57pm

James Krupa, a professor of biology at the University of Kentucky talks about why he continues the relatively thankless task of attempting to teach evolution in Kentucky:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/03/teaching_human_evolution_at_the_university_of_kentucky_there_are_some_students.2.html

obplayer · 11-04-2015 12:18am

Earth’s First Jedi Temple To Be Built

robindch · 13-04-2015 11:34am

The New York Times hires a graphic artist to answer the question "What is the Higgs Boson?"

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/08/science/the-higgs-boson.html

darjeeling · 13-04-2015 7:33pm

A global religion poll by WIN/Gallup is reported in a number of papers today. I can't find the original data, but a lot of the figures are reported in the news articles linked:

UK Independent

Telegraph

Ireland's figures:

45% religious
41% not religious
10% atheist
5% don't know / didn't say

Western Europe, Oceania are the least religious continents, and China the most atheist nation (61%).

Wealthier and more educated people are less religious, while younger people are more religious. However, age profile, wealth and level of education all vary hugely between countries and are likely to be correlated. This means we can't say if any or all of these trends apply within countries, unless the numbers are analysed appropriately.

.

Hotblack Desiato · 14-04-2015 12:07am

How my wife’s death has helped Ireland become more inclusive - Michael Nugent

Dunnes Stores’ silence and devotion

Ben [Sr.] did give one interview to The Irish Times in the summer of 1971 and told the journalist "I run my place like the Catholic Church…a very successful organisation".

As for the much vaunted religiosity of certain members of the Dunnes family, it has long been apparent in this Republic – and was a point made vigorously by John Conroy, president of the ITGWU in the 1960s and a champion of low paid workers at a time when Ben was building his empire – that you can be so religious, you forget to be Christian.

Hotblack Desiato · 14-04-2015 1:43am

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/new-bishop-reaches-out-to-non-practising-catholics-1.2173375

President Michael D Higgins was represented at the episcopal ordination by his aide-de- camp Lt Col Michael Kiernan, while Comdt Kieran Carey represented Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Umm, why? Why would the President and Taoiseach be expected to attend or send representatives?

darjeeling · 14-04-2015 11:36am

darjeeling wrote: »

A global religion poll by WIN/Gallup is reported in a number of papers today. I can't find the original data...

Found it now: pdf here.

Almost two thirds of Irish people surveyed aged 65+ are religious, falling steadily to only one third of people aged 18-24.

Two thirds of Irish people say they distrust religious leaders, while only 18% trust them. Only politicians and bankers are more distrusted.

... and 73% of people consider themselves Catholic, Protestant, other Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Jewish, but only 45% say they are religious, so there's a clear disconnect between having a religion and actually believing it.

obplayer · 14-04-2015 11:21pm

And now for something completely different...
Had to post this.

robindch · 15-04-2015 2:41pm

The good folks at SpaceX have tried, for a second time, to land a rocket at sea. There are two obvious problems with this and yesterday, I think they suffered from at least one of them:

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/14/8417621/watch-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-landing

TheChizler · 15-04-2015 11:14pm

robindch wrote: »

The good folks at SpaceX have tried, for a second time, to land a rocket at sea. There are two obvious problems with this and yesterday, I think they suffered from at least one of them:

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/14/8417621/watch-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-landing

And a hi-res video of the same!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMSzC1crr0

Interesting Stuff Thread

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