"The dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago by at least two meteorite impacts, rather than a single strike, a new study suggests. Previously, scientists had identified a huge impact crater in the Gulf of Mexico as the event that spelled doom for the dinosaurs. Now evidence for a second impact in the Ukraine has been uncovered. This raises the possibility that the Earth may have been bombarded by a whole shower of meteorites. The new findings are published in the journal Geology by a team lead by Professor David Jolley of Aberdeen University. When first proposed in 1980, the idea that a meteorite impact had killed the dinosaurs proved hugely controversial. Later, the discovery of the Chicxulub Crater in the Gulf of Mexico, US, was hailed as "the smoking gun" that confirmed the theory."
- Eivind
from Bookmarklet
Paul was busy fixing Friendfeed while the kids did their thing. Now that the weather is getting nicer, we can spend more time in the backyard in the evenings and at dinnertime.
- April Buchheit
from email
So April, is it really because of the good weather, or is it that you wouldn't let him back into the house until FriendFeed got fixed? ;-)
- Bruce Lewis
I can see myself in Paul's screen! LOL j/k
- Jorge Escobar
I'm torn between Paul missing time with the kids and FF getting fixed. Two incredibly important ways of spending his time. My wife is an excellent nanny if you guys need help. ;)
- SAM
BEST. PIC. EVAR. because of what it means, especially after this week of FF bashing from the infidels. And yes, Paul and family, thank you very much.
- Josh Haley
Sam, we have other photo/video evidence that Paul does indeed spend time with his kids.
- Bruce Lewis
All that backyard space and everyones at or on the table. :)
- SteVe C
My wife goes bonkers if I'm doing anything except watching the kid when I'm watching the kid. No phone tinkering, no laptop, no nothing. In many ways, she's right though. I see so many parents when I go out that are too involved in their gadgets to hang with their kids. So many parents on their phones at the children's museum, using the museum as their babysitter. Look, this is an opportunity to interact with your child, not an opportunity to get your tweets in.
- Fleagle
Fleagle: the only thing worse than parents who think their kid needs constant interaction with them is parents who think their kid needs no interaction with them. I can't imagine what it would be like to grow up never being allowed outside of my parents' sight.
- Gabe
Those two sentences seem to contradict themselves, unless I misunderstood you. Granted, my son is 2 now, so my interaction is based on that. Things change with age, of course. And he actually gets tons of interaction/stimulation from other people...especially kids...on a daily basis. My wife is one amazing mother. She's an inspiration.
- Fleagle
Şöyle görsellikle ilgili birşey okumalıymışım. Matematik ve Kimya ile yordum beynimi boşu boşunaaaa, şimdi bana kaybolan yıllarımı verseleeer :))
- PembeRehber
:)) eğer bu kadar istiyorsanız yine de çizebilirsiniz bence, hiçbir zaman geç değil :)
- GokceGoksel (GG)
Ortak ders aldığım arkadaşlarım vardı End. Ürünleri Tasarımı bölümünden, süper şeyler yapıyorlardı.
- PembeRehber
广大不明真想的群众可能在不同的场合听说过这样一种谣传--量子力学很难懂,我得澄清,这真不是谣言,事实就是这样!关于这个话题有许多趣话。玻尔说:“谁要是第一次听到量子理论时没有感到困惑,那他一定没听懂。”费曼说:“世界上是否只有12个人懂相对论我不清楚,但是我能蛮有把握地说:世界上没有人懂量子理论。”(“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics”)“如果有人说他懂量子力学,那他是在撒谎。”我认识的一位前辈有一次很惭愧地说他一生中前后学过4次量子力学仍然没学懂。
- Paul
正因为如此,我怀着异常激动和兴奋的心情投入个科普题目,一方面可以幸灾乐祸地把大家搞得头晕脑涨,二来即便说错了也不会有丝毫的内疚感--反正连那些诺贝尔得主都说没有人懂量子理论。请大家一定要事先准备好一些特弱智的节目(比如ET主持的访谈节目)课后看,以便平复那颗严重受损的心灵。
- Paul
某书某章介绍量子理论是说找来一千个哲学家,给他们一千年的时间也想不出量子力学这么古怪的东西,量子问题之难不仅在于其使用复杂的数学工具,更重要的原因在于与其相关的现象和规律严重地背离我们在经验世界中形成的直觉和思维方式,可以说,面对量子问题,一个正常的人一旦企图对进行任何的想像都会立即陷入不可自拔的紊乱中。从某个角度来说,理解量子力学最好的方法就是不要疑问,立即全盘接受。
- Paul
因而我们从经验世界(物理上称之为经典的世界,这两者基本相等)所归纳的经验,抽象的思想其实是非常非常狭隘的,这些规律仅仅适合我们日常生活的狭小时空中,而那是一种非常特殊的情形,了解量子力学的一些基本规律能让我们极大地开阔视野,这是我们这些非专业搞物理的人通过了解量子理论所能得到的最大获益。
- Paul
量子问题虽难但不致于无法理解,否则我们还说这些干嘛捏,量子力学是可以理解的,而且不难理解,我认为仅需基本的逻辑+一点点概率学常识即可。当然,我这样说不是指我们这就可以懂量子力学了,因为归根到底,还是那句--没有人懂量子力学。我说的是,这样我们就可以了解量子原理和我们熟悉的许多知识和规律到底在哪儿不同。这是我的尝试的主要目标。
- Paul
再补充一些量子力学之难造成的悲剧:普朗克,量子理论的创始人之一,发现了普朗克常数(可以说就是量子常数),“1900年,著名教授普朗克和儿子在自己的花园里散步。他神情沮丧,很遗憾地对儿子说:“孩子,十分遗憾,今天有个发现。它和牛顿的发现同样重要。”他提出了量子力学假设及普朗克公式。他沮丧这一发现破坏了他一直崇拜并虔诚地信奉为权威的牛顿的完美理论。他终于宣布取消自己的假设。人类本应因权威而受益,却不料竟因权威而受害,由此使物理学理论停滞了几十年。”
- Paul
更不用提爱因斯坦了。为什么这些那么聪明的人,他们亲手发现了量子论,却拒绝接受它,实在是悲剧啊,这也从另外一个侧面反映了量子论背后引发的对世界本质的思考是多么让人困惑不已。
- Paul
“有生于微”不是我译的,是一本记载惠勒言论的《宇宙逍遥》译者发明的。其实,这有些山寨老子的话:“天下万物生于有,有生于无。”当然,老子的境界更高了。
- Paul
惠勒的语言相当玄妙,和老子几乎同出一辙,黑洞(black hole)这个词就是他的发明,还有The boundary of a boundary is zero. The law without law.
- Paul
事实上,前些年开始有“新道教”的暗流,就把惠勒和汤川秀树(另一位诺贝尔物理奖得主)拉入阵营。
- Paul
He has hundreds of transformers toys (and some Lego toys hanging from the ceiling) surrounding him at every angle. This was part of our tour today of Industrial Light and Magic (the folks who made Star Wars, among many many other movies). When we walked in he quickly hid what was on the screen. Hmmm.
- Robert Scoble
ha...wow...i don't feel the need to clean my office anymore!
- Jim Gray
The computer and monitor need some work.
- Louis Gray
Louis: I was actually surprised by most of the monitors I saw at ILM. I have more glass on my desk. But most did have two monitors with a high-speed computer (and they had a kick ass data center for rendering everything). The models that we saw were unreal. I'll try to upload some of those next.
- Robert Scoble
Geez, I think he has them arranged by series as well.
- Rob H.
His shirt needs replaced, it looks like he got into a fight with a rainbow, and lost after he knocked out green.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
Maybe he can only do the work he does thx to his office.
- Ton Zijp
Whoa! Hope his office won't face any EQ soon :)
- Nir Ben Yona
Wondering if he could find what he's looking for on the fly; probably could.
- Mark Evans
Jimminy: to be fair he didn't know he was going to be photographed today for hundreds of thousands of people to see.
- Robert Scoble
That's one my little brother will love. Great shot!
- Zu from AOD
Yeah, I remember similar pics (not of transformers) but of other film work in progress when I was a loyal sub'er to "Starlog" mag. Anyone ever take that here? http://www.starlog.com/
- Melanie Reed
This is such a cool photo Robert. Looks like one you'd see in Life magazine. What lens did you use?
- Mark Krynsky
I mostly only use one lens lately: my 17-40 F4.0 lens on a Canon 5D MK II. This was shot at 6400 ISO. Which is totally crazy. I remember when Kodak came out with 1000 ISO film that was only Black and White and had lots of grain.
- Robert Scoble
Scoble, yeah I understand him not being prepared, it's just a very striking shirt, definitely an attention grabber, though the environment pulls you away.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
Melanie, I wasn't really describing plaid so much as the colors of it. ;)
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
Jimminy, yeah, I know. I liked your description! Very apt! (for the record I dislike Madras Plaid. I had to wear it as part of a uniform for a job once...every day) ;)
- Melanie Reed
I just noticed he has 8-bit Mario Bros. magnets, that's freakin' awesome.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
My brothers who are both artists (animation and modeling) would love this room.
- Melanie Reed
Intel Wants Brain Implants in Customers' Heads by 2020. Brain waves to operate computers, TV's, phones, gadgets. YES, we are slowly becoming cyborgs. But turning brain waves into real-world tech action still requires some heavy decoding of brain activity. If scientists can translate brain waves into specific actions, there's no reason they could... - http://www.popsci.com/technol...
yes, me too i think the immortality is coming. it is tied with organ re/growing progress, and understanding, stopping and reversing the process of aging. .. and then yes, we are programs, set of instructions, running in the brain .. BUT, incredibly, inscrutably complex and advanced program entity ... in fact, it is a miracle, a miracle of life.
- pb:
Computers already can translate brain waves into specific actions within a computer application with visual feedback. Its medical application is to help people with major head trauma to learn how to re-map their brains. Pretty cool stuff.
- Mark Davidson
from BuddyFeed
I have been dreaming of typing without having to touch a keyboard for years. Or while dreaming...could become creepy,too,sadly.
- Gabrielle
@Gabrielle .. yes, definitely. it will be brand new - maybe 'creepy' :] by our today's standards - world. .... we will be immortals - thus notion of 'time' will lose any meaning, bodies completely exchangeable, possible to create new life forms - just as creating friendfeed or twitter post or webpage now, we will create new creature, technical robot, hybrid or bio creature. .. we will be able to suppress old feelings like pain, hunger, etc. .. learning, memory will be of unlimited capabilities. invisibility
- pb:
"For some time I have tried to get a reliable information about the individual parts of the characters of the alphabet. The anatomy of type if you like. It was not so easy to find online. Still I found some and then some in various books. The problem however is I did not find any one source I was fully satisfied with. Each one had some names missing which the others had and so on.. I collected all this info together and put in one as complete as I could. A second problem was to find a typeface that included everything. I finally gave up. It’s really hard to squeeze everything in. The ones that seemed to fit the best like Times for instance I didn’t want to use and some I wanted to use didn’t have all the major part names. I finally decided to use a two beautiful and also free fonts, Tallys and Museo by Jos Buivenga"
- Jason Wehmhoener
from Bookmarklet