Danielle Fong › Likes

The gender and ethnicity gaps are frankly disgusting. - Bill Hooker

I am sure the salaries are not adjusted for experience , seniority etc..But some of the "low" numbers seem pretty accurate! - Hari

It's like stealing ice cream from a baby. - Gabe

The interesting thing about this vis-a-vis my line of work is that libraries thought they could challenge the publishing Goliath on its own turf *without* putting any actual effort into it. - D0r0th34

An entertaining skewering (attempted skewering?) of Gladwell's article at The Awl: http://www.theawl.com/2009... - Hilary

"I think it is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams. I know that sounds completely nuts. But, since no one else is crazy enough to do it, you have little competition... The best people want to work the big challenges. That is what happened with Google. Our mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. How can that not get you excited? But we almost didn't start Google because my co-founder Sergey and I were too worried about dropping out of our Ph.D. program. You are probably on the right track if you feel like a sidewalk worm during a rainstorm! That is about how we felt after we maxed out three credit cards buying hard disks off the back of a truck. That was the first hardware for Google. Parents and friends: more credit cards always help. What is the one sentence summary of how you change the world? Always work hard on something uncomfortably exciting!" - Michael Nielsen

"There are lots of things I don't understand -- say, the latest debates over whether neutrinos have mass or the way that Fermat's last theorem was ... proven ... But from 50 years in this game, I have learned two things: (1) I can ask friends who work in these areas to explain it to me at a level that I can understand, and they can do so...; (2) if I'm interested, I can proceed to learn more so that I will come to understand it. Now Derrida, Lacan, Lyotard, Kristeva, etc. --- even Foucault, whom I knew and liked, and who was somewhat different from the rest --- write things that I also don't understand, but (1) and (2) don't hold: no one who says they do understand can explain it to me and I haven't a clue as to how to proceed to overcome my failures. That leaves one of two possibilities: (a) some new advance in intellectual life has been made... which has created a form of "theory" that is beyond quantum theory, topology, etc., in depth and profundity; or (b) ... I won't spell it out. - Michael Nielsen

Then you may also like http://tinyurl.com/c5ruxp (a comic "The Adventures of Noam Chomsky and his dog, Predicate") -- I'm not sure the article being attributed to chomsky is legit -- cannot find a reliable initial source and the first several links on google are all fairly recently dated -- makes for an entertaining read, though, especially if you've ever heard him give a talk -- masterfully controlling/controlled rhetoric! - Mickey Schafer

"The two aluminum foils are positioned at a slight tilt. The Flyak begins the race at a disadvantage, with its hull in the water and its underwater foils creating even more drag. As a result, paddling the Flyak is more inefficient than a normal kayak during the initial strokes. But once the rider works the speed up to roughly 10 KMH (6 MPH), the Flyak is ready for take-off. The energy on the oblique foils propels the hull up above the water’s surface. Once airborne, the velocity gained from paddle strokes increases dramatically. Theoretically, the Flyak can achieve speeds nearly twice as fast as conventional championship-level racing kayaks." - bob from Bookmarklet

Great stuff! I just love sport and technology. Great innovation - Jorg Jansen

"The nanotubes are arranged vertically, almost like empty honeycomb. Over the top of the nanotubes sits a thin, reddish-brown layer of copper oxide. Both the copper and titanium oxide act as catalysts, speeding up reactions that take place naturally. When sunlight hits the copper oxide, carbon dioxide is converted into carbon monoxide. When sunlight hits the titanium oxide, water molecules split apart. The hydrogen freed from the water and the carbon freed from CO2 then recombine to create burnable methane...The scientists have created thin membranes that cover either 3.8 or 15.5 square inches. So far, those membranes have produced an estimated 66 gallons of methane, said Grimes. Adding more light and CO2 creates more methane. Grimes estimates that focusing the light collected from 1,100 square feet onto one of the membranes would generate more than 132 gallons of methane on a sunny day." - bob from Bookmarklet

"For the internet-savvy group, their reading areas were virtually identical to the reading areas that were activated for the internet-naive participants, but the very interesting part was the savvy group did recruit additional areas and these were frontal areas that had to do with decision-making, cingulate areas that have to do with conflict resolution. It’s not surprising, it’s what we expected, that these additional areas for decision-making would be required and higher-level cognitive function would be required, and that’s what we found in the internet-savvy group." - Meryn Stol from Bookmarklet

I've been aware of neuroplasticity for a long time... I personally think my brain has changed much due to my intensive Delicious tagging (7000+ bookmarks now, 4000+ tags) - Meryn Stol

Guys, you have to trust me here. This is GOLD. One of the funniest things i've read in the last year... - Zee.

So hilarious :-) - Danielle Fong

"Ben & Jerry has just created the "Yes Pecan!" ice cream flavor for newly elected President Barack Obama. They are evaluating ideas for an ice cream to memorialize the end of the Wubya administration of George W. Bush. A number of ideas have been submitted and are listed below: - Grape Depression - Abu Grape - Cluster Fudge - Nut'n Accomplished - Iraqi Road - Choc 'n Awe - WireTapioca - Impeach Cobbler - Guantanmallow - imPeachmint - Good Riddance You Lousy Motherf*cker... Swirl - Heck of a Job, Brownie! - Neocon Politan - RockyRoad to Fascism - The Reese's-cession - Cookie D'oh! - The Housing Crunch - Nougalar Proliferation - Death by Chocolate... and Torture - Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream - Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder - "You're Sh*tting In My Mouth and Calling It a Sundae" - Credit Crunch - Mission Pecanplished - Country Pumpkin - Chunky Monkey-in-Chief - George Bush Doesn't Care About Dark Chocolate - WMDelicious - Chocolate Chimp - Bloody Sundae - Caramel Preemptive Stripe" - Michael Muller from Bookmarklet

I think they should do all of them. imPeachmint definitely sounds the grossest. - Ryan

"“Some family member have had six fingers, not completely developed. But not the toes,” said Kris Hubbard, 34 and a postal worker. In fact Kris Hubbard himself had nubs of sixth fingers removed as a child as these non-functional digits routinely are. But Hubbards case is so vanishingly rare according to doctors, and because the extra digits are functional, it's not a deformity to be discarded. “It's merely an interesting and beautiful variation rather than a worrisome thing,” said Dr. Michael Treece and St. Luke's Hospital Pediatrician. “I would be tempted to leave those fingers in place. I realize children would tease each other over the slightest things, and having extra digits on each hand is more than slight. But imagine what sort of a pianist a 12-fingered person would be imagine what sort of a flamenco guitarist, if nothing else think of their typing skills.”" - Paul Buchheit

Had a friend whose toes were surgically fused to get him down to five, or so he said. Looking at his big toe, I had little reason to doubt it. Cheaper by the dozen? - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

Did Chaney make the list? - Jack (a.k.a. Jeber)

An engineers approach to describing global climate change. A must listen... - Bill Rodman

That presentation from Griffith I found LITERALLY life-changing. It's made me think about decisions that I never did before and alter my relationship with energy consumption (to lessen it, of course.) I listened to it at the height of the auto bailout talks and I thought "Let's not bail out, let's buy them and retool to wind turbines!" - Dave Slusher

"Buffalo. Pittsburgh. Cincinnati. The poets will never compare them to Paris -- or, for that matter, to New Orleans, the fountainhead of so much American culture. Still, those humble burgs are New Orleans' peers these days, in at least two important respects: About 300,000 people now call them home, and their zenith, in terms of population, has passed. And cities like these have something to teach New Orleans: how to cope with getting smaller." - RAPatton from Bookmarklet

Every town has its literature. Buffalo has Stanley Kunitz and some great Polish-American poets; Pittsburgh and Cincinatti, too. One of my favority Poets, Terri Ford (Why Ships Are Called She) is from Cinci. New Orleans is the home of Anne Rice and Andre Cordrescu. Just because you don't know poetry, don't assume poets haven't praised a city. - Phil Boiarski

Born at 04:44 on Saturday, 1/24. 8lbs. 10oz. - April Buchheit

Congrats! - Robby Walker

I do prefer Stu Jenks http://stujenks.com/ and Michael Kenna http://www.michaelkenna.net/ . - Pawel Szczesny

"a folder for U.S. President Barack Obama (the 44th president) is shown, left for him by Former U.S. President George W. Bush" "U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta replaces an official picture of outgoing President George W. Bush with that of newly-sworn-in U.S. President Barack Obama, in the lobby of the headquarters of the U.S. Naval Base" - Casey Muller from Bookmarklet

this set is like watching it all over agian- emotion and all. cracking set. - Roberto Bonini

"Francis said in a statement that “the US government should actively support the adult industry's survival and growth, just as it feels the need to support any other industry cherished by the American people." “We should be delivering [the request] by the end of today to our congressmen and [Secretary of the Treasury Henry] Paulson asking for this $5 billion dollar bailout,” he told CNN Wednesday. Flynt and Francis concede the industry itself is in no financial danger — DVD sales have slipped over the past year, but Web traffic has continued to grow. But the industry leaders said the issue is a nation in need. "People are too depressed to be sexually active," Flynt said in the statement. "This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex."" - Bret Taylor from Bookmarklet

This is awesome on so many levels. - Mandi

Thankyou, Christina! And for the blog writeup, too, which I enjoyed reading. - Michael Nielsen

"Scientists have discovered how stress can physically reshape the brain, causing extensive and long-lasting harm to both the human and animal brain. Researchers have found that stress causes brain cells to either shrink or grow, leaving victims of serious stress with big changes to their nervous systems." - Tom Stocky

Ha, I worked in Tallie Baram's lab when I was in high school. I think it left me severely stressed which helps to explain EVERYTHING - Jini

A nice piece of accidental timing was seeing this (http://scienceblogs.com/clock... ), from Bora - apparently my "The Future of Science" essay was selected for an anthology of 2008's best science writing. Put a smile on my face. :-) - Michael Nielsen

A lot of people are wrong, then. :-) - Bill Hooker

anology -> analogy ;-) - Danielle Fong

It's probably safe, but I'm paranoid: http://friendfeed.com/e... - Paul Buchheit

"Oh, no doubt, there are the self-flagellating type, but I argue that holding them up as the standard is a gross mischaracterization of environmentalism. Just like there are with any movement, there are environmentalists who dreadfully miss the point." - Christopher Granade

104 people got actual lucky numbers in their fortune cookies :P - bob from Bookmarklet

If all 108 winners had to divide the winnings, then it's probably smarter to avoid using the lucky numbers from your fortune cookie (because if you win, you'll only get 1% of the prize). - Paul Buchheit

data is for atheists. therefore evil - Chris Hofmann

Merry freakin Christmas world. - Drea Lester

torque: I think the investors can't pay for prime rib anymore; data may be all they can afford. - Gabe

Molecular Biology Represents! - Mr. Gunn from Bookmarklet