Predator The Musical June 30, 2022
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I really feel any commentary on this epic would detract from the simple beauty that this embodies. Sometimes, words fail.
My Google Audition March 15, 2022
Posted by stuffilikenet in Uncategorized.Tags: google, technical writing
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This is part of a technical writing exercise requested by The Goog. I was strictly exhorted to take it seriously. I failed this part of that exercise.
I have been asked to describe a common Earth game to Speaker-to-Animals, an ambassador to Earth from the Kzin empire. He is an eight-foot-tall tiger-striped alien who looks distinctly feline, has large fangs, a limited sense of humor and is skilled in game theory.
Me: This game is one of logic, skill and cunning. It is the first strategy game Earth children learn, and its rapid apprehension guides their path throughout life.
Speaker-to-Animals: Really? How is it I have never heard of it? Is it concealed from outsiders customarily?
Me: Not at all; its value is poorly comprehended by outsiders, and so is ignored. Nonetheless, Earth children readily grasp the nature of the derived victory and take life lessons therefrom, which can be thought of as the Iron Laws of Destiny, Distribution and Dining.
Speaker-to-Animals: [cocks ears forward] And this has escaped our notice all this time?
Me: Your species would not be the first.
Speaker-to-Animals: I must see this. What equipment do we require?
Me: A piece of paper and two pencils. In a pinch, we could each use the same pencil.
Speaker-to-Animals: Here. [produces materials]
Me: I will draw a three by three grid. [draws grid] The object of the game is to occupy a square at a time, by turns, until three squares are occupied by one player either vertically, horizontally or diagonally; that player is the winner. The first player draws a cross [draws cross in the middle square] as his symbol; the second player draws a circle. A draw occurs when all spaces are occupied but no winner has emerged.
Speaker-to-Animals: Hmm… [thoughtfully examines board, while his rat-like tail switches menacingly] The first player, by taking the center space, can always at least force a draw or beat an unskilled opponent.
Me: Now you know why we call them the Iron Laws.
Executable Circuitry From Fruitfly Brains December 28, 2021
Posted by stuffilikenet in Brain, Geek Stuff, Science, Uncategorizable.add a comment
Science marches on: FlyBrainLab is an interactive computing platform for studying the function of executable circuits constructed from fruit fly brain data. The FlyBrainLab UI runs in your browser and officially supports Ubuntu, MacOS and Windows.
Like other well-made computing platforms it boasts documentation, tutorials, datasets, curated examples and a troubleshooting section.
Drosophila melanogaster: is there anything it can’t do?
Additional Homework : https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.62362
Ant-man’s Camera December 1, 2021
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Oh sure, it needs a nice camera bag. But at least it works well enough for Science.
Dunno Why It’s Such a Big Deal November 26, 2021
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Apparently making a flying car is not that tough.
Chip fabrication in the garage August 24, 2021
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This fellow has succeeded in making a chip prototype in a home setup…not your ordinary garage, it’s true; he’s got equipment I bet you haven’t got. Still, none of it is truly impossible to get if you want to spend a little money.
No title, just watch and see August 20, 2021
Posted by stuffilikenet in 3D Printing, Applications, Awesome, Geek Stuff, Toys, Uncategorizable, Video.add a comment
I really enjoy deadpan delivery and self-deprecating humor and therefore watch Integza on Youtube…but this guy has help with deadpan from his hilariously barely-patient pregnant wife, whose archery skills are really, really good…compared to his especially. Naturally, his competitive nature will not tolerate that…
Human Biology and the Iron Man Suit April 16, 2021
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Robert Sapolsky is a genius lecturer and neuroendocrinolgist at Stanford whose lectures are part of Stanford’s video lessons. Check him out here (maybe start with Lecture 24, like I did, and then start again from Lecture 1. Trust me).
Alex Burkan is “some mad Russian guy” who is building an Iron Man suit in in a cave from a box of scraps his machine shop with oddly compelling first choices for prototyping muscles (from electrolyzed water for high-pressure hydrogen) for the exoskeleton, using high-pressure hydrogen for a repulser (nearly blowing off his arm) and launching missiles…also, he’s hilarious.
Finally, my handwriting sucks so I thought I would practice journalling to work on it. Then I thought about stuffilike.net and how I never post anymore (see “Bad Things” earlier in time) and it occurred to me that I could kill two birds with one virus, er, stone. So, here’s a first go at making my journalling/handwriting practice relevant to stuffilike.net.
OCR results will vary. All the free ones (not counting Evernote, because I haven’t tried it yet) yield crap:
Onlineocr.com version:
“,04’r it:V= :1
Inq
•
e-77’1111W4.1′
in-F. , }-fr
-PXV 7(4 )
27,777, ), , 7M• .-“y -a -.1P7-
–(—–15-977 , _ r , -0 -1–. –) 7, K7,- 11:?)/’ ,)91 7 ,) +7′ r 1 ) .6,77 – d ,4) jp, :}0 / .4-,,,,,77hr- -,n211 1 i .. 7 ), p_,,ii-rip oto rw:- -1/1,–rY ) 7Y) 1 j / 6 / – v4- ,,,, 1 ,,,..)–r ( ;1.71…/i7 ?1,
r”
This does not surprise me.
Google Docs version:
“& watched both Robert Aapolsky and a hilarious Russian fellow named Alex who is beilding an
Dron Man suit in lix machine shop using eldrolysed water to generate high prescere bydrogen for cutificial muscles and to
pouse “repulsors (besically, expelling a budioflydogenlonger mettere al igniting it dont try this at home] He’s nuts and very entertaining in a manic Russian sout of ruaz Also, this gadgets seem to mork, Oddly enough, I can see his stastegy morking hartwith lots and lots of the ratione for the mechanicals, and beige benouits of had baile for stie contrals (can you francese the store Hedding valued)”
It is possible I could use this method (take picture or scan to .pdf, then “open in Google Docs”) if my handwriting improves. We shall see.
Google Lens version:
“an I wat led both Robert Aapolsky and a hilarious Russian fellow Maned Alok whle is building. Is a Man suit is his machine stop using al dialyd water to generate high-prosesse hyclroger for autficial muscles and the “mepulests” (levicallys expuelling a level of and iquiting it don’t by this at home ), He’s nuts, as I very entertaining in a mavic Pussian sout of way. Also, this gadgets seem to work. Oedly enough, I can see his strategy working, just with lots and lots of the ration the nechcemicals, and burge of feedback for the contrale tear you imagine the software beting in valued i”
Well, I did say my handwriting was pretty poor. And it was attempting to read cursive, a style which I understand is no longer taught in USA schools (you poor kids. Are you going to be able to neatly print in time to write enough to pass essay exams?).
Local Color January 29, 2021
Posted by stuffilikenet in Awesome, Mutants, Photography, Uncategorizable.add a comment
Around the corner from me on King Road in San Jose. This is possibly the nicest bit of graffiti in my admittedly suburban neighborhood. In fact, I don’t recall seeing any in my daily 3-6 miles of walking around the neighborhood (old people need lots of exercise to stay fit) except this lovely bit. It is certainly a mutant with the Buddha among the cactus and the Mayan dragon and all.
Purple Perfection January 4, 2021
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Eye Repair December 30, 2020
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There is a lovely article on Hackaday about restoring vision to blind persons which eye can see will be enlightening[0]. It will open your eyes to brilliant possibilities.[1]
[0]Sorry about the puns; I seem to be in a vitreous humor today.
[1]Not really sorry.
COVID Vaccine Info Dump December 30, 2020
Posted by stuffilikenet in Applications, Awesome, Science, Uncategorized.add a comment
Berthub.eu has an excellent deconstruction of the Pfizer vaccine (“a character-by-character look at the source code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine”).
You won’t be sorry.
Ju-u-u-ust About There December 30, 2020
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Exciting update:
Ion-propelled Aircraft December 8, 2020
Posted by stuffilikenet in Awesome, Geek Stuff, Science, Star Trek Technology, Toys, Uncategorized, Video.add a comment
Yanked from the scripts of Star Trek with embarrassing plagiarism, researchers from MIT have created a proof of concept aircraft propelled by ionic thrust. They have only tested it in a (pretty large) gymnasium, but it’s impressive nonetheless.
Simple in concept[0], a wire with 20Kv ionizes air in front of an airfoil while the oppositely-charged airfoil draws the air over itself:
The amount of thrust generated by this system is pretty small admittedly, so there are several airfoils stacked atop one another to provide enough lift for sustainable flight.
An intriguing design, it is possibly a first step of a solution to the problem of noisy propeller-driven flight. If we imagine a future with drones filling our skies, I sure hope they are quiet[1]
[0] to be honest
[1] unlike my wife’s drone
Stabilizing Perovskites December 3, 2020
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Professor of Chemistry Biwu Ma and his team from Florida State University published a new study that shows if you add a layer of N,N‐bis(tert‐butyloxycarbonyl)‐quinacridone (TBOC‐QA) to a perovskite solar cell, it increases the stability and efficiency of the cell with an efficiency of 18.9% without the layer of pigment to 21.1%. It also seems to have enhanced the durability of the cell (perovskites do poorly in humidity and air).
Better still, this is a pretty simple process from a manufacturing point of view: spray and heat (“surface passivation by annealing”). “We believe that surface passivation of these cells using low-cost pigments is a very promising approach to improving their stability and efficiency,” Ma said.
Homework: Qingquan He et al. Highly Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells Enabled by Low‐Cost Industrial Organic Pigment Coating, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2020). DOI: 10.1002/anie.202012095
Perfect match December 3, 2020
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Free Time November 22, 2020
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I used to write these posts here about Stuff I Like during my lunchtime before a number of Bad Things happened to me. The Bad Things got steadily worse for awhile, and I got out of the habit of writing frequently. I haven’t posted much in the last few years because of timing issues, moving twice, taking eighteen months off work (partly related to the aforementioned Bad Things) to travel and generally letting writing fall onto a back burner. Don’t forget, this blog started out as just an example for my sister to follow to monetize her medical experience without having to have an actual job; I just got a little carried away.
Well, every once in a while I get enthusiastic enough to rise from my pit of despair to write up more Stuff I Like…like this little gem:
This gent has taken the longest possible route to boot his PC. The writeup is fairly detailed, with GitHub sources and self-mocking humor. I would say more, but I’m only just a little bit out of my pit of despair and I’m not charming nor am I witty lately.
COVID-19 Cracked by A.I. November 7, 2020
Posted by stuffilikenet in Awesome, Brain, Brilliant words, Geek Stuff, Mutants, Science, Star Trek Technology.add a comment
The Summit computer at Oak Ridge has looked at scads and scads of data about Covid and pretty much figured out what Covid is and what to do about it therapeutically. There is an excellent writeup of it on Medium.com which I am not going to plagiarize, but tell you all to read right here.
Finally! November 2, 2020
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Stuffilike.net 