George Boole at the intersection of science and faith, plus having his house restored

Great article on the views of George Boole (many of them personal) by William Reville, an emeritus professor of biochemistry at University College Cork: available here. Interestingly, George Boole's (obviously former) residence, once a derelict building in Cork City is to be restored as part of the Year of George Boole, announced by UCC President Michael Murphy.

What do you call it when you derive pleaure from another's misfortune?

Schadenfreude.

What about someone who wears gloves when throwing snowballs? Handschuhschneeballwerfer.

Experienced at navigation or seafaring? Seeerfahren.

 

New species of Sheep discovered in Northern Ireland!

Scientific name: Ovis aries roseus. They are viable - offspring in second photo.

Spring lamb...

style de la maison...

ou, le style sauvage du "Connemara"... 

 

And this morning, le boeuf:

Differences in past tense in American and British English (and other English oddities)

What is the only English word that ends in mt? See the bottom of this post for the answer.

In Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand it is more common to end some past tense verbs with a "t" as in learnt or dreamt rather than learned or dreamed. However, such spellings are also found in North America. The "t" past tenses may have been influenced by German past tenses which often end in "t". Several verbs have different past tenses or past participles in American and British English:

• The past tense of the verb "to dive" is most commonly found as "dived" in British, Australian and New Zealand English. "Dove" is usually used in its place in American and Canadian English. Both terms are understood, and may be found either in minority use or in regional dialect.
• The past participle and past tense of the verb "to get" is most commonly found as "got" in British and New Zealand English. "Gotten" is also used in its place in American and Canadian, and occasionally in Australian English, as a past participle, though "got" is widely used as a past tense. The main exception is in the phrase "ill-gotten", which is widely used in British, Australian and New Zealand English. Both terms are understood, and may be found either in minority use or in regional dialect. This does not affect "forget" and "beget", whose past participles are "forgotten" and "begotten" in all varieties.

 largely from Wikipedia































What is the only English word that ends in mt? Dreamt.

One small shift for a man... one giant leap for a sport

Larry Kwong’s career with the New York Rangers lasted literally a New York minute, but his legacy lingers some 65 years after his debut ended in disappointment, losing to the Canadians that night and never to play for the Rangers again. He only skated for one shift, in the third period of one game.
 

Kwong was the first player of Chinese descent to appear in the N.H.L. Despite for playing in one game, he said: “I broke the ice a little bit,” pointing to the numerous players of Asian ancestry who have since played in the league. “Maybe being the first Chinese player in the N.H.L. gave more of a chance for other Chinese boys that play hockey”. And remember folke, this was before Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. Full story here

Live chat with Jack Dongarra re Exascale

Live chat with Horst Simon and Jack Dongarra on Exascale Computing - Live Now! http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/01/live-chat-the-future-of-supercom.html

Elegant Email Spam Deterrent

Have you ever found yourself doing something like this on one of your webpages/blogs/etc...

"Contact me at your [dot] name [at] domain [dot] com", instead of "Contact me at your.name@domain.com"

...because clearly the latter (on a publicly accessible page) would have your inbox (or hopefully spam folder) crammed with junk in short order?

Try this:

<div style="float:left">
Contact me at</div>
<div style="text-align:left;direction:rtl; unicode-bidi:bidi-override">moc.niamod@eman.ruoy
</div>

It will display in a web browser as "your.name@domain.com", but... try copying the displayed text and pasting it into Notepad/Wordpad/etc. It pastes backwards, and is useless - particularly to robots that try to rip your email address from the document source. (Just don't make it a link!)

This method is of course still exploitable, bit it will avoid your email address from being picked up by poorly written code, of which 99.9% of malicious code is. Additionally, it is as safe as (or more safe than) "your [dot] name [at] domain [dot ] com".

Done!

Sandy wins race for Obama - Inevitable?

The below article doesn't say that Hurricane Sandy has won the race for Barack Obama, but all of the ingredients are there. Not only is a president in a time of crisis a popular president, but with one week of campaigning left:

• Obama can effectively say nothing about the election for several days, avoiding confrontation and potential blunder. Instead he can speak of the damage and the aftermath.
• This is Obama's chance to be seen as an action man.
• Romney more or less can only watch and reiterate what Obama says. To be critical - foolish. Anything else however will just echo whatever the Obama camp has already said.
• Obama will get countless hours of in-demand and free television and press coverage. Chances of seeing Romney on television in the next 48 hours? 0.
• The days after this hurricane will give Obama more than enough photo-ops with republicans such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and switch-hitters such as NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg.
• Democrats will cite the much criticized response from the Bush Administration in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina 
• Just in case Obama needs another advantage, he can enjoy the fact that he is the incumbent. 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/lupica-president-obama-candidate-obama-coming-nyc-article-1.1194462http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/lupica-president-obama-candidate-obama-coming-nyc-article-1.1194462

Circumhorizontal Arc

Circumhorizontal arcs (pictured here) occur only between 55 degrees South and 55 degrees North, usually near the time of the respective summer solstice. They are formed by plate-shaped ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds. Other accepted names for circumhorizontal arcs are circumhorizon arc and lower symmetric 46° plate arc. Due to their large angular size they are rarely seen complete and most often appear as part of a cloud, as seen here on May 23, 2012 at 39°36'5"N, 74°20'17"W.

May 23, 2012    39°36'5"N, 74°20'17"W     (Click for full-size image)

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?...

... was a great song by Chicago on their debut album The Chicago Transit Authority released in 1969. It is also a very difficult question to answer.

The video here is a bit long, but just start watching - you'll finish it!

Here is the accompanying New York Times article. For even more strangeness, Google "daylight savings half hour", and check out this link: Time in Indiana.

Is it time for dinner?

IBM Pushes Atomic Depths of Data Storage

On January 12, IBM scientists published an article in Science describing a technique that can store 1 bit using just 12 atoms of iron. Modern storage devices typically use on the order of 1,000,000 atoms to store 1 bit. Beyond this, science will have to push through the atomic domain and into the sub-atomic to significantly increase storage density. Too bad it was just one month late to make the 6th annual IBM 5 in 5. Will this month be too long ago come next December for this discovery to make 2012's 5 in 5? If so, 2012 will be an exciting year indeed. For more from the horse's mouth see this link. Click here for the Science abstract.

Not everyone is a doctor at some point in their life, but at some point in all lives everyone is a patient...

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not", nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

The Cosmic Coincidence

Cosmologists tend not to get all that excited about the universe being 74% dark energy and 26% conventional energy and matter (albeit most of the matter is dark and mysterious as well). Instead they get excited about the fact that the density of dark energy is of the same order of magnitude as that more conventional remainder. (Image adapted from Lineweaver and Egan. The Cosmic Coincidence as a Temporal Selection Effect Produced by the Age Distribution of Terrestrial Planets in the Universe (subsequently published in Astrophysical Journal 2007, Vol 671, 853.)

Source: Cosmic coincidence (Physorg.com)

Ugliness Described with Beauty

No pleasing intricacies intervene,
No artful wildness to perplex the scene;
Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother,
And half the platform just reflects the other.
The suff'ring eye inverted Nature sees,
Trees cut to statues, statues thick as trees;

- Alexander Pope, Epistle to Burlington (1731)

The Epistle to Burlington (also known as the fouth of the Moral Essays), was written on the subject of architecture, ridiculing the bad taste of the aristocracy. This passage (lines 115-120) is on a specific topic, which with the help of other works, Pope killed as a fashion single-handedly. (Arguably his greatest contribution to society.) What is this topic? Give up? Click the picture for an account of its death.

The full essay is here.