Saturday, May 28, 2011

INFORMAVORE's SUNDAY No 457


SEARCH

INTERNET

 


World Record in Ultra-Rapid Data Transmission: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110523101741.htm


Some Metrics Regarding the Volume of Online Activity


SEARCH & FIND: What, where, how.  
  
Wendy Boswell the top ten job search engines on the Web


Monster jobs:

Yahoo’s emphasis is ‘better’ not ‘new”:

  

13 Websites for Search Engine and Browser Market Share Statistics: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2073613/13-Websites-for-Search-Engine-and-Browser-Market-Share-Statistics

 

The Four Best Free Microsoft Word Alternatives: http://wordprocessing.about.com/od/choosingsoftware/tp/topwordalternatives.htm?nl=1


20 best photo-editing software for free download:
http://savedelete.com/20-best-photo-editing-software-for-free-download.html                             

BLOGS and SOCIAL SITES

 

Social Internetworking- very useful for ambitious bloggers: http://mike.watts.net.nz/SocialInternetworking.pdf

LinkedIn Soars, Helping Facebook, Not Twitter:

Video from Berkman Center: Academic Uses of Social Media: Exploring 21st Century Communications: http://infodocket.com/2011/05/23/video-from-berkman-center-academic-uses-of-social-media-exploring-21st-century-communications/

GOOGLE

Google introduces its official search blog:

 

How the Rise of Google's Chromebook Is Like the Rise of Multicellular Life: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/


Google launches Google Correlate: http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/64380

Search anonymizer: http://www.scroogle.org/

WORDS, BOOKS, LIBRARIES

7 most popular online dictionary:
For English- Romanian-English translations http://ro-en.ro
is excellent!

 

Kobo and Barnes and Noble Announce New Compact, Touchscreen E-Readers: http://portables.about.com/od/ebookreasers/a/New-Touchscreen-Nook-and-Kobo-E-Readers.htm?nl=1

In the U.S., Tablets are TV Buddies while eReaders Make Great Bedfellows”; Tablets Popular in Bathroom: http://infodocket.com/2011/05/25/in-the-u-s-tablets-are-tv-buddies-while-ereaders-make-great-bedfellow-tablets-popular-in-bathroom/


SCIENCE

 

Open science: a future shaped by shared experience: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/22/open-science-shared-research-internet

 

'Death Anxiety' Prompts People to Believe in Intelligent Design, Reject Evolution, Study Suggests: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110330192201.htm

 

Your Culture May Influence Your Perception of Death:


Details of Japan Earthquake Explain Its Extraordinary Strength and Unexpectedness: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=details-of-japan-earthquake

 

Unusual Earthquake Gave Japan Tsunami Extra Punch, Say Scientists: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110524094504.htm


Geophysics of the 9.0 magnitude Japan earthquake:

 

Seismologists tried for manslaughter over quake

Italian scientists didn't alert public ahead of time, although peers say that's not possible: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43187273/


 

Bleach in the Icelandic Volcanic Cloud:

 

Bacteria make rain, bioprecipitation researchers say: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20110424204233data_trunc_sys.shtml

 

2011 top 10 coolest new species: http://earthsky.org/biodiversity/2011-top-10-coolest-new-species


Ants Give New Evidence for Interaction Networks:

 

Science Publishes Multiple Critiques of Arsenic Bacterium Paper:


Mathematically ranking ranking methods:

 

Giant water bug photographed devouring baby turtle: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13500857


TECHNOLOGY

 

New Green Technology for Hydrogen Production:


Photosynthesis vs Photovoltaics which one is more efficient?

Biobutanol next generation of biofuels

Discovery opens the door to generating electricity from microbes:

http://www.gizmag.com/bacteria-protein-structure-microbial-fuel-cells/18726/

 

Metamaterials could significantly boost wireless power transmission:

http://www.gizmag.com/metamaterials-wireless-power/18711/


Bob Rankin- free PC maintenance tools:

EDUCATION, CULTURE, ART

Prophecy Fail

What happens to a doomsday cult when the world doesn't end?


Philosophy as complementary science: http://www.philosophypress.co.uk/?p=375


A new book by Mike Shermer- “The believing brain”:

 

Truth Decay: Conspiracy Theories and Hoaxes Are Blurring:

 Reality: http://www.alternet.org/story/151079/truth_decay%3A_conspiracy_theories_and_hoaxes_are_blurring_reality?akid=7014.112117.mGngRZ&rd=1&t=2


Teaching resources:
Science, Technology Engineering, Mathematics:: http://www.stemedcoalition.org/

Eyewitness to history:

The history of slavery in America http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/overview.htm: 

 

Happiness 12:

http://7breaths.tumblr.com/post/5428283750/happiness-12

 

The psychopath test-Running Down a Sanity Checklist:


The Economist debate- is measuring happiness a good idea?:

A new remarkable essay by Dave Pollard: http://howtosavetheworld.ca/2011/05/26/running-out-of-time/

In praise of pen and paper:

BUSINESS


Innovation- Change the World, and Win Fabulous Prizes:




The economics of unhappiness:

Nicholas Bate – 50 things to remember:

Ron Clark: Encourage Your People To Encourage Each Other:


Dan Pink- employees are faster and more creative when solving other people’s problems:
ples-problems.html (I commented)

Gerry Mc Govern-Top tasks define your brand and reputation



How to get involved without micro-managing people

Anecdotally- always interesting and very useful:  


HEALTH & MEDICINE

 

Is Fear Deficit a Harbinger of Future Psychopaths?

 

Does Eating Give You Pleasure, or Make You Anxious?:



Why people with schizophrenia may have troubles reading  social cues:

Medicines from Plants: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110526102759.htm


FOOD & COOKING

Fooducate: A Brilliant Professor of All Things Edible: http://www.fooducate.com/


I think that “Nourishing the Planet” is an excellent publication: http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/

Is organic food the answer?:


20 minute recipes:

 


10 great potato salads:

 

Sweet Wheat' for Tastier and More Healthful Baking:


The miniature life of food and drink:

MISCELLANEA

 

Too Easy to Steal Cargo from Transport Networks: Research Points to Solutions: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110524081148.htm


A publication I am reading regularly-(subscribed) about bizarre but true news, mainly re peak performances of human stupidity: http://www.thisistrue.com/

SELECTED NEWS

SPAM & SPYWARE   

VIRUSES & e-CROOKS

Facebook can’t solve privacy problems with technology:

Bob Rankin which free antivirus software is the best?”

How to create a secure password:

 

New malware scanner finds 5% of Windows PCs infected:


WiFi

THREE NEW PROBLEM SOLVING RULES



Dear Readers,

I actively believe in progress and even more in perfectibility.
Therefore I know and feel that it is my duty to extend: 
this document will bring tons of e-flowers to my e-grave- if applied on a large scale.

. The three extra rules are:

1- NOT always long hours of hard work and great efforts, but (sometimes) relaxation and fun is the best way to obtain solutions for (awfully) difficult problems. (author my friend Anonymous- I would gladly publish his real name here)

2- NOT our own problems, but the problems of other people are usually more boldly and creatively solved by us.. Author Dr. Dan Pink see please

Dan Pink- employees are faster and more creative when solving other people’s problems:
ples-problems.html— INFORMAVORE’s SUNDAY No. 457

3- NOT the solutions worked out by ourselves, but those borrowed. bought or stolen from others are more easily accepted and implemented.
We prefer many times the solutions of the experts or “experts”
to our own solutions obtained by hard work.

My life experience confirms the validity of these new Rules.
When a 4-th new Rule will be found, I will rewrite my essay.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Suspicion and supposition

Motto: Consider what you think justice requires, and decide accordingly. But never give your reasons; for your judgment will probably be right, but your reasons will certainly be wrong. Lord Mansfield

Wikipedia defines suspicion as a feeling of distrust or perceived guilt for someone or something. Supposition is somewhat larger in sense, meaning something you suppose (good or bad), looks synonim to hypothesis. My perception of these two notions is a little wider and not so clear on the negative sense of suspicion. I do not feel it relates only to misstrust or some form of guilt. Did you ever hear somebody saying ‘I suspect he / she is in love with me’? Or ‘by the way she behaves, I suspect she is pregnant’.

If I was to use my own words for defining the idea of suspicion at the border of supposition, I would say that it is something (or someone) about which (or whom) we wonder, or we think that we believe, but recognize that we actually do not KNOW. It is something (or someone) in connection to which (or whom) we actually mistrust ourselves and our own judgment. Unfortunately it is also something that we are too often inclined to share informally with others, because spreading our suspicion seems to add power to it (if it turns out to be true, we gain some kind of recognition for our ‘predictive power’). It is a dangerous but rather frequent behavior, as it is the very root of gossip (which is very frequently a form of spreading suspicions and rarely a form of unveiling some hidden truth). To complete my definition, suspicion is something that we would not be willing to testify under oath, unless we distortedly believe that it is a fact.

Suspicion and supposition are frequently deceitful. It means that sometimes people believe in good faith that whatever conclusion they are drawing is actually fact. Under the frame of regular relationships, if I would have to place my daily suppositions about the others on the Johari window, they would most probably get dispersed between unknown and the façade. While my suppositions about myself would lie somewhere between unknown and the blind spot (yes, I have quite a number of self-suspicions, I believe but do not KNOW a lot of things about myself).

The arena may be large in some personal relationship, but it is rather small in the professional and social relationship. So, if I follow a logical approach, I would conclude that most of our lives, in most of our relationships, we act and react mostly based on suppositions. We suppose about the others that they are as we see them. We suppose their thoughts and reactionS are triggered by what we believe is their motivation. We suppose things happen always for a reason. We suppose we could understand both results and reasons, just by interpreting the facts through our own eyes, our own set of values, our own life experience and our own expectations. We suppose we hear the messages even when we are not really listening. We suppose we see things even where we are not really looking.

Almost every decision we make is based on some hypothesis. Part of them is facts, but most of them are perception and subjective interpretation of the premises – our own suspicions about other people, things, situations, and implications. Only seldom we have the luxury to base our decision entirely on facts, and this is why we should stop supposing that there are good and bad decisions. It seems to me more and more that decisions… just are. They are lying behind us, or staring right in front of us, or waiting before us. They always outline our future and can turn from good to bad or vice-versa, depending on the time-frame and on our perception of the outcome – there is a saying: ‘Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions’.

As soon as we will learn how to assume and live with our own decisions, we will also learn to trust our judgment and/or intuition in the process of taking them.

I suspect you will have now a nice day!
Georgina

CALL FOR A PERFECT E-CAT EXPERIMENT



After 5 experiments aimed to demonstrate the heat generation performances of the devices known as Andrea Rossi’s Energy Catalyzers, a lot of skeptics are not convinced that the E-cat works
or think that the results are much over-evaluated. In four experiences from 5, the heat released was used to make steam- and here is the crux of the problem, where many duets of deaf where heard. The skeptics think that the steam generated is composed of a small quantity of vapors carrying a great amount of water micro-droplets, therefore the real enthalpy of the steam is much smaller than the values calculated.
Tons of electronic inks were consumed in these discussions but the opposite opinions are incompatible and the use of instruments for steam dryness or wetness- has no sense- the results will not be believed.
It is about small quantities till now- 4 to 13 kg steam per hour, the usual instruments give errors. What can be done- if we consider important to have the “absolute” certainty that the E-cat is really an energy source?

E-cat deniers and E-cat believers should unite and work out a PERFECT EXPERIMENT- that pleases everybody, is inerrant – a serious professional work with no improvisations or approximations. Can this be done? The first obstacle in principle is
Andrea Rossi’s repeated declaration- ‘no more public demos till the 1 MW test in late October’. The E-cat needs friends and supporters, probably it is still very perfectible and what harm could do a PERFECT TEST? I hope that Ing. Rossi will change his mind.

Actually the essence of the problem is steam- simple it is not necessary to measure any other characteristics of steam as its transparency or wetness just its enthalpy- its total heat. The simplest way to measure this including its evolution or variation in time is to use an ad-hoc steam-water mixer. A known weight of steam is mixed with a known weight of cooling water and the temperature of the mixture is measured and recorded. For numerical values on the Web- see please:

For example, 1g steam of 100 C mixed with 10 g water of 20 C will give 11g of water at 49C. The steam will be judged at its right heat value. We need two small pumps one for the cooling water one for the mixing water,  a mixer (e.g. a short tube with internal baffles, insulated) and temperature measurement as usual.
We will know if the steam is bone dry (the calculated values will result) or horribly wet. Beyond any doubt.

What else will ask the adamant skeptics- just let them say!


Wednesday, May 25, 2011

BUYING THE E-CAT IN THE SACK

A more comprehensive SWOT analysis of the Rossi Ni-H energy generator. 1. The SW part.

Remembering the good old times, “I giorni della gloria” when I was working for start-up of plants and for developing new products in pilot plants and for commercialization- I feel a vivid empathy for the two organizations that have the mission to open the world markets for a new source of energy: Defkalion (Greece) and Ampenergo (US) and Andrea Rossi’s  Ni-H based generator, better known as e-Cat. I try to anticipate some problems and even to outline some solutions.

I have initiated a SWOT analysis of the E-cat

SWOT is like marriage (full of problems but nothing better was invented yet) see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis. Actually any good and active engineer and/or manager and/or entrepreneur rediscover SWOT. It is a natural way to look what is good and what is bad inside and outside and how can improvements be made.

I am, trying to do an objective and correct, even intelligent (?)  analysis, if possible, and that means:
- to not mix the points of view i.e. the real strengths and weaknesses of the devices with the virtues and sins of it’s inventor and of his team. Nothing and nobody is perfect, but fast prerfectibility is a must.

A good SWOT analysis needs the processing of data, information and knowledge that are =in the same time incomplete, abundant, scarce, redundant, overwhelming and underwhelming partially false, contradictory, not always well defined, inconstant- in other words- an informational mess. Actually it is not so relevant what I do NOT know, but it is essential what Rossi and his Partners do NOT know. I bet that my problem solving rule No. 5. .”NOT what we know, but what we do NOT know is more important for solving the problems”.is perfectly valid in this case too. The success of this action is threatened by an unknown amount of unknown unknowns.

The analysis has to start with determining the measure in which the
E-cat cab fulfill the elementary requirements of a commercial energy source.

Unfortunately, these problems were not met by the Cold Fusion community in practice- only in the predictions-for- the-future-chapters of some books.

INTENSITY
It is about the maximum power attained and energy delivery of the generator. In the case of the E-cat   20kW seems to be a limit for the power,
but during the start-up period of the February experiment, a power peak has appeared and it could be as high as 120 kW. In the following experiments
smaller E-cats were used from safety and//or stability reasons. Actually intensity has to be expressed as a net value, the input of electrical energy
used for control  has to be subtracted from the output. In any case, the values measured and claimed are impressive- but only for the pre-commercial stage.
A problem that has to be discussed is what is limiting the power of the E-cat? It seems to be the heat transfer- from a working hot core of say 400 deg. C to a stainless tube and to the cooling media (water) .
Plants of 1MW are promised for this autumn however this power will be attained by combining many E-cats (initially 100 of 10kW, now 330 of 3.5 kW) Obviously the E-cat is only in an embrionary stage of development- for the start it will be probably a niche type source furnishing thermal energy for homes and small plants. I have to confess that I am not able to understand the reason for this 1 MW plant via a great clutter of E-cats. What will it demonstrate for the future customers? The energy infrastructure of the world is based mainly on tens of MW to thousands of MW plants, 1 MW is a dwarf.
What intend to sell Defkalion and Ampenergo- in the initial stage and later? E-kittens, E- cats? Alternative solutions were not discussed- yet.

REPRODUCIBILITY

Reproducibility was the obsession and curse of Cold Fusion- but actually it is only a pre-condition of a usable system. A sequence of 3 just- positive results is not real reproducibility, only incipient repeatability. Reproducibility has not meaning when you don’t know what to reproduce, quantitatively – in reasonable limits. You buy a 4.7kW E-cat – it has to furnish any time 4.7 +/- 0.3 KW- just to give an example. I hope all the units involved in the manufacture of the generators are a gathering such data and working on improvement. But  we have to attain Controllability too – what to do if the Ecat delivers too much or too few Kwatts? How to eliminate the really disturbing power peaks?
And, even more- ADJUSTABILITY is an other factor. Can the E-cat work
at say 50 or 25% of its nominal capacity when we need less energy? Then CONSTANCY is also needed –all the performances of the generator must be kept at good values during its lifetime, minimum of degradation or weakening.
In a way REPRODUCIBILITY is growing up to practical RELIABILITY.  

CONTINUITY – it seems that for the time given, the E-cat has a working period guarantee of 6 months. After that the active core has to be replaced with a new one. Does this period include interruptions, idle periods, adjustments if any? Does it refer to the working time, or even the inactive E-cats lose slowly their power -as batteries, for example?.

SAFETY and CLEANNESS – lack of data, measurements on generators not protected by a layer of lead, for virgin and young E-cats compared with those before replacement, the influence of size, the effects of adjustments and of undesired (short!) runaway episodes. Solid statistical data required.

SCALE-UP- the problem was already shown at the first virtue; modular scale-up is not genuine scale up., IMHO. It has to be more than addition of many small units. Question- why it was made a scale down after the first two experiments?

INDEPENDENCE-at least after start-up, the energy source has to work
without the aid of any other energy source. That means- zero input, self- sustaining mode. We were said it is possible, but not for safety and control Before the experiments input/output factors as high as 200 were claimed, than this value has decreased with an order of magnitude.
Recently at his site Rossi said that a factor of 6 will be guaranteed to the customers. Why such an involution?

HARD CURRENCY ENERGY- how the thermal energy of the active core can be converted in electric energy in an economical way?    

CHEAPNESS: - an obvious condition. Just o mention that if the E-cat works with isotopically enriched  nickel or the catalyst (?) is some noble metal- than there will be serious problems with the price.

MAINTENANCE- must be minimal, let’s see how it looks in practice.

KNOWABILITY- Now the heat gem=nerating is largely unknown or gets unplausible and undefined explanations.The reactions on which the energy release is based must be determined and described making them accessible even to laymen. If there is a catalyzer what does it catalyze? What are the secondary reactions?

SHORT SUMMARY- the E-cats should generate energy, NOT problems, NOT troubles ,NOT surprises, NOT costs, NOT mysteries!


A special problem DESIGN In its actual form the E-cat seems much more an object to be exposed at the Tyrnavos Festival than a nice new device that will make your home a better place.  I am convinced that a creative design will help to improve all the other technical problems sketched here.

There is a huge area for development in the E-cat land.

This part was about SW- internal factors. I am waiting for the critics and suggestions of improvement. I prefer to discuss directly about the external factors OT, including strategy, meta-advertising, competition, reversible errors and irreversible blunders etc.. If somebody is willing to collaborate
with me- please write to: peter.gluck@gmail.com  Thank you!

Monday, May 23, 2011

MY COLD FUSION HISTORY (ii)

When I have published my rather successful- http://egooutpeters.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-cold-fusion-history-i.html (it even was presented at my friend Giorgos’ fine Talefta blog too!), surely some readers thought that kind of chronology
will follow. Over 22 years- this is too much, too sad, cannot be something captivating- I am not the historian type and I am focused much more on the future than on the unchangeable past.
This is NOT a chronology but a kairosology. The ancient Greeks were really smart people and they have established experimentally
and understood deeply that two kinds of Time exist Chronos- that is just quantitative (and, inter alia kills you and everything methodically) and Kairos that is qualitative and is a reason to live.
Wikipedia knows this issue well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos If you read a bit about kairos,
you will see that religions have tried to hijack and use it, and the American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has rediscovered
it creatively and calls it Flow. My Romanian readers could know
that I have embraced the concept of kairos in the issue 115 of my Info Kappa Newsletter and have reviewed the book of Csikszentmihalyi
To discover kairos and to study this wise book are opportunities
for kairos experiences per se.

Now if chronology exists –see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology  
It would be quite natural to think about a kairosology- unique, decisive, unforgettable moments connected to something.
I came late this time- the word was already coined by somebody else before me, explained and beautifully illustrated; http://www.thoughts.com/dreadnaught/time-turns-elastic-/ however it gives only two hits on Google- actually one writing.
.
Extreme sadness is kind of negative kairos, you will see now.
Let’s go back in time (chronos) and to my cold fusion history.
It is autumn 1998 the most terrible and tragic period of my life.
My son Robert, 30 years old, autistic had the third surgery for ganglionar cancer- but the illness seems unstoppable. A visiting
American oncologist brought here by a Baptist church consults him- too many metastases, too big, sorry it is late. Chemotherapy was ab ovo excluded, it needs patience and discipline. Roby is
moving incessantly when he does not sleep and he takes a lot of tranquillizers.

Mike Carrell my all time best cold fusion (and BLP!) friend invites me to the US including to a scientific symposium at Manchester. N.H. An unique opportunity for me. We hire a former nurse- to help my wife; the lady is a Jehovah’s Witness and tries hard to convince my desperate wife to join the sect, promising God’s help and reading from the Bible. And I go. It is only a week! Full of remorse, extremely stressed, confused but curious. So many years
I couldn’t travel at all. And I want to meet those cold fusion people.

I enjoy the hospitability of the Carrell family in New Jersey Mike drives with me to Philadelphia, Washington, New York and other interesting places; he is a very cultured and knowledgeable guide.

Mike is driving to North- the  colors of the leaves are really wonderful At Bow we meet with Gene Mallove, the great CF writer and journalist, so soon and so tragically dying some 6 years later. An enchanting personality!

The Manchester Symposium- many cold fusion people. My unforgettable friend Akira Kawasaki. Ed Storms speaks about "My Life with Cold Fusion as a Reluctant Mistress”Very reluctant indeed! It is the year 9 of the Cold Fusion Era – could we guess that we have to  wait so many years till a relative of cold fusion- Ni-H LENR will keep the initial great promise- the practical possibility of a real new energy source?

 

Somebody says something about “barking at the bad tree”- I cannot remember in which context. Suddenly I have a revelation and I imagine the stupidest metaphor ever. It is about the historic bad chance, a real curse: Fleischmann and Pons have discovered cold fusion using palladium, and palladium is NOT good for cold fusion.

I am thinking about the fact that the bulk and the surface of this noble metal are competing for deuterium, I am worried that the active sites

where cold fusion takes place are so very sensitive and easily deactivated and destroyed. Why have they used palladium?

Cold Fusion has so bad chances as a lion born at the North Pole”

Really idiotic metaphor- how can a pregnant lioness go to the North Pole? Who carries her there? Why? But metaphors must not be taken seriously, I even give a short speech about the idea that palladium can be a bad choice (Patterson’s Ni-H2O based electrolysis had not disappeared then) but nobody cared much. The Guinness Book is not recording stupid metaphors- in some extent alla are based on slippery logic- therefore I have not published it. But also could not forget it.

I traveled home, in February Robert died, I hold his hands and he tried to smile –his face destroyed by tumors one of these rupturing his carotid. I have learned how you die of cancer- dreadful. Many better choices.

 

Life has continued cold fusion too- in different ways Pd has not worked- gave a lot of interesting scientific results but energy source needs intensity, reproducibility, continuity and a few other sine qua non conditions that are technology and engineering.

In a way on palladium there is really arctic cold- lions cannot survive. Ni-LENR needs high temperatures. So has worked- with zero input- Piantelli’s 70W cell- for months, so were working the E-cats and E-kittens of Rossi in 5 demos.

Thinking about Lampedusa’s novel. I hope Piantelli’s noble Gattopardo proton reactor will work soon. It seems I suffer of metaphoritis and need to be cured.

Writing this essay I remembered how I have escalated the Everest of sadness in 1998. This writing was not kairos- at all.


Saturday, May 21, 2011

INFORMAVORE's SUNDAY No. 456

SEARCH

INTERNET

 

Online media is replacing newspapers and TV. Is that a bad thing?: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2011/0513/Online-media-is-replacing-newspapers-and-TV.-Is-that-a-bad-thing?cmpid=ema:nws:Weekend%20Weekly%20B%205-15-11&cmpid=ema:nws:NTI5OTYyOTAzMwS2


Best free apps to watch TV online:

Saving the media from itself:

 

A Long-Wave Theory on Today’s Digital Revolution: http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00074?gko=e0cf7&cid=TL20110519




SEARCH & FIND: What, where, how.  

 

Wendy Boswell How to Effectively Use a Search Engine: http://websearch.about.com/od/dailywebsearchtips/qt/search-engine.htm?nl=1

 

 

Wendy Boswell-  The Lazy Man's (or Woman's) Shortcut to Finding Good Content on the Web: Content Aggregators:




Best video search engine for online video watching:

Bing gets friendlier with Facebook: http://www.technologyreview.com/web/37585/?nlid=4480

Will Zanran be the Google for data?:

A kick ass guide to growing your website traffic online: http://blog.webdistortion.com/2011/05/15/grow-traffic-online/


Top 10 free software download sites:  
http://savedelete.com/top-10-best-free-software-download-sites.html                                  

BLOGS and SOCIAL SITES

Important and useful for research bloggers: http://researchblogging.org/static/index/page/help Thanks to Peter Matthews!

Unleashing social knowledge


A social network for making future plans:


This is your brain on Twitter:

 

10 creative social media resumes to learn from:



GOOGLE

Google boasts of 64 billion in economic impact:

Wendy Boswell- Google Advanced Search Shortcuts:

Six reasons why Chromebooks are a bad idea:

 

Why Google Chromebook's Success Depends Entirely on Apps:


Schmidt: “Elites’ not common men fret over Web privacy:

Google E-books gets dictionary, translation, search:

WORDS, BOOKS, LIBRARIES

Publishing Milestone: “Amazon Kindle E-Book Sales Top Print”; http://infodocket.com/2011/05/19/milestones-publishing-amazon-kindle-e-book-sales-top-print/

Video Presentation: “E-Book Wars: Ten Years Later”: http://infodocket.com/2011/05/18/video-presentation-e-book-wars-ten-years-later/



SCIENCE

 

Reading the Fine Print of Perception: Human Brain Learns by Interpreting Details, Study Shows: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110518121030.htm

 

Evolutionary Adaptations Can Be Reversed, but Rarely: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110511162538.htm


Mammals first evolved big brains for better sense of smell:

 

Standing Up to Fight: Does It Explain Why We Walk Upright and Why Women Like Tall Men?: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110518171343.htm



 

It's Not Easy Being Green: Scientists Grow Understanding of How Photosynthesis Is Regulated: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110518092046.htm


How speech patterns sway opinions : http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1rsbkw/www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13386885

 

Tracking the flow of knowledge. Study shows scientists’ location influences how widely their work is read and used for innovations.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/knowledge-flow-azoulay-0519.html

 

Earthquakes, Networks, and the Tricky Topic of Quake Prediction;

 

Biophysics of Snakebites: How Do Venomous Snakes Inject Venom Into Victim's Wound?: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110516121728.htm


Contaminants Can Flow Up Waterfalls, Say Physicists:



The Virtual Museum of Bacteria: http://bacteriamuseum.org/cms/

TECHNOLOGY

RAND –energy and environment:

 

Solar power The third way A new method of making electricity from sunlight has just been tested: http://www.economist.com/node/18678935


 

Do biofuels reduce greenhouse gases?

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/37609/?nlid=4500

 

Record Efficiency of 18.7 Percent for Flexible Solar Cells on Plastics, Swiss Researchers Report: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110519101355.htm


A worldwide nuclear slowdown continues: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/37595/?nlid=4488

 

Nuclear Catastrophe: How the lack of fundamental research on alternative energy led to a wrong energy policy

An open letter from an international group of scientists and engineers

 

Super Energy Storage: Activated Graphene Makes Superior Supercapacitors for Energy Storage: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110512150731.htm


World’s first 100-watt equivalent Led replacement bulb:

 

 

Splitting Water for Renewable Energy Simpler Than First Thought? Manganese-Based Catalyst Shows Promise: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110516102331.htm


A new source of green energy- LEDs:

Discovery could lead to faster computer clock speed:

Which technologies get better faster?:

Miracle material- graphene

EDUCATION, CULTURE, ART

I am a long-time reader and admirer of “The Painter’s Keys”,

Robert Genn ‘s wonderful newsletter. A special issue:

John Shea: Need for critical thinking can't be lost in education:\

 


 

Sharing Information Corrupts Wisdom of Crowds:

 

The real revolution- working with Nature vs. working against her:

http://smartpei.typepad.com/robert_patersons_weblog/2011/05/the-real-revolution-working-with-nature-vs-against-her.html

 

Flourish: A New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being — and How to Achieve Them by Martin Seligman — review:

 

Want to Stand Out From the Crowd? Be the Subject of Gossip: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/05/want-to-stand-out-from-the-crowd.html?rss=1


No concept of time: The Amazonian tribe where nobody has an age and words like 'month' and 'year' don't exist
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1389070/Amazon-Amondawa-tribe-age-words-like-month-year-dont-exist.html#ixzz1N3MnmKoT

 

ARTstore digital lbrary (needs subscription): http://library.artstor.org/library/rlogin.html


As Time Goes By, It Gets Tougher to Remember New Information:


BUSINESS

Problem solving 101:


Saying NO to the boss:

Lead like you, only better:

 


How to Write Nonprofit Mission Statements: http://nonprofit.about.com/od/nonprofitbasics/a/mission.htm


Future Babble: Why Expert Predictions Fail and Why We Believe Them Anyway:



HEALTH & MEDICINE

Increase in Internet Access Parallels Growth in Prescription Drug Abuse: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110512083149.htm


Sensing brain pressure without surgery: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/37579/?nlid=4476

Alzheimer\s risk gene disrupts brain wiring 50 years before disease hits: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/05/13/alzheimers.risk.gene.disrupts.brains.wiring.50.years.disease.hits

 

A Blood Test Offers Clues to Longevity: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/business/19life.html?_r=1

 

Researchers Identify New Dental Cavity-Causing Species:


Coffee linked to lower risk of fatal prostate cancer risk:

FOOD & COOKING

Can recipe search engines make you a better cook?

 

New Strategy for Drought Tolerance in Crops: Shutting Down the Plant's Growth Inhibition Under Mild Stress:


 

Beekeeper's Lament': A Rare Glimpse Inside the Endangered World of Beekeeping: http://www.alternet.org/story/150898/%27beekeeper%27s_lament%27%3A_a_rare_glimpse_inside_the_endangered_world_of_beekeeping?akid=6996.112117.KFa3X8&rd=1&t=15

 

Routine Periodic Fasting Is Good for Your Health, and Your Heart, Study Suggests: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110403090259.htm


MISCELLANEA

 

If you read this- then some people are dangerous false prophets: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/us/20rapture.html?_r=


End of the World, May 21, 2011:

 

The Enduring Appeal of the Apocalypse: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576319651374391440.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_5


Nice- thanks to Harry Veeder:


SELECTED NEWS

SPAM & SPYWARE   

 

Study Sees Way to Win Spam Fight



Anatomy of a spam Viagra purchase: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/26785/

VIRUSES & e-CROOKS

 


Six rising threats from cybercriminals:

Bob Rankin- who is watching you on the Web?:

Protect Yourself From SMiShing (SMS Phishing) Attacks


Windows scareware fakes impending drive disaster: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9216765/Windows_scareware_fakes_impending_drive_disaster

 

Man in the Browser attacks:

How Google Spies on Your Gmail Account (And How To Stop It):


WiFi

INTEL CEO- big shift to mobile:

Google wants to control your home (via mobile):