Go right

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Andrew

As one of the YouTube comments says, you can try and go left, but it never feels right.

Birds and their heads-up display, air plane cockpits and miles per hour explained

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Andrew

Scientists have found that some birds may have a ‘heads up display’ enabling them to navigate. They found this by assessing their ability to fly at night.

It’s well known that birds, such as the European Robin, can detect the Earth’s magnetic field in order to help them navigate on long migratory flights.
This ‘compass’ sense must be associated with the eyeball, because the birds cannot detect magnetic fields in darkness.
But now Oxford University and National University of Singapore scientists have shown that birds may really ‘see’ the invisible force of magnetism, giving them a compass on top of their normal vision: rather like aircraft ‘head up displays’ which overlay crucial navigation information on a transparent screen in front of the pilot.

Birds evolved compass ‘head up display’ [PhysOrg]

An innocent question on Quora morphed into an incredibly comprehensive explanation of just about every switch, lever and button on a Boeing 737.

Every airplane is different. Unlike learning to drive a car, you can’t just hop from one plane to another. A pilot needs familiarization (and in some cases, a whole new type of license) to fly a different kind of plane. Some are piston-powered; some are jet-powered. Some have electrically-driven controls; some are hydraulically-driven. Some have emergency oxygen; some don’t. And so on. All the switches, dials, and knobs in the cockpit control the various aircraft systems, and every aircraft has different systems.

What do all the controls in an airplane cockpit do? [Quora]

And finally, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this…

Everything Will Be A Coffee Shop, the Euthanasia Coaster and the World Record Paper Plane Flight

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Andrew

Stephen Gordon discusses the “Coffee-Shopisation” of everything from universities to shops.

My Christmas shopping this year was 90% through Amazon Prime. Not having to fight the crowds and having it delivered free of charge to my home is a big plus, but as with the Kindle store, the online retail selection is much better that even the largest retail outlet.
Which is more enjoyable: Starbucks or Walmart? For the sane: Starbucks. So if you can accomplish your Walmart shopping at Starbucks, why do it any other way?

In the Future Everything Will Be A Coffee Shop [The Speculist]

Julijonas Urbonas has designed a roller coaster so intense that it will kill you.

“Euthanasia Coaster” is a hypothetic euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster, engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a human being. Riding the coaster’s track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death.

Euthanasia Coaster [julijonasurbonas.lt]

And finally, the world paper plane distance record has been broken.

Steve Jobs wannabes, the end of the NFL and Schrödinger’s Cat explained

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Andrew

Joel Spolsky explains that some companies would be suited better to a bottom-up management approach. I really just love this article for the quote about people trying to emulate Steve Jobs (who was definitely a top-down manager).

And yes, you’re right, Steve Jobs didn’t manage this way. He was a dictatorial, autocratic asshole who ruled by fiat and fear. Maybe he made great products this way. But you? You are not Steve Jobs. You are not better at design than everyone in your company. You are not better at programming than every engineer in your company. You are not better at sales than every salesperson in the company.
It is not, as it turns out, necessary to be a micromanaging psychopath with narcissistic personality disorder (or even to pretend to be one) if you just hire smart people and give them real authority. The saddest thing about the Steve Jobs hagiography is all the young “incubator twerps” strutting around Mountain View deliberately cultivating their worst personality traits because they imagine that’s what made Steve Jobs a design genius. Cum hoc ergo propter hoc, young twerp. Maybe try wearing a black turtleneck too.

The Management Team [AVC]

An interesting article that envisages that the NFL may come to an end in the not-too-distant future due to the amount of head injuries and the flow-on effect from reduced participation in high schools.

Imagine the timeline. A couple more college players — or worse, high schoolers — commit suicide with autopsies showing CTE. A jury makes a huge award of $20 million to a family. A class-action suit shapes up with real legs, the NFL keeps changing its rules, but it turns out that less than concussion levels of constant head contact still produce CTE. Technological solutions (new helmets, pads) are tried and they fail to solve the problem. Soon high schools decide it isn’t worth it. The Ivy League quits football, then California shuts down its participation, busting up the Pac-12. Then the Big Ten calls it quits, followed by the East Coast schools. Now it’s mainly a regional sport in the southeast and Texas/Oklahoma. The socioeconomic picture of a football player becomes more homogeneous: poor, weak home life, poorly educated. Ford and Chevy pull their advertising, as does IBM and eventually the beer companies.

What Would the End of Football Look Like? [Grantland]

Finally, a one minute video explaining Schrödinger’s Cat. I’m a sucker for this style of YouTube videos. This is now one of my three YouTube subscriptions (the others being My Drunk Kitchen and Natalie Tran).