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  • Ruddy Daggerwing Coloring Page

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  • Seguy Art Deco Designs 99

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  • 4k at the Frog Pond

    Short video testing Sony RM-VPR1 remote control with the Sony Ax-53. Slow steady zoom out, zooming in slow and fast short bursts. This remote works with various Sony camera’s and can zoom, turn on/off camera, as well as take photos. Recorded at 4k 29 frames/second, audio 2 channels 197kbps @ 48 kHz with builtin microphone. Auto settings including active stabilization. My back yard, midday. Not a review nor endorsement.

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  • Happiness as a psychiatric disorder

    From the Journal of Medical Ethics comes an article that is very much tongue in cheek about how disorders are classified. A whole other issue in the area of psychiatric classifications is how certain disorders seem to be ‘popular’, i.e. lots of people get diagnosed with a certain classification. From what I am told Bi-polar is all the rage for the last 15 to 20 years. Abstract from the article below.crazekitty

    A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder.

    Abstract

    It is proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder and be included in future editions of the major diagnostic manuals under the new name: major affective disorder, pleasant type. In a review of the relevant literature it is shown that happiness is statistically abnormal, consists of a discrete cluster of symptoms, is associated with a range of cognitive abnormalities, and probably reflects the abnormal functioning of the central nervous system. One possible objection to this proposal remains–that happiness is not negatively valued. However, this objection is dismissed as scientifically irrelevant.

  • Kathmandu & Water

    Haphazard urbanization and political wrangling are seriously affecting people’s ability to realize their right to water in Nepal’s capital city. According to the Nepalese government’s Central Bureau of Statistics, one in every five Kathmandu households has no access to a domestic water source and two-thirds of its urban households live with an inadequate water supply. waterhands

    Estimates show that the city of 4 million has a severe water deficit. The demand is triple the current supply of 106m liters a day , which further reduces to 75m liters a day during the dry season [PDF] . Despite growing demand, little has been done to increase supply. Read the full article at the Guardian.

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  • VOTER REGISTRATION LISTS (and who can see them)

    National Conference of State Legislatures has a list of how states provide information about their registered voters. Look up your state if you live in the US.

    VOTER REGISTRATION LIST

    This page provides 50-state information on access to voter lists. States have varied requirements on who is eligible to request a list of voters, what information the list contains, what information is kept confidential, and how information contained in voter lists may be used. Many states also have specific programs to keep all voter information confidential for certain classes of voters.

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  • PASSAGE OF STRANGE QUARK MATTER THROUGH THE EARTH

    I read this article a few years ago and it keeps poping up.

    SMU RESEARCHERS DESCRIBE TWO SEISMIC EVENTS WITH THE PROPERTIES FOR THE PASSAGE OF STRANGE QUARK MATTER THROUGH THE EARTH

    DALLAS (SMUNews) — Researchers from Southern Methodist University have described two seismic events that they believe may offer the first evidence of a previously undetected form of matter passing through the earth.

    This form of matter — known as “strange quark matter” — is so dense that a ton-sized nugget would be about the size of a red blood cell. Physicists have suspected since 1984 that this very heavy form of matter might exist, but no one has yet found evidence of it.

    In 1984, Harvard physicist and Nobel Laureate Sheldon L. Glashow suggested that one way such matter might be found would be if a physicist teamed up with a seismologist to search for traces of the matter that might have passed through the earth at supersonic speed. In 1993, SMU physicist Vidgor Teplitz asked Eugene Herrin, a seismologist in the Department of Geological Sciences in SMU’s Dedman College, to collaborate with him on the project. The two were assisted by David Anderson, a senior systems analyst in the Department of Geological Sciences, and Ileana Tibuleac, then a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geological Sciences.

    In a paper submitted to the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America and published online at http://xxx.lanl.gov/ (subject area: astrophysics), the SMU researchers describe how they found evidence of strange quark matter by searching through more than a million records of seismic events collected by the U.S. Geological Survey from 1990 to 1993 that were not associated with traditional seismic events such as earthquakes. These records of so-called “unassociated events” were collected from seismic stations set up around the world to monitor earthquakes and nuclear testing.

    In a paper previously published in 1995 (available online at http://cornell.mirror.aps.org/abstract/PRD/v53/i12/p6762_1), Herrin and Teplitz had determined that it would be feasible to search for seismic events that might indicate passage of strange quark matter (also known as nuclearites) through the earth because such events would have a distinct seismic signal — a straight line. This would be caused by the large ratio of speed to the speed of sound in the earth. Herrin estimates that strange quark matter might pass through the earth at 250 miles per second, 40 times the speed of seismic waves. The team also determined that the minimum requirement for detection of a nuclearite would be detection of its signal by seven monitoring stations.

    In their new paper, the SMU researchers describe two seismic events with the linear pattern they were looking for. One event occurred on Oct. 22, 1993, when something entered the Earth off Antarctica and left it south of India .73 of a second later. The other occurred on Nov. 24, 1993, when an object entered south of Australia and exited the Earth near Antarctica .15 of a second later. The first event was recorded at seven monitoring stations in India, Australia, Bolivia and Turkey, and the second event was recorded at nine monitoring stations in Australia and Bolivia.

    “We can’t prove that this was strange quark matter, but that is the only explanation that has been offered so far,” Herrin said.

    The SMU team is now trying to determine where the heavy quark matter may have come from. In April 2002, two different teams of scientists reported that they had identified collapsed stars that might be composed of ultradense strange quark matter. Scientists believe that chunks of strange quark matter might be created when stars made of strange quark matter collide.

    Unfortunately, Herrin notes, seismologists may not be able to find any more events that suggest the passage of strange quark matter through the Earth. In 1993 the U.S. Geological Survey stopped collecting data from “unassociated events” such as those that the SMU team used in its research.

    Related materials:

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  • Mindfulness: how to be present in the moment

    UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness joins William Mobley, MD, PhD for a discussion of how to be present in the moment and leverage the practice of mindfulness to stay engaged, focused, and fulfilled

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  • Fall Changes

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  • From the Play List Top songs I have listened to in 2015: Liv Lykke – Like a Rolling Stone

    I have a 16,000 plus digital audio collection and I use Media Monkey to manage my files. One feature of Media Monkey is you can sort your collection based on the number of times played. This playlist is based on the top music and/or music video files I played/listened/streamed from my server. 2015 Playlist HERE.

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