Lookey Look!

In Defense of Critical Thinking

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:19:21 -0400

Should we heed the old saying, “Don’t discuss religion or politics,” or is such dialogue and intellectual work necessary for the health of our nation?

fuckyeahfluiddynamics: During a solar flare, magnetic field...

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:08:46 -0400

fuckyeahfluiddynamics:

During a solar flare, magnetic field lines on the sun are often visible due to the flow of plasma—charged particles—along the lines. According to theory, these magnetic lines should remain intact, but they are sometimes observed breaking and reconnecting with other lines. An interdisciplinary team of researchers suggests that turbulence may be the missing link. In their magnetohydrodynamic simulation, they found that the presence of chaotic turbulent motions made the magnetic line motion entirely unpredictable, whereas laminar flows behaved according to conventional flux-freezing theory. (Photo credit: NASA SDO; Research credit: G. Eyink et al.; via SpaceRef; submitted by jshoer)

steelopus: crookedindifference: The Engine Burns Blue This...

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:07:47 -0400

steelopus:

crookedindifference:

The Engine Burns Blue

This image shows a cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster in development at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., that uses xenon ions for propulsion. An earlier version of this solar-electric propulsion engine has been flying on NASA’s Dawn mission to the asteroid belt.

This engine is being considered as part of the Asteroid Initiative, a proposal to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. This image was taken through a porthole in a vacuum chamber at JPL where the ion engine is being tested.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

I spend half my time at work on ion propulsion so I’m into this NASA image of the day.

I love when Science Fiction becomes just Science.

archivesofamericanart: Summer is coming, which means it’s...

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:23:38 -0400

archivesofamericanart:

Summer is coming, which means it’s almost time to dust off those white shoes.

Edward Beatty Rowan in his Washington D.C. apartment, circa 1932 / Lewis P. Woltz, photographer. Edward Beatty Rowan papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

guernicamag: Yet even in peacetime, and even in a democracy,...

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:04:08 -0400

guernicamag:

Yet even in peacetime, and even in a democracy, corruption can have crippling effects.

via Mozambique’s Mining Boomtown- Guernica / A Magazine of Art and Politics

The fountain at its low point (at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture...

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:03:08 -0400

The fountain at its low point (at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden)

wandrlust: Project Echo inflation test, April 1960, Weeksville,...

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:50 -0400

wandrlust:

Project Echo inflation test, April 1960, Weeksville, NC.

inothernews: Wildlife biologist Chris Nadareski, foreground, of...

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:53:15 -0400

inothernews:

Wildlife biologist Chris Nadareski, foreground, of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, assisted by Port Authority structural specialist Pete Mizialko, holds one of four peregrine falcon chicks for banding, at a nest at the east tower of the George Washington Bridge, over the Hudson River, in New York, Tuesday, May 21. In the second photo, the mother bird is seen flying towards northern Manhattan. (Photos: Richard Drew / AP via NBCNews)

futurejournalismproject: To Strongbox or Not to Strongbox Last...

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:38:46 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

To Strongbox or Not to Strongbox

Last week we noted that the New Yorker launched Strongbox, an online system meant to preserve the anonymity of leakers submitting sensitive material to the magazine.

Strongbox is based on the work of Aaron Swartz and Kevin Poulsen and, as Amy Davidson noted when announcing its implementation, “Even we won’t be able to figure out where files sent to us come from. If anyone asks us, we won’t be able to tell them.”

Which is a good thing given recent news about the Justice Department’s surveilling of journalists and news organizations.

But can it be be a newsroom boon?

Writing at CSO Online, John P. Mello argues that while Strongbox “provides strong protection of the identity of a source, it removes an important element in the process: authentication.”

Here’s what he means:

A system where anonymous leakers are dropping documents into a folder has advantages when government investigators start probing a story’s sources, but it also creates tremendous disadvantages. “The government can’t come after you to find out who gave you the document because you have no way of knowing,” [Northeastern University assistant journalism professor Dan] Kennedy said.

“That gives more protection to the source, but it makes it harder to vet the document because you don’t know who gave it to you,” he said…

…”All sources, anonymous or not, have to be evaluated. That’s impossible to do without context. “Knowing your source’s motivations helps contextualize the information,” said Mark Jurkowitz, associate director for the Pew Research Project for Excellence in Journalism.

“A solution that prevents the news organization from knowing the identity of a confidential source has value, but it’s not an ideal solution because it is important to know the identity of the source to weigh the information,” he told CSO.

“Information supplied by a confidential source needs to be evaluated, weighed and understood in the same way that information of somebody speaking on the record does,” he added.

FJP: A tool is a tool. While Mello illustrates important drawbacks, if the alternative is no documents to work with then you work with the tools available. It’s just important to know going in what their limitations are.

Images: Independent Twitter posts via Nicholas Thomson and Kevin Anderson.

"A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody."

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:32:05 -0400

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”

- Thomas Paine (via hipsterlibertarian)

humansofnewyork: “What was your first impression of...

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:24:21 -0400

humansofnewyork:

“What was your first impression of America?”
“I wondered why everyone was rushing.”

theparisreview: “I’ve always believed what a person is should...

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:14:47 -0400

theparisreview:

“I’ve always believed what a person is should always begin and end with desire rather than what we call fact.”

Read more from Henry Giardina on Angelina Jolie, gender, and kindness.

Illustration by Loren Capelli.

More stuff (at Hill Center)

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:49:40 -0400

More stuff (at Hill Center)

Stuff (at Hill Center)

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:44:43 -0400

Stuff (at Hill Center)

Imposing, yet friendly (at Hill Center)

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:35:48 -0400

Imposing, yet friendly (at Hill Center)

usagov: Image description: Scientist Dmitry Polyansky examines...

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:45:18 -0400

usagov:

Image description: Scientist Dmitry Polyansky examines a vial containing a specialized catalyst designed to help convert solar energy into fuel. Producing clean-burning hydrogen fuel from just sunlight and water requires custom-built catalysts for water oxidation — the part of the water-splitting process that generates oxygen atoms. A tiny amount of the solid catalyst, developed in collaboration with the University of Houston, dissolves and turns the water that lovely shade of blue.

Photo from Brookhaven National Laboratory.

fastcompany: It’s no secret that the world’s ocean trash...

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:44:34 -0400

fastcompany:

It’s no secret that the world’s ocean trash problem is getting bad; looking at a handful of images from the Texas-sized Pacific garbage patch should be enough to convince anyone. As for all of our litter that doesn’t end up in the middle of the ocean? It often stays close to shore, where volunteers for Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup pick some of it up, cataloging all the items they find.

The 10 types of trash that are littering our beaches

rollingstone: Released on May 16th, 1966, rock’s first studio...

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:42:49 -0400

rollingstone:

Released on May 16th, 1966, rock’s first studio double LP by a major artist was, as Dylan declared in 1978, “the closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind… that thin, that wild-mercury sound.”

atlantahistorycenter: 1864 view of Whitehall Street (now...

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:22:02 -0400

atlantahistorycenter:

1864 view of Whitehall Street (now Peachtree) looking south from Alabama Street.

View Larger Map

fuckyeahfluiddynamics: Reader juleztalks writes: I’ve just...

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:28:07 -0400

fuckyeahfluiddynamics:

Reader juleztalks writes:

I’ve just entered an amateur triathlon, and there’s a whole load of rules about not “drafting” in the cycle stage (basically, not sitting in other cyclists’ slipstream). However, there are no such rules for the swim or run stage; I thought the effects would be the same from drafting other swimmers and runners. Any ideas?

As in many endurance sports, it’s all a question of energy savings from drag reduction. Drag on an object, like a triathlete, is roughly proportional to fluid density (air for cycling or running, water for swimming), frontal area, and the velocity squared. Because drag increases more drastically for an increase in velocity, it makes sense one would worry most about drag when one’s velocity is highest - on the bike.

Drafting has major benefits in cycling and can reduce drag on a rider by 25-40%. Aerodynamic drag accounts for 70% or more of a cyclist’s energy expenditure, so that reduction can really add up. The energy saved by drafting during cycling can even increase a triathlete’s speed during a subsequent running leg. So it makes sense for a sport’s governing body to be concerned with it.

That said, there’s plenty of room for drag reduction in swimming as well. Even though the velocities are much lower, water’s density is 1,000 times higher than air’s, generating plenty of drag for an athlete to overcome. For swimmers at maximum speed, drafting can reduce drag by 13-26%, depending on relative positioning. Such drafting has been found to increase stroke length and may (or may not) improve subsequent cycling performance.

Although a similar reduction in drag is possible by drafting when running, drag on a runner only accounts for about 8% of his/her energy expenditure so such savings would matters very little next to the swimming and cycling legs. There could be some psychological benefits, though, in terms of pacing oneself. (Photo credit: Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)