Archive: December 14, 2013

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coolest photos of 2013

Saturday,  12/14/13  09:13 PM

It's the end of 2013, which means it's time to pick the coolest photos of 2013.

There are lot's of "best of" lists, and even some "lists of best of lists".  Consider this my picks of the best.
First, Reuters (a grim group, but I liked this one):

And next, Time (also very dark, so I went for this shark):

From Agence France Presse (more dark but also some pretty ones; I picked five):

And these, from the Roosevelts (yet more dark news, but some bright spots):

Buzzfeed's collection (a mix):

From CNN (too many grim pics, but some nice ones too):

And ... the Atlantic (really, a beautiful selection):

From Yahoo en Espanol (a nice collection, nicely displayed):

There are a lot of cool pics, but this has to be the coldest:

Finally, here's one of my favorites, sunrise in Monument Valley:

Onward to 2014!

 

 

Saturday,  12/14/13  11:42 PM

I have re-discovered Nevil Shute, and am now re-reading all his books on Kindle.  Excellent stuff.  They're all great, but my personal favorite is In the Wet, which is only about two rungs from the top of my ladder (just below Godel, Escher, Bach, and Cryptonomicon).  Currently reading Trustee from the Toolroom, also excellent...

This picture is for the Horse's Mouth; my Santa of the Day :)

My next nonfiction book: How to fail at almost everything.  I love Dilbert but I also love Scott Adams' blog; this seems like it will be great. 

I'm not a gamer - at all - but Monument Valley looks amazing.  iPad-only, which hardly even raises eyebrows anymore... 

Way cool: A jewel at the heart of quantum physics.  "The amplituhedron looks like an intricate, multifaceted jewel in higher dimensions. Encoded in its volume are the most basic features of reality that can be calculated, ‘scattering amplitudes,’ which represent the likelihood that a certain set of particles will turn into certain other particles upon colliding."  I don't know enough to know if this is "right", but something more elegant will eventually replace the particle zoo... 

Wow, Google have bought Boston Dynamics.  For some reason this isn't surprising.  Maybe they'll use robots to compete against Amazon's drones? 

Jon Evans thinks Amazon are building a "drone cloud".  Most interesting.  I didn't take this announcement too seriously, but maybe I should.  Amazon do not think small. 

Holy smoke: China have landed on the moon!  And now have a rover rolling around on it.  And what's more, the news coverage of this has been eerily silent.  What a time to be alive! 

 

 
 

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