The Science of Procrastination - And How To Manage It (by AsapSCIENCE)
(via Brainpickings)
What a squid does when it listens to Cypress Hill.
Insane in the Membrane (Potential)
I’ll be over here, flipping out due to the sheer awesomeness of this.
In case you’re curious about what’s actually going on here, allow me to sprinkle some context on ya.
Nerve signals, whether they lead to squid chromatophore stimulation or muscle contraction, are essentially electric signals. Not in the sense that there are electrons flowing through your nerves like the wires in your house, but rather because of some very nifty ion gradients and voltages across cell membranes.
When an audio signal is converted to an electric signal, basically what happens inside a microphone, that electric voltage can be applied to tissues! The resulting voltage changes can trigger electrochemical signals, just like the chromatophores you see above.
What’s that? Not enough awesome for you? Well here’s a cockroach leg being stimulated by the Beastie Boys.
(via poptech)
360° Panorama, Curiousity
(via poptech)
There’s a crisis of access in this country,” says Richard Baraniuk, a computer and electrical engineering professor at Rice University. He’s talking about the rapidly increasing cost of college education, which includes not only tuition, but also room and board, class fees and, yes, textbooks. Estimates of how much students spend on textbooks in a given year vary widely, but most colleges’ financial aid websites peg the cost at about $1,000. Baraniuk thinks that cost should be reduced to zero. He’s been part of the open-source educational movement since 1999, when he grew frustrated with the book he was using in his electrical engineering class. He considered writing a book himself but had an epiphany as he learned more about the open-source operating system Linux. “I realized that we could take the same ideas–namely, modularity…and open-sourcedness, making it free and remixable–and apply that not just to software but to textbooks.
eBooks, free or otherwise, and eBook lending are part of the solution.
(via poptech)
Silence is still my favorite sound. When I turn my aids off my thoughts become more clear and it’s absolutely peaceful. I hope that one day hearing people get the opportunity to experience utter silence.
(Source: joshsternberg, via poptech)
Twitter is a gigantic and never ending dada poem.
Super Fantastic #2
There is something about knowing how the next three days of my life is going to be, by the minute. Breakfast at this time, lunch at that time, dinner at this time, scheduled bathroom breaks, a speaker here, a speaker there, and break out sessions everywhere.
Everything I will hear in the next seventy-two hours is most likely things I have heard before. Presentations will lack inspiration but most of us will give standing ovations because that is what is expected. People will eagerly take notes knowing they will never again look at them. Flattery will be floating throughout the room, “You were super! Just fantastic!”
Strange comfort that goes with having my life arranged by others, yet frightening all the same. At least I’m getting paid for my time here. Am I as guilty as someone who accepts bribes? Some poor guy somewhere is flying to one of these and is paying to attend independently. Why can’t I just be left alone to do my job?
I’ll be one of the last to arrive each day. This way I can reduce the amount of trifling conversation that I’m exposed to. I’ll be mysterious and distant like I don’t care. That is the new thing. Act like there is no care in the world, but still do a good job and treat people relatively well. This will elevate their interest level in me and will embody self-control.
