Interesting Links for 06-03-2013

[andrewducker]

• We Asked the Lunatic Fringe of UK Politics About Their Ideal Britain
  (tags: politics uk headdesk )
• David Cameron tells Cabinet: End cuts 'nimbyism' - the welfare state can't take all the pain
  (tags: politics uk welfare )
• The government has withdrawn controverial proposals on competition in the NHS
  (tags: politics uk nhs )
• New gene variant may

Comments

[cairmen]

Oh, god, that HN parody is so spot-on.

What is it that automatically means the top comment at HN is from some asshole who didn't read the post properly, I wonder?

[andrewducker]

I just clicked on 5 at random from the current front page, and most of them were reasonably related to the article, even if they were a somwhat tangential anecdote.

[steer]

I can't remember where I saw it but there was an article where the author put in a "if you have read this far, put the secret code word 'whiskey' in your reply to indicate it" 3/4 of the way down. I think it was 60 comments before someone did. (Exact word and number may vary).

[andrewducker]

Oh - and the discussion _on_ HN is hilarious:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5326511

[hirez]

The robot story, following the link to the robotic warehouse, and the recent footage of the Boston Dynamics breezeblock-lobber reminded me of this: http://thedailywtf.com/Comments/Caught.aspx

... Which has just stopped being fiction and started being a pretty handy business-plan.

I just can't work out if I've fallen into a McLeodian or Strossian universe.

[andrewducker]

Probably both, depending on how unevenly the future is distributed around you :->

[alitheapipkin]

I've been harassed by random men in the street for daring to walk around in public without a smile on my face. Especially in Glasgow for some reason...

[andrewducker]

I've had that too. Although not very often, thankfully.

[alitheapipkin]

Ah, so it does happen to men too then, I did wonder.

[andrewducker]

I suspect it happens less often, because most men don't make direct contact with unknown men, in case it causes violence. Making contact with unknown women is much less threatening.

[steer]

I have a pop up Karma Sutra based upon the Burton text. The pop up models are large and animate at the flick of a tab. Alas, for the pop up part, of the (IIRC) correctly 8 pop up positions, only three are possible if there's only two people: one of them requires an elephant with howdah and another a pair of slippers.

[fanf]

I am reminded of last week's radio 4 programme celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Meaning Of Liff, in which one of the favourite new definitions was:

Badger's Mount, n. A sexual position you knew wouldn't work, despite your partner's eagerness to try it.

[steer]

Oh... I was meaning to listen to that. Great definition.

[steer]

I can't see how the gown is fibonacci inspired, can you? It's topologically equivalent to a string vest (*). Presume they mean Fibonacci as in the Fibonacci series but I can't see any connection.

(*) Probably I don't have a career as a fashion critic.

[del_c]

I think "Fibonacci" is just a buzzword the Wired staff saw once in a coffee table book of mathematics imagery.

The principle behind the dress is just that of the bias cut, invented by Madeleine Vionnet and popularised by Coco Chanel in the 1930s. If they want a science connection they should name Siméon Poisson, of Poisson's Ratio fame.

[steer]

Oooh.... thank you. I didn't know any of that! Interesting stuff... I didn't know of the bias cut or the Poisson ratio -- google cured that.

[del_c]

Having scrutinised Ms Von Teese in the dress some more (tough job, but somebody's gotta do it), I don't see a Fibonacci spiral, such as described in The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants. That's the spiral you see in sunflowers, pine cones, and pineapples, and is caused by elements arranged around a centre at intervals of almost 222.5 degrees, which is the golden angle, the angular equivalent of the golden ratio. These give the visual effect of two sets of spirals going in opposite directions, each numbering one of two adjacent values in the Fibonacci series. (the ratio of two adjacent numbers in the Fibonacci series also converges on the golden ratio, as the numbers get large). I'd expect to see about 60% more spirals going one way than the other, and for the angles to be different for the two directions, like on these pineapples, and on the dress they look about the same. This is also a mistake made by sculptors of stone pineapples, always they make them symmetric