Interesting Links for 07-03-2016

[andrewducker]

Spotify launches Fresh Finds playlists for undiscovered artists (tags: spotify music ) Technological breakthrough for cheaper lighting, flexible solar cells (tags: lighting Technology ) Monkeys learn to drive wheelchairs with their thoughts (tags: cybernetics monkey Technology brain ) Iron Fist, racial casting, and narrative tropes (tags: race

Comments

[momentsmusicaux]

I've a feeling I said this before when you posted something similar, but new technologies in lighting are appearing quicker than the lifespan of items of the existing tech! I just bought an LED bulb for my cooker hob that's meant to last 5 years. Looks like it'll be obsolete by then.

[andrewducker]

But does it matter if it's obsolete? So long as it works, you're good.

The only issue will be if it's not replaceable in five years time, and lighting connectors/plugs seem relatively stable, so even if you can't replace it identically, you should be able to replace it with something compatible.

[momentsmusicaux]

True, it doesn't. I think I'm carrying the mentality of the custom PC builder / tech enthusiast in general around with me: 'I just bought this and there's already better???'

And yes, light connectors haven't changed in years. They add new ones every so often, as I think the little bayonet our kitchen ceilings lights have are fairly new. But the extractor hood was chandelier type, and those have been around for decades.

[randomdreams]

It may when probably the single best selling point of an LED light is that it'll last 20 years: if that's fifteen years after whatever it has been attached to has been thrown away, the "buy LED's! for moar durability!" idea takes a hit.

[naath]

Resting heart rate> It was my understanding that low resting heart rate is correlated with physical fitness, and it would seem likely that in order to commit violent crime one needs some physical fitness...

(and since when is it unpleasant? (mine is 56-60, and it is not at all unpleasant!))

[anton_p_nym]

Yeah, I had a resting pulse of 60-64 back in the day and didn't find it unpleasant in the least; that explanation is hooey, or at the very least specific to individuals.

-- Steve concurs that this is likely a consequence of other activities, such as participating in contact sports, favoured by aggressive people.

[ext_208701]

I'm below 50. Probably best to keep away from me :-)

[randomdreams]

I was thinking the same: young, physically active people are likely to be more successful in violence than older or less fit people.

[gonzo21]

~suspects the vast majority of bitcoin mining set-ups look like pyramids~

[bart_calendar]

Russ Heath should do a kickstarter where he makes comics based on Lichenstein's paintings.

[andrewducker]

I'd back that.

[bart_calendar]

Who wouldn't?

Dude can't buy a fucking bottle of wine.

[bart_calendar]

What I don't get is why the MET doesn't just give him a million bucks to put up his old sketches next to the lichenstein prints based on them.

Museum goers would love that, the MET would get great publicity, and the attendance would easily go up enough to cover it.

[danieldwilliam]

What would one use the new lighting for?

The article assumed more background knowledge than I have.

[andrewducker]

Well, it looks like we're reaching the point where light can be generated from flat sheets.

At which point I'm wallpapering my ceiling with it, and having my home lit by a general glow, rather than a point source.

[danieldwilliam]

Ah - it's the flatness of it that is the thing.

I was sort of thinking that they did something with the flat material to make it in to a lightbulb and wondering how that would be better (and perhaps it is better).

I can see the use of flat lights. Not sure I personally would want to turn my ceiling into a giant flat light. I'd need to think about that. There are certainly some areas where I'd prefer not having shade or pools of light and dark.

If one could make the lights different colours at a fine resolution one could do some really cool ceiling mosaics. That would be awesome.