Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - April 1st
Oh April Fools, how I love thee...
I was admittedly a bit of a prankster in college. I perpetrated several different elaborate pranks just because, and on April Fools I tried to think "bigger."
For several years running on April Fools, I looked for a free-standing newspaper machine (like the one pictured here). I would switch 10 copies of the paper - 9 from the stack, and the one that was facing the world in the window - with ones from the previous year. (this prank took some serious planning!).
I would then take the 10 current ones, and return home with them, and save them for the following year.😏
And for the record, since this was a prank, not a theft, I also carefully considered how to ensure everyone came out "even" on the deal. I paid for the newspapers! (they only cost $.25 a the time, so I didn't see it as a big deal for a fun prank)
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I heard Supertramp's "The Logical Song" recently and kind of got the feels from it. Who would have thought a song that came out 45 years ago would have significance today? I was curious about the origin of the song and it's actual meaning, so I did a little googling. And thought I'd share. |
Here's a cautionary tale of how bad actors can infiltrate our lives through something innocuous - and that can spread in a terrible way. The short summary is that a guy downloaded a piece of software from the internet to his home computer. It had a trojan horse buried in it, and that allowed someone access to any and all personal information he had stored on his computer - and that wound up carrying over to his logins at the Walt Disney company; Disney suffered a data breach as an end result. (and of course, we all heard about that breach, but not how it came to be) The FBI got involved, and it was a whole thing. Its such a strange world we live in... And it should serve as a reminder to never download anything you don't trust from the interwebs. |
This is pretty cool. Previously, it was noted that Van Gogh used subtle maths in his paintings (link is in the attached article). But now, researchers are finding that Mondrian and da Vinci also used mathematics in their art. In da Vinci's case, it's not a huge surprise since his interests extended well beyond art. He was a tinkerer and an engineer of sorts. But it's interesting to see how he used that in his art. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/da-vinci-mondrian-art-hidden-math-b2699335.html  |
Sleeping and Alzheimer's |
While there is no certainty about whether taking sleeping pills would affect the onset of Alzheimer's, this study suggests that it "may" help.
But the finding more broadly shows that there is a link between sleep and the flushing of plaque buildup in the brain. And that piece of information is really interesting and surely will lead to more and better research and treatments for (or more precisely prevention of) Alzheimer's.
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-common-sleeping-pill-may-reduce-the-buildup-of-alzheimers-proteins-study-finds
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-common-sleeping-pill-may-reduce-the-buildup-of-alzheimers-proteins-study-finds
This story is really something. A teacher is told to remove an "everyone is welcome here" sign from her classroom - because that's who we are these days. She says no. It goes viral. The community comes out in support. They raise awareness. Sell tshirts. Get a lot of attention. Then, they have a community effort to write messages of inspiration in chalk on the sidewalk around the school, and the education department. The school board sees it and instructs the custodial staff to "remove graffiti left by vandals." The media picks it up, and asks why they had it removed. They actually said it was so that chalk wouldn't be tracked onto the carpeting. You just can't make this stuff up. |
The idea for autonomous grippers that could pick up space debris is pretty inspired. But my big question - and one of the things this article completely ignores - is what happens to the debris after its collected. |
Bonus item: Nicolas Cage said this during an acceptance speech back in January "But there is another world that is also disturbing me. It's happening right now around all of us: the new AI world. I am a big believer in not letting robots dream for us. Robots cannot reflect the human condition for us. That is a dead end if an actor lets one AI robot manipulate his or her performance even a little bit, an inch will eventually become a mile and all integrity, purity and truth of art will be replaced by financial interests only. We can't let that happen."
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