tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528Mon, 19 May 2008 20:41:38 +0000http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/index.htmnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)Blogger129125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-4965030037344192823Mon, 19 May 2008 20:41:00 +00002008-05-19T13:41:38.475-07:00The uncanny valley is a hypothesis that when robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost, but not entirely, like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The "valley" in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot's lifelikeness. It was introduced by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970, and http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/05/uncanny-valley.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-2561266090236862362Thu, 15 May 2008 17:54:00 +00002008-05-15T10:55:05.958-07:00In microeconomic theory, an indifference curve is a graph showing different bundles of goods, each measured as to quantity, between which a consumer is indifferent. That is, at each point on the curve, the consumer has no preference for one bundle over another. In other words, they are all equally preferred. One can equivalently refer to each point on the indifference curve as rendering the same http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/05/indifference-curves.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-4277691707461507315Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:18:00 +00002008-04-25T17:19:04.173-07:00The Carnot cycle is a particular thermodynamic cycle, modeled on the hypothetical Carnot heat engine, proposed by Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot in 1824 and expanded upon by Benoit Paul Émile Clapeyron in the 1830s and 40s. Every thermodynamic system exists in a particular state. A thermodynamic cycle occurs when a system is taken through a series of different states, and finally returned to its http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/04/carnot-cycle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-2932051478064252389Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:51:00 +00002008-04-18T11:51:21.851-07:00Methane clathrate, also called methane hydrate or methane ice, is a solid form of water that contains a large amount of methane within its crystal structure (a clathrate hydrate). Originally thought to occur only in the outer regions of the Solar System where temperatures are low and water ice is common, significant deposits of methane clathrate have been found under sediments on the ocean floorshttp://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/04/methane-clathrate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-1251295468080954858Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:42:00 +00002008-04-16T17:42:13.037-07:00Received Pronunciation (RP) is a form of pronunciation of the English language (specifically British English) which has been long perceived as uniquely prestigious amongst British accents. About two percent of Britons speak with an RP accent in its pure form.[1] The earlier mentions of the term can be found in H. C. Wyld's A Short History of English (1914) and in Daniel Jones's An Outline of http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/04/rp.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-6996519640149707072Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:05:00 +00002008-04-05T10:06:13.460-07:00Basel II is the second of the Basel Accords, which are recommendations on banking laws and regulations issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The purpose of Basel II, which was initially published in June 2004, is to create an international standard that banking regulators can use when creating regulations about how much capital banks need to put aside to guard against the types ofhttp://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/04/basel-ii.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-4507013921879423950Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:16:00 +00002008-03-31T22:17:16.832-07:00Kordylewski clouds are large concentrations of dust that may exist at the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points of the Earth-Moon system. They were first reported by Polish astronomer Kazimierz Kordylewski in the 1960s, but there is still controversy as to whether they actually exist, due to their extreme faintness. It is thought by some that they could be a transient phenomenon as the L4 and L5 points arehttp://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/03/kordylewski-clouds.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-1514258161084777115Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:23:00 +00002008-03-16T10:23:40.336-07:00Generation Jones is a term that describes people born between the years 1954 and 1964. U.S. social commentator Jonathan Pontell identified the existence of this generation and coined the term “Generation Jones” for it.[1][2][3][4] Generation Jones has been referred to as a heretofore lost generation between the Baby boomers and Generation X, since prior to the popularization of Pontell’s theory, http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/03/generation-jones.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-2168877686655232802Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:01:00 +00002008-01-27T19:01:27.246-08:00S/PDIF specifies a Data Link Layer protocol and choice of Physical Layer specifications for carrying digital audio signals between devices and stereo components. The name stands for Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format (more commonly know as Sony Philips Digital Interface), the two companies being the primary designers of the S/PDIF format. It is more recently part of a larger collection of http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/01/spdif.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-696761494303597199Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:55:00 +00002008-01-25T09:56:22.143-08:00Nepenthes tenax (Latin: tenax = tenacious) is a lowland species of tropical pitcher plant native to northern Queensland, Australia. It is the third Nepenthes species recorded from the continent, and its second endemic species. N. tenax is closely related to the two other Australian Nepenthes species: N. mirabilis and N. rowanae. N. tenax grows to a height of around 100 cm with pitchers rarely http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2008/01/tenax.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-8856629562121271060Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:12:00 +00002007-12-06T08:13:37.400-08:00In aircraft construction, a Longeron is a thin strip of wood or metal, to which the skin of the aircraft is fastened. Longerons are attached to formers (also called frames), in the case of the fuselage, or ribs in the case of a wing, or empennage. In very early aircraft, a fabric covering was sewn to the longerons, and then stretched tight by painting it with dope, which would make the fabric http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/12/longeron.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-585794598904016851Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:24:00 +00002007-11-06T13:25:16.697-08:00Chloropicrin is a slightly oily, colorless or faintly yellow liquid of the formula CCl3NO2. Its freezing point is -69.2 °C and its boiling point is 112 °C, where it partially decomposes to phosgene and nitrosyl chloride. It is denser than water. It is more toxic than chlorine but less than phosgene. Chloropicrin vapor is highly poisonous if inhaled. Chloropicrin was used in World War I as a http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/11/chloropicrin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-1364191785288045407Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:20:00 +00002007-10-29T16:20:48.141-07:00The Ishikawa diagram (also fishbone diagram or cause and effect diagram) is the brainchild of Kaoru Ishikawa, who pioneered quality management processes in the Kawasaki shipyards, and in the process became one of the founding fathers of modern management. It is simply a diagram that shows the causes of a certain event. It was first used in the 1960s, and is considered one of the seven basic toolshttp://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/10/ishikawa.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-5328463809693248361Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:12:00 +00002007-10-16T18:12:26.719-07:00Grim trigger (also called the grim strategy or just grim) is a trigger strategy in game theory for a repeated game, such as an iterated prisoner's dilemma. Initially, a player using grim trigger will cooperate, but as soon as the opponent defects (thus satisfying the trigger condition), the player using grim trigger will defect for the remainder of the iterated game. Since a single defect by the http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/10/grim-trigger.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-5950992757398306178Sun, 16 Sep 2007 18:45:00 +00002007-09-16T11:45:19.260-07:00athey wagon (?ath·? ?wag·?n) (petroleum engineering) Equipment for fighting oil-field fires consisting of a track-mounted boom with a hook on the end that is used to remove debris, deliver explosives, or position a new wellhead.http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/09/athey-wagon.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-7486963620765653620Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:19:00 +00002007-08-06T08:20:08.397-07:00Orch OR (“Orchestrated Objective Reduction”) is a theory of consciousness put forth in the mid-1990s by British theoretical physicist Sir Roger Penrose and American anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff. Whereas some theories assume consciousness emerges from the brain, and among these some assume that mind emerges from complex computation at the level of synapses among brain neurons, Orch OR involveshttp://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/08/orch-or.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-7131286259416409898Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:51:00 +00002007-08-04T08:51:42.863-07:00National LambdaRail is advancing the research, clinical, and educational goals of members and other institutions by establishing and maintaining a unique nationwide network infrastructure that is owned and controlled by the U.S. research community. Ownership of the underlying optical infrastructure ensures the research community unprecedented control and flexibility in meeting the requirements ofhttp://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/08/lambda-rail.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-1039055622376398391Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:48:00 +00002007-08-02T10:49:07.504-07:00In ballistics or aerodynamics, an ogive is a pointed, curved surface used to form the approximately streamlined nose of a bullet, shell, missile or aircraft. The traditional or secant ogive is a surface of revolution of the same curve that forms a Gothic arch; that is, a circular arc, of greater radius than the cylindrical section ("shank"), is drawn from the edge of the shank until it interceptshttp://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/08/ogive.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-8913437496112596964Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:11:00 +00002007-08-02T06:12:06.020-07:00 The SEC has voted to remove the “short sale tick test”, Rule 17 CFR 240.10a-1 for all equity securities. Effective Friday, July 6, traders will be able to short all securities on an up, down, or zero tick. The following resource links provide more information on Rule 17 CFR 240.10a-1 and the SEC’s proposal to remove the rule. Speech by SEC Chairman: Opening Statement on Eliminating the Short http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/08/short-tick-rule.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-2062652602209849731Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:43:00 +00002007-07-10T07:43:53.062-07:00Congratulations to our good friend Bill Inmon for his inclusion on this Computer World article. Bill is in good company listed alongside of Edgar (Ted) Codd, IBM fellow and Father of the relational database, John J. Cullinane, Founder, Cullinet Software Inc. Creator of the packaged software market. And other IT luminaries. Check out the article for the entire list. Here is the write up on Bill.http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/07/bill-inmon.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-7648648456890071070Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:41:00 +00002007-07-10T07:42:12.148-07:00Amdahl's law, named after computer architect Gene Amdahl, is used to find the maximum expected improvement to an overall system when only part of the system is improved. It is often used in parallel computing to predict the theoretical maximum speedup using multiple processors. The generalized Amdahl's law is: where is a percentage of the instructions that can be improved (or slowed), is the http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/07/amdahls-law.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-2479904449111143167Wed, 23 May 2007 04:13:00 +00002007-05-22T21:13:45.819-07:00A Doo radio transmitter, officially known as a T-1151 radio transmitter, is a radio transmission device camouflaged as a pile of animal droppings or, in its most common form, a large single fecal dropping from an animal indigenous to the area of intended use. Regardless, the external form of the device was designed to discourage close examination and thus, detection or disruption. Initially http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/05/doo-transmitter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-8983754018410976349Wed, 16 May 2007 01:24:00 +00002007-05-15T18:24:45.347-07:00In 1911, the Vemork hydroelectric station in Rjukan started exploiting the tremendous power in the waters that flow from the mighty Hardangervidda down into the narrow Vestfjord valley. Norsk Hydro, Norway´s great industrial adventure, was born here, among the perilous cliffs and deep gorges. Late in 1938, Lise Meitner, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman discovered the phenomenon of atomic fission. http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/05/vemork.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-8977302811019897607Tue, 15 May 2007 14:37:00 +00002007-05-15T07:38:14.464-07:00In 1970, American economist George Akerlof wrote a paper called "The Market for 'Lemons,'" which established asymmetrical information theory. He eventually won a Nobel Prize for his work, which looks at markets where the seller knows a lot more about the product than the buyer. Akerlof illustrated his ideas with a used car market. A used car market includes both good cars and lousy ones (lemons)http://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/05/lemon-market.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831528.post-167733694678772695Wed, 09 May 2007 21:23:00 +00002007-05-09T14:24:41.230-07:00Concerns about global warming are fostering creative strategies for reducing our emissions of heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2). The most well-known approach, the Kyoto Protocol, came into force this past February, though without U.S. participation. As an alternative, several American policy makers have put forth emission reduction policies including the federal Climate Stewardshiphttp://www.mdcbowen.org/obscura/2007/05/cap-trade.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cobb)