Monday Links from the Gap Between Teams Meetings vol. DCLXIII

[NickFitz]

Yes, I know it's late again. I am quite busy at the moment

• How Do You Make the Perfect Toy? - ”Fads come and go, but how to create a toy that stands the test of time is the billion-dollar question” A look at the serious business of fun.
• What reionized the Universe, and when? - ”When did the Universe first become transparent? It’s a weird question, but an important one. The Universe started off opaque, but became transparent some time after, and remains that way even today.” Phil Plait considers the question of why we can see anything out there.
• The Eternal Life of Beached Whales - ”Sure, they stink, but when we hastily dispose of dead whales, we’re depriving myriad organisms and the coastal environment of the ecological gifts the carcasses deliver.” The new King might want to give this matter some consideration, given that he owns them.
• What on earth is a xenobot? - ”The more we understand how cells produce shape and form, the more inadequate the idea of a genomic blueprint looks.” Fun with frog cells
• Secret Life of a Leftist Doomsday Prepper - ”When it comes to preparing for the end of civilization, gun-loving red-staters aren't the only ones taking matters into their own hands.” This one pre-dates the pandemic; I wonder how they got on?
• Back to the Club - ”This year's 160th anniversary of the working men's club movement went widely unnoticed – but at a time when community spaces are closing and the price of a pint is hurtling up, its history is one worth remembering.” Pete Brown on the long history of the CIU.
• Are We “Brain Washed” during Sleep? - ”New research from Boston University suggests that tonight while you sleep, something amazing will happen within your brain. Your neurons will go quiet. A few seconds later, blood will flow out of your head. Then, a watery liquid called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) will flow in, washing through your brain in rhythmic, pulsing waves.” Turns out your sleep cycle is a rinse cycle
• A 31,000-year-old grave in Indonesia holds the earliest known amputation patient - ”The discovery of a young adult who lived for years with an amputated leg pushes back the first documented limb surgery by 20,000 years.” Not so primitive after all
• Predicting turbulence – improved weather forecasts and £1.25 million annual savings for MoD - HT to Netraider for this study into predicting turbulence: ”The research modelled highly localised `rotor streaming' turbulence which is too small-scale to predict using today's numerical weather prediction models. The Met Office now uses the highly efficient 3DVOM computer prediction model, based on the Leeds research, to improve its operational weather forecasting, especially for providing warnings of `gustiness' to the public and airports and to highlight risks of overturning of high-sided vehicles.”
• Huge Investment in Vain - ”The most expensive unfinished nuclear reactor in the world – Crimean NPP.” Might as well let the Russians keep this bit if they still want it
  
  

Happy invoicing!

[Zigenare]

Yes, I know it's late again. I am quite busy at the moment

• How Do You Make the Perfect Toy? - ”Fads come and go, but how to create a toy that stands the test of time is the billion-dollar question” A look at the serious business of fun.
• What reionized the Universe, and when? - ”When did the Universe first become transparent? It’s a weird question, but an important one. The Universe started off opaque, but became transparent some time after, and remains that way even today.” Phil Plait considers the question of why we can see anything out there.
• The Eternal Life of Beached Whales - ”Sure, they stink, but when we hastily dispose of dead whales, we’re depriving myriad organisms and the coastal environment of the ecological gifts the carcasses deliver.” The new King might want to give this matter some consideration, given that he owns them.
• What on earth is a xenobot? - ”The more we understand how cells produce shape and form, the more inadequate the idea of a genomic blueprint looks.” Fun with frog cells
• Secret Life of a Leftist Doomsday Prepper - ”When it comes to preparing for the end of civilization, gun-loving red-staters aren't the only ones taking matters into their own hands.” This one pre-dates the pandemic; I wonder how they got on?
• Back to the Club - ”This year's 160th anniversary of the working men's club movement went widely unnoticed – but at a time when community spaces are closing and the price of a pint is hurtling up, its history is one worth remembering.” Pete Brown on the long history of the CIU.
• Are We “Brain Washed” during Sleep? - ”New research from Boston University suggests that tonight while you sleep, something amazing will happen within your brain. Your neurons will go quiet. A few seconds later, blood will flow out of your head. Then, a watery liquid called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) will flow in, washing through your brain in rhythmic, pulsing waves.” Turns out your sleep cycle is a rinse cycle
• A 31,000-year-old grave in Indonesia holds the earliest known amputation patient - ”The discovery of a young adult who lived for years with an amputated leg pushes back the first documented limb surgery by 20,000 years.” Not so primitive after all
• Predicting turbulence – improved weather forecasts and £1.25 million annual savings for MoD - HT to Netraider for this study into predicting turbulence: ”The research modelled highly localised `rotor streaming' turbulence which is too small-scale to predict using today's numerical weather prediction models. The Met Office now uses the highly efficient 3DVOM computer prediction model, based on the Leeds research, to improve its operational weather forecasting, especially for providing warnings of `gustiness' to the public and airports and to highlight risks of overturning of high-sided vehicles.”
• Huge Investment in Vain - ”The most expensive unfinished nuclear reactor in the world – Crimean NPP.” Might as well let the Russians keep this bit if they still want it
  
  

Happy invoicing!

Idle Working Men's Club!

[d000hg]

Interesting article on the CIU; I never knew it was originally launched as a teetotal vision for working classes to better themselves.
We have several very locally being in whippets and ferrets land, but they are very much the rough stereotype - no surprise in deprived ex-mining villages I suppose.
Quite a few mine and mill owners had similar visions for their workforce though - providing night school education and decent living conditions but typically in return for strict views on things like alcohol and church attendance, as many were puritans.

[Netraider]

My flight back from the Falklands last Friday was delayed 10 hours due to "Rotors" as discussed in the Predicting Turbulence article. My entire trip home home instead of taking about 19 hours of flying took two and a half days due to a medical emergency, incompetence in the airport in Rio De Janeiro, a hole in the runway at Cape Verde and a host of other f@@k ups.

[NickFitz]

My flight back from the Falklands last Friday was delayed 10 hours due to "Rotors" as discussed in the Predicting Turbulence article. My entire trip home home instead of taking about 19 hours of flying took two and a half days due to a medical emergency, incompetence in the airport in Rio De Janeiro, a hole in the runway at Cape Verde and a host of other f@@k ups.

Glad to hear you got back safely in the end!