“…previous research that showed that people unconsciously judge the competence of an unfamiliar face within a tenth of a second, and he has moved it to the political arena. His lab tests show that a rapid appraisal of the relative competence of two candidates’ faces was sufficient to predict the winner in about 70 percent of the races for U.S. senator and state governor in the 2006 elections.

“We never told our test subjects they were looking at candidates for political office — we only asked them to make a gut reaction response as to which unfamiliar face appeared more competent,…The findings suggest that fast, unreflective judgments based on a candidate’s face can affect voting decisions.”…” Full Slice

Click for the movie.

Edge.org asked its usual crop of thinkers “What is your formula? Your equation? Your algorithm?“

Microsoft has added traffic aware routing. Not only does it do a terrible job recommending alternatives since apparently it doesn’t know much about arterial traffic, it also recommends illegal maneuvers.

Here is an example:

This also makes me wonder whether Roger Moss lied directly to my face…

I am finally able to write that the Baloneys have lost a great friend.

Robert “Bob” JACOBY Of Seattle, died unexpectedly Oct. 9th at the age of 56. Born in Vancouver, WA and grew up in Camas, WA. He attended the University of Washington graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources. Bob worked for Olympic Medical Corp in Seattle. He is survived by his two sisters, Paula Zicafoose and Mary Gibbs; and two brothers, Glenn and Jon Jacoby. Bob sat on the Board of Directors for Northwest Wilderness Programs, a non-profit organization whose goal is the preservation of Goldmyer Hot Springs.

Bob and I became very good friends over the last 16 years. I’m crushed by this loss and know that many other people are hurting as well.

“…Continuum, the name they’ve given to this car, is outfitted with U-shaped mirrors that intensify the sunlight, squeezing more energy out of every ray.

“We’re using the best solar technology on the face of the planet,”…“This is the first time this technology has been applied to a vehicle and it’s truly a breakthrough. It has the potential to revolutionize solar car technology,”…The “solar concentrator system” was designed and built by students. It’s the team’s answer to new rules by race officials seeking to slow the event by limiting the size of the solar array. The cars usually average between 50 and 60 mph during the race…but they’re capable of closing in on 90 mph….” Full Slice

Working in Haiti, Shawn Frayne, a 28-year-old inventor based in Mountain View, Calif., saw the need for small-scale wind power to juice LED lamps and radios in the homes of the poor. Conventional wind turbines don’t scale down well—there’s too much friction in the gearbox and other components. “With rotary power, there’s nothing out there that generates under 50 watts,” Frayne says.

“A…researcher has developed a powerful and innovative health advocacy program that uses photovoice, a combination of digital photography and storytelling, to empower minority teens to identify and address important health problems in their communities.

“Photovoice confronts a fundamental problem of community assessment: What professionals, researchers, specialists and outsiders think is important may completely fail to match what the community thinks is important,”…“Photovoice goes beyond the conventional role of community assessment by inviting people to promote their own and their community’s well-being,”…” Full Slice

“…Both the atmospheres of Mars and Venus are composed of 95% carbon dioxide, although Venus’s atmosphere is much thicker than the one at Mars. The American team suggested that the signature could be coming from an isotope of carbon dioxide, where one oxygen atom is ‘normal’, with eight protons and eight neutrons, while the other has eight protons and ten neutrons. Such an isotope makes up about 1% of carbon dioxide on Earth; the rest contains two normal oxygen atoms…The different weights of the oxygen atoms allow the molecule to alter its vibration in two ways simultaneously, whereas normal molecules can only change one state at a time.

This rare transition allows it to absorb even more energy and so contribute even more to the greenhouse effect on Venus….” Full Slice

“…”A lot of Americans might expect that global climate change would cause extremely high daytime temperatures in the summer,” he said. “But in Ohio at least, the high temperatures haven’t been changing — it’s the overnight low temperatures that have been creeping up. That means the average temperature over the 24-hour period is creeping up as well.”…” Full Slice

Access journal abstract

NASA, the European Space Agency, the Russian space program, and the Chinese space program are destabilizing the solar system and polluting the upper atmosphere.

Ethanol will cause starvation and not do anything to slow global warming.

Biodiesel puts out large particulate pollution that is bad for human health.

“SABLE-3 was launched on Saturday, August 11th, 2007, at 9:31 AM with a payload…that the Kaysam 1200 gram balloon carried to over 117,597 feet…” Full Slice (w/photos !) - Good science learning project for just about anyone.

“New scientific findings suggest that a large comet may have exploded over North America 12,900 years ago, explaining riddles that scientists have wrestled with for decades, including an abrupt cooling of much of the planet and the extinction of large mammals…The period in question is called the Younger Dryas, an interval of abrupt cooling that lasted for about 1,000 years and occurred at the beginning of an inter-glacial warm period. Evidence for the temperature change is recorded in marine sediments and ice cores…” Full Slice

Access paper in PDF format

“…a chance encounter between spacecraft Ulysses and Comet McNaught’s ion tail has scientists…marveling at a stroke of luck and some surprising data…Instrument readings showed there was “complex chemistry” at play…Not only did SWICS detect unexpected ions in the comet tail, it found that the tail had a major impact on the surrounding solar wind…”We’re still in the process of figuring out what it tells us…We’re contributing part of the whole puzzle.”…” Full Slice

I think the short version of this slice of baloney is that if you are beautiful, people only care what you say and not what you do.  “If you’re going to drive around in a big ol’ Hummer and then buy carbon offsets to mitigate that, that’s like getting drunk on the weekends and throwing some money through the window of an AA meeting and thinking you’re doing something.” Full Slice