Euro Death-Knot
The flat overhand bend or “Euro Death-Knot” is widely used for joining two rappel ropes together. Because of its asymmetrical profile, the knot tends to rotate away from the rock. The flat side lays against the rock, which makes the knot pull smoothly across edges. To tie it, lay the two ends of the rope together, pointing in the same direction. Form the overhand knot in both ropes at the same time. Pull the knot tight, leaving long tails. Recommendations vary - most people suggest at least a foot of tail. Some people tie a figure-eight instead of an overhand. Some people use this knot for other purposes, such as joining two ends of a tied sling.
The failure mode of this knot is to invert flip / capsize / roll. This leaves topologically the exact same knot, just with shorter tails. You can observe this yourself. Tie a loose figure-eight knot and pull using a figure-eight makes it easier to flip. Youll have to help flip it around with your hands. If you do this enough times, you can make the knot roll all the way off the ends of the ropes, and youve got a failure.
Blackboard Bold
Blackboard bold is a typeface style often used for certain symbols in mathematics and physics texts, in which certain lines of the symbol usually vertical, or near-vertical lines are doubled. The symbols usually describe number sets. Blackboard bold symbols are also referred to as double struck, although attempting to produce them by double striking on a typewriter is unlikely to give satisfactory results. The symbols are nearly universal in their interpretation, unlike their normally-typeset counterparts, which are constantly reused.
In some texts, these symbols are simply shown in bold, and blackboard bold in fact originated from the attempt to write bold letters on blackboards in a way that clearly differentiated them from non-bold letters.
Dunning-Kruger effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They hypothesized that with a typical skill which humans may possess in greater or lesser degree,
1. incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill,
2. incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others,
3. incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy,
4. if they can be trained to substantially improve their own skill level, these individuals can recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill.
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Regex Hardware Accelerator
Tarari’s fifth-generation RegEx-CP now supports Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) and Streaming allowing network security vendors to create accelerated appliances from 10Mbps to 10Gbps.
Tartan (Plaid)
A tartan is a pattern consisting of crisscrossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven cloth, but are now used in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Celtic countries, especially Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns. Tartan is also known as plaid in North America, but in Scotland this word means a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder or a blanket.
A Tartan is made with alternating bands of coloured pre-dyed threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. The weft is woven in a simple twill, two over - two under the warp, advancing one thread each pass. This forms visible diagonal lines where different colours cross, which give the appearance of new colours blended from the original ones. The resulting blocks of colour repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines known as a sett.
Mozart’s Party Classic “Lick Me in the Ass”
Lick Me in the Ass (German: Leck mich im Arsch) is a canon in B-flat major composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, K. 231 (K382c), with lyrics in German. It was one of a set of at least six canons probably written in Vienna in 1782. Sung by six voices as a three-part round, it is thought to be a party piece for his friends.
I think this is the best Wikipedia link yet!
Math Programming Challenges at Project Euler
Project Euler is a series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems that will require more than just mathematical insights to solve. Although mathematics will help you arrive at elegant and efficient methods, the use of a computer and programming skills will be required to solve most problems.
The motivation for starting Project Euler, and its continuation, is to provide a platform for the inquiring mind to delve into unfamiliar areas and learn new concepts in a fun and recreational context.
Onions + Carrots + Celery = Mirepoix
Mirepoix is the French name for a combination of onions, carrots and celery (either common Pascal celery or celeriac). Mirepoix, either raw, roasted or sautéed with butter, is the flavor base for a wide number of dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces.
It’s also used in making Shepherds Pie
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GeoCrawler 2 (Lego Autopilot) Instructions
The main aim of this project is to both make the world’s cheapest full-featured UAV and the first one designed to be within the reach of high school and below kids, as a platform for an aerial robotics contest. Like the Lego FIRST league, but in the air.
Features: In GPS mode, unlimited pre-programmed waypoints, with programmable options such as circle and hold. Ability to integrate other sensors, such as ultrasonic, compass, gyros, accelerometers, or barometric pressure (altitude). With optional bluetooth cellphone integration, control via text message, including dynamical-changed GPS waypoints, “come home” and “circle” commands, etc.
This guy designed and built an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and used a Lego Mindstorm brick to control it!
GeoCrawler 2 (Lego Autopilot) Instructions - DIY Drones [via]
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Danger Room - Wired Blogs
My local shelter underneath a dingy apartment block looks pretty shabby beside the bunker intended to house the Senate and House of Representatives in the event of a nuclear war. Codenamed GREEK ISLAND, its location was a closely-guarded secret. But it was not out in the desert or at some impossibly remote wilderness spot. Incredibly, the Greenbrier Congressional Bunker was located beneath the plush Greenbrier Hotel (’defining luxury since 1778′) in White Suphur Springs, West Virginia. Its presence was kept secret even from hotel staff for some thirty years.