[TED Air] I like this TED talk. Paddy Ashdown: The global power shift http://www.ted.com/talks/paddy_ashdown_the_global_power_shift.html TED Air (http://goo.gl/2Aftm)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
isohyet -- rainfall and survival and good news
Isohyet- line on a map indicating rainfall patterns.
Below the 100-400mm isohyet land becomes uninhabitable.
11 african countries sign the great green wall initiative, a 15km wide 7000 km long green belt to stop the desert.
Below the 100-400mm isohyet land becomes uninhabitable.
11 african countries sign the great green wall initiative, a 15km wide 7000 km long green belt to stop the desert.
Arab Defense spending
German "tiger" attack helicopters to have combat debut in afghanistan this year
Saudis ordered $30bn of F-15s in december.
Oman ordered 12 F-16c/d block 50 falcon fighters on 14 december.
UAE ordered THAAD ballistic missile shield, first order outside the US.
Arabian 2012 defense procurement saudi 11.3, iran 6, israel 3.7, UAE 3 (bn euros)
Almost half of Saudia Arabia's 26 million are under age 20.
Saudis ordered $30bn of F-15s in december.
Oman ordered 12 F-16c/d block 50 falcon fighters on 14 december.
UAE ordered THAAD ballistic missile shield, first order outside the US.
Arabian 2012 defense procurement saudi 11.3, iran 6, israel 3.7, UAE 3 (bn euros)
Almost half of Saudia Arabia's 26 million are under age 20.
importance of cities, and pedestrians
From the Monocle article
21st century economy is city-driven, but political power is based on the 19-20th century model of the nation-state.
Cities, not nations, are the community of the 21st century.
% of world pop living in cities 1800--3%, 1950--30%, 2012--50% or more.
18% of global population generate 66% of global economic activity and 85% of scientific/technical innovation-- city dwellers
More people are killed by cars than by HIV, tb, or malaria.
97k pedestrians use main street NYC each day, and have 30% of the street space. 56k cars take the other 70%. Flushing main street
45% of trips in Chennai, India, are on foot or bike, yet attract only 3% of infrastructure spending
21st century economy is city-driven, but political power is based on the 19-20th century model of the nation-state.
Cities, not nations, are the community of the 21st century.
% of world pop living in cities 1800--3%, 1950--30%, 2012--50% or more.
18% of global population generate 66% of global economic activity and 85% of scientific/technical innovation-- city dwellers
More people are killed by cars than by HIV, tb, or malaria.
97k pedestrians use main street NYC each day, and have 30% of the street space. 56k cars take the other 70%. Flushing main street
45% of trips in Chennai, India, are on foot or bike, yet attract only 3% of infrastructure spending
vnote to text converter
I sometimes want the vnotes from my Androd Galaxy on my laptop. The file transfer is trivial, but the notes are sent in vnote 1.1 format.
I only want the note text, so I need to strip away the meta-info. Also, the text contains the unicode control characters =0A and =0D. I prefer to have line feeds.
The following BASH pipeline does the job:
where the $1 in the grep command refers to the vnote I want to extract.
I save the script in a file (vnoteextracter.sh) and make it executable.
Results are written to the command line.
I only want the note text, so I need to strip away the meta-info. Also, the text contains the unicode control characters =0A and =0D. I prefer to have line feeds.
The following BASH pipeline does the job:
grep 'BODY' $1 | awk -F: '{$1="";print $0}' | sed -e 's/=0D//g' -e 's/=0A/\n/g'
where the $1 in the grep command refers to the vnote I want to extract.
I save the script in a file (vnoteextracter.sh) and make it executable.
Results are written to the command line.
Principles of magic
Teller tells some secrets to smithsonian
- Pattern recognition (establish a pattern)
- Make the secret more trouble than the trick is worth
- Laughter stops critical thinking
- Keep the trick outside the frame
- Combine two tricks (or a second trick which "proves" the first)
- Nothing fools you better than a lie you tell yourself
- A choice implies that you have acted freely (think forced choice)
THE EFFECT I cut a deck of cards a couple of times, and you glimpse flashes of several different cards. I turn the cards facedown and invite you to choose one, memorize it and return it. Now I ask you to name your card. You say (for example), “The queen of hearts.” I take the deck in my mouth, bite down and groan and wiggle to suggest that your card is going down my throat, through my intestines, into my bloodstream and finally into my right foot. I lift that foot and invite you to pull off my shoe and look inside. You find the queen of hearts. You’re amazed. If you happen to pick up the deck later, you’ll find it’s missing the queen of hearts.
THE SECRET(S) First, the preparation: I slip a queen of hearts in my right shoe, an ace of spades in my left and a three of clubs in my wallet. Then I manufacture an entire deck out of duplicates of those three cards. That takes 18 decks, which is costly and tedious (No. 2—More trouble than it’s worth). When I cut the cards, I let you glimpse a few different faces. You conclude the deck contains 52 different cards (No. 1—Pattern recognition). You think you’ve made a choice, just as when you choose between two candidates preselected by entrenched political parties (No. 7—Choice is not freedom). Now I wiggle the card to my shoe (No. 3—If you’re laughing...). When I lift whichever foot has your card, or invite you to take my wallet from my back pocket, I turn away (No. 4—Outside the frame) and swap the deck for a normal one from which I’d removed all three possible selections (No. 5—Combine two tricks). Then I set the deck down to tempt you to examine it later and notice your card missing (No. 6—The lie you tell yourself).
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