The world according to Chris

…long time no hear, aber hier ist es auch gerade echt crazy: am samstag gehts fuer 2 monate auf den field trip nach mexico und die letzten wochen war im prinzip nur vorbereitung UND labor arbeit (…no stress here ;) )… ich bin auf jeden fall total gespannt auf das spawning: wenn s in der nacht in die tiefe geht und alle korallen geben zur gleichen zeit eier und spermien ab und die boesen biologen fangen sie alle auf … uff!

hab jetzt auch meinen ersten offiziellen 4th of july erlebt. ich glaube die meisten amis wissen nicht genau was der tag eigentlich bedeutet aber hauptsache frei (ist im prinzip wie in deutschland ;) ). naja, durch diverse simpsons episodes war ich ja schon darauf vorbereitet, dass alle riesenboeller kaufen und das megafeuerwerk veranstalten….not so in california, da ist das naemlich verboten und ich wuerde das nach deutschen massstaeben bestenfalls als tischfeuerwerk berzeichen (raketen sind ueberhaupt total verboten….kann einem ja eine auf den kopf fallen…ha!). spass gemacht hat s trotzdem: es gab southern cuisine bei nem freund, was so viel heisst wie: alles in einen topf mit heissem wasser (kartoffeln, mais, wurst, prawns), kochen, und dann auf zeitung auslegen und essen…lecker…ausserdem gab s green fried tomatos…auch lecker! gekocht wird uebrigens nach internet und nicht kochbuch, sprich der laptop steht neben dem herd.

ansonsten musste ich mich hier ausgiebig mit california s backyard wildlife beschaeftigen. wir hatten einen skunk im garten (sehr witzig!): null respekt und lassen sich nicht einschuechtern, sondern bauen sich eher frontal vor einem auf … ok, er hat gewoennen, ich bin reingegangen. ausserdem spinnen, grosse, im haus, kein spass: natuerlich wollte ich dann wissen, was das fuer spinnen sind und dann faengt man und sieht was hier in california nativ so alles rummacht: brown recluse spider, black widow spider, hobo spider, mouse spider, wolf spider, etc pp … alle gross, alle eklig, alle nicht ungefaehrlich (check http://www.termite.com/spider-identification.html). hab unsere spinnen dann letztendlich auf wolf spider bestimmt (still not sure, see picture), das ist eher ne zahmere art, aber sollte man auch nicht ueberreizen. naja, die lezte woche war keine mehr zu sehen.

letzes wochenende war ich dann nochmal in san francisco und diese stadt ist einfach geil. weil immer was los ist. wir waren in nem ‘biker’ schuppen und das sind bars mit FAHRRAD Abstellplaetzen. die sind jetzt total auf das Rad gekommen…ha! ausserdem haben die Bars alle deutsche namen (zeitgeist, gestalt, etc) und deutsches bier: glaubt es oder nicht aber in der, in der wir waren gabs reissdorf koelsch. das bild ist bei nem kumpel auf der kamera (I could prove it!). am naechsten tag hat ne beer company ein open air im golden gate park veranstaltet…auch unter dem motto Fahr Rad!

so much for now. i am on my way to mexico (deshalb nochmal ein bild von mir und der UC Merced!).

Blogger and Microsoft employee Derek Dysart has posted a great tip for automatically dating every new entry in a text file edited with Notepad.

1. Open a blank Notepad file
2. Write .LOG (in uppercase) in the first line of the file, followed by Enter. Save the file and close it.
3. Double-click the file to open it and notice that Notepad appends the current date and time to the end of the file and places the cursor on the line after.
4. Type your notes and then save and close the file.
5. Each time you open the file, Notepad repeats the process, appending the time and date to the end of the file and placing the cursor below it.

btw: simply pressing F5 in Notepad will insert the date and time once.

here we go productivity :)

via

At first glance, the silhouette is spinning clockwise. but you can reverse the spinning.

Here are some hints:

* You have to look down at the shadow, keep your eyes there for some seconds and then slowly move your eyes upward. Sometimes my brain even changes the direction when I look at different parts of the figure. Dont stare at her, keep your eyes moving up and down.

* when she turns clockwise she has the right foot up.. when counter-clockwise its the left foot.. just tell yourself which foot is up and she will turn in that direction…

It totally works for me and with a lil training you can become quite fast at making her do right or left turns ;) … please spent some time trying, you will be paid off ! you re welcome to leave responses !

via

ever got a telephone number and wanted to know more ;) … at npa.rmlabs.net you can find out where the phone is coming from (i.e. where the person lives in most cases) which sounds amazing to me.

Of course scientists are after all empiricists, so I tried it with my own cell phone number and: it worked!

fakenamegenerator.com provides fake names … ok that was obvious but at this site you get the whole thing including credit card number and SSN. That s not too bad, I think ;)

MYTH: It Doesn’t Matter Where You Sit

“One seat is as safe as the other.”
-Boeing Web site

“It’s an age-old question. There’s just no way to say.”
-Federal Aviation Administration spokesman

“There is no safest seat.”
-airsafe.com

REALITY: It’s Safer In the Back.

There is actually some hard data out there that proves that it DOES matter where you sit. That’s the conclusion of an exclusive Popular Mechanics study that examined every commercial jet crash in the United States, since 1971, that had both fatalities and survivors. The raw data from these 20 accidents has been languishing for decades in National Transportation Safety Board files, waiting to be analyzed by anyone curious enough to look and willing to do the statistical drudgework.And drudgework it was. For several weeks, Popular Mechanics statistical analysis pored over reports filed by NTSB crash investigators, and studied seating charts that showed where each passenger sat and whether they lived or died. They then calculated the average fore-and-aft seating position of both survivors and fatalities for each crash.via: consumerist.com

Populists may harvest some pleasure from the fact that First Class passengers are paying a premium for an increased 20% likelihood that they will die when the airplane plummets to the earth. Ha!

Is a full night of sleep a waste of time? No, numerous studies show dramatic performance impairments after sleep restriction, and a new study now indicates that sleep deprivation diminishes the brain’s ability to form new memories.

via: Current Biology

finally an explanation for what most of us assumed all the time anyway:

people who have little knowledge systematically think that they know more than others who have much more knowledge

this is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect and has in fact a sound scientific basis (from Wikipedia.org):
Dunning-Kruger effect is the phenomenon whereby people who have little knowledge systematically think that they know more than others who have much more knowledge.

The phenomenon was demonstrated in a series of experiments performed by Justin Kruger and David Dunning, then both of Cornell University. Their results were published in the Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology in December 1999.

…

In a series of studies, Kruger and Dunning examined self-assessment of logical reasoning skills, grammatical skills, and humor. After being shown their test scores, the subjects were again asked to estimate their own rank, whereupon the competent group accurately estimated their rank, while the incompetent group still overestimated their own rank.Meanwhile, people with true knowledge tended to underestimate their competence.

…

It has to be noted that some more work by Burson Larrick and Joshua Klayman has suggested that the effect is not so obvious and may be due to noise and bias levels.

please check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect for full article and references

haha…this is a nice blog from passiveaggressivenotes.com that deals with notes that all share a common sense of frustration that’s been channeled into written form rather than a direct confrontation.

The following note contains a fairly detailed explanation of lord kelvin’s formulation of the second law of thermodynamics and a helpful diagram when it fact it s about dumb people that don t close the window while using A/C.

via: passiveaggressivenotes.com/