132
POPS104 Performance Tips for Windows XP. The topics are in the clip. Visit the source for the 99 individual tips and how to do them. Updated Source Link As Of 10-29-06, thanks paul: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1681
27
POPSThe Internet Is a Brain There is a lot we can learn from the brain and it can tell us where the Internet is headed next. There’s nothing magical in the brain (at least that we’ve found thus far), and yet it delivers all our mental capabilities, and emotional ones as well – that’s a very intriguing thought. After all, just as there is no particular reason for this lump inside our heads to appreciate fine wines and music, cry, laugh, reason, love, daydream, and aspire to greater things, there is no reason why silicon or some other fundamental substance (maybe even carbon some day), could not be coaxed into creating something similar.
24
POPS3-D Viewing without Goofy Glasses As with earlier techniques, the illusion requires specially-created content to start with. In this case, a digital movie file effectively has two frames for each ordinary movie frame. The first is an ordinary color image, identical to what would be seen on a two-dimensional screen. A second frame, rather than showing a second offset view, encodes information about how viewers should perceive depth in the first frame. It appears as a grayscale version of the first, with white indicating foreground objects, black denoting deep background, and shades of gray indicating points in between.
21
POPSHYPERPOLITICS (AMERICAN STYLE) A Talk By Mark Pesce The power redistributions of the 21st century have dealt representative democracies out. Representative democracies are a poor fit to the challenges ahead, and 'rebooting' them is not enough. The future looks nothing like democracy, because democracy, which sought to empower the individual, is being obsolesced by a social order which hyperempowers him.
18
POPSSwitching it up: How memory deals with a change in plans The answer is "both," according to researchers at The Johns Hopkins University, who have learned that two different areas of the brain are responsible for the way human beings handle complex sets of "if-then" rules. "This discovery may eventually lead to enhanced understanding of psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit disorder, all conditions in which a person's ability to remember and change such rules is impaired," "This indicates that different parts of our brains store different kinds of memories and information," Courtney said. That, she said, "provides clues about how the human brain accomplishes complex, goal-directed behaviors that require remembering and changing abstract rules, an ability that is disrupted in many mental illnesses."
17
POPSBritish Library in London ONLINE! "Not everyone has the ability to journey over to the British Library in London, but anyone with a good Internet connection can journey through the pages of this august institution's most prized volumes. The Turning the Page site brings together digitized version of over a dozen sumptuous tomes for the web-browsing public and curious scholars. Visitors can page through the first atlas of Europe (compiled by none other than Mercator), view William Blake's famed notebook, and take in the genius of Mozart's Thematic Catalogue, complete with musical examples. Additionally, visitors have the ability to take a look through newly added materials, such as a 15th century Lisbon Hebrew Bible and an Ethiopian bible from 1700. "
15
POPSThe Most Complex Object in the Universe!!! The Human Brain by Sylviada Fox 9. How do the specialized systems of the brain integrate with one another? 10. What is consciousness? Think back to your first kiss. The experience of it may pop into your head instantly. Where was that memory before you became conscious of it? How was it stored in your brain before and after it came into consciousness? What is the difference between those states An explanation of consciousness is one of the major unsolved problems of modern science. It may not turn out to be a single phenomenon; nonetheless, by way of a preliminary target, let’s think of it as the thing that flickers on when you wake up in the morning that was not there, in the exact same brain hardware, moments before. Neuroscientists believe that consciousness emerges from the material stuff of the brain primarily because even very small changes to your brain (say, by drugs or disease) can powerfully alter your subjective experiences.
14
POPSSpace Experts Call for ‘Fewer Astronauts, More Robots’ The suggestion sure makes a lot of economical sense. Resources should be focused to develop better technologies to carry load into orbit and beyond, because this is the real bottle neck of space exploration as of now. On the other hand, we cannot overlook the fact that sending men and women to space, ignites the imagination and inspires the coming generations. Space is the next frontier of adventure and mystery. The myth and the story are not less important than the economical aspect.
13
POPSApples New iPhone / iPod "It's really thin, thinner than any smartphone. 11.6mm, thinner than the Q and the BlackJack, all of them. Ring and silent, volume up and down." 9:53am - "We have a 2 megapixel camera built right in, let's take a look at the top. A headset jack, 3.5mm, SIM tray, and a sleep-wake switch. Let's look at the bottom, we've got a speaker, mic input, and an iPod connector."
13
POPSYankees Go Home: US 'diplomacy' in Ecuador Did anyone imagine that the last fascist state in South America, Columbia could cross Ecuador's border without sanction of the Yankee master. I hadn't known about the primary reason for the US stirring it with Ecuador previously. I hadn't know the the US lease is up on its Ecuador and wouldn't be renewed unless Ecuador could have a similar base in Miami!!! The nerve of Correa! Did you know of this affront to Bush imperialism? I'd say he's getting off light with the blatant incursion into his territory! Probably only round one.