Cryptome repeats a US Dept of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration report on a security breach at a LNG facility in Lynn, MA, USA., which well displays the human capacity to ignore machines, and indeed everything around them. The report says: “A recent breach in security at an LNG facility shows the need…
Instead of the usual some thoughts at Christmas or year-end review, heres something about statistics, modelling and probability. My local church magazine recently had an article about Dr Stephen Unwin, author of The probability of God. This book uses Bayesian statistical methods to suggest a 67% probability that God exists. The Reverend Thomas Bayes was…
An article in Cell reports a new simulation of the way cancer cells develop; MaxHealth website says the research: “represents a “sea change” in how biology is done.” It looks at the impact of the micro-environment on cell growth. Sea change or not, the paper (“Tumor Morphology and Phenotypic Evolution Driven by Selective Pressure from…
According to a report in the Independent, “US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan – an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed – that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand.” What does this tell us about the US militarys (largely simulation-based) training? I dont know, but Ive felt for some…
Science news describes a new method of simulating the growth of snowflakes. This is more complex than it seems and raises wider issues. The article describes various attempts to simulate snowflakes. Some algorithms, eg by Stephen Wolfram, have relatively simple rules: cellular automata generate a pattern according to a rule that takes into account the…
Having recently spent an evening trying my hand (literally) at plaster casting, I was fascinated to read that, for the Victorians, this technology was as exciting and popular as digital reproduction is for us. In a pre-Benjamin age, it raises many of the same questions about the reproducibility of works of art, and the value…
Not much on the blog this month. One of the reasons why is here. Ive been working on several projects this month. One is a Javascript based digital artwork – or maybe its just an exercise in using RGB colours, done to develop my limited Javascript skills. Please note it only works in IE, sadly…