Ana Nelson

Apr 16, 2008 9:58am

Wikipedia's Lamest Edit Wars

If you wanted to explain the Internet to aliens, this one page would do it.
Apr 15, 2008 10:50am
“ It’s no problem to apply a 0.2 Newton preload to a patch of gecko adhesive and drag it in a distal direction at one micron per second, but try asking a gecko to do the same thing with its foot. It’ll probably just bite you. ” - Kellar Autumn in a National Geographic article about Biomimetics
Apr 13, 2008 1:39pm
“ Java is a ceremonious language because it needs you to do several dances to the rain gods to declare even the simplest form of method. ” - Ola Bini on the distinction between essential vs. ceremonious languages.
Apr 9, 2008 1:56pm

The Monty Hall Problem

I had a very hard time accepting the truth of the Monty Hall problem the first time I heard it, but eventually I figured it out. When Monty Hall opens one of the two “other” doors, Monty Hall is INTRODUCING MORE INFORMATION INTO THE SYSTEM. He is not choosing a random door, he is choosing a door which he KNOWS does not have a prize behind it.

Apr 8, 2008 1:50pm
“ [count]<C-a> Increments the last number in URL by 1, or by count if given. ” - Accidentally discovered features are my favourites.
Apr 7, 2008 4:22pm
“ The guitarist attributed U2’s longevity to a consensus-based approach, which doesn’t appear to have happened entirely by accident - he cited a book called the Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod. ” - U2 endorse Agent Based Modelling. Sweet!!
Mar 28, 2008 3:15pm
“ He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme that if one of the numerous hold-ups - including staff car-parking problems, staff security screening and baggage delays - had happened “in isolation”, then the resulting travel chaos would not have been so severe. ” - Willie Walsh evidently thinks that you evaluate the robustness of systems based on how they handle problems in isolation.
Mar 27, 2008 7:44pm
“ When, in our heterogeneous community, a man and a woman decided to live together, and hence felt the need for a minimum of utensils to set up house, they went to Cantarella, holding hands. Without asking questions, he set to work, and in little more than an hour, with expert blows of the hammer, bent and twisted the tinplate into the forms that the couple desired. He did not ask for payment, but accepted gifts in kind, such as bread, cheese, eggs. In this manner, the marriage was celebrated, and in this manner Cantarella lived. ” - From The Truce by Primo Levy.
Mar 21, 2008 2:24pm
Mar 18, 2008 5:01pm
Page 2 of 11