Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

If you’re going to use science, then please, really use the science… don’t act like something is science when its not…

The problem with being an amateur scientist is precisely the reason that marketers relish the opportunity to sell to us, the amateurs: we make stupid decisions, easily manipulated by those who might choose to do the manipulation (on their behalf or on ours).

The news here is not that people are irrational, giving too much credence to the dramatic and the local and the short-term (that’s not news), but that people have added a veneer of scientific rationality to their irrational decisions. Armed with Zagats or internet data or some rumor off Snopes, we act as though now we’re supremely rational choicemakers.

The amateur scientist (that’s us)

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

New issue of @linuxjournal is here – Ham radios and Linux

Posted on Natuba

The over-under is key…

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

I don’t know what the long term economics of this is, but if you’re in a pinch and have a paring knife you don’t mind destroying, this may work for you….

The demo of the multichannel PSK browser is particularly neat-o

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Somewhere along the line Comcast upgraded speeds in my area…

I dunno what’s going on with Comcast but here’s a plot of the signal levels from my cablemodem… the downstream power level is bouncing all over the place… so far, it doesn’t seem to affect my connection but its a bit odd…

I love Penn & Teller… and this is one of my favorite episodes of their show… I still chuckle every time I think about all the different recycling bins that roll out… 😀

(This is a full 30min epsiode – so you may want to earmark it to watch the whole thing)

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

I made it on Hack-A-Day today! cool!

[Richard] tipped us off about converting an iPod from a hard drive to a Compact Flash card. We actually did this a few years ago. Because we frequently buy broken electronics we had an old iPod 20GB with a broken HDD. Knowing we had seen one wire-porn type diy adapter and reported on another, a quick search produced a ready-made solution.

Roundup: simple hacks

Bouncing water – who knew?!

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

Note to self… next time I’m cranky, start making some major choices about important things!

In a bad mood? Don’t worry – according to research, it’s good for you.

An Australian psychology expert who has been studying emotions has found being grumpy makes us think more clearly.

Feeling grumpy ‘is good for you’

Posted by richardyoo on Natuba

So sad for the American car makers…

Paying more for a new car doesn’t guarantee better reliability. As a group, inexpensive small cars and midsized family sedans are the most reliable. That’s one of the findings of our 2009 Annual Auto Survey, based on our subscribers’ experiences with 1.4 million vehicles.

New Cars