onemonkey.org

Can’t see a Coelacanth? Me neither

Caspar Addyman — Wed, 15 May 2013 03:19:30 +0000

These designs just popped into my head. Will someone please make them for me?

Sadly, it turns out that these beasts aren’t just ellusive, they are now also really endangered
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelacanth

A physicist’s take on the meaning of life

Caspar Addyman — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:12:28 +0000

Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist and a science communicator. He’s a cosmologist with a particular interest in understanding what time is. He is also a vocal atheist who spends a fair bit of his own time arguing with philosophers and theologians. Here’s what he has to say about the meaning of life.

.. the absence of meaning “out there in the universe” does not mean that people can’t live meaningful lives. Far from it. It simply means that whatever meaning our lives might have must be created by us, not given to us by the natural or supernatural world. There is one world that exists, but many ways to talk about; many stories we can imagine telling about that world and our place within it, without succumbing to the temptation to ignore the laws of nature. That’s the hard part of living life in a natural world, and we need to summon the courage to face up to the challenge.

From Particles to People: The Laws of Nature and the Meaning of Life | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine.

Carlton Mansions Eviction

Caspar Addyman — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:11:54 +0000

Lambeth council are acting very unreasonably towards my neighbours in Carlton Mansions. Brixton Buzz have the story here.

I’ve written to the Coldharbour Ward councillors.

Dear Councillors Anyanwu, Heywood & Parr,

I am writing to express my concern and disappointment with the way the council is treating my friends and neighbours in Carlton Mansions. The council appears to be acting with unnecessary and possibly even vindictive haste, attempting to evict residents at extremely short notice after a recent fire assessment. As i understand it the residents intend to dispute the assessment but have not been given any time to prepare their case.

The Carlton Mansions co-operative represents a successful and extremely long standing example of community living. As I understand it the tenants have already agreed that they will be moved on nearer the time of the redevelopment of Somerleyton Road. This action unnecessarily disrupt the lives of the families in Carlton Mansions. At least one child under two will be affected by this eviction. The council makes much of its claims to be a ‘co-operative council’. Therefore, I cannot see why the council is chosing to act in this manner. It makes me feel like the interests of developers are being put ahead of the interests of long term members of the community.

Moreover, this callous and high-handed way of dealing with residents sends an ominous message about the councils commitment to a genuinely community -based redevelopment of Somerleyton Road. I for one will now be watching all your actions a lot more carefully.

Yours,

Caspar Addyman
Southwyck House
Clarewood Walk
London
SW9

Help Yourself

Caspar Addyman — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:42:16 +0000

I wrote a novel.

Help Yourself - Amazon.co.uk

Help Yourself (Kindle) – Amazon.co.uk

weeeeee

Caspar Addyman — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:18:36 +0000

Slow burner

Caspar Addyman — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 23:40:22 +0000

Around 25 years after first attempting it, I have finally learned how to smoke.

There’s hope for us all.

Poorest hit hardest as Rio prepares to profit from World Cup and Olympics

Caspar Addyman — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:35:43 +0000

A couple of independent filmmakers have released this partially completed documentary charting the corruption connected with Rio’s megasports preparations. Favelas are being cleared by very underhand means with the police and militia illegally forcing people out of their homes so that developers can build and profit from the forthcoming World Cup 2014 and Olympics 2016. The film is unfinished because the story is still unfolding but they need money to keep going. Telling the story as it is happening may also prevent even worse injustices from happening. Please watch and share.

Public Domain (Domínio Público) – English Subtitles from Paêbirú Realizações on Vimeo.

Sometimes?

Caspar Addyman — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 14:07:05 +0000

.. But SECRETLY I’m hoping they get hit by a car.

PostSecret: Sunday Secrets.

From Disney Imagineer to killing thousands of mice with cancer

Caspar Addyman — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 02:10:37 +0000

It seems unlikely that supergenius Danny Hillis was unhappy with his time as a Disney ‘Imagineer’ . Where, according to this week’s Nature, he got to do very cool things like design themepark rides. But I wonder what Mickey thinks about Danny’s new job; killing a lot of mice with cancer.

Cancer research kills a lot of mice but in the following video Danny explains that he’s going to another level. It’s the result of a pinoneering approach that applies big data to bioscience. Together with oncologist David Agus, he’s bringing data science wizardry to proteomics, the study of the proteins associated with gene-expression.

First they built robots to automate and replicate blood protein analysis on level of unprecedented detail and precision. This prompted a holistic approach to solving cancer. “Cancer should be a verb”, argues Hillis because cancer is a process not a thing. The disease model of medicine works for problems caused by “things” like viruses or bacteria but it will break down for some like cancer. Cancers are more a kin to a process running out of control, so it doesn’t make sense to treat all brain cancers and say liver cancers as seperate groups based solely on where they occur. But to track the differences and the similarities you need data. a lot of it. So enter Danny’s army of tens of thousands of doomed mice. (Skip to 34:45 to hear about the dead mice.)

Nature Megadata: The odd couple

Danny Hillis talks Proteomics & Personalized Medicine – YouTube.

Understanding cancer through proteomics: Danny Hillis on TED.com

Language learning tools and tips

Caspar Addyman — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:00:24 +0000

Here are few tips, tricks and useful sites that I am finding helpful in learning Brazilian Portuguese. I’d be interested in hearing your suggestion too.

1. Self paced learning

a.Don’t if any one saw this article in the Guardian today (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/nov/09/learn-language-in-three-months) It promotes a scientifically proven way of learning vocabulary efficiently and a website that lets you do the same. http://www.memrise.com/

I’ve only started using it but it seems quite good.

b. Smartphone users can get software that does the same thing. On Android I use a flash card program called Wise Cards (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.tea.wisecards) which varies the items it tests you on according to how well you are learning them. The app costs a few pounds but then lets you link to websites that have loads of sets of vocab cards (the Quizlet site seems best Top 1-500 Words Portuguese is good as is Portuguese Irregular Verbs.)

I’ve used this program a lot for learning Dutch and now Portuguese. It is a brilliant tool to let you learn on the go. If anyone wants me to, i can demonstrate it on my phone and show you how to get it working.

2. Language Immersion for Google Chrome.

If you use Google Chrome and want to sprinkle a bit of Portuguese through your regular web browsing I recommend this extension

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/language-immersion-for-ch/bedbecnakfcpmkpddjfnfihogkaggkhl

Install it, select your chosen second lanuage and your current level of expertise. Then for every site you visit it will use google translate to change some of the words into portuguese. this way you are learning whenever you are reading online. If you don’t know the word you can click on a word or phrase shows you the original English.

Video explanation here.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/02/google-language-immersion-chrome-extension/

3. Google translate.

Hopefully everybody has already found this

http://translate.google.com/

4. Subtitles for music and tv

Like Jana said, listening to songs is a great way to learn a language This site is a good place to go.

http://letras.mus.br/

It has loads of Brazilian music videos, all with a full set of lyrics and most with subtitles.

Meanwhile, if you watch a lot of downloaded tv or fims. Why not add some Brazilan Portuguese subtitles? This site is very handy for finding subtitles for american TV series.

http://legendas.tv/

5 Soap Operas.

How about getting hooked on Brazilian soap operas? I’ve started watching the recent hugely popular Avenida Brasil. The country virtually ground ot a halt when the last episode aired in October. I don’t understand much of what is said but it’s so melodramatic that you usually guess what they mean even if you don’t know what they are saying. It’s very entertaining and exposes you to real Brazilian Portuguese.

You can find all 90 episodes online here

http://www.filmesonlinegratis.net/assistir-avenida-brasil-todos-capitulos-novelas-online.html