Another bit of insight into animal languages from this AP story:
Nuthatches appear to have learned to understand a foreign language – chickadee. It’s not unusual for one animal to react to the alarm call of another, but nuthatches seem to go beyond that – interpreting the type of alarm and what sort of predator poses a threat.
[via TeresaCentric]
So you may have wondered why I’m so busy at work these days. Well, here’s the deal:
Eventful, Inc., the leading global events service, announced today that it would cease the operation of its popular Web site Eventful.com on May 1st in favor of next-generation interface Twitter, provided by Obvious Corporation of San Francisco. Twitter is a service which allows users to get instant update messages (“tweets”) from friends via SMS, instant messenger, Web, or by way of a number of custom desktop clients.
Once the commitment was made, it was surprisingly quick work to adapt the Eventful API to the new platform. Development of the Twitter-based service, dubbed Eventful Chicken, took just over a week to reach the public beta stage, including event search, recommendations, watchlists, reminders, and Eventful Demand (renamed “I wish they’d come here”). The service can be previewed currently at http://twitter.com/echicken.
There’s more, but you get the idea. Take a look and let me know what you think. I’m too tired to comment intelligently.
I’m sure this will come in handy someday soon. MIT researchers have created SpaceNet, a software tool for modeling interplanetary supply chains.
“Increasingly, there is a realization that crewed space missions such as the International Space Station or the buildup of a lunar outpost should not be treated as isolated missions, but rather as an integrated supply chain,” said [MIT researcher Olivier L.] de Weck.
While “supply chain” usually refers to the flow of goods and materials in and out of manufacturing facilities, distribution centers and retail stores, de Weck said that a well-designed interplanetary supply chain would operate on much the same principles, with certain complicating factors. Transportation delays could be significant–as much as six to nine months in the case of Mars–and shipping capacity will be very limited.
I can’t wait for the day when I can order spare parts online and have them delivered to my house on Mars.
[via Boing Boing]
British backtrack on Iraq death toll, from the Independent Online:
British government officials have backed the methods used by scientists who concluded that more than 600,000 Iraqis have been killed since the invasion, the BBC reported yesterday.
The Government publicly rejected the findings, published in The Lancet in October. But the BBC said documents obtained under freedom of information legislation showed advisers concluded that the much-criticised study had used sound methods.
The study, conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, estimated that 655,000 more Iraqis had died since March 2003 than one would expect without the war. The study estimated that 601,027 of those deaths were from violence.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” – Theodore Roosevelt