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Idle

+ - 187 Mozart and Bach Handel Subway Station Crime 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes "The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that transit officials have started to get a handel on subway crime when they started playing Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Strauss at the Lake Street light-rail station after neighborhood residents complained about the station becoming a haven for rowdy teens and vagrants. "If it encourages some people to wander away because it's not their favorite type of music, I guess that's OK," says Acting Transit Police Chief A.J. Olson. The program is modeled after one is Portland that has shown early signs of success, though the numbers are so small as to be statistically insignificant and even supporters of the music haven't reached a consensus on whether such environmental changes actually deter crime or just push it down the block. Not everyone is sold on using "lovely lovely Ludwig Van" as a deterrent. "Classical music lovers hate the fact that urban planners use classical music to disperse youth," says Minneapolis City Council Member Gary Schiff. "Does it chase crime away?" adds Olson. "It's hard to measure. But I do think it makes it a more pleasant place to wait for a train.""
Idle

+ - 197 "Goldilocks Ratio" Solves Da Vinci Ponytail Problem

Submitted by
garthsundem
garthsundem writes "If you shake your head at this news, Cambridge scientists can now predict the path of your ponytail swing. Really: the "Rapunzel Number" helps mathematicians calculate the effect of gravity relative to hair length, and in combination with other factors like the coefficient of human hair curviness, helps researchers predict the shape of any ponytail. "Our findings extend some central paradigms in statistical physics," one of the researchers is quoted saying. Bravo."
Idle

+ - 138 Most Ridiculous Appliance Awards - 2012->

Submitted by
oracle202
oracle202 writes "For our second annual “Most Ridiculous Appliance” Awards, we have an even more impressive lineup than last year.

Thermador Freedom Induction Cooktop – 3rd Prize

It’s hard to find something more ridiculous than a $5,000 induction cooktop. The Thermador Freedom Induction Cooktop is further evidence that Thermador has been moving in the wrong direction. Cheap marketing gimmicks over substance, this cooktop boasts an entire surface of induction magnets, allowing you to place your pan (any size, so long as it’s induction compatible) in any part of the cooking surface. Leave it to the engineers at Thermador to bring us a feature no one has ever asked for, while ignoring the many features we do ask for. While it’s touch screen controls are very pretty, this cooktop brings nothing new to the induction technology other than a useless gimmick and a stratospheric price tag.

Slated for release July / 2012.

Neff AirDeLuxe Wall Hood D99L11N0- 2nd Prize

I’m not sure if this one even requires commentary. The picture speaks for itself. Is it a wall hood or a cooktop mounted on the wall? This invention by Neff is a beautiful piece of modern appliance art mounted in the perfect position to get chipped and scratched by your cookware. My heart goes out to the poor cleaning ladies who will continually have to clean the splatter marks off the black glass backer. This hood is a obsessive-compulsives nightmare and its so ridiculous we just couldn’t resist. European-only, retailing for around € 1,800.

Fulgor’s Hidden Oven – 1st Prize

No one designs more ridiculous (and unreliable) toys as the Italians. The Fulgor CPLO6013TC, dubbed the “Lift”, is a full convection oven mounted into a cabinet much like a cooktop. One press of the button and it rises out of the top of your counter to greet you. This is ridiculous on so many levels, I’m not sure where to begin. For one, every single decent cook I know likes to peek through the window of the oven to check the progress of the food. Oh, and by the way, those pretty glass racks are not movable. So your food better fit.

And who doesn’t like hot food rising out of their counter-top? Or the risk of chopping off a finger when closing your oven door? In all fairness they do have a sensor to detect stray fingers. Which is mildly comforting. Price on this brilliant piece of cooking torture is a mystery to me, although it’s no doubt expensive."
Link to Original Source
Idle

+ - 163 Syrian President's email hacked... Password was 12345-> 1

Submitted by Nominei
Nominei writes "The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the Syrian President, aides and staffers had their email hacked by Anonymous, who leaked hundreds of emails online. Reportedly, many of the accounts used the password "12345" (which their IT department probably warned them to change when the accounts got set up, of course).

Link to original news article: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/bashar-assad-emails-leaked-tips-for-abc-interview-revealed-1.411445"
Link to Original Source
Idle

+ - 206 Zap your brain into the zone->

Submitted by
Morganth
Morganth writes "According to New Scientist, researchers at DARPA are investing efforts in transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) machines to cut the time it takes to train snipers.

From the article: "a 2-milliamp current will run through the part of my brain associated with object recognition — an important skill when visually combing a scene for assailants."

The story also serves as a nice explainer on the psychology of "flow" — the state that experts tend to enter (e.g. programmers, tennis players, pianists) when focusing on their work."
Link to Original Source

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