RTFA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_falling

IF proposes that the scientific explanation of gravitational force cannot explain all aspects of the phenomenon, so credence should be given to the idea that things fall because a higher intelligence is moving them. Furthermore, IF asserts that theories explaining gravity are not internally consistent nor mathematically reconcilable with quantum mechanics, making gravity a “theory in crisis”. IF also makes the claim that gravity is “only a theory”, parodying the claims made by creationists regarding the theoretical status of evolution. Pretend IF apologists advocate that IF should be taught in school along with the theory of gravity so that students can make “an informed decision” on the subject in accordance with demands to “teach the controversy”.

Eh hehehehe.

RTFA: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-c…

Learn how to create digital-certificate chains to test your software. IBM Software Engineer, Paul H. Abbott, clarifies this seldom-documented process by showing you how to use the freely available OpenSSL toolkit to create a certificate chain of any length. He also describes common certificate attributes and shows you some sample Java code for reading the certificates you create into a Java keystore.

If you’re developing Java software that relies on public key infrastructure (PKI) for security, you often need to create digital-certificate chains (also known as certification paths) for testing purposes. This is a relatively simple task but one for which clear documentation is scarce. This article describes how to create arbitrary-length certificate chains using the open source OpenSSL toolkit (see Resources). You’ll also learn about some common certificate attributes and examine a sample program that reads certificates into a Java keystore.

…it seems like there has been some strange stuff happening in the SSL world, so this will probably come in handy…

RTFA: http://dataportability.org/

Standardized Data Portability is the next great frontier for the web.
As users, our identity, photos, videos and other forms of personal data should be
discoverable by, and shared between our chosen tools or vendors. We need a DHCP for
Identity. A distributed File System for data. This page will list the standards and
contributors who are making it happen.

Interesting project in the works…

RTFA: http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

The Last Question
by Isaac Asimov © 1956

The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21,

2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question
came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened
this way:

Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of
Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the
cold, clicking, flashing face — miles and miles of face — of that giant
computer. They had at least a vague notion of the general plan of relays
and circuits that had long since grown past the point where any single
human could possibly have a firm grasp of the whole.

RTFA: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jan/07/person…

Clarkson, 47, writing in his column in the Sunday Times, decried the furore last year after CDs disappeared containing the banking details of 7 million families. The loss led to fears of mass identity theft with people’s bank accounts open to internet scams. At the time he wrote: “I have never known such a palaver about nothing. The fact is we happily hand over cheques to all sorts of unsavoury people all day long without a moment’s thought. We have nothing to fear.” However, yesterday he told readers he had opened his bank statement to find a direct debit had been set up in his name and £500 taken out of his account. “The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again,” he said. “I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake.” He added: “Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy.”

Oh, the irony.

Regarding privacy, If you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about, right?

Perhaps the point is that it’s not about what you’ve done - it’s what someone else can do with information that they would not otherwise have access to.

RTFA: http://www.steorn.com/forum/comments.php?Discussio…

@Al,(so much for pivots, I guess. At these speeds we would probably need springs “pulling” in the opposite direction just to overcome the centrifugal forces … sigh)OK. I’m now calling this the Alsetalokin effect. Might as well give Nick some recognition too.Back to business. I have been looking at the fields in my head, yeah tripping a bit, if you will. There are a couple things I’d like to see you try to improve on the effect:1) As I’ve already mentioned, smaller, lighter, bearings should allow you to horizontally align stator and rotor magnets and to get a cleaner field interaction and allow the stator magnets to respond quicker to the changing magnetic fields.2) I think you should build a new base with a 12-stator configuration. The effect you discovered may not require the odd/even ratios so essential to my initial concept. I think a more symmetrical configuration may allow you to get 2 stators going in sync, maybe even more. A 12-stator base will allow you to try things with 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12 stator configurations. With the rotor size you are using, I currently think 4 stators might be the best choice. With more stators, I think they might be too close together (although with lower mass stators you might be able to get more out of it with these dimensions).3) Smaller stator magnets might also help with reducing mass and improving stator response. You might try :http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D42DIA orhttp://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D48DIA4) And then there is the possibility that the sharper edges on cubical magnets might actually enhance the effect, so you might want to consider them as well (square mount holes in round stators?). Say something like:http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=B444B

Okay. This is either the greatest Alternate Reality Sci-Fi I have experienced yet, or there is something totally cool going on at the Steorn forum.

BoingBoing linked the following video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PIvZJ9xGutI

This video is either a fascinating physical phenomenon, or it is a hoax. Given that most of the action in the forum has taken place over the last two weeks, and given the endlessly long history of previous hoaxes, there’s good reason to be a skeptic. For example, I’d like to see the bottom of the unit.

Nevertheless, this is totally neat looking, and great science fiction in the event that it is an elaborate hoax.

[EDIT 2008-01-22]
The “Alsetalokin effect” has been replicated! No one has created a compelling explanation for the acceleration of the rotor, but there are now several videos on YouTube regarding it!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tknwdltnB6s

There is no claim that energy is created through this effect (it’s obvious that a lot of energy goes in to start the process) but this is a totall novel effect, none-the-less.

[/EDIT]