The four great inventions of ancient China were: papermaking, the compass, gunpowder, printing. I get the other three, but the compass?
They also invented lots of other stuff.
[via veryearly1@chucks_angels, 2/24/10]
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
typing special characters
[6/24/11] For a while (meaning years) I've been trying to figure out how to insert a bullet point in google docs. When I copy and paste from the Credit Suisse daily report the bullets turn into exclamation points. However once in a while, the copy and paste actually turns into a bullet. So I could copy and paste that, if I could remember in what document it was in.
Anyway, I finally figured out (googled successfully) how to do it. It's ALT-0149. Found from this list.
[4/16/15] Actually, it's easier to type in ALT-7.
[4/6/17] I haven't been able to figure out how to type a bullet point on my HP 2000 laptop (I think it's not possible). So I would google bullet point and copy and paste from that web page.
Here's another way via this 10 Amazing Websites video. Go to notengoenie.com and click on the bullet point (the last item on the fifth row). That copies it to your clipboard.
Anyway, I finally figured out (googled successfully) how to do it. It's ALT-0149. Found from this list.
[4/16/15] Actually, it's easier to type in ALT-7.
[4/6/17] I haven't been able to figure out how to type a bullet point on my HP 2000 laptop (I think it's not possible). So I would google bullet point and copy and paste from that web page.
Here's another way via this 10 Amazing Websites video. Go to notengoenie.com and click on the bullet point (the last item on the fifth row). That copies it to your clipboard.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Kasparov and computers
Garry Kasparov supposedly is reviewing the book Chess Metaphors, but it actually sounds like he's writing his history of the evolution computers in the chess world.
[link via brknews, 2/12/10]
[link via brknews, 2/12/10]
Monday, June 06, 2011
antimatter captured
Okay, so antimatter's nothing like lightning, really, but bottling it in a kind of containment field? Doesn't sound like the safest gig. More like something you'd catch Geordi La Forge trying during some wild hair zero-sum Star Trek plotline involving aliens, the Holodeck, rerouting power from life support, and a self-destruct sequence.
Thankfully nothing self-destructed when CERN researchers first created, then forced antihydrogen atoms to hang around for an unprecedented 16 minutes, 40 seconds. That's roughly 16 minutes and 40 seconds longer than the first attempt roughly a year ago, which only managed to snag antihydrogen for a trifling 172 milliseconds (about two-tenths of a second). The new results were published in Nature, impassively titled "Confinement of antihydrogen for 1,000 seconds."
Thankfully nothing self-destructed when CERN researchers first created, then forced antihydrogen atoms to hang around for an unprecedented 16 minutes, 40 seconds. That's roughly 16 minutes and 40 seconds longer than the first attempt roughly a year ago, which only managed to snag antihydrogen for a trifling 172 milliseconds (about two-tenths of a second). The new results were published in Nature, impassively titled "Confinement of antihydrogen for 1,000 seconds."
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