I'm rusty and running late. Oh well.
Thanks to the whole crew, half of whom are new since I took my latest LOA. ;-)
When physicists play Pictionary
Scientists are often mocked for their fanatical, and often obscure, obsessions. Take this study, published in the American Journal of Physics, for example. This paper describes in great detail how to draw an elephant using mathematical equations. The solution involves a series of clever tricks, a couple of Fourier series, and results in a fairly cute elephant (see below). But, you may be asking yourself, “Why an elephant?” Well, according to the authors of the study, this feat has been bandied about for a long time, but never actually achieved. “A turning point in Freeman Dyson’s life occurred during a meeting in the Spring of 1953 when Enrico Fermi criticized the complexity of Dyson’s model by quoting Johnny von Neumann: ‘With four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk.’ Since then it has become a well-known saying among physicists, but nobody has successfully implemented it.” Till now, that is!
I was hosting a party at which a friend shouted the word "tectonic plates" during ?Pictionary. I replied "that is not a word most Americans would know." This was pre-Netscape 1.
Utah School Graded (by Legislature)
As an example, Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, pointed to West High School, which received an automatic F grade because it did not have a 95 percent participation rate in testing. Regardless, he said, the school would have gotten a D grade because of its poor performance.
The Salt Lake City high school is known in part for its International Baccalaureate program for students with strong academic skills. But Niederhauser notes its graduation rate, which was 72 percent in 2012, but lower for some subgroups of minority and lower-income students.
"They’re failing a huge population of their students," Niederhauser said. "...The IB program is a beautiful paint job covering up some pretty big problems."
Dumb-ass legislature. All the SLC schools with brown kids had lower grades. I heard ksl.com had an overlay with economic data, but I couldn't find it. I know the lege hates on SLC, but couldn't they find a way to not be totally transparent about their hate?
One Dowry Death Per Hour in India
One woman dies every hour in India because of dowry-related crimes, indicating that the country's economic boom has made demands for dowries even more persistent, women's rights activists say.
The National Crime Records Bureau says 8233 women were killed across India last year because of disputes over dowry payments given by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage.
The conviction rate in dowry-related crimes remained a low 32 per cent, according to statistics the bureau published last week.
Indian law prohibits the giving or receiving of a dowry, but the centuries-old social custom persists.
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Dowry demands often continue for years after the wedding.
Each year, thousands of young Indian women are doused with petrol and burned to death because the groom or his family felt the dowry was inadequate.
Germany May Prosecute 30 Former Auschwitz Guards
Germany's central office for investigating Nazi war crimes on Tuesday announced that it was recommending the prosecution of 30 alleged former guards at the Auschwitz death camp for accessory to murder. The announcement was made by Kurt Schrimm, head of the special prosecutors' office in Ludwigsburg, which focuses on German war crimes committed during World War II. It could touch off a number of new trials almost seven decades after the end of the Holocaust.
Schrimm announced in the spring that his office had launched a significant push to bring former death camp guards to justice. Tuesday's recommendation relates only to those who could be identified as having worked at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp located in present-day Poland. Additional investigations by Schrimm's office will focus on those who may have worked at other death camps, starting with Majdanek.
Schrimm warned on Tuesday, however, that it remains unclear whether charges can be pressed in all cases. "I want to warn against excessive expectations," he told reporters. "We don't know anything about the health of those in question. It could be that only a few can really be charged."
Frackers will need to apply for a water licence, says Molewa
A "controlled activity" label means that companies seeking to use fracturing or any unconventional means of harvesting gas or oil will need to apply to the department for a water use licence. It also gives the department the ability to request additional information on the process from the applicant.
Molewa, speaking at a press briefing in Pretoria on Tuesday, clarified saying: "What this means is that fracking becomes a water use, thus requiring a water use licence. In this regard, only matters concerning water resources will be of consideration when licences are issued, including but not limited to the possible impact of substances and chemicals on the ground water resource."
The notice was issued on August 23, and the public now has 60 days from that date in which to submit comments on the matter.
Molewa said the interdepartmental task team set up in 2011 to consider the broader issue of a regulatory framework for and the monitoring of hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo has yet to conclude its work.
. . . and time is up!