June 2007
26 posts
Porque os computadores não conseguem vencer no Go →
Dez anos atrás, o super-computador da IBM venceu Kasparov: a mais afiada mente humana viva do xadrez foi superada por pura força computacional. O mesmo é verdadeiro para praticamente qualquer outro jogo de cartas e de mesa. Mas existe um jogo em que a inteligência artificial dos computadores não é capaz de vencer o raciocínio humano.
O preço de uma grama de cocaína em 17 países →
In Canada the wholesale price is 50% more than in America, but Canadians pay 40% less on the street. It could be that policing is more zealous in some countries, or that there is less competition among suppliers.
“It is the business of the future to be dangerous.”
– Alfred North Whitehead
Procurar alienígenas é uma boa idéia? →
Avatar Machine →
é um sistema que replica a estética e o visual dos jogos em terceira pessoa, permitindo ao usuário ver a sí mesmo como um personagem virtual em um espaço real, através de uma interface montada em sua cabeça.
Kirby versus Kubrick →
Jack Kirby produziu uma adaptação para os quadrinhos do filme 2001 de Stanley Kubrick. Eu não sabia que isso existia. Aparentemente se trata de uma derivação direta do livro de Arthur C. Clarke na narrativa, e uma derivação do filme de Kubrick na ambientação, ambos colocados nos termos da “estética Kirby”.
the new shelton wet/dry →
São Paulo: The City That Said No To Advertising →
The “Clean City” law passed last year by the populist mayor, Gilberto Kassab, stripped the Brazilian city of all advertising. So how’s it looking now? Artigo da BusinessWeek sobre “a cidade que disse não para a publicidade”.
Meditação altera estrutura e funcionamento do... →
Lately scientists have begun to wonder whether the brain can change in response to purely internal, mental signals. That’s where the Buddhists come in. Their centuries-old tradition of meditation offers a real-life experiment in the power of those will-o’-the-wisps, thoughts, to alter the physical matter of the brain.
Análise do design de um cassino →
A prodigious amount of thought goes into the design and layout of a casino’s gambling floor. The layout of slot machines and card tables is carefully designed in order to maximize the casino’s profits and lure customers into the games.
Depois de fugir do Iraque, garota morre nas mãos... →
A gentle kiss on a South London street captured on a mobile telephone camera sealed Banaz Mahmod’s fate. When the photograph, taken by a member of the Kurdish community, was shown to Miss Mahmod’s uncle, Ari Mahmod, a family meeting was called where it was decided that the 20-year-old woman and her boyfriend, Rahmat Sulemani, must be murdered. Banaz Mahmod’s body was found in a suitcase after...
Tay al-Ard →
Tay al-Ard, literally “folding up of the earth”, is the name for thaumaturgical teleportation in the Islamic religious and philosophical tradition.
WatchBlaise Aguera y Arcas: Photosynth
The politics of personality destruction in the... →
Through mind-numbing repetition and bizarre campaign-trail torture, our candidates can seem reduced to pale copies of themselves. But here’s the scariest part: The process works.
Pentagon confirms it sought to build a "gay bomb" →
A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.
"guitar for sale" →
Journey of Mankind: The Peopling of the World →
"Humanity must recognise our entire way of life is... →
O Miojo Não Comido →