Wh-wh-what's yo' fanta-ta-sy?

Friends,

In some parts of our great country the weather is still cold and snowy. In other parts, it's above freezing, slushy and wet. But, in the sunny locales of southern Florida and the ninety mile strip of highway that connects Tucson to Phoenix, the last few days have brought the aroma of oil on aged and dry flesh, the sight of delightfully carved long, hard, wooden shafts cracking against red-accented, white-as-a-sheet, virgin balls, the delicious aural pleasure of said balls smacking against freshly-lubed leather.

No, I'm not talking about your favorite S&M fantasy. I'm talking a fantasy of the baseball variety. More specifically: Fantasy Baseball!

Pitchers and catchers have reported for every team except for the Florida Marlins (they've already given up hope, apparently...). Only the Marlins and Will Kruesi's White Sox have yet to have an official workout (maybe they've given up hope, too?). This, compadres, means that spring training is well under way. As spring training goes by, fans of all shapes, colors, sizes, and affiliations are, by birthright, given reason for optimism. It's spring after all! Bunny rabbits hop gleefully through the prairie, flip flops are busted out, we can drink beer outside! For many fans, this optimism quickly dissipates as pitcher X requires Tommy John surgery, infielder Y breaks his foot, and outfielder Z cracks his rib. But, at least during the beginning of spring training, we can all say "Maybe this is our year!"

The shrewdest of fans will also assess their fantasy options with the utmost scrutiny throughout this optimistic time. Some of us will probably draft with loyalty to our favorite team. Nonberg will likely sit in the corner with a beer box on his head and covet the players already drafted. Past years have made it clear that any strategy is viable. Whatever your strategy, fantasy baseball is upon us!

Who's in?


NOTE: Ted volunteered to organize, as in years past, but he does not know this yet.

The Coming Robot Apacolypse, Pt. 2: Watson

I wasn't planning on following the poll up with anything, but after finding this I feel I must. Actually I think I might do a part 3 at some point now too.

Artificial intelligence is a fascinating and at thrilling field. So far, some of the most notable achievements are an unbeatable checkers player, and a chess world champion (though technically not unbeatable). But most of the achievements still don't really feel like intelligence, at least in the form that humans have. I'm not saying that they aren't impressive, but they lack the kind of nuance that the human brain is so remarkably good at.

3D Printing

This newly developing technology was featured in this week's edition of The Economist, and I think it's absolutely fascinating. Essentially, you can take a blueprint or model of a 3D object on your computer and "print" it out. The printers use plastics, resins, and metals to build up an object (known as "additive" engineering because objects are built up, versus "subtractive" engineering, or bashing metal into shape, which is the most prevalent form of engineering today). This is either done by a nozzle spreading the material into shape or a sifter solidifying the material into shape one layer at a time. These printers can make anything, violins, airplane parts, clocks...

This form of production has the potential to make large-scale production obsolete because it is just as cheap per unit and wastes much less material. It also makes the issue of music piracy look like small-scale vandalism, what happens when blueprints for the latest Rolex or even smart phones are released online? The intellectual property ramifications are monstrous. It can also completely change the definition of art: does sculpture have to be hand-made, or just human-designed?

I, for one, think this is perhaps the largest step in the grand equalizing of mankind that has been occurring since the invention of the printing press and has been accelerating in the age of the modern computer and the Internet. This might not have been the revolution that Marx envisioned when he wrote his Communist Manifesto, but this technological revolution has more potential to bring the means of production to the hands of the working class than any other innovation or event in human history.

Flesh-Eating Robots: What Do You Think?

I saw this article a few days ago, I had about 100 different reactions, thought about reblogging it, but now I've decided it'll make for a good poll, even though it turns out the story is actually over a year old.

The guys that thought them up are artists (here's their site), so the idea was to make us think. And their robots don't do a whole lot, they're just a clock, a light, a coffee table (still no answers on what a coffee table is going do with all the power it generates), and two whose only function is apparently to eat flies. But the proof of concept is there.

Videos and poll after the jump.

How'd the Moon Get There?

Bill O'Reilly has a really thought provoking (not actually, I'm being 100% sarcastic) argument on the existence of God. Here's how it was first highlighted on the Colbert Report:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bill O'Reilly Proves God's Existence - Neil deGrasse Tyson
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

It was pointed out by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and presumably many others, that the the tides are in fact well understood as the gravitational pull of the moon on large bodies of water, and are periodic because the Moon's orbit is periodic, thanks to the conservation of angular momentum. Hopefully it was also pointed out that the Sun goes up and down because the Earth spins at a constant rate, also thanks to the conservation of momentum. But O'Reilly already had an equally sophisticated rebuttal ready:



I'm sure some "pinheads" have now also explained to him that the Moon is widely understood to have "gotten there" after being broken away from the Earth during an impact with a large asteroid early on in it's lifetime, the Sun was formed over millions of years from the collapse of a cloud of gas and dust under gravity, and Mars doesn't have the Moon because, well, that's ridiculous, the moon was formed 36 million miles away as already mentioned, but it does have two moons of it's own which are believed to be asteroids which were "captured" when they approached Mars with the correct velocity and distance to be pulled into orbit by, you guessed it, gravity.

Baby fish

About a week ago, one of my fish gave birth. So now there are about 20 baby fish (called fry) in my 10 gallon tank.

Here is a video of them at one week old eating (warning: very boring).



Also, for Ted and Toto, note that the background in the back left corner is a cover of Science. I plan on filling the rest of the background with science magazine covers that look "natural."

BFB: Article 2

Last Friday was my first TA session. Now, campus was closed on Thursday due to snow, so the students only had one lecture from the prof. I tried my best to get them talking and I think I did a pretty good job.

Do the Creep!!

...What is the internet?

Nick Gazel

Nick Gazel is in Africa right now. I think Mozambique. He'll be there for a while. If you guys are interested, here's his blog. He says it will be photo heavy and text light.