Crazy people are awfully assymetric while beautiful people still beautiful

Right-left symmetry photos of Qaddafi
[Via Boing Boing]

Muggum is a .99 iPhone app that generates two symmetrical side-by-side portraits — one from the left side of the face, and one from the right. Here’s both sides of ol’ whathsiface.

Make ran an article that shows how to do this on a PC.

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Qaddafi looks non-humam in each of these. But go to Muggum and look at the others.

Scarlett Johansson may be slightly asymmetric, just like Obama but each photo looks pretty nice. At least they are not scary.

And look at Lennon. His face seems to be the most symmetric as each photo looks just like Lennon.

Previous research had shown that people with the most symmetric faces are usually deemed more beautiful. Perhaps if Qaddafi had been a little more symmetric, he would have been a nicer guy.

Microsoft may never overcome its first Windows Phone update

by abulhussain

Everything that can go wrong with Windows Phone 7 update does
[Via Ars Technica]

It’s amazing. Given the importance that Microsoft’s smartphone platform should have—not to mention the uphill struggle it faces against the iPhone and Android juggernauts—one would have thought that the company would make sure that delivery of the first patch was rock solid and reliable.

After all, robust, universal patching is one of the big advantages of Microsoft’s platform over Google’s Android. Microsoft’s locked down hardware requirements, in conjunction with its centralized patch distribution and offical (albeit carefully-worded) statements to say that all devices would be “eligible” for updates, should have given Microsoft an almost Apple-like patch process: uniform availability, regardless of carrier, regardless of OEM, regardless of model. And because every phone is running the same software, well, it should all just work, shouldn’t it?

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So, phones are getting bricked during the update process. If I were Microsoft, I’m hoping it is just a few handsets. But, as Apple saw with ‘Antennagate’ all it takes is a few to create a real firestorm of bad publicity.

Updates may not be finishing requiring rebooting without the update. This looks it might be due to the lack of strong connection between hardware and software, in that certain firmware versions of the phones work and other versions do not.

And get the process to find out if they can get their phone to work again.

Those unfortunates with apparent firmware corruption can try forcing the phone into download mode (turn off the handset, then turn it on while holding the camera button and the volume down button, and keep all three buttons pressed for 10-15 seconds; then choose the “format” option).

That is obvious. To find out which firmware someone has, they must do this:

Figuring out which firmware version you have is a somewhat awkward procedure. From the phone’s dialer, type ##634#, then press the call button. This will start up Samsung’s Diagnosis application (it will also create an icon for it in the phone’s programs list, so that you can go back to it in future without using the dialer).

In the Diagnosis application, type *#1234#. This will show a screen of detailed version information. It’s the first three version numbers (for “PDA”, “Phone”, and “CSC”) that are relevant here. If the firmware versions are older (JIx, JJx) then the update probably won’t work; if they’re newer (JKx) it probably will. But there are no guarantees.

Very user friendly. If the phone is bricked, it can only be replaced at the wireless carrier. I’d imagine the cost of the bricked phones comes out of Microsoft’s pocket. If it comes out of the carriers, I’d imagine they will be very hesitant about selling the phone in the future. If the handset maker gets dinged, they might not want to make many more in the future.

Where is the robust QA/QC that Microsoft was supposed to provide that is not seen in the Android world, supposedly?

In addition, it may be that some phone carriers are blocking/delaying the update entirely. So, even if the phone has not problems, the owner’s can’t update without the carrier’s permission. Perhaps in this case, that is a good thing.

As the article states, this was not supposed to happen. Microsoft’s tight specifications was supposed to prevent problems across dfferent carriers using phones made by different handset companies.

Looks like that expectation was wrong. Compare this to Apple which makes both the software and hardware, with two versions of the handsets. It disctates updates, without the carrier interfering. It can easily check out its updates on a very few models.

In the alternate world of MS, who is responsible for making sure the thing works? The handset guys can see if it works. If there are problems, they have to wait until the software company fixes it. Of course, Ms is then dealing with what, 4-5 different versions of handsets from multiple makers on multiple networks.

Why in the world would anyone buy a phone that gets bricked on its first update? This means someone somewhere screwed up. Even if they fix it, as an owenr, I’d be worried about the future. When the cut-and-paste update comes along, what’s going to happen?

Jobs made sure that nothing would be put on the iPhone if there was any chance it made the phone unusable. People will get by without apps if the phone works. It does not seem MS has the same dedication to detail.

They have a mobile phone that gets bricked. They have no tablet strategy. Perhaps MS should just admit that it has a kick-ass gaming system and divest itself of anything else.

The New McCarthyism

Doonesbury tackles McCarthyism
[Via Bad Astronomy]

The long-running comic strip Doonesbury does a lot of political humor of course, so it was no surprise he went after J. McCarthy today. After all, McCarthy used an environment of fear to terrify people into behaving contrary to their own best interests, ramping up an imaginary problem into a national concern, and putting thousands upon thousands of lives at risk of being destroyed.

No no no. Not Joseph. Jenny.

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Doonesbury is hit-or-miss these days but this one is pretty good. Did Joe actually result in the death of anyone? While I do not agree that all the people counted here are due to Jenny, she does have her part.

The sky, while humans look on

Time lapse: The spinning Chilean sky
[Via Bad Astronomy]

I do so love time-lapse animations, and this one is particularly nice: it shows four of the ALMA microwave antennas in Chile as they scan the night sky, while the starry vault rotates around them. [Make sure you set the resolution to 720 and make this full screen; it's really nice.]

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This is really a beautiful video. I watched it full screen on my 20 inch display. Just needs a great soundtrack.

The New Zealand quake

Why New Zealand’s Earthquake Was So Deadly
[Via 80beats]

At least 65 people died in an earthquake that struck New Zealand’s second-largest city, Christchurch, yesterday. As the city digs out from the rubble created by the magnitude 6.3 quake, some there are worried the death toll could climb into the hundreds. And as seismologists unravel the details, it’s becoming clear why this quake was so much deadlier than previous seismic events in New Zealand.

Photographs and video from Christchurch, a metropolitan area of nearly 400,000 residents, showed people running through the streets, landslides pouring rocks and debris into suburban streets and extensive damage to buildings. Witnesses told of watching the spire of the iconic Christchurch Cathedral come crashing down during an aftershock. One witness called it “the most frightening thing of my entire life,” and television footage showed a person clinging to a window in the cathedral’s steeple. [The New York Times]

This is the second major earthquake to hit the Christchurch area in five months. The one last September was larger, but caused much less damage. It’s another reminder that the depth and location of a quake—and not just its magnitude—make a great difference in how deadly it is. In addition, this one’s epicenter was merely a few miles away from the city center.

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The Nisqually Quake in 2001 had a huge effect on my life.

The shaking lasted well over 30 seconds. The office building I as in is built on the fill down by the waterfront, ripe for liquefaction.  As I stood in the door way watching the floor ripple down the hallway, wondering if the wooden beams in the ceiling would hold, if making a run for the nearby staircase would be better than jumping out the 3rd story window, I realized that the decision I might make in the next few seconds could determine whether I live or die.

That was a stronger but deeper quake (32 miles) than the one in New Zealand yesterday. That one was only a couple of miles deep. I read that the sideways acceleration of this quake was equal to the force of gravity. So, the buldings were pushed sideways as strongly as they were pulled down by gravity.

No wonder buildings that had survived other shocks went down. And some of the aftershocks were well over 5. I watched some of the live feeds and, between the tears, was taken with how rapidly people in trouble pitch in to help.

Here is a historical record of shallow quakes in New Zealand over  a ten year period from Geonet:

One can see that Christchurch is right along the line os shallow quakes. Both Auckland in the North and Dunedin in the South are generally outside this line of quakes.

It seems that so many of the places we find really beautiful are also along very dangerous fault line. That would seem to put us at a selective disadvantage. Wouldn’t people who like ugly but safe environments survive better?