Chad's News

I guess the best way to describe cliodynamics is to say that it applies statistical methods to human society and history, in an effort to find patterns that can be generalized to predict future trends and events. The difficult part is determining which factors should be considered, as human societal behavior doesn’t lend itself to straightforward analysis.

One very interesting result is two cycles of political unrest that have occurred throughout human history and can even explain the timing of the recent Egyptian uprising. The first cycle repeats about every 200-300 years and is the result of labor supply outstripping demand due to population growth. This forms a class of elites who end up fighting for power. The second cycle occurs about every 50 years, or approximately two generations. Here in the United States, we’re due for the next one sometime around 2020.

In his Foundation series, Isaac Asimov wrote about psychohistory, the science of predicting the behavior of human societies. Cliodynamics is a step in that direction.

Link: http://www.nature.com/…
(via Neatorama)

The linked article answers common questions about Windows 8, which is being released on Friday, and also discusses some of the features and major changes we’ll see.

Link: http://www.techrepublic.com/…

The first linked article is a review and overview of Windows 8, which will be released on October 26th and represents a foundational change to Windows. The article is a good introduction for those who don’t know much about the new operating system, although we’ve discussed it previously here at Chad’s News.

The second article is about the new Microsoft Surface computer, which will run Windows RT (a flavor of Windows 8) and also has a release date of October 26th. You can pre-order it now. The Surface is interesting in that it’s a hybrid tablet and computer. It can be used just as a tablet but also comes with an optional, and expensive, cover that serves as a keyboard and turns it into a laptop of sorts.

Thanks to Donna for this topic.

Link #1: http://online.wsj.com/…

Link #2: http://www.komando.com/…

Fifth grader Tyler Sullivan missed school to meet President Obama, who gave him a hand-written, signed excuse note on presidential stationary. It says, “Mr. Ackerman — Please Excuse Tyler … he was with me! <signed Barack Obama>”. How cool is that!

Link: http://gawker.com/…
(via Neatorama)

[NOTE: I usually ignore this type of stuff, labeling it as pseudo-science, but the source is reliable.]

According to the linked article, faster than light travel is not only theoretically possible but is something that we might be able to implement. This would change everything. The method, known as an Alcubierre drive, hinges on the fact that we can’t reach the speed of light while moving through spacetime, but spacetime itself does not have that restriction (for instance, the universe has expanded much more quickly than lightspeed). There are still major technical challenges, however, as the energy requirement is very high—the energy in a mass the size of the Voyager 1 probe is, I believe, much more than any nuclear bomb every created.

Thanks to O.Roy for this link.

Link: http://www.space.com/…

On Wednesday, a SpaceX cargo rocket successfully delivered its cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). While it wasn’t without problems, all I can say is, “It’s about time—now do it again!” Note that this isn’t actually the first SpaceX launch to the ISS, but the previous one was a test to verify that the rocket would actually work as designed.

Link: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/…
(via Bureau 42)

ATM card skimming is where a thief goes to an ATM and attaches a card reader on top of the real reader. This fake reader, or skimmer, passes cards on to the ATM, but in the process it gets the card information and stores it for later retrieval. In addition, the thief installs some type of hidden camera to record videos of the cardholders typing their PINs. These two items (the card info and the PIN) are all a criminal needs—he creates a duplicate card and has the PIN to go with it. The bank thinks it’s you. What I find most interesting are the sophistication of the skimmers and how realistic they look. It can be very difficult to spot a fake. The linked article discusses card skimming in detail, and I recommend reading it.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

For those who haven’t made the plunge into Twitter, the linked article explains the basics in a clear and understandable manner. Once you’ve finished reading it, you’ll understand what @ChadCloman and #DenverBroncos mean.

Link: http://www.komando.com/…