Former Caltrain deputy director Joseph Navarro illegally built a secret apartment within the Burlingame Caltrain station using $42,000 in public funds. He lived there for years before being sentenced this week to four months in jail for felony theft and embezzlement. The 66-year-old will also serve two years of probation and pay restitution.
The '$100 hamburger' is aviation slang for a short flight (under two hours) to a nearby airport, grabbing a bite at the airport restaurant, and returning home. The name originated from the approximate cost of operating a small plane like a Cessna 172 for such a trip. However, with rising fuel prices, the cost is now significantly higher. A similar concept, the 'Rotto Bun Run' in Perth, Australia, sees pilots flying to Rottnest Island for hot cross buns, now an annual charity event.
The CBP Home Mobile App allows undocumented immigrants to voluntarily declare their intent to leave the US, avoiding ICE enforcement, detention, and removal. The app offers free travel, travel assistance, and a $1000 bonus, prioritizing their departure processing. This incentivized program aims to encourage self-deportation.
Endometriosis is a mysterious disease whose cause remains unknown, bearing a striking resemblance to cancer yet lacking effective treatments. This article explores the disease's origins, its connection to cancer, and the limitations of current treatments. It also highlights the severely underestimated prevalence and the critical lack of research funding, calling for more attention and investment in research on this disease.
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's newly unveiled 2.33-carat Winston Red diamond is the fifth-largest Fancy red diamond known and the only one on public display. This article details the scientific and historical investigation of this rare gem, from spectroscopic analysis to geological origins. It reveals its pure crimson color stems from a careful balance of absorption features linked to plastic deformation and specific defects, tracing its history from 1938 to the present. The study concludes that its likely origin is Venezuela or Brazil.
A simple experiment: 100 people, each with $100, randomly redistribute their money each round. What do you expect? Not equal distribution! Simulations show wealth inequality rapidly emerges and persists. Why does this seemingly fair, random process generate winners and losers? The article delves into this, analyzing the phenomenon from graph theory and probability perspectives, drawing parallels to the Boltzmann distribution in physics. It finds that even slight randomness leads to extreme wealth concentration, with a few possessing most of the wealth while many have almost nothing. This isn't a fluke; it's an inherent system property.
In 2023, David Smith, a retired printer technician, discovered a single shape, dubbed the "Hat," capable of aperiodically tiling the infinite plane, creating a sensation in mathematics. This blog post explores this discovery and delves into using SAT solvers—a relatively unknown family of algorithms—to solve the tiling problem for finite regions. It uses Sudoku as a warm-up example, then explains how SAT solvers find tilings for the Hat and a related shape, the "Turtle." The article culminates in the introduction of the "Spectre," a new monotile that alone aperiodically tiles the plane, solving a long-standing mathematical problem. An accompanying app lets readers experiment with these fascinating tiles and their tiling patterns.
This paper delves into the century-long debate surrounding the Axiom of Choice in mathematics. From Cantor's well-ordering principle to Zermelo's proof and introduction of the Axiom of Choice, the mathematical community engaged in heated discussions. The article deeply analyzes different forms of the Axiom of Choice, including the constructive and extensional versions, highlighting the issue with the extensional version: it violates the principle of 'you cannot get something from nothing'. Through proofs in constructive type theory, the paper reveals the relationship between the extensional Axiom of Choice, Zermelo's Axiom of Choice, and the topos-theoretic Axiom of Choice, concluding that the extensional Axiom of Choice is the correct rendering of Zermelo's Axiom in constructive type theory.
This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about photographing the moon, from equipment selection to shooting techniques and post-processing. It walks you through choosing the right camera, lens, and tripod, as well as setting the correct parameters, composition tips, and post-processing techniques. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced photographer, this guide will help you capture stunning lunar images.
This blog post vividly describes a virtual journey across the solar system, starting from Earth. It emphasizes the immense distances between planets and the vast emptiness of space, prompting reflection on humanity's smallness and greatness in the cosmos. Using analogies like movie lengths and driving times, the author translates astronomical distances into relatable concepts, exploring the limitations of the human brain in processing massive amounts of information and infinite space. The post ultimately suggests that this emptiness highlights the meaning of life's existence.
This website uses Anubis (version 1.19.1), an anti-scraping system, to combat the server overload caused by aggressive scraping from AI companies. Anubis employs a Proof-of-Work mechanism similar to Hashcash; small-scale scraping is negligible, but large-scale scraping becomes significantly more expensive. This is a temporary solution; the ultimate goal is to identify and block malicious bots (e.g., headless browsers) to avoid impacting legitimate users. Please ensure JavaScript is enabled and plugins like JShelter are disabled for this website.
San Francisco's Valencia Street is launching a pilot program allowing patrons of participating bars and restaurants to legally consume alcoholic beverages on the sidewalk from noon to midnight, Sunday through Thursday. This marks the city's first permanent open-air drinking zone not tied to a specific event, aiming to revitalize nightlife and attract younger crowds as part of post-pandemic recovery efforts. The initiative, supported by local businesses and the SFPD, includes security measures like wristbands and designated cups. While some businesses are hesitant, the program is expected to significantly impact the city's landscape and business models, setting a precedent for future similar projects.
The author ripped a CD of Finish Ticket's 'Echo Afternoon', only to find discrepancies: a misspelled track name, an incorrectly timed track, and a missing song. The culprit? Inaccurate metadata in the MusicBrainz database. CD ripping software uses the disc's Table of Contents (TOC) to match and retrieve metadata from MusicBrainz. Errors in the database, including merged tracks and incorrect titles, led to the flawed rip. The author corrected the MusicBrainz database entries and updated their music library, highlighting the double-edged sword of editable databases and the crucial role of data quality.
This economics research paper acknowledges David Autor, Marianne Bertrand, and several other scholars and institutions, including participants from the Becker Friedman Institute, Chicago Booth, INSEAD, Microsoft Research, and MIT Sloan, for their helpful comments and suggestions. The project received funding from the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Caspar Ringhof provided excellent research assistance. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
An artist has launched Browser Dating, a dating app that uses users' browser history to suggest matches. For a one-time fee of €9, users get unlimited matches; a free version limits users to five. The app has sparked debate over privacy and security concerns, although the developer insists data is processed locally and not shared with third parties. While initial user feedback is mixed, the app's unique approach challenges conventional dating app models and raises questions about the intersection of technology, privacy, and personal relationships. The artist's previous work focuses on surveillance and social media, making this latest project a continuation of their exploration of these themes.
Chris, a 46-year-old programmer, recounts his arduous journey battling severe heart disease, culminating in his decision to pursue medical aid in dying. His story details multiple heart attacks, emergency room visits, ICD implantations, ablations, and the agonizing experience of repeated shocks. Despite numerous treatments, his condition worsened, leading him to choose Oregon's Death with Dignity Act for a peaceful end. This deeply personal account chronicles his struggle and the difficult decision he made, prompting reflection on healthcare challenges and the dignity of life's end.
Dollywood's Dollywood Express, a coal-fired steam train, boasts higher ridership than 27 US states! This surprising statistic prompts reflection on America's infrastructure priorities. Launched in 1986 with Dolly Parton's involvement, the train's engines hail from Alaska's White Pass & Yukon Route, repurposed from WWII. The Dollywood Express transports approximately 5,000 people daily, accounting for 92% of Tennessee's rail ridership (excluding Amtrak). The author uses this comparison to highlight discrepancies between US and Danish economies and their respective rail transit systems, questioning national infrastructure priorities.
Samuel Pepys' diary was first published in June 1825 and became an instant success. Newspapers featured reviews quoting memorable passages, such as his descriptions of the Great Fire of London, his new wig, and his first cup of tea. Subsequent editions followed, and by the end of the 19th century, it was celebrated as a classic of British history and literature. Today, Pepys is a star of museum exhibits and historical novels, and excerpts from his diary are used to introduce students to the Restoration period and even to history itself; six-year-olds in England, following the National Curriculum, can recount how Pepys buried his expensive cheese to save it from the fire.
In South Korea, age isn't just a number; it's a cornerstone of social interaction. Instead of asking age directly, Koreans often inquire about birth year. This stems from their unique age reckoning system, employing both international and Korean age. Korean age begins at one at birth and increases every January 1st, often exceeding international age by one or two years. This leads to a complex social hierarchy and etiquette, with older individuals commanding greater respect, reflected even in the language's multiple levels of formality. While South Korea officially adopted the international age standard in June 2023, Korean age remains deeply ingrained, impacting aspects like the legal drinking age. Understanding this nuanced age culture is vital for navigating social interactions in South Korea.
A Reddit user calculated that if all humans were blended into a single mass, it would form a sphere less than 1 kilometer wide, easily fitting within Central Park. The article humorously compares the total mass of humanity to that of insects, fish, and bacteria, prompting reflection on the sheer scale of life on Earth. The quirky conclusion apologizes to the author's mother.
Every June 21st at midday, a shaft of light pierces the roof of a mausoleum in Brussels' Laeken Cemetery, creating a heart of light. It's unclear whether this was intentional. The tomb's occupants died in 1916 and 1919, with the mausoleum built in 1920. The designer is little known, and plans don't mention the light. The article also features a poem inscribed on the monument of Sir Lawrence Tanfield (d. 1625), expressing his wife's love and grief.
Thanks to a grant from The Recording Academy’s GRAMMY Museum Grants Program, the UNT Music Library has launched a massive collection of jazz history: the Tim Owens Jazz and Broadcast Collection. This digitized archive boasts over 150 hours of interviews and performance masters from NPR's jazz programs, including interviews by Owens from the Peabody Award-winning *Jazz Profiles*. This adds significantly to UNT's contribution to global music research and preservation.
This article delves into several mathematical errors found in David Foster Wallace's novel, Infinite Jest. The author meticulously analyzes mistakes made by both the narrator and character Mike Pemulis, including an incorrect calculation of the probability of a 108-game tennis match ending in a tie, and a misapplication of the Mean Value Theorem for integrals. While few in number, these errors spark discussion about the author's mathematical prowess and creative intent. The article presents a compelling exploration of mathematical precision and literary artistic expression through rigorous mathematical derivations and clear explanations.
This article examines Plato's profound influence on Western thought, highlighting how many of his compelling arguments led to enduring errors. His assertion of the immortality of the soul established a deeply entrenched mind-body dualism; his idealized definition of knowledge led to an overemphasis on absolute certainty, hindering intellectual progress; his rigid approach to definition ignored the inherent fuzziness of language; and his emphasis on idealized preconditions delayed practical advancement. Even his celebrated Socratic method, the article argues, is more destructive than constructive. Plato's genius lies in his profound insights, but his errors are equally profound and persistent, casting a long shadow on Western intellectual history.
The author reflects on years spent chasing goals, finding that a sole focus on achieving them without inner alignment leads to misdirection. The article critiques goal-setting culture, arguing it transforms uncertainty into an illusion of progress. True innovation often stems from leveraging constraints, not pursuing goals. Examples include John Boyd's OODA loop, Richard Feynman's scientific approach, and NASA's moon landing, illustrating how constraints drive creativity. The author posits that in ambiguous domains, constraints act like machetes, guiding direction better than goals, ultimately emphasizing that identity surpasses image.
Over 700 Marines from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California have been mobilized to respond to protests in Los Angeles. This deployment, authorized by President Trump without the consent of California's governor or LA's mayor, significantly escalates the use of the military against protesters. While their specific tasks remain unclear, they are prohibited from law enforcement activities unless the Insurrection Act is invoked. The Marines will augment the National Guard presence, but their mobilization within the US is unprecedented since the 1992 LA riots. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the deployment "unwarranted" and "unprecedented." Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell emphasized the need for communication between agencies to ensure a coordinated response.
The 2025 Milky Way Photographer of the Year contest, hosted by Capture the Atlas, has announced its winners, selecting from over 6,000 submissions worldwide. This year's winning photos showcase the breathtaking Milky Way from diverse locations, including Easter Island's Moai statues, Taiwan's Hehuan Mountain, and Yemen's remote Socotra Island. Remarkably, there's even a stunning shot from the International Space Station, captured by astronaut Don Pettit, featuring both the Earth and the Milky Way. These photos stand out for their diverse geographies, approaches, and techniques, all united by the awe-inspiring celestial spectacle.
This blog post lists some of the author's favorite domain names, such as abc.xyz, 1e100.net, and n.pr, appreciating their brevity and cleverness. The author emphasizes that the appeal lies in the domains themselves, not the websites they link to. While several are Google domains, this is purely coincidental. The post concludes with a mention of the author's fondness for cool usernames and email addresses.
Mathematician Daniel Hardisky has unearthed a novel formula for pi within Pascal's Triangle, sparking considerable interest in the mathematical community. His discovery builds upon a modification of the Nilakantha Somayaji series, linking the denominators to the areas of Pythagorean triangles and cleverly representing them using binomial coefficients. The article also presents other formulas connecting pi to Pascal's Triangle and binomial coefficients, showcasing pi's surprising hidden connections within mathematics.
High in the Peruvian Andes, Victoriano Arizapana annually rebuilds a bridge made of grass and fiber – the Q’eswachaka bridge – a tradition spanning over 500 years. This incredible feat of engineering, hanging 60 feet above a rushing river, is strong enough to support over a hundred men. Arizapana's family has been the custodian of this Inca legacy, annually dismantling and rebuilding the bridge with the local community. This story explores not only the breathtaking architectural marvel but also the enduring power of tradition, community, and the dedication to preserving a unique cultural heritage.