Original source Ditch the clown suit

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China’s Ji Cheng (Giant-Shimano) may have finished dead last on GC, but he spent a lot of time at the front of the peloton on sprint stages, bringing back the breakaway on behalf of his team’s sprinters. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com

PARIS (AFP) — Chinese rider Ji Cheng said he wants to get away from cycling for a while after completing the Tour de France on Sunday.

Ji was a visible member of the peloton over the last three weeks, relishing his role as the “breakaway killer” for his Giant-Shimano team.

And although the 27-year-old did not set the world alight with his performances, he did gain cult status over 3,659 kilometers of racing around France.

But he’s had enough for this year.

Asked what he would do now, he said: “I have no idea. I will try to relax because I got married but 20 days later I came back to Europe for a training camp and then racing and it’s been eight months now since I’ve been home.

“That’s really long, I will try to relax and not think any more about cycling.”

It’s not been easy for Ji, who was expected to ride at the front of the peloton day after day to control breakaway groups and ensure his Giant team would be able to reel them in later so sprinter Marcel Kittel could finish off his work.

Kittel won four stages in total while another German sprinter, John Degenkolb, finished second in two others in which the lumpy run-ins weren’t suited to Kittel’s raw straight-line power.

But Ji’s also had his own challenges to overcome, having suffered from a knee problem.

“The hardest moments were just the first week and the last week,” he said. “The first week had more sprint stages and we had more chances for victories so I was working hard to control the group and working hard on the front. That was a hard week.”

“And the last week because I was injured in the left knee. Already I wasn’t looking forward to the mountains because of my injury which was so painful.

“But the second week was nice for me, I had more time to enjoy the race.”

Enjoyment would be a curious word for a race that lasted more than 90 hours.

And in Ji’s case, he rode for more than six hours longer than winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), in so doing managing the biggest gap between first and last since 1954.

Ji, who was 164th, also finished more than 50 minutes behind the second-to-last finisher and crashed on the final stage on the Champs Elysees, even suffering the ignominy of being lapped by the peloton as it completed eight circuits of the famous avenue.

But every day, Ji managed to get inside the time limit. And it’s not the first time he’s completed a grand tour.

He finished 175th (last place) at the 2012 Vuelta a Espana, although sickness prevented him from completing last year’s Giro d’Italia.

While the native of Harbin in the northeast of China may be the Tour’s “lanterne rouge,” the rider who finishes last, he at least finished, which is more than what 34 other starters managed, among them defending champion Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, and Mark Cavendish.

All three crashed out and Ji says that’s one of the risks in cycling.

“In cycling sometimes dangerous things can happen like a crash, or you can get sick or have a fever,” he said. “It’s normal, last year at the Giro the same thing happened to me. I got very sick before stage five and couldn’t start it.

“It’s really sad but it’s like this. Maybe next year I’ll have this situation. I was pretty lucky really, I didn’t crash or get sick or anything.”

Having made history as the first Chinese rider to compete in the Tour, Ji said he hopes to be a pioneer for his countrymen, but said it will take more than just him to change things.

“I hope so but a cycling project in the country cannot be one man like me,” he said. “Maybe I can show them something but I cannot change anything.

“I hope they can see it’s possible to build a team or train riders to be top professionals. That’s what I hope.”

The post China’s Ji Cheng to take post-Tour break after earning lanterne rouge appeared first on VeloNews.com.

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Ink Molecules

Suppose you were to print, in 12 point text, the numeral 1 using a common cheap ink-jet printer. How many molecules of the ink would be used? At what numerical value would the number printed approximately equal the number of ink molecules used?

David Pelkey

This is the kind of problem where Fermi estimation comes in handy. In Fermi estimation, we’re not concerned about exact numbers. We just want, before we start doing research, to get an idea of how big the number is going to be. Will it have 10 digits, or 100 digits, or a zillion?

We’ll see what we can figure out before we look anything up.

An inkjet cartridge lets me print out some number of 8.5″x11″ black-and-white pages. Let’s be optimistic and say a few hundred. If each page has 500 words and each word has 5 letters, then each page has 2,500 letters. 100 pages is 250,000 letters and 400 would be 1,000,000. So the number of letters per cartridge probably has six digits.

Now, how many molecules are in an ink cartridge? This will be harder to estimate without cheating and looking things up, but let’s try.

Let’s say I remember hearing about “Avogadro’s number” in chemistry class, but I don’t remember exactly what it is. It’s definitely something times 10²³, so it has 24 digits. And I remember that it’s the number of atoms in some number of grams of something. It was a smallish number. Probably.[1] For the record, it’s 6.022×10²³, and it’s the number of carbon-12 atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12 (or the number of hydrogen atoms in a gram of hydrogen).

Inkjet cartriges probably also contain a small number of grams of ink.[2] Citation: If it were a big number, they would be hard to pick up, and if it were less than a gram, the idea that we’ve been paying $30 for them is just too upsetting to contemplate. Let’s assume it’s the same small number, because Fermi estimation lets us do that.

I have no idea what’s in ink. (Remember, we’re not allowed to look stuff up yet.) I know squid can make ink of some kind, so maybe ink has some big complicated organic molecules in it. That’s bad, because I have no chance of estimating their weights to within even a few orders of magnitude.

Fortunately, what we need to worry the most about is the smallest molecules, because they’ll contribute the most to the total count.

Ink probably has a lot of water in it, like many liquids. On the other hand, I bet most of those water molecules wander off when the ink dries—since that’s what the word “dries” means.

We have nothing to go on here, so let’s take a wild guess and suppose that a 10% of ink’s bulk comes from large numbers of little molecules, ones comparable in size to the [mumble mumble carbon or something] atoms in Avogadro’s number. Since Avogadro’s number has 24 digits, 10% of it would be a 23-digit number. If our other guesses are right, then the number of molecules in an ink cartridge might also have about 23 digits

If there are a 23-digit number of molecules in an ink cartridge, and that cartridge prints a 6-digit number of letters, then each printed letter (or number) should contain a number of ink molecules with 23 – 6 = 17 digits.[3] What we’re doing here is dividing by subtracting the number of digits. If you think this is a cool shortcut, and decide to develop it further and make it a little more rigorous and precise, then congratulations! You’ve just invented logarithms.

That means a printed 10-digit number contains about an 18-digit number of ink molecules, and a 100-digit number contains a 19-digit number of ink molecules. Aha! The crossover point, where the number of molecules and the printed number are equal, must happen somewhere between 18 and 19 digits.

So our answer, according to Fermi estimation, is in the neighborhood of a high 18-digit number. We might be off by several orders of magnitude in either direction, but in either case, it’s definitely a number you could print out on a single line.

Now, let’s do some actual research and find out how we did.

Inks, unsurprisingly, are complicated and vary a lot. Color inks contain a lot of large and heavy molecules, especially some of the pigments. Fortunately, cheap black inks—which are what David asked about—are simpler.

As our example, we’ll take the ink used in the random HP printer at my house. HP doesn’t disclose everything about what the ink is made of, but they do publish a material safety data sheet for it here.

The MSDS data tells us that the ink is over 70% water. It also contains the molecule 2-pyrrolidone (which is apparently used to synthesize the anti-seizure drug Ethosuximide) and 1,5-pentanediol.

In addition, it contains up to 5% “modified carbon black“, a form of crystalline carbon (like graphite and diamond). This is great news for our estimate, because crystalline carbon is very simple; its molecular formula is just “C”.[4] Assuming you count each carbon atom separately. You could interpret David’s question to mean particles of ink, so each hunk of carbon black would only count as 1. However, that would mean working out exactly what water fraction remains in the dried ink and how much weight 1,5-pentanediol contributes and so forth, and that sounds like more work.

Conveniently, “C” is also what’s used in the definition of Avogadro’s number. Small consumer cartridges contain a few grams of ink, which is less than the 12 grams used in Avogadro’s number. That might make our estimate about half a digit too high. And while we were lucky at guessing carbon, HP ink contains less than 5% carbon black, not the 10% we guessed. That pushes the real answer down even lower than our estimate. But all in all, we did pretty well!

Of course, this is a reminder of how much easier the digital world is:

It’s also a reminder of how expensive ink is. Speaking of which, the ink sac from the tiny Octopoteuthis deletron squid are probably a few milliliters, based on the collection bottle sizes mentioned in this paper, for a squid that probably only weighs a hundred grams or so.

$30 could probably get you a few kilograms of fresh whole squid, and—if you picked the right squid—a total of five or six cartridges worth of ink.

Lifehacks.

Original source

I suppose she should be happy to have two belly buttons.  Some models don’t even get to keep one!

Might we suggest a nice high-waisted panty, instead?

Thanks for sending this in, Sandra!

 

The post Privalia: Double Belly Button Fail appeared first on PSD : Photoshop Disasters .

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#806, 31st October 1998

In an age of one-week wonders, “Believe” was a phenomenon – a massive global hit, bossing the charts for close to two months. It has a formidable legacy: as well as a triumphant capstone for Cher’s career, it sets the tone for a surge of dance-pop successes over the next couple of years, and opens the pop career of writer/producer Brian Higgins and his Xenomania team, whose idiosyncratic approach to pop will illuminate the early 00s.

Except none of that matters. “Believe”’s place in history and conversation has been all filled up by that unnatural bend in Cher’s voice in the verses, the moment the public discovered Autotune. So “Believe” stops being a rather good pop song about rubbing your ex’s face in their folly, and instead is treated as Patient Zero in an epidemic that defines or ruins modern pop. All the debate and the disdain over Autotune starts here, and all of it since lands back here. Cher, what have you done?

Before I talk about what “Believe” does specifically it’s worth recapping a couple of very obvious points. First, Autotune is not a standardised technique or a magic wand: it’s a brand – a software package designed for pitch correction. It’s something like Hoover or Google – not the first of its kind, not the last, but the one whose fame struck at the right time to define an unfamiliar category.

And second, “Believe” is not the first number one record to use it. I don’t know what is, either. The point about Autotune (and its ilk) is that when you hear it used like “Believe” uses it, you’re meant to hear it. Ordinarily, it should be invisible to the average ear. “Believe” is the sound of technology being abused, pushed to places it wasn’t designed to go. The standard debate around pitch correction – are singers deceiving the public by disguising their mistakes? – is completely irrelevant to “Believe”. It’s like criticising the bullet time sequences in The Matrix on the grounds that the actors didn’t do their own stunts.

Technology taken beyond its limits just to see what happens – that’s a pretty big part of pop history. From amplification came distortion. From drum machines came the distressed squelch of acid house. And from the discreet touch ups of pitch correction comes Cher’s wonderful cyborg bravura. Once those limits were breached – to the delight of Cher herself and the reported distress of her label, at least until the money came in – anyone could and did jump beyond them.

Let’s go back to 1998 though, and remember what “Believe” sounded like at the time. Not a revolution. For a start, I’d guess most people imagined the pitch-bending effects were Cher using a vocoder, and vocoders were a known quantity. Vocal distortion wasn’t exactly uncommon in 90s dance music, either – The Tamperer’s “Feel It” has plenty of slowing down and snapping back. At the same time, the way Cher was using vocal tricks – suddenly dropping them in to mutate words – was startling and effective. But if you’ve somehow found yourself unfamiliar with “Believe” over the last fifteen years, you might be surprised at how little there is of the Autotune extremity effect – occasional verse words, but its presence on the chorus is far more discreet: the belt-it-out defiance there is barely adulterated Cher, and just what even a technophobe fan of hers might want. Would the song have been a smash without Autotune? Maybe not, but separating the two is foolish: if the technical trickery helped make “Believe” a success, the strength of the song and sentiment is what sustained it.

Even so, it’s worth a final thought about what the pitchbending does for this singer, and this song, specifically. The distorting effect really suits Cher, whose strength as a performer is those deep, showy vowels – she’s already the kind of singer who puts thick comic-book emphasis on words, so going over the top on that is perfect for her. But it also really fits the song. “Believe” is a record in the “I Will Survive” mode of embattled romantic defiance – a song to make people who’ve lost out in love feel like they’re the winners. It’s remarkable that it took someone until 1998 to come up with “do you believe in life after love?”, and perhaps even more remarkable that it wasn’t Jim Steinman, but the genius of the song is how aggressive and righteous Cher makes it sound. There are records sung by divas, and there are records that need divas to sing them: this is the latter – without Cher’s weight of performance and life experience behind it, the dread admonition of “I really don’t think you’re strong enough” might fall flat.

So in this context – using your strength to turn a position of weakness into one of complete victory – what does the Autotune actually do? In a 90s context, without its familiar name and use cases, the vocal effect on “Believe” seems more like a kind of CGI for the voice – something obviously artificial but exciting, a kind of liquefying and reforming of Cher’s singing in the space of a single word. It feels like morphing – that classic 90s CGI trick, used on all manner of distorting alien beasts, failed clones, supernatural possessions and most germanely the gorgeous liquid silver of the T2 robot in Terminator. And that’s how it works here: Cher isn’t only bouncing back from a romantic disappointment, she’s becoming something more than human to do it. No wonder everyone else wanted an upgrade.

Original source blottsie writes: Out of all the U.S. government agencies, the Department of Homeland Security is one of the least transparent. As such, the number of Freedom of Information Act requests it receives have doubled since 2008. But the DHS has only become more adamant about blocking FOIA requests over the years. The problem has become so severe that nothing short of an Edward Snowden-style leak may be needed to increase transparency at the DHS.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Enjoying a GC advantage of more than five minutes and some of the best form of his life, Nibali sits comfortably in the lead as the Tour nears its finish in Paris. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com

PLA D’ADET, France (VN) — Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) appears to be playing with his rivals in the Tour de France, as if he were a cat playing with mice. He let them attack on the road to the Pla d’Adet ski station Wednesday, but that was it. When he wanted, he attacked, rode clear, and added more time to his lead.

“I didn’t try to push it up until the end,” Nibali said. “I didn’t ever give it all. I didn’t need to.”

Nibali won the stage to Sheffield on day two to take the yellow jersey and motored over the fifth day’s pavé sectors to add to his lead. Those days appeared to be the only stages where he needed to give it his all. The other days, like on Wednesday’s 10.2km climb to Pla d’Adet, his motor seemed to rev far below the red line.

The Sicilian known as “The Shark” let Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r La Mondiale) attack to weaken Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). He followed and made a move of his own. Seemingly playing with his rivals, he appeared to slow and let them catch on. He then went for the kill, closing his jaws and biting hard.

The damage, even with the Italian riding within himself, was evident under the sun at 5,511 feet. Nibali gained 49 seconds on Valverde and 54 on Pinot, his two closest rivals, respectively, in the GC.

Heading into Thursday’s stage to Hautacam, the last mountain stage of the 2014 Tour, Nibali leads Valverde by 5:26 — a comfortable buffer that affords him an easier ride over the two HC climbs.

“I’m happy that my legs are responding well. I feel well,” Nibali said, wrapped in his 15th yellow jersey of the Tour.

“I have to think about taking those important seconds when I can. I may have an off-day or a crisis, you just don’t know, so it’s good to have the time. I will only be able to say that I won when I’m in Paris.”

Nibali may not have been able to play with his rivals had Chris Froome (Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) still been in the race. Nibali took the yellow jersey on day two, but it was not until Froome abandoned in stage five and Contador withdrew from stage 10 that it began to look secure on his shoulders.

“If Chris Froome or Alberto Contador were here, I’d have to push myself a lot more, for sure,” Nibali added. “For sure, it’s a different race now. Froome and Contador, when they attack, they are very explosive so you have to be very attentive.”

Astana appears happy with how Nibali is racing towards Paris. The feeling is one of celebration, even if the race is not yet complete. Every day at the bus, the number of team supporters and helpers in the team’s distinctive turquoise appears to be larger.

“If he keeps doing what he does, just remaining covered and behind riders until he needs to strike out on his own, then he will be fine,” team trainer Paolo Slongo said.

“Even attacking and gaining seconds is not taking too much toll on his motor, he should be able to carry the load all the way to Paris.”

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Original source KentuckyFC (1144503) writes When animals lose a limb, they learn to hobble remarkably quickly. And yet when robots damage a leg, they become completely incapacitated. That now looks set to the change thanks to a group of robotics engineers who have worked out how to dramatically accelerate the process of learning to walk again when a limb has become damaged. They’ve tested it on a hexapod robot which finds an efficient new gait in under two minutes (with video), and often faster, when a leg becomes damaged. The problem for robots is that the parameter space of potential gaits is vast. For a robot with six legs and 18 motors, the task of finding an efficient new gait boils down to a search through 36-dimensional space. That’s why it usually takes so long. The new approach gets around this by doing much of this calculation in advance, before the robot gets injured. The solutions are then ordered according to the amount of time each leg remains in contact with the ground. That reduces the dimension of the problem from 36 to 6 and so makes it much easier for the robot to search. When a leg becomes damaged, the robot selects new gaits from those that minimize contact with the ground for the damaged limb. It compares several and then chooses the fastest. Voila! The resulting gaits are often innovative, for example, with the robot moving by springing forward. The new approach even found a solution should all the legs become damaged. In that case, the robot flips onto its back and inches forward on its “shoulders.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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This verjuice press lies partially covered by a tree in Farndale. Verjuice is the acidic juice of crab apples, traditionally used in cooking and medicine. A large stone would have been placed on top and a beam used to make it squeeze the fruit, with the juice running out of the carved channels.

This photograph of an olive oil press gives a good idea of how it would have worked.