Quite possibly one of the nices finishes I’ve ever seen on a guitar.  So glossy…looks wet.

Gibson – Gibson Guitar: Limited Edition Les Paul Studio Guitars, The Gibson Robot Guitar Finish, Buy Electric Guitars Online

Possibly the best illusion I’ve seen.

You see embedded spirals, right, of green, pinkish-orange, and blue? Incredibly, the green and the blue spirals are the same color. At first I thought Richard was pulling our collective legs, being a trickster of high magnitude. So I loaded the image in Photoshop and examined the two spirals. In the two squares displayed below, the one on the left is colored using the same color from the blue spiral, and on the right using the green spiral.

The blue and the green | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Great article.  Visit their site for the full post.

"The DNA Code" – New Research Shows Life Hardwired in the Universe

A recent mathematical analysis says that life as we know it is written into the laws of reality.  DNA is built from a set of twenty amino acids – the first ten of those can create simple prebiotic life, and now it seems that those ten are thermodynamically destined to occur wherever they can.

For those unfamiliar with thermodynamics, it’s the Big Brother of all energy equations and science itself.  You can apply quantum mechanics at certain scales, and Newtonian mechanics work at the right speeds, but if Thermodynamics says something then everyone listens. An energy analysis by Professors Pudritz and Higgs of McMaster University shows that the first ten amino acids are likely to form at relatively low temperatures and pressures, and the calculated odds of formation match the concentrations of these life-chemicals found in meteorite samples.

"The DNA Code" – New Research Shows Life Hardwired in the Universe

I cannot imagine programming without Boolean logic.  Great read nonetheless.

First probabilistic CPU 30x more power-efficient

Rice University today used the International Solid-State Circuits Conference to reveal that it has tested a real-world example of a processor founded on probability math. Called a PCMOS (probability-based complementary metal-oxide semiconductor), the chip abandons the either/or Boolean logic of all current processors in favor of calculations that rely on the most likely answer in most cases. By avoiding a reliance on getting an exact answer when unnecessary, the CPU uses just a fraction of the power to accomplish the same work as today’s chips; the example chip’s voltage is dropped to where it consumes 30 times less power than an equivalent, ordinary CMOS processor.

As it has to wait less often for answers, the result is also about seven times faster and is especially suited to math where imprecision is unnoticeable or even encouraged, such as small image rendering or data encryption. The Houston-based university believes PCMOS would be particularly useful for typical home users in cellphones, video cards and other devices with embedded processors.
Co-developed with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, the technology is still in the early stages but, according to inventing professor Krishna Palem, should enter real-world production within the next four years.

Electronista | First probabilistic CPU 30x more power-efficient

Found this on hackmod.com  I’m surprised I’ve never seen this before.

Instead of paying for absurdly priced printer cartridges, build yourself a Continuous Ink Printer (CIS) which can be made by hacking an old printer to suck ink from external reservoirs.  You can get the raw ink for dirt cheap so it’s essentially like unlimited printing for free (besides the paper).  So now you can actually print your collection of pirated books! A CIS is relatively easy to create, just take an Epson Stylus 760 (a surprisingly hard to find printer) and make a few modifications to it.  A tutorial walks you through the build process so you can make your own.

DIY Continuous Ink Printer = Unlimited Free Printing | Hack N Mod