Official Google Reader Blog: New in Reader: a fresh design, and Google+ sharing...

Official Google Reader Blog: New in Reader: a fresh design, and Google+ sharing...: Posted by Alan Green, Software Engineer Today we're rolling out the new Reader design, and the Google+ features that we mentioned just ove...

Why Google? Why do you hate us?

New Phone Time Nao!

I finally got a new phone! The DROID Charge.

I'm sure you'll all be happy to no longer have to listen to me rant about which phone I'm going to get.

So far I'm happy with basically everything except for the App store. I don't understand why it takes longer to load a page of downloadable apps than it does for my screen to timeout and lock at the default settings. Everything else is exceptionally quick and the 4G rocks, and is widely available in my area. Oh yeah, no extra 4G data charges on Verizon. Finally they do something right. Now to get around the $20 a month they want for tethering...

Anyone ever browse /k/ ?

WWHD?

Ventral Septal Defect (23 years)

Orthostatic Hypotension (4 years)

Chest Pain (2 years)

Mitral Valve Prolapse (1 year)

Palpitations (6 months)

Cardiac Dysrhythmia ( 3 months)

Atrial Fibrillation (2 days)

The rate of detection of new symptoms could be due to an approaching cardiac event, or an increased awareness of how to detect those symptoms.

What Would House Do?

Some random Cake lyrics that struck me as particularly significant this morning

Excess ain't rebellion.
You're drinking what they're selling.
Your self-destruction doesn't hurt them.
Your chaos won't convert them.
They're so happy to rebuild it.
You'll never really kill it.

Too funny not to share

First, readwriteweb.com blogs about the comming ability to message between AIM and Facebook, then their post ranks in the top google search results for the phrase "facebook login". Finally, hundreds of facebook users sound off in the comments about how angry they are that this page won't let them login to facebook, believing that they are actually on the facebook site. They did, after all, type "facebook login" into a google search, why would that take them anywhere else?

These people vote.

Why have I never heard this Albert Einstein quote?

"The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is thesensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. So to whom thisemotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that which is impenetretrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms-this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness."

Why I was heistant to friend my grandmother

She doesn't seem to realize that most of her grandkids are fairly liberal. I generally don't bring up politics with her, but I can never resist a joke. For reference, this is the link I posted on my sister's wall that inspired Grandma's response..

A Google Reader discussion on protecting your car against EMP that I thought worth archiving

Eric, how's your car run without an ECU. I do own that Mercedes still...not a computer chip in the thing, except for the stereo.

We've heard of electromagnetic pulses cutting steel in milliseconds, but apparently they can also be used to stop moving cars just as fast. The cannon demonstrated in the video here is still a prot...

Expand this item »

Comments (21)

you:

I don't understand your question. How does my car run without an ECU? It doesn't. My car needs an ecu. How COULD it? Possibly by ditching the FI system for carburation. There was a carburated civic in the early 80's I think.Edit | Delete

J.W. Koebel:

I suppose that was a profoundly poor way of asking "is it old enough to keep running on its own without an engine computer once started", and I've got the answer for that.

Ryan:

Would it be possible to add shielding around the vulnerable elements in your car to keep it from being effected by this?

you:

You could shield your ECU to protect against an EMP, though idk how you'd test it and it'd always be a factor of how close you are to the source. However, he refers to this working by inducing a current in the wires to destroy the microprocessors. Maybe one of the EE guys can give a better idea of how to protect against that. Maybe diodes on each wire going in and out of your ECU? You'd probably need whatever protective measure you take on just about every component in your car, as there are usually a few other processors around the car, in the gauge cluster, ABS, radio, etc.Edit | Delete

you:

If it was a priority, I'd go with an older car (60s, 70s) that doesn't rely on the electronics. If you just want to be prepped against nuclear or EMP bombs, an 80's or 90's car that keeps all the important electronics in the ECU would be sufficient, since you could easily keep a spare ECU in a shielded box. I've actually got a spare ECU, I'd just need to figure out what kind of shielding my box would need.Edit | Delete

Joe:

You would also need to heavily shield everything connected electrically to the ECU.

you:

Really? The frame of the car is connected electrically.Edit | Delete

J.W. Koebel:

Maybe it's not tight enough? If the wavelength of whatever is smaller than a gap it could squeeze through, I think?

you:

What's not tight enough?Edit | Delete

Joe:

You would essentially develop a separate grounding system that was shielded. The big point is you can't just put a shield around the ECU and be good to go. EMP is very very broad band, and high power. You basically can't have any gaps in a Faraday cage trying to protect against EMP.

you:

So you're saying you can't have a connector going into a faraday cage? Even if your connector incorporated diodes, fuses, or breakers to prevent the excess current introduced by the EMP from traveling into the cage/ecu ?Edit | Delete

Joe:

breakers/fuses/diodes are too slow for huge current spikes in general. Think of a lightning strike. This is something that would need to be taken into account in the design of the ECU. There are ways to make devices survive EMP, Andy knows more about them than I do. If you have anything on the outside of the Faraday cage it will act essentially as an antenna, and then re-radiate what it received on the outside on the inside of the Faraday cage (to some extent). If you attach the ground to the Faraday cage while an EMP was going on you'd end up having the ground have a strong e-field potential across it and that would result in a strong potential difference across two grounds that were at different points in the cage. You might be able to have a single ground connection to the Faraday cage, but I dunno. Even if the ECU survived, if you didn't protect everything other parts would be damaged. Your O2 sensor no longer works, you can't actuate the fuel injectors because they're damaged, what happens to the ignition system? Would spark plugs/plug wires/distributor be damaged in any way by this, a lot of that stuff is designed for high voltage, but require a pretty low current, so the plug wires might be damaged. Seems to me the only way to make it through an EMP for certain is a diesel that has mechanical everything. Then don't worry about shielding.

you:

I wasn't anticipating grounding the faraday cage, I was expecting you'd want to insulate it from ground. Is that not the case? I was looking at it as insulation to block out the EMP, is that impossible? Are you actually trying to conduct it away instead? Of the sensors I've dealt with, the O2 seems to be the most robust, though I don't actually know how it detects the presence of oxygen, I don't think there is any circuitry involved. My impression was that an EMP would induce enough current to destroy small integrated circuits. Fortunately in either case, the O2 sensor is one of the most optional sensors on a modern car. Currently, my car is running without one. However I'd be concerned with the more essential sensors that are used to less destructive environments such as the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) or the Mass Air Flow Sensor (Some reason abbreviated MAP on my car), though I don't believe those contain any ICs either. I think I've heard of the fuel injectors being susceptible, but as they're nothing more than a solenoid, that also seems suspicious. As for the ignition system, my car still has a mechanical distributor, which would probably be fine, though a lot of new cars are going to electronic distributors (i forget what they call them) which would probably be toast. I think the amount of current required to damage the spark plug wires or spark plugs would probably be enough to physically melt the smaller wires in the car. At the range where the intensity is that great, I don't think there is anything you can do. Damn, I'd love to take apart a car that had been EMPed, or within the EMP radius of a nuke. Anyone know how to calculate the emf intensity at x range from a y sized nuclear blast? This website has some inconclusive info: http://www.survival-homestead.com/emp-shielding.html I'm thinking my current ideal approach would be to have spares of the necessary components in a shielded box. So far I'm thinking the definites include: ECU Low Amperage Fuses Maybes: O2 Sensor TPS MAP IAT (Intake Air Temperature) Fuel Injectors For your reference, in addition to the sensors on my car I listed above, all of you probably have 2 O2 sensors, a Knock Sensor, an Airbag Computer, an ABS computer, Some sort of chip in the gauge cluster, and possibly an EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature Sensor)Edit | Delete

J.W. Koebel:

Keeping spares in a shielded container is an awesome idea. You'll be the only person around with transportation when SHTF. "Overall it appears that your best bet for ensuring you have an operating vehicle after a high-altitude EMP burst is to have an older diesel car or truck. Make sure it’s sitting on good rubber tires and not parked next to a metal building." Shame I'm trying to get rid of that Benz, almost.

you:

Yeah but it helps if your old car works, also.Edit | Delete

Joe:

A resistor could be destroyed by an EMP, it doesn't have to be an IC. Think of a resistor like a fairly high current fuse. If you really want to be with a vehicle after shtf you want mechanical systems, or have a replacement part for every essential electrical components (including wires). The way you block EMP is to have a conductive surface (read Faraday cage) surrounding anything electrical that you want to protect. Since the chassis in a vehicle is connected to the ground, you would need to disconnect everything from the chassis ground, and run a shielded (read wrapped in Faraday cage) ground wire going to that point. If you leave ground connections to the chassis you will still suffer the consequences of the EMP. If you just shielded the electrical components (ECU, MAP, etc), and left the wires unshielded you would still have the same problem as if you didn't bother doing anything.

you:

How much current do you really expect the EMP to induce if you're frying resistors but not fuses? I think you're imagining an EMP of much greater intensity than I am, and I think we need to establish some kind of a reference field in order to draw any sort of conclusions. In either case, I'm talking about having spare parts, I've given up on the idea of shielding components within the car, I'm just trying to figure out what parts I'd need as spares and what to keep them in to determine the feasibility of that as an alternative. I'm relatively confident I could replace every essential electrical component in my car in under an hour (assuming I had spares, which save for 4 sensors, I do), assuming wires, transformers, relays, bulbs, electric motors, and fuses are all good. I'm a bit confused about your description of the car electrical system. The car chassis is the ground, but it is not grounded. The rubber tires do a pretty good job of electrically insulating the car from the ground, which is why they aren't very susceptible to lightning strikes. I found a site with some interesting info, though unfortunately it only gives the voltage intensity for SREMP (Source-Region ElectroMagnetic Pulse) but not HEMP, which is what I'm concerned with since SREMP looks impossible to protect against, and would be confined to the destructive range of a Nuclear blast. They also mention the military standards for shielding against EMP, which suggests that it is at least feasible to do it for protection at a certain, unknown range. Hopefully that info is readily available.Edit | Delete

Joe:

I think you would fry fuses, just not quick enough to save an IC. Certainly the fuses will blow before the resistors do, but I think the resistors will still be destroyed, if not with in the Faraday cage. According to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse#Starfish_Prime a 20-30 kV/meter field would be expected. Assuming 30 kV/meter and a 1 cm long resistor the voltage across that resistor will be 300 V. Assuming these are .25 W resistors (average for the ones hobbiests use, not what you'll find on a PCB the ones on a PCB have a lower power rating, but are smaller in size) it would have to be a 360 kohm resistor to not blow. In other words fuses are toast, transformers are toast, relays are toast resistors are toast, some wiring is toast. This article: http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm says closer to 100 kV/m. (From playing with the starfish test I figure there will be 100 kV/m @ 100 km or so) A quick rule of thumb is the E field strength falls off with the square of the distance, so from the field strength spec from military shielding, and figure out how far from a nuclear device it would have to be to be safe. "Ground" is generally a reference point with in a circuit unless it's labeled "earth ground." In a car the car chassis is a ground (not an earth ground). A car is not that far away from a Faraday cage, with modifications to it the car could be an effective Faraday cage, but you would need to remove anything connected to the chassis ground in order for that to work. I've never heard (and couldn't find) statistics on the probability of getting struck by lightning in a car vs not in a car. I know cars are safer to be in when they're struck by lightning than anything else, not so much because of the tires but because of the cars body/chassis conducting the current around you rather than through you. ("Rubber tires provide zero safety from lightning. After all, lightning has traveled for miles through the sky: four or five inches of rubber is no insulation whatsoever" http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/vehicle_strike.html)

Joe:

any one know what the field strength in a typical microwave oven? Then you could say if it survives 1s of microwaving you're good to go @ x distance

you:

What determines x distance?Edit | Delete

Joe:

The E field put out by the microwave is going to have strength E_mw if we suppose a nuke puts out field strength E_nuke and we know that the field strength falls off at the rate 1/(d^2). E_mw = E_nuke /(d^2), so d = sqrt( E_nuke / E_mw )

Swine Flu Update!

As I end day three of being sick of the swine flu (temp down to 99*F, keeping down solid food, should no longer be contagious tomorrow) I realize that I spent most of my waking hours in front of the computer, and most of those hours on google reader, and I'm STILL 313 items away from being "caught up" (if there is such a thing). On the brink of my busiest semester yet, and my final one before completing my undergrad, I clearly need to reduce my usage of google reader. But what is the appropriate manner to do so? Delete my most active feeds? Unfollow my most active friends? Remove my most interesting feeds? Or perhaps the most dramatic move of all, quit using google reader entirely? I do not deny that I have become a google reader addict. I check it compulsively, I open every single story before deciding whether it warrants a skim or a full on tea-sipping read. I've become so well informed of the news, that I can't recall the last time I had a conversation with a coworker or classmate about current events that I actually found interesting or even so much acquired a scrap of new information.

So tell me my google reader followers (since you're the only ones who ever see this blog) what would you do?

Or perhaps I'm falsely blaming the issue on google reader, and my real problem is with general time management, I am after all, writing this at 3am. Why don't we compare statistics and see:

From your 64 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 3,634 items,starred 35 items, shared 294 items, and emailed 0 items.

I'd like to see the results for engineering degrees

Presented by Online Colleges and Universities

I can't get enough Lin-Manuel Miranda

Brilliant performance at the White House.

Promo for "In The Heights"

Collegehumor appearance:

http://wesleying.org/2009/07/09/lin-manuel-miranda-on-collegehumor/

Yes, he was House's roomate in the psych ward.

Webcomics I subscribe to

When you argue on the internet...

Richard Carter de Treville :( Medicine frustrates me so much.

Very Sad: Cheerleader Gets A Flu Shot & Now She Can Only Walk Backwards!

Source: www.youtube.com

Experts claim serious side effects of flu shots amount to about one in a million - well this is what that one in a million looks like. This has freaked me out enough to bypass flu shots in the future. But what do I know - to each their own. ...

5 hours ago · Comment · Like / Unlike · Share · Report

Patrick Hays

very beautiful woman involuntarily crip walks after flu shot

5 hours ago

Patrick Hays

obama's america

5 hours ago

Richard Carter de Treville

rarely, yes.

5 hours ago

Miguel Alvarez

That can't be real...can it?

5 hours ago

Jenna Henderson

Omg

5 hours ago

Kelly T

it's not caused by the vaccine though. that's the thing with american's. we hear shit like this and people are like OMG... vaccines are terrible!! but she had a pre-existing condition which couldn't have been known unless her genome was sequenced... and even then... this still could have been triggered because who could have possibly known that the vaccine would be the trigger and not some other environmental factor.

5 hours ago

Richard Carter de Treville

yeah, the media seems not to mention this. I just wish we could jump 100 years into the future, because so many things that seem so basic we aren't even able to hardly grapple with or explain.

4 hours ago

Richard Carter de Treville

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYUg_oICIUo

4 hours ago

Eric Zelna

I only get the vaccines that are legally required of me. Ask your doctor if he got the flu shot, most don't.

Thimerosal is an ingredient in the flu shot and in most vaccines. It contains tremendous amounts of mercury and it's toxicity is relatively unknown. There are many websites denoting it's potentially dangerous effects, and even the fda recognizes the potential risk:

http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228

3 hours ago · Delete

Mike Hicks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4gj5_PFbVo

2 hours ago

James Hicks

fun fact: anyone who says vaccines or thiomersal cause autism doesn't know anything about vaccines or autism

2 hours ago

Eric Zelna

Who says that?

2 hours ago · Delete

James Hicks

i was skimming but you dont know anything about vaccines so you should probably not post about them any more

2 hours ago

Eric Bridge

About 1 in 8,000 people die in a car crash each year, yet we all continue to drive our cars daily. There's a risk to everything we do.

2 hours ago

Richard Carter de Treville

True.

2 hours ago

Eric Zelna

Relax James. My comment consisted of the following facts: The flu shot contains Thimerosal. Thimerosal contains Mercury. I don't get the flu shot. Many doctors don't get the flu shot. Do you really contest any of those statements?

Feel free to refer to the very moderate concerns presented by the FDA, or you could continue with your strategy of ... Read Morestraw man and ad hominem fallacies. Contrary to your comment, I enthusiastically encourage you to present any contrary evidence you might have, as I would very much prefer to live in a world where flu shots and other voluntary immunizations are safe and useful.

about an hour ago · Delete

Eric Zelna

That's a very good point Eric, driving a car is the single most dangerous thing (statistically) that anyone in our (20-30) age group does. Despite that, I still take all precautions I can in other aspects of my life, and I would encourage you to as well.

about an hour ago · Delete

James Hicks

Oral LD50 for ethylmercury is 40mg/kg. your own link says the most you'll get from a vaccine is 25... Read Moreµg. if you weighed 2 pounds, you'd need 1600 vaccinations to kill you. and you dont weigh 2 pounds. and most vaccines dont have thiomersal in them. this is in the link you gave me

you also don't understand how medical research works. fda isn't 'concerned', they're making sure. especially because there are a bunch of crazy people on the internet going on about the dangers of thiomersal. and so far, in every trial, they've found no link between thiomersal and any sort of harm. this is all in the link you just gave me.

you don't know what you're talking about. and since you think the phrase "There are many websites denoting it's potentially dangerous effects" is evidence , you might actually be retarded.

about an hour ago

Donnie G. Plungis

lol j hicks.

anyway, i've gone 24 (going on 25 years) without a flu shot so i'm not sure why i would need one now. isn't getting the seasonal flu good for your immune system every once in a while? i know h1n1 is a little bit different but still, nothing wrong with getting sick so long as it isn't fatal.

i remember reading about how vaccines are ... Read Moremass produced for the lowest common denominator of people in the mass public. like any medical procedure or medicine the results aren't 100% or the same for everyone. i love that the video clip is from the insider... bastion of good journalism! (see also criticisms of media sensationalism in regards to public policy)

about an hour ago

Eric Zelna

Thank you for your insightful post, James. I am very impressed that you looked up the LD50 for ethylmercury, but unfortunately it's relevance is limited here as not even someone as uneducated as myself thinks the flu shot is going to KILL you. I simply believe it to be unhealthy, unecessary, and ineffective. The last being the point I expect you to... Read More point out that I can't prove, and you're absolutely right. Of all of the studies I reviewed (granted, this was 3 years ago and there may be newer information available) I found that the only studies to find the flu shot to be significantly effective were those administered by the drug companies producing the flu shot. Obviously this isn't proof of anything, it is always possible that the independently funded studies were corrupted by some alterior motive.

As for your point that "the FDA isn't concerned", I absolutely agree. Perhaps when I said, "moderate concerns presented by the FDA", I was not clear enough. I will explain it more simply so as not to be misconstrued any futher: The FDA presented some concerns. They were very moderate.

You're also absolutely right on another point as well, I don't know what I'm talking about. I have never personally conducted a clinical trial evaluating the effectiveness of the flu shot. The only direct experience I have with the topic is anecdotal at best. I would encourage everyone reading these words to not take my advice, and instead research the topic yourself, as well as talk to your physician before making any medical decisions. It's your life, and unless reincarnation is real, you only get one!

58 minutes ago · Delete

James Hicks

the idea is that ethylmercury damage is dose-dependant. i thought you'd be able to figure that one out on your own. apparently not. i gave you too much credit and i apologize.

it also took me about 45 seconds to find university of michigan discussing the efficacy of influenza viruses in the new england journal of medicine, just one month ago! so maybe you cant figure out google. i dont blame you. a text box and TWO buttons? what are you supposed to do with that?!!?

spoiler alert: the vaccines worked. ... Read More

the fda didn't even say they had concerns. they said it's biologically plausible. lots of things are biologically plausible. its biologically plausible that your brain will rewire itself in a way that actually reads information, processes it, and forms an opinion instead of the other way around. it doesnt seem likely though.

lets look at it this way: i have a degree in microbiology, a degree in biotechnology, and i'm involved in vaccine development. youre a crazy person on the internet.

47 minutes ago

Eric Zelna

You're involved in vaccine development? So, what you're saying is, you have a vested interest in the propagation of the belief that vaccines are safe, effective and worthwhile? So much for being an objective source. That kinda ruins all the credibility you'd built up so far by insulting me.

That was a really funny joke you made about my inability to use google, do you have any more?