Las penas del Agente Smith

Juanjo de la Iglesia salivaría con esto. Leo en El País:

Alrededor de 50 kilogramos de explosivos del tipo goma 2 fueron encontrados la noche del viernes al sábado por una persona, un ladrón o un mendigo según las fuentes[...]

Según me cuentan mis confidentes, el comité de estilo de El País se encuentra reunido en sesión de emergencia para tratar de dilucidar antes de fin de año si los ladrones o los mendigos son personas.

Ya les he enviado el aviso correspondiente, pero antes de que lo cambien he hecho la captura de pantalla de rigor.

Otro libro que se lee del tirón y que resulta lo suficientemente entretenido como para estar deseando seguir leyendo un rato largo después de haberlo dejado en la mesilla.

No pasa un día sin que leamos una estadística en un medio impreso, o las escuchemos en radio o televisión. Pero ya lo dijo Homer Simpson:

Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that.

Joel Best propone una serie de preguntas que conviene hacerse cada vez que uno se encuentra con una cifra: ¿qué pretende demostrar? ¿está midiendo la estadística lo mismo que nos dicen que mide? ¿la ha realizado una entidad neutral o hay unos intereses a seguir? ¿cuál es la muestra utilizada? ¿cómo se han recogido los datos?… y así podríamos seguir durante varias líneas más. También ofrece consejos para joder definitivamente una estadística, así como una lista de los errores más comunes (premeditados o no) que se suelen cometer.

Si a alguien le interesa el tema, antes de comprarse el libro quizá quiera pasarse a ver el encomiable trabajo realizado por Malaprensa en este campo.

Anoche, mientra leía un número de Skeptical Inquirer, me encontré con una lista de preguntas que había recopilado la revista Science a las que aún no se ha dado una respuesta. La lista completa consiste en 125 preguntas (por el 125 aniversario de la revista), de las cuales se han publicado las 25 más importantes por una parte, y las 100 restantes como otra serie de cuestiones que mantendrán ocupados a los científicos durante años.

Para los vagos, allá van las 25 preguntas más importantes, en contraposición a las 100 cosas que no sabíamos el año pasado por estas fechas:

• What Is the Universe Made Of?
• What is the Biological Basis of Consciousness?
• Why Do Humans Have So Few Genes?
• To What Extent Are Genetic Variation and Personal Health Linked?
• Can the Laws of Physics Be Unified?
• How Much Can Human Life Span Be Extended?
• What Controls Organ Regeneration?
• How Can a Skin Cell Become a Nerve Cell?
• How Does a Single Somatic Cell Become a Whole Plant?
• How Does Earth’s Interior Work?
• Are We Alone in the Universe?
• How and Where Did Life on Earth Arise?
• What Determines Species Diversity?
• What Genetic Changes Made Us Uniquely Human?
• How Are Memories Stored and Retrieved?
• How Did Cooperative Behavior Evolve?
• How Will Big Pictures Emerge from a Sea of Biological Data?
• How Far Can We Push Chemical Self-Assembly?
• What Are the Limits of Conventional Computing?
• Can We Selectively Shut Off Immune Responses?
• Do Deeper Principles Underlie Quantum Uncertainty and Nonlocality?
• Is an Effective HIV Vaccine Feasible?
• How Hot Will the Greenhouse World Be?
• What Can Replace Cheap Oil — and When?
• Will Malthus Continue to Be Wrong?

Acabo de recordar que pjorge está de vacaciones; así que, aunque le he enviado hace un momento el enlace por correo, y como de todas formas mis lectores no son sus lectores (pero a él qué le voy a contar, si la frase es suya), voy a tomar la delantera por esta vez y voy a publicar el artículo de rigor de Qué Cojonuda que es Serenity: Serenity, mejor película del año según una encuesta en la BBC:

1. Perched on top of the heap we call 2005, Serenity.
It was far from the biggest hit of the year but the rabid fanbase which helped get Joss Whedon’s cancelled sci-fi series onto the big screen has now handed it the biggest accolade in modern cinema: the title of Film 2005 Film of the Year. Rachel Formby calls it, ‘A labour of love filled with strong, superbly written characters, humour, emotion and cool effects’. Juliet Richards in Stanstead claims it ‘brilliantly blended comedy, action, drama, horror and romance’, adding that ‘the only negative point I can think of is that it wasn’t out for long enough so I only got to see it five times on the big screen’. That’s the sort of passion we like to see.

Cinco veces, oigan. Y a mí que me ponían mala cara porque la vi dos veces en el mismo día.

La mayoría son intrascendentes, pero el conocimiento es conocimiento igual: 100 things we didn’t know this time last year.

(Vía digg.)

TURN THE SCOPE. Earth-124. Subject: Davis, Conner. Occupation: Car Salesman.

It was an ordinary day of waking up, drinking coffee, and making his way to the lot again but Conner was glad that every day had its predictability. New Fords meant New Mustangs with all their pretty little colors and displays, and he never ceased to enjoy selling them.

Conner was happily married, and enjoyed life with his son, Parker. He was a quiet man who lived a quiet life; a mediocre life that would leave him dead from heart disease at the age of 55.

Destiny: .01%

TURN THE SCOPE. Earth-273. Subject: Davis, Conner. Occupation: Assassin.

Gunshots were not his cup of tea, but ever since Conner had graduated from being an apprentice to actually doing the hits himself he hadn’t had much time for tea at all. This particular day, while he’s thinking about what it might be like to settle down with a wife while blood dripped from a gunshot wound to his side, he was on the brink of completing another mission.

Mr. Davis was an enigma in the eyes of all systems, and right now his one redeeming quality was shooting the fuck out of the newly-elected President of Unified Territories and the change that would ensue would be as important to him as the huge pay-off. Unfortunately, Conner would die of that wound before he could report his near-success.

Destiny: 9.05%

TURN THE SCOPE. Earth-5890. Subject: Davis, Conner. Occupation: Chemist.

Early days were no stranger to Doctor Conner Davis, who labored heavily over limitless lines of formula and code to decipher what the cure would be. Humanity was fading fast from the plague spreading through each and every citizen and time was running short for the underground lab he kept in Bismarck.

Dr. Davis had lost everything in his study for a cure including any hope of a relationship. He’d lost care of personal gain and took sight of what really mattered. Life mattered. His eyes saw the necessary means to create a cure and he might be able to save more than just his sanity by finding one soon. Doctor Conner Davis died of an aneurysm at 98.

Destiny: 45.39%

TURN THE SCOPE. Earth-1. Subject: Davis, Conner. Occupation: Unknown.

Conner Davis lived every day as if it were his last. He took everything as it came to him and never took any of it for granted. He never wrote a book, never saved a nation, never killed a villain or moved a mountain. Mr. Davis was going to Sydney and he was getting married to the love of his life.

Mr. Davis never knew happiness outside of how he felt for other people. Material possessions never occurred to Conner to mean anything. He lived, and he loved with the best of his ability and compromised nothing. Conner Davis dies tomorrow.

Destiny: 100%

TURN THE SCOPE.

Penúltimo relato del año en 365 tomorrows.

No sé si soy el único al que alguna vez le pasó por la cabeza la idea de forrar su cartera de papel de aluminio ante la esperable proliferación de tarjetas con chips RFID. Espero que no.

A través del blog de Bruce Schneier llego a una guía para hacer precisamente eso, con la ayuda de un rollo de cinta adhesiva.

Que ustedes lo forren bien.