Comments on: I've got your missing links right here (17 September 2011)

By: Aled

Aled — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:19:42 +0000

Love these collections of links. Information mind bombs. Perfect brain food for an amateur nerd. Thank you! (and thank you t’internet)

By: Naamah

Naamah — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 06:08:37 +0000

The color test is very cool, and I scored 4, which is pretty impressive, but upon noticing an irregularity, I took a screencap of the results page with the correct alignment of the colors to Photoshop, desaturated it, and observed that the colors are of different values . . . sometimes markedly so with colors of a noticeably lighter or darker value to either side of one color.

Unless I am failing to understand the point of the test, color does not equal value, and truly testing the ability to see color accurately should be done with colors of the exact same value, as differing value subtly alters our perception of color. The four I missed were due to me bumping two tiles, confounded by the value of the neighboring chips, which were lighter than they should have been.

By: Adela

Adela — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 07:28:37 +0000

As a florist I would say that’s a mauve rose and there already are several breeds in that colour spectrum(one of which has a raspberry scent) that cost way less. When you get one that actually is the colour of delphinium then you can call it a blue rose and charge a bloody fortune for it.

By: Jodi

Jodi — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:41:04 +0000

Thanks for including me in the roundup, Ed. My friends have now started wagering on the next time I’ll get hit, and have started a pool based on the date. (If you want in, let me know Have a great weekend!

By: Robert S-R

Robert S-R — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 22:35:10 +0000

I got a 103. (!) I am red-green colorblind, but I was having trouble all over the color map.

By: Corinne

Corinne — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:45:27 +0000

The Percy Foster (Ramsey’s dwarf sex double thing) didn’t take too much googling to figure out that it is indeed, fake. He’s not on here http://www.iafd.com/ and there’s nothing else about him anywhere other than this story.

By: Sniffnoy

Sniffnoy — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:34:11 +0000

The risk list itself doesn’t seem to be linked from the article. It can be found here: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=2063

By: Walter S. Andriuzzi

Walter S. Andriuzzi — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:28:25 +0000

I’m filled with indignation after reading Stephen Hall’s piece. Not the piece in itself, which is indeed excellent and as neutral as a report can ever be – I’m angered by the facts themselves. The surgeon says that he feels “betrayed by science”, but he should feel betrayed by those who failed to ensure that the building was earthquake-proof. Perhaps he should blame also the decision-makers who didn’t make clear to the population of the risk, but then what should have they done? Evacuate the population for who knows how long? In that case, millions of Italians should immediately move… to where? Most likely there was a problem of communication with the public, but let’s not put the cart before the horse: the real problem was (is still, in much of Italy) the lack of proper anti-seismic constructions. Every year Japan is hit by stronger earthquakes than the one that hit L’Aquila, with little or no consequences. Why does Italy, which is a similarly advanced economy, find itself in so much trouble with seismic and hydrogeologic phenomena? Despite decades if not centuries of experience and a great public awareness. This should be the matter of concern