The Latest Word...literally!

Latest update : Oxford English Dictionary

Latest update
March 2011

The latest update of the OED, published on 24 March 2011, revises more than 1,900 entries and adds new words from across the dictionary. The OED's chief editor, John Simpson, provides some observations on the revisions in this update, while Graeme Diamond and Katherine Martin comment on some of the most interesting new words in the batch. A full list of new words can be found below.

mind controlled movement in handicapped person

BrainGate neural interface system reaches 1,000-day performance milestone

“...after 1,000 days a woman who has no functional use of her limbs and is unable to speak can reliably control a cursor on a computer screen using only the intended movement of her hand ...

The woman...performed two “point-and-click” tasks each day by thinking about moving the cursor with her hand. In both tasks she averaged greater than 90 percent accuracy. Some on-screen targets were as small as the effective area of a Microsoft Word menu icon."

more on common knowledge

puzzle red hat, blue hat

Muddy Children and Common Knowledge

Interesting article on common knowledge and a simple form of the red hat problem.

But does he know that I know that he knows?
From No Right to Believe by Ezra Resnick


Five children have been playing together, and three of them have gotten mud on their foreheads. Each child can see mud on others but not on himself. When the children come home, their father says that at least one of them has mud on his forehead; he then asks if anyone can deduce whether there is mud on his own forehead. The children look around, but no one answers. So the father asks again: Does anyone know whether he has mud on his own forehead? Silence. The father then repeats his question a third time, at which point all three dirty children immediately step forward and proclaim that their foreheads must be muddy.

Today's tidbits

The best way to keep up do date on my posts about Fukushima is via this link.

The Fukushima 700, from Reuters, my new favorite news source.

 "They're all the real Samurai," said one admirer on a Facebook page dedicated to the Fukushima workers and mainly containing messages from outside Japan.

I seem to be to be observing a slight "disconnect" between the way this event is being experienced by gaijin (foreigners) and natives, especially in Tokyo.

How Bad is the Reactor Meltdown in Japan?

The best way to keep up do date on my posts about Fukushima is via this link.

The Question of the Day: How Bad is the Reactor Meltdown in Japan?
Not so bad according to this physicist, who seems to know what he is talking about.



On the other hand, from slashdot and newscientist

"The cumulative releases from Fukushima of iodine-131 and cesium-137 have reached 73% and 60% respectively of the amounts released from the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
These numbers were reached independently from a monitoring station in
Sacramento, CA, and Takasaki, Japan. The iodine and cesium releases are
due to the cooking off of the more volatile elements in damaged fuel
rods."

The story of the second nuclear casualty in history

Louis Slotin

radiation levels in Kyoto

Kyoto levels seem unchanged from what I can tell. Tokyo is getting a bit worse, though, and I would say is approaching the turning point. It has crossed my mind that the government would not have the will to do the right thing...evacuate...should the time for that come. But as Yukie says, this kind of cynicism is probably not constructive, and we don't even have enough information to be cynical. 

I am going to keep updating  my blog with general information for people that want to keep up. The best way to keep up do date on my posts about Fukushima is via this link.