A brief history of computing

Via NPR. I was in London this past weekend and saw a Cray 1a supercomputer from the 1970's. Ten times slower than today's smartphones.

What the writing process looks like

Very true. Via BoingBoing.

Sad storm troopers

Music video. Just goes to show that Storm Troopers get sad as well.

Genetic algorithm car evolution

This is one of the most interesting things I've found on the internet to date. It's basically an evolution simulator which tries to evolve the best cars possible for a given track. So in the beginning, the first generation of cars is randomly generated and most of them don't really get far. Afterwards, the algorithm takes the best cars of each generation to produce new cars, thus the cars get better and better with each generation. The user can vote a car up or remove it from the 'gene pool' as it were, and can also play with the mutation rate (this adds in random mutations). There are quite a few different tracks, and you can also design your own car (or try to improve on an already evolved car). Here's the main site, the FAQ and a list of best cars.

What's interesting is how this draws you in... you just sit there looking at the little cars and you find yourself rooting for the little guys, hoping they make it over the next hill. Here's a screenshot:

 

Edit: Also, this is post #300 on this blog. Not bad, given that I started a good year ago (on the 10th of February, to be specific).

Batman crossed with Star Wars

Just goes to show that everything can be made better by adding Batman. Or was that by adding Star Wars?

Via LaughingSquid.

Highly detailed Lego minifigs

Love Legos.

Awesome map of scientific collaboration

This is so, so cool. Via FlowingData (click for more, as well as a couple of close-in shots of Europe and the US).