James' World

MRI software bugs could upend years of research
HN: Integer percentages as fingerprints of electoral falsification
A dialogue on likelihoods and p-values

Disbelief at the death of Prince at the relatively young age of 57.

Prince was a musical genius, certainly one of the giants of this century – he wrote, sang, was a virtuoso of 2 dozen instruments, and played guitar at the level of Jimi Hendrix.

He could perform with everybody, or nobody, yet chose to mentor female musicians, introducing them by name in his shows.

I saw one of his shows, but wish I had gone to more.

For business reasons, he never allowed his catalog on YouTube, but there’s a few links from TV performances that indicate his brilliance and show him “bringing the funk”:

Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL Perform ‘She’s Always In My Hair’
Prince Saturday Night Live Full Performance (2014)
Prince playing piano over ‘Summertime’ at Soundcheck, Koshien, Hyogo Prefecture (1990)
PRINCE BET Interview with Tavis Smiley(1998)

cnn.com: Prince’s vision for lifting up black youths: Get them to code, Prince’s Death: Latest News
W: Prince

There were a few major earthquakes this weekend:

• Ueki, Japan – 6.2 (foreshock)
• Kumamoto, Japan – 7.0
• Ecuador – 7.8

Hundreds of aftershocks have occurred in Japan.

You would think that Californians, of all people, would be concerned with earthquake safety, but the LA Times has reported on a building safety cover-up involving thousands of older schools and office buildings which will pancake in a major quake.

How Risky Are Older Concrete Buildings?
LA Times FAQ: Concrete buildings, earthquake safety and you
Non-ductile Concrete Buildings

I used to write telemetry collection software for the Space Shuttle, rockets and balloons, but even I watched the SpaceX barge landing with disbelief as the rocket smoothly rotated in all 11 or so degrees of freedom at the same time – no hesitation or staging before the touchdown.

It was like watching a really big lawn dart plant itself.

twitter: SpaceX
HN: SpaceX Launch Livestream: CRS-8 Dragon Hosted Webcast
theRegister: SpaceX finally lands Falcon rocket on robo-barge in one piece, SpaceX’s Musk: We’ll reuse today’s Falcon 9 rocket within 2 months

A few pieces of MH370 have recently been found on a Mozambique beach, and confirmed as authentic parts.

Their excellent condition and relatively large sizes indicate that the accident wasn’t a high-speed impact with an obstacle or water.

As a commercially-rated airplane pilot, my opinion is that leaves:

1. explosion or decompression
2. descent (or fugoid) into ocean at relatively low speed
3. “graveyard spiral dive” pulled the wings off.

MH370 Debris Storm
Tourist who found debris was searching for MH370
Turbulence V-Speeds
Australia Confirms Mozambique Debris Came from MH370
MH370: Debris found in March ‘almost certainly’ from missing plane