Power, Sex, Suicide by Nick Lane (2006) by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
All pages below are from the second edition from 2018. It seems that there weren't any changes in the text, the updated preface mentions
As it happens, nearly 15 years have passed since the 1st edition of Power, Sex, Suicide was published, and I am resisting the temptation to make any lame revisions. Some say that even Darwin lessened the power of his arguments in the Origin of Species through his multiple revisions, in which he dealt with criticisms and sometimes shifted his views in the wrong direction. I prefer my original to speak for itself, even if it turns out to be wrong.
This is partly addressed in the preface of the second edition from 2018.
Central thesis:
Smaller points:
Nitpicks:
  • the book calls ATP synthase "ATPase" in several points, which is confusing because -ase means "something that breaks", and in 2020 parlance, there are ATPases which actually break ATP: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATPase. The book itself acknowledges that on page 135:
    The ATPase is freely reversible. Under some circumstances it can go into reverse, whereupon it splits ATP, and uses the energy released to pump protons up the drive shaft, back across the membrane against the pressure of the reservoir. In fact the very name ATPase (rather than ATP synthase) signifies this action, which was discovered first. This bizarre trait hides a deep secret of life, and we’ll return to it in a moment.
Some criticisms:
  • some of the later chapters are a bit more boring, like the stuff about warm-blooded animals. Perhaps is it that Ciro Santilli is more interested in the molecular aspects than macro
  • the author talks about some very recent research at the time. While this does highlight his expertise, some of the points mentioned might still be in a state of flow. This is acknowledged by the author himself on the 2018 updated preface however.
Microsoft PowerPoint by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
96 well microplate by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Biologists are obsessed with these!
Micro Bit getting started by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
When plugged into Ubuntu 22.04 via the USB Micro-B the Micro Bit mounts as:
/media/$USER/MICROBIT/
e.g.:
/media/ciro/MICROBIT/
for username ciro.
Loading the program is done by simply copying a .hex binary into the image e.g. with:
cp ~/Downloads/microbit_program.hex /media/$USER/MICROBIT/
The file name does not matter, only the .hex extension.
The back power light flashes while upload is happening.
Flashing takes about 10-15 seconds for the 1.8 MB scroll display hello world from microbit-micropython.readthedocs.io/en/v1.0.1/tutorials/hello.html:
from microbit import *
display.scroll("Hello, World!")
and the program starts executing immediately after flash ends.
You can restart the program by clicking the reset button near the USB. When you push down the program dies, and it restarts as soon as you release the button.
Micro Bit version by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Identification: kitronik.co.uk/blogs/resources/explore-micro-bit-v1-microbit-v2-differences The easiest thing is perhaps the GPIO notches.
Micrometer by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Alternative splicing by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Mathieu group by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Second quantization by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Second quantization also appears to be useful not only for relativistic quantum mechanics, but also for condensed matter physics. The reason is that the basis idea is to use the number occupation basis. This basis is:
Bibliography:
Organizationally unique identifier by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Last mile problem by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
The exact same problem appears over and over, e.g.:
Ciro Santilli also identified knowledge version of this problem: the missing link between basic and advanced.
Fabrice Bellard by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Creator of QEMU and FFmpeg, both of which Ciro Santilli deeply respects. And a bunch other random stuff.
What is shocking about Fabrice this is that both are insanely important software that Ciro Santilli really likes, and both seem to be completely unrelated subjects!
Google made billions on top of this dude:
At last but not least, Fabrice also studied in the same school that Ciro Santilli studied in France, École Polytechnique.
It is a shame that he keeps such a low profile, there are no videos of him on the web, and he declines interviews.
Another surprising fact is that Fabrice has not worked for the "Big Tech Companies" as far as can be publicly seen, but rather mostly on smaller companies that he co-founded: www.quora.com/Computer-Programmers/Computer-Programmers-Where-is-Fabrice-Bellard-employed
And he's also into some completely random projcts unsurprisingly:
Figure 1. . Source. At a restaurant with the author apparently. Plus Miguel De Icaza who was in Paris for some conference, which they all presumably attended.
Figure 2. . There are no in-focus images of Fabrice on the Internet.
Lysergic acid diethylamide by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Schor's algorithm by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Discord (software) by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Ciro Santilli's discord ID: cirosantilli#8921. See also: how to contact Ciro Santilli.
You gotta be born after the year 2000 to understand it.
This is becoming more and more popular as a group chat with channels and threads possibility as of 2020.
Very similar to Slack.
Not possible to anonymously join just one server without creating a new account? What's the point of servers then! www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/6gmjl7/changing_nick_before_joining_a_new_server/ Oh, also nicks don't hide your username from the server in any way, you can get the original username by just clicking on the person's username.
No proper threaded discussion without creating new channels? As of 2022 there is kind of a way, but it was a bit obtuse.
As of 2022 they also have a school hub: support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406046651927-Discord-Student-Hubs-FAQ which auto creates groups by university email access. Good idea, and shows popularity amongst that user group.
Skype by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
Microsoft Outlook by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created
University of Warwick by Ciro Santilli 35 Updated +Created

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