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Norway's Bergen is gearing up to open the world’s longest purpose-built pedestrian and bicycle tunnel:

Known as the Fyllingsdalstunnelen, the tunnel cuts through the Løvstakken mountain in the southwest Norwegian city, linking the residential areas of Fyllingsdalen and Mindemyren. Cyclists can continue on to the centre of Bergen using existing routes.

[...] Both the Fyllingsdal tunnel and the rest of the cycle route to Bergen city centre are financed through the municipality’s state-supported Miljøløftet (Environmental Promise).

Its goal is to make it easier for more people to choose cycling and walking over driving. Not only could this help reduce traffic in the city, it could also help cut planet-heating emissions and unhealthy pollution.

The route’s total distance - from Fyllingsdalen to Festplassen in the city centre - is 7.8 kilometres, which takes around 25 minutes by bike. Currently, cycling between these areas takes around 40 minutes.

Is it really the longest in the world?

Bergen’s cycle tunnel has been touted as the world’s longest - but it comes with some caveats.

The Snoqualmie Tunnel near Seattle, USA, is 3.6km long. However, it takes over an abandoned railway tunnel, so was not built for purpose.

The Fyllingsdal cycle tunnel is therefore the world’s second longest overall, and the longest that was built for purpose.

Running parallel to the new light rail line that opened in November, the tunnel doubles as an escape route for train passengers.

"Basically, it is an escape tunnel for the tram. But then there were wise minds who said that it is possible to cycle through this tunnel as well," explains project manager Arild Tveit. "By creating a walkway here, it is also possible to exercise... So it is public health in every metre of this tunnel."

I can't say I'm impressed with their logic, but regardless of how you feel about superlatives, it is pretty neat. The article has a nice video that rides through it and you can see all the artwork they've added.

The tunnel will be open from 5.30am to 11.30pm daily. It features well-lit rest stops and security cameras throughout. Emergency phones are available every 250 metres.

Colourful dynamic lighting will create a wave of light when a cyclist or pedestrian enters the tunnel at either end, alerting cyclists to oncoming traffic. It is also lined with artwork and installations to make the journey more interesting.

It will be kept at a constant temperature of 7 degrees Celsius, making it an attractive training route for runners on colder days.

My top two reasons for reading Mad Magazine were the fold-in and Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions, and both were done by Al Jaffee. He died at the ripe old age of 102. RIP.

Ages ago I would idly try to see what the fold-in was while waiting by a magazine rack, trying to do it without creasing (much) the cover so that I didn't have to purchase it. :)

Identifying the compounds that give fermented coffee its unique flavor and aroma could allow more people to enjoy it:

Specialty coffees are gaining traction in coffeehouses around the world — and now a fermented version could bring a fruity taste to your morning cup of joe. This new kind of beverage has a raspberry-like taste and aroma, but what causes these sensations has been a mystery. Today, scientists report six compounds that contribute to the fermented coffee experience. The work could help increase production of the drink and make it more readily available for everyone to enjoy.

“There are now flavors that people are creating that no one would have ever associated with coffee in the past,” says Chahan Yeretzian, Ph.D., the project’s principal investigator. “The flavors in fermented coffee, for example, are often more akin to fruit juices.”

This unusual type of beverage provides a unique flavor experience for consumers, and the growing demand for it means that fermented coffee beans can fetch a high price, potentially benefiting farmers. And the process by which the beans are prepared requires much less water than traditional methods, making it a more environmentally friendly alternative to a standard cup of coffee.

But despite this drink’s growing popularity, the compounds that cause its distinctive flavor were unknown. And with fermented coffee becoming more popular in competitive events, some people have been concerned that the lack of knowledge about fermented coffee may make it difficult to distinguish between the genuine product and regular joe that has been illicitly adulterated. So, Yeretzian and colleagues from the Coffee Excellence Center at Zurich University of Applied Sciences sought to identify the compounds that are responsible for these new and exciting flavors. And because flavor and smell are intimately linked, studying the beverages’ scents could help the team gain a better understanding of how fermented coffee’s complex flavor is created.

To single out the compounds unique to fermented coffee’s aromas, researchers took arabica beans and divided them into three groups. One was prepared using a wash process, which is likely how your average afternoon pick-me-up brew is made. Here, a gelatinous substance known as mucilage is stripped from the coffee bean, which is washed with water before being dried. The researchers prepared the second group using the pulped natural process — another common approach — in which the skin is removed from the bean, but the mucilage is left intact. Finally, the team fermented beans in the third group using carbonic maceration, a process often used in winemaking. This method was first introduced to the specialty coffee world in 2015, when the winning contestant in the World Barista Championship used it to prepare their entry. With this process, whole coffee fruits are fermented in stainless steel tanks and infused with carbon dioxide to lower the pH of the fermentation. Unlike the other brews, the coffee made with fermented beans was described as smelling intense, like raspberries with a hint of rose.

Anyone tried fermented bean coffee? I'm intrigued.

500 Top Technologists and Elon Musk Demand Immediate Pause of Advanced AI Systems
Steve Wozniak and Stuart Russell were among the signatories of an open letter warning advanced models pose “profound risks to society and humanity."

A wide-ranging coalition of more than 500 technologists, engineers, and AI ethicists have signed an open letter calling on AI labs to immediately pause all training on any AI systems more powerful than Open AI’s recently released GPT-4 for at least six months.

The signatories, which include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and “based AI” developer Elon Musk, warn these advanced new AI models could pose “profound risks to society and humanity,” if allowed to advance without sufficient safeguards. If companies refuse to pause development, the letter says governments should whip out the big guns and institute a mandatory moratorium.

“Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources,” the letter reads. “Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one—not even their creators—can understand, predict, or reliably control.”

The letter was released by The Future of Life Institute, an organization self-described as focused on steering technologies away from perceived large-scale risks to humanity. Those primary risk groups include AI, biotechnology, nuclear weapons, and climate change. The group’s concerns over AI systems rest on the assumption that those systems, “are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks.” That level of sophistication, the letter argues, could lead to a near future where bad actors use AI to flood the internet with propaganda, make once stable jobs redundant, and develop “nonhuman minds” that could out-complete or “replace” humans.

Gizmodo

I saw Polymele in the latest list of JWST targets. I checked that, found it was the target of a Lucy spacecraft flyby on September 15, 2027, and also found that a new asteroid has been added early in Lucy's itinerary, 152830 Dinkinesh.

https://www.tablesgenerator.com/text_tables

╔═══════════════════╦═════════════════════════╦═════════════════════════╦══════════╗
║   Encounter date  ║          Target         ║         Diameter        ║ Altitude ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 16 October 2022   ║ Earth (gravity assist)  ║ 12742 km                ║ 300 km   ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 1 November 2023   ║ 152830 Dinkinesh        ║ 0.7 km                  ║ 450 km   ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 13 December 2024  ║ Earth (gravity assist)  ║ 12742 km                ║ 350 km   ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 20 April 2025     ║ 52246 Donaldjohanson    ║ 4 km                    ║ 922 km   ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 12 August 2027    ║ 3548 Eurybates          ║ Eurybates: 64 km        ║ 1000 km  ║
║                   ║                         ║ (Queta satellite: 1 km) ║          ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 15 September 2027 ║ 15094 Polymele          ║ Polymele: 21 km         ║ 415 km   ║
║                   ║                         ║ (Satellite: 5 km)       ║          ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 18 April 2028     ║ 11351 Leucus            ║ 34 km                   ║ 1000 km  ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 11 November 2028  ║ 21900 Orus              ║ 51 km                   ║ 1000 km  ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 26 December 2030  ║ Earth (gravity assist)  ║ 12742 km                ║ 660 km   ║
╠═══════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════╬══════════╣
║ 2 March 2033      ║ 617 Patroclus–Menoetius ║ Patroclus: 113 km       ║ 1000 km  ║
║                   ║                         ║ Menoetius: 104 km       ║          ║
╚═══════════════════╩═════════════════════════╩═════════════════════════╩══════════╝

Also, Polymele's satellite was discovered only after the Lucy spacecraft launched. That situation has already happened before with New Horizons and Pluto; Kerberos and Styx were discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope after New Horizons launched. Saturn's moons Helene, Calypso, and Telesto were discovered by ground-based observatories just months before the Voyager 1 flyby in 1980.

Following observations of an occultation on 26 March 2022, the Lucy mission team reported the discovery of a satellite around Polymele. The satellite is a smaller asteroid about 5–6 kilometers (3.1–3.7 miles) in diameter, orbiting nearly in the equatorial plane of Polymele at a distance of 204 km (127 mi). It will not be assigned a formal name until further observations determine its orbit. The Lucy team refers to the companion by the temporary informal name "Shaun," after Aardman Animations' animated sheep.

Generative AI is overrated, long live old-school AI !

TLDR; Don't be dazzled by generative AI's creative charm! Predictive AI, though less flashy, remains crucial for solving real-world challenges and unleashing AI's true potential. By merging the powers of both AI types and closing the prototype-to-production gap, we'll accelerate the AI revolution and transform our world. Keep an eye on both these AI stars to witness the future unfold.

Throughout 2022, generative AI captured the public’s imagination. Now that GPT-4 is out, the hype is poised to reach new heights.

With the late 2022 release(s) of Stable Diffusion, Dall-E2, and ChatGPT, people could engage with AI first-hand, watching with awe as seemingly intelligent systems created art, composed songs, penned poetry, and wrote passable college essays.

Only a few months later, some investors have become only interested in companies building generative AI, relegating those working on predictive models to “old school” AI.

However, generative AI alone won’t fulfill the promise of the AI revolution. The sci-fi future that many people anticipate accompanying the widespread adoption of AI depends on the success of predictive models. Self-driving cars, robotic attendants, personalized healthcare, and many other innovations hinge on perfecting “old school” AI.

Encord

No, it is not just you:

Are you scared of clowns? You are not alone. Coulrophobia, or the fear of clowns, is a widely acknowledged phenomenon.

Studies indicate this fear is present among both adults and children in many different cultures. Yet it is not well understood due to a lack of focused research.

While numerous possible explanations of the phobia had been put forward in academic literature, no studies had specifically investigated its origins.

[...] Interestingly, this percentage reporting an extreme fear of clowns is slightly higher than those reported for many other phobias, such as animals (3.8 percent), blood/injection/injuries (3.0 percent), heights (2.8 percent), still water or weather events (2.3 percent), closed spaces (2.2 percent), and flying (1.3 percent).

We also found that women are more afraid of clowns than men. The reason for this difference is not clear, but it echoes research findings on other phobias such as the fear of snakes and spiders.

We also discovered coulrophobia decreases with age, which again matches up with research into other fears.

[...] This new set of questions related to eight plausible explanations for the origins of this fear, as follows:

1. An eerie or unsettling feeling due to clowns' makeup making them look not-quite-human. A similar response is sometimes seen with dolls or mannequins.
2. Clowns' exaggerated facial features convey a direct sense of threat.
3. Clown makeup hides emotional signals and creates uncertainty.
4. The colour of clown makeup reminds us of death, infection or blood injury, and evokes disgust or avoidance.
5. Clowns' unpredictable behaviour makes us uncomfortable.
6. Fear of clowns has been learned from family members.
7. Negative portrayals of clowns in popular culture.
8. A frightening experience with a clown.

Intriguingly, we found the final explanation, of having had a scary personal experience with a clown, had the lowest level of agreement. This indicates that life experience alone is not a sufficient explanation for why people are afraid of them.

[...] In fact the strongest factor we identified was hidden emotional signals, suggesting that for many people, a fear of clowns stems from not being able to see their facial expressions due to their make-up.

We cannot see their "true" faces and therefore cannot understand their emotional intent.

[...] This research has provided some new insights into why people are afraid of clowns – yet more questions remain.

For instance, if makeup which masks emotions causes fear, do people who have their faces painted as animals also create the same kind of effect? Or is there something more particular about the makeup of clowns that drives this fear? This is now the focus of our continued research.

Journal Reference:
Philip John Tyson, Shakiela K. Davies, Sophie Scorey and William James Greville, Fear of clowns: An investigation into the aetiology of coulrophobia [open], Front. Psychol., 02 February 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1109466

How many numbers have found their way into your brain today? 10? 100? 1,000?

What if you include the number of steps and heartbeats from your smartwatch? Likes and followers on social media? Numbers at work, from your bank, in games, apps, and in your inbox? According to estimates, we now collectively generate more numbers every day than all of humankind combined scraped together between creation and year 2010.

Now, try to stop and think for a moment how these numbers, consciously and unconsciously, make their way into your brain and influence the decisions you make every single day. Because these numbers do fool you, those little bastards. Numbers at work tweak your motivation and effort. Social media numbers make the social scene a competitive nightmare and create winners and losers. Your Fitbit numbers make you run faster in the short run, but eventually turn running into a work and a chore. And every single number you let into your brain serves as a frame of reference against which you compare and evaluate the world.

[...] So be aware: Numbers are everywhere, you believe them to be true (even when they are not), and they bias your decisions in more ways than you can imagine. Maybe you need a detox.

TIME Ideas

Anyone have any experience with this?

I want to hook up PC to a TV, have a simple webpage on it with a 10-foot style user interface, and navigate the page mainly using the up/down/left/right/OK buttons on the remote. HDMI-CEC can allow my TV remote to communicate with a computer, e.g. a Raspberry Pi with LibreELEC on it. But I want to try a desktop OS with a web browser open.

I looked at the tabindex attribute. That allows you to tab and shift-tab forward and back through a series of elements and use the :focus pseudo-class to style the "selected" one, but it isn't going to allow up/down on a grid.

Worst case scenario, I use event listeners and do whatever I need to do to highlight the correct elements using arrow keys, such as detecting and comparing the x/y positions of all the elements to choose which one to jump to. Even then I might have to find a way to override the default behavior of the TV remote to make sure it can replace the keyboard input. I was wondering if there were any standards related to handling TV remote input, but I didn't see any.

50 Years Later, We’re Still Living in the Xerox Alto’s World

I’m sitting in front of a computer, looking at its graphical user interface with overlapping windows on a high-resolution screen. I interact with the computer by pointing and clicking with a mouse and typing on a keyboard. I’m using a word processor with the core features and functions of Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or LibreOffice’s Writer, along with an email client that could be mistaken for a simplified version of Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, or Mozilla Thunderbird. This computer runs other software, written using object-oriented programming, just like the popular programming languages Python, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, and R. Its networking capabilities can link me to other computers and to high-quality laser printers.

You are probably thinking, “So what? My computer has all that too.” But the computer in front of me is not today’s MacBook, ThinkPad, or Surface computer. Rather, it’s half-century-old hardware running software of the same vintage, meticulously restored and in operation at the Computer History Museum’s archive center. Despite its age, using it feels so familiar and natural that it’s sometimes difficult to appreciate just how extraordinary, how different it was when it first appeared.

I’m talking about the Xerox Alto, which debuted in the early spring of 1973 at the photocopying giant’s newly established R&D laboratory, the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). The reason it is so uncannily familiar today is simple: We are now living in a world of computing that the Alto created.

IEEE Spectrum