Valentine’s Day in Thailand: You better watch out
In the U.S., Valentine’s Day is ripe with commercialism, mostly, with maybe a dash of romance.
The day is hugely popular in Bangkok, Thailand, and for authorities, it presents huge hassles. That’s because the country’s socially conservative authorities annually warn youths to avoid “inappropriate activities” to uphold the country’s traditional Buddhist values. The day is hugely popular.
http://news.yahoo.com/valentines-day-thailand-call-police-083535452.html
Minnesotan will take over as Oregon’s governor
Kate Brown is described as “tenacious and personable.” On Wednesday ,she becomes Oregon’s governor.
Brown, 54, is a Minnesota native who grew up in a Republican household. Brown studied environmental conservation at the University of Colorado Boulder. She moved to Portland in the early 1980s, earned a law degree from Lewis & Clark College and specialized in family law. She will become the first openly bisexual governor in the nation when she replaces Gov. John Kitzhaber, who resigned Friday. Kitzhaber resigned because of mounting corruption charges directed at both him and his fiancee.
An up close and personal look at a Great Lakes ore boat
Many people in the Upper Midwest have seen the giant ore boats crossing Lake Superior at a barely perceptible crawl. Minnesota Public Radio’s photo essay takes a look at the Kaye E. Barker as it undergoes maintenance in a Superior, Wis., dry dock. The you-are-there photos take you inside the giant ships. And you thought today’s combines are large.
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/02/14/photos-up-close-with-an-ore-boat-in-dry-dock
This writer taught his computer how to make music
He begins: “On a warm day in April 2013, I was sitting in a friend’s kitchen in Paris, trying to engineer serendipity. I was trying to get my computer to write music on its own.”
Then, writer John Supko begins his tale about software, programming and inventing “a silicon-based life form to help make music that mere carbon-based life forms could never imagine on their own.”
The story is complete with multimedia sound files and will satisfy nerds of all stripes, from musicians to computer geeks.
http://nautil.us/issue/21/information/how-i-taught-my-computer-to-write-its-own-music
Norway will develop a new oil field in the sea
Norway expects a new oil development on its continental shelf to create more than 50,000 jobs, last decades and “finance our welfare state for many decades into the future,” says its energy minister.
