Four short links: 2 September 2009

Happy Programmers, Usability Tool, Geo API, Zombie Math

  1. The Programming Language With The Happiest Users (Dolores Labs) — you’ll be surprised. Age before beauty!
  2. Judge It Nowfast market opinions on design decisions. Compare to Optimal Sort. Usability tools hitting the mainstream web, so the time to learn what works shrinks and progress is faster.
  3. BlockChalk APIThese new interfaces enable developers to do nearly everything that you can do at http://blockchalk.com. It’s now possible to build client applications, mash-ups, and other tools based on BlockChalk geolocation data and services. Also see the explanatory blog post. (via joshua on Delicious)
  4. The Mathematics of Zombie Attacks (PDF) — Zombies are a popular figure in pop culture/entertainment and they are usually
    portrayed as being brought about through an outbreak or epidemic. Consequently,
    we model a zombie attack, using biological assumptions based on popular zombie
    movies. We introduce a basic model for zombie infection, determine equilibria and
    their stability, and illustrate the outcome with numerical solutions. We then refine the
    model to introduce a latent period of zombification, whereby humans are infected, but
    not infectious, before becoming undead. We then modify the model to include the
    effects of possible quarantine or a cure. Finally, we examine the impact of regular,
    impulsive reductions in the number of zombies and derive conditions under which
    eradication can occur. We show that only quick, aggressive attacks can stave off the
    doomsday scenario: the collapse of society as zombies overtake us all.
    (via Doug McKenna)
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