UUUHHHGGG-rrrrRRR!
This is too funny for words. I almost peed in my pants.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
A Boom, but not a Bubble
Interesting piece in Wired 14.02: The New Boom explaining the state of internet tech companies. Suggesting the boom is back, but in a healthy way with no bubble. "Bubbles are inflated with hot air and speculation. They end with a wet pop, leaving behind messy splatters. Booms, on the other hand, tend to have strong foundations and gentle conclusions." He sites 3 points:
- technology adoption has continued despite the bust (e.g. broadband, iPods, digital media).
- all the investment of the 90's boom makes the economics of entrepreneurship more favorable today
- open source software and cheap hardware means start-ups can run lean and turn a profit quicker (without the need for IPO)
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Road to Nowhere
Global climate change update. Balmy winter stings natives in Canada. Seems certain communities in northern Canada depend on seasonal roads that are built on frozen lakes and bogs each winter. The road is usually open Janurary through March. This year it has been too warm and they may not be able to build the road at all or will have to limit traffic because of thin ice. Not a problem you usually think of when you are wearing shorts in the winter...warm winter weather is just a fashion problem. For these folks it's a bit more serious.
Monday, January 23, 2006
So long and thanks for all the fish
Sad to hear about London's whale. But unfortunately, probably not too surprising. More surprising would have been if it had survived. Any whale that far away from the open water was obviously in distress. Likely distressed by something we men did.
Scientists have said fluctuating ocean temperatures, predators, lack of food and even sonar from ships can send whales astray into potentially dangerous waters.
"So long and thanks for all the fish"
Scientists have said fluctuating ocean temperatures, predators, lack of food and even sonar from ships can send whales astray into potentially dangerous waters.
"So long and thanks for all the fish"
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Web 2.0 Hype
A funny piece on the Web 2.0 hype.
As the first properly valued “Web 2.0” properties began to find buyers, a frenzy like the old one popped hideously back to life. Yahoo spent how much? Google bought what? Here was real blood in the water.
As the first properly valued “Web 2.0” properties began to find buyers, a frenzy like the old one popped hideously back to life. Yahoo spent how much? Google bought what? Here was real blood in the water.
But how to persuade the other sharks in the tank that this blood feast was different from the previous boom-and-bust? Easy: Dismiss everything that came before as “Web 1.0.”
Friday, January 13, 2006
iPod jeans
Levi Strauss debuts iPod-ready jeans - Yahoo! News
Special jeans for your iPod. Wonder if they will have different styles for different size iPods? Wonder if anybody will actually buy them? :)
Special jeans for your iPod. Wonder if they will have different styles for different size iPods? Wonder if anybody will actually buy them? :)
Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts
Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts - Sunday Times - Times Online
Global climate change alert.
Those cute cuddly polar bears. They are drowning because the ice is receding in their habitat. This study showed that it is normal for them to swim 15 miles (up to possibly 100 miles). However when the ice receded 200 miles further north, that proved too much for some of the bears and they died of exhaustion, hypothermia, and just plain drowning.
Global climate change alert.
Those cute cuddly polar bears. They are drowning because the ice is receding in their habitat. This study showed that it is normal for them to swim 15 miles (up to possibly 100 miles). However when the ice receded 200 miles further north, that proved too much for some of the bears and they died of exhaustion, hypothermia, and just plain drowning.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
So, what's in that Big Mac?
Well, a Big Mac has beef patties in it. Beef patty comes from cow meat.
Recently, McDonald's and other critics have come forward to say safeguards are not effective enough to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. Let's take a look at the problem. Seems there is lots of questionable stuff that goes into cattle feed that can pass along mad cow disease, including:
Ok, let's forget about the mad cow disease - Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease link and just think about the old addage "you are what you eat" and how it passes down the food chain from the cattle feed to the cow to you. Something to consider next time you bite into your Big Mac. Meanwhile I'll have the veggie burger, thanks.
[*] These items in cattle feed are particularly ironic when you think about the "Eat Mor Chikin" ad campaign from Chick-fil-A. Turns out the cows are the one's eating chicken, chicken shit mixed with some blood that is.
Recently, McDonald's and other critics have come forward to say safeguards are not effective enough to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. Let's take a look at the problem. Seems there is lots of questionable stuff that goes into cattle feed that can pass along mad cow disease, including:
- cow brains and spinal columns (now removed to stop mad cow disease spread)
- cow eyeball and intestine
- other dead cow meat
- poultry litter (this is a nice way of saying chicken shit)*
- poultry blood (collected when chickens are slaughtered)*
- restaurant plate waste
Ok, let's forget about the mad cow disease - Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease link and just think about the old addage "you are what you eat" and how it passes down the food chain from the cattle feed to the cow to you. Something to consider next time you bite into your Big Mac. Meanwhile I'll have the veggie burger, thanks.
[*] These items in cattle feed are particularly ironic when you think about the "Eat Mor Chikin" ad campaign from Chick-fil-A. Turns out the cows are the one's eating chicken, chicken shit mixed with some blood that is.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Bluetooth dialing with Sony Ericsson Z520a
Got myself a new toy for Christmas, the Sony Ericsson Z520a. While exploring the bluetooth features of the phone with my iBook, I was disappointed to find that the bluetooth dialing from Mac OS X Address Book did not work.
You'll find the solution here, macosxhints - Add Address Book support for the Sony Ericsson T630. Simply add an entry for Z520 as the hint describes.
You'll find the solution here, macosxhints - Add Address Book support for the Sony Ericsson T630. Simply add an entry for Z520 as the hint describes.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
"Java is a dinosaur"
Java? It's So Nineties
Peter Yared (of NetDynamics fame) says, "Java is a dinosaur."
It's official, I'm now a legacy programmer. :)
Peter Yared (of NetDynamics fame) says, "Java is a dinosaur."
It's official, I'm now a legacy programmer. :)
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Goodbye, Moon
Goodbye, Moon - New York Times
The publisher of "Goodbye Moon" childrens book has digitally removed (from the photo)the cigarette in the hand of the illustrator, Clement Hurd, to avoid the appearance of encouraging smoking. The writer of this piece suggests (with much tongue in cheek) a series of other saftey measures that could be taken in bunny's bedroom.
Also, the author's (Karen Karbo) young adult fiction book, Minerva Clark Gets a Clue, looks like funny.
The publisher of "Goodbye Moon" childrens book has digitally removed (from the photo)the cigarette in the hand of the illustrator, Clement Hurd, to avoid the appearance of encouraging smoking. The writer of this piece suggests (with much tongue in cheek) a series of other saftey measures that could be taken in bunny's bedroom.
Also, the author's (Karen Karbo) young adult fiction book, Minerva Clark Gets a Clue, looks like funny.
The Forbes Fictional 15
The Forbes Fictional 15 - Forbes.com
This list is pretty darn funny. The premise is "With the Forbes Fictional 15, we have taken the opposite approach--fiction’s caricatures are elevated to the status of real people." And then of course, they are rated by how wealthy they are. Notable entries: Santa Claus, Mr. Burns (The Simpsons), Scrooge McDuck (Disney), Jed Clampett (The Beverly Hillbillies), Mr Howell (Gilligan's Island).
The List
This list is pretty darn funny. The premise is "With the Forbes Fictional 15, we have taken the opposite approach--fiction’s caricatures are elevated to the status of real people." And then of course, they are rated by how wealthy they are. Notable entries: Santa Claus, Mr. Burns (The Simpsons), Scrooge McDuck (Disney), Jed Clampett (The Beverly Hillbillies), Mr Howell (Gilligan's Island).
The List
Monday, December 05, 2005
Note to Chicken Little
...the sky is not falling. It's the ocean that's rising. "Honey, time to pack our things. The ocean is has gotten too high again."
To take a look, check the Google Map for Vanuatu.
To take a look, check the Google Map for Vanuatu.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
science fiction in the service of science
"Let the problem of the mind dissolve in your mind..."
"...science fiction in the service of science. Or just science, if you agree that fiction is part of it, always was, and always will be as long as our brains are only minuscule fragments of the universe, much too small to hold all the facts of the world, but not too idle to speculate about them."
--Valentino Braitenberg "Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology"
"...science fiction in the service of science. Or just science, if you agree that fiction is part of it, always was, and always will be as long as our brains are only minuscule fragments of the universe, much too small to hold all the facts of the world, but not too idle to speculate about them."
--Valentino Braitenberg "Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology"
18 Tricks to Teach Your Body
18 Tricks to Teach Your Body
From the "strange but it's true" category, try some of these out. My favorites were using sleep to help your brain work and to memorize (18). I use this with studying and work often. And which ear to use when listening (2). I can use this one since tinnitus is setting in for me. Too many Van Halen concerts in my youth.
From the "strange but it's true" category, try some of these out. My favorites were using sleep to help your brain work and to memorize (18). I use this with studying and work often. And which ear to use when listening (2). I can use this one since tinnitus is setting in for me. Too many Van Halen concerts in my youth.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Me and My Imaginary Friend
I don't consider myself an atheist, but this essay from Penn Jillette (NPR : There Is No God) is very provocative.
"I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up,"
"How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.
"I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up,"
"How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
No snow for Santa
CNN.com - Snows fail to fall in�Arctic tundra - Nov 22, 2005
Ask the guy driving the Hummer next to you to explain to the children that there will be no snow at the North Pole for Santa this year.
Ask the guy driving the Hummer next to you to explain to the children that there will be no snow at the North Pole for Santa this year.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Visual Tricks and the movies
So I popped in the "original" Star Wars trilogy DVDs last night and watched some of my own selected favorite scenes. Afterward, I was thinking about something I learned about human vision and visual tricks in my AI class.
When your brain sees a visual trick that seems like it should make sense, but is obviously a trick (see Walter Wick's Optical Tricks ) we are drawn to it, because our brain strives to understand the trick. However when we see something visually that obviously makes no sense, we just ignore it because we simply chalk it up as absurd, there is nothing to solve.
There is an analogy in the use of CG in movies. When you see Luke use the force to draw his light saber to his hand from the floor in "Empire Strikes Back", we look at the trick and wonder, "I bet they used a wire to move the saber through the air." And we say "That was a good trick." When we see Yoda doing ridiculous flips through the air in "Attack of the Clones" we easily realize that it is CG and we ignore how it was done. "It was just a computer."
BTW, if you haven't make sure you watch the old trailers and TV spots on the bonus DVD. They are priceless. I especially liked the voice talent and how the teasers often used story board illustrations instead of any real scenes from the film.
When your brain sees a visual trick that seems like it should make sense, but is obviously a trick (see Walter Wick's Optical Tricks ) we are drawn to it, because our brain strives to understand the trick. However when we see something visually that obviously makes no sense, we just ignore it because we simply chalk it up as absurd, there is nothing to solve.
There is an analogy in the use of CG in movies. When you see Luke use the force to draw his light saber to his hand from the floor in "Empire Strikes Back", we look at the trick and wonder, "I bet they used a wire to move the saber through the air." And we say "That was a good trick." When we see Yoda doing ridiculous flips through the air in "Attack of the Clones" we easily realize that it is CG and we ignore how it was done. "It was just a computer."
BTW, if you haven't make sure you watch the old trailers and TV spots on the bonus DVD. They are priceless. I especially liked the voice talent and how the teasers often used story board illustrations instead of any real scenes from the film.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
