Under Observation

Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou

2010-03-20T18:17:00.001-04:00

The Kid's Got Skillz

2010-03-20T17:34:00.001-04:00

Mortality

2010-03-20T08:23:00.002-04:00

Sikumi

2010-03-18T12:44:00.002-04:00

Watching in HD recommended.

Not Sure If I'm a Mongol Warlord or a Sea Captain

2010-03-13T16:55:00.002-05:00

Link.

Oh Hell Yeah

2010-03-10T00:04:00.000-05:00

Electronics Clearly Explained Using The English Language and Pretty Pictures

2010-03-07T16:15:00.005-05:00

Make Magazine has a terrific set of videos, starring Make's Collin Cunningham, that explain with amazing clarity the attributes and uses of various fundamental electronic components. I spent some time in college physics learning about these things, but these videos explain everything so clearly that I realize that I never really understood some of them before. And the production quality is outstanding. I recommend watching in high definition, full screen.

The Stars Over Hawaii

2010-03-05T06:20:00.002-05:00

Near the Grand Canyon

2010-02-20T22:03:00.001-05:00

Near the Grand Canyon, October 1, 2009 (click on image for full size)

Worst Apple Products

2010-02-15T13:17:00.002-05:00

PC Authority has a list of the 10 worst Apple products in history. I can't disagree with anything on the list, and it reminded me of a few items I had forgotten (the Pippin! Blech!), but I would add one more: the PowerMac 8500, which required disassembling almost the entire computer to alter the RAM.

FullScreenWeather.com

2010-02-13T14:38:00.004-05:00

WeatherUnderground is my favorite weather site, and they've got a new tool called "FullScreenWeather" that very effectively mashes up weather data with Google maps. Long overdue. Go to FullScreenWeather.com to try it.

South Carolina: Taking the Bull By the Horns

2010-02-11T01:06:00.004-05:00

This is an important item for any regulation-conscious members of subversive organizations in the State of South Carolina. PLEASE BE AWARE that if you are a member of a "corporation, society, association, camp, group, bund, political party, assembly, body or organization, composed of two or more persons, which directly or indirectly advocates, advises, teaches or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States, of this State or of any political subdivision thereof by force or violence or other unlawful means," that you'll need to register with the South Carolina Secretary of State. Especially those of you in "bunds," since you probably want to register anyway.

You see, in South Carolina, "every subversive organization and organization subject to foreign control shall register with the Secretary of State on forms prescribed by him within thirty days after coming into existence in this State." S.C.C. 23-29-50. There's a form. And you have to pay $5.

So, if you are planning to ignore the laws of the United States, or of South Carolina, in connection with your organization's struggle against... whatever, then be sure to do the paperwork so that you won't get in trouble for ignoring these laws.... I mean, not the laws your were going to ignore in the first place but the other laws that say you can only ignore the first laws without getting in trouble if you follow the other laws... well, you know what I mean. So when you get the bund back together, head down to the Secretary of State's office and get all legal.

I understand that the Secretary is also working on registration forms for car thieves (must provide proof of theft or attempt to thieve), drug dealers (registration fee of $14 million), mountebanks (registration cures warts), and ponzi schemes (registration free if you get ten others to register).

The Rise and Fall of Four Empires

2010-02-11T00:33:00.006-05:00

This item made the rounds a few months ago, but I found myself watching it with interest again today and decided to post it. It's a graphical depiction of the growth and eventual dismemberment of the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese empires during the 19th and 20th centuries. Its remarkable how vast the British Empire was in the late 19th century, and it's particularly fun to watch the French Empire sprout nodules and go kablooie in the early 1960s. You will probably need to watch it in full-screen mode to make out the text.

Hopscotch

2010-02-07T10:01:00.003-05:00

I ran across Hopscotch on Netflix recently. It's just so much fun to watch Walter Matthau do his thing, that I found myself thoroughly engaged.

What if the Super Bowl Were Directed by a Famous Filmmaker?

2010-02-05T10:48:00.003-05:00

The Artists' Soap Box Derby

2010-01-30T13:16:00.003-05:00

Below is a marvelous short film (~24 minutes) by Amanda Pope about a soap box derby in San Francisco in 1975 in which all of the entries were intended to be expressions of art. It's very enjoyable, but I became a bit sad once it occurred to me that a combination of regulation, potential liability and prudery would probably prevent something as free-spirited as this from happening today.

Aqua Traiana

2010-01-30T09:04:00.002-05:00

From Discovery.com:

The long-sought source of the aqueduct that brought clean fresh water to ancient Rome lies beneath a pig pasture and a ruined chapel, according to a pair of British filmmakers who claim to have discovered the headwaters of Aqua Traiana, a 1,900-year-old aqueduct built by the Emperor Trajan in 109 A.D.

One of Rome's 11 aqueducts, the Aqua Traiana originated around Lake Bracciano, 25 miles from Rome. After collecting water from other springs on its way down to the capital, the channel finally reached Janiculum Hill in Rome, providing clean, drinkable water to the Trastevere district.

....

Edward O'Neill and his father Michael were searching for the Aqua Alsietina, Rome's lost aqueduct, when local people suggested investigating a long abandoned church known as the Madonna of the Flower.

Exploring the chapel, the documentary makers found a concealed door which led to a subterranean chamber.

Link.

Stop Motion: Bad Apple

2010-01-30T08:33:00.003-05:00

Someone spent a tremendous amount of time (and toner) producing this.

The Tablet Cometh

2010-01-27T23:00:00.003-05:00

After years of speculation and a media frenzy, the iPad arrives at last. I have been looking forward to what Apple conjures up, convinced that, being the creative sorts they are, they would show us some feature... some use... something... that no one had ever thought of before.

It didn't really happen.

My essential reaction: it's a good start, and it may be a great device someday, but for now... meh.

It's been thought for a long time that the iPhone OS would be the basis of this machine, given that both devices would be touch-oriented, so it wasn't surprising that it developed that way. But there is still no ability to run multiple applications at the same time. This despite massive battery life -- and battery drain is the main reason that Apple has said in the past that multiple applications running simultaneously is a problem.

It also means we're tethered to Apple's app store, again, and subject to its whims in approval of applications, and its aggressive rejection of applications that might compete with its own. I wonder if the folks at Apple chafe that they don't have a similar ability to regulate apps on our laptop and desktop machines, since that genie is long out of its bottle. (Of course if they could eventually replace all of those with new types of devices that they do regulate....)

In short, the imagination of the design team doesn't appear to have gone -- so far, anyway -- much beyond trying to answer the question "What could you do if the iPod Touch's screen were bigger?"

That's not what I need in a computer of this power and expense. I put up with those limitations when using the iPhone because it is so small and convenient. But when you put together a computer with a 1GHz processor and a screen like the iPad has, don't tell me that it's marvelous because it's iPod Touch writ large.

I don't need a giant iPod. What I could use is a Mac built on the desktop version of OS X that does 85% of what my laptop can do (hell, 60%), but isn't a brick. The iPad doesn't appear to meet that need, and certainly not for $500+.

So I will wait and watch.

Facebook and Privacy

2010-01-23T08:22:00.004-05:00

Last year, Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg said

"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people.... That social norm is just something that has evolved over time."

He is right that the trend exists, but I'm not sure I would call it a "social norm." And Facebook has moved so aggressively toward making its users' information public by default, that it has caused quite a pother on the interwebs.

Those of you who use Facebook might want to check out this article in the Times concerning Facebook's privacy settings.

The Auroch

2010-01-20T23:36:00.006-05:00

From The Telegraph:

The huge cattle with sweeping horns which once roamed the forests of Europe have not been seen for nearly 400 years.

Now Italian scientists are hoping to use genetic expertise and selective breeding of modern-day wild cattle to recreate the fearsome beasts which weighed around 2,200lb and stood 6.5 feet at the shoulder.

....

"We were able to analyse auroch DNA from preserved bone material and create a rough map of its genome that should allow us to breed animals nearly identical to aurochs," said team leader Donato Matassino, head of the Consortium for Experimental Biotechnology in Benevento, in the southern Campania region.

....

In ancient times, killing an auroch was seen as a great demonstration of courage, with the horns turned into silver-clad drinking cups.

Link.

[Program support to be provided by Omaha Steaks, Winn Dixie and vikings.]

Live Strangely

2010-01-15T23:40:00.001-05:00

A Remi Gaillard collection:

California the Broke

2010-01-14T17:02:00.002-05:00

An interesting observation from today's Wall Street Journal:

It now costs more to insure Californian municipal debt against default than it does bonds issued by the government of Kazakhstan....

Link.

iPhone 4.0: Deepest Desires

2010-01-11T23:56:00.003-05:00

The Unofficial Apple Weblog is collecting suggestions from readers about what features the next iPhone should have. This collection focuses on software wants, and there are some solid ideas. For example:

"Over 90% of us also want a new home screen – and we want it location aware. Let's say we live in London, but travel to continental Europe many times a month. We'd love to turn on our iPhones in the country we just landed in and see the local weather, currency, transit maps, and news displayed right on our home screens. Not only would it save us time and money, it would save something just as valuable to an iPhone owner – battery life. If all these things were displayed on the home screen the first time you turn on your phone, you wouldn't have to open five different applications to get what you want."

Next up will apparently be hardware suggestions.

Link.

Mini-Generations

2010-01-11T23:28:00.004-05:00

In the New York Times, Brad Stone explores the notion that the expectations of young people -- indeed their view of the world -- is so dramatically shaped by rapidly changing technology that those of only a few years difference in age can have dramatically different experiences:

Researchers... theorize that the ever-accelerating pace of technological change may be minting a series of mini-generation gaps, with each group of children uniquely influenced by the tech tools available in their formative stages of development.

“People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “College students scratch their heads at what their high school siblings are doing, and they scratch their heads at their younger siblings. It has sped up generational differences.”

One obvious result is that younger generations are going to have some very peculiar and unique expectations about the world. My friend’s 3-year-old, for example, has become so accustomed to her father’s multitouch iPhone screen that she approaches laptops by swiping her fingers across the screen, expecting a reaction.

Link.