Awesome!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Retro-Geek: Acoustic Coupled Modem...
Demonstrating an early 300-baud acoustic-coupled modem. When I first started messing around with microcomputers in the mid-1970s, one of my first acquisitions was an acoustic-coupled modem (a much later model than this one). Their 300-baud speed was considered state-of-the-art, and I remember reading predicitions that the top-end theoretical speed was in the neighborhood of 700 baud (which a later direct-coupled modem from a company called PMMI actually acheived). Here's the demonstration:
Pancreatic Cancer Linked to Soft Drinks?
One good friend and several of my acquaintances have succumbed to pancreatic cancer. It's one of the nastiest, least survivable types. This study hints that the incidence of pancreatic cancer is higher for people who regularly drink even moderate amounts of soda – most likely because of its sugar content.
Given the huge quantities of soda consumed in this country (and, I presume, worldwide), this is not good news...
Given the huge quantities of soda consumed in this country (and, I presume, worldwide), this is not good news...
Less Can Be More...
Paul Buchheit (GMail creator) on product design and geek reaction to the iPad. Thought-provoking stuff that resonates with me...
Monday, February 8, 2010
There's a Lot of BS Out There, Folks...
And American Express is doing their part to maintain the high levels of bullshit in our environment. Here's an email from American Express explaining why they only allow letters in their passwords (no numbers, punctuation, or other “special characters”). It's the purest kind of bullshit: information that is the exact inverse of the truth.
Sheesh, Amex, get your freaking act together!
Sheesh, Amex, get your freaking act together!
Use ECC RAM!
My colleagues often make fun of me because I shut down and restart my laptop several times a day. There are several reasons I do this, but one of them is to avoid accumulated memory (RAM) errors due to cosmic rays. These errors occur more frequently than most people think if your computer doesn't use error correcting (ECC) RAM (and most laptops do not). Here's an article that explains why this is true, and also gives specific estimates about the frequency of these errors.
Bottom line: I'm going continue the behavior that I'm mocked for...
Bottom line: I'm going continue the behavior that I'm mocked for...
New Record for Clock Accuracy...
This new clock is accurate to within one second in 3.7 billion years, or (equivalently) one nanosecond in 3.7 years. When I first started working in electronics, we thought a clock that was stable to within one millisecond per day was pretty hot stuff. This new clock is over a billion times more stable...
Special Delivery...
Michael Yon is back in Afghanistan, and has filed his first report of this trip. It's all about the Air Force crews who resupply the remote outposts in Afghanistan (of which there are many) – and, typical of Yon's work, it's full of evocative photos and detailed information. He flew with one resupply mission and documents the whole thing...
Sunday, February 7, 2010
ClimateGate: New Developments...
The hits just keep on comin':
Yet another egregious error in the IPCC report. This time it turns out that their claim of AGW-caused 50% reduction in African agricultural production is not based on science at all.
In a good read, Walter Russell Mead discusses why climate science is in trouble. And of all places, Canada's uber-liberal Globe and Mail publishes a skeptic-friendly piece by Margaret Wente on the great global warming collapse.
Yet another egregious error in the IPCC report. This time it turns out that their claim of AGW-caused 50% reduction in African agricultural production is not based on science at all.
In a good read, Walter Russell Mead discusses why climate science is in trouble. And of all places, Canada's uber-liberal Globe and Mail publishes a skeptic-friendly piece by Margaret Wente on the great global warming collapse.
Color Photos from 1909 - 1915...
Fascinating collection of early color photography in Russia, by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. Click to enlarge the example at right.
The Benefits of Snowstorms...
From TJIC, too short and too monolithic to excerpt:
As he would say: Har!Apparently the seat of the national government is snowed in and everone is trapped in their houses.
I predict that with government officials unable to govern and convene press conferences, nationwide the economy will be stable and mass layoffs will be put on hold.
…at least until the plows get out there and let the politicians and bureaucrats back into their offices.
Obama Likes Himself Pretty Well, Doesn't He?
NeoNeocon, who has some knowledge in the field, is quite disturbed by Obama's overt narcissism. Her last paragraph chills me:
I’m not saying it will come to pass in exactly that way, and that Obama will declare himself to be a deity. In fact, I’ll even go on record as saying he won’t. Nevertheless, something is very wrong with this man, and it is growing stronger every day.
Spending $8.57 to save $1...
Gwynnie at Maggie's Farm does the math on the “Cash for Clunkers” program. It ain't pretty.
Sarah Palin's Speech...
I watched Sarah Palin's Tea Party Convention keynote this morning on YouTube. Awesome speech, and chock full of points I agree with. Some nice comedic moments, too, like her one-liner aimed squarely at Obama: “How's that hopey-changey thing workin' out?” There was relatively little that I flat out disagreed with, or that grated. In particular, the overt religious ideology that permeated her book was absent.
The woman can sure give a speech. I'll take her folksy, common-sense style over Obama's supposed oratory magnificence any day of the week.
Could I support her in a run for President? Possibly, though I don't think it's likely. It's impossible to predict now what's going to happen in 2012, though one scenario being frequently batted around is an Obama vs. Palin matchup. What would I do then? Most likely I'd be torn between sitting out the election (for lack of a candidate I believed in) or voting for Palin as a way of saying “No more Obama!”
Watching her give this speech gave me another thought, though: it seems at least possible that Sarah Palin will emerge as the leader (or figurehead) of a political movement whose aggregate capability was attractive to me. It would be, then, more like a team of people running rather than just Sarah Palin. If that turned out to be the case, I'd find a vote for Palin much less troubling.
One prediction I think is a safe one: Sarah Palin will somehow be involved in the 2012 presidential race (even if not as a candidate), and her presence will make the race much more interesting – and probably more about the issues that I care about than otherwise...
The woman can sure give a speech. I'll take her folksy, common-sense style over Obama's supposed oratory magnificence any day of the week.
Could I support her in a run for President? Possibly, though I don't think it's likely. It's impossible to predict now what's going to happen in 2012, though one scenario being frequently batted around is an Obama vs. Palin matchup. What would I do then? Most likely I'd be torn between sitting out the election (for lack of a candidate I believed in) or voting for Palin as a way of saying “No more Obama!”
Watching her give this speech gave me another thought, though: it seems at least possible that Sarah Palin will emerge as the leader (or figurehead) of a political movement whose aggregate capability was attractive to me. It would be, then, more like a team of people running rather than just Sarah Palin. If that turned out to be the case, I'd find a vote for Palin much less troubling.
One prediction I think is a safe one: Sarah Palin will somehow be involved in the 2012 presidential race (even if not as a candidate), and her presence will make the race much more interesting – and probably more about the issues that I care about than otherwise...
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Immortal Human Cells...
The first line of human cells capable of reproducing ad infinitum (hence the label “immortal”) were derived in 1951 from a tumor on the unfortunate Henrietta Lacks. Her cells have been used in thousands of medical experiments and tests, and they're still in use to this day. Here's the fascinating story, which is the subject of a new book by Rebecca Skloot.
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