Trello...

Another interesting product from Fog Creek (Joel Spolsky's company)...

Will They Get the Message?

The Republicans did the unthinkable last night – they won Weiner's seat in a special election.  In a solidly Democratic district, with a solidly Democratic candidate, the Republican won.  There's a message here: the people, even the loyal Democratic voters, are not happy with the current administration.  If the Democratic leadership doesn't hear this message loud and clear, next year's elections are likely to be an absolute rout.

Will they hear it?  The safe bet would be “no”, as they haven't heard any of the preceding messages at all...

Skid-Boot...

The story of a dog named Skid-Boot, via my mom:

New York on 9/11 + 10 Years...

During my recent business trip to New York, I stayed on the 43rd floor of a hotel directly overlooking the old World Trade Center site.  In the first photo below, you can see the two squares of the 9/11 monument; in the second, the new Freedom Tower rising just alongside them.  As usual, click to enlarge.  Quite a sight...

The Lost Art of Nomography...

Nomography is a word you don't hear much any more, though when I was a kid nomographs were quite common in the electrical engineering world (and in other engineering and science specialties as well).  They're closely related to slide rules, which long-time readers will know are a special interest of mine.  Here's an interesting paper on the Lost Art of Nomography (PDF)...

Remembering 9/11...

This morning I find it hard to concentrate on anything other than remembering that awful day 10 years ago.  Wandering around the intertubes, I ran into some related things that struck me for one reason or another.  First, George W. Bush's speech yesterday dedicating the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania:





Don Surber looks forward, saying “We shall fear no evil.”

Neo-neocon declares the 9/11 memorial in New York a “Fitting tribute.”

A pilot who was ready to give her life on 9/11.

And finally, Mark Steyn in his inimitable fashion skewers the multi-culti, touchy-feely, pansy wing's response to 9/11.  As usual with him, I feel the need to laugh and cry at the same time...

Back Up!

We've got our power and Internet connection back up after the great blackout.

I'd rather not do that again.

Would someone please tell APS to stop removing whatever equipment they removed that caused this???

Beautiful Poem...

Via my mom (who's on a roll):

I hope this poem has the same effect on you as it did on me - then my forwarding it will be worth the effort. Walk with me by the water - worth the read...

A BEAUTIFUL POEM ABOUT GROWING OLDER:

Shit...
I forgot the words...

See A Difference?

Here's a nice illustration of one of the many things I miss about George W. Bush ... especially when comparing him to Barack Obama.

Here's Bush's speech after the capture of Sadadam Hussein:

"The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq. The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and freedom to the Iraqi people. Their work continues, and so do the risks. Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate them!"

And Obama's speech after the killing of Osama Bin Laden:

"And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the Director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network. Then, last August, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and I authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan."

Now you could call those differences a matter of style.  Myself, I'd call those differences an illustration of character...

Via my mom...

Another Medal for Obama?

Via my mom:

American Lindsey Vonn has had to forfeit her Gold Medal on Thursday, September 1, 2011.

The International Olympic Committee announced today that it has taken back the gold medal previously awarded to American skier Lindsey Vonn and given it to U.S. President Barack Obama.

Olympic officials said Obama deserved the medal more than Vonn becauseno one has ever gone downhill faster than he has.

Rain!

Well, a little rain, anyway.  Not enough to register in my rain gauge, but enough to wet down the chapparal and to make it smell good outside.  I got wet while walking the dogs this morning!

Göbekli Tepe...

If you're not familiar with Göbekli Tepe, you're going to be surprised: it's one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries ever made, and probably the oldest artifacts of an advanced civilization so far discovered.  Here's an introductory video on it, and there's much more information at the link above...

Clever Engineering on 3D TV...

Toshiba is showing a new large-format 3D television receiver that doesn't require viewers to wear any special glasses.  The technology involved is quite understandable (though complex) – it actually transmits different images to viewers' left and right eyes to create the stereoscopic visual effects.  To do this, the TV has to know where the viewers are located – and it does this by using a camera to watch all the faces watching it.  Awesome!

Personally I'm more interested in such a display as a computer screen than I am as a television.  I can think of all sorts of uses for 3D displays for computer users...

Opportunity at Endeavour Crater...

The Mars rover Opportunity is already hard at work in the Endeavour Crater, which it only recently reached after years of travel.  It's already finding things never before seen on Mars, like the rock at right:

This is a clue ... that we may be dealing with a hydrothermal system here," Squyres said. "We may be dealing with a situation where water has percolated or flowed or somehow moved through these rocks -- maybe as vapor or maybe as liquid. We don't know yet.

 Go, Opportunity, go!

Backlit Saturn...

I love this Cassini photo.  I'll spare y'all my rant about robotic explorers vs. manned space flight.  Just enjoy this!

Via APOD, of course.  And click to enlarge.

Tweet Compression...

For the compression geeks.  Amusing, more than anything...

Pigs Are Flying!

And Maureen Dowd is talking trash on Obama...

Clever Widget...

The folks at Google have come up with another clever toy.  This one lets  you draw an arbitrary distribution curve (over time), then finds Google queries whose frequency closely matches the curve you draw.  I tried drawing about ten quite arbitrary (and in some cases, challenging!) curves – and every time this tool found a query whose results quite closely matched it.  Impressive...

Only $99!

Via my colleague Aleck L.  This cartoon very nicely illustrates the general mindset of the three major operating systems' users.

In the case of Linux, most laptop/desktop users are hard-core “hackers”, familiar with things like UNIX commands and vi.  They tend to think of Linux as a vehicle for using all kinds of free open source software goodies.

Windows users, on the other hand, are sick and tired of the endless updates required just to keep their systems from being hopelessly compromised by Chinese or North Korean hackers.  The vast majority of these updates bring nothing new with them, so there's no reward (unless you count not being hacked) for the time and effort (and not insubstantial risk) in installing them.

Mac users get relatively few updates, and when they do get them, they generally come with all kinds of new and interesting functionality.  They're generally quite happy to fork over some coin to get the new stuff (Mac upgrade rates are astonishingly high).

The cartoon says all of that in a couple square inches...

The Flake...

Here's a compilation of OBlunders, most of them things I'm sure you've seen before.  The point of this is to demonstrate the remarkable degree to which the lamestream media is carrying water for Obama.  Remember how the lamestreamers jumped all over every last verbal misstep of George W. Bush, Dan Quayle, and Ronald Reagan?  Not much evidence of that here – even though the current President has arguably produced more (and better!) targets for media mocking than any of his predecessors...